MSPNetworks Blog

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 situation in March, creating a vaccine has been a major priority. True to form, hackers have begun targeting the very organizations responsible for the vaccine trials. There’s a lesson to be learned, today we’ll discuss it.

Cozy Bear

According to the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, a group with the moniker “APT29” (who is also known as “Cozy Bear” or as “the Dukes”) has started to relentlessly hack organizations tabbed with creating a vaccine for COVID-19. These claims have been corroborated by both US and Canadan authorities, and present a significant roadblock to the progress of COVID-19 vaccine production. 

In fact, the National Cyber Security Centre released a report that goes on to describe APT29’s use of several exploits in conjunction with spear phishing attacks to gain access to CSC’s network and infrastructure. Once network security is breached the organization gets busy deploying malware known as WellMess or WellMail.

CSC has been working with software vendors to patch vulnerabilities. Software that has been patched doesn’t provide the exploitable pathways that often lead to problems. 

Experts believe that this is not the first time APT29 has struck and that this threat should be taken very seriously. The organization is believed to be behind the 2016 hack that broke into the Democratic National Committee’s systems. The group has also been suspected of attacks against various healthcare, energy, government and other organizations.

Spear Phishing 

We relentlessly discuss phishing in our blog, because it is one of the biggest threats to maintaining network security. Most phishing attacks are messages sent randomly, but the spear phishing attack is one that is planned and executed deliberately to target one person. Hackers look for a weak link and try to take advantage of it. 

While your organization probably won’t be targeted by major hacking collectives, it is still important that you and your staff know how to identify a phishing attack and what to do if you suspect you are being attacked. Here are a few tips:

• Always check the details. Legitimate emails are sent from legitimate email addresses. Take a look at the email address of suspect emails and you’ll likely see a potential ruse. 
• Proofread the message. Most business correspondence is proofread before it is sent. If the spelling and grammar looks as suspect as the email is, it’s likely illegitimate.
• Reach out. If there is any question, reach out to the organization/person sending the message. The more you know, the less likely you will fall for a scam. 

Identifying phishing attacks has to be a major point of emphasis for your company. Call MSPNetworks today at (516) 403-9001 for help with getting the resources you need to properly train your team. 

There is no question that the COVID-19 pandemic has had no small impact on the way that business is conducted. A considerable part of that impact is directed toward the technology that powers these businesses. One way or another, the way that businesses use their technology is bound to be influenced before all this is over.

Let’s go over a few technologies that have come to the fore, and a few that will likely fade away somewhat.

Hardware

As one may anticipate, fears of germ transmission will likely run rampant amongst many of your employees, making them hesitate to use the equipment that’s in the shared space within the office. Furthermore, there’s the challenge present in allowing people to work from home if it requires them to haul their desktop back and forth each time they come back.

As a result, Bring Your Own Device is likely to rise even more in popularity, as employees will have the security of using a device exclusive to them and that they are more comfortable using. On a related note, mobile devices and laptops are likely to become even more of the office standard, as this hardware is inherently easier to bring around and work from anywhere.

Infrastructure

Likewise, cloud solutions are also likely to come to the forefront over on-premise solutions. Not only does this potentially simplify your employees’ access to their resources, it can also make the management of your IT so much easier for your business. After all, if there was to be an issue in your IT infrastructure when people aren’t in your office, it becomes far more difficult to resolve it. With a cloud provider, that is less of an issue, as maintenance and management is their responsibility.

Cloud solutions are also far more scalable than on-premise infrastructures, so that’s a considerable benefit in and of itself.

Collaboration

While in-person conferencing solutions were once all the rage, the moratorium on meetings and other gatherings have necessitated a shift in focus to solutions that can virtually bring people together. This will require both the hardware mentioned above and specialized software solutions to facilitate this cooperation.

One way or another, the means that businesses operate are bound to see shifts from this point forward. Embracing the IT solutions that will support these shifted operations will be important for businesses to prioritize. MSPNetworks can help you put these solutions in place and support your team as they put them to use.

