The battle of protecting children belongs to the nation as a whole

South Africa’s national Department of Communications is a long-standing proponent of online safety campaigns for the youth. Furthermore, they are constantly supportive of the youth proposing a larger budget for such campaigns.

On the 2nd of October 2019, the President passed the Film and Publications Board (FPB) Amendment Act, a law created to protect children from harmful content. While its mandate and efficacy remain debated, the Act empowers the FPB to take action & issue sanctions against non-compliant content distributors. In the eyes of many, this is crucial for government’s ability to keep South Africa’s children safe online.

Strong message from the Deputy Minister of Communications

Ms. Pinky Kekana, Deputy Minister for the Department of Communications, was a keynote speaker of the address. Her message, delivered as a parent and mother first, suggested that we need to increase protection efforts if we are to meet the demands faced by the surge in online activity. She stated that while South Africa accounts for less than 10% of Africa’s Internet users, this gives us a chance to develop stronger online foundations pertaining to children’s rights.

In addition to this, Ms. Kekana is a believer that it takes a village to raise a child. Thus, it also becomes our responsibility as parents to protect children on behalf of other parents, who may not know all they need to in order to keep their children safe. “We spend our entire life concerned with security issues…in a bid to giving our children all that we did not have,” she said. “Parents across the world hand over the most expensive gadget or device they can afford, without any security…on it. In this scenario, there is no limit to what children are exposed to.”

COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the goalposts

The Deputy Minister went on to address responsibility further in light of the current pandemic. She stated that, especially during this time of heightened online activity, protecting children is about more than just those very same children. She identified the need to educate and raise awareness in all children, parents, guardians and teachers. This included informing them of all they need to know in order to stay safe and recognise potential dangers.

“We stand at the cusp of a new normal,” she concluded, “(and) an opportunity to do things better. Forging new paths, or strengthening existing ones. Children are not just our future; they are our legacy.”

The youth share their views

Among the participants of the webinar were also a group of South African youths, who were given the opportunity to present their thoughts on the matter at hand. Their concerns ranged from unscrupulous characters to parents not being knowledgeable enough.

“Things that make me feel unsafe online? Those adults pretending to be other people, using false identities. And that there is no privacy on online platforms,” said one youth attendee. Another also chimed in along similar lines. “Things that make me feel unsafe…talking to someone I don’t know, other people posting naked pictures. And downloading apps that are not safe or need your particulars.” Furthermore, a third youth also highlighted a common concern. “Parents can also be more involved. Some parents do not even understand how social media works.”

These sentiments echoed the feelings held among many, namely that we need more education. What’s more, such education should also impart the relevant obligations children’s caregivers have.

Protecting children today, empowering them for tomorrow

Bruce Layzell, national director at World Vision South Africa, agreed with this approach. Furthermore, he encouraged people to think big. According to him, every child needs to be online, as this creates access to education, cultural, science and language opportunities. His notion is that children who are thus empowered are that way because someone educated them and their caregivers.

When it comes to protecting children, his message was also clear. He supported the tightening up of current protection laws. His ideal goal is a reality where someone who perpetrates anything against children online receives punishment as severe as those perpetrating it in real life.

Online and offline risks

Children typically face many risks online as they search for opportunities. This was the message from Sinah Moruane, a UNICEF Online Safety Project Manager. She pointed out that, according to UNICEF, the period of 2018-2019 gave rise to 367 million new Internet users, including 122 million children. When added to the number of hours children are spending online during lockdown periods, this created an online community rife with dangers.

In addition, she pointed out that the risks don’t always stay online. Risky behaviour and the associated online harm can often correlate to harm in real life. Child victims of online peer behaviour, for example, are sometimes so humiliated that it affects their mental well-being. She suggested that the trick was finding a balance between children’s rights to empowerment, information and freedom of expression in digital environments, with their right to be protected from violence, exploitation and abuse.

Protecting children can be challenging

It isn’t always an easy task monitoring children’s online activities and taking the steps to help them avoid the pitfalls. Even the popular social media app TikTok has fallen into the sights of law enforcement of late. Officials warned parents about letting their children use it, and encouraged to teach their children safe practices.

