Tag #ITStrategy

What are the benefits of hiring an IT Director?

How important is IT to your company?

Consider for just a few moments the importance of computer systems to your company’s success.  Here’s a few specific questions to help you weigh it up:

• If your IT stops working, how quickly is the pain felt?
  • How quickly can you recover if things do go wrong?
• Are you confident you are aware of relevant technological solutions which could help you be more successful?
  • Sell more?
  • Understand your customers / potential customers better?
  • Supply your goods / services more productively and cost effectively?
• Is technology a propeller or an anchor in your business?
  • Are you investing in the right technology?
  • Are you making the most out of the technology you have already bought?
  • Are you getting value for money from your IT spend?
• Are you confident that your company is well protected from cyber crime?

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The leaver: gone – but too often forgotten

You’ve had the farewell drinks. You’ve signed the ‘Good luck’ card and wished your soon to be former colleague well in their new role.

It’s unlikely the next thing you do is tell them to keep a spare set of keys for their company car and pop back any time they like to have a spin.

No one would dream of being this lax with their physical assets when an employee leaves their company

It is astonishing how many firms are not similarly vigilant when it comes to their digital assets. For example, do you know how many of your former employees still have login details for your main corporate Wi-Fi network? If not, it is a cyber equivalent of having a pool of unauthorised key holders for the company car fleet. There could be little to prevent those past colleagues standing outside the building and having a quick surf to see what they can find. If they feel aggrieved over the circumstances of their departure, that risk may be increased. Read More

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How do I assess how secure our IT system is?

Common sense isn’t difficult or expensive

There’s often a big difference between perception and reality.  Cyber security is a classic example.  The perception is that it is a form of high tech, complicated warfare.  Acronyms; impenetrable terminology; high profile media stories of boffins fighting to repel the sinister attacks from rogue foreign states.  It’s no wonder we feel this is beyond us mere mortals to understand, let alone do anything about it.

However, the reality is that a lot of cyber crime is relatively low tech and unsophisticated.  Much of it doesn’t even rely on technology; many attacks centre around social engineering.  Cyber criminals have long understood that it’s easier to trick a human being than it is to trick a computer.  Why waste time trying to hack a computer when you can hack a person and get them to click on a dodgy link? Read More

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How can I use Teams to enhance business productivity?

Business Productivity Series of videos

Most companies first encouter Office 365 via email or Office applications, and in recent weeks with the COVID19 crisis impacting us all, Teams has become a new favourite as a communcation client. There is however so much more to Teams and Office 365 than just chat and email and are powerful tools to enhance business productivity.

Sharon Sumner is a Microsoft MVP, the CEO of Business Cloud Integration Ltd, speaker, a blogger and passionate advocate for business applications within Office 365. In her Business Productivity Series she addresses questions on Microsoft Teams, Sharepoint, Power Apps and Automate and how they can be used more effectivity within your business.

Contract Management in Microsoft Teams Part 1

Need to easily and quickly produce a standard but long & complex document that needs to be personalised for each client/supplier/use? Here is part 1 to show you how it can be done.

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Contract Management in Microsoft Teams Part 2

Need to easily and quickly produce a standard but long & complex document that needs to be personalised for each client/supplier/use? Here is part 2 to show you how it can be done.

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Related articles

• How do I get started with Microsoft Teams?
• What is Microsoft Office 365 and how much will it cost?

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What should be included in a business continuity plan?

Unpalatable, but predictable

You’ll be glad to know this isn’t another Coronavirus article. Businesses have been faced with severe threats to their survival long before anyone had heard of COVID-19 – floods, fires and other localised disruptions are not new. Pandemics do remind us however that unpalatable events can and will happen.

COVID-19 is unusual in recent history because its consequences for business have been so severe and so widely felt. And it brings into sharp focus the relationship between likelihood and impact. Once in a lifetime events are, by definition, very rare. But when they do strike the pain can be relatively high. We may be less able, or perhaps less willing (sometimes with justifiable good reason), to prepare. And – yes – let’s be honest – that justification may be that reducing the risk is prohibitively expensive and we decide therefore that it is a risk worth taking. Read More

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