Give us a call at (516) 403-9001 to learn more.

Many users are noticing or just starting to hear about Google and Apple’s initiative to work with local governments to provide an easy way to help users prevent getting infected with COVID-19. The idea is that, if a local or state government wanted to build an app for users that would tell them if people nearby have been tested positive for COVID-19, they would get a notification on their phone. 

This, of course, raises many questions and concerns about privacy, but a lot of people are being warned that this has been forced onto their phones already, and that just simply isn’t the case. Let’s take a look.

Every so often, an update or change to some major software that everyone uses causes a big stir on social media. For example, several years ago when the Facebook app on Android requested access to use your smartphone’s camera, some people on social media had a lot to say about it. As it turns out, Facebook lets you take pictures directly from the app, so of course you would need to give Facebook permission to your camera if you wanted to use it for that.

A lot of these shifts in technology and privacy are concerning, but they often get mixed in with a lot of misinformation. We’re not saying you shouldn’t be concerned over the giant tech companies and the data that they collect on you every day - you should, and typically do, have some control over what is gathered. The point is, we’re seeing a very similar reaction to Apple and Google’s recent COVID-19 contact tracing app framework.

Did Google or Apple Install a COVID-19 Tracking App on My Phone?

No. They didn’t. Not technically. Google and Apple worked together to build a framework that app developers can use for apps that track COVID-19 cases. They didn’t sneak a COVID-19 app onto your phone without your consent. 

Why are folks worried? A big part is due to social media sensationalism. We’ve seen some posts going around Facebook that read like this example:

**VERY IMPORTANT ALERT!***
A COVID-19 sensor has been secretly installed into every phone.
Apparently, when everyone was having “phone disruption” over the weekend, they were adding COVID-19 Tracker [SIC] to our phones!

If you have an Android phone, go under settings, then look for google settings and you will find it installed there.

If you are using an iPhone, go under settings, privacy, then health. It is there but not yet functional.

The App can notify you if you’ve been near someone who has been reported having COVID-19.

The post above is pretty misleading. There is no new “sensor” that Google or Apple secretly installed. Instead, during recent security updates, the two companies added a setting to enable the use of Google and Apple’s COVID-19 Exposure Notification system. This means that when official apps are developed, you not only need to install the app and set it up, but you also have to opt in to tell either Google or Apple that you want to participate.

This update is essentially two things - it gives local governments and the health industry in general the ability to use a secure, singular framework to build COVID-19 apps on, and it gives users the choice whether or not they want to opt in at all.

Just to Be Clear, This Isn’t a COVID-19 Tracking App

I can’t reiterate this enough, unless you installed something, your Android or iPhone isn’t just going to start tracking you and your friends and family to see if you have COVID-19. If you go into your settings as mentioned in the above Facebook post, you’ll see that you either need to install or finish setting up a participating app before the notifications can even be turned on. 

In a joint statement from Apple and Google (which doesn’t happen very often!), they state that “What we’ve built is not an app - rather public agencies will incorporate the API into their own apps that people install.”

To explain this, an API stands for Application Programming Interface. Basically, Google and Apple have laid some groundwork that these apps can use. It also makes it much easier for users to opt in and out.

Ironically, the system won’t work if users don’t adopt it - if half of all users decide they won’t use the COVID-19 notification system, the system might not be reliable enough to work for those that do use it.

What Do We Know About the COVID-19 Tracking Apps?

The system is still in its infancy, and it’s really up to state and local governments to deploy the official apps themselves. The platform that Google and Apple have built allow it to be decentralized and secure.

To put it simply, when you opt in and use one of these apps, a random ID is generated and exchanged between your phone and nearby phones within Bluetooth range. These random, anonymous IDs are stored on your phone. Basically, your phone keeps a tally of other phones it has been near.

