It’s no secret that, as we become more and more dependent on technology to run our businesses and become reliant on internet-connected devices, both for our personal and professional lives, we also become more vulnerable to cyber threats. US$2.9 billion is lost to cybercrime each minute and, as at 2020, the average cost of a data breach was a staggering US$3.86 million. However, there are some cybersecurity essentials that we can put in place, ranging from simple to more complex, in order to protect ourselves and our businesses from cyber attacks.
This is one of the simplest, but most effective cybersecurity essential strategies. It’s usually free, if not very cheap and easy to activate. Most applications (including Microsoft 365 and social media apps like Instagram and Facebook) have now adopted Multi Factor Authentication (MFA or 2FA) methods that you can activate by doing a quick look at your account settings.
This adds another layer of security (besides your username and password) to your accounts, requiring a real-time password before allowing entry to your account, making it far more difficult to penetrate and access your data. There are different methods depending on which app you’re using but the most common ones would be via a unique One-Time-Code sent through text, email or a code generator app like Google Authenticator.
These days, no business is “too small” to put adequate cybersecurity defenses in place. All businesses who access the internet need a cybersecurity strategy, including endpoint security protection and management, network firewall management and security monitoring and alerting. Cybersecurity is more than just anti-virus software. If you aren’t sure what your business requires when it comes to cybersecurity, consult an expert and ensure you have the best strategy in place for your business.
Unfortunately many cyber attacks occur because of human error – when someone clicks on a malicious link or opens a suspicious email. Make sure that cybersecurity is a regular topic of conversation between your staff. Promote the importance of a positive cybersecurity stance in your business and make sure that everyone is following the trend. Welcome ideas about how you can better improve your cybersecurity measures and keep an active discussion around it.
Empower your staff with better knowledge of cybersecurity, its risks and effect on the business by conducting cybersecurity training – either internally or by hiring a knowledgeable cybersecurity expert to conduct the training. Making sure that everyone in your organisation is equipped with proper knowledge of cybersecurity best practices could save you from the otherwise dreadful consequences.
Although cybersecurity defences can physically protect your business from cybersecurity risks, having an incident response plan and insurance coverage could literally save your business from going under if the worst case scenario happens. It’s important to consult an insurance broker to source the best protection for your business, as coverage can change from policy to policy, but most cyber-insurance will cover your business in the event of:
Cybersecurity can often be put in the “too hard basket”, especially by smaller businesses who don’t perceive their risk to be very high. But when we are so connected to the internet through so many devices these days, we cannot afford to become complacent. Ensure you have all the cybersecurity fundamentals covered for your business in order to stay safe from cyberattacks.
Email has long been the mainstay of team communication and collaboration. Indeed, despite also being the bane of effective collaboration, for many organizations it remains at the heart of how teams communicate and work together.
Part of the Microsoft 365 suite of cloud services, Microsoft Teams is the modern alternative to email, enabling clear, efficient and effective communication and collaboration both with internal teams and external partners. Here are five key reasons why you should use Microsoft Teams instead of email for team collaboration.
Emails are addressed directly to one or more people, meaning that not only do you run the risk of excluding someone who may be valuable to the discussion, but you will also likely be clogging up the inbox of people who don’t really need to be involved. With Microsoft Teams, discussions can be seen by everyone in the team, without actively intruding into their work or cluttering their inbox. People can then choose to contribute to the discussion if they have something useful to add, otherwise they can simply remain aware of the conversation without engaging. Such open communication helps to keep everyone in the loop with team activities while encouraging teamwork and knowledge sharing.
We all have a constant stream of emails landing in our inbox, whether they be ongoing discussions, new inquiries or perhaps threads we are simply cc’d on to keep us ‘in the loop’. We can do our best in Outlook to create subfolders and rules to try to stay organized, but inevitably the flood of emails all demanding our attention brings distraction and overwhelm.
With Microsoft Teams, collaboration happens in the proper channel, keeping all communication and files naturally grouped, organized and structured without other unrelated matters muddying the water. For example, here at Grassroots IT we have a channel in Teams dedicated to collaboration around our marketing content, and another dedicated to priority 1 client emergencies. As you can imagine, if our staff are focused on a client emergency, we don’t want them being distracted by discussions about blog posts!
