Productivity

Documenting Business Processes

June 30, 2015

Scott Blake is a Senior Network Engineer with Tech Experts.

Documentation is quite possibly the most important aspect of a business, but it can also be workers’ least favorite task to do. The average person doesn’t want to spend time writing down how they do something — they just want to do it and move on.

Can you guess the biggest reason for documenting your business processes? It may come as a surprise, but it’s also the most fluid part of your business: your employees.

Employees come and employees go and some just take vacations. It’s what they do in between that’s important. Every employee is responsible for some part of your daily business.

Whether an employee quits or just needs time off, having documentation that lists the software used with usernames and passwords, step-by-step instructions on how to use the business software, client and vendor contact information, and credit card information makes their absences that much easier to deal with.

Well-documented processes will cut down on the time it takes to train a new employee.
Give the related information to the new employee and let them use it as a guide for their daily activities. This will allow your other employees to spend more time on their tasks and assignments instead of spending the majority of their time answering routine questions that a documented process could answer.

Order-of-operation questions and disputes can be minimized as well. If there ever comes a time when your employees are unsure of the next step or there is a dispute between departments on how to proceed, they will only need to look over the documented processes in question to resolve the issue.

Having documentation that shows in detail how long it takes to produce a product will also help your sales force deliver your product to your customers.

It allows your sales and marketing departments to understand the timelines of production.

This knowledge will let them know when a product order can be delivered and if the amount can be fulfilled in the timeline requested by the customer. There will be no more over or under promising of delivery dates to customers.

Put trust in the documents, not the person. No one person should be trusted with remembering processes without documenting them. What if this employee quits or becomes ill and is unable to return to work?

For example: You have an employee that works in your IT department. This employee’s job is to monitor and resolve any network related issues. While doing his daily tasks, he discovers it’s time to change the passwords on the business networking equipment such as the router, managed switches and domain admin password.

While the employee doesn’t think twice about it and may have mentioned it to his manager, there was nothing ever documented. Now, four months later, the employee falls very ill and is unable to return to work. What do you do?

The best way to document your business processes is to document them in such a way that all contributing employees have access.

You could use online tools such as Google Docs or Microsoft SharePoint. This way, whenever a process is changed, amended, or removed, the documentation is instant and available for all to see.

After a while, you will have an impressive collection of documented procedures. Having documented information available for employees to read can also start the flow of constructive questions and comments why things are done a certain way and how they can be improved.

If you have questions or you’re looking for suggestions on documenting your processes, call Tech Experts at (734) 457-5000.

Is Skype For Business Right For Your Company?

April 30, 2015

Last month, Microsoft released its vision video preview for Skype for Business, which suggested some major changes to ways we currently conduct business.

The video shows a wrist-worn communication device that allows you to contact colleagues on the fly. It also illustrates how Skype can help people be virtually present in the office while actually working in the field.

Skype-powered technology can integrate data into one space and share it on a big screen to facilitate brainstorming, can instantly translate speech into a number of languages, and even simulate a doctor’s house call – if what is depicted in the preview becomes a reality.

Really, nothing in Microsoft’s Skype for Business preview is all that far-fetched. Skype has already drastically changed how people keep in touch on both business and personal levels.

Presently, you can video chat with anyone, anywhere to conduct interviews or meetings. It’s not that big of a leap to envision using Skype to do these same things in the great outdoors or to integrate it with web searches and data files. The basic technology is already there; the vision video just shows some tweaks and new exciting applications.

The possibilities illustrated in the preview video highlight Microsoft’s mission to develop cross-platform technology that increases productivity.

While Skype for Business may not initially perform as seamlessly as the video leads us to believe – especially when real-time translation has yet to be perfected – there are products already advertised that do similar things.

Microsoft’s Surface Hub combines Skype with an 84-inch touchscreen display, and the HoloLens promises to take holograms and headsets to the next level.

