Central Illinois' IT Experts

Let’s take account of a few technologies that will likely see significant changes—even in the days after the pandemic.

Hardware

As fears of transmitting germs are growing in people’s minds—seriously, when was the last time it was scarier to see someone without a mask—many of your employees might be reluctant to use the equipment that spends all its time in the shared office environment. Heck, many people may not be too enthusiastic to return to the office at first, regardless, and may want the option to work remotely more often. Even your most mysophobic employee isn’t going to want to haul a desktop back and forth from the office.

This challenge will probably give an additional boost to Bring Your Own Device policies, as employees will not only have a familiar device to use… they’ll also know where it has been. Otherwise, mobile devices and laptops will likely become more often seen in the office, as their inherent mobility makes remote work easier.

Infrastructure

On a similar note, on-premise hardware solutions will likely be increasingly phased out by cloud-based options. The ease of use goes both ways in the business sense: it is easier for a team to access the resources they need, and the technology becomes easier to manage. After all, in-house hardware would require someone to enter the business to fix an issue. With a cloud-based infrastructure, the provider is responsible for maintaining and managing it. Cloud-based solutions are also inherently scalable, so adjusting your resources is far simpler to accomplish.

Collaboration

While collaboration at a distance may still sound strange to many, there are plenty of technology solutions available that allow you to accomplish just that. By combining the right software and the right hardware, or by enlisting a service for assistance, you can enable your team to virtually assemble. As a result, your business can accomplish more without adding to the health risks.

Regardless of what happens next, business operations are bound to change. Don’t get left behind because you didn’t make the changes quickly enough. Decatur Computers Inc. is here to support you and your IT throughout these transitions and beyond.

To learn more about what we can do to benefit your business and its productive processes, give us a call at 217-475-0226.

Let’s go through a few key best practices for utilizing MDM in your operations.

Defining Mobile Device Management

MDM is effectively the strategic application of solutions and software that establish and enforce policies that control how your business’ data can be accessed and used. In doing so, you give your IT resources the means to improve data security, enabling your business to make the most of a Bring Your Own Device implementation.

As with any solution, of course, it pays off to select your solution carefully. Here are a few considerations to make as you put MDM in place:

You Establish a Realistic Policy

If you’ve decided to enable your employees the ability to use their personal device, it is important that you consider the fact that there’s going to be some who prefer Android, and some who prefer iOS. Your MDM solution will therefore need to support both. Furthermore, you should ensure that your solution is compatible with both the devices you own and those that belong to your employees, with a policy that reflects the difference.

Devices Can Be Tracked and Managed

Unfortunately, there’s always the chance that one of your employees may have to be terminated. An MDM solution can help you to prevent any retribution. Let’s say that this employee was a part of your BYOD implementation. A good MDM solution will inform you if his device still has access to company accounts and revoke that access remotely.

These capabilities also make it a lot easier to troubleshoot and resolve any latent issues in your employees’ technology.

Enforceable Security

While security is clearly important to your business, your employees may not grasp the true extent of their responsibility in upholding it. The inherent optimism bias so many have simply won’t allow them to believe that they need to worry about security. Rather than trying to convince them otherwise, an MDM solution enables you to enforce the standards you want upheld, like password requirements, encryption and security benchmarks, remote wiping capabilities, and others.

Comprehensive Backup

Assuming you’ve properly backed up your business’ data, I have a question to ask you: does that include the data stored on your employees’ devices? An employee’s device is just as susceptible to damage and consequent data loss. In keeping with best practices, you need to ensure that any company data on their device is automatically saved to your cloud. That way, even if the device is damaged or lost, your data continuity won’t be.

We can assist you with your mobile device management, along with many other of your IT needs and requirements. To find out more, give us a call at 217-475-0226.

Cloud Computing’s Benefits

In many ways, cloud computing seems like a bit of a no-brainer. As a secure and reliable platform, businesses can accomplish more without the concerns of security failures that once held them back. As a result, the cloud can provide the accessibility, mobility, and scalability today’s businesses need in a way that is very cost-effective. Since the provider maintains the cloud infrastructure, the business that subscribes to their services only needs to pay a manageable monthly fee.

Through this arrangement, businesses can access exactly the infrastructure that they will need—software and hardware maintenance included—available on a sliding scale. Any changes, increasing or decreasing resources, are as simple to make as can be. This simplicity is part of the reason that so many business processes are now entrusted to cloud services, from backup and communications to security and storage.

The Potential Downside to the Cloud

For all its benefits, there is one factor that makes the cloud a less appealing option: its costs.

Now, this can be hard for some people to believe. After all, an on-premise infrastructure requires you to purchase the expensive hardware and software needed to support it, deploy these resources where they are called for, and manage it. How can cloud computing be more expensive than that?

Simple: building an IT infrastructure has certain costs associated with it that need to be addressed.

That’s just it—the majority of cloud platforms aren’t delivered at a flat rate. While a service like Software as a Service can come at a relatively low monthly rate, once you begin the customization processes upon your cloud you’ll likely see your costs expand beyond what your own infrastructure would have cost.

The cloud can be either cost-effective or expensive. To help you avoid your budget being undermined by the added values of cloud computing, reach out to the IT professionals at Decatur Computers Inc.. We’ll assess your situation and assist you in implementing the best solution for your needs. Give us a call at 217-475-0226 to learn more.