Above all, you should involve the children themselves from the start. A good proportion of them are as savvy as their caregivers, if not more so, when it comes to online activities. Couple their know-how with responsible adults’ sense of safety, and it’s an excellent start to keeping them digitally safe.

Adept would like to thank all the presenters and their organisations for the recent webinar. We urge for greater protection for children and are supporters of our regulatory body’s resources for protecting minors, as well as ISPA’s cybersafety guidelines.

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Make online safety everyone’s problem

To be fair, it isn’t really a problem at first. Unless, of course, you count lack of knowledge or lack of experience as problems.

As always, the trick here is to make it known that digital security is both real and serious. You may struggle to get this point across initially, particularly to younger family members or staff working remotely for the first time. In the former case, children likely have yet to experience the perils of being an online victim. In the case of the latter, though, they are probably just used to the security that a well-secured workplace environment offers.

Tackling this challenge is not without its merits, however. The obvious advantages of increased online safety aside, there are other pros as well. For example, it’s an opportunity to practice having a difficult discussion about the financial implications of digital security. This applies both in the household and the workplace. You can also take the time to thoroughly educate recipients on the different ways that their security may be threatened, and how to avoid such situations. This has the added benefit of adding both skills and value to your organisation.

When quizzed about how to bring children on board with this, we received very similar feedback from our colleagues. The general idea is that you’ll struggle to isolate children from any adverse online influences. To combat this, let their education on the subject take place early on, and repeat it regularly so that it sinks in.

Gear up with the right tools

Obtaining the right software and hardware to keep your work and home digitally safe is just as critical. Think about this as an analogy: if you hire security guards, they won’t be half as effective without physical barriers and the right access control mechanisms.

In an office (or virtual office) setting, your experts typically provide recommendation on what you need. So your security folk (just like ours) have probably already recommended and implemented measures such as firewalls, VPNs and restricted access. As a rule of thumb, proponents will tell you that the more measures you have in place, the better.

Despite the more casual setting, things are a little trickier at home. Families don’t usually have ironclad security policies and training. What’s more, it isn’t a topic broached as commonly in the residential area. Fortunately, you have access to a plethora of resources, both for education and protection.

Adding to the challenges, however, is the fact that parents need as much education as those they are responsible for. This was the most common theme we encountered when polling our staff on the matter. Many mother and father figures were quick to point out stories and advice such as this. The good news is that advice is just as common as the stories are. But it is still up to the discerning parent to decide which practical approach is best.

At the very least, argued most, parents should be well aware of what their offspring are up to online. Some preferred exerting some amount of control over these activities as well. There are various ways to do this. Netnanny is among the more popular monitoring and content restriction tools. It’s also fairly straightforward to add content control and monitoring to children’s accounts using Windows Family.

Keep producing results and deliverables

With online safety taken care of, many people in a managing role begin worrying about productivity. This is natural, though; without some kind of familiar oversight, it isn’t as easy to keep abreast of whether what should be happening is actually taking place. In addition to this, trying to keep everyone motivated towards performance can be difficult.

One of your best options when it comes to this is some form of time tracking. The merits of various ways to do this aside, the advantages it offers are quite clear. It’s also easy enough to set up for office or home. All it requires is a little active management.

Parents are also telling us that having goal-orientated projects is helping manage their children remarkably well. In the workplace, you find various project management methodologies to keep progress on track. At home, however, a simpler approach seems to work best. As one parent put it, “I can tell my older child that she has three days to get something done, and she’ll decide how to pace herself. With my younger son, I give him little micro-goals to achieve over shorter batches of time. The end result is the same for them both – success.”

On the professional side, multiple director-level individuals decided to promote a motivational approach towards result achievement. Their top tips to achieve this included:

• Frequent progress reports with details on the small wins
• Restructuring team structures to allow more beneficial cross-talk
• Daily video calls with managerial staff, and regular video contact with the entire organisation where possible
• Scheduling irregular activities such as group exercise sessions and quiz contests over video conferencing

Change to suit new needs

The point about restructuring merited some expansion. We were told that organisations should expect some sort of restructuring, as most work (and many home) functions are affected by lockdown. Early adopters of this would thus find themselves at an advantage, as they work out any kinks earlier on and have more time to refine their strategy accordingly.