Remote Access And Security For Your Business

March 26, 2015

Working remotely is on the rise and is revolutionizing how business is conducted as a whole. As companies make the switch from centralized networks that require being physically present in the office to expansive virtual environments, it is possible to access corporate data from just about anywhere. Those companies that resist embracing remote access risk being left behind technologically and miss out on all of the benefits using things like clouds or application virtualization can bring.

Just by providing remote access to corporate files and programs, employees can work from anywhere on the fly. This allows your team to work on projects while at home or out of town, greatly increasing productivity and reducing the stress of trying to meet deadlines when life gets in the way and prevents being physically in the office. Remote access also lets employees view or share important documents from other devices, such as smartphones or tablets, to quickly verify information on the fly or perform last-minute tasks with ease.

With remote access, new security concerns also arise. With the transfer of sensitive data, there is the risk of it being intercepted by a third party that isn’t committed to your company’s success or has the intent of doing harm.

Consequently, it crucial to secure your remote access system. Secure remote access will ensure that files are encrypted during transfer, scan for malware, authenticate user identity, and control who has access to particular information.

In these ways, proper security measures not only prevent those outside the company from gaining access to private data, but also manage who can view and use data internally.

With the proper security, a business can thrive beyond expectation. Employee performance can skyrocket by having access to work data 24/7 and from any location because physical presence in the office is no longer a prerequisite to getting work done.

Business continuity is also greatly improved because inclement weather or natural disasters don’t shut down operations and the meeting of deadlines. Secure remote access can even boost employee morale and productivity by facilitating work in varied locations using multiple access mechanisms.

If you require assistance setting up or securing remote access to your business, let us know and we will show you what works best for your situation.

Most Employees Use Work Computers For Outside Activities

December 12, 2014

Thomas Fox is president of Tech Experts, southeast Michigan’s leading small business computer support company.

GFI Software, a leading software tool provider for companies like Tech Experts, recently released a report that found the personal use of company computers and other devices is leading to major downtime and loss of confidential data in many businesses.

The study of about 1,000 small business employees who used a company-provided desktop or laptop computer found that 39 percent of them said their businesses have suffered a major IT disruption caused by staff members visiting non-work related websites with work-issued hardware, resulting in malware infections and other related issues.

Even more alarming, the study showed nearly 36 percent of staff members said they would not hesitate to take company property, including email archives, confidential documents and other valuable intellectual materials, from their work-owned computer before they returned the device if they were to leave their company.

The Real Risks Of Running Outdated Software

December 12, 2014

Michael Menor is Vice President of Support Services for Tech Experts.

Are you still holding onto your trusty old server that’s aging towards uselessness?

Or perhaps you are still running important applications on older servers with old operating systems because they’re “good enough” or “doing the job just fine.”

In many ways, your old server is like a trusty old car. You know where the kinks are and it gets you where you need to go.

But lurking below the surface of that trusty old car, and your old server, can be hidden risks that can result in very big problems, even dangers. Usually, when least expected.

Security risks are the number one danger of older technology. The older your operating system or application, the longer the bad guys have to find and exploit vulnerabilities.

This is especially true when the manufacturer is no longer actively maintaining support. Dangers can lurk across the entire aging application platform.

Your older versions of SQL Server are at risk. Perhaps you are still using an old FTP server that’s innocently sitting in the corner. Or you have some older network equipment and appliances.

The bottom line is anything that listens on the network is a potential threat to the server, and therefore your business.

If that software or firmware isn’t up to date, you’re doubly at risk of a major security incident.

Here are the top 5 risks you’re taking with running outdated software:

Crashes and system downtime
Aging systems are more vulnerable to failure, crashes and corruption causing significant downtime.

Targeted technology upgrades can reduce total annual outage risk and reduce downtime.

Increased costs
Outdated software is more expensive to maintain than newer versions. Failing software increases costs by overloading IT personnel. The process of applying patches is also costly and time consuming.