If someone is diagnosed with COVID-19 and manually shares that information with one of the official contact tracing apps, all of the random IDs your phone has collected over the past 14 days are uploaded (with your permission) and the users of those IDs are notified that they may have been exposed. The system doesn’t track your location, or share other users’ identities within the app, or even with Google or Apple. On top of that, the random ID that your phone generates is changed every 10 to 20 minutes. According to Google, the apps are not allowed to use your phone’s location or track your location in the background.

In other words, it is safe, anonymous, and if you don’t want to opt in, you simply shouldn’t install any official (or unofficial) COVID-19 tracking apps.

How to Uninstall the Apple/Google COVID-19 Exposure Notification

Since this question is undoubtedly going to come up, we figured we’d answer it here. As mentioned, because this API isn’t actually an app, you can’t uninstall it. It’s built into Android and iOS’s operating systems and pushed through recent security updates.

There are walkthroughs on the Internet that will walk users through rolling back their phone or other risky procedures, but that only puts your phone at risk for other threats. There is nothing to uninstall, and rolling back your phone and preventing future security updates from ever getting installed is a very bad idea.

You don’t need to worry about the API being there. It’s just a setting, and by default, you are opted out. If you are worried about it, both Apple and Google state that by simply not installing a COVID-19 Exposure Notification app, or uninstalling one if you did install one, is all it takes to not participate.

DO NOT FOLLOW ANY INSTRUCTIONS ONLINE THAT WALK YOU THROUGH ROLLING BACK YOUR PHONE AND OPTING OUT OF SECURITY UPDATES. 

If you are that serious about your privacy, you are only putting your privacy and data at more risk.

After reading and understanding the technology behind the COVID-19 Exposure Notification system, it does sound like they are taking every step to make the system secure and anonymous. After all, it does need to comply with healthcare regulations, which many of our clients know are very strict when it comes to data privacy.

The decision to opt in or out of the COVID-19 Exposure Notification system is yours and yours alone, but Google and Apple appear to be doing all the right things to ensure that the system is safe and secure, without violating anyone’s privacy.

For the months that COVID-19 has been around, everyone has done all they can to hold on to their business. They have closed down, they have closed their offices and forced their employees to work from home, they have borrowed money and scaled back or eliminated their 2020 plans. It would be nice if all that sacrifice would pay off, but the frustrating reality is that there is going to be a lot of sustained discomfort for a lot of business owners. Let’s take a look at some things small business owners should consider as they reopen their businesses. 

Navigating the New Normal

Small businesses make up a large percentage of today’s functioning companies and employ a moderate amount of the workforce, so their importance to the economy is unquestioned. The problem facing many small businesses today is a lack of capital to meet the expenses their operations demanded before people started getting sick and the stay-at-home orders came down. There isn’t the demand, there are health questions, and ultimately, not enough money to go around.  

Most small businesses have already canceled their planned investments for the year. This alone has an effect on the whole economy. Vendors, who may or may not work for small businesses will feel the pinch. Recessionary business is not easy to navigate for anyone, but there are things you should do if you want to navigate the economic downturn.

Honest Assessment is the Key

The ability to take an honest look at where your business stands will be the most important factor to getting the help that you need. Familiarizing with your profit/loss statement and how it compares to 2019 should be your first step. Hard numbers may lack nuance, but they tell most of the story. Take a look at your business’ assets and the operational costs that go along with them. Unfortunately, big drops in revenues mean that you will ultimately have to take a long look at your human resources. When everything is on the table, the next steps will hopefully become clearer. 

After everything is laid out, assess the damage the pandemic has caused your business. Can you afford to sustain your business the way it was before the shut down? If so, good for you, your business is in the minority. In fact, according to the NFIC only five percent of small businesses have prospered during the pandemic. Apparently, they make masks, toilet paper, and hand sanitizer. 

Get the Help You Need

A big part of navigating this period for the small business is getting the help you need to stay afloat. Most governments have some sort of economic relief package in place for small businesses to utilize. In the US, the Cares Act has made several programs possible including the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which provides low-interest loans of up to $10 million to eligible businesses. If there is help to be had, it is a business owner’s responsibility to seek it out.

