Blog : business

Top 5 things companies should be doing to improve security
Darren

Top 5 things companies should be doing to improve security

We asked our engineers for their “absolute musts” in company security. The things that have to be implemented company-wide and are non-negotiable.

Here’s what they came back with

Multi Factor Authentication

This by far was the number one recommendation from our team. It’s such a simple thing, not all platforms support it but many if not already on board are joining. As well needing a username and password to log on you also get a code sent through to an enrolled device such as your mobile phone.

This is such a simple but massively effective technique in keeping your account secure.

Audit Logs

Checking the logs of who’s been doing what with company logins can reveal most techniques hackers and bad actors use to extort your data and clients, and in most instances stop them before they can.

Log in reports

Getting a report of who’s logging in or attempting to log into your accounts can reveal potential security holes and also staff that may require a little more training on cybersecurity.

Company-wide email rules

Setting up email rules such as “no forwarding to external addresses” can protect your company from not just a GDPR perspective but also from hackers and bad actors taking your data and extorting you or your clients.

Internal alerts

Many hackers and bad actors will Phish for information or even send bogus emails, a setting such as alerting your team when someone external to your business is impersonating someone within your business can go a long way to stopping these attacks.

 

Aurora Tech Support have many many tools and procedures developed since 2003 to keep your company secure. If you’d like to discuss you comapny security please get in touch.

Security & Protection

Security Fridays at Aurora Tech Support
Darren

Security Fridays at Aurora Tech Support

Our mission statement (I’m not sure about that term) our reason for existing? Is that better?

Our reason for existing in 2003 is still the same today, to work hard for our clients, build relationships, keep moving as a company, and keep innovating.

With that in mind, it hasn’t escaped our attention that cybersecurity, breaches, and attacks are massively on the increase. We’re constantly evaluating the services we offer and how we can best protect our clients.

We have found upon review that we need to offer a much bigger service with regards to the security of the communication methods used in our client’s businesses.

So we have introduced two new options for clients, firstly we’ve introduced “security Fridays”. Every Friday we check the logs of all our Microsoft 365 clients to see if any risky logins or login attempts have been made as well as checking for any likely breaches of their accounts. Second, we have introduced our “security pack” for clients wanting a dedicated approach to their security we will set up your Micorosft 365 Tennant with all the security measures recommended by Microsoft as well as our own experience in keeping your Tennant protected.

You might not be on Microsoft 365 for your company emails, but we would recommend you seriously consider it, for just £3.80 per user mailbox the security and auditing features available more than justify the cost to protect your business.

If you’d like to have a chat with a member of the team about any of our security offerings please give us a call on 01937 586888.

Microsoft 365 for Business – IT Support Yorkshire

How COVID-19 will likely affect how businesses work in the future
Darren

How COVID-19 will likely affect how businesses work in the future

There’s no doubt about it the impact of Coronavirus has been huge, but how much will go back to “normal” when this is all over? What is “normal” going to be? Because it will not be what we were all used to pre covid-19.

In this post we will aim to set out what we believe the differences will be and what you and your team need to do to not only survive but thrive. Also please feel free to let know your thoughts.

A bit of back story from our perspective which I’ll try to keep to the point. In trying to balance relationship building and customer service our engineers have often opted to go to the clients’ offices and carry out our services in person when they could be done remotely.

This has been done for a few reasons as well as the two mentioned above, it seems somewhat counter-intuitive to spend time traveling when no or little other client work can be carried out when a job can be done remotely but we feel on balance the benefits outweigh this and until recently it’s been hard for clients’ to understand that a decent job can be done remotely. That’s by far a criticism but as remote working has only recently been largely adopted by UK businesses, you know what you know. (In March we set up over 500 VPN connections for our clients).

So we’ve always been advocates for the fact that remote working is not only possible but has many benefits over traveling to the office, like all things in life though, it’s surely about finding the right balance?

