Outsourcing your IT support shouldn’t be a painful part of your business. If you made the decision to hire an external IT Team, they should provide you with consistent coverage, and help you make educated decisions --- not only to protect your business, but also to help you grow. But what if that isn’t what’s going on? MSPs should add value, not loss. Many times, IT providers aren’t proactively communicating with their clients the current climate changes within IT nor are they effectively making their clients aware of all the nuances and current market trends which they need to be on top of. If you find yourself questioning your current tech support team, try asking yourself the following questions to see if they are really looking out for your best interests: Why am I still remoting into computers? Remote work was on the rise far before Covid19, but now many more employees are working from home due to the pandemic. Oftentimes, these workers will “remote” into their work computers from home machines, whether that be a personal laptop or desktop, in order to have access to all of their work from their main office machine. Remoting into your machine seems simple by using a VPN or “virtual private network,” to provide an additional layer of very effective security between the user and your company’s servers. What your IT provider might not be telling you however, are some of the less obvious pains and disadvantages to utilizing a remote connection. For starters, the cost of VPNs remains very high. Anyone with a server will tell you that maintaining, hosting, and supporting your own server is extremely expensive. Add on to that, the fact that each remote user will need a VPN license in order to remote into the network and connect to the server. If your company has their entire team working remotely, the cost of VPNs is high. Not to mention remoting into machines is troublesome because both machines need to be running and on in order to work. What happens if the internet goes out at the office or your computer breaks down? Then you’re no longer able to work from your machine. The risk of an outage is too high for remoting into machines to be used as a continued option for remote workers, especially if many offices are shutting down completely in favor of a fully virtual environment. Switching to the cloud is the only solution to remove the risk of down-time, security breaches, and costly licensing. Not to mention convenience and ease of use. Cloud computing takes place through your provider with minimal hardware investment and many options for accessing large amounts of storage, not to mention a much bigger focus on the security of your data. The cloud offers all of your computing services --- servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence --- over the internet. You can connect anywhere at any time with no need to “remote” into your machines, removing any risk of outage. What do I do with my physical office and equipment after going virtual? If you’ve decided to leave the office and work virtually, whether it be just for the time being or permanently, what do you do with your office equipment? What about the internet and telecom bills you’re paying for and not using? These are questions which your IT Team should be addressing with you. Many businesses don’t realize that disposing of electronic equipment by trash is illegal in New York. Not only is it an environmental concern, but it is also a privacy concern. Wiping data off of computers, servers, and all other networking equipment is essential when getting rid of equipment to protect your data. Using a trusted E-Waste service that abides by legal and security standards for proper data destruction on electronic equipment could save you from fines and security attacks. At RCS Professional, we use a company called 4TH Bin for disposing of equipment. 4th Bin is a trusted E-waste servicer in the tri-state area, and they help us provide all of our clients with reputable and assured data destruction, removal, and recycling for their unused computing equipment. Please feel free to reach out to us if you are needing us to facilitate an e-waste pickup. Providers of phone and internet services are assisting in the financial pains businesses are facing during COVID19. Many internet providers are offering the ability to suspend your internet accounts temporarily while you are waiting on the return back to office. Telecommunications companies are doing the same in order to remove monthly bills racking up for services you simply aren’t using right now. Suspension allows you to keep your accounts active without paying for them so that you can open them right back up when you are ready instead of cancelling service and facing possible early termination fees and dealing with installing everything again when your physical office opens back up. Not warning you of COVID-19 related risks and scams Users working from home is a security risk in and of itself. Personal devices and unsecured wifi leaves users and company networks susceptible to cybersecurity attacks. Your IT company may be securely monitoring the laptops and machines that are managed by them (company owned machines that they allowed users to bring home) but who is managing users personal machines? Cyber attackers are increasingly targeting weak links in company networks (human errors) now that so many people are away from the protection of company security. Reducing risk needs to be proactive with setting up Multi-factor-Authentication for all users along with practicing “Cyber Hygiene” amongst all of your workforce. Phishing scams and other email related attacks have also seen a rise during the pandemic. It’s scary to see how scammers are getting smarter and enacting scams that are more and more advanced. Proper training from your IT support team is necessary to warn you and your employees on what not to click on and watch out for. One of the free trainings we are currently offering is a Cyber-Security awareness webinar. Contact us to learn more. Making sure you are leveraging collaboration tools to maintain a healthy remote culture All of the equipment and software your IT support manages for you is great, but we all know that a great company is built on a lot more than machinery. Your people - your employees, are the most important part of any business. Company cultures have been hit the hardest during remote work, but there are tools out there like Microsoft teams to help you communicate more effectively with your team while you are working remotely. If your IT support IS offering you these kinds of tools, they ought to be training you on how to use them too. RCS has Microsoft teams webinar training to help you learn more about teams and deploy it within your own company. If you would like to join these webinars, please register here. Other tools that should be offered to you are ActvTrak, which allows managers to audit & optimize employee productivity while working from home. Also, there are many virtual workshop platforms for event booking like Signupgenius or Eventbrite. Most of these platforms are free to use and offer a wide range of tools to help your organization flourish, even while at home. Your IT team should be looking out for you, now more than ever. Remote work puts the pressure on you to make sure your business continues even while everyone is not working under one roof. Let your IT be the support you need to walk you through everything you need to know proactively. If you are interested in learning more about RCS Managed IT Services, please reach out to us as info@rcsprofessional.com