Updated software portfolios not only decrease maintenance costs but also free up IT budgets for more strategic and innovative programs.

Decreased productivity
Aging software applications that crash or require maintenance result in reduced employee productivity.

Modernizing software increases productivity by improving the efficiency and quality of work.

Security holes
Mission critical software is more vulnerable to security breaches as it ages. A security breach can compromise sensitive customer and employee information, and proprietary company data.

Legal and regulatory compliance risks
Updated software ensures compliance to governance, regulation and policy as regulatory bodies continue to mandate new global requirements.

This is especially important for healthcare professionals that need to comply with new HIPAA regulations.

With older technology, any of the above risks can strike you at any time. The consequences can be loss of productivity, or worse, loss of critical data that negatively impacts your business.

Perhaps “good enough” isn’t really good enough after all.

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Benefits Of Going Paperless

August 22, 2014

The “paperless office” has been a concept in American business culture since 1979, when it was first coined in Newsweek. As the technology improves and becomes more cost effective for small businesses, the paperless office is becoming a reality for more and more small companies. If you are considering going paperless or adopting a document management system, consider these five benefits.

Increased Productivity
Call it a variant of Murphy’s Law — when you need a paper file, it is inevitably located at the bottom of a large stack of files on the floor in the corner of somebody’s office.

For example, law firm personnel can spend literally hours every year looking for paper files. In an industry that typically charges by the hour, that’s not a productive use of time.

By contrast, you can immediately retrieve a scanned file from your document management system. With a document management system, multiple people can retrieve a given document at the same time, improving efficiency.

When you scan a document, you get an image of that file. To convert the image of the text into searchable text, you can use optical character recognition (OCR ) software — often included with a scanner.

Once you’ve made scanned files searchable, it becomes even easier to find them because you can search for any phrase in the document, such as a client name, not just the name of the document itself. This makes it incredibly easy to find invoice numbers or any other information that is usually hidden deep within a document.

Improved Customer Service
At one time or another, everyone has been on the receiving end of the dreaded phrase “I’ll have to check the documents and get back to you.” Consider how much happier your customers would be if you could say, “Let me pull up the document now and check for you,” resolving their question during a single phone call?

As an added bonus, the ability to search documents makes it less likely that you’ll overlook that key piece of information. More efficient service means happier clients who pay their bills faster.

Even better, improving your client relations will make your clients more likely to hire your firm for other services and make it easier for them to refer your business!

Reduce Operating Costs
Storage costs represent a major expense. Typically, office space is second only to salaries in terms of cost, especially in large cities. As the piles of paper grow, so do your storage costs.

Scanning documents can substantially reduce storage costs by eliminating a significant portion of your paper files and the storage space required to store them. You can then put the space once used for storage to more productive use.

Before you call a shredding company, read your state rules on the retention of physical files, especially in practice areas such as Real Estate or Financial Services.

Even if you have to keep the files for a specified period of time, scanning them will enable you to store them off-site as cheaply as possible. Scanning documents also reduces time spent requesting documents from the file room or even warehouse.

Finally, since you can easily email scanned documents, you can reduce your phone bill by faxing documents less often. Some paperless law firms have even eliminated their fax machines entirely and switched to online fax services.

With a paperless office, you can almost entirely eliminate the costs of printing, such as copy paper, ink and toner. With toner being one of the most expensive liquids on the planet, this can equal huge cost savings for your small business.

Better Security
Paper documents are subject to two risks — physical theft and destruction from a variety of disasters (fire, flood, etc.). When you scan confidential documents, you can restrict access to your eyes only. For example, you can limit the access of sensitive information or specific case files to select people.

Law firms subject to federal and state regulations regarding the protection of client information will find compliance significantly easier with scanned documents. Also, replacing a digital file is much easier than trying to replace a file cabinet destroyed by fire or flood.

