Two reasons to pay attention to software Software matters. What your employees use can impact your firm and your customers. Pay attention. Make rules. New software applications In the pre-pandemic phase, even when companies had staff working from home they were fewer in number and a lot of them even came into the office a couple of times a week to ‘just catch up’ on work and with colleagues. So, no one really had paid any attention to collaborative software programs because engagement levels were pretty high with just a handful of staff working remotely and connecting on the phone or in-person anyway. It was only after the pandemic forced organizations in their entirety began to operate –from CEO to intern–that businesses recognized the need for collaborative software programs such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom Meetings, Google Meet, etc. Similarly, from the productivity tracking perspective, software programs such as TimeDoctor, Roadmap, Tick, Timely, etc., became popular. The challe...

Access matters when things go to **&?)! The COVID-19 pandemic brought a multitude of lessons along with it, on both the personal and professional fronts. From the business perspective, the pandemic turned things upside down across almost every industry. One of the biggest trends that the pandemic brought was remote work. While working from home (WFH), or telecommuting as it was called earlier, existed in some industries, the pandemic made WFH mainstream for everyone. From doctor’s offices, to SMBs to IT companies, almost every industry had to resort to remote operations to stay in business. This shift from on-site, brick-and-mortar offices to WFH brought along with it some serious challenges. This blog discusses 2 ways businesses leveraged technology to overcome the various challenges businesses faced with the sudden shift to the remote work environment. Data access This was one of the first and foremost challenges. When shelter-in-place orders and lockdown restrictions were im...

Outsourcing: an overview Outsourcing today simply involves using external entities to handle specific, specialized business functions so that organizations can focus on their core competencies. The idea of seeking outside support for areas that are not core to a business is many decades old. However, seeking support from external providers can make a lot of sense, especially in fields that involve considerable complexity. One example, as human resources becomes increasingly complex practice, especially in areas that involve often complex and arcane laws such as benefits and employment law, many smaller companies are increasingly outsourcing some or all of their HR tasks. IT is another example. Like human resources, IT covers a wide range of specialties, for which no one or two individuals can possibly hope to be fully versed in. As the CEO of a small- to medium-sized firm, or perhaps a line manager, why should you consider outsourcing all or part of the IT function? One immedia...

Can you do this at home? Outsourcing HR, real estate portfolio management, tax audits, etc is fairly common nowadays. This whitepaper discusses another function which, when outsourced, can bring greater efficiency and effectiveness to your business’s overall functioning--IT. IT is one of the core functions of any business. There’s no aspect of a business that is untouched by IT. Outsourcing IT is a big decision and it is not surprising that many organizations choose to manage their IT in-house rather than relying on outsourcing. However, outsourcing your IT to a managed service provider offers numerous benefits. Availability Depending on your service level agreement with the MSP, you get access to an IT team 24/7 when you bring a managed service provider on board. With your in-house IT team there will be days when some of them may be on a vacation or an unexpected day off. You also probably cannot justify 24/7 internal IT support, even though your IT needs to run 24/7. All of th...