Tag Archives: IT Strategy

Staff prefer working from home

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Do your staff prefer working from home? It seems that 9 out of 10 workers would like the option to work from home. Take a look at this article https://www.verdict.co.uk/working-from-home.

The spread of home working is opening up a new range of possibilities for the way businesses can work and structure themselves.

As well as opportunities and benefits, home working brings new responsibilities for the employer and employee. Employees with 26 weeks service have a statutory right to request flexible-working arrangements such as home working and you have to seriously consider such requests.

Staff prefer working from home

Your staff can be just as effective working from home. Make sure they have the correct set up, access to data and communications to contact clients and colleagues.

So, do your staff prefer working from home? We compare working from home to working in the office.

Advantages of employees working from home

With increasing numbers of employees working at home – or using home as a working base for at least part of the week – it’s clear there are a number of benefits for business, such as:

  • Improved employee retention – home working can help retain employees with an otherwise long daily commute.
  • Access to a wider pool of applicants – for example, such as those from more geographically remote areas, or people who may prefer to work from home.
  • Possible productivity gains – due to fewer interruptions, allowing more focused work.
  • Increased staff motivation – with staff having a better work/life balance.
  • Financial benefits – savings on office space and other facilities.
  • Convenience – ability to locate sales staff near clients rather than in your premises.
  • Better work/life balance – employees working from home can lead to improvements in health and well-being.

Advantages of employees working from the office

Though there are some benefits to employees working at the office:

  • Monitoring performance – it is easier to manage office workers and monitor their performance.
  • Cost of working from the office – costs will be lower for each employee to work at the office. No training and providing suitable equipment will be required. This includes adaptations to meet health and safety standards within the home office environment.
  • Staff development – easier to maintain staff development and upgrading skills.
  • Information security risk – less risk of data leakage.
  • Reduced isolation – home working can be lonely.
  • Increased staff morale – it is easier for a team to bond in the same location.
  • Some jobs can not be done at home.
  • Better work/life balance – employees working away from home can lead to improvements in health and well-being.

A shift towards home working doesn’t mean employees have to work only at home. Often splitting time between home and the workplace is the most productive solution and you may want the homeworker to attend meetings to keep them fully involved and informed.

LIS are here to assist you with the transition of home working. Our experienced IT professionals can advise on improving remote worker capabilities and keep critical systems working. We can also advise on the best way to keep ICT equipment clean and hygienic for hot desking and shared areas. Contact us for more information.

#WFH #WorkingFromHome #NewNormal

Lockdown has been difficult for business

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We know lockdown has been difficult for business, but it’s not all doom and gloom. Here are five businesses that are booming (and they are not all huge). Find out how lockdown has been difficult for business, take a look at a recent BBC news article about five businesses that are booming despite the lockdown.

Yet in many ways, our current situation is very different to a month ago. Many of us have lost jobs, taken pay cuts or been put on furlough. Boris Johnson has declared the UK past its peak of the outbreak. We can buy toilet roll from the supermarket (albeit after queuing behind people in masks).

Five industries thriving in lockdown

Lockdown has been difficult for businessGifts & Occasions
Mother’s Day was the first weekend under lockdown, order volumes and referrals in the sector soared by 122% and 229% year-on-year respectively. Once the occasion passed, orders began to decline, dropping to just +26% year-on-year. Then Easter arrived. In the week running up to 12th April, order volumes and referrals in the gifting sector significantly increased. By Easter Monday, gift brands were acquiring 415% more new customers via referral year-on-year. (It’s worth noting that Easter fell on different dates last year).

Since Easter, order volumes and referrals in the gift sector have continued to increase and show no signs of slowing. Right now, order volumes are up 245% year-on-year and referrals up 650%.

That means people are buying from and recommending gifting brands each day than they were during Easter, an actual occasion, last year. It seems that in the absence of being able to physically see friends and family, consumers are turning to ecommerce gift brands to send their love from afar.

 

 

Home & Garden
At the start of April, order volumes and referrals for home and garden clients were up 55% and 83% year-on-year respectively. Both have significantly increased since.

As people looked forward to a sunshine-filled Easter at home, they went online to buy plants, baking equipment, and other products to liven up the long weekend in isolation.

On 21st April, referrals peaked at +321% year-on-year, compared to sales at +120%. Both now remain relatively steady at +278% and +110% respectively.

In the current environment, our homes and garden frequently come up in conversation. A comment on a houseplant in the background of a Zoom call, a chat about blooming tulips in the garden, a freshly baked banana bread on Instagram – all these small occurrences lead to brand recommendations and new customers.

 

Lockdown has been difficult for businessHealth & Fitness
In the week following the government’s lockdown announcement, order volumes for health and fitness brands increased by 163% year-on-year. People weren’t just working out in new ways – they were telling others about it, too. Referrals increased by 361%.