What’s it going to be like when Lockdown is over?
There’s no doubt about it things will be different, I think there’s a new understanding from management about how businesses can operate extremely efficiently remotely.

So I believe we will see a mix, I think we will all rush back into our offices to see co-workers and I doubt much work will be done that first day back, however as the dust settles I think we will see a much more fluid and connected workplace not just by office feng shui.

We’ve all spent a lot of time setting up remote working and forcibly become accustomed to it, there will no doubt be times when this makes sense rather than popping into the office.

How can businesses adapt to this new landscape?
Some things never change, clients and prospects will still want requests dealt with rapidly as the internet has accustomed us to, so we will all still need to offer amazing support on our products and services, however, there will be an understanding that a colleague may be working remotely and so hasn’t yet spoken to the office about a report or proposal yet.

This means that while answers to queries will need to be quick an understanding that the answers aren’t immediately available will purvey.

As we get back into the swing of the new normal it will be important to have amazing team collaboration software to effectively communicate and deliver for your clients. Things such as teamwork.com and Slack are great for this, they allow for fluid communication and bundling projects together, many of our clients have been using these tools for years and if you’re not using them yet I suggest you check them out.

Awesome phone systems that are adaptable and full of helpful features will be paramount. Such as not only a desk phone but also backed by an app you can have on your Laptop, Desktop, iPad, Mobile Phone, etc. They allow you to do everything you can do at your desk and more such as chat with colleagues and visual voicemail.
https://www.auroratechsupport.co.uk/hosted-voip/

Apparently we’ve all spent a huge amount on home office furniture, for those that have space this will no doubt stay and continue to allow us to get huge amounts done outside the office, therefore ergonomic workspaces will be incredibly important to allow a fluid workflow.
https://absoluteci.co.uk

flexible working embedded as standard, will no doubt be the biggest challenge, however, companies that allow their workforce to work flexibly and monitor results rather than time will benefit the most. Giving your team the freedom to produce results at the best times rather than clocking in and clocking out will have huge benefits for your business. Make sure that it’s part of your HR policy and you’re constantly adapting and monitoring.
https://hr180.co.uk

These are the core principles we should all focus on to allow for efficiency and growth coming out of COVID-19 there will no doubt be much much more to look at as we all get back to “normal”

Thanks, everyone that made it this far, we’d love to hear from you.

covid-19 coronavirus and how to ensure business continuity

covid-19 coronavirus report and how best to protect your business

“What should I look for in Business I.T. support companies?”
Darren

“What should I look for in Business I.T. support companies?”

As I.T. becomes more and more integral to the daily operation of our businesses it’s therefore becoming more and more important to ensure that the I.T. support in our companies is not only fit for purpose but changing as the years go by to keep pace with all the changes in the way the world uses technology to make decisions and spend money.

New ways of communicating with prospects and clients are popping up or improving all the time and the expectations of those we do business with are getting ever higher as technology allows more and more companies to compete. Companies who would previously be left for dust.

So when looking for an I.T. support company to support your business, it’s clients, it’s staff and it’s assets you don’t just need an I.T. company that can cover the technicalities of what you and your team are setting out to achieve but also an I.T. partner that understand where your business is going.

Aurora Tech Support work hard not just to monitor your network and iron out the creases, look for gaps in security and fix, make sure devices are running as efficiently as possible but we also look to see where your company might take you in the next 2 years and what your I.T. should do to assist that growth in your company’s operations.

We look to build relationships with our clients and be as involved in their day to day operations and success as anyone involved in your future. In fact, that’s where we believe we leave other I.T. companies for dust, we pride ourselves on our customer service, conscientious attitude, and communication.

If you’d like to have a chat with a member of staff about the I.T. in your business and how we can help you succeed please give us a call on

01937 586888

How to speed up Office computers
Darren

How to speed up Office computers

One thing we get asked a lot by clients is how to speed up the computers on the office network.

Unfortunatly there’s not one answer for this but I’m going to outline the most common reasons the computers in your business might be running slow.

