The trends that 2020 delivered on

Back towards the start of the year, we looked at a number of trends which would likely propagate through 2020. Of course, at that time, COVID-19 was just another flu-like virus that had been discovered.

Cloud services were probably the most prominent trend that the year gone by delivered. If it weren’t for their prevalence, our ability to deliver services would have been greatly diminished. What’s more, remote working may well have been a far more difficult proposition. While we can use many of our digital tools as standalones, it is the ability to share and access a common pool of information and functions that make remote working feasible.

Data security was another trend that showed an alarming increase. The way that worldwide lockdowns isolated people meant that many verification systems were not as robust as they should have been. We also saw a surge in the number of opportunists and unscrupulous elements. These factors led to a huge rise in online criminal activity such as phishing and data theft. Thankfully, the world also saw a corresponding rise in skills and people to help combat these unsavoury elements. We have more InfoSec and Digital Security resources than ever before, though vigilance will always remain key.

The difficulties found us challenging ourselves

When the country announced national lockdown back in March, many people worried about the immediate future. No one had any idea what to expect or how to handle it, and businesses were no exception. The challenges, therefore, lay in learning how to think creatively and in an agile manner. While this was always a cornerstone of what we did, we found that we suddenly had to apply it in very different ways.

Starting immediately, we decided that trusting in our company culture would accomplish the most. Doing so let us handle the incoming crisis in a way that treated everyone the same. What’s more, it prompted our staff to fight harder for one another and for our clients, sometimes making the more difficult long-term decisions instead of the easy ones. To that end, Adept has managed to keep our doors open, without any retrenchments or negative remunerations. What’s more, we were able to accommodate many clients in difficulty, and we discovered that we received as much compassion and assistance as we gave out.

The challenges, thus, were able to provide a very valuable lesson in business operation. Being pushed to expand our boundaries and do things that we wouldn’t consider during “normal” times has been an experience that pointed out what we can do without, what is absolutely essential, and where we must place our priorities in order to ensure our continuity. In addition to this, we discovered that our staff are not just people, but entire families. We were proud that they stood by us as we did by them.

The greatest take-home lessons from 2020

We spoke to a number of our colleagues and asked them about what they gleaned from the challenging times faced. The summary below contains the most powerful lessons they learned.

• Working remotely is not only possible but very viable in most cases
• A good company culture fosters enough trust to allow people to act independently with less oversight
• Challenging situations help you learn to accomplish more with less
• Many people will show their true colours in times of crisis
• Appreciating what we have goes hand in hand with making the most out of it
• Doing your own research using multiple sources is a great way to boost your personal productivity

We’d like to thank our incredible colleagues, all our treasured clients and all our amazing suppliers for helping us through the most difficult year in recent memory; may 2021 be lightyears better for us all!

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The cloud journey is underway

ITWeb, in collaboration with Amazon Web Services, recently conducted a cloud survey. They polled a large number of both public and private organisations. The results of the survey make one thing abundantly clear: we have a very mixed bag out there right now.

Do the asking yourself and you’ll find almost everyone tells you that yes, they are part of the cloud. Their definition thereof, however, tends to include only a few core functions, such as hosted email and storage. What’s more, they are usually unaware of the potential for many more uses of the cloud, and they almost always associate them with undesirable levels of costs.

Clearly, then, both the local private and public sectors need a little more cloud journey encouragement. Even with international industry giants such as Salesforce punting an open-and-shut case for cloud services, it’s important for providers to advise accordingly and both manage client expectations and assist towards outcomes. Potential clients, on the other hand, should do their due diligence. Consider your choice of cloud partner just as carefully as the scope of your requirements.

Making sense of all the intricacies

We’ve expanded on the notion of creating a partnership, and not just a business relationship, in a previous article. This concept is just as vital when choosing a cloud solutions provider. Moreover, beginning the cloud journey as a partnership means that your provider will be just as invested in its success.

This key element is what drives the best solution providers to perform from the very start. A good example is the undertaking of an internal audit w.r.t. your current systems and infrastructure. Based on this, your provider should leverage their existing offerings into a custom solution just for you. Should their offerings not be anything more than a “best fit”, thoughts should immediately turn towards sourcing the ideal requirements. Finally, they should explain all of this to both your decision-makers and your technical personnel. This is to make sure that everyone is on the same page and understands the extent of the offering in full.

