4 Low-Cost, High-Impact Tech Initiatives for SMBs This Summer

 

Do you want to reduce bottlenecks and operating costs, boost team engagement and customer satisfaction, and improve your overall cybersecurity posture? Well, summer is upon us, and it's your best chance yet to install new technology and upgrades to accomplish all that.

July and August, in particular, can be a slow time of year for most small to medium businesses (SMBs), with many customers and clients out and about enjoying the longer days and extended vacations. With your business and employees less hampered by pressing deadlines and client demands, take the opportunity to address those technology projects or updates that have been put on ice.

Strengthen your business technology with these inexpensive yet impactful tech initiatives before this season ends. You will be better poised to tackle the competition during your busy season. Take your pick from these four tech initiatives to help you and your team work more efficiently while mitigating setbacks you're experiencing.

 

1. Adopt a Reasonably-Priced Collaboration Tool

Is your team growing, but the tools you use to communicate lack a feature set to grow with you? Or do you want to optimize spending and find better value-for-money task management solutions?

2. Make Your Website More Mobile Responsive

• According to Hubspot, 71% of people expect the mobile version of a website to load faster or at least just as fast as the desktop version.
• Google says 61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site they had trouble accessing, and 40% visit a competitor's site instead.
• As of May 2022, 60.46% of all web traffic came through mobile phones.

Your customers will likely be traveling and using their mobile devices to make purchases, an excellent incentive to update your website and make it more mobile-responsive! Make it easy for them to buy your products or services or read about what you have to offer.

3. Check for Any Service Overlaps

Just as people are trying to whip their bodies into shape to be beach-ready this summer, why not "trim the fat" and eliminate redundancies in your paid licenses and subscriptions? Review your existing licenses, and activate unutilized services and features included in your package. Reevaluate the use of "top-of-the-line" solutions that may be leading to dual licensing fees.

Many platforms offer features and benefits that coincide with the services provided by another vendor. Take the time this summer to list or catalog the resources you have. An audit can help you uncover opportunities to consolidate platforms, giving you a calculable return on investment and leading to increased efficiencies in infrastructure and management.

4. Shore up Your Cybersecurity Strategies

Gone are the days when cyberattacks primarily targeted enterprises. According to Verizon's 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report, businesses with ten employees or less are under attack!

That's because human error, not your infrastructure, is the weakest link in cybersecurity. Hackers are capitalizing on one of your employee's momentary confusion (from the heat, perhaps) or love of a good bargain to make their next paycheck. It only takes one person to make that unfortunate click that can shut down your business.

This summer, focus on strengthening your most vulnerable access point (your employees) and leverage these critical protections you might be missing.

Mobile Device Management

Are you one of the "cool" companies that allow a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy? If so, mobile devices never previously connected to the company network are likely being used for work, and it's why Mobile Device Management (MDM) is more critical than ever. By applying software, processes, and security policies onto all your mobile devices and toward their use, you can reap the benefits of BYOD and remote work policies without them becoming liabilities.

Security Awareness Training

Minimizing the chances for error through MDM alone won't work for obvious reasons. Raising your team's cybersecurity awareness across all devices through effective Security Awareness Training (SAT) can pack a one-two punch. By providing your employees with the information and experience they need to recognize and respond to cyber threats, you can reduce risk and create a culture of cybersecurity awareness this season.

Endpoint Detection and Response

Hackers are refining their craft by the minute, and some malicious files will find their way in. When that happens, early detection will give you a fighting chance. Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) is a powerful tool that can scan emails at the attachment level, quarantine suspicious files, and report them to administrators for review. Without EDR, malware can easily pass through your security system and embed itself on a computer, spread to other devices, and, as you can imagine, cause irreversible damage to your business.

 

Barely halfway through 2022, we are already battling serious cybersecurity vulnerabilities in Follina, Log4j, and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, not to mention the pervading impact of Covid. You can't police the sites your employees visit, the links they click, and the attachments they download. Let a Managed Service Provider (MSP) do it for you. Our award-winning team is happy to swoop in and assist your company with the latest cyber protection.

Contact The TNS Group today to learn how to stay cyber secure while minimizing cost (and maximizing fun) this summer. If you are currently a TNS partner, simply contact your friendly Account Manager for more information on cybersecurity.

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