An email discussion will only remain organized if one person replies to the most recent message at a time. In a group discussion though this rarely happens, with multiple people replying separately to the same message, instantly creating a ‘fork’ in the thread, each of which can quickly spin off into a separate conversation and fork again. Keeping track of which conversation is which can be challenging and destructive to team collaboration.
In Microsoft Teams all discussion threads can be seen in real-time by all members, making it easy and natural to keep a single thread focused, and to recognize when a new, separate conversation should be started.
You may have stepped away from your email for an hour at lunch, or a week for a well-earned holiday, but in either case coming up to speed on an email thread you missed can be an all or nothing proposition. You either have dozens of emails with multiple threads to piece together, or you’ve been cut out of the loop altogether and need someone to actively bring you up to speed.
Microsoft Teams keeps a fully searchable history of all discussions for the life of the team. Need to quickly catch up on the progress of an issue? No problem, just search the channel and instantly discover everything that’s been discussed and shared.
Collaborating on a document via email is a nightmare scenario for many. A single emailed attachment to a group of collaborators and you instantly have multiple copies of the same document in play. One person updates the document and emails it back to the group; so does another person. You now have multiple different versions being worked on. So which version is correct?
Since Microsoft 365 allows app integration, files shared in Microsoft Teams are automatically saved to the channel’s SharePoint library, where all team members can access and edit the same copy of the file simultaneously, all while adding comments and discussing the document in real-time. Version conflicts are a thing of the past.
While email certainly has its place in business, Microsoft Teams is a better platform for team collaboration and communication for five main reasons: promoting open communication and teamwork, reducing distractions and maintaining focus on the right places, eliminating ‘forked threads’ in conversations, the ability to search the conversation thread easily, and keeping a single source of truth when it comes to attachments and documents. Not only that, but Microsoft Teams is constantly evolving and improving – to keep up to date with the latest updates to Teams, read more on the Microsoft website.
The Microsoft Power Platform is the collective term for four Microsoft products: Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate and Power Virtual Agents. More than the sum of its parts, the Power Platform is a no-code to low-code platform that users with no coding experience can use to analyse data, build solutions, automate processes and engage online.
Although perfectly at home integrating with third-party apps, the Power Platform truly shines when used with your Microsoft 365 subscription, and being a low to no code platform means it can be used without the need to rely heavily on IT or coding experts.
Power BI is a cloud-based data analytics and visualisation tool used to bring together data from a wide range of sources to provide business intelligence and insight beyond merely data reporting.
Power BI allows users to create a visualized view of data to deliver easily digestible reports and dashboards, bringing a whole new experience to data reporting of complex analytics. Powerful API capabilities are available in Power BI, enabling integration with a vast array of applications and data sources.
One of the most compelling benefits of Power BI is the ability to combine multiple data sources into a single dashboard. For example, you could combine client demographic information from your marketing platform (eg: Mailchimp or HubSpot) with financial information from your accounting system (eg: Xero) and plot the resulting information on a map of Australia, offering new insight into where your most engaged and profitable clients are located.
The Power Apps platform enables no-code creation of desktop and mobile applications by both developers and non-developers alike. This enables your business to creatively build powerful applications to solve everyday challenges without the need for heavy coding skills.
Even though Power Apps runs on a simple drag-and-drop interface to allow for low-coding app development, more advanced features and capabilities are available for more experienced app developers to utilise. Power App capabilities can be further extended with Microsoft Power Automate and Azure Functions and the ability to connect to third party connectors and integrated apps.
Formerly known as Microsoft Flow, Power Automate lets you create an automated environment with workflows so you can have a faster way of tackling daily tasks that you would have otherwise handled manually. No heavy coding skills are required. You can choose from a set of pre-defined templates to start your automated workflow but, if you’d like to start from scratch, you can do that too.
The simple drag-and-drop interface allows for an easy build of automated workflows that work by customising desired triggers and subsequent actions (e.g. emails, push notifications, chat alerts, etc) to follow.
This means less time, effort and resources being spent on repeat manual processes that can be automated, as well as reducing the risk for human error in these processes. If you have two or more existing applications that require manual human involvement to share information and activities, Power Automate can automate that for you.
Related: 3 Short Automation Case Studies to Inspire Your Thinking
Power Virtual Agents is a bot building service for businesses that allows for no-code automated chat bot agents. With its drag-and-drop GUI, users can build the entire chatbot development cycle and integrate with chat channels like Teams and automated workflows from Power Automate to trigger job completions.
