In this video interview, you'll hear from Managed Solution's Virtual CIO Tony Pecora and learn more about what it means to have a modern workplace to support your remote workforce. Tony's vast knowledge is a perfect blend between business and IT and has helped clients saved over $250,000 annually with his recommendations when evaluating and optimizing IT. Tony discusses why a modern workplace is so important, especially today, and the effectiveness and benefits of a modern workplace. He addresses the important items for business leaders to understand technology to support their new remote workforce and what to consider when looking at a digital transformation, which many of us now find ourselves in.
It's always evolving and changing but using digital information aids to adapt that to your workplace to modernize it. It's less about brick and mortar but achieving company goals no matter where you are or what time it is. You can get tasks complete whenever wherever and not just inside office walls.
The benefit has been with the remote workforce is when you work remote is the time you save. That’s that much more time you can assist on client escalations (as tech team). There's just so many monetary and efficiency benefits, plus of course, the work-life balance. The thing is IT will never be an 8-5 Monday to Friday job so work-life balance is so important to technical teams. The ability to have some flexibility and have a break in the day is really nice and then get back to work on "off hours" to tend to things like server reboots, etc to not disrupt the client.
As a leader, ask yourself, what is possible with the infrastructure you currently have? Then re-evaluate your existing infrastructure. People weren't necessarily ready for a modern workplace but evaluating what you have and optimizing it can save you a lot of money, rather than just adding new things.
Your backbone or structure is most important on how you connect to the internet in addition to voice dialing on your phone. If you don't have internet or internet-enabled devices, you really limit what you can do as a business. Sometimes having a backup as well. It needs to handle the bandwidth. It's not just about plugging in a router. Location matters, what kind of service is available in that location. Core infrastructure including firewall and router and switches that protects you from the outside world are all things that need to be considered. Basically, what do you need to connect to, how do I connect to it, what is the amount, and is it scalable? Then we can formulate a plan for the best connection & user experience. When you look at enterprise companies with 1000 people - the question is why do you need all of the employees to come into the office? Is it compliance or legal reasons? Have you evaluated the cloud? Should we move it and host externally? Are your employees just using email, file sharing? Do they need some sort of security clearance so that they can only access certain files when connected to the company network?
Businesses may consider a hybrid environment, especially with email. Email sitting in-house becomes really expensive and if there's a breakdown with the server, all email is down so we'll see clients move their email to the cloud as one of the first things to go to the cloud.
Onsite support has become remote. It's important that we help people in the experience that they're having. We want to remote into experience what they're dealing with, whether it's spotty internet, a hotel room where you're 3 floors from the router, etc. Just because we're not on-site, doesn't mean we can't experience what they're experiencing. While remote, it's important to have more cadence than you're used to as a manager or department head. Your team is going through something totally new. Your IT team was supporting 7-9% of the company who was previously remote and now you have to support 97% of the company. In many cases, a lot of companies didn’t prepare for this but it still needs to be addressed. So it's important to have regular communication to have a close handle on what's going on.
This week has been historical. Bars and gyms shutting down. Restaurants only offering takeout. Social distancing. Our regular routines have come to a halt.
How do we adapt to these never-before-seen circumstances?
People are starting 'virtual happy hours' and hanging out on FaceTime or Zoom with their friends. Musicians have taken up Facebook live to 'perform shows.' Gyms are offering virtual workouts on social media and other outlets.
And businesses across the country are trying to figure out how to put their best foot forward to enable a remote workforce that is both productive and secure. This article is going to lessen the fear and equip you with questions and ideas for what to do next as well as give you the knowledge of the tools that can address your needs. Ultimately, we're here to empower you to enable a productive remote workforce.
In order for your employees to work remotely and out of their homes, there are a few things to consider that your business will need to do so successfully:
Currently, many hardware companies are on backorder and are having 2-3 week turnaround times. Fortunately, as a partner of these hardware companies, we tend to get it a bit faster. If we can help provide the devices for you, please contact us.
Most remote access is achieved through a remote tool such as a VPN, Remote Desktop, Windows Virtual Device or Direct Access. Any of these are viable options, it just depends on your infrastructure and what you're looking for. We're happy to chat about this in more detail with you.