If your business doesn’t qualify for government assistance, it can be really difficult, and if you are initially denied funding, you need to keep looking. There are many places to get the help you’re going to need. Long nights are a part of owning a business, and today it’s important that you work on mitigating risks to your business’ future.

Use Automation to Your Advantage 

The worker’s “worst enemy,” automation can and probably will be a big part of your business for years to come. Your business probably already has the tools in place to be able to use automation in some way. When you automate some of the repetitive and menial tasks, your staff can focus on revenue-generating endeavors, improving productivity. The technology professionals at MSPNetworks can help you decide where automated tools best fit in. 

Your business is going to have to adjust and you are going to make some hard choices to get through the pandemic in one piece. If you want to talk to New York IT experts about how technology can play a big role in the sustainability of your business, give us a call at (516) 403-9001.

Getting tickets to see Hamilton was difficult before the global pandemic. The last time I had checked, ticket prices were over $600 on the low-end, and that was to reserve them 9 months early. With the pandemic, well, it’s just best to stay home.

Fortunately, on July 3rd, Disney released the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical on Disney+. You no longer have to Wait for It. What if you want to watch Hamilton with your friends while still practicing social distancing? We Know, and we’re about to show you. Best of all, your friends won’t need to be In the Room Where it Happens. We’re probably not going to stop with the Hamilton song title puns either.

What’s a Watch Party?

A Watch Party is where you gather some friends or family to stream a show or movie together, from different locations. Some services, like Amazon video, have adopted this to help us get through the global pandemic. 

Here’s What You Need to Host a Hamilton Watch Party

Everyone Needs Disney+
First of all, all parties involved will need their own Disney+ account. Unfortunately, Disney+ just stopped offering the free trial. I think they said “You’ll Be Back,” to everyone who let their subscription lapse after The Mandalorian was over.

Just log in to https://www.disneyplus.com/ and subscribe. Verizon has a promo right now, so if you recently bought a phone or signed up for Verizon Internet service, you might want to check to see if you are eligible.

Everyone Needs to Install a Browser Plugin
Next, all parties involved will need to install a Chrome browser plugin. If you only care about doing a watch party with Disney Plus, you can use the Disney Plus Party plugin. If you want to host watch parties with Netflix, Prime Video, YouTube, and Hulu as well, you can check out Vemos.

Either way, as the host, you’ll want to pick one, install it, and ensure everyone else gets it before the show starts, to avoid technical issues. 

Both plugins allow you to sync up the video with your watch party and includes the ability to chat with each other during the movie. Once the Disney Plus Party plugin is installed, click the icon it adds to the top right of your Chrome browser and create an account.

Once you’ve followed the steps to create an account, start up Disney+ in Chrome and start a movie. Then click the Disney Plus Party button and Host a Movie. It will ask you to create a name for the room.

Your friends will need to install the plugin, create an account, and click Join a Movie and type in the name of your room.

From there, the host will be able to play the movie and it should sync across everyone else’s device. You can pause it (so nobody asks, “What’d I Miss?” if they Take a Break), or you can watch the whole movie Non-Stop. There is one caveat though… as of right now, Disney Plus Party is only free for the first four hours per week. Hamilton’s run time on Disney Plus is just under three hours, so it’s a good way to try out the plugin before committing to spending money on it.

We hope everyone in your watch party is Satisfied! 

Want more tips and tricks? Stay tuned to What Comes Next by subscribing to our blog. If you need a Right Hand Man for your IT, give us a call at (516) 403-9001.

I think we did a pretty good job with the Hamilton song title puns, but feel free to take a shot in the comments!

Many states’ stay-at-home orders that are/were designed to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus are now lapsing all over the U.S. As a result, business owners are re-opening their doors to a great deal of uncertainty. We have put together this guide to help the business owner understand that, even though you’ve finally been given the go-ahead, you have a responsibility to keep your staff and customers safe.