RAM

In each of the computers in your business you’ll have a set amount of RAM and an amount your computer will support. Typical values for this are 4-8Gb currently and a maximum of 16Gb. A good target if your computer is running slow is to try and double what you currently have, the more the better but really your aim should be to try and ensure you’re not using all of it and you have some capacity left.

CPU

Another reason you might be suffering from slow business machines is the CPU (or processor) in your systems. Unfortunatly this cannot be upgraded the way RAM can above, and really needs to be a major consideration when purchasing PCs for the office in the first place. The best in our experiance is a Intel i3 at a minimum or an Intel i5 or i7 would be ideal.

HDD

A HDD or Hard Disk Drive is the part of your computer that stores all the data, so the letters, spreadsheets, email and Windows and all the applications installed on your system. But there’s a shift to what are called SSD or Solid State Drives. These are storage containers that have no moving parts (like the USB Storage you plug in to a computer) this is not only much quicker than traditional HDDs but more reliable and less prone to faults. Also we can clone your existing HDD to a SSD.

Apps

Over time or even at manufacture a lot of apps and software get installed on your office PCs, and a lot will start with Windows even though you’re not using them, some need to run when the systems start but many don’t. By configuring what needs to be running and what doesn’t you can make significant improvements to the PCs running in your business.

As mentioned at the top there can be hundreds of reasons a PC might be running slow but these are some of the most common, when we take care of a clients business I.T. systems we monitor and look out for these causes so they can be fixed.

If you’d liek to have a chat about Aurora Tech Support maintaining your office infrastructure ether as a part of an ongoing monthly agreeent or ad hoc please give us a call.

01937 586888

How to make rapid efficiency gains in your organisation over the next 12 months
Darren

How to make rapid efficiency gains in your organisation over the next 12 months

The I.T. in your business can help you not only deliver amazing client experiences but really explode your companies growth.

A few of the things you should consider implementing in your organisation if you haven’t already and their benefits to you.

A maintenance agreement not only gives you an I.T. professional to call and ask for I.T. advice whenever you need it but the add-on services attached provide many more tangible benefits. By remotely monitoring and managing devices you can:-

– Reduce downtime
Real-time alerts and allows us your IT provider to remediate IT problems before your users come to you and tell you they can’t work.

– Enforce IT Compliance, reliability and system security
Protect your organization through fully managed patching, antivirus and backups.

– Reporting
Get frequent reports on where improvements can be made and efficiency gains be found.

If you want to speak with someone no obligation please use the below link to send us your details and we’d love to provide a free audit of your systems.

#Growth #Business #ITSupport

Find out how I.T. can catapult your companies growth

What does your business need to go to the next step?
Darren

What does your business need to go to the next step?

Scaling a business is hard, and that’s the main reason 8 out of 10 businesses fail. Of course I make the assumption they are good technically at what they do.

Often the failure to scale a business means that companies can’t manage turbulent times or unforeseen periods of difficulty that sometimes aren’t even created by those in the business. As technology weaves it’s way further into the fabric of our businesses the need to use those I.T. systems to scale and grow becomes greater and greater.

I.T. and the technology available to you is your “get out of jail free” card, often solutions can be implemented at a fraction of the cost of a new employee, to achieve the necessary growth required to hire those new team members you require but don’t have the capital quite yet. For over 15 years we’ve worked with many Yorkshire companies to create efficiency in their offices, increase employee engagement and productivity.

We first sit down with you, understand your business it’s values and challenges and then we look at monitoring the performance of the systems in your company and look to make improvements not just in the systems performance but how the technology in your business is used.

From this we can each month make constant improvements and efficiency gains for your team. This then leads into a huge spike in productivity and employee engagement.

Then scaling your business is easy, as it’s done in a holistic and manageable way, we’re positive that only by building these relationships with you can businesses succeed and thrive. In fact for 15 years we’ve built scaled Aurora Tech Support in this way through our technology. If you’d like to have a chat with us about how we can help you to scale and create a business for your competitors to be jealous of please get in touch.

