Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The disease was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei province. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on 30 January 2020 and a pandemic on 11 March 2020.
The COVID-19 Pandemic has forced many countries around the world to impose lockdown and adopt preventive measures. Till now no vaccine has been identified. So the most effective preventive measure to stop the spread of this virus is social distancing. Many small to large businesses are in a huge loss due to the pandemic.
Fridell Technical Solutions is an IT company and Managed Service provider in San Diego, California, want to share what we know and give our customers and other similar businesses some advice that might help them stabilize their business during this pandemic. Fridell Solutions delivers IT-related business solutions to homes and different organizations that are investing or planning to invest in Information Technologies, Managed Services to grow their business online.
From social distancing to lockdowns and government and state-mandated shutdowns, small to large businesses are suffering the privations of COVID-19. Higher-level authorities are advising individuals to stay at their homes, as the pandemic may continue and grow for a while. Companies are running and managing their clients by remote operation of their staff. Every business is negatively affected as consumers and customers are going out less. So small companies should act quickly and take some initiatives and hold up themselves for the consequences of COVID-19.
Should small businesses and companies scale back entirely?
For small businesses and companies, this is the time to reflect internally upon what’s working and what’s not working. Just because there is pandemic going around that is out of our control doesn’t mean that there is nothing to do and you should stop working or hung up by it. There is actually a lot to do in terms of internal reflection and internal processes. So a smart business owner, you should be taking this time to look at what’s working and what’s not working out for you because this is not the time to scale back entirely. The market is going to get back to normal and most probably get better.
How to continue your business remotely?
Here are a few strategies that we recommend to continue your business and start working remotely with your team members and staffs.
1. Setup a Video meetup and messaging app for team communication.
When it comes to team messaging, group conversations and video conferencing, apps like Slack, Microsoft Teams can be really handy. These apps let you do live messaging and video meetups with groups and individuals. You can always see who is online and contributing to the day-to-day tasks.
2. Establish a strategy (Business Continuity Plan) that enables your team to continue to function without affecting their health and wellness.
You can set up websites, apps with content to provide guidance to employees and customers. You can regularly update your team and clients about the day to day work and the current situation of the business.
Create a work from home policy and also make sure that you have the right tools, technology and required level of security in place.
IT solutions and Managed service Providers like Fridell Solutions can help you start the planning process, set up and secure your remote workplace.
3. Consider the security concerns for the Remote workforce
A sudden transfer to working remotely policy during the pandemic could increase the cyber risks for companies, its members and customers.
Make sure that the employees working from home computers are working on the secure Operating Systems with the latest security updates. The company should provide antivirus software to employees.
Working on personal home devices, networks, and firewall, there is always a threat to data. So, secure your connection by always using a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
If you want to make sure that you are following the best security practices, contact Fridell Solutions.
4. Empower your team to work smarter, more collaboratively.
Tools like Microsoft Office 365 for Business can increase the productivity of the employees working remotely. With emails, apps and storage, all in one place, team members can work and communicate more effectively.
Fridell Solutions can help you set-up and provide dedicated support for all of your Office 365 needs, Microsoft patch management, validation, service pack and software versioning.
Contact Fridell Technical Solutions right away:
- If you need help setting up your team to work remotely.
- If you need to secure your remote workforce.
- If you want to set up Managed servers, firewalls, networks, VoIP and cloud services
- If you want Complete Network setup, monitoring, maintenance and preventing any downtime.
- If you need Website development, maintenance and basic SEO services (most CMS systems)
- If you need Managed cybersecurity, anti-virus, and anti-spam, network and workstation support.
Be Prepared today
You should be prepared to be able to capitalize on that opportunity and today is the time to prepare for that. This is the time to reflect upon your and business inefficiencies or things that you just wanted to get to but you never had the time to do. This is the time to really reflect and make sure that those things are in line and put yourself in good positions, so when the market rebounds and are scaling back up. If possible, you can continue your business remotely by setting up Remote working work for you and your Team.
If you are planning to set up your business remotely or need any kind of Managed IT services, contact us. During this worldwide pandemic, Fridell Solutions is here to help ease the burden for you as your trusted IT partner, consultant and Managed Service Provider.