There are other benefits to some slight restructuring as well. There’s no better time than the present for seeing whether plans to future-proof your work are actually tangible. With the move towards digital already well underway over the last several years, you now have an opportunity to test your ambitions.

Finally, don’t forget to apply some of your proposed changes to your home as well. While not every skill or resource is transferable, many of the underlying principles are. Bringing those principles to those you live with is a good way to encourage critical and applied thinking.

Adept would like to thank all the colleagues, partners, parents and other individuals who gave their time to make this article possible!

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Then we were suddenly beset by a game-changer: a pandemic. One that required a lot of isolation. Unlike multiple other industries, digital tech has the capability to keep going. What’s more, it can also enable other industries to do the same. But do its people have the capacity to do so successfully? And does the technology live up to its hype?

Digital transformation necessitated change

Most organisations operating with a technology base will tell you that remote access is always part of their requirements. Some will go so far as to offer it as a value proposition when leveraging their services. It’s no surprise, therefore, that the recent approaches to innovation and development have built this as a feature from the very beginning.

Think about a business-orientated productivity suite, such as Microsoft’s Office 365. One of its key elements is the ability to reduce turnaround time in collaborative tasks. It achieves this by enabling access to the same information across all parties and allowing them to effect changes in real time.

You’ll also see that tasks associated with troubleshooting and system reconfiguration are enabled this way. Consider the rise of SD-WAN (software-defined Wide Area Network) as a cloud-friendly model for network deployment, for example. While this may not be a complete alternative to traditional models, it does open up benefits such as a single point of control and more rapid deployments.

We still need “stuff” though

There’s another sector which digital transformation affects widely – retail. A large number of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) within retail are by their very nature essential. They typically sell quickly and are used by many. Because of this, retailers had to adopt a plan to keep their supply flowing enough to meet demand.

Coupled with a relatively easy switch to online platforms and e-commerce, it’s easy to see how a significant portion of the retail sector used digital means to change their FMCG model and carry on trading. What’s more, this ensures their business continuity, adaptation and relative security for their staff.

People and their adaptation

While it’s all well and good to have the means to go digital, it means very little without proper buy-in from those working with it. The recent transition phase of digital transformation wasn’t the smoothest for most, probably because it was very sudden, unplanned and rather forced. Without proper trial periods, many participants ran afoul of teething problems and adjustment difficulties.

Thankfully, a treasure trove of useful information on the subject suddenly found itself being promulgated wildly. People were privy to the best ideas and recommendations as to how to enable their functions remotely. Even recently, publications abound with stories about the current situation and how to make the most of it.

For those who embraced digital transformation, it’s been a roller coaster ride of learning to use new tools and processes. Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, it’s an era of adjustment to the remote working paradigm. Stresses such as feelings of isolation and performance anxiety are common.

The best way to deal with all of these remains the same – frequent, thorough and supportive communication. After all, at either end of any type of communication is a human being, and those communicating needs to take both that and the current situation into consideration. If you create an atmosphere as close to the original as possible, whether socially or in terms of company culture, those involved are far more likely to be able to cope without too much hassle.

Adept continues our business as close as possible to the previous norm, and we are proud of our successful integration of our company’s working model, culture and the available digital resources at our disposal. We can therefore remain strongly committed to providing exceptional service and satisfaction to our clients, to whom we are always thankful for their ongoing support!

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Of course, you’ll see some of its benefits right away. Others can be a little harder to discern, though you’ll experience them in due course.

You should also bear in mind that managed services are not the same as something that’s simply outsourced. Managed services constitute an ongoing and improving set of tasks and skills, not just an on-demand bit of work or function.

Direct benefits of Managed ICT – cost and focus

Not the least among these is the ability to control your business costs. Moving to an operational expenditure model for your technology needs gives you a far longer vision of what you can expect to spend. What’s more, this spend is often more flexible than a typical break-fix approach.

