Don’t Forget to Involve Your IT

Technology has pretty much infused itself into nearly every activity in an organization.

Customer communication is handled largely by business email, VoIP, or smartphone. Likewise, things like HR activities and coordinating with vendors, largely rely on automated and integrated IT.

The 2020 pandemic increased dependency on technology even more to keep remote teams connected, with applications like Microsoft Teams seeing increases in daily users of 12 million in just a week.

But because IT is the nerve center of a business, things can go wrong if it’s not involved in every decision or activity. For example, when moving desks for social distancing, technology connections have to be considered. If you just rearrange your office without involving IT from the start, you can end up with major problems and lost connections.

It’s important to involve IT and not leave it as an afterthought because it can become less efficient if not considered when a change is made, and facilitate activities in ways you may not have envisioned.

Common Activities Where IT Needs to Be Considered

Here are several activities where it’s vital to include IT in the process.

Office Moves

Office moves are a huge undertaking and one where IT needs to be front and center from the start.

If you move without first mapping out IT needs, you could be doing expensive rework to provide required connections after you’ve moved to the new space.

You want to have technology needs laid out ahead of time, including ethernet ports, router/modem placement, and where desks and printer/copiers will be located.

It’s also important to get help from an IP professional when going through disconnection and reconnection of your network infrastructure to ensure it’s up and running correctly.

New Network Equipment (Postal Machine, Copier, VoIP, etc.)

When you add a new device to your network, it impacts everything else, whether you realize it or not.

When you connect anything new – like a VoIP system, postal machine, or IP security camera system – you have to look at it as adding another part of an already existing structure and look at the impacts it may have. You want to ensure it’s set up as an efficient part of the entire network.

New Hires

Technology should also be a part of your employee onboarding process. Here are a few of the ways you can make the process go more smoothly for both your HR team and your new hires.

• Ensure devices are cleaned of old files and ready for a new hire
• Take the necessary time to train employees on technology use and software
• Go through cybersecurity and compliance policies
• Issue devices, email addresses, and cloud account logins in an orderly manner as part of the onboarding tasks

Employee Offboarding/Terminations

When employees are leaving your company, it’s also important to consider the IT ramifications. Do they still have their work email loaded on a personal device? Can they access cloud accounts?

IT offboarding should be included in the termination process to ensure your accounts are secure and employees can’t still receive company email.

It’s also important to have safeguards in place, like mobile device management, that can remotely lock an employee-owned smartphone out of your business data should they quit unexpectedly.

Compliance Activities

Technology should also be considered when it comes to compliance activities for HIPAA, PCI, GDPR, or any other data privacy rules.

One of types of HIPAA violations that companies have been hit with include leaving an unlocked laptop unattended, giving anyone access to patient data on that device.

Compliance needs to include all facets of cybersecurity from data encryption to physical device security.

Adding New Vendors

Companies in Central Florida often use automated systems for sending purchase orders to vendors and receiving invoices. This makes the entire process more efficient and reduces the chance for keying errors.

When adding a new vendor, their ability to connect to an electronic process should be a consideration, as it can increase your administrative costs if they don’t have those capabilities.

Every Day Manual Processes

There are certain processes that an office “has done this way for years” that could be streamlined and made better with the right technology in place.

For example, if you have a paper visitor sign-in form at the front desk, you might think that’s a process that can’t really be optimized. But using an application like Microsoft Lists can allow you to digitize that sign-in list and have the capability to search the list, attach identification images, and send instant email alerts when there is a new visitor.

Involving IT in manual processes can often increase productivity and efficiency.

Get Help Keeping Your Technology Infrastructure Efficient

C Solutions can help your Orlando area business ensure your entire technology infrastructure remains optimized and efficient at all times and ensure you integrate new devices smoothly.

Schedule a free IT consultation today! Call 407-536-8381 or reach us online.