Should we reopen during COVID? While many businesses are being forced to/starting to close thanks to increased cases in the Phoenix area again, some companies are considering opening back up (or who have never wholly closed but shut numerous projects down for safety concerns). The closings of businesses across the country have caused millions of Americans to be laid off, but there, of course, has been a good reason. Are you ready for your business to reopen during COVID? If so, what do you need to do, and how do you know it’s the right time?
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Social Distancing is a MUST
Orange County sent this flyer out to businesses planning to reopen during COVID, and it has some excellent tips that companies here could follow.
One of the things that you need to know is that to protect yourself in your employees’ best interest is that you need to have a way to enforce social distancing and practice it at work. In recent months, many companies and factories are being charged with allegations of not providing the ability to social distance, such as a few major pork and chicken suppliers in Missouri. Therefore, it’s crucial to know how to protect your workers and protect yourself as a company if you’re planning to reopen during COVID any time soon.
Maintain or Develop Remote Possibilities
The Kentucky government sent out this flyer to businesses planning to reopen during COVID, and it actually makes some pretty good points and gives some useful tips.
Another thing to consider if you haven’t already is to use remote possibilities for specific positions at your business place. For example, if you are a printing company, you can instill methods to allow them to work from home rather than expose all of your graphic artists. This can benefit you even if they get sick, have to self-quarantine, or if you’re worried about the possibilities of COVID – you can allow your workers to work remotely and keep your business open!
Consider Your Customers
If you plan to reopen during COVID, you’ll want to make sure your customers are safe. Opening too early could cause more damage than staying closed a little longer.
One of the things to realize is that you should be fine if your business handles most remote customers. Add items in the area such as hand sanitizers, and if anyone is sick at all (even a cold), send them home for a paid workday or do the remote day, as we mentioned above. Most companies handle customers differently. If you have plenty of people walking in daily, you may want to enforce specific protocols to make sure everyone social distances properly, they don’t touch anything, and that extra cleaning and sanitation measures are in place.
What About Data?
If you’re one of the many people freaking out about 5G, I hate to break it to you, but 5G has been in modems and routers since the late 1990s.
If you’re ready to get back to work and reopen during COVID, you need to be updated on the latest technology trends. No, it doesn’t mean you need to join the ranks of the 5G conspiracy theories (contrary to popular new theorists, 5G has been existent in-network modems and routers since the year 1999). However, you need to join the ranks of using a managed service provider or a local IT service to secure your data.
In recent months, numerous cyber-attackers have been trying to get into devices to hack small businesses and large corporations. With all of the ways they can do it, one of the methods is using Microsoft Office, Office 365, and other Microsoft Windows, Mac, and even Linux exploits to perform brute force attacks. Having your data located in another secure cloud (on a local level rather than an online cloud service host like Google) can help keep your pertinent company information safe.
So, Am I Ready for Business Again?
Businesses shouldn’t rush to reopen during COVID. They need to take their time and make sure it’s safe and do everything they can to keep their customers safe.
This is a good question, and while it’s up to your organization’s discretion to reopen during COVID, one thing remains true: You are only as ready as you can be. If you feel like you’re not prepared to open your doors to the general public, then that’s perfectly fine, but to be successful and not go bankrupt, you’re going to have to make sure that you keep the income flow going. Rather than going for the PPP loans and other “financial help” methods, you can stay open, make things more comfortable for your employees and even your pocketbook. If you take care of your employees and customers, then they’ll take care of you, so never forget that!
An October COVID Update
Check out our COVID update below to see how technology can help you through the pandemic.
We’ve mentioned COVID a lot in recent months, and while it’s been said that “unemployment rates are down all over the nation,” “remote work is gaining popularity,” etc., this pandemic has proven that the virus is still here. Even our own President of the United States and government officials got it. What’s more important, though, is that it’s still taking a toll on businesses worldwide – canceling jobs, and hitting people harder than ever.
Just ask your neighborhood bar or restaurant owner how they’ve been impacted. You’ll see that they are still having a hard time getting customers to come through their doors if they are even allowed to have customers. So what can you do if you’re one of the companies with problems and losses due to COVID? The gloves are still off, so you should make sure you incorporate systems for health and technology that you need to keep your business running full-fledged.
Technology is Needed for Business Now More Than Ever
The time is now if you’re looking to boost your technology during COVID to prepare your company for the future.
In the past, technology has been a definite since the 1990s, but there are still a lot of businesses out there using old operating systems, old software, and even worse – some are still using things like manual phone lines, which can lead to all sorts of problems. Not only that, but there are large security holes when it comes to having things like landlines when it comes to making remote work available for your employees.
How to Solve It
We’ve come up with four ways that your business can solve its COVID tech problems.
There are many ways that you can solve the above problem. The first thing you can do is opt for a business VoIP system. This allows your employees to have their own extensions for your workplace, just as they normally have at their desks, but there is so much more that it brings to the table. Using VoIP phone system software, you can monitor your employees’ conversations to make sure that they’re just using their business phones for work.
You can have more flexibility in terms of security because your software solutions will protect your phone. But it would help if you didn’t stop there. You can use a lot of other things to help your business grow. Here are some other things that you can incorporate to make things better for your company:
- Managed services can be brought into your company to provide an all-in-one technology solution over dedicated IT teams that are corporate-based. This is because they are professionals in literally everything IT. You can get a better defense infrastructure against all recent viruses and cyberattack threats by utilizing their services.
- Update all of your companies systems. If you do this, you will make sure that your devices are all up to date with the latest antivirus security, firewalls, and more to keep yourself safer.
- Use localized cloud services and data backup solutions rather than opting for the ones that are the more popular choice. Of course, things like Dropbox and other companies are still good, as we’ve written in the past. Still, they should not be where all of your company’s pertinent information and data records should be stored – especially because they’re more likely to get compromised with data breaches (and you wouldn’t even know it unless you received an email from the company itself).
- Incorporate more remote work for employees. Many companies out there are promising that they offer remote work to people who are looking for jobs, but the truth is, most companies aren’t even hiring for remote work. Many internal employees get the “chance” to work remotely, and they get dibs on the remote work over the new hires. With all of the people who are jobless right now, hiring more people to work remotely for you with all of the security in place is more important, and this is how technology helps with business growth; it allows you to save more on things like payroll, benefits, and even working hours of labor – let alone utility costs.
I’ve Incorporated COVID Techniques for Businesses – Now What?
One of the biggest things you can do is be patient. Many people are still affected by this pandemic, which has brought fear into everyday citizens’ and employees’ hearts and larger offices and management. With all of the paranoia out there, the virus makes things worse, but it doesn’t have to. With the right business tech solutions in place, you can literally be on top of the world, get an edge above your competitors, and so much more. Embrace the new digital change, and you’ll be fine – ask major corporations like Microsoft, Facebook, and other tech big-wigs out there since almost all of their employees are now working remotely.