The COVID-19 pandemic is the first time many of us have had to deal with this level of threat, and now that businesses start to re-open in an attempt to stagnate a recessionary dive in the economy, there is a lot of ground to cover. Today, we go through the considerations you need to make, and the actions you need to take, to keep your business clear of COVID-19, and what steps to take if the virus makes its way into your business. 

Mitigation

Understand Requirements

While stay-at-home orders may be lifted, there are many other regulatory bodies and authorities that will put forth various restrictions for the sake of public health. Whether imposed by federal, state, or local governments, or tailored to a particular industry that has specific requirements for their operations, it is critical that these directives are followed to the letter.

In the current situation, this becomes especially important in terms of the standards assigned by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC). Make sure you take the time to check for additional requirements applicable to your business’ industry, in addition to what applies to all businesses.

Compliance to ADA Rules

Many workplaces may consider testing for COVID-19 before allowing access to a business’ premises by anyone, which itself will require a few decisions to be made (how these tests are administered, who administers them, and the type of test to be used) and for these results to be protected as medical information.

The Americans with Disabilities Act and other assorted state laws also outline that these tests are only permitted if there is doubt that an employee can perform their job without posing a threat to themselves or their coworkers. While this standard was deemed to have been met by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, any updates could potentially change whether or not this screening is allowed. Check with your legal counsel before proceeding with these protocols.

Office Cleanliness

From your workplace to the employees to work there, you need to do everything you can to encourage a cleaner and healthier environment. Provide a few reminders pertaining to basic hygiene practices around the workplace, and make sure that it is cleaned and disinfected properly. Keeping the HVAC systems well-maintained and the office well ventilated also helps.

Social Distancing Adoption

Of course, we can’t discuss mitigating COVID-19 without bringing up social distancing. While many businesses are notorious for their close-quarter layouts, shared resources, and even their displays of etiquette, these need to be adjusted to maintain the recommended six feet (or more) of distance between people. Stagger shifts and enable telework, put up barriers and mark off boundaries, and discourage in-person meetings.

Safety Protocols and Precautions

It will also be necessary for you to put new rules and procedures in place to better ensure that your workplace is contributing as little risk as possible for your employees. This means that you will need to assign someone the responsibility of overseeing that all workplace processes are compliant with safety regulations. You will also need to be prepared to provide as many protections as possible for your employees, handle your staff and their potential absences in accordance with the law, and (as we’ll cover below) properly deal with an employee who becomes symptomatic.

Reaction

Understanding the Threats

Opening your business up in the time of a pandemic--especially one that has killed over 80,000+ of your countrymen--is unfortunately the situation many business owners are currently dealing with. It is important, then, to understand the threat that you, your staff, and your customers are under from COVID-19. 

Dealing with Employee Concerns

The first thing you should understand is that there is going to be a wide disparity of opinion amongst your employees. You will see people who are happy to be back to work and you will see people who resent you for re-opening your business before a vaccine has been found, and every option in between. Depending on the makeup of your staff, there will likely be some heated political debates that surround these opinions. Regardless of how outspoken your employees are, you need to be the person to take the action necessary so that the more anxious members of your workforce can do their jobs effectively. 

One of the best things you can do for workers returning to work after a layoff is to be prepared. Having masks, gloves, disinfectant soap, sanitizer, will ease fears, but as was mentioned earlier, you will need to have a policy dedicated to cleaning and sanitizing every surface you can. This type of effort has shown to mitigate COVID-19 transference as many alcohol-based products kill the virus before it can be transferred. 

COVID-19 does not have a vaccine, so it’s important that testing take place. A major problem is that testing hasn’t been made available, so if you have employees who can (and have been) doing their jobs from home, you will want to keep them home. If employees cannot do their jobs from home, as is true in many manufacturing and retail establishments, it is essential that the employees you bring back all have clean bills of health. The last thing you will need is a positive COVID-19 case shuttering the doors of your business. 