The main benefit, however, is the shift in focus that Managed ICT clients enjoy. You’re effectively freed from running and worrying about your own infrastructure. This means that you can take a step inwards and really drum up the concentration on your core business. With a proper service and contract in place, your provider will only notify you of pending issues when they need your input.

The comparison with in-house ICT

It’s easy to slate Managed ICT as being “tech support from afar”. Some often make the argument that it’s better to have your support right next door to you. The crux of it, however, is that this isn’t always a service with the skills to give you advance warning of possible issues. You should therefore very carefully consider the value in knowing about problems upfront.

Furthermore, you also need to consider the available resources. With an in-house model, you’ll rarely have all the skills you need at all the right levels. In contrast to this, Managed ICT providers have a much larger set of resources. This positions them far better to leverage these resources towards solving a particular matter, irrespective of the client. Finally, things such as illness, leave or other related staff absences don’t affect their operating models.

Consider your needs and choose carefully

It’s all very well and good to think to yourself “I need this set of skills” and hire accordingly. What you probably aren’t taking into account, though, is that the nature of ICT skills changes rapidly. Your team may not be able to adapt fast enough if that isn’t your main business focus. In addition to this, you’ll find it very costly to maintain enough personnel to cover all technology needs 24/7/365.

Gearing up and finding a value-adding Managed Services provider, then, seems to be a logical business step for most SMMEs. What’s more, a reputable provider will help you from the word go. They will thoroughly analyse your requirements, suggest things you may not have considered, and offer you a tailored solution. In doing this, they aim to ensure that they build a solid partnership with you. This is critical, as it means that the continuity of your business becomes as important to them as it is to you.

Staying ahead of the curve

Once again, technology and all associated compliance may not be your stock in trade. What you can count on, though, is that a decent Managed ICT provider makes sure that they keep abreast of the latest developments. This translates to you not needing to worry about your infrastructure, licensing requirements, updates and upgrades.

Since this is all taken care of for you, you’re left with little else to do therewith but enjoy the advantages conferred to you. What’s more, you can work with your provider to leverage even more performance from our systems, all geared towards optimising your business performance. The difference is often tangible, and the opportunities this can open up make it more than worthwhile.

Adept is a premier Managed ICT solutions provider. We take utmost care in ensuring our offerings are matched to clients’ individual requirements, and have a long history of successful integration with our clients to the benefit their business.

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These issues are not uncommon within the ICT industry. We do, however, have a distinct advantage when it comes to solving them – we are early adopters of technology. Thus, we are also among the first to come up with real life working solutions to counter them. And since communication really does drive business forward, this is where proponents sit up and pay attention.

Defining the matter

Communicating better doesn’t automatically mean sending more. Rather, it has far more to do with the quality of what you send…and how you send it. An entire subset of soft skills training exists purely to aid in improving communication.

“To communicate better simply means that your intended recipients receive the message without hassles, and furthermore are able to comprehend it easily”, states Gideon le Grange, Adept’s Managing Director. “Sending too much, too little, too rapidly, too slowly, or via an unsuitable means doesn’t do either the sender or the recipient any favours.”

“Fortunately, these days you have a wealth of available options. What’s less fortunate is that often the skills to make the best use of these options are atrophied or absent.”

Communicating better starts early

In the ICT and related fields, you may struggle to find experts who are both knowledgeable and proficient at communicating. We’ve seen this dichotomy grow larger with the advent of remote technology – if you can work from afar or in solitude, you’re bound to worry less about direct interactions. And therein lies a trap. Letting your work speak for itself tends to mute out your own voice, feelings and passion.

Paola van Eeden, Adept’s Human Resources Manager, has a simple counter to this problem. “We make excellent communication skills upfront requirements in our staff when hiring,” she says. “Furthermore, we invest heavily in communication skills in our induction training program. This ensures that our staff not only know where we set the bar, but that we expect them to clear it.”

Bring the worlds together

Le Grange continues to add that the human and technology aspects must, be necessity, become inextricably intimate.

“It’s no use having natural communicators who don’t know how to use the available tools. By the same token, you can’t have experts in those tools who are unable to apply basic communication principles. The two have to overlap…and meld. The sooner you have that, the sooner you have a winning combination”

His top tip?

