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What companies get wrong about business continuityEvery business owner knows that having a business continuity plan is crucial to the success of their organization. However, when the unexpected does happen, companies tend to overlook how well employees can stick to the plan. To make sure your plan doesn’t go up in flames, here are five critical mistakes you must avoid. Mistake […]

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What companies get wrong about business continuity

Every business owner knows that having a business continuity plan is crucial to the success of their organization. However, when the unexpected does happen, companies tend to overlook how well employees can stick to the plan. To make sure your plan doesn’t go up in flames, here are five critical mistakes you must avoid.

Mistake #1: Failing to plan for employees

Companies that survive unexpected incidents are the ones that thought about their employees’ needs. Make sure you plan out everything from evacuation routes to emergency communication plans to make sure your employees have everything they need to survive the worst.

Discuss your strategy with your employees to let them know that you will be there to support them and their families in the event of a crisis. This way, your employees will have peace of mind knowing you and the company are there for them, and in turn, they will be there to support you.

Mistake #2: Using only words, not actions

Once you’ve documented your business continuity plan, you need to think about the small stuff to ensure your plan is executable. This includes logistical considerations like medical aid and monetary support.

Walk the walk and ensure your medical providers have made arrangements in advance. Have an assistance program in place to make sure your employees have access to people who can give them support in the event of an incident. Staff will remember if you provided them with care and support, and will remember even more clearly if you didn’t.

Mistake #3: Not showing your employees how the plan will work

While many business owners worry about downtime, they overlook the fact that explaining the plan and its execution to employees is critical to minimizing lost productivity.

As part of your maintenance program, include your employees in the testing process. Execute a live test to show your employees how they’re supposed to respond during a crisis incident. Who are they supposed to contact during a natural disaster? What are they supposed to say to clients? Where will they work when the primary office is down? These are just a few questions you need to have answered by the end of the live test.

Mistake #4: Forgetting to check on people after the incident

When an incident occurs, the first assessment most businesses make is to determine the impact it has on the company. But how do you execute that process without people? When disaster strikes, your employees will naturally want to be taking care of their families, not your business.

Ensure your crisis management team addresses people issues first. Where are they? What do I need to do for them? Are there any special employee needs you must address?

Mistake #5: Reacting rather than communicating

The most important thing to get right during a crisis is communication. It is imperative that your employees know you can provide them with the most up-to-date information.

Set up a toll-free hotline so your employees can call in for regular updates or create emergency channels where they can communicate with one another directly. With that, you provide consistent messaging, and you eliminate secondhand information and employee guesswork.

If your business continuity plan prioritizes your employees, you’ll have peace of mind knowing that your team is still standing strong even if the worst should happen.

Want to learn more about business continuity and how it can help your business? Contact us today to see how we can help.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

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Prevent your laptop from overheatingAn overheating laptop is not an uncommon thing. Unfortunately, this can lead to decreased laptop efficiency and a shorter lifespan. Here’s how to protect your laptop from damage due to overheating. Causes of overheating Laptops generate heat when in use. That’s why they have internal fans that blow out hot air and suck in cooler […]

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Prevent your laptop from overheating

An overheating laptop is not an uncommon thing. Unfortunately, this can lead to decreased laptop efficiency and a shorter lifespan. Here’s how to protect your laptop from damage due to overheating.

Causes of overheating

Laptops generate heat when in use. That’s why they have internal fans that blow out hot air and suck in cooler air. So when your laptop keeps shutting down or suffers some serious slowdowns, chances are it’s overheating.

Some causes of overheating are:

Damaged or malfunctioning fans are due to dirt and grime clogging up the fan, preventing it from rotating properly.
Blocked air vents prevents air from flowing into the laptop.
Old laptop battery rely on lithium, a chemical that naturally decays over time; as the battery gets older, it becomes less efficient and generates more heat
Running too many software programs in the background can cause your processor and fans to go on overdrive.
Bad habits when using your laptop, such as using uneven or soft surfaces as padding, can block the air vents, leading to overheating.

What to do if your laptop’s overheating

If your laptop starts overheating, the first thing you should do is turn your laptop off and check if the fan is damaged in any way. This can slow down its rotation. Next, inspect the vents and fan for any dirt, grime, or other possible causes of blockage.

Also, check how many software programs or apps run immediately after switching your laptop on. If your laptop is overheating or shutting down after a while, you may have to disable applications on startup.

Keeping it cool

Always make sure that there’s adequate airflow when you’re using your laptop. Avoid using your laptop in bed or on a carpet. And never use pillows as padding as they can block the air vents of your laptop. Better yet, invest in a cooling pad. They lift your laptop and have built-in fans that facilitate better airflow.

Other ways to avoid overheating are limiting the number of programs that run when you start your laptop, changing your settings to power save mode, and shutting down your laptop when you’re not using it.