Lastly, when remote, we likely won't have a desk phone. In fact, many offices don't have them anymore either. They have what you call a softphone (or desk-less phone). A softphone allows you to make and receive calls right from your device such as your laptop.
Make sure once you have the devices, that they're equipped with tools that allow for video conferencing, word processing, emailing, file sharing, and other various applications.
It's critical that you have some sort of hub (such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, etc) for file sharing and team communication. This type of hub allows for realtime communication via video conferencing and instant messaging, allowing your team to always be connected.
With this sort of foundation in place, especially for larger organizations, you are enabling your users to access resources and share files across the web, mobile and desktop storing everything in the cloud. This means you can access your email, files, and more from anywhere. Additionally, users can create and share new files with who they need to.
Lastly, it's critical that your organization continues to communicate. With everyone siloed in their homes, video meetings and instant messaging are more crucial now in staying connected.
This simply means having the ability to push and pull data and information to different devices so your users can be productive. This includes pushing to applications on-premise or in the cloud. Additionally, it also includes security policies and remote access and support. Your users are going to need all sorts of different data while remote, so it needs to be accessible to them.
With many new portable devices, this is a seamless and secure way to allow users to access company resources. Once their appropriate policies are set, they can then access things like their VPN. Additionally, it allows for ensuring devices are adhering to the policy by checking in on the device's health status.
Identity Management is what we call the 'source of truth' which tells us which employees have access to which files, what applications they can access and which groups, departments, etc that they can communicate with. By setting up each employee's identity, they are able to get what they need when they need it without delay.
This is also an added layer of security. You're able to control who can access what and allow your employees to collaborate securely.
There's an increased workload and usage with so many people working remotely, that it's important that you're monitoring the health of your systems. Make sure you have someone on staff (or outsource) that is able to remotely monitor application and network performance. This is critical in preventing breaches, which many companies are extra vulnerable to at this time.
Any change in an environment can cause unforeseen challenges or issues. Here are a few questions you should be asking as you prepare for or get started with a remote workforce:
As a Gold Certified Microsoft Partner, we can provide all the above, and quickly. Here's how we can help:
[Updated 3/17/2020]
With COVID-19 continuing to spread throughout the United States, more and more organizations are starting to think of their business in new ways and put new policies into place to help prevent the spread of the infection. With the new guidelines in place, large venue events like South by Southwest Film Festival and Coachella are being canceled or postponed, the only sports we're currently getting are highlights and re-runs of previous games, and many organizations are leveraging online platforms for virtual events instead of their previously planned conferences.
Let's dive in and talk about what questions you should be asking yourself about your business and what steps you can take when it comes to best preparing your organization for the Coronavirus.
Here are a few recommendations to help you better prepare:
For a complete list, check out the CDC's Business Pandemic Planning Checklist PDF.
While the CDC checklist pertains to all aspects of the business from HR to leadership, it's imperative that you have a plan in place for employees to continue working in the event that your physical office location cannot be accessed. Are you prepared if tomorrow you had to enact a remote workforce?
While many organizations today have already adapted a flexible work remote policy and/or employee full-time remote employees, there are still many businesses worldwide who have never even considered it (maybe until recently). It's imperative that your infrastructure is capable in times of crisis, and it's easier than ever in 2020 with the right technology and tools. Here are some questions you should be asking yourself as you prepare for a remote workforce:
At Managed Solution, we have a flexible work remote policy, so we are no strangers on how to effectively work remotely.
Skype for Business will be sunsetting on July 31, 2021. Have no fear though, as Microsoft Teams will replace it for all your communication needs and empower you to do even more.
What's Teams? Microsoft Teams is a unified communication and collaboration platform that combines instant messaging, calling, meetings, file sharing, app integration and everything you essentially need to collaborate with your team, no matter where you all are.
If you are a current Skype user, the below still applies and will until it's expired. However, new users that wish to sign up for Skype for Business will be redirected to Teams.