Environmentally Sound
If environmental issues are important to you and your business or you have clientele that care about these issues, going paperless can boost your status in the community.
For example, digitization of your files will result in fewer photocopies, reducing company paper consumption.

The less we use today means the more we leave behind for future generations. If you are part of the Green Revolution, making your business paperless is a great place to start.

Going paperless will save your firm time and money – but be wary of anyone selling you a magic software product that will fix all your problems. Like anything else, you get out of it what you put into it.

There are many organizations that can help with this type of solution, but make sure their company culture matches you own. After all, the last thing you want is to try and go paperless with the help of Xerox or any copier company whose main interest is in hardware and consumables.

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Ten Ways To Minimize Workplace Interruptions

July 31, 2014

You may be trying hard to practice your organizing techniques but still manage to complete only a few of your tasks at the end of the day. It may be due to uncontrolled workplace interruptions.

We suggest ten ways to minimize interruptions in the workplace without sacrificing your role of being accessible and available to co-workers and clients:

1. Use your voicemail when you are doing something important that needs your uninterrupted attention and concentration especially with a deadline. Schedule a time to respond to your messages.

2. Instead of checking your email every few minutes and responding immediately to each email, set a schedule on which times of the day you should read and respond to email messages.

3. If you are someone whom your co-workers often ask for company policies or procedures, create an FAQ and make it accessible to co-workers.

4. When you are in charge of certain processes in the workplace such as reservations, create a procedure for the process in making requests such as an online form.

5. Clearly communicate information needs and turnaround times especially for job order requests in order to avoid unnecessary follow-ups.

6. Block out time on office calendars so you can work without interruption.

7. If you are on a tight deadline or working on something extremely important, make yourself unavailable for interruptions by working outside your office – even if it is just the empty conference room.

8. If you are able to adjust your schedule, take advantage of this opportunity such as working earlier than usual, or having a different day off and work when everyone’s off. This way, you will have less interruptions and you can get more work done.

9. Set certain hours of the day when you will be available to answer questions from co-workers.

10. If you are working on a project with different departments or co-workers, create a regular update meeting in order for everyone to be clearly updated with information and avoid wasting time updating each other individually.

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The Hidden Cost Of Internet Misuse At Work

April 29, 2014

Using the Internet for personal purposes in the workplace is causing a dip in employee productivity and costing money for the business owner.

Internet abuse constitutes an issue due to the fact that the browsed content raises ethical questions and often the sites visited are not allowed through office policies.

This is in addition to the fact that the time and frequency of accessing the Internet compromises productivity.

What constitutes Internet abuse?
Workplace Internet abuse is a significant risk factor for employer liability, costing employers’ valuable hours of work.

Internet abuse ranges from viewing pornography in private offices to spending hours on social sites, playing online games, shopping online and paying bills through the company Internet.

Other consequences of improper Internet use include litigation, such as sexual harassment, hostile work environments and discrimination.

Revoking privileges
One way to deal with this problem is to entirely remove Internet access. Unfortunately, such a decision has the negative effect of punishing those who don’t abuse the privilege.

In addition, it’s impossible to completely banish personal Internet usage when the business relies heavily on Internet for communication, research and up-to-date information.

Monitoring usage
One way to reduce employer liability is to monitor and filter employee Internet use.
Although there are disagreements about the principle behind Internet monitoring, many employers agree that it is a necessary ‘evil.’

This solution requires some investment and changes in the networking infrastructure but can provide an almost immediate Return on Investment (ROI).

A phased implementation approach works best. Let your employees know you’re making a change, implement, and then give them a few days to adjust.

It is also necessary to draft an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), implementing rules of personal Internet use before implementing such a change.

If you want to discuss internet monitoring solutions for your business, please give us a call for a free assessment.

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How To Prolong The Life Of Your Computer

March 3, 2014

by Jeremy Miller, Technician
One of the questions we get asked most often is, “What can I do to prolong the life of my computer?” We have been working on computers for years and have found that hardware protection and regular maintenance is the best answer.