For situations where the client has yet to experience the full benefits of cloud services, a prospective provider should take the lead. This entails not only sourcing exactly what is needed, but also breaking it down into easily understandable components. This makes it far easier to translate requirements into solutions using the proposed cloud resources. Furthermore, unlike a solution prospectus, the final communication, usually containing the dotted signature line, should make use of regular terms and language as much as possible.

Making sure the cloud journey shows its mileage

Once everything is in place, you need to chart progress and returns from the very beginning. A good way to do this is to work with your solution provider directly. Mention the metrics and performance you’d like to track, and let them help you establish a baseline for these from your previous iteration.

What you’ll probably also want to do is get some advice on the costs versus the projected returns. Despite the sometimes obvious cost advantages, there are many cases where the benefits of the cloud can outweigh a jump in operational expenditure. In these cases, it often takes a knowledgeable group of professionals to point out why this is not only necessary, but ultimately beneficial to your organisation specifically.

Adept is a premium provider of not only cloud services, but also fully tailored cloud-based solutions. These are designed to drive a business forward, gaining competitive edge and helping to future-proof its returns. Chat to us about the ideal solution for you!

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The base formula still works

Of the elements we examined last time around, none have changed all that dramatically. We did introduce a slightly larger focus on ensuring that the necessary soft skills are prevalent in potential candidates. This meant that the fundamentals of company culture became easier to implement.

In addition to this, the advantages of proper staff induction remain as vital as ever, with virtually no downside other than the time spent conducting training and the associated reviewing.

Staff induction and remote working

For obvious reasons, it hasn’t been feasible of late to introduce new employees in person and take them on the grand tour. To counter this, we promoted regular socializing with colleagues more often. We also recommend frequent check-ins and discussion around both staff induction and non-related matters. The former aid in building good communication habits. The latter “water cooler” conversations help ease people together. Thankfully, both can be accommodated fairly easily with modern video conferencing tools.

Furthermore, we also found that it helps to turn colleagues’ names into actual people to remember when introducing them to the staff complement. An easy way to do this? Make mentions of each person’s regulars habits, or hobbies, or ever prowess with particular tasks. This humanizes your staff faster and more easily, and has the added advantage of making them far more memorable for the right reasons.

Get them to contribute early

Granted, new staff members probably won’t be able to do much from day one. They need time to learn your processes, your systems and how they fit into all your frameworks.

In that light, it’s a boon to staff induction to get new staff involved in something as soon as possible. This is even more important when the majority of your workforce functions remotely. We identified two useful ways to accomplish this.

The first is to have the begin with small task assignments. This can be data processing, non-critical maintenance or helping someone else in their tasks. The idea behind this is not to have them perform mundane functions. Rather, it helps to learn how those functions act as cogs in the larger wheel of your operations. You should ensure their designated assignments are thoroughly supervised, and where possible, ranked for efficiency and effectiveness. This helps lay down standards from the very beginning and lets them know where you’ve set the bars.

The second method is to prompt them to share their relevant knowledge. For example, a recent inductee indicated they had undergone a more up-to-date version of a training course prevalent among Adept’s technical personnel. When encouraged, they promised to share their recent experiences and compare them with colleagues. This means that the department they work in will benefit from the latest technical know-how. Another good example is to quiz new colleagues on the soft skills they have. If those skills aren’t common in your organization, perhaps it would be of great benefit to have them appropriately turned into a training module, which all staff members can then attend.

Staff induction creates better teams

If you have thorough induction training, you automatically create a certain amount of uniformity for both your personnel and processes. This can be a vital step towards fostering solid teams. A mix of the same soft skills and various practical skills, coupled with people who apply them in the ways they know best, is a strong recipe for troubleshooting, development and progress.

Making sure that new staff members have and learn everything they need to be fully functional and contributing colleagues is of paramount importance to Adept, and another reason why we’re a great employer!

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It CAN happen to you

Most people would like to believe that a network breach or compromised device isn’t something that will happen to them. Many believe it so strongly, in fact, that they can become oblivious to the risks. Doing so means that they often avoid best practices in digital security.

