Coleman Technologies Blog

Why Your Employees Need Training
The most notable reason to provide training for your employees starts from their first day on the job, when they might need to be educated on how to use the solutions your organization depends on. This might be time-consuming, but it is critical if you want to save time in the long term. Training employees as soon as possible will mean you’re not leaving employees to figure it out for themselves.

Even more experienced employees will need training every now and then. The average employee will only retain about 40 percent of what is covered during their introduction to a topic, making education a critical part of maintaining operational productivity. Since technology is changing often, you should take some time to improve your training processes.

Training Options
There are many different ways to approach employee training, but one common factor among them all is pairing a new employee with an experienced one to teach them a thing or two about the process. On-the-job training is a practical way to make sure that instruction is taught by someone who knows what they are doing, and it can even help develop relationships between your workers.

On the other hand, when a new technology is introduced to the workplace, your entire staff might need to know how to use it. In cases like this, you can use webinars to help employees “self-teach” themselves on how to use it. Avoid holding all of this training in a single session, though, as it’s better to spread it out so as to avoid a situation where your employees are stuck in training for a week at a time. Some organizations have had success in splitting their teams up into internal groups to help employees learn as much as possible.

If Your Team Needs Help…
A help desk solution is a perfect way to supplement what your employees already know with what they need to know. You can provide your staff with access to trained technology professionals who can provide assistance when it’s needed. Coleman Technologies can help your business get started with technology training and support. To learn more, reach out to us at (604) 513-9428.

Nowadays, it is crucial that you make security a top priority. With the right approach, it not only saves you massive headaches, but also a considerable amount of capital—particularly if you leverage the appropriate solutions for SMBs. As a managed service provider, we can ensure that you implement the appropriate IT solutions to maximize the return on your security investment.

The best security solutions will make sure that you are exposed to minimal security risks as you go about the workday. Here are just a few security best practices and technologies that can save your business time, energy, and money.

Firewalls to Defend Your Network

Network security is incomplete without a robust firewall solution to protect your infrastructure. A firewall is a digital shield that safeguards your company’s network from external threats. It analyzes traffic into and out of your infrastructure. It keeps threats from sneaking through, thereby minimizing the opportunity for a data breach and potential financial loss from fines and damage control. Trust us when we say the best way to address a security breach is to be proactive about it and prevent it entirely.

Regular Security Audits to Leave No Stone Unturned

When you’re sick, you go to the doctor. When your car breaks down, you go to the mechanic. When your technology fails, you see your local managed service provider. These are all “reactive” approaches to maintenance, whether for your body, vehicle, or IT. When it comes to security, you want to take a proactive approach, though, and conduct security audits every so often to address potential issues before they become serious problems. Again, preventing problems from escalating saves you money, so it never hurts to be overly prepared.

Employee Education to Supplement Technology Solutions

What happens when a hacker cannot break through your technology solutions? Rather than brute forcing their way through to your infrastructure, they will take the path of least resistance by targeting your employees with phishing scams and other unethical tactics. You must provide routine security training to reduce the risk of human error. While it might take time out of their days, it will go a long way toward mitigating the risk of a data breach.

Get Started Today with Proactive Security Solutions

All it takes to break your budget is one single data breach. Don’t let your business suffer even that! Take advantage of our managed services to give your business the security solutions it deserves. To learn more, call Coleman Technologies today at (604) 513-9428.

We will always reinforce how critical it is for everyone in any workplace to have a grasp of cybersecurity best practices, regardless of their role or responsibilities. However, based on a survey conducted by UK-based cybersecurity firm Ramsac, this baseline is not being met by a long shot.

Why do we say this? Simple: this survey revealed that one in three adults failed a cybersecurity test designed for 11-year-olds.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Let’s consider what this suggests about the state of modern business cybersecurity.

Ramsac’s Results Speak Volumes

The survey that Ramsac administered was simple enough: before an IT website could be accessed, a user—in this case, decision-makers in their organizations and fields—needed to answer five basic cybersecurity questions.

Again, these were questions designed for 11-year-olds to answer successfully.

What the Results Revealed

There were some troubling trends brought to light in the responses.

Malware seemed to trip up the most people, with 15 percent answering incorrectly. Phishing bamboozled 13 percent of respondents, and 21 percent did not know how to protect themselves against these scams (which, as a reminder, are among the most common attacks out there). General cybersecurity awareness was slightly better, with just under seven percent missing these questions.

How to Increase Your Business’ Security

While there are tons of tools and technologies to help boost your protection, you can make a big difference relatively quickly in a few simple ways.

Apply Updates

Updates are frequently created to resolve existing security issues. Keeping your technology updated will help keep you safer from vulnerabilities.

Team Training

One of your biggest security challenges will always be the people you have working for and with you. Training them and evaluating their preparedness to detect threats will help reduce the issues you ultimately face.

Endorse Communication

Encourage your team to speak up if they have any questions or concerns, particularly when security may be impacted. Asking the right questions at the right moment could be the difference between security and a breach.

Cybersecurity is Everyone’s Responsibility

We can help you protect your business from threats of all kinds, implementing many of the above tools to your advantage. Learn more by calling (604) 513-9428.

Cybersecurity has to be a big deal for any business that uses IT, and today, who doesn’t? When your employees don’t follow cybersecurity rules, it can put your business in danger, like getting hacked or losing money. The first step is to figure out why employees aren’t following the rules. This could happen because they don’t know the rules, haven’t been trained enough, or think the rules are too hard or take too much time. 

Once you understand what the problem is—whether it’s about not knowing, finding the rules too complicated, or resisting changes—you can fix it more easily and in a way that makes sense to them.

Prioritize Training

After figuring out why, it’s important to give employees the right kind of cybersecurity training. They need to know why protecting the company’s data is important and how their actions can keep it safe. The training should include real examples to help them understand the possible risks of not following the rules. Also, make sure to update the training often so employees learn about new threats and how to stay safe.

Choose the Right Procedures

Keeping the security rules clear and simple is another way to help employees follow them. If the rules are too complicated, they might try to find shortcuts, which can make things less safe. For example, if passwords are too hard to remember, employees might write them down, which is dangerous. Instead, make things easier by using tools like password managers and security apps that help them follow the rules without much effort.

Build Accountability

Holding people accountable is also important. Employees need to know there are consequences if they don’t follow cybersecurity rules. This doesn’t mean punishing them, but setting up a system where mistakes are fixed. Make sure employees know how to report security problems and create a safe environment where they aren’t scared to ask for help. You can also check regularly if they’re following the rules and give rewards for doing a good job.

Employees Should Feel Responsible

Making sure everyone feels responsible for cybersecurity is key. Employees should see it as something that affects the whole company, not just the IT team. Encourage teamwork between different departments, have leaders set a good example, and pick team members who are really good at following cybersecurity rules to help others. When everyone, from the bosses down to employees, works together to keep the business safe, it’s easier to protect against threats.

If your business needs help creating and maintaining a robust cybersecurity culture, the IT experts at Coleman Technologies can definitely help. Give us a call today at (604) 513-9428 to learn more.