Remote work has proven to challenge even the strongest teams during the Covid-19 Pandemic. SurveyMonkey, the front-running online survey developer, has joined forces with Microsoft Teams with a new app offering customizable and collaborative surveys to share with your company. While the times are uncertain, it’s extremely important to keep in close contact with your group in an efficient and easy to use manner.

People keep multiple tabs open on their browser for a multitude of reasons; It helps with things like multitasking and visually showing us what needs to be done like a “to-do” list. Some people simply have too many tabs open to see that they’ve already opened their current tab in another tab. If excessive tabs are slowing down your productivity or, not to mention, your computer speed (it takes a lot of power to keep all those websites going at once) then Google Chrome’s newest organizing tab feature is for you.

Microsoft Teams has a new feature that could blow their competitor Zoom right out of the water by expanding the option for seeing up to 49 users while on a video call. The gallery view feature has been the main function for people when deciding which video conferencing app to use. For many companies, classrooms, and friends; video calls mean needing to see more than 9 people on the screen, which used to be Microsoft Team’s only viewing option. Zoom allowed seeing up to 49 users on the screen in gallery view. Since the beginning of the pandemic, so many different types of users jumped to Zoom because it had what they needed; it was easy to use, and showed everyone what they needed to see on the screen. But Zoom wasn’t prepared for the influx of people with different types of needs and had to become functional quickly. Naturally, security and privacy issues quickly arose with incidents of “Zoom bombing.” People have been looking for other options to switch from Zoom too, but nothing thus far has had as large a gallery view until now that is. Microsoft just released their new feature. Schools, business meetings and exercise classes will now have the security they need, not to mention the endless collaborative tools Teams has perfected, and still be able show all users. The launch of the 49 person gallery view hasn’t been specified as of yet. Microsoft has confirmed the feature through email, but when it will be available is still awaiting a statement. While work and school are seeming to continue at home for the near future, the need for improvements on video conferencing apps is key. This new feature could see an abundance of people packing their bags with Zoom and making the switch to Teams. Want to learn more about the ins and outs of using Teams? Please email us to schedule a free demo with our team: rsvp@rcsprofessional.com

Many businesses are using this time to re-evaluate their business needs and consider their costs and objectives. For some, that means pivoting their business strategy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. One such company is Josmo Shoes; an international wholesaler for men’s and women’s footwear. Josmo’s actions mirror that of millions of companies around the world who have also taken action to revise their IT strategy to fit the needs of their new business model and infrastructure.