As uncomfortable as it is, you should always remain aware that many prevalent threats are present at any time. Being complacent simply increases the risk that you’ll fall prey to one or more of them. Even the most knowledgeable individuals can make a mistake due to momentary lapses or poor judgement. If in doubt, you should take the stance of considering yourself, your devices and your accounts at risk at all times. Most victims of digital attacks will tell you that they didn’t think they would be targeted or that it could happen to them.

Network safety is important for everyone, not just you

Chances are that you share the network you’re on with others. Consider, then, the implications if your actions lead to the compromise of that network.

If it’s a family network, you’re putting your family’s well-being on the line, since it’s likely that attackers would want to gain access to personal, private or financial information. If it’s a business network, the business itself is at risk, because criminals can target the operational, public-facing and financial elements. What’s more, there’s no guarantee that you can recover from the losses brought about by such intrusions.

The simplest of actions

Taking basic steps to protect yourself and your network seems, well…basic. Yet astonishingly the majority of people don’t implement most of these actions. The old adage of “prevention is better than cure” has yet to fully permeate the cybersecurity ecosystem. Furthermore, many aren’t aware that sometimes you have no magic pill to cure lapses in network security once they are discovered.

So what can you do, quickly and easily, to prevent such lapses and keep yourself and your systems safe?

Stay aware on network safety and digital security news

• Be on the lookout for the latest scams, breaches and methods that criminals use. Keep yourself and those around you informed, share security information promptly.

Stay updated

• Keep your devices, operating systems and software on the latest versions. This ensures you have the latest security features and the best protections, as the relevant industries stay abreast of the latest threats.

Lock devices not in use

• Leaving your workstation or your phone unlocked when stepping away is a big risk, both for your personal information and the systems your device connects to.

Use proper passwords

• It may sound silly to hear this again and again, but given the alarming digital security stats it cannot be said enough. Make your passwords strong and unique; use a good password manage if you’re worried about remembering them all.

Use an antivirus on mobile devices

• Phones and tablets are typically very vulnerable. These days, they’re exposed to many vectors than can contain malware, such as songs, videos, website links and even document files. Installing strong antivirus software on a mobile device will help keep it safe from such threats.

Always check carefully

• When you receive communications with links or attachments, play it safe and do a little due diligence. Check with the sender if they did indeed mean to send it to you. If you don’t mind uploading the file or link, you can also use a free resource such as VirusTotal to scan it for threats. Furthermore, avoid sending out fake news and spam messages by taking a moment to verify the claims in messages you receive.

Further network safety tips

When it comes to protecting networks properly, there are several methods you can ask users to implement for increased security. Some of them require proper network management, which comes with its own skill requirements, but all are highly recommended.

Use a VPN instead of just RDP or equivalents

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) connection creates a secure encrypted connection between your device and the device you’re connecting to. This is an overall better solution that a straight RDP connection, which may or may not have the latest and greatest encryption protocols.

Backups, backups, backups

Wherever possible, you should have three different backups of your critical data. One on-site, one off-site (i.e. at another location) and one in a secure cloud.

Use 2FA

2FA, or 2-factor authentication, requires a double login process. This is usually whereby a login prompt sends an additional one-time security code to the user’s mobile device. This is a good way to ensure that only authorized personnel are able to log into particular systems.

Separate your networks

This is of particular importance in organisations. Ideally, your guest network will be separate from your working network. If you perform any kind of testing that requires network access, you should also have a separate network for your testing environment.

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The what and how of gaming

When it comes to playing games, you’re definitely spoiled for choice, with many genres and numerous platforms at your disposal. The current lockdown is also helping, driving the social aspects of games forward. If anything, the lockdown provided a new opportunity to get into (or back into) gaming. Furthermore, with connectivity getting faster and more reliable, you can find and join other gamers with little fuss.

Games, whether digital or physical, are certainly nothing new. Many board games arose centuries ago, while digital games came to prevalence decades ago in the arcade and early console era. Today, while arcades are no longer a popular niche, games have made a serious comeback as entertainment, challenges and even team sports.

In concept, a game is simple enough. It needs a platform to run on, a set of instructions, and a set of achievements for you to chase after. Additionally, it needs to be something you find fun to do. Beyond this, you find many other varying elements, such as categories, gameplay models, rewards and so forth.