Whether you're new to Microsoft or have been a long time user of Skype, you should be very excited about the transition to Microsoft Teams. Skype is very limited in its capabilities - sure you can chat, make calls and have meetings, but the functionality ends there. Microsoft Teams does all of that and more. Here are some awesome features of Microsoft Teams:
On top of all these great features, you can organize and sort them by different "teams" - clever, right? For example, you can have a "Marketing" Team within Teams that the marketing and sales team to access collateral. You can also have an "All Staff" Team in which everyone in the company has access to. Additionally, you could have an "Executive" team where only the leadership team has access. With these different permissions, you can restrict and control which employees have access to what and keep communication and collaboration organized.
If you found this article interesting, you might want to check out some of our information on Microsoft Teams. Learn more about Microsoft Teams here.
What is the best collaboration tool for your business?
As many of us know, Microsoft Teams has replaced Skype for Business Online. For years, Skype has been the go-to tool for business communications. However, in more recent times, its popularity has been slipping and Microsoft is now slowly sunsetting it. As such, Microsoft has decided to make the transition to Teams which is now considered the best collaboration tool on the market.
Microsoft Teams is a unified communications platform that incorporates several features such as chat, phone calls, video, file storage, and app integration under one roof. It can integrate with all Office 365 tools and extensions as well as numerous non-Microsoft products. Another reason why Microsoft has phased out Skype in favor of Teams is its full integration into the Office 365 environment.
That said, let's take a look into what Microsoft Teams has to offer and what makes it the best communication tool on the market.
As we said, Microsoft Teams is fully integrated with Office 365. As such, it's somewhat intuitive to understand why using it would make sense if you are already using O365 for your business. Within the centralized Teams application, you can store documents, communicate with coworkers, and organize notes without having to change between different applications.
The platform also keeps the lines of communication free and flowing by maintaining an in-line conversation. This means that, if you moved away from Teams for a bit, you could pick up right where you left off in the conversation. You won't have to sift through tons of unread email threads.
Aside from O365, Teams is also compatible with an entire host of third-party applications. For instance, you can use Twitter, Facebook Pages, or Bing News to send information to specific Teams channels. Similarly, you can use Google Analytics to regularly update your analytics teams. This simple and flexible functionality allows you to keep track of important business updates, specific for each job role.
The Phone System feature, part of Office 365, makes it possible to use Teams to make phone calls outside of the organization. You can make or receive calls from anywhere in the world and from any other device that runs Teams and has an internet connection.
What's more, this feature also comes with several Calling Plans, depending on your business needs. Your finance team, for example, can be limited to domestic calls while the sales department has access to both local and international calling capabilities.
In addition, the feature provides call answering and initiating based on name and number, simultaneous ringing, voicemail, call history, call holding, emergency calls, etc. In terms of devices, you can use the Phone System from the Team app on your phone, laptop, tablet, conference-room speakerphones, headsets, etc.
The Intune security tool, part of Office 365, will help keep corporate data safe when using Teams. This will allow users to access data from any device while still maintaining compliance. Intune will protect and manage your employees' devices, the mobile apps used, as well as manage all sharing rules put in place.
Another key issue for organizations is transparency. With Teams, everyone is in the loop as you won't have to worry who to put in cc or who to invite in a meeting. The platform allows you to post your message in the relevant channel, @-mention people you want to be notified, and leave it for everyone else to read if they want. This way, nobody feels left out of the conversation, increasing transparency, and enabling people in the channel to pop in the meeting. At the end of the day, we love it and truly believe it's the best collaboration tool available.
While many users have already made the transition to Windows 10, others have yet to make the jump. Either because they got used to their current version of Windows or other similar factors, they will be, more or less, forced to do so in the immediate future. As of January 14, 2020, Microsoft will no longer support Windows 7 on laptops and desktops, and it will stop patching it with security updates.
While those using Windows 7 Pro and Enterprise can still extend their security updates until 2023, this will come at a cost based on the number of devices. What's more, this price will increase over time. That said, what are the best features that Windows 10 has to offer in comparison to its previous counterparts?
For starters, Windows 10 offers better overall security. It gives you the option of subscribing to Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection, which is a cloud-based service that manages various security threats across all of your Windows 10 computers and devices.
Likewise, the operating system also comes with Windows Defender Exploit Guard. This is a system that finds, quarantines, and removes any malware or ransomware that finds its way into your network.
