Is your business fit for summer?

When we talk about getting ready for summer, we might mean losing a few pounds, buying new sunglasses or putting some money aside for holiday treats.

Getting your business fit for summer is an entirely different proposition, as you might imagine.

It means having cover in place for junior staff absences, if you need it. It means having a business that can run smoothly if senior members of staff are away. It means making your business more resilient, so staff can have a proper break without having to stay in touch with the office.

A summer of security

Perhaps the key to a stress-free summer is making sure your cybersecurity defences are up to scratch.

Summer can be a busy time for cybercrime, because hackers know that businesses are short staffed and that key IT personnel may be away.

In fact, a survey by security company Lastline found that 58% of security professionals think there is a seasonal pattern to the attacks on their companies. The majority (52%) said summer was the prime time for breaches.

“Nearly a half of security professionals (47%) report seeing an increase in phishing attacks during the summer, which makes sense since cybercriminals may be relying on catching employees off guard, tricking them with spoofed emails while they’re not paying full attention,” the company said in a blog.

So how do you get your cyber defences fit for summer? Start by making sure your cybersecurity is enterprise grade and fully functioning.

A fully managed solution can give you the peace of mind of knowing a trusted third party has your back, even while you’re sunning yourself on the beach.

It’s also worth reminding employees of some basic security protocols, especially if they’re likely to be connecting to your network from public WiFi hotpots in airports or train stations.

In fact, it might be worth asking staff to leave work devices at home during the holidays, to both protect your data and ensure they have a proper break from the daily grind.

Get the connectivity you need

Dropped connections and super slow downloads are disruptive at the best of times. They can be even more problematic if your IT manager is on holiday when they happen.

You can hedge against that possibility by upgrading to the most resilient connectivity you can afford. Most businesses rely on being online these days. Connectivity costs should be weighed against the costs of frequent drop outs, stuttering video calls and slow file downloads.

As a general rule, the more fibre there is in your internet connection, the less problems you’re likely to have. Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) is more resilient than ADSL. Full fibre (FTTP) is the most robust connectivity solution of all.

A leased line, which can use any of these technologies, means you don’t share bandwidth with anyone else, reducing the chances of complications. Leased lines also tend to come with business grade fix times, guaranteed by SLA.

If you’re in any doubt about your own connectivity solution, Vaioni is offering a free connectivity audit to make sure you have the best connectivity for your needs this summer. Having the speed and capacity to run your crucial services and applications will help you avoid summer slowdowns and dropouts.

And having the right service guarantees means that, should something go wrong, you can rest assured that the fault will be fixed in the fastest possible time.

Staff up and down at will

If you think you’ll need holiday cover over the next two or three months, it’s worth getting friendly with a local recruitment or temp agency.

They can help make sure you have the sales or contact centre staff you need during busy holiday periods. They might even find you a temporary IT specialist, though that could be a tough ask in the current circumstances.

Getting bodies on board is one thing. Getting them set up on your systems is another. Cloud based services and applications often make it easy to add temporary employees and remove their permissions when the contract period is over.

Hosted voice is a case in point. Add and remove seats in your communications and collaboration platform in a couple of klicks, and never pay for capacity you don’t use.

The takeaway here is to plan ahead. The summer holidays can be a quiet time for some businesses, and peak season for others. But having the right systems in place, especially around connectivity and cybersecurity, is essential at any time.

Vaioni’s free audit will health check your connectivity solution, and can also make sure your cybersecurity defences are fit for purpose.

If you’d like our help, just get in touch.