I.T. Hardware and Infrastructure Support

 

Credibility – We need IT, you need IT
Darren

Credibility – We need IT, you need IT

As business owners we talk endlessly about social media, brand message, standards, communication, how approachable we are, how responsive we are, why we’re better than our competitors. To the point that everyone looks the same.

Businesses know how to play the game, communication is easier than ever, the internet has given a platform to everyone to send out their message, and we do don’t we?

While we might all know what to say the one thing you can’t fake is credibility.

And that’s what we are all seeking at the end of the day, this crusade for post likes, shares, followers of our business pages ultimately leading to sales, we want credibility, because as was ever the case.

Credibility is the real currency of success.

Some businesses are just different, they don’t try and force through how good they are they show it as soon as they have the chance, they aren’t perfect but they’ll make it right if once in a Blue moon they let you down.

These companies not only realise that standards need to be high, they deliver. And the only way they can do this in the modern climate is attention to detail from start to finish.

With themselves, the message they deliver to their team, the message their team deliver to their clients. And I.T. now underpins all of this, our I.T. systems are the tool that allows these performances to be put in. And when that fails everything crashes like a house of cards, and credibility goes through the floor.

Corners cannot be cut if you’re serious about being among the best at what you do, your I.T. partner needs to understand you, and understand that your success is their success.

I.T. Hardware and Infrastructure Support

 

Building for the future
Darren

Building for the future

The secret of any successful business is keeping all the plates spinning while innovating and building for the future.

Measuring what you do well and what gets results for your business. The data we hold in our organisations is fast becoming the key to unlocking growth and profitability. With proper analysis of this data we can find out what works and what doesn’t from our day to day activities. It tells us where our good clients are coming from and where our bad clients come from.

With this information we can build on our current successes and drive our businesses forward for the future. Every business is now an I.T. business because every business needs to use the internet, technology and data to succeed in the future.

Therefore it makes sense for every business to have an I.T. partner that not only keeps their systems operational but keeps their systems efficient and positions the technology in their business to drive results in the future.

The companies we work with receive more than just break / fix I.T. support, they get a business partner, a partner to look at how the company currently uses the I.T. in their day to day operations and look at how that I.T. can drive better results and increase profits.

And all this comes from first understanding your business, spending a bit of time getting to know you, your team and your goals and then secondly understanding your data, finding key indicators of growth, and potential future growth.

Once we have this overview of your business and how you want the future to look we can really start to together make big changes for the future and your results.

If you’d like to discuss how you can use your team and the I.T. in your company to build for the future lets have a chat.

Phone Chat

What is Data Driven Decision Making and why should you be doing it?
Darren

What is Data Driven Decision Making and why should you be doing it?

We are now living in the age of Data, it’s everywhere and every day we collect more of it. That data holds valuable insight into trends and the future growth of our businesses.

Analysis of this data though is not always straight forward however. There can be a lot of misleading information depending on the data source and so it’s best to develop a strategy for reading the data available and using it to develop a robust growth strategy.

The way we work with our clients to offer Data Driven Decision making is a 3 step strategy, firstly we spend time understanding your business operations. We spend time understanding where you want to take the business in the next few years and the current challenges your team are dealing with. Once we have a good understanding of your business and its challenges we can then start to look at the best ways to look for the meaningful data to overcome these challenges and even improve conversion rates from enquiries.

Then we will look at the current strategy for collecting data and where we can possibly collect further meaningful data to aid in better business decisions. Once we have a good database or two to work from we will develop a dashboard for your company to view the data in an easily readable format and each month dissect that data and make recommendations of ways to generate more leads, more orders and provide great delivery to your clients new and old.

The great benefit to a robust data driven decision making strategy is using the information already in your possession to grow revenue and profit margins at a reduced cost compared with modern marketing techniques.

If you’d like to discuss how we can help you and your team use the data in your business to drive better decisions then please book a free consultation now.

Free Consultation