“Pick up the phone. Particularly when in doubt, in times of crisis, or when communication is breaking down, keep it simple, make a call to your peers or to your clients whenever possible. And above all, assume you haven’t communicated enough…then communicate some more.”

Communicating better – more tools than ever before

Modern applications and devices give people the speed and the reach they’ve always dreamed of for spreading information. By making communication near-instant, practically in any format, you’re enabling ease of access and more responsive decision-making.

They’re pretty cost-effective, too. If you consider the value proposition of a suite like Microsoft’s Office 365 for business, the budget for the right tools is very much within reach. What’s more, many of the more popular tools are fairly ubiquitous. This means not only that recipients are likely to have access to them, but also that they’ll be easy to use.

It’s easy to future-proof

Consider the increase of modern individuals in the workforce. You see a batch of eager entrants who quickly turn into seasoned workers. These individuals are of a generation that was always connected and increasingly comfortable with the digital arena.

This, then, is a demographic that will most easily benefit from a crash course or two in communicating better. They can already handle devices, connections and increasingly complex user interfaces. They’re used to sharing more information than their predecessors. All they’re likely to need is some refinement and better communication parameters.

When it comes to less technically inclined demographics, however, you shouldn’t skimp on additional training. This includes comprehensive introductions to modern forms of information transfer. You might think it silly to show someone how to confidently use things like message groups, shared files and social media. The fact is, though, that you’re doing so for both their benefit as well as that of your organisation. What’s more, there’s a plethora of recognised courses in all sorts of communication aspects, so don’t be afraid to use them to improve your staff’s skills.

Avoid overload

Technology has amazing benefits for communication. Take care, however, not to burden people, or the technology itself, with too much to manage.

“We all know what it’s like to have so many instances of similar topics that it feels like white noise,” explains le Grange. “If too many people share the same thing, it becomes harder to pick out the ones saying it along with something of relevance. In addition to this, people often use the wrong channel to send information, leading to that channel becoming uselessly clogged.”

He strikes a resonant point which is increasingly worrying advocates of communicating better. You can see examples of this phenomenon daily. Social media is typically a buzz of the same few popular topics. Fake news permeates a variety of information channels.

To help mitigate this, the best thing you can do is teach people that communication is intended for other people…not for devices. So, when they send information, it should be geared towards the intended recipients, and not towards the means they use to retrieve it.

This isn’t always as easy as it sounds. You’ll find that people are often very set in their ways, and it takes monumental effort to effect change. Promoting change through encouragement, example and support works better than issuing directives. What’s more, you can always include it as part of feedback or performance incentives.

Streamlining and time management

These are invaluable ways for dealing with communication bottlenecks, particularly within organisations.

You should make the effort to merge all the information flowing within your organisation into two or three streams. For example, you could use instant messaging and group for remote team operations. Parallel to this, you use email and calendars for daily tasks, and you have a wiki-style database where all your work material is stored.

Another useful process is to dedicate set times and durations for communicating. This can, and probably should, be done at the individual level.

For example, you give yourself an hour in the mornings to read emails and respond accordingly. After this, you focus on productive work until the afternoon. You use another hour in the afternoon to check email and reply again if needed. And you only update the work database once a day, submitting your work for others to reference and use.

Keep it relevant, take a break

Many make the mistake of adopting novel communication paradigms without considering whether they’re suitable. Since every organisation and its members are different, do your due diligence carefully. What works well for others may not work for you, either practically or financially. You need to see tangible positive changes before you consider adopting something permanently.

Finally, don’t forget to give yourself and your teams a digital detox every once in a while. “It’s not just about time off,” says van Eeden, when talking about recovering from potential burnout. “It’s about doing something completely different to your daily grind. You can’t expect to come back rested and refreshed if you spend your time away doing pretty much what you were doing while working.”

Communicating better is a key component in all of Adept’s core values, and we strive to engage informatively as part of every process we undertake!

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ICT trends and the role they play

When you examine the predicted trends in any given industry, you gain insight into how it may perform or behave in times to come. This is particularly true if you’re already knowledgeable on the subject matter.

