Hiring seasonal staff? Here are a few things to consider from the IT

 

Hiring seasonal staff? Here are a few things to consider from the IT perspective

 

In many industries, there are seasonal spikes in business around specific times. For example, CPAs/Accounting firms, though busy all year, generally see a spike in business around the time of tax planning, IRS return filing, etc., the retail industry sees a boom around the Holiday Season, and so on. During such peak times, it is common practice in the industry to employ part-time staff to meet the immediate resource needs. While this works well in terms of costs and for handling additional work/client inflow, this poses a few challenges from the IT perspective. In this blog, we explore those challenges so you know what to watch out for before bringing part-time staff on board.

 

Security

 

When you are hiring someone part-time, security could be a concern. You or your HR person may have done a background check, but their risk score nevertheless remains much higher than permanent employees who are on your payroll. Trusting a temp worker with customer and business data is a risky choice.

 

Infrastructure

 

Having seasonal employees is a good solution to temporary spike in workload. But, there is still a need to provide your temps with the resources they need to perform their tasks efficiently. Computers, server space, internet and phone connectivity, all need to be made available to your temp workforce as well.

 

Lack of training

 

Your permanent employees will most likely have been trained in IT Security best practices, but what about your temps? When hiring short-term staff, SMBs and even bigger organizations rarely invest any time or resources in general training and induction. Usually brought in during the peak seasons, temps are expected to get going at the earliest. Often IT drills and security trainings have no place in such hurried schedules.

 

Collaboration needs

 

Often businesses hire seasonal staff from across the country or even the globe because it may offer cost savings. In such cases when the seasonal staff is working remotely, there is a need to ensure the work environment is seamless. High quality collaboration tools for file sharing and access and communication needs to be in place.
Having part-time or seasonal staff is an excellent solution to time-specific resource needs. However, for it to work as intended--smoothly and in-tandem with the work happening at your office, and without any untoward happenings--such as a security breach, businesses need to consider the aspects discussed above. A MSP will be able to help by managing them for you, in which case hiring temps will be all you need to think of.

3 Things to consider before you sign-up with a cloud services provider

 

3 Things to consider before you sign-up with a cloud services provider

 

More and more SMBs are migrating to the cloud and that is not a surprise considering the numerous benefits the cloud can offer them. For a SMB, the cloud is a cost efficient and secure answer to their growing data needs and IT security requirements. The cloud grows with them and lets them scale their business without worrying about a corresponding rise in IT costs. Plus, with the cloud, the important aspects of security and backups are mostly taken care of by the cloud service provider. And then, there’s the convenience of any-time-anywhere data access. With all these benefits that the cloud brings, what’s there to think about before signing up with a cloud service provider? While are a lot of benefits of storing your data on the cloud, but your data is still yours, so there are a few things you need to know and be comfortable with before you jump onto the cloud.

 

Data storage location

 

Ask your cloud services provider where, (as in the location of the data center) your data will be stored. Ask them if they have multiple data centers and if yes, then, will they be backing up your data and storing them at different places. It is great if your cloud services provider does that, since that ensures higher safety of your data.

 

How secure will your data be?

 

Yes. When you hire a cloud services provider, a major chunk of your data’s security responsibility is passed onto them. You don’t have to really worry about your data security, but, you still need to know how they plan to keep your data safe. Ask your cloud services provider for details regarding their data security procedure. Have them share all policies, SOPs and data security frameworks that they claim to have in place.

 

Past performance/data loss history

 

Everyone talks about their best projects in a sales meeting. What you really need to know are the worst ones. Ask your cloud services provider to share with you their data loss/downtime trends for the past one year. Observe the trend. How often does their system give way and how long does it last? This is important for you to understand, because this metric translates into loss of business for you.

And finally, don’t forget to ask for a client list. Like we said before, everyone highlights the good things about themselves in a sales meeting. If you really want to know how good your cloud service provider is, ask them for a client list--both current and past. Check how many of them are from your industry vertical. Try reaching out to those who are willing to talk. Find out what they like the most about your cloud service provider and what aspects they find negative. Find out why their former customers left them. Usually customers are pretty good indicators of the quality of service a business provides. Hope these tips help you finding a cloud service provider who fits in well with your needs.

Get smart about smartphones

 

Get smart about smartphones

 

With flexible working schedules, remote teams and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies in force, it is has become commonplace for employees and business owners alike to use smartphones for work purposes. A quick reply to an email, sharing that sales presentation, glancing over that vendor proposal–all on a smartphone–is something we all do on a daily basis. But with this convenience comes great security risks.

 

This blog discusses what they are and how you can avoid them.

 

Mobile devices are lost/stolen more easily

 

Unlike desktop computers, your smartphones and tablets are easier to steal. O, you may even forget yours at the restroom in the mall or in the subway, and along with it, goes all confidential data.

 

Phishing: Avoid biting the bait

 

A smartphone user is more likely to fall for a phishing scam on two accounts--one, with messaging apps like whatsapp, facebook messenger, etc., chances of getting phishing links are higher. The smaller screen size can make it difficult to clearly verify the authenticity of the site being visited.

 

Free Wi-Fi = free malware

 

Free wifi makes everyone happy. The smartphone user, the shopkeepers and also malware distributors! Your smartphone literally travels everywhere with you. The mall, the coffee shop, the movies and then to work as well. Just like how humans can catch the flu and make everyone at work sick, your mobile device can get infected with a malware and spread it across your network in the office.

 

What you can do?

 

You have antivirus for your computers, why not for your smartphones and tablets? We all know how disastrous a malware attack can be to your data, devices and your brand, in general. Consider installing antivirus software in your mobile devices to safeguard them from such attacks.

How do you prevent misuse of your debit card? With a PIN number, right? You can do the same to your phone by protecting it with a passcode so the miscreant will not be able to use it to access your data. Also, there are apps that let you wipe out all the data from your smartphone remotely in case you lose your device.

Be careful when downloading data and even 3rd party apps on your phone. Double check URLs when browsing online using your phone and don’t click on messages with links that seems malicious. In such cases, remember, if something seems too good to be true, it almost always is. Chances are, you may have not won that million dollar lottery or that all-expenses-paid trip to Europe.

And, spread the word amongst your employees. Their phone has the power to damage your brand! Take care.