MSPNetworks Blog

Productivity. Your company needs it. Your employees are measured largely by their ability to effectively turn their effort into a tangible product or service that creates revenue. It really means everything to your business. Why then, if it is so necessary, is it so hard to get the people you depend on to realize just how important their productivity is to the success of the business? Let’s discuss what makes a business productive, and what technology will mitigate the major barriers to productivity.

The modern business has a lot of moving parts, and for the most part they are all trying to do more with less. This is because the cost of running a business is higher; and the margins that result from that cost are lower than ever. The lack of available capital is felt in some places more than others. Technology is one of the places where a business may cut corners if it doesn’t have the liquid assets required to get the job done properly. It’s also a place where investments are made to help facilitate additional productivity through automation and enhanced efficiency. Since technology can both be the problem and the solution to your organization’s productivity strategy, let’s take a look at three robust software solutions you can invest in to help you avoid barriers to productivity.

Customer Relationship Management

Management software can go a long way toward removing one of the major barriers to productivity: multitasking. Most people are under the impression that if you are good at multitasking, you are more productive, but studies show that this is not true. When multitasking, it makes pretty good sense that you are not as focused on a task as you would be when you are, well...focused directly on that lone task. 

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) provides all the good of “multitasking” with actual boosts in productivity. This comes from the automation that is built-in. Instead of dividing your attention from one task to the next, the CRM will provide a profile for every task set out and integrate nearly every part of your business in the process. By using a CRM and focusing on one thing at a time, you will get the benefits that even expert “multitaskers” see.

Cloud-Hosted VoIP/Email

Hosted telephone systems are all the rage these days. In fact, most people who have home phones are using the VoIP system that comes through their cable modem. For modern businesses, communication is extremely important. There are now VoIP systems made for business that offer many of the communications tools that a business could need. Not only can a VoIP solution come with calling options that allow for desk and smartphone use, they also come with conferencing and instant messaging options that allow your workforce to meet in multiple ways to facilitate the communication the modern business needs.

In the same way where a comprehensive, cloud-based telephone system can be an important addition to your business’ communication strategy, so is a powerful email system. A cloud-hosted email system provides fast syncing and can come with integrated messaging and other productivity tools. Most enterprise-level email providers can be structured as a cloud-based tool so getting the one that is right for your organization is important.

Mobile Device Management

Today’s business just can’t forbid their staff from using their smartphone during work hours, unless they want to increase their human resources budget substantially. People are going to use their phones, but dictating HOW they use them can be where you can keep them from being a distraction. Some companies have outlined policies that give people short breaks for their calling, messaging, and social media—while others have drafted policies that are more liberal and straightforward—getting to a place where smartphone use isn’t presenting constant distractions is difficult. The answer is BYOD. 

One thing is clear about smartphone use, people would rather use Wi-Fi than use up their data. With a thorough Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy that includes expectations outlined in ink and fueled by a comprehensive mobile device management (MDM) tool, you can create a system that makes administrators cognizant of employee smartphone usage without making declarations against the use of them. After all, you may need them to use them at some point. With the MDM tool, you also get the added advantage of protecting your business from security issues that may be brought onto the network by this heavy mobile use.

Productivity fuels your revenue streams, and technology can help your business improve theirs. For more information about what other technologies can be used to improve productivity, call us today at (516) 403-9001.

Network security can be tough; there’s a lot to know, and you often need to have trained professionals on your side to ensure your systems are as secure as possible. With the right solutions on your side, however, it can be made much more manageable. Let’s discuss some of the most important security features your organization should implement and why.

Unified Threat Management

A UTM is an umbrella term that describes a comprehensive security appliance. A UTM typically includes a content filter, spam blocker, and antivirus software, among other solutions. It’s designed to protect you from the plethora of threats out there through the implementation of a singular hardware-based tool. It’s one security measure that your organization definitely does not want to be without.

Mobile Device Management

With so many people still working remotely or from a hybrid setting, managing your team’s mobile devices and their access to important data is an incredibly important thing to work toward. Mobile device management tools can be used to control user permissions and access to data, as well as whitelisting and blacklisting applications.

Permissions, Access Control, and Monitoring

It’s important that your company understand how permissions, access control, and monitoring work in tandem to protect your company’s assets. In essence, your team should have permissions for only the data they need to fulfill their day-to-day duties, and you should actively monitor who is accessing which parts of your infrastructure.