Tech industries are no different. Each year, experts look at what transpired, and make some predictions as to what to expect. These are often useful for plotting out a roadmap for your personal or work goals.

How do you go about this? You find out what will become available and leverage it into your strategy. For example, the Wireless Application Service Providers’ Association says there will be a lot more opportunities for app development in 2020. Using this knowledge, current and prospective developers may well adjust their medium-term actions to take advantage of the boom.

Prominent move to cloud services

A number of cloud providers gave clues as to just how much growth they’re forecasting this year. And these aren’t minor organisations either. Giants such as Microsoft and Huawei already run data centres in South Africa. What’s more, similar forces like Oracle and Amazon will be launching their own local cloud services soon. This is providing an almost-instant landscape abundant in both possibilities and competition, both great drivers of innovation and promoters of business.

Coupled with this are the opportunities which are already possible. ICT trends such as cloud computing prominence also advance avenues such as advanced digital marketing. Agencies are busy figuring out how to make the best use of the new available tools. In addition to this, there are a number of service providers locally, Adept included, who are already able to offer what the cloud has to offer.

Data Security

Whether from a legislative or protective point of view, no one can afford to ignore the safety of the information they hold. The occurrence of technology-based attacks has been on the rise for some years. If you add to this the increasing amount of critical data generated, any individual or business has a greater responsibility than before to safeguard it. The vital element notwithstanding, it’s mandatory to afford clients a reasonable level of data protection.

What’s more, there appears to be a troubling lack of relevant skills which would address potential problems. This places not only the data but the holding organisation itself at risk. Businesses are well aware of this, and their leaders have sounded the call to address this during 2020.

Further ICT trends

Naturally there’s much more to look forward to during the year ahead. Advances in machine learning herald exciting new technology applications. Uses of artificial intelligence and augmented reality have only just scratched the surface so far. And as technology continues to blur the boundaries between the digital and physical worlds, many more trends will be revealed.

We at Adept are keen to see what the years ahead will bring. The trends above are just our own view, and we hope to encounter many more!

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Stay connected. Or not.

Oddly enough, technology can sometimes cause one to burn out. This is more prevalent with people who are consistently exposed to it in one form or another on a regular daily basis. What’s more, forming resistance against one type of technology can quite easily lead you into an aversion to other types.

Essentially, take a good look at whether or not you need a bit of a break from anything with a circuit board. If you feel that you do, make sure you take a digital detox, even if it’s only for a short while. You’ll thank yourself later.

Technology for gifting…or as a gift

It’s easier to shop online than ever before. With advances in hosting and online commerce, you can find a gift for someone, order it, pay for it, and have it delivered with plenty of time to wrap it up.

While hardly a new topic, the subject of online shopping is increasingly intriguing to many. What’s more, it seems to be trending towards not just gift buying, but gift giving to those less fortunate, as pointed out in this article.

Whatever you do, however, make sure you’re safe when shopping online. Keep an eye out for the latest scams to help you not fall prey to them. Remember the golden rule – if something sounds too good to be true, it’s usually because it is!

Stay informed and entertained

It’s easy to get lost in a festive rush and when the time comes you don’t actually have something to put forth. Thankfully, technology is at the forefront of helping you counter this.

Need a quick and tasty meal idea? Hop online and ask away. No clue what to do with your guests or children? Try looking up fun and educational activities. Want to plan your trips better? Check out the expected and current status of traffic easily, usually form the palm of your hand. Forgot to throw a soothing dinner playlist together? Any one of half a dozen music services is at hand to help you out.

Current and future technology trends

If you’re keen to use technology to spice up your festive season, there are already ways to do that. If you want to keep it simple, go for a fibre optic Christmas tree. Thanks to its design, this lasts for many years, and gives cheerful brightness without needing to add additional lights.

Should you want to take it up a notch, though, there are many varying decorations and ideas you can opt for. What’s more, if you’re among the more technology-inclined, you can even try designing, building and programming your very own fancy decorations.