Fast forward to now, and orders for health and fitness brands have dropped, though remain significantly higher than this time last year. Order volumes for our clients in this sector are up 85% year-on-year. Referrals are more than double that at +185% year on year.

Consumers also feel less panicked. We may be no closer to knowing when we can next go to the pub, but we know we can go for a jog outside. Plus, with all holiday plans ruled out for the foreseeable, exercise has become more about feeling good than honing the perfect bikini body. How we’re exercising has changed, but our inclination to tell others about it hasn’t.

 

 

 

Food & Drink
March saw a huge spike in demand for food and drink brands as consumers stocked up on pasta, gin and other essentials.

A few months on, sales and referrals in this sector are decreasing, though remain significantly higher than last year. This is likely due to two reasons.

Firstly, consumers have more confidence in supermarket supply chains and government restrictions to know there’s little risk of going hungry. Secondly, many people ordered enough food and drink to last weeks, meaning they don’t need to order again so quickly.

That’s also impacted referrals. With people no longer panicking about running out of fresh veg or (worse) wine, they’re not talking about it as much. And when they do talk about it, they’ve likely already recommended their favourite brands to friends. Nonetheless, things are pretty good for online food and drink brands right now.

 

 

Lockdown has been difficult for businessBeauty
Beauty products weren’t top of consumers’ shopping lists entering lockdown, but they’ve certainly risen up it over the past month.

With more time on our hands, many people are turning their attention to skincare rituals and self-care treats. A bubble bath and facemask are a pretty appealing. As the option for a night out is off the cards.

We are not showing off our newly glowing skin or glossy hair in person. However, we’re still telling our friends about our favourite beauty brands.

At the start of April, beauty sales had increased by 37% year-on-year and referrals by 64%. Sales are now up 110% year-on-year, with referrals a significant 356% higher than this time last year.

 

 

Business planning for the future

Lockdown has been difficult for business as people are continuing to shop online as well as speaking with their loved ones. That presents a powerful opportunity for brands with a relevant offering and effective referral programme.

The fragile economy is also making people increasingly conscious of how they’re spending their money. A brand that comes with a friend’s seal of approval is far more likely to result in a purchase. Compared to a random website found online – particularly if it comes with a discount or other incentive.

Rather than simply enjoy the surge in orders and referrals, now is the time for thriving businesses to plan for the future. Those with effective retention strategies will prosper long-term; those without will fall by the wayside.

Obviously, LIS can’t help with the development of your business, but that is fine as that is your area of expertise! Tech is our job so contact the LIS Help Desk to discuss  how your IT needs to evolve to help drive your business in the post corona world. Whether you need to keep your data secure, deliver long term working from home, create a safe hot desking environment, make best use of a flexible phone system or just give your staff the “looked after” feeling that LIS brings to its clients, we can help. We will give you the best advice, suggest the best solutions and are more than happy to help.

Hopefully your business has survived this tough period and you are now starting on the long road to the new stable business life. Lockdown has been difficult for business but with LIS at least the IT is sorted!

#LockdownBoom #GoodForBusiness #InDemand

Location Monitoring

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We announced last month that Lodge Information Services (LIS) launched its latest product The Office 365 Security Package. This is final part of the package, focusing on Location Monitoring.

One of the biggest concerns within any business is IT security. The rising use of the cloud and mobile devices has bought with it cost savings. As a result, there are increased data security risks. Take a look at our latest video below for more information.

Automatic alerts are sent to the LIS Help Desk whenever a login is spotted from a suspicious location. What’s more, LIS can choose the zone you want monitoring based on country, region, city or IP address. Exclusions can also be added for example if an employee is on holiday or working away from the office. It’s in our control! If we detect any changes, we will obviously inform our clients.

Our Office 365 Security Package is a bundle of software tools

The package works continuously on Microsoft Office 365 accounts. They provide genuine protection benefits that EVERY business ought to have. We manage EVERYTHING for you. It’s all in our hands, which is exactly how it should be. Giving you peace of mind to allow you to concentrate on your business.

Download our Office 365 A Risky Business booklet to find our more.

Track login access for your employees when they are abroad. With location monitoring there is no time to waste. You can change the password straight away. This ensures your data is safe to attacks from the outside world. Location monitoring will help your business control cybercrime and your staff’s security.

LIS can help your company to protect your IT system. As a result, making sure the outside your team have the right access. Giving you peace of mind that your files are safe. We take care of your IT security to enable you to concentrate on your business!

Contact us to make sure you are protected.

Work from home forever?

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Would you allow your staff to work from home forever? How’s working from home going for your business? Would you make it a permanent option for some staff? Twitter has taken a bold step and allowed its people to work from home forever if they want to. Read the full story about how one of the world’s leading social media platforms are revolutionizing working from home forever.