Power Virtual Agent chat bots can be used in a range of situations such as responding to client queries on your website or providing information and guidance to staff on an internal platform.
What applications can integrate with Power Platform?
There are quite literally hundreds of applications and data sources that the Power Platform can integrate with. As part of the Microsoft ecosystem, extensive integration is available with other Microsoft apps, as well as those in the Microsoft 365 suite, such as SharePoint and Teams.
Numerous third-party app integrations are available, including Salesforce, Dropbox, Xero and Slack. For apps without any native integration with the Power Platform, custom APIs, data gateways and robotic automation provide powerful connectivity options for almost any situation.
Pricing for the various Power Platform apps and features can vary depending on the Microsoft 365 plan that you already have in place, and which specific Power Platform elements you need. For example, Power Automate is included at no extra charge with many Microsoft 365 plans, however this free version may not have the ability to use what are called ‘Premium Connectors’ without adding on a paid license.
When developing a Power Platform solution, it’s important to consider what the ongoing licensing costs are likely to be. In some cases, it may be possible to create your solution on free, or cheaper licenses, however this does need to be considered during the development process.
Although each of the four products included in the Microsoft Power Platform serves a different purpose, they truly shine when used together across multiple business processes.
You can take advantage of Power Apps to build simple business applications, harness the benefits of automated processes with Power Automate, analyse your data in an easily digestible way with Power BI and engage with your community using automated chatbots with Power Virtual Agents – all without the need for heavy coding or software development skills.
If you would like help bringing a Power Platform solution to life, contact us today.
At Grassroots IT, we understand that efficient business operations rely on robust and adaptable technology solutions. Our Managed IT Services in Brisbane offer comprehensive support, including cloud computing and cloud services, to ensure your systems are secure and scalable.
We provide proactive support and high level management of your IT infrastructure to help your business operate smoothly and securely.
We pride ourselves on exceptional customer service and customer satisfaction, working closely with you to align technology strategies with your business goals.As a Brisbane-based provider, we offer personalised support and fast response times, tailored to local businesses.
Contact us today for your MSP.Every business has a multitude of processes and functions that must be performed in order to deliver value to stakeholders and ultimately remain in business. With technology at the heart of modern business this means that (as we hear so often) – “There’s an app for that”. The prevalence of cloud apps sold on a subscription model has resulted in a tidal wave of options for everything from HR management to sales, marketing, finance and every other facet of running a business that you care to name. The inevitable outcome of this is to find yourself with an ever-expanding stack of subscription-based applications in use, each of which does one thing very well, but all with very little app integration between each other. Ironically this can result in decreased quality and efficiency as we wrestle with the gap between applications, often by plugging that gap with human labour.
Leveraging the power of app integration is the key to driving quality and efficiency of operations. Most modern applications offer some ability to integrate through API’s, and with third party integration tools such as Power Automate, some level of DIY integration is possible. Although the tools are continually improving, you will still need some level of technical expertise to build these integrations and maintain them over time. Unfortunately, this is the point at which many integration efforts stall due to lack of time and technical resources.
This is one area where the Microsoft 365 platform truly shines. As part of your subscription, you will receive access to a range of applications such as SharePoint, Outlook and Planner. The magic happens because all of these applications are part of the broader Microsoft 365 platform and come already integrated with each other.
To harness the power of Microsoft 365 integration, read on.
In any aspect of your business, you must have a clear understanding of what goals your business wants to achieve before you can develop action steps to work towards those goals. What problem are you trying to solve, or what opportunity are you trying to seize? Pursuing app integration simply because it’s the latest trend won’t necessarily contribute meaningfully to your business goals.
To get clear on what you need moving forward, start by listing down each of your goals or pain points, ensuring that they all drive towards delivering on your vision or purpose. If you have already done the work and have a clear IT strategy aligned with your business strategy, this bit should be easy.
After identifying your goals and priorities, the next step is to audit the apps and programs you are currently using. A great place to start with this is to review all monthly expenses and credit card statements for recurring cloud services. In our experience it’s not uncommon for clients to be surprised to discover services in use within their organization that they were not even aware of (we call this ‘Shadow IT’).
You may find some sleuthing required at this point to ascertain which apps are actively being used, and which may no longer be delivering any value. In larger organizations it’s not uncommon to discover significant cross over, or even duplication of effort with which apps various departments are using. Be careful at this point to understand any existing app integration in use not only to avoid accidentally breaking important systems, but also as a clue to how these apps are being used within the business.
For instance, your sales and marketing departments might be using two different but similar tools. There may be an opportunity to use a single app that could support both the sales and marketing functions, while providing greater continuity through the sales and marketing process.
Next ask yourself which apps could be replaced by one already available in Microsoft 365.
For example, if you are using Dropbox for cloud-based file storage, Microsoft SharePoint or OneDrive could provide the same functionality, allowing you to cut the cost of Dropbox while bringing your files into the secure, integrated Microsoft 365 platform. Planner could replace Trello, FindTime could replace Doodle, and the list goes on.
You may of course discover some apps for which no easy alternative exists within Microsoft 365, or which provides important value to you beyond what the Microsoft alternative does. The good news is that Microsoft 365 is easily integrated into many third-party apps.
There are numerous automatic points of app integration between the Microsoft 365 apps that streamline daily activities. For example, when attaching a document to an email in Outlook you will have the option to ‘Share’ the document; this will automatically upload the document to the cloud and provide your recipient with a link, allowing you both to co-author a single instance of the document rather than emailing different versions back and forth.
You may of course identify new ways that integration between apps would be useful. Microsoft 365 is an extremely extensible platform with extensive opportunity for integration with third-party apps. The first step in creating your own integration is Power Automate – itself part of the Microsoft 365 platform. Power Automate has a vast array of integration templates for you to choose from, or you can start from scratch if you prefer.
Here are some other examples of powerful app integrations already included in Microsoft 365 :
For a central hub of communication and collaboration, look no further than Teams. Teams is your one-stop hub for team collaboration, allowing you to embed not only other Microsoft apps, but also third party apps for a seamless and integrated work environment.
The Microsoft Office apps such as Word and Excel are tightly integrated into SharePoint and OneDrive, allowing you to seamlessly use these cloud storage services without leaving your document. Storing your documents within Microsoft 365 also enables powerful features such as co-authoring and version control.
Shifts is Microsoft’s schedule management tool that allows for creating, updating and managing daily shift schedules for your frontline teams. This feature is fully integrated with Microsoft Teams making it is more convenient to keep track of everything and everyone from a single app. You can access your calendar, send team updates and allow clock in and clock out schedules all from within Microsoft Teams.
Microsoft Stream, which is a secure video streaming platform where you can prepare and upload training videos and modules for your new staff or for adoption and change management purposes. Stream is also fully integrated with other Microsoft apps such as SharePoint, Teams and Yammer allowing you to easily share your Stream content with staff, track engagement, and share insight on these videos. Stream also provides automatic timestamps and transcripts, with fully searchable audio.
Planner is a Kanban style task management application that is included in Microsoft 365. Planner allows users to create funnels for tracking steps in a process or status of a project. Planner makes sure everyone involved in the completion of tasks are updated with latest changes through notifications sent through emails and Microsoft To-do. You can use Planner either in a browser or within Teams and, from Planner can link through to documents on SharePoint, manage tasks through Microsoft To-Do (a daily to-do list app) and chat about the projects through Teams.
Microsoft 365 provides numerous opportunities for process improvement through integration both between Microsoft apps and third-party apps.
If you’re considering engaging a Managed Service Provider (MSP) to provide Managed IT Support, it’s important that you understand what factors can influence how much you will pay. You may be looking to change from an existing MSP, upgrade from ad-hoc support, or perhaps compliment in-house IT staff; in any case it’s important that you understand the factors that can influence Managed IT Services pricing, and what the price is likely to look like.
Managed IT Services are IT services provided and managed for your business by a third-party provider known as a Managed Service Provider (MSP). They are an effective way of providing your business with the information technology services and resources that it needs to prosper, without having to invest in building your own in-house capabilities in these areas. With the burden of providing and managing your IT services contracted to a third party, you can stay focused on your own core areas of expertise.
There are many services that can be delivered as a Managed IT Service, such as IT Support, Helpdesk, Internet connectivity, Infrastructure Management and Application Maintenance.
Managed IT Support is the provision of IT Support & related services such as Helpdesk by a Managed Service Provider, usually charged at a fixed monthly cost for an agreed scope of service. Managed IT Support is the preferred choice for small & medium businesses in Australia when compared with other options such as ad-hoc break fix support or hiring an in-house IT support team.
Managed IT Support is often thought of primarily as user facing Helpdesk support. Although this is a significant part of any engagement, most Managed IT Support contracts will also provide for proactive management of IT platforms and infrastructure. Every MSP’s contract will be different, which is why it’s important that you properly understand the inclusions and exclusions when considering a new engagement.
Managed IT Services have many advantages over the alternative options.
Every business has its own unique requirements, and every contract may have different inclusions, however in general there are commonly accepted methods for pricing a Managed IT Support contract which take into consideration factors such as the size and complexity of your IT environment, and the scope of services included.
As a rule of thumb, a Managed IT Support contract in Brisbane will cost between $100 and $150 per computer (or user) per month.
Prices in other parts of Australia may vary but in general this price range is a good indication of what you can expect to pay across most of Australia.
One factor that can influence Managed IT Services pricing is the support model that your organisation has chosen. The three most common support models are:
For many small to medium-sized businesses it can make sense to fully outsource the provision of IT support to a Managed Services Provider. This will entail the MSP providing not only user-facing Helpdesk support, but also monitoring and management of infrastructure and platforms such as Microsoft 365.
For businesses that already have an in-house IT team, Managed IT Support can complement these staff by either providing escalation support for more complex issues, or by relieving some of the load by handling more routine or lower-level duties.
For those businesses happy to handle their own user-facing helpdesk support, Managed IT Support can help by monitoring and managing all infrastructure and platforms and remediating any issues that may arise.
There are three common pricing models used when pricing IT support contracts which may either be used to price the entirety of the contract or used in combination to reach a final price.
Per device pricing uses a certain price for each device of a particular type. For example, you may have 20 computers in your business and be offered a price of $100 per computer per month. Of course, it’s important to be clear on what is included in this price. Does this price include Helpdesk support for your users? Does it include management of any infrastructure such as firewalls and switches?
Per user pricing is similar to per device pricing, but rather than identifying individual devices it counts how many users are in your business.
The flat fee pricing model doesn’t specifically offer a rate per device or computer, but instead offers a single flat fee, irrespective of the user or device count in the business.
Irrespective of which pricing model is used, it’s worth noting that the intention is to determine a price that will provide the client with fair value for money while allowing the MSP to make a sustainable profit. In recognition that business circumstances change over time, most contracts will allow for periodic adjustments to ensure that the agreement continues to provide value for both parties over the long term.
The final cost of Managed IT support for your business will vary depending on the needs of your business and the Managed Service Provider that you choose to engage. Here are several of the most common factors that can influence the overall cost of a Managed IT Support agreement:
Each MSP will include different services in their contracts. Some MSP’s will have tightly defined service offerings with different inclusions that you can choose from, often following the classic Good – Better – Best model, with names like Bronze, Silver and Gold. Other MSP’s may offer a more bespoke pricing model, with inclusions and pricing specific to each client’s needs.
Whatever the pricing model, most Managed IT Support contracts have common inclusions such as:
Although less common, some MSP’s may choose to bundle additional items into their main list of inclusions. For example, we have seen some MSP’s bundling Office 365 licenses, and even new laptops into their core Managed IT Support contracts, rather than leaving them as optional extras.
When assessing the price of Managed IT Support it’s important to be clear on what is included in the monthly fixed fee, and what is not. For those items not included, it’s also important to be clear on what rates would apply.
There will also usually be items excluded from the agreement, but available at extra cost, such as:
Price is a key factor when considering Managed IT Support, however there are other crucial factors to understand when deciding whether Managed IT Support is right for you, and if so, which Managed Service Provider you will partner with.
Technology is a critical piece of every business but can be confusing and difficult to get right. Partnering with a proven Managed Service Provider will give you the peace of mind to focus on growing your business. Contact us today for a free consultation on how Grassroots IT can help.
Technology has evolved into a necessity in almost every aspect of our daily lives, especially in the world of business. Companies are constantly forced to adapt to the rapid advances in technology in order to thrive. For some business leaders, keeping on top of the latest technology changes might feel exciting, but for others, it can feel overwhelming and pulls you away from focusing on core business.
The decision to use outsourced IT support may save you a LOT of trouble. If you’re a business leader who is looking for better value from your IT investment, then outsourcing to a trusted Managed IT service provider may be a great option for you. You might be surprised at the benefits of outsourced IT support when compared to building your own team of in-house IT experts.
In this blog we share 5 of the the most important benefits of outsourced IT support.
Knowing that there is a reliable IT Support team looking after your IT health gives you the opportunity to focus your energy on the core needs of your business. This will help drive your business forward rather than allocating valuable resources to not-so-rewarding tasks such as software updates, security patches and day to day helpdesk issues.
To have a Managed IT Support partner is to have a dedicated set of eyes looking after your IT health so that you can fully benefit from your IT investment, rather than becoming distracted by it.
When you choose a trusted IT partner, your business is under the care of industry experts who are proactively watching over your IT health using advanced monitoring systems. This also includes enhanced performance for your IT systems, identifying glitches and addressing them before they become a real problem. But if they go unnoticed and undiagnosed, the issues could cause a major expense and downtime.
This will give you peace of mind knowing IT problems are minimised, and allows a highly experienced team of IT experts to take over solving problems and finding scalable solutions for your IT. Furthermore, they can help expand your vision on how you can effectively use technology in your business to drive positive change.
Many Managed IT service providers run on a subscription-based model that offers a fixed monthly or annual fee. Outsourcing your IT and having them proactively manage your IT systems also means there is less chance of unexpected problems and expenses from arising. This allows you to manage your cashflow with more predictable costs.
You may have the idea that on-boarding an external team of highly skilled IT professionals would be expensive, but in many cases it can actually save you money.
One significant benefits of outsourcing your IT to a Managed IT services provider is having access to their up-to-date IT skills, knowledge and systems. This can play out in a number of ways:
Along with access to the latest technologies, a Managed IT services provider can share their network of product and service vendors with you, obtain the best deals, and communicate with vendors on your behalf. They will also have specialty product knowledge, understand the specifications and know what technology your business needs to meet your requirements.
Spoiler alert, the latest tech on sale at a retailer like JB-HiFi may not be the most economical or best-fit for your business!
Dealing with vendors can be overwhelming, but a good Managed IT Support provider will be experienced in liaising with vendors to help with purchases, as well as troubleshoot issues on your behalf. Your IT provider can streamline all communications and assign subject matter experts to handle each task.
Technology is a huge part of running a business and is a vital factor in determining the success of your short-term and long-term objectives. Having a set of expert eyes to take important IT matters off your shoulders is a smart initiative that can bring many benefits to you and your Organisation.
Interested in learning more about outsourcing your IT Support? See how we can help.
It’s fair to say that you’ve invested a lot in your IT support team. If you have an IT support team in house, then you’ve spent time and money recruiting them, training them, and developing them with the hard and soft skills necessary to perform at a high standard. You’ve spent money on computers, software, desks, all sorts of gadgets you may not understand, and of course plain old (but not plain cheap) floor space in your office. If on the other hand you have decided to outsource IT support you have made a big investment in other ways, not least of all the decision of which IT provider to place your trust in. You have made the commitment to bring these people into the ‘inner circle’ of your organisation to provide services to your people that are at the core of your business’ daily activities, and continue to invest in the relationship with every interaction.
Having made such a commitment to your IT support team, you need to ensure you get the most from the investment. Here’s how.
Your IT people want to help, they really do, but they can’t work in a vacuum. No one will argue the benefit of ensuring that IT is properly aligned with the business, but a lot of people still seem mystified by how to make this happen. In my experience it’s actually very easy. You just need to openly communicate with IT what the business strategy is, and how the business will benefit from IT involvement.
You may think that your IT people don’t need to know about your marketing strategy refocus, or about the gradual shift underway towards just-in-time inventory in the packaging warehouse, but if I position the question another way – how can you expect them to align their efforts with the business if they don’t know where the business is heading?
Keep your IT people up to date on where the business is heading, and they will do everything in their power to keep IT aligned with that vision too. If you feel this isn’t happening, then talk with your IT people about it. Don’t assume they have no interest in the business, and are only interested in their computers. You may be surprised.
Your IT support team may appear to work magic at times, but rest assured they do not actually have super powers. When considering a new corporate initiative, make sure you include your IT people in on discussions at an early stage. This way they will be able to offer the benefit of their knowledge and experience to help the project move forward effectively.
I’ve lost count of the number of times that I’ve seen IT brought into projects (both big and small) late in the piece, only to be the unwilling bearers of bad news as they share why the current project plans will hit technical problems. No one wins in this situation. The IT people look like the bad guys, and substantial investments of time and money spent in planning have been wasted and need to be redone.
By looping IT in on discussions at an earlier stage the project team will have the benefit of their knowledge early on, and will be able to plan the project accordingly, avoiding any unnecessary surprises further down the track.
Whether you have your own IT people on staff, in your office or offshore, or via an outsourced arrangement with a managed IT service provider, your IT people are just that – people. As such they will flourish and bend over backwards to please you the more that they are made to feel welcomed, and valued members of your team.
Despite the popular adage, IT people are not mushrooms to be shut in a dark basement and fed….mushroom food. They are people who love to help, and engage, and feel appreciated, and the more you can make them feel this way, the harder they will work to help you and your business.
Like any working team, your IT department will flourish under the right conditions. They may be able to achieve more than you dreamt possible and show you the best possible return on investment if you keep them in the loop on your business direction, involve them early in project planning, and nurture your relationship.
While investing in technology is not an insignificant part of any business’ budget, having the right IT services in place could actually help your business to save money.
In this blog, we share our five essential services to ensure that your IT budget is well spent and your business isn’t just surviving but thriving.
Technology is ever-changing and, while it’s tempting to adopt the latest shiny gadget or software trend, it’s important to ensure that you have an IT strategy in place that aligns with your business goals. Working with an IT consultant who understands business as well as IT, you can create a plan and budget for your technology needs into the future that aligns with the direction and growth of your business. Having a plan in place will ensure that there are fewer IT emergencies and less unnecessary expenditure, which is much better for your budget.
With the right IT strategy in place, now you need a team of IT experts on hand who understand your business and can deliver IT support, services and recommendations. Managed IT services is essentially having access to a responsive helpdesk support team, combined with proactive management of your technology systems. All this comes at a fixed monthly price. It will save your business money because:
There are many software packages available to businesses these days. Growing businesses can often be stringing together many different tech tools, without really understanding the true cost to the business, which includes learning the new systems and making each tool integrate smoothly. We are firm believers in adopting a system that aligns with your business goals and strategy, offers easy integrations between apps, and is secure and reliable. That’s why we use, support and advocate for Microsoft Office 365.
Microsoft’s ever-expanding suite of business products provides many productivity and collaboration tools, cloud services and high-end security. As well as Microsoft 365 and the Office suite of apps giving you an edge in today’s ever-growing world, Microsoft offers flexible plans and scalable pricing.
With scalable pricing, you can scale up and down as your business grows or you take on projects. Flexible plans and service offerings mean you can use the Microsoft Office 365 products and services that you need now and explore additional features later. You can even mix and match to suit different staff requirements. As well as offering incredible benefits to staff retention and engagement through the use of these powerful collaboration tools, you can save money because you’re not paying for licenses and features that you don’t need.
Migrating your business systems to the cloud is now key to unlocking a plethora of great opportunities for growth in your Organisation. Your business is unique and needs the right tools with the power and flexibility to enable you to drive productivity while reducing risk. The right cloud solution will bring enterprise grade capabilities into your business in an accessible and easy to manage package.
Not sure what cloud solutions even means? Some business products that you could utilise using the cloud include:
When you consider what it might cost you to have an internet service that constantly lags or drops out, an outdated phone system, or not having backups in place if an incident causes your whole business system to be taken out, you can see that having the right cloud services in place can actually save your business money.
Cyber-security threats and data breaches are becoming increasingly rampant, sophisticated and difficult to mitigate. Even more worrying is the rising cost of cybercrime to businesses. In Australia, the average cost of a single cybercrime is about $276,000. Implementing and maintaining a strong cybersecurity stance is crucial in every business, regardless of its size, and businesses these days can’t afford not to have adequate protection in place as the risks are too great.
A great place to start with cybersecurity is to learn more about the Essential 8 framework and ensure your business has a strategy in place that covers the basics of prevention, limiting the extent of attacks and disaster recovery. We are so passionate about security solutions that every client we support with a Managed IT Agreement has the following baseline inclusions:
As an added bonus, one more thing to consider when it comes to managing your technology budget, is Adoption and Change Management.
Focusing on the people side of things in a business can often be overlooked but is one of the most important aspects of growing your business. Without managing the people side of change, even an organisation that has met all the technical requirements and milestones can still fail to deliver results and benefits. In our experience working with many clients over a range of industries, we know that organisations that embrace change management are more likely to achieve the intended project outcomes, stay on schedule and stay on budget. It’s all very well to implement the best technology, but if no one is using it, it’s no use to anyone and it certainly isn’t bringing growth to your Organisation.
By investing in an IT plan and strategy, managed IT support services, a reliable platform for productivity and collaboration, cloud solutions and cybersecurity, you can actually save your business money in the long run. The important factor is to ensure they are the right technology services for your business and aligned with your overall business strategy so that the business can grow and thrive.
With a team covering three countries, remote working is at the core of how Grassroots IT functions, and our daily huddle is crucial to maintaining a high performing, happy and engaged team. Microsoft Teams is critical to the way we run our daily video huddle, with the features and tight integration into Office 365 that makes for a seamless experience every time. Here are some key elements of how we use Microsoft Teams to run our daily huddle.
Before we get into the technology bit, there are a couple of decision you need to make. The first step is to decide who will attend your daily huddle, who will run your daily huddle, and what time of day it will happen. We have twenty people in our team, so it is quite practical to have all of us in on the daily huddle. With all of us involved it still only takes about 15 minutes for the entire huddle; long enough for everyone to be heard but not long enough for anyone to get bored. If your team is larger, you may like to think about breaking into two or more huddles, to keep the entire huddle time under 20 minutes. I would encourage you to do so thoughtfully though, as one of the benefits of a daily huddle is bringing the team together. Splitting into multiple huddles, if not done carefully, may risk losing this benefit or worse, creating division within the team.
Next you need to decide on the time of day that your huddle will happen, every day, without fail. This is critical. The daily huddle must become a habit for everyone, which means that it must happen at the same time each day. If someone is late joining the huddle, the huddle must start without them. With multiple time zones to consider, we settled on a 9am huddle each day. Whatever time works for you, I would suggest making it as early in the day as possible to provide your team with the alignment and energy they need for the day ahead.
Finally, and most important of all, you must select the person to run your daily huddle. In my experience it is important that this decision is not about seniority, experience, or ego. You need to choose someone who is positive, empathetic, and outgoing, so that they can bring the right energy to the huddle every single day. It is perfectly ok if this is a junior staff member, a senior staff member or an emerging leader. The point of the role is to facilitate the daily huddle in a positive, connecting, and energising way.
Now that you have decided on the who and when of your daily huddle, it is time to get it locked into everyone’s schedule. There are two ways to do this, both of which will effectively give you the same outcome.
Here’s a quick guide to schedule your daily huddle directly from Teams
There’s also a way to schedule your daily huddle through Outlook. Here’s a quick guide to help you set up your next meeting. First step is to go to your Outlook calendar then:
If you’re using Teams for your daily huddle and your Teams calendar is linked to Outlook, there’s a button in your Outlook ribbon that says New Teams Meeting, click on that.
Once you’re brought to a new email window, you will notice that there’s already a Teams Meeting link automatically added at the bottom of your email invite and your Location set to Microsoft Teams Meeting.
Fill in the details of the meeting
Last step to do is to set the time and start date, make it recurring daily and send out your invites to your participants.
Now that your daily huddle has been scheduled in everyone’s calendar, you (and whoever is going to run your huddle) need to decide on the agenda. Here are some quick tips on how we do this at Grassroots IT:
Joining any video call in Microsoft Teams is super easy so of course your daily huddle is no different. There are several ways to pop into your Teams huddle whether you’re on your desktop, laptop or mobile phone:
A daily huddle can be an extremely effective way to help staff stay connected, aligned, and productive, especially when working remotely. Using Microsoft Teams to schedule a daily video call for your huddle is a simple and effective way of making this happen, particularly when you also start to use other features of Microsoft Teams such as virtual backgrounds and screen sharing to even further enhance the experience.