Looking ahead, it’s almost feasible to stretch our imagination and think of what can actually transpire to make for a more tech-based season. This article from a scant 3 years ago not only thought up things we’re already familiar with, like 3D-printed toys and drone deliveries, but also delves into what we can likely expect within the next few years.

Try something completely different

Last year, a pair of journalists embarked on a task to make a neural network write a new plot for a Christmas movie. In this article, they explain how they went about it. The methodology wasn’t complicated, and it made use of technology already available.

The results are purely for comedy purposes, though they demonstrate an important point. In future, perhaps similar technology can be used to optimise current ideas, or create more imaginative new ones.

Adept would like to wish all out staff, clients, suppliers and indeed absolutely everyone a safe, prosperous and joyful holiday season, and a fantastic 2020 ahead!

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Human Resources play a key role

Firstly, it’s fair that we acknowledge the vital functions performed by HR. From processing new employees, to managing their induction and progress, all the way to releasing them when their tenure comes to an end. What’s more, they’re aware of (and typically involved in) any matters pertaining to the health and well-being of all staff. They form a buffer, a guide, a safe space and an avenue of action for numerous functions.

Suffice to say, no organisation, no matter how large or small, can perform adequately without HR functions, particularly when it comes to communicating. As the eSkill blog points out, effective communications are an absolute must.

So do technology and tools…to a point

Human Resources often make use of modern tools to enhance their capabilities, however. Most of these tools focus on speeding up or automating processes. As useful as they are, though, they can only add value, not replace the human element.

Think of something that you may take for granted, e.g. the process of applying for or approving leave, working out overtime, or managing automated payslips. If you don’t have dedicated software to assist with this, it remains a cumbersome task performed by hand. What’s more, it would involve copious amounts of paperwork, printing and storage.

Thankfully, modern systems exist to make these processes far easier and less labour-intensive. Apart from the systems mentioned above, you can also use software tools to run tasks such as recruitment, access control and performance management. Even communication, which is seen as a person-to-person or person-to-people endeavour, has its roots mainly in technology today.

Why HR keeps it personal

These tools and technologies are all well and good. Yet, there are some pretty compelling reasons why the Human Resources folk will always ask for direct interactions with their charges.

The human factor is critical whenever emotions come into play. If someone needs help, for example, it’s far preferable to have a person listen to that request. By the same token, being told you’ve done a fantastic bit of work is more appreciated when done in person. Finally, they should hold difficult discussions person, to facilitate both respect and interpersonal improvements.

The real litmus of why this should always be so is typically the among first proper interactions – the job interview. Inevitably, HR’s involvement at this stage means they get a more accurate impression of candidates. This in turn helps produce better staff selection overall, since HR is able to gauge whether candidates are a good fit for both the required skills and company culture. Furthermore, company representatives can discuss and relate the company’s values far more effectively than a wall of text in an email or on a website could.

Make full and good use of your Human Resources people and tools for the greatest advantage to your organisation, by combining communicative people and the gold standards in relevant technology.

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With the ever increasing risk of businesses getting hacked or falling victim to a ransomware attack, it is imperative that you keep your operating system up to date and optimised. Doing so ensures that you receive the latest updates and patches for your system, which provides you with more protection and stability. Microsoft has advised that as of 14th January 2020 there will no longer be any support for Windows 7. But what does this mean to you? How can Adept assist you in making a smooth transition that does not disrupt the day-to-day run of your business?

What’s the deal with Windows 7?

In essence, should you have an issue with Windows 7 following this date, Microsoft will not be in a position to assist. Furthermore, they will not be releasing any further updates for Windows 7. Support for Office 2010 and Windows Server 2008 /R2 will also be terminated during the course of next year, as detailed below.

Microsoft Product Retirement Schedule

Being able to determine the impact of the decommissioning of these services on your business and the devices in your organization is crucial – you need to know how you may be affected by it so that you can plan and budget accordingly.

Our process for upgrading from Windows 7

At Adept, we’re always ready to help our clients prepare for tomorrow. That’s why we’re encouraging all users who may be affected to take advantage of our team’s expertise to assist you to make a smooth transition.