Why games are good for you

Playing games does have certain advantages. Gamers of fast-paced action games, for example, develop fast reflexes and improved hand-eye coordination. Fans of real-time strategy games are usually adept at planning for goal achievement, and are highly effective at resource management. In addition, good teamwork and team management are vital components for multiplayer settings.

There’s another element to consider as well, one which lockdown and social distancing have pointed out to us in great detail: the social aspect. Games are, after all, primarily meant as fun activities. There are very few games these days, irrespective of platform, which are totally bereft of a social element.

Louis Agenbacht, an Adept Managed Services engineer, agrees and adds to this. “Multiplayer used to be for giving tasks that required more than one player to accomplish. Or maybe to add challenge levels when the AI wasn’t good enough. Mostly, though, it’s a chance to have fun and spend quality time with my friends.”

Finally, gaming is a great way to just relax with some good entertainment. The overall results of a large study on video games conclude that, within multiple criteria, games are actually beneficial when it comes to stress relief.

The choice of gaming platforms

Most gamers will staunchly argue for their preferred game platform, i.e. the means they use to play games. You can debate the merits and pitfalls of each pretty much ad infinitum, but we’ll take a look at the most common ones.

Consoles

Consoles, such as Sony’s PlayStation, Microsoft’s X-Box and Nintendo’s Switch, are dedicated game platforms, with a few other side functions such as media and streaming built in. They are relatively easy to use and have many titles that support multiplayer mode. Plus, you needn’t worry about upgrades, save for the occasional solid state drive to boost loading times. Their one downside is that they’re mostly limited in scope to games and some media streaming. This makes them a comparatively expensive proposition, since you’re spending many thousands on something just for games. In addition, the games themselves, especially recent A-list titles, can also be quite expensive.

PCs

PCs or laptops are a popular choice for many gamers. This is because they lend themselves to running multiple applications at once, and are good for a lot more than just gaming. What’s more, many computer games don’t require high-end hardware to play decently. You’ll also find a lot of price specials on digital games through the various online game stores, such as Steam or Epic Games.

Jonathan Naude, one of Adept’s Client Services agents, echoes the sentiments that most PC proponents would offer. “I grew up with PCs, and find that they give you more freedom of choice when it comes to hardware. They’re far more modular. You have full control over what’s in them at any given time.”

Mobile gaming

Mobile gaming has increased rapidly, thanks to the rise in popularity of smartphones and the advances in the devices’ capabilities. As such, mobile game requirements are usually minimal, so as to support as many devices as possible. Another advantage is that your games are pretty much available whenever your device is with you. What’s more, the mobile application stores have very good game categories, making finding a game you’ll likely enjoy a lot easier. Be mindful, though. Some games are not fully unlocked, and you may have to pay more to access all the content or features. Others need you to have Internet access to play, which can be dicey with the costs of mobile data in SA. And you’ll rarely encounter mobile games without ads or in-app purchases.

Physical games

Finally, you can use technology to overcome distances and play some of your favourite games with remote players. This is a group effort in digital transformation, and one which people are managing to undertake more and more often thanks to lockdown. It’s easy enough to connect groups, divide resources and share screens these days. What’s more, many board and roleplay gaming favourites are now online. Popular games such as Catan, D&D and even Monopoly, have digital editions or online playing applications these days. It isn’t quite the same as being there in person, and you’ll probably want to limit the group size to 5 or 6 for manageability. You’ll also need to make sure everyone has the same tools available. The advantage is that most of these gamers already have what they need, and there are many online tools and resources to assist.

Gaming is a popular and entertaining hobby and a proper e-sport for many players; Adept is proud to have many gamers among us!

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A Macintosh environment and its differences

You’ll find several key elements which differ in a Mac-dominated setting, according to key Managed Services personnel at Adept.

Firstly, such an environment does seem to be somewhat more secure, and less exposed to malware and ransomware overall. This makes MS a little easier in those terms. This is probably due to the heavy influence of similarities to UNIX, which was always a multi-user operating system. The effect of this is that it’s easier to control remote management & concurrent logins.

