Resources To Navigate Your Business During These Times

Resources To Navigate Your Business During These Times

We're in this together!

Cathy

There is so much information about COVID-19, so we’ve decided to curate it for you, offering you the most important and relevant information about navigating this from a business perspective. You’ll find resources here on planning financially, working remotely, helping your employees cope, and leading with excellence during a crisis.

We will continue to update the resources found here as there are new developments and programs available.

As always, I’m here to offer any guidance you need on concerns about your business and business continuity so that you can keep working.

We're in this together!

Stabilize Your Business: Improvise, Adapt, Overcome

With constant changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, your business may face cash flow challenges or even new opportunities. To respond to these changes, look no further than a familiar motto: Improvise, Adapt, Overcome.

The motto used by the U.S. Marine Corps outlines steps you can use to combat the challenges you are facing as you make decisions that will be key to the survival of your business.

We've compiled some great business resources to help you improvise, adapt and overcome. There's a lot here so take your time and take it in small bites.

Select the topic bar to expand for more info

Just like the flight attendants advise on an airplane, put your oxygen mask on first. Here are some tools and thoughts on how to ensure you can get through the first 90 days of this crisis. The links include tips, tools and templates as well as great resources for navigating the changing government economic initiatives.

Improvise:

Meet with your CPA and/or Controller/Accountant and create a financial plan for the next 90 days. Re-evaluate this plan every 1-2 weeks to see if you need to adjust.

Adapt:

Consider adding an expense line item called COVID-19 to your organization's general ledger and track all expenses in there including your staff and personal time spent dealing with the crisis. Click here for a 30-second video by Ron Lovett, author of Outrageous Empowerment, explains why it will make it easier to apply for government assistance if and when it comes available.

Stress test your cash! Use this tool for managing cash for free for 3 months. Stress test your cash here with just 6 numbers from your financials.

Check out the Financial Crisis Management Templates from CPA and Author, Greg Crabtree. They can help determine if you have the capital needed to get back to pre-COVID-19 profitability levels (or better)? Click here for access to some useful templates to help you evaluate and decide.

Overcome:

Demystifying CARES Act

This link brings you to a “guide” to the various loans. It was prepared by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. It has a very readable summary of the various loans and grants available.

Apply for a loan as soon as its available. Apply even if you think you won't need it. You can always say NO. You can find all the information here.

If you need assistance navigating this, reach out to your accountant or I recommend contacting Profitlinq here

Top 6 Best Practices For Businesses Amid COVID-19

Scan the article here for details, but in a nutshell:

  • Prioritize Issues of Greatest Urgency
  • Triple Your Communication
  • Work from Home
  • Use Video Conferencing
  • Manage Your Cash
  • Look for Opportunities to Do Something Extraordinary

Mindset for Scary Times - a great podcast

How is all of this affecting business? And how will it affect YOUR business? While many people are in a panic, Jay Abraham, Dean Jackson, and Joe Polish are NOT panicking at all, and you should know why. The three of them just had one of the most insightful, calm, and important conversations ever about succeeding in business in scary times such as what we’re experiencing right now. They recorded the conversation and it is available for you to listen at: I Love Marketing podcast Episode #362. You can check it out here.

Risk Mitigation Strategies from McKinsey:

This is a few days old but after re-reading this weekend I feel it is still very relevant and is one of the most comprehensive overviews I have seen to date. There is a checklist at the end of the article that gives a very good overview of what to be doing to mitigate risk. You can read it here

Keeping Your Office Safe and Your Staff Safe When Going to a Client Site:

If your facility is still operating and you have any staff coming onsite, you need to have clear protocols in place as to how and when people access the building. Click here for a copy of our protocols for coming to the office, disinfecting yourself, receiving visitors, and receiving packages/mail. Or conversely, if you need to send your team into the field for any reason, similar protocols will apply.

Staying Centered and Grounded

More Important Now Than Ever!

We are in unprecedented times and the pressure on us as leaders has never been as great. Now more than ever we need to assure we take time for centering, grounding, mindfulness. You might want to check out apps like "Insight Timer" or "Calm" which are both personal favorites of mine.

Pass along to your team!

COVID-19 Live Tracker

This is a comprehensive, as close to real time as I have found, tracker of the global to local impact. Book mark this so you have access to data should there be a need. https://ncov2019.live/data

From the CDC - What to do if you think you may have COVID-19

You may want to include this information when you're communicating to your teams.

COVID-19 Prevention

Obviously we are not medical professionals, but there is some evidence that suggests high dose Vitamin C can help boost your immune system. Please judge this for yourself but here is data for your consideration from WorldHealth.net.

Technology Best Practices for Working Remotely, Efficiently and Securely

How to Stay Connected While Working at Home

In the midst of COVID-19, telecommuting has become essential to keep businesses operational. We are here to help you be fully prepared to take on the transition to working from home and we want to start by discussing the easiest ways to continue collaboration with teammates outside of the office.

Check out our webinar on Technology Best Practices for Working Remotely, Efficiently and Securely here.

Don’t Have Laptops or PCs For Your Remote Workers?

IT Radix has a limited number of new PCs, laptops and even USB headsets that we can configure for remote workers to use at home. These machine would be suitable for long-term use even after the COVID-19 crisis is over. Contact us to discuss potential options.

Is your data secure and backed up while team members are working from home? Can your team collaborate effectively from different locations? Don’t let COVID-19 halt your business operations. Review your company’s WFH readiness and identify potential areas needing attention with our Telecommuting Preparedness Checklist here.