We begin by meeting with you and fleshing out a high-level summary of all your workstations and systems, making use of any software whose support ends soon. Following this, our Solutions Architects will develop a custom plan for your upgrades and accompanying tasks. This plan will take into consideration other software that you depend on, to ensure compatibility. What’s more, we’ll also check that your hardware will be up to the task.

Things you need to consider

If you’d like to perform your own assessment, it’s a good idea to keep the following in mind:

1. You’ll need to know how many Windows 7 devices you have in your business that need to be replaced or upgraded before January 2020. If you are already our client, we have your back, so just pop your Account Manager an email and request a Windows 7 device Audit Report. If you’re not our client yet, we’d be more than happy to assist.
2. This year is racing away and 14 January 2020 will come sooner than you think. You might wish to budget and spread the purchases or upgrades over time to reduce disruption or impact financially or you may have busier periods throughout the year where it would make sense to move to Windows 10 before or after the busy times to reduce business impact.
3. Check your business applications like Sage, AccPac, Quickbooks etc. to make sure that they will be compatible with Windows 10, as this may be a reason that you have stayed with Windows 7 thus far. If this is the case, then you need to start the transition sooner rather than later, as there is a lot more involved than just PCs and laptops.

Update or replace

Modernising your systems is a key component in future-proofing your business. Keeping up to date with software is no exception. As always, newer software has greater hardware requirements. Both updates and replacements come with costs, so it’s important to base the decision on the right criteria:

1. Is the current hardware compatible with the new products?
2. Are any hardware upgrades required to ensure the performance of the machine is optimal with the new products?
3. What is the intended lifespan of the machine that needs to be upgraded – is it approaching end-of-life too?

Contact us to find out how we can help your business with a smooth transition from Windows 7 to Windows 10 or for assistance with your IT infrastructure.

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Supporting your community through outreach programs is a great way to reinforce your company values. Not only are you reminding yourself what your values stand for, you’re also helping others develop further.

At Adept, we thrive on our core values of Excellence, Growth & Innovation, and being People-Centric. What’s more, we strive to apply these values both internally and externally. This is simple to do with our own work, and with our clients. But what about our community? Social responsibility, especially that geared towards promoting people and businesses, should always be part of a company’s work structure.

Lending your skills to your community

We’ve written about the various ways you can support charity initiatives. While this is always appreciated, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re leveraging what you’re best at in order to help others. Another approach involves you or your organisation using your direct skills or services to enable your recipients to achieve more. Essentially, you’re using the best part of you to provide greater more or greater opportunities.

At Adept, for example, connectivity services are part of our roots. We do them extremely well. So it’s no surprise that we typically choose to offer pro bono connectivity services to some of our outreach partner organisation. For groups like the Stellenbosch Night Shelter, Prochorus Community Development and Huis Horison, being connected means they can carry on their excellent work. They depend on their Internet connection for running their activities. Tasks such as communication, finances and event management rely on that connectivity for success.

Adept is proud to be a supporter of these organisations for many years. We hope we are always in a position that permits us to help. At some point, though, we wondered if there was a next step that we could take.

Going the extra distance

We first came across Danny’s Maintenance Services years ago, when we experienced the need for quality building work. They did not disappoint, and today still form part of our service supplier network. When we realised the extent to which their performed their operations manually, however, we roped in our values and hatched a plan.

Fast forward to today, and Danny’s Maintenance boasts a simple yet modern website, designed and hosted by Adept. It showcases a portfolio of their excellent work and describes the services available. What’s more, it allows you to request a quote directly. To top it all off, Adept also provided a laptop for communication and documentation, and appointed a company to assist Danny’s Maintenance with both their accounting and payroll requirements.

All of this is a far cry from their prior model of word of mouth and battling with manual paperwork. And the results are clear – Danny’s Maintenance has grown in leaps and bounds since these transitions. For them, it’s been a glorious change into a connected business. For us, it’s a huge chunk of satisfaction, having helped our partner to maximise their potential. We continue to make use of their excellent services to date.

The formula for community development isn’t always the same, but the central tenets usually are. Keep to your values, offer only something of tangible value, and do what you know how to do! Adept is proud to be associated with these organisations and extremely thankful for the work that they do!

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