In addition to disrupting lives and work around the globe, the pandemic set off a plague of cybercrime. Estimates show there were as many as 192,000 coronavirus-related cyberattacks per week in May 2020 alone, a 30 percent increase compared to April 2020 (Unisys). There has never been greater urgency to invest in preventative data security. But for many small to medium-sized businesses, providing the level of IT management required to securely support a fully hybrid workforce is simply unrealistic. Maintaining in-house IT staff is costly. And no matter how good your full-time IT person is, it’s impossible to give the level of support and security you get from an entire team working around the clock.
The cost savings of outsourcing your business IT services means you can maximize the effectiveness of your IT dollars, and helps you standardize technology across your portfolio, regardless of location. With Techmenity’s 24/7 proactive monitoring, we’ll ensure your systems are healthy and operating efficiently — allowing you to focus on growth, not recovery.
In order to maximize the effectiveness of your IT budget, Techmenity recommends outsourcing some or all of your IT Services. Techmenity can provide added support for your existing IT team or, we can manage your businesses’ full IT suite. We help businesses big and small customize a cloud-based IT plan, select the right collaborative tools for your teams, and build an IT strategy that addresses four main concerns: security, management, flexibility, and scalability.
1. Data & Cybersecurity
Even before the pandemic, most data breaches went undiscovered for 287 days and it took another 80 days to contain the breach (IBM). The abrupt shift to remote dramatically expanded the attack surface and increased the threat landscape for every organization. Having employees logging in from different locations, on a variety of networks and devices (many of which they brought themselves) opened a pathway for cybercriminals to target both the company and the individual.
Ensuring secure remote access is an essential first step for every business, but it’s not enough. It is essential that your company take a comprehensive approach to hybrid work; one that focuses on minimizing human error through cybersecurity awareness training for employees, role-based access, and choosing interoperable solutions with built-in security and privacy features.
2. Management and Control
Many organizations use computers, operating systems, and databases from a variety of different vendors. Now faced with managing hundreds or thousands of remote workers operating in diverse environments, organizations need more standardization to ensure better management, governance, usage, and security.
Hybrid work requires technologies that offer centralized administration of software, hardware, and facilities — with real-time updates and integrated visibility into all apps and devices.
3. Flexibility
Now that most of us have accepted and settled into our new hybrid routine, employees want to choose how, where, and when they work.
Today, only 55% of companies give frontline workers access to enterprise collaboration tools, but that is expected to increase to 92% in the coming year. In order for companies to support a true mix of workers, those working from home “must be as effective, visible, and valued as their in-office counterparts.” (Frost & Sullivan, 2021)
Enterprise Communications and Collaboration Solutions: image © 2021 Frost & Sullivan • www.frost.com
Techmenity can help you facilitate secure, efficient collaboration across locations and job roles, by leveraging solutions that offer a wide variety of integrated capabilities while prioritizing employee experience:
4. Scalability
Being underprepared for growth when building your technology infrastructure can be the single biggest hindrance to your company’s success.
As your business expands, your IT needs will change so it’s crucial that you plan for growth when designing your technology infrastructure. You can ease future growing pains by investing in an IT company that is equally invested in a long-term relationship and prepared to grow with you. Techmenity will work with you to understand your company’s growth plans so that we can build your technology systems to scale.
Every new IT services contract begins with an in-depth audit of your current IT ecosystem to assess and understand your organizational roles around IT, define our “starting point,” and create our project timeline.
Techmenity’s 24/7 Managed Services team will help design & implement proper IT Security, Data Management, and WFH policies to protect business continuity — and ensure employees can work safely and efficiently no matter where they’re connecting from.
Contact us to schedule a discovery call or read the posts linked below to learn more about Techmenity’s IT services.
This article is part of our Hybrid Workplace series: