Is your business prepared for bad weather?

In recent weeks, the UK has been brought to a standstill thanks to wintery weather from “the Beast from the East” and Storm Emma. Train delays, gridlocked motorways and empty offices were common sights across the country, with thousands of people unable to get to work because of the freezing temperatures and snow showers. It is estimated that the spell of bad weather has cost the economy at least £1bn a day, making it the most costly weather event since 2010.

Snow is not the only example of poor weather affecting businesses. Flooding is the most common and widespread natural disaster in the country, according to the UK government. Every year since 1998 there has been at least one severe flood. With around 260,000 commercial properties located in flood risk areas, it can cause huge problems. In fact, two-thirds of small business in the UK were affected by extreme weather in the last three years.

These kinds of poor weather events result in thousands of employees not able to get to work, with many depending on public transport and roads to make their journeys. According to RSA Insurance Group, on one snowy day in December 2010 up to one-third of employees could not get to work safely. Despite this, the FSB suggest only 27% of businesses have a severe weather plan in place.

Reduce weather problems with clouds

With the advanced technology available today, there is no reason for businesses to be impacted by staff not making it into the office due to bad weather. The use of cloud-based technology means that employees can remain productive wherever they are, whether it is stuck on a delayed train or snowed in at home. If businesses are properly utilising the cloud as the powerful tool it is, then employees will be able to access their emails, files and work-related software from anywhere with a network connection.

Remote working

Giving workers the flexibility to work from any location will often boost productivity and efficiency. Statistics reveal that 82% of telecommuters reported lower stress levels, making for happier and more productive employees. Even if businesses do not want to introduce remote working all of the time, employees will benefit from having their work on hand wherever they are such as meeting rooms and conferences as well as meaning they can work remotely in the event of bad weather.

Server safety

As well as keeping employees connected from any location, using a cloud solution also gives your business added protection. When the freezing temperatures cause a pipe to burst or the heavy snow leaves you with a leaking roof, there is no need to worry about damage to your office-based server. All your businesses data is safely stored and backed up in the cloud. When the poor weather conditions result in power lines being taken out by high winds and freezing temperatures, many businesses will struggle to continue operating as normal. When your servers are cloud-based, they will not be affected by that local power cut, meaning your staff can keep on working and accessing their data.

VoIP

In addition to using cloud-based applications to protect your business against severe weather, other technology such as VoIP and telecoms can also be extremely useful. You can give your employees access to their office landlines from anywhere with an internet connection with the use of VoIP and virtual numbers. As easy as downloading an app onto a mobile device, desktop phones can be seamlessly connected to a mobile device anywhere in the world, allowing your staff to continue working as normal.

There is no need to cancel face-to-face meetings because of wintery weather conditions. Software applications such as Skype allow employees to hold meetings from any location, so whether they are stuck at home on a snow day or at a standstill on the motorway, that meeting can go ahead as planned.

Get your business weather ready

Here at Cyan Solutions, we can help you to start protecting your business against the adverse weather conditions and provide you with all the information and technology you need to enable your employees to work from anywhere. Our cloud-based system can replicate a user desktop from anywhere and at any time of day, allowing real-time access to files and business apps. Our VoIP solutions are ideal for keeping your staff connected, wherever they are in the world.

It is so important for businesses to plan ahead for bad weather situations and maintain a solution that is ready to change and grow as the company does. Get in touch with us today to find out more about switching to a cloud-hosted solution and take the first step in protecting your business against the predictably unpredictable British weather.

Managing Volunteer Teams Through Good Technology

Coordination and communication are key to running a successful charity campaign. Organisations often want to bring together large, transient teams of volunteers to raise money. Making sure everyone works from the same playbook to the same ends can be difficult and time consuming.  

Getting the management of volunteer teams right, of course, ensures more money is raised while overheads are reduced, and efficiency and engagement improved.  

The good news is that today’s digital options are helping many charities achieve their campaign goals in more flexible and beneficial ways. 

The Challenge of Organising Remote Volunteers 

There’s no doubt that volunteers are the life blood of all charities. They give their time and effort to raise money and promote important causes across the UK and around the world on a daily basis. Many small charities have very few full-time or paid staff on board, so volunteers are vital factors for any campaign and ongoing fund raising.  

Charities, particularly smaller ones, operate on a tight budget and building effective relationships with volunteers is necessary. Even the simple act of thanking someone for all their work can prove challenging if you don’t have the proper resources at hand.  

Better engagement requires charities to find new and innovative ways to reach out to volunteers as well as organise remote teams when campaigns are running to achieve maximum results. Focused and flexible solutions such as cloud technology are attractive options, certainly for charities that are seeking to improve performance and lower costs at the same time.  

The Benefits of Cloud Technology  

  • Cloud technology meets the challenges of working with large remote teams, especially volunteers. 
  • It allows charities to access better communication management, collaboration tools and benefit from online date, whether staff are working at the head office or in a remote team. 
  • Cloud services can quickly be scaled up and down to meet needs of any campaign. 

In its simplest sense, cloud technology is a way of storing and accessing files and programs on a range of different devices and locations independent of where you are and what time it is. Someone can sign onto a cloud service and access all they need on their tablet, laptop or smartphone, wherever they are in the world. All they need is an internet connection.  

What is more important for charities is how scalable cloud technology is. This delivers high degrees of flexibility for organisations who can expand or contract their services depending on their current needs. For example, if a charity is running a campaign, it can roll out services to volunteers and improve communication and coordination. Once the campaign is finished they can then scale back that provision.  

Cloud technology brings a high-value solution that can be tailored to each charity’s specific needs. It greatly reduces the cost of administration and can certainly help charities spend more of their time raising money rather than administrating. Neither is there the need to worry about licences and permissions which can all be handled by the cloud provider.  

Most charitable organisations are worried about security because they hold sensitive data on everyone from donors to volunteers. This is another area that cloud services generally cover more effectively than inhouse IT providers nowadays – security is updated automatically to help keep users safe online, wherever they are in the world.  

The Apps Helping Charities 

Better connectivity and the fact that so many of us have smartphones and tablets nowadays has also begun to change the way organisations such as charities view the use of apps. Developing an app is becoming increasingly common but there are also many off-the-shelf solutions available now that are aimed at volunteers and improving communication and engagement in the third sector.  

Charities often have large numbers of volunteers working across different departments and areas, sometimes all around the world. Checking what they are up to, producing reports and maximising performance has often depended on an old-fashioned form-filling exercise. An app like Track It Forward allows volunteers to log their activity and for charities to quickly access information that, in the past, would have taken weeks or even months to collate. Another similar app is Sign Up which helps get volunteers onboard and track their progress.  

Attracting volunteers has always been challenging for smaller organisations that don’t have the visibility or advertising power of some of their third sector peers. An app like VolunteerMatch is designed to put people in touch with their perfect charity – they sign on and browse for organisations in a particular area and which meet their criteria. Charities can post their details for free and reach new volunteers within a matter of minutes.  

The Challenge of Embracing Tech for Charities 

A survey carried out by Blackbaud in 2016 found that just over 7% of all charitable giving is carried out online. It’s a potential that smaller organisations have been slow to grasp but which presents a huge opportunity for not only encouraging donations but engaging with volunteers more effectively. Larger organisations like Oxfam have been moving forward in this area for a few years now, for instance, introducing opportunities for people to donate using contactless payment systems at points around the UK.  

While for smaller charities, who make up the vast majority in the third sector, it can be difficult to develop a dedicated app, there are plenty of low cost solutions out there than can improve efficiency and engagement, particularly when it comes to organising volunteers.  

Today’s cutting-edge cloud services not only provide a range of on demand IT support services that many can benefit from, they are highly scalable. That means charities can keep a tight control on where their IT is used and how budgets are spent. It also means that smaller organisations now have the capacity to explore new and exciting ways of bringing volunteers together and coordinating them during important campaigns.  

 

Cyan Solutions are the perfect fit for charities that want to be empowered using technology. Highly scalable cloud solutions mean that you can tailor your IT support to meet your immediate needs, including organising and communicating with networks of volunteers during campaigns. If you want to find out how the cloud can revolutionise your organisation, contact our friendly team today.    

How technology innovation can improve efficiencies for charities

Technology innovations help charities deliver critical services, engage new supporters and raise money faster than has ever been possible before. Through leveraging the range of options available, non-profit organisations can increase their effectiveness and agility, whilst future-proofing the technology investment. In particular, utilising the cloud can make the day to day running of a charity so much easier and is extremely cost-effective.

Here are our top 5 ways that such organisations can benefit from migrating their systems to the cloud.

1. Discounted Licences

Microsoft strives to make its software donation programme as accessible as possible to charitable organisations around the world. Globally, they give away £1.5 million worth of software every day. Office 365 Business Essentials (which comprises of Exchange email, OneDrive and browser versions of Office applications) can be free for eligible not-for-profit organisations. There are a range of subscription models available, so even if you are benefitting already it is worth having an expert review your licenses as you may be able to realise even greater cost savings.

2. Equipment Savings

By migrating your IT infrastructure and applications to the cloud you can significantly reduce the hefty hardware costs associated with maintaining or replacing your physical servers. Desktops can be repurposed instead of replaced. Plus, staff can take advantage of using their own devices to connect to the apps and data they need.

3. Improved Security

Cyber security is becoming a critical issue for all organisations. For charities who may be handling sensitive data, such as patient or supporter records and financial information linked to donations, security will be very high on their list of priorities. It’s therefore important to know that your valuable data is being protected. Having your data residing in a datacentre with high levels of security, governance and data protection, is a much better option than using on-site servers.

4. Greater Accessibility

Many charities rely heavily on remote and mobile workers or volunteers, as opposed to centrally based office teams. By migrating to cloud based technology services there is no limit as to what can be shared by the entire organisation. All files and applications can be shared with all users, ensuring consistent and timely communications.

5. Growth and Flexibility

If you are taking on more staff or a group of volunteers for a single campaign, then with a good cloud strategy it can be easy and quick to get them up and running with access to the data and applications they need. It’s also easy to close their accounts once the campaign is over.

We offer free licensing audits for all charities and can review where cost savings and operational efficiencies could be made. Contact our expert team today to find out more.

Does a lack of cloud computing standards compromise its use?

Cloud computing is now utilised by a large number of SMEs to the benefit of their respective organisations. We believe that every business should be benefiting from the cloud. However, many of the most common issues that new businesses have in utilising cloud-based technologies comes from misinformation.

In this article we look at one of the most commonly cited cloud computing myths.

Overcoming misconceptions about the cloud can be a big challenge when launching new projects. Understanding how cloud technologies work and what they can deliver can be difficult enough without the facts being distorted.

With misinformation comes false expectations. With false expectations comes false understanding. And false understanding can lead to projects being started with an incorrect direction. As with any new technology, it is of paramount importance to understand exactly what can be expected before you launch.

As cloud computing is in it’s (relative) infancy, it’s understandable that we have seen a fair share of myths and misinformation. These can distort your planning stages and, as a result, jeopardise projects. In order for you to better make an informed decision about what cloud services are right for your organisation, we want to look at one of the biggest cloud computing myths…

“A lack of cloud computing standards compromises its use.”

We have heard the above statement made on multiple occasions by a variety of different professionals from different backgrounds. At its heart is a very understandable concern. What these professionals all want to be sure of is that standards are in place that won’t jeopardise the viability of their project further down the line. But a lack of centralised cloud computing standards is unlikely to be as much of an issue as thought.

While it is right so suggest that with new technologies comes a lack of standards across the board, this doesn’t necessarily correlate to a compromisation of usage. For the majority of SMEs, the lack of cloud computing standards shouldn’t be viewed as a barrier. The reason is simple – each cloud provider has their own specific tools that allows users to handle a portion of their platform.

At this point, when the user has access to a single cloud provider, adherence to standards doesn’t and shouldn’t matter.  What matters is that the user is able to use their cloud provider’s own management tools to handle, amongst other things, operating systems, hardware and application software.

Their may be some issues – but not so much that they can’t be overcome

It is important to note that a lack of cloud computing standards could become an issue for certain projects. In particular, if your project focuses on building applications that are tightly coordinated between your own personal data-centre and the cloud, or different cloud providers, you are going to need to tune your problem management practices for the cloud. But you’d need to do this if there were standards anyway.

Rather than dismiss the cloud on these grounds, it’s far better to weigh the potential pitfalls against the alternatives.

Common places where SMEs slip-up when using the cloud

When moving their systems over to the cloud, many SMEs make important decisions about how they are and aren’t going to utilise their new technologies. It’s at this point that many slip up. While on the face of it some decisions may seem like a no-brainer, get down to the nitty-gritty and you’ll soon find that this is not the case at all.

We all make mistakes from time to time, especially when it comes to altering our business systems. After all, when work has been conducted in a particular way for a long period of time, it’s the least we can expect. However, some mistakes, no matter how well-founded they seem, can have dire consequences.

In order to help you avoid slipping up and making mistakes that could potentially be damaging to your organisation, we’ve collected some of the most common places where SMEs slip up when using the cloud.

Throwing all their eggs in the cloud-based-basket in one go

It’s all too common for medium sized enterprises to want to migrate to the cloud all in one go. It’s an understandable mistake to make; people want to avoid seeing their expenses rise and potentially losing money during the transition. However, immediately sacking off your traditional legacy systems when migrating can have some serious consequences.

It’s important to be realistic. In the case of cloud migrations, it’s not uncommon for these to last up to a year or more. In order to see your business run smoothly throughout this time, you are absolutely going to need to keep hold of your legacy systems, and the professionals who you pay to run them for the interim.

Throughout the migration process you will also see more clearly just how much you are going to be able to rely on cloud-based technology for your own applications. Bear in mind that there is likely to be one or two applications that you will need to retain on your traditional systems for a little longer, whether for economics sake or for limitations in those technologies.

Utilising the cloud for computing but avoiding putting your data on there

Utilising the cloud for compute and data center space but keeping your data on traditional systems often has a detrimental effect on your data as a whole. For one thing, this kind of process will often end up making your data even more vulnerable as you have to ensure security across the board yourself. It will also result in a large amount of latency and your processes will suffer.

Many cloud-based services are far more secure than you would first think. It has been shown that it’s not geographical location but ease of access that results in the biggest risks. For this reason, traditional systems are actually often more at risk than many cloud-services.

Expecting too much too soon from cloud based computing

As with anything, you’ve got to be realistic. If you overestimate just how beneficial migrating to the cloud will be in terms of ROI in the short-term, you are simply setting yourself up to fail. At Cyan Solutions, we ensure that we understand your exact needs before we suggest which services are right for you.

Things to consider before choosing a cloud platform

Cloud based working has become the norm for many business over the past few years for a number of reasons. The implications for simplicity, enhanced productivity and accessibility are a given. But with such a range of providers and services, deciding on where to invest is no mean feat.

Opting to move your business operations to the cloud can do wonders for an organisation. It can help significantly reduce costs, remove the need for in-house IT experts and substantial hardware, and improve security. It can also dramatically enhance workflow due to better accessibility and collaboration between teams..

There is also the added benefit that it actually compliments remote working. In an era when geographical flexibility is become more and more feasible (and attractive), technology that facilitates it is a must. Cloud-based technology empowers remote workers. Cloud platforms allow for remote accessibility of key information and helps enable collaboration.

Why use a Cloud platform?