Collaboration Tools and Platforms

Can your team communicate easily with one another? It's critical to over communicate during this time.

Select the topic bar to expand for more info on tools and options for your business

Microsoft Teams for Instant Messaging, Speaking, Collaborating and Video Conferencing:
"Teams" is Included in your Microsoft Office 365 Licensing if you have a Business Essentials, Business Premium, E1, and E3 subscription. We use Teams extensively at IT Radix. We hold a daily huddle each morning at 8:30AM to align for the day. Twice a week, we also use the Teams video conferencing functionality to enhance our company huddle. Throughout the day, we chat, call and video conference each other individually and in small groups to keep our internal communication strong.

Check out our webinar on "How to create a PRODUCTIVE remote work culture using Teams" here.

We've created a Microsoft Teams Cheat Sheet that you can download and reference here.

Our online training partner Bigger Brains has moved their Teams training over to YouTube as a resource for companies who need to learn collaboration in a hurry. You can check it out here.

Concerned about background noise coming through while working from home? Check out this tool that helps mute background noise here.

New to Office 365? Microsoft has made Teams available for free to new Office 365 subscribers.

It's also vital you have secure, reliable access to your data files. Your options vary from VPN to cloud-filing sharing such as SharePoint which is built-in to Microsoft Office 365.

SharePoint and OneDrive

SharePoint and OneDrive are excellent choices for remote access to data files and file sharing. You can read about the pros and cons and which is best for your business here.

We are actively assisting clients with shifting to SharePoint and OneDrive during this COVID-19 crisis. Need help or advice? Just give us a shout. We're happy to help.

Virtual Private Network

A Virtual Private Network or VPN connection is a great way to access your information at the office. If you only need file access, a connection can be made directly to your file server using VPN. If you'd like to run special software, such as accounting or other line-of-business software, you may prefer to remote control your desktop PC in the office using a combination of VPN and remote control software. Both VPN options are great for remote access and help ensure that your data and network stays private. Not sure if VPN is right for you. Ask us!

Zoom Video Conferencing: www.zoom.us Zoom is a popular and widely used video conferencing platform.

Webex Meetings webex.com

Hosted VoIP Systems

Now that you're working from home, are you unable to answer your office phones because you've got an outdated phone system?

Ask us you about hosted VoIP options that can be implemented today.

Don't Skip Security - Ensure Your Data is Protected

Security Best Practices

Security is increasingly important to businesses everywhere. With data ransoms and malware becoming increasingly sneaky, protecting your devices and data is more important than ever.

If you are interested in learning more about other security measures you can implement or how they can protect your business, visit our security solutions page.

IT Security Policies and Procedures

No matter how strong your security system, a single mistake from an employee can cause a significant breach in the security system of your business. So, it is better to invest some time and money to educate your employees about the company’s privacy and security best practices that they can follow immediately. This includes ensuring that their device software is up to date, connecting only from private or encrypted networks, changing their passwords regularly, using the multi-factor authentication system to connect to the company-wide network, and so on. This will minimize the chance for your employees to make the big mistakes related to your business privacy and security.

Read more about Employee Security Training and Testing here.

Remote work presents a unique challenge for information security because remote work environments don't usually have the same safeguards as in the office.

When an employee is at the office, they are working behind layers of preventive security controls. While not perfect, it is harder to make a security mistake while at the office. However, when computers leave the perimeter and people work remote, new risks arise for the company and additional policies are essential.

A major concern when working from home is Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) security risks. Essentially, you can’t count on employees to keep their own personal laptops or phones clean of sneaky malware or insecure apps for personal use. People experiment with app, use social media, chat, open files, and all sorts of things that aren’t data-secure on their personal devices.

Check out our webinar on Technology Best Practices for Working Remotely, Efficiently and Securely here

SANS Security Awareness Work-from-Home Deployment Kit

The SANS Institute put out a free deployment toolkit/security awareness for working from home. You can find it here.

Password Management

Working from home means that your team may no longer have access to their passwords. it is critical to ensure you are using good password practices and now is a great time to implement a secure Password Management System that allows your team to create and securely share passwords.

You can read some of our advice on password management here.

We are offering 2 free months of our password management system to ensure that none of your passwords get compromised during this time.

Multi-factor Authentication

Working from home means that your team may no longer have access to their passwords. it is critical to ensure you are using good password practices and now is a great time to implement a secure Password Management System that allows your team to create and securely share passwords.

You can read some of our advice on multi-factor authentication here

Is your team exposing your computer network to new risks?

Remote work presents a unique challenge for information security because remote work environments don't usually have the same safeguards as in the office.

When an employee is at the office, they are working behind layers of preventive security controls. While not perfect, it is harder to make a security mistake while at the office. However, when computers leave the premises and people work remotely, new risks arise for the company and additional policies are essential.

A major concern when working from home is Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) security risks. Essentially, you can’t count on employees to keep their own personal laptops or phones clean of sneaky malware or insecure apps for personal use. People experiment with app, use social media, chat, open files, and all sorts of things that aren’t data-secure on their personal devices.

Check out our webinar on Technology Best Practices for Working Remotely, Efficiently and Securely here

Back It Up

Make sure you understand where you are saving your work while remote and ensure that it's included in your organization's overall data backup

Do not let your team download data to their personal machines. You lost control from a security standpoint as well as a backup standpoint. Once they have downloaded data to their personal machine, all bets are off and your data is at risk.

Want a quick backup review? We'd be happy to help. March 31st is World Backup Day. In honor of the holiday, you may want to share the security tip found here with your team.

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