Additionally, there are still options for employers if they do have staff members who have been exposed to the COVID-19 virus in some way. Many businesses have been taking their employees’ temperatures as they come in to work to ensure that they aren’t running a fever, which of course is one of the telltale symptoms of COVID-19. Employers can dictate when their staff comes back to work, but in many states, there are regulations in place to protect workers. Your decisions should be neutral and not based on age, race, pregnancy, or any other identifier. You will want to send “rehire” letters that provide wage notices and outline the onboarding process.

Dealing with Symptomatic Employees

If one of your employees starts to present symptoms, you cannot panic, but they must be separated from the other employees. You will want to send them home and direct them to speak with a doctor so they can get tested. You will then need to notify the rest of your staff that they may have been exposed. You will want to try and protect the identity of the symptomatic employee if possible, but more importantly, you will want to ensure that there is transparency if someone does end up sick. 

You must remember that many employees are entitled to leave under federal, state, and local rules put in place for all situations related to COVID-19. Under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, many people who have been exposed to COVID-19 or have other responsibilities that don’t allow them to get back to work, are eligible for paid sick leave.  

Dealing with a Lack of Demand

Finally, the hardest part of returning to work after the stay-at-home orders is that a lot of people are still extremely concerned about contracting the COVID-19 virus and will shelter-in-place much longer, or even until there is a working vaccine. That could be over a year away. Business owners need to be ready for a lack of consumer demand, especially in retail situations. While there are borrowing opportunities to help many small businesses get through these extremely lean times, recession will be a big problem for small business owners.

If you haven’t already, you will want to start looking at options to reduce your business’ spending. You should likely cancel any big projects you had in the pipeline and cut costs anyway you can. It’s unfortunate, but if you want to get your business through COVID-19 and through the resulting recession, you are definitely going to be asked to make some tough decisions. 

This is where MSPNetworks can help. We can provide you with many cost-effective options that can work to maintain productivity, prioritize security, and cut costs by outsourcing parts of your business. If you would like to learn more about how we can help you see your company through this extremely tough situation, call us today at (516) 403-9001.

The Internet has never been more valuable than it is today. Over the past couple of months tens of millions of students have been introduced to telelearning, millions of businesses have promoted telework, people are meeting with their friends online, and consuming content from their living rooms (or their home offices) at rates never before seen. So what about security? Today we’ll take a look at how all this use is changing the Internet. 

Some Internet Stats

Prior to the pandemic, studies showed that only 5.2 percent of Americans worked from home in 2017. That’s roughly eight million people, or one out of every 20.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 29 percent of Americans can do their job from home. All other 71 percent have to physically be in a place to do their work. 

At present, telework has been made available as businesses look to maintain their revenue streams. In fact, it seems that COVID-19 has done something that almost a decade of advocacy has done: made business owners realize the benefits of telework. The question becomes, now that we know that telework is possible (or even preferred), how will this change the Internet?

How is the Internet Holding Up?

The Internet is now hosting roughly a third of workers who are doing their jobs from their homes, most students who spend half of their day online, and millions upon millions of online shoppers who are more apt to use online resources than go out and put themselves in physical risk. That’s not even mentioning the normal use of streaming services and typical online-based services. So the answer is that the Internet is holding up extremely well. 

Most Internet service providers have loosened or eliminated the normal data caps, supposedly saving people billions of dollars, but it is quite curious that these companies claim that the caps were in place to ensure the service works well. We’re led to believe that they are helping people by eliminating data caps, but it looks like the Internet would function fine without them. It will be interesting to see how people react when they are put back in place. 

It’s not perfect for everyone: Rural users with limited access to broadband still struggle to get the bandwidth they need. Larger cities, where infrastructure hasn’t been updated in some time,  are seeing more downtime. Still, tens of thousands of businesses are able to continue operations, giving people hope.

Cybersecurity is Still Crucial

Businesses that have been able to make it through the stay-at-home orders using remote technology are fortunate, but many of them have been targeted by hackers. By allowing remote work, you open your business to a whole list of new threats. Making sure your systems are up-to-date, and that your people understand how they are the first wave of defense, can take you very far in this environment. 