Users often take their laptops for granted because they’re built as plug-and-play devices. However, with a little extra care and attention, your laptops can last longer. If you want to prolong the lifespan of your hardware, call our experts today.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

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Improve collaboration with G SuiteG Suite has made accessing emails, sharing files, and working remotely much easier. This all-in-one computing, productivity, and collaboration tool can revolutionize small- to medium-sized businesses’ (SMBs) work processes. Here are some tips to configure it. Allow display views inside and outside your business Activity dashboards typically provide limited details on file activity that one […]

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Improve collaboration with G Suite

G Suite has made accessing emails, sharing files, and working remotely much easier. This all-in-one computing, productivity, and collaboration tool can revolutionize small- to medium-sized businesses’ (SMBs) work processes. Here are some tips to configure it.

Allow display views inside and outside your business

Activity dashboards typically provide limited details on file activity that one can view. Not so when you enable G Suite's view history. With this function, you can determine which users have opened the file and the time and date they accessed the file.

What's more, G Suite can also provide the details of external users who viewed your file, and whether they used a non-office-issued device. To access these data, you have to:
Open Google Slides, Docs, or Sheets.
Select Share.
Type in the email address of the external user.

People outside your organization can access your files only when you authorize them, and at the same time, you can see their viewing history. Note that you won’t have access to external users’ viewing history if you share files using the Public or Anyone with the link settings.

Keep in mind that view history is available only once you are authorized by your administrator and after you make changes to G Suite’s privacy settings.

Limit view monitoring

If you're using the latest version of G Suite with the activity dashboard, the administrator can change the settings by logging in to the Admin console, where they'll be redirected to the Apps section. In the Apps section, click G Suite > Drive and Docs > Activity dashboard settings.

From the Activity dashboard settings, you can set dashboard permissions via the Access to Activity Dashboard. Meanwhile, if you wish to adjust view monitoring settings (files and user accounts, all user views, or none), you can do so under Users’ view history. If you’re unable to decide, we suggest allowing people to have access to the activity dashboard and enabling view tracking for all users.

Google constantly adds new features to its G Suite platform, so stay in touch with us to know how you can use them to boost business operations and productivity. Give us a call today and we’ll introduce you to a suite of Google tools that can help you achieve your business goals.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

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Monitoring employees online: Is it right?The choice to monitor your employees’ computers or not is a tricky one. While part of you may think it’s unethical, it could end up saving you hours of lost productivity or preventing a data breach. Here are some pros and cons of employee monitoring, and some tips to handle it fairly if you decide […]

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Monitoring employees online: Is it right?

The choice to monitor your employees’ computers or not is a tricky one. While part of you may think it’s unethical, it could end up saving you hours of lost productivity or preventing a data breach. Here are some pros and cons of employee monitoring, and some tips to handle it fairly if you decide it’s right for your business.

The case for monitoring

There are a number of reasons why monitoring your employees’ activities on company devices is a good idea. Doing so can help you:

  • Protect your organization from data theft or harm – because careless or disgruntled employees may leak or steal your data.
  • Ensure you have a harassment-free workplace – because cyberharassment (sexual or otherwise) happens among employees.
  • Ensure staff are complying with policies – such as not downloading illegal programs or spending time on websites with illegal or hostile content.
  • Provide evidence in case of a lawsuit – heaven forbid this happens, but if an employee participates in illegal activities using your business’s computers, monitoring can provide evidence of who was involved.

The sad fact of the matter is that many business owners who begin monitoring their employees often end up discovering that their staff members aren’t focused solely on the company’s success.

Arguments against employee monitoring

Of course, there are some potential downsides to monitoring that you should be aware of as well. These include:

  • Productivity loss – monitoring can put a damper on employee morale and you may see the distrust lead to productivity losses.
  • Lost privacy and lawsuits – you’ll likely learn personal details of your employees that you would’ve never known about had you not monitored them. You may discover their political or religious views, sexual orientation, or medical problems. This could potentially open up your business to privacy or discrimination issues if you or your management team acts negatively based on any of this information.

Monitoring guidelines to follow

If you decide to monitor your employees, here are a few tips you should follow.

1. Create written policies
When you decide to monitor your employees, ask yourself: Am I doing this for security purposes? Is it to ensure your employees aren’t wasting time on social media? If your monitoring policies are too strict, you could create an atmosphere of distrust.

Set guidelines for acceptable use of email, social media, web browsing, instant messaging, and downloading software and apps. Also, make sure to include how monitoring will be carried out and how data will be secured or destroyed.

2. Tell your employees
It’s important to inform your employees about the scope of your monitoring policies. If they find out you’re doing it without their knowledge, you could face legal issues. By being transparent and open, you may actually see a boost in productivity by deterring employees from wasting time on the web.

When you tell your employees, explain why you’re doing it and the risks your business faces from misuse of digital assets. Reassure them you’re not doing it to spy on their personal life, but to create a compliant and law-abiding workplace. Because their activities will now be less private, encourage your staff to keep their personal communication to their smartphones. Also, provide a copy of your written policy to employees to read and sign.

3. Get the right technology tools
You don’t need to know every little employee activity, so look for apps and software that alert you of the most relevant problems so you can focus on more important tasks.

If implemented correctly, employee monitoring makes your business more secure and productive. For more information about security and other IT support tools, get in touch with us today.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

The post Monitoring employees online: Is it right? appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

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