You can’t always prepare for unforeseen events in life (thanks, 2020 for making that abundantly clear!), but you can plan for them as a business. Putting a structured, documented disaster recovery plan (DRP) in place that protects your business from the impacts of major incidents will give you and your colleagues peace of mind and ensure that things run smoothly if something untoward were to happen.
In the wake of the Corona Virus UK business quarantine, with many people working from home, school children having virtual classes, and many companies offering online options of their normal face-to-face events it’s important to be aware of the dangers of online learning.
In these uncertain times where many businesses are now working remotely it is more important than ever to have superfast business broadband.
So, what is it?
There is a lot of publicity about internet security and how very few of us are actually doing enough to keep our online identity and data safe. Let alone to meet GDPR standards.
Not opening attachments from unknown people, and not giving your bank details to international gold merchants who want to transfer £13m to your bank account just isn’t enough anymore, this is far too obvious and unsophisticated.
Without a webhosting service provider your website will not be live on the internet. These providers are a little like estate agents - you are paying them ‘ground rent’ for your little bit of real estate on the internet.
Google and users much prefer that your website loads quickly so make sure you go with someone who has fast servers.
When your IT systems are running smoothly, with no problems, error messages or viruses it is very tempting to pat yourself on the back for saving money by not using outsourced IT support services. You could use Bob on reception, Bob knows a bit about computers so he will sort it out...
However, what do you do when you have ransomware on your machine, and none of your files are accessible? Who do you turn to? Bob?
VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol (AKA IP Telephony), and is a system for providing voice communication over the internet. This includes voice calls, video calls and multimedia/video sessions.
Migrating from an old system to a newer version or even a different system can be a major headache, especially when old programmes and software refuse to work with the new system.
However, keeping old legacy systems in operation may seem like the easiest option but this is only a short-term solution and can end up having a negative effect on your business.
As the COVID-19 crisis continues companies have had no choice but to set up their staff to work remotely. We need to adapt quickly or be left behind.
One question all businesses face over the coming months is maintaining a level of security across all devices that access and use corporate data.
Migrating to a new system doesn’t have to be a painful and stressful process. Although there may be a little inconvenience or downtime, inevitably the new system will be more efficient, and with more capability than the one you are using currently. This can help your business run more efficiently and gives you potential to grow.
So, what are the benefits of migrating to Microsoft Office 365 for business?
When you are just starting your business, you have to make a lot of decisions, but none are as important as the sort of hardware you will need going forward. Making the wrong decisions and purchasing inappropriate hardware can be expensive and will give a bad user experience.
Once 2 Factor Authorisation is turned on your Office Suite applications will (probably) start asking you to type in your password and verify it's really you once again. It is often the case that Outlook will be the first to not accept your normal password.
If Office Suite applications are not accepting your regular password try the following solution:
Go to https://portal.office.com and log in to your Office 365 account
A Shared Mailbox is the best way for a group of people to monitor and send email from a generic email address like This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (i.e. not a named person). When a person in this group replies to an email it will appear to come from that shared address, not from the individual.
Short term finance can help unlock your business potential through increased cash flow. Investing in your business can take some time to show the results; being able to spread the cost of your payments means you can keep your cash handy. Here are some of the key benefits of using short term finance for your business:
● Invest in the future - wasting labour hours with old or outdated equipment? Invest in efficiency with confidence.
There are three aspects to this, hardware, software, and warranty.
As you are probably painfully aware software changes every 5 minutes.
it's great isn't it. All your work email on your phone, and access to file storage etc. What about those other apps your colleagues use though? A BYOD policy at many workplaces is great for the business, it empowers and enables staff to be better integrated with the business, and saves the business a bit of money on tablets and mobiles. WIFI Finder aims to make life even easier by sharing Wi-Fi access between users.
Business networking comes in all shapes and sizes, and at a huge range of costs. We don't think that you have to spend the earth to get good results though, but you do have to have a strategy, and work hard to achieve it.
In the beginning there was Lync. Then we got Skype for Business (SfB), which is a nice product, much like Skype (personal edition) but far more fully featured. SfB integrates very well with Outlook for setting up meetings to collaborate with internal and external parties, even if they don’t have SfB themselves. Early in 2018 Microsoft released Teams, and now this newbie is taking over from SfB as the new video/audio conferencing tool for Office 365.
At Bongo IT, we know that technology is increasingly dominant and crucial to maintaining business performance and productivity.
Organisations should make sure they are making the right IT decisions for their current needs, whilst also planning for the future with flexible and scalable solutions.
As a special offer, we are offering a FREE one hour consultation to address your current IT setup and recommend an effective strategy for your future requirements.
Addressing issues such as computer hardware, broadband, data security, file sharing, compliance and more, we’ll help you build a plan and ensure you deploy the most cost-effective IT strategy for your company’s needs.
