Employees needing to work from home? We can help!

As a provider of IT Services for SMB and SOHO offices, we are very familiar with the struggles and solutions to keeping your employees productive.

With the extended spring break and more people working from home, you might have questions about setting up your home for your children to do classwork. Or you might have questions about your current setup and how it can work better for your family.

If your business needs help adapting to employees working remotely, or if you need extra IT support, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

Some quick things to consider and short answers:

  • Call your ISP and see what your current internet speed is and how much it costs. Often, speed is increased in new plans, but not all customers are automatically updated. You may be paying $85 for 100Mbs and the new plan is $79 for 250Mbs.  It doesn’t hurt to ask.
  • Consider the whole family’s computer use.
  • Your family may share a computer – but what if more than one person needs to be online at a time?
    Are you expecting to use an old laptop if needed? Better power it up now, get it online and updated. Test that the battery is still good.
    Consider where your computers are. Can each person who needs to be get online, with a camera, mic and speakers?
  • Local stores will soon start to sell out of laptops and computers as employers rush to buy them for employees, as we have already seen this happen at MicroCenter in Dallas.
  • Dell (and most other PC manufacturers) relies on just-in -time inventory – and with China’s quarantine we can expect longer delays receiving new equipment.
  • Most students at home will probably be fine using a Chromebook. They vary in price from $160 – $600.
  • It’s also good time to note whether your home PC or laptop has a built-in microphone, speakers, and camera. You might need a headset or over-the-ear headphones for web-based conference calls, or you might even find that a gaming headset with a built-in microphone would best suit your needs.
  • You can also have dual screens at home, as most laptops already have a HDMI port that could even connect directly to your TV. A basic Logitech wireless keyboard/mouse combos usually run $20-$30 at nearly any store selling electronics.
  • Wifi a little slow? A bunch of new budget friendly wifi routers can significantly increase both the range and speed to your wireless devices, and they’re pretty easy to setup using an app on your phone.

Your company may already have remote access tools available, but they haven’t been configured or setup. Give us a call if you aren’t sure!