Quiss Technology: Lockdown 2020 and impact on in-house IT teams
The end of the pandemic may be in sight, but businesses are faced with a raft of problems, including business disruption, technical issues and staffing challenges. And while many companies are planning for the end of lockdown and a return to ‘normal’, few are actively tackling the challenges they are facing today.
Even fewer accept the fact that these obstacles are unlikely to vanish once the end of lockdown is reached. So, how has business infrastructure been affected across the period and how can a managed service provider like Quiss potentially work to help your teams bridge the gap?
How has in-house IT been affected?
The answer is ‘significantly’. And often in ways we are yet to fully realize. A recent event involving us and a number of technology leaders raised a number of questions about how businesses were placed to tackle future challenges.
Interestingly, 46% of attendees believed the 2020 lockdown increased the burden on their IT teams, whilst surprisingly, 58% did not actively monitor their employee experience. Perhaps most tellingly, 66% of attendees saw improving the ‘end-user’ experience as critical for their company.
And when it comes to dealing with end-user issues, the list is long, especially when it comes to working remotely and the unique levels of support required by a dispersed workforce.
A lack of ‘in-house’ experience makes it difficult to train and staff correctly. Many employees learn best by absorbing conversations, requesting in-person clarification, or through getting immediate feedback.
Remote working deals this a blow, increases email tennis, and removes the ability to use the office as a ‘collaboration space’ for skill-sharing and personal support.
This is especially important for organizations that have established or highly-regimented processes such as signatures, reviews, and meetings, which adds extra difficulty for those in accountancy, legal, management consultancy, real estate, and similar sectors.
While remote working may seem to be a potential solution, a lack of formal structure means that home working simply does not mesh with agile methodologies. Employee efficiency is also dependent on what is often literally their in-house infrastructure.
This results in ballooning time, effort and resource expenditure, alongside a significantly increased risk of burnout, partly through increased user frustration.
How can MSPs help?
If you are struggling with issues related to your infrastructure and communication, then turning to the right MSP, can not only provide the invaluable support you need, but tackle long-standing issues.
Providers follow a detail-orientated onboarding approach that captures the specifics of what you need, how you need it, and lets you learn more about your existing (and hidden) pain points.
This will involve tackling:
Remote and In-Office Security: Any reliable provider will deploy a fully secure and standard-compliant solution. This ranges from adding antivirus software, implementing hand-picked apps, and tools, and instructing your teams in established best practice.
Disaster Recovery: Having ‘downtime’ for your infrastructure can prove to be disastrous. Having a disaster recovery plan ensures that disruptions are reduced from days to hours and that mission-critical materials are protected from deletion and damage.
Shortfall and Scaling: Working with an MSP allows you to quickly and safely, scale to tackle challenges, like addressing increased demand, staffing shortages, or to save on training costs. With the right provider you can respond to future changes and benefit from best-practice guidance.
What Next?
Whether you’re struggling with lockdown pressures or are worried about the future, the team here at Quiss are ready to help. With more than 30 years’ experience providing tailored professional support to organizations of all sizes, we can help you tackle the unique challenges you face.
If you have any doubts about the ability of your in-house team to cope with what you expect of them, please get in touch today and let’s get a conversation started about how we will first understand what you need, before we explain how we will implement it.