Virtual Private Networks

VPNs create encrypted tunnels between your network and devices that want to access its data. This protects data from being intercepted or observed while it’s traveling to and from your device. They are particularly valuable for any worker who spends time working outside the protections of your in-house network, and in today’s world of remote and hybrid workflows, they are extremely important.

MSPNetworks wants to be your business’ go-to security resource. We can help you implement any of the above solutions and monitor your systems for any security threats you can imagine. To learn more about what we can do to keep your business safe, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.

Make no mistake, the impact that your mobile device strategy has on your business is an important one. It can make or break your organization’s security, as well as stymie or encourage your organization’s productivity. Therefore, you should do everything in your power to make sure that your mobile device management platform is working to your company’s advantage. Let’s take a look at some of the features that all good MDM platforms should enable.

Even with all of the features that mobile device management platforms allow, there are some that are absolute non-negotiables that your organization cannot afford to pass up. Here are just a few of them.

The Ability to Lock and Remotely Wipe Data

This feature is one that you hope not to need, but this does not make it any less necessary. If employees are to lose devices, or if they are stolen and inaccessible, you need to have a contingency plan in place to remotely wipe them of all data, sensitive or not. Doing so ensures data privacy and keeps hackers or thieves from stealing data that does not belong to them.

Whitelisting and Blacklisting Apps

If your employees are using devices for company purposes, they should not be downloading apps all willy-nilly. Rather, you should have a specific policy in place regarding the use of applications with certain ones designated for work-related purposes. This helps you control the flow of data to external applications and helps to mitigate opportunities for leakage. Furthermore, if you give employees a list of acceptable applications, they can then use that information to find the best solutions for their own specific needs.

Device Tracking and Inventory

Your mobile device management platform should be able to track devices, but most important of all is knowing who is responsible for which device and how many of which device you currently have issued to your staff. This gives you opportunities to collect information on how your devices are used, as well as provides a way of getting in touch with someone if their devices start to show inconsistencies that could lead to security troubles. Really, this just boils down to making sure that you know where the devices are and what they are used for.

Enforcement of Security Features

Your mobile devices should be protected in as many ways as possible with proper passwords being the absolute bare minimum. In fact, we recommend that you also implement some type of multi-factor authentication, such as biometric authentication, whenever possible, as well as powerful encryption tools that keep the data found on mobile devices as secure as possible.

If your organization wants to take its mobile device management to the next level, we recommend working with MSPNetworks to establish your needs. We can then work with you to ensure your business is taking all of the appropriate steps forward with its mobile device strategy. To learn more, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.

It’s no surprise that mobile technology has infiltrated the workplace in more ways than one. Many businesses issue company-owned devices to their employees to get work done while out of the office, while others allow employees to bring their own devices, or use their own laptops and smartphones for fulfilling their day-to-day duties. That being said, it’s important to remember that mobile devices need to be managed in a very specific way to maintain security.

Let’s discuss how your business can manage the benefits of mobile devices in the workplace without sacrificing security.

Remote Wiping

Let’s say that one of your employees goes on a business trip and they set their briefcase down for a moment while they order a cup of coffee or some other task. When they return, the briefcase is gone, along with any devices that were in it. Besides scolding the employee for their negligence, your first thought might drift to the question of “What about the data found on that laptop?” What might the thief do with such data? The possibilities should have you concerned. Should you fail to recover the device, you will want the capabilities to remotely wipe the device of any and all sensitive data. This is to ensure that hackers don’t make use of it against your organization and to comply with various data privacy regulations. While it might stink to lose the device and have to replace it, it would stink more to have that data fall into the wrong hands.

Whitelisting and Blacklisting Applications

Some smartphone and desktop applications will be more secure than others, meaning that you will need to be extra cautious in what you allow applications to access on your devices. While we encourage all users to pay attention to what permissions are granted to applications, this is especially important for businesses. You should have the capabilities to whitelist and blacklist applications based on their potential merits or risks, thus keeping your devices (and data) as secure as possible.

Managing and Tracking Devices

Finally, you will want to consider a method for keeping track of any and all devices used to access your organization’s data. This includes any company-issued devices and employee-owned devices used for work purposes. You want to know who has which device at any given time, when that device was issued, what the employee is using the device for, etc. All of this helps you keep track of devices so that you can be sure they are being used effectively and, most important of all, safely.

Implement a Mobile Device Management Policy

If you want a comprehensive all-in-one policy to keep track of your company’s mobile devices, look no further than mobile device management from MSPNetworks. We can help your business stay on top of its mobile devices and reinforce best practices at every turn. To learn more, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.