Leading Managed Technology Services Provider (MTSP) Protects SMBs and Their Employees
THUNDER BAY, ON – May 2020
Teleco, a leading managed technology services provider (MTSP), announced today that the company is providing home office cybersecurity for remote workers to support them through the current pandemic and beyond.
According to a BitSight report, “Identifying Unique Risks of Work From Home Remote Office Networks,” the findings revealed that “45% of companies had malware on their corporate-associated home networks.” The study included more than 41,000 organizations.
For small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) this has very strong implications for their remote workforce. Where SMBs typically could ignore the cyber security of the home office environment in the past, that’s no longer possible as employees have been forced to work from home, and rely on corporate connectivity, software devices to perform their daily tasks.
“To sum it all up, vulnerability at the home-office is now corporate vulnerability,” stated Penny Belluz, Director of Operations of Teleco. “Unfortunately, whenever we get back to normal life, it won’t be so normal, anymore,” she said, citing the expected office policies which will force people to adhere to staggered schedules, where a worker comes into the office on Mondays/Wednesdays and another comes on Tuesdays/Thursdays. The expected growth of remote working, even after the states reopen will still be enormous.
Work-from-home is fast becoming the “new normal” and with tech giants like Twitter, Microsoft, Google and Facebook all extending work from-home policies, many SMBs are trying to figure out the best way to reorganize themselves for success. Twitter and Square have announced their plans to let employees work remotely in perpetuity. Google and Facebook have remote policies in place at least until 2021. Since these tech giants often serve as a leading indicator for SMBs across the country, business owners are looking for innovative, yet practical, ways to adapt to this new working environment and to ensure that their virtual infrastructure is secure.
The two biggest challenges for business owners who find themselves in this new work from-home scenario are:
- How do I properly manage my employees? and
- Which technology do we really need?
The past several weeks have been a crash course in management, forcing business owners to innovate management solutions for employees, which leaves the second challenge up for resolution. For any business owner who wants to address this vulnerability, at a minimum, they must equip their employees with a combination of the following technologies, Windows virtual desktops, SDWAN, firewall and a printer/scanner.
Virtual desktops provide employees with access to apps, software and technology that they utilize on their work computer. SD-WAN establishes a secure and efficient means of connectivity for employees and a monitoring solution ensures the ongoing security of any devices or networks from cyberattacks, like phishing or ransomware. Lastly, printer/scanner solutions are absolute necessities for specific employees.
With a relatively simple bundle of technology, SMBs can circumvent many of the challenges imposed on them through this pandemic, and they can set their company up for success as we transition into the “new normal.” While remote working has been steadily growing for years, there is now plenty of data, and common sense, to back these necessary shifts. According to Kate Lister, President of Global Workplace Analytics, “Our best estimate is that 25-30% of the workforce will be working-from-home multiple days a week by the end of 2021.” That number is up from 3.6% of employees working from home half-time or more.
ABOUT TELECO
TELECO is a locally owned technology company committed to delivering specialized solutions (on premise PBX, VoIP, hosted & SIP services, managed IT services) and products since 1985. Security Solutions, Point-to-Point Networking Solutions and Structured Data Cabling. This also encompasses overhead paging systems, point to point wireless applications, apartment entry systems and system relocation’s. We don’t just sell products we help you implement technology to enhance your business. This philosophy and technology portfolio creates a one-stop solution and provides the convenience of a single point of contact for all your technology needs.