Being professional in this “new normal” is no longer taking place in offices or conference rooms, but rather in living areas and other rooms closer to your own kitchen sink. Corona-virus has not only bought us home socially, but our workplaces are now home with us too. Video conferencing has replaced our learning, collaborating, and meeting during work-from-home. While the idea of the video call seems simple - open laptop, wear pants, and turn your camera on, there are so many mistakes people make while video-conferencing that can make them look well...unprofessional. We’ve rounded up some smalls tips to help you look your best during your next video-call: 1. Make sure you're clean . No one can smell you, but they can probably tell if you haven’t showered in a few days. Brush your hair and shave your face. A long beard is the tell tale sign of letting the work from home lifestyle get to your hygiene, so make sure that that’s cleaned up. If you wear makeup on a regular basis, you can put that on too. So long as it isn’t too busy. 2. Keep it simple on all aspects. Backgrounds really shouldn’t be super busy so the viewers can focus their attention on you. Try to face the camera towards a blank wall or one with few directions or movement, i.e. try not to have kids, spouses, or pets running around in the back. It really takes away from what you’re saying. Almost all of the video conferencing tools, such as Teams, Zoom, etc. allow you to replace your physical background with a virtual one, so don’t fret if your own background is too distracting. The same goes for your clothes. Stick with basic solid clothes that aren’t too bright or dark, as these can cause glares on the camera. 3. Lighting doesn’t have to be hard, Most people fail when it comes to having proper lighting for their video calls.You don’t need professional lighting equipment either to make your virtual meeting look good. The top thing to avoid is back-lighting. So, DON’T sit in front of your window, or any other light source for that matter. This back-lights you so that you become a dark silhouette. Instead, try and sit directly in front of a window so that the light is hitting your face; this is ideal. If a window isn’t an option, or if it’s dark out, try sitting with your light source (lamp) in front of you or at a front angle to mimic the window effect. Avoid overhead lighting too as this tends to cast shadows on you. 4. It’s all about the angles. You wouldn’t ever set up a meeting where the other person was positioned to look up your nose, right? The same goes for virtual meetings. Make eye contact with your camera. Most of our laptops are on tables below our eyes with the camera facing up at us. This up-angle view is very unflattering. If you own an external web - camera for your desktop, make sure that the position of the camera atop of the monitor is directly level with your eyes. If you need to raise your monitor, try stacking books under it until it is tall enough. The same goes for laptops. Place your laptop on a higher surface, or stack books underneath until your camera is aligned to eye-level. 5. Check your connection. Of course nothing about how you look or where your camera is facing matters very much if you're so pixelated that no one can see anything. Making sure your internet connection can handle video calls is imperative, especially if your network is being shared by everyone else in the house. Zoom, Skype, Face-time, and all the other video-calling apps dynamically adjust the quality of the video you send and receive to maintain the connection. This means that even if you’ve got a slow connection, you’ll still be able to connect, you just won’t look very good. Start by using an internet speed test, ideally at a time when others are also using the internet to see what your true speed will be. As one example, below are Zoom’s minimum system requirements for their calls: For one-on-one calls: 1.8 Mbps up/down is required to send and receive 1080p HD video. For group calls: 2.5 Mbps up/down is required to receive 1080p HD video, and 3.0 Mbps up/down is required to send 1080p HD video. If your speed test came back as anything less than 3.0Mbps, chances are your video quality is not going to be good. If you can upgrade your internet speed, this is ideal. Otherwise, try asking others using the internet if they can take a break while you’re on your meeting. Using a wired Ethernet connection is another great way to increase the connection on your specific device. For help setting up your remote connection, or any other work-from-home solutions, please contact us: info@rcsprofessional.com Here’s to a successful video-conference.

Microsoft Outlook users will be surprised to hear their email search bar has moved up, both in location and use. The search bar can now be found at the very top of the email portal.