What is regular maintenance?
Regular maintenance is the general up keep of your computer over time. There is a number of free software out there that offer this service with a stipulation.

They will partially clean up your system or some malicious software will state it will speed up your computer if you upgrade to the paid-for version. You should not trust this free software because it can damage some applications or even your operating system.

What can I do?
There are many things you can implement to prolong the life of your computer. You first want to think about your hardware because all software can be reloaded, but once your hardware fails your computer can crash like a house of cards.

Cooling is Key
The first thing I recommend is to regularly clean out your computer with compressed air. Nothing kills a computer better or faster than high internal temperatures. On average your computer is about 30 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the room it is in.

You can also increase your cooling by adding more fans. Many desktop cases have space for additional fans.
The better the air flow the longer your computer will last. For laptops, you must always ensure the fan vents are not being blocked, and you can increase cooling by using a cooling pad that has additional fans to increase the air flow around your laptop.

Make sure you have reliable power
You should always have your computer powered by a surge protector. If you live in a dwelling that has power fluctuations, you should consider an uninterruptable power supply (UPS) which are also known as a battery backup. Many also protect against brownouts.

Most UPS come with multiple outlets, some are protected by the battery as well as surge protection and some are just surge protected.

UPS will provide regular power to your computer even if your power fluctuates, and it can shut your computer down properly if you lose power.

Without reliable power you can short out just about any component in your computer.

If you shut your computer down incorrectly or if you just lose power you can damage your data and can cause your operating system to stop functioning.

Regular software maintenance
Your computer will accumulate a lot of temporary files from software that does not clean up after itself.

Your hard disk will become cluttered from constantly moving files around, and most computers have old unused software still running in the background.
All of this takes a toll on your computer hardware over time. The idea is to keep the software foot print as small as needed.

The less items you have launch at startup will lead to a much longer computer life. This is because most software needs your processor, Random Access Memory (RAM), and hard drive to run.

The more you have running at one time the higher the stress level on your hardware.

Virus infections may not cause noticeable issues right away but over time you will start to notice things not running properly.

Virus infections and other malicious software can take most of your hardware resources which makes your computer perform poorly. You can attempt to clean these infections out yourself, but without knowing how your computer works, you may end up doing more damage than good.

Is there an easy way to regularly maintain my computer?
We are constantly cleaning out computers and are very familiar with issues that arise in these processes.

We offer a solution to clean out your computer on a daily basis, so that you can continually use your computer without interruption. Our service runs in the background and will take care of most issues that arise.

We can help increase the longevity while you get the most out of your computer. If you are interested in learning more or have questions please feel free to call us.

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What Is The Real Cost Of IT Downtime?

March 3, 2014

People working with technology understand that downtime happens, whether it is planned (as during upgrades and maintenance) or as an unplanned emergency. Unnecessary downtime often costs an organization significant amounts of money.

Not being able to process sales is perhaps the most direct way in which your company will lose revenue during downtime.

If your sales team uses your company’s online resources in their daily tasks, they won’t be ringing up the sales numbers. Add to this the costs of resolving the issues that caused the downtime, including both labor and materials, you’re left with the direct monetary impact to your organization.

There’s no doubt about it – downtime can damage your company’s reputation. Your customers don’t like to be kept waiting. Downtime may cause late deliveries, interfere with your customers’ ability to place an order or even to contact your customer service.

Efficient business owners understand that employee productivity has a direct impact on the company’s bottom line. It’s crucial that everyone has the tools they need in order to remain productive. Downtime causes loss of productivity, and, therefore, profits.

The only way to maximize uptime is to monitor your systems on an ongoing basis. This will provide you with specific details regarding any issues affecting your organization. If you are experiencing anything less than 99.9 percent uptime, you need to start looking into solutions to resolve the problem. Give us a call today.

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