This whole era could change the office forever. Imagine it, productive and happy workers, fewer expenses, sweatpants. Or, we’ll forget this has ever happened and go back to working like we used to. Regardless of how it is going, your business needs to have the comprehensive network security tools in place including:

• Around-the-clock monitoring
• Firewalls and intrusion detection
• Anti-malware
• Security training
• Encrypted messaging and file sharing
• Help desk

And more.

If you would like to talk to one of our IT professionals about network security, telework, or any other technology-based solution used to make business possible during these tough times, call us today at (516) 403-9001.

With the COVID-19 outbreak forcing businesses into unenviable situations, it’s probably not surprising that business owners and decision makers are looking at what expenses they need to cut in order to keep their businesses afloat. Today, we’ll discuss the trends we are seeing and how managed IT services can be a godsend in situations like this.

Inevitable Cuts

While technology has helped millions of businesses from all over the world stay relevant during the pandemic, we’re seeing that IT is one of the elements of a business that is seeing the most spending reduction. After all, most businesses have to cut some costs just to make everything work. Furthermore, analysts are saying that after the outbreak ends, the remaining recession will actually cut IT expenses by two or more percent for the next year. For an industry that has seen spending rise by five or more percent for each of the past eight years, that is problematic.

To sustain profitability businesses will need to free up as much capital as they can during times like this, and many businesses including ones that operate in the hospitality and manufacturing industries are already seeing massive declines in revenue. This suggests that their 2020 and 2021 spends will probably be less than their 2019 spends. 

This means that many businesses will be cancelling their planned technology projects, especially if they are non-essential. They are using this capital to improve their liquidity and to fund the transitions necessary to support their newly remote workforce. 

Telework and How Managed IT Services Can Help

If your business is looking to make some cuts to your operational technology, choosing the right IT service provider can be a great solution. Not only will you be able to maintain your current IT infrastructure, but a managed IT service provider (MSP) can help you find and implement the solutions you are going to need to get through this situation. 

Let’s start with the remote workforce. Before the pandemic only around eight percent of full-time workers were able to have the flexibility to consistently work from home. With states mandating people stay at home during this situation, telework has exploded. If your company was one of the few that provided telework options before the stay-at-home orders hit, you probably have had a much easier transition to supporting a completely remote workforce. Most businesses, however, didn’t, and are seeing that setting this up properly isn’t terribly cheap.

The challenges of supporting a staff that works remotely aren’t necessarily the same as you would have envisioned. Many businesses didn’t provide the work-from-home flexibility out of the fear that they would lose substantial amounts of productivity (and therefore revenue). While this is still somewhat of a concern, most workers that work remotely understand what their responsibilities are and go above and beyond to ensure that they aren’t the weak link. It's been said multiple times over the past several weeks, but if you have an employee that does not work well from home, it's a pretty good bet that he/she wasn't working that well from the office, either. 

One consideration that does have to be made, however, is how to secure your endpoints and data-in-transit. If this wasn’t already a main consideration of your disaster recovery policy, it will be now. Working with remote access and virtual private networks can go a long way toward mitigating the risk your company will see. An MSP can quickly help you find solutions that will not only keep your data safe and protect your existing infrastructure, it can provide you with new and affordable tools to leverage to keep your business compliant of the regulations your business falls under. 

What’s more, with the use of a state-of-the-art monitoring and management platform, the trustworthy MSP continuously monitors your network and infrastructure to ensure that everything is working properly, efficiently, and securely. In times like this, when there are files coming in and flowing out of your network, knowing that you have professional technicians versed in contemporary knowledge of threats and inefficiencies, alike, can be a huge benefit for your business.

Finally, an MSP does all this (and more) for a fraction of the cost of paying an onsite IT department (who would be working from home right now anyway). An MSP will help you reduce downtime, keep your network and infrastructure working effectively and securely, and do it for a static monthly cost. This allows you to cut your IT support costs and have a number that won’t change from month-to-month.

If you would like more information about how managed IT services can help your business in this time of crisis call MSPNetworks today at (516) 403-9001.