Work from home forever

Twitter have advised employees they can work from home forever. What does the future hold?

Other companies planning to work from home forever

Shopify

Tobi Lutke, CEO of Shopify (SHOP), announced that the world of work has been turned on its head. “Office centricity is over,” he tweeted. “As of today, Shopify is a digital by default company. Shopify is an ecommerce platform for small businesses and therefore will keep its offices closed until 2021. This year, Shopify will rework its physical spaces for this new reality. As a result, most employees will be working from home on a permanent basis.

“Until recently, work happened in the office. We’ve always had some people remote and will use the Internet as a bridge to the office. This will reverse now,” Lutke tweeted. “The future of the office is to act as an on-ramp to the same digital workplace that you can access from your #WFH setup.”

Groupe PSA

French automaker PSA announced a “new era of agility,” in which its non-production staff will work remotely from now on. “Given the positive experience and efficient measures already taken in the context of the Covid-19 crisis. In other words they have decided to strengthen teleworking and make it the benchmark for activities not directly related to production”.

PSA will reduce its real estate footprint by redesigning its offices and allow for in-person collaboration when. Above all the main plan for our colleagues is to achieve a better work-life balance and have easier commutes.

In conclusion, the new work from home plan will start in the summer said PSA, the maker of Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel and Vauxhall.

Contact the LIS Help desk to make sure your team have the same facilities as the workplace. We can set up secure access to all your data, provide IT support remotely and make sure your business is fully functional.

#Twitter #WFH #NewHomeOffice

How to choose the best laptop?

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With hundreds of models to choose from, you’ll want to a laptop that suits your business needs. How to choose the best laptop? Amongst the decisions you need to make are… the biggest decisions will be how much you want to spend – what many don’t realise is that if you’re after a good all-rounder for day-to-day tasks, it doesn’t have to be a lot.

Looking for new laptops for your team working from home? This business laptop doesn’t quite top a MacBook Pro, but it comes highly recommended and is half the price. Read the latest review at Techrader.

How to buy the best laptop?

Exceeds Expectation. The all-new 10th generation Intel® Core™ i7 processor and ultra-fast SSD are designed for on-the-go creations with faster rendering capability and boot up time.

Why buy from LIS?

We are not a retail shop. We are an established IT and Networking Support business. Our team have many years of IT experience and will advise you on the best solution for your business needs. We won’t just supply you a laptop. Before we deliver it to you, we will install Office 365, set up all the accounts, install anti-spam and anti-virus software. We can also supply all your IT aftersales and IT support with remote access. All you need to do once you receive your new laptop is plug and play. You are then ready to go, run your business and make money.

 

Top five questions to ask when buying a laptop

Before you start shopping for a laptop, it will help to know the answers to the following five key questions.

How much should I spend on a laptop?

The lower end of the market starts from £200. Ideal for home use. To the higher end for e.g. Apple MacBooks, more than £1,000.

Operating system – what type of laptop do I need?

There are three major players when it comes to the software (operating system) your computer runs on.

  Buy a Windows 10 laptop if…
You prefer the familiarity of Windows.
Have specialist software you can’t live without.
Want a big variety of laptops to choose from.
  Buy a MacBook if…
You have a budget of at least £950.
Value longevity and build quality.
Use other Apple products, or are happy to learn a new operating system.
  Buy a Chromebook if…
You’re on a budget.
Value simplicity.
Don’t mind working in web-based application.

 

How powerful does my laptop need to be?

If you need a laptop for light use and note taking, look for Intel Pentium or Intel Core i3 and at least 4GB of Ram for a great experience. Go for Intel Core i5 and i7 and AMD Ryzen 5 and 7 and at least 8GB of Ram if you’re a heavy user. Look for dedicated graphics from Nvidia and AMD if you want to game.

Screen – what size and resolution of laptop display do I need?

A laptop’s screen is one case where bigger isn’t always better. If you want a longer-lasting battery and a more portable device, you may want to go for an 11, 12 or 13-inch display; most of these will weigh between 1kg and 1.5kg. The largest you’re likely to see is 15 or 17 inches, with weight increasing to around 2kg to 3kg.

How much laptop storage do I really need?

Go for an SSD unless you really, really need more storage at all times. Storage capacity, measured in the size of the hard disk drive (HDD) in gigabytes (GB) or terabytes (TB, equal to 1,000GB), determines how many things your PC can hold. Documents, photos, music, movies, programs – they all take up space.

Contact the LIS Help Desk to discuss the most suitable hardware, software, security and business requirements. Our friendly, experienced and knowledgeable team will be glad to assist you.

#BusinessLaptop #WorkingFromHome #OfficeDevices