In addition, it includes several other tools that can stop zero-day attacks, block malicious programs, or isolate any infected devices on your network. If you're using Windows 10 Professional or Enterprise, you will also have access to Windows Defender Application Guard.
This lets you use your Edge browser inside a virtual machine. This way, if your device or those of your employees get infected with malware or ransomware, your devices won't be affected since these will be restricted to the virtual machine.
Windows 10 also comes equipped with a Timeline feature. This feature will take a "snapshot" of all Windows apps you were using at any given time. By clicking on the "Task View" icon on your taskbar, you can select any of these snapshots and continue working where you left off.
The best part about this feature is that you can access these snapshots on all Windows 10 computers that are signed on with the same account. In other words, you can start working on a project on your home computer, then continue working on it in the office.
Another simple, yet useful Windows 10 feature is My People. This lets you pin ten business contacts as shortcuts in your taskbar. Once pinned, just click on a person to email them or start a conversation.
Staying focused while meeting a deadline is becoming increasingly difficult. There are plenty of distractions without Windows having to contribute to them. Focus Assist is a Windows 10 feature that allows you to toggle some or all notifications on or off, thus helping you concentrate on the task at hand.
Nearby Sharing in Windows 10 is a feature that allows you to share all sorts of documents, photos, links, and videos with nearby devices by using either Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. Granted, you can share links relatively easily over the browser, but when it comes to large documents, images, or videos, things become a bit more complicated. This feature helps streamline this operation if both PCs, the one you’re sharing from and the one your sharing with, have Windows 10.
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The first thing that comes to mind when we talk about voice and internal communications is Skype for Business. For years, Skype has been the go-to tool for business communications, be it internally, externally, or globally. To date, Skype has around 300 million active users. Nevertheless, it's popularity is slipping. Other tools are starting to replace Skype, one of the most popular being Microsoft Teams.
Microsoft Teams is a relatively new offering as part of the MS Office platform. It is a unified communications platform that combines several features such as chat, video meeting, phone calls, file storage, and application integration. The service can integrate with all other Office 365 suites and extensions, as well as non-Microsoft products.
In broad terms, it's similar to Skype for Business but with several additions. Besides, Microsoft is planning on steadily phasing out Skype in favor of Teams. The main reason for this, as we've mentioned, is the Teams' capability to be fully integrated into the Office 365 environment. As such, team members can exchange files, edit and write notes in shared documents, and collaborate more efficiently with each other.
Also, Microsoft Teams provides a series of easy-to-use communication channels to better organize inter or cross-departmental processes. Team members can choose to communicate with the entire team or one-on-one by using text, voice, or video chat. The added benefit is that both voice and video can be used within the platform, itself, supporting a large number of individuals at the same time.
Businesses that already have Office 365 and groups know that they can use Microsoft Teams to make voice calls over IP (VoIP) to other team members using desktops, laptops, or mobile devices running the Teams app.
Nevertheless, this Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls act more of an intercom system within an organization since Team apps don't connect to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Because of this, the Team app cannot be assigned a dedicated phone number, which means that nobody outside of the organization can use this feature to connect.
Something like this is only possible when a business connects to the PSTN by using Private Branch Exchange (PBX) hardware installed somewhere on the premises. The Phone System feature, part of Office 365, provides businesses with a cloud-based PBX system. Instead of having that PBX hardware installed in the office, companies can subscribe to this cloud-based service. The Phone System makes it possible to use Teams to make calls precisely as you would a regular telephone. You can make and receive calls from anywhere in the world and from any device that runs Teams, as long as there is an internet connection.
Furthermore, you can also add Calling Plans to better fit with your business needs. You can, for instance, have your finance team only make domestic calls while the sales department does both local and international. Some of the other features of Calling Plans are things like call answering and initiating based on name and number, call holding and retrieving, simultaneous ringing, call forwarding, voicemail, call history, emergency calls, etc.
Most importantly, however, you can do all of this from the Teams app that's on your phone, tablet, or laptop, as well as a range of other Teams-compatible devices and hardware such as conference room speakerphones, or headsets, among others.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][grve_single_image image_type="image-link" image="31471" link="url:http%3A%2F%2Finfo.managedsolution.com%2Fteams-quick-start-guide|||"][/vc_column][/vc_row]
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