What makes cloud platforms so attractive for medium sized businesses is that they work to enable growth within an organisation by eliminating the need to focus on time consuming and potentially stressful concerns such as security, maintenance and backup. Cloud computing means that professionals can rest easy and concentrate on what matters, knowing that  IT support is ready and on hand when it is needed.

If you’re in the market for a cloud platform, there are a few things you should consider before investing:

Which cloud services are you likely to require in the long term?

Understanding which types of cloud services that they provide will obviously be important. But you shouldn’t just look at these services from the point of view of what you need right now. Consider what services you are likely to need further down the line when growth permits. You may be able to find a provider who offers these services as add-ons. For example, basic data storage is great but is there a chance you may require cloud computing services such as virtual networking infrastructure in the future?

How easy is setup for your needs and what level of customer service can be expected?

An easy setup process should be desirable for any cloud service. The ability to easily configure your account for your organisation is essential. Customer support should be first rate as you will be trusting a substantial amount of your data with the platform. Be sure to understand and acknowledge the level of technical support alongside the average response time for customer service.

Do they have a poor history of downtime?

Cloud outages are not only disruptive but they can also be very expensive. Cloud providers that repeatedly experience periods of inaccessibility should be avoided, so be sure you know the downtime history of each cloud provider you consider.

How is security monitored and measured?

Clearly security should be top priority for you, as it should also be for the cloud provider. Be sure you know where the data centre is and how safe and protected it is. Take time to read and understand the supplier’s security standards for customer access and privacy.

How do the company address potential data losses?

This is a worst case scenario, but you need to know how the issue of data losses will be rectified. What systems/agreements do they have in place that mitigate the risks of data loss and how would they compensate for data losses? Ensure you ask questions about what provisions are in place to mitigate against potential data loss as this has major implications for the ability of your business to continue trading should such a loss be incurred.

Just how secure is the cloud? (Spoiler: Very.)

One of the most important considerations for all businesses is security of information and networks. With the revolution in cloud technologies and services, there has been much discussion about security in comparison to traditional IT networks and server technology.

Cloud based technologies have had their share of press particularly in relation to security aspects. What is important is to weigh up the facts and fiction relating to security. Maybe some concerns in the past have been justified. But as cloud technology has developed many of these issues have been rectified.

It would now seem that data and apps held in the cloud could actually be more secure than traditional local server and network technology. Security and privacy issues have always been a major concern for many organisations. They’re also the greatest worries blocking cloud technology adoption. Many organisations feel that if they do not control their data and tech themselves it leaves their systems open to security breaches.

Read on to see if these fears are still well founded and find out why the cloud is actually more secure now than ever!

Data storage and security

Security wise, the physical location of where data is stored is much less important than how it is accessed. The same principle applies to cloud based and traditional storage systems. Whilst web application attacks are targeted at both Cloud and on-site environments, the on-site systems have been shown to suffer far more incidents and attacks than the cloud. So the argument that these systems leads to security breaches because you don’t own them is simply a myth.

Cloud based platforms actually perform better in avoiding attacks.  They are constructed to be more robust and secure to ensue they work effectively and securely for their clients.  Traditional systems don’t have that same focus. They are likely to be administered by network technicians who have less knowledge, expertise and up to date resources. On-site systems are simply not as secure and are therefore more vulnerable to more frequent and more catastrophic attacks.

Attackers exploit weaknesses

It has been well reported that attackers know and will exploit the systems with the weakest security. On site environments serving one organisation are less likely to upgrade their firewall security or invest in the latest technology. However, cloud providers must do so for all their clients as they serve a wider number of businesses and operate vastly larger systems.

How can you ensure cloud security for your business?

You should really focus less on the geographical location of data and systems and more on how easy it is to access them. You need to know what data and systems could be vulnerable and the level of security required to safeguard them.

Cloud based computing is often more secure than traditional systems. You should still ensure you understand how a system works in relation to location and data access prior to investing. However, cloud based systems do provide additional security layers against attacks and vulnerabilities than traditional local based technology.