Secondly, be prepared for far greater infrastructure longevity in a Mac world. What we’ve seen is that Macs tend to have longer lifespans. You’ll often see high-end Mac desktops running up to a decade before they’re obsolete. Ditto with MacBook laptops, which easily run for five years or more. Apple is also more aggressive in retiring their software, though, so with older machines you may well be out of touch with the operating system.

“There’s a certain mentality around Apple-based workstations,” says Juan Roestorff, Managed Services Engineer. “They’re seen as always available, never needing powering off, and easier to work with than their Windows-based counterparts. It’s also entirely untrue that they’re meant only for creators and designers.”

Finally, relevant skills availability is somewhat rarer. Lower numbers of Mac users means fewer people who are capable of providing the correct support. This is, however, often balanced out by the ease of use of the Mac operating system, which does tend to make meaningful support easier to offer.

Managing a Mac world means an altered approach

In terms of Managed Services, all this means that the provider may encounter serviceable machines in use, but the software is out of date, which can pose multiple problems. To counter this, we aim to download clients’ updates at an organisational level, keeping versions current across the board. And although some of the MS applications become obsolete, this very rarely affects the system agents and monitoring agents.

What this ultimately leads to is a slight change in MS strategy. MS providers and their clients need to have a plan for, over time, retiring the oldest machines, replacing them and moving forward with both hardware and software. Since the operating system is thus always the same version, the software you run on it is likewise also the same version, which simplifies management and reduces issues across the board.

Challenges with large numbers of devices

Roestorff goes on to explain how the Mac world sometimes struggles to compete because of one particular aspect. “Windows machines tend to dominate business user clusters because of domain controllers and Active Directory services,” he says. “Apple no longer thoroughly offer large-scale device management, so this is left to 3rd-party MS software vendors to supply the niche. MS providers may thus need such 3rd-party tools to manage large numbers of Mac devices. This can get quite costly, and there are numerous cases of operating system and software issues.”

You’ll also need to consider another important factor. While Apple knows exactly what’s in their workstations and how to optimise their operating systems to make use of that hardware, their modern machines are far less modular. This does make hardware repair more difficult should the need ever arise. What’s more, the new security chips mean that you’ll lose your data if there are no backups, as you cannot recover anything from a faulty main board.

Solutions for a Mac world

Bastian Herzog, another Adept Managed Services Engineer, speaks of potential ways to overcome some of the barriers that providers may encounter. “You’ll typically encounter, for example, an issue with asset management. Ideally, you’ll want to have some kind of management blanket over all the workstations, and have a single portal for all the assets. While there is software for this, however, it doesn’t scale well to smaller organisations because of costs. Because of this, you might just need to take the labour plunge when it comes to asset registers and asset movement, and do it manually.”

When it comes to the larger installations, Herzog explains, you have choices. “You’ll definitely want to leverage those numbers to make a formal management tool feasible in terms of cost. For example, Cisco Systems has an excellent suite of tools called Meraki. They do virtual firewalls and virtual server deployments geared for Mac environments. They also offer geofencing to protect machines from being stolen, and can push software and operating system updates.”

He goes on to point out, though, that since these solutions are generally expensive, it’s vital to pick a portal that does what you need, and not much more. What’s more, he feels there’s a slight gap in this market. “Research is showing us that, from tech’s point of view, industry is crying out for fleet management software…something to handle workstations, servers, NAS units etc.”

How Adept comes out trumps

When it comes to dishing out MS to a Mac world, our engineers had their say on the backbone of our successes.

“We encourage our technicians and engineers to understand the environment, hardware and software to a higher degree,” says Roestorff. “We also go out of our way to support more varied cases, instead of not supporting those circumstances at all. It’s an excellent way to pick up more varied skills…and a higher reputation.”

Herzog agrees, and believes this approach speaks well to the ability to perform. “The daily grind needs to feel consistently well supported for end users,” he says. “In a Mac environment, this means that the same daily grind for the techs is likely far more varied. When you have over 100 seats and many more devices to support, you need a solid pedigree behind your efforts to stay successful.”

Adept is a premier solutions provider, with an outstanding track record in Managed Services across all spheres of business. We’re extremely proud of the dedicated and highly knowledgeable individuals on our team!

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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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