Collaboration Tools Can Help Build a Friendlier Workspace

 There’s a misconception in the business world that being too nice will make you appear as a pushover, but as far as cliches go, “Nice guys finish last” doesn’t have much supporting evidence in favor of it.

You Don’t Have to Be a Jerk to Make Progress

Even if the stereotype of the office jerk is all over the place, research shows that being unpleasant in the workplace doesn’t really get you anywhere. If anything, it is actually detrimental to your professional development.

Introducing Cameron Anderson, Professor of Organizational Behavior at UC Berkeley

Following the 2016 election, Anderson sought to study the impact that being unpleasant can have on outcomes. To gauge these results, Anderson chose to examine the correlation between a personality test administered decades ago with where the participants were professionally in the present day.

The end result makes for a great title:  People with disagreeable personalities (selfish, combative, and manipulative) do not have an advantage in pursuing power at work. His research shows that people who are unpleasant in their day-to-day duties are no more likely to make upward progress than those who aren’t, no matter how toxic the workplace is.

The study also showed, however, that pleasantness and generosity were not a factor, either. The research shows that either individual, pleasant or unpleasant, is no more likely to succeed in an isolated environment, but when they are allowed to meld together (as they do in a realistic workplace), they tend to cancel each other out. Another study from the University of Hong Kong, the University of Iowa, and Purdue University showcases an interesting correlation based on the results of a metastudy of 200 other pieces of research. They found that people who are supportive and proactive, not just agreeable, are more likely to reach the top compared to those who aren’t.

Changing the Office Dynamic Takes Effort

Being a jerk isn’t necessarily the determining factor in someone’s success, but it’s also not going to help anyone around you, either. If anything, you should want to remedy this behavior so you can help others around you achieve their best results, too.

Some academics, like Bob Sutton, a professor of management science at Stanford, believe that a zero-tolerance approach toward unpleasant behavior can get the job done. The idea behind this policy is that when someone starts throwing their weight around, you throw it right back at them. Businesses can also make more efforts to reward not just those who are productive from a personal standpoint, but also uplift and encourage their coworkers to be their best selves.

With things like the Great Resignation, quiet quitting, and rage applying all over the place, you really don’t need to give your employees more reasons to seek employment elsewhere. After all, it costs more to replace an employee than to hold on to a good one. If you can foster an encouraging and collaborative environment, you might be surprised by how much you find your workplace can change in a short period of time. It might even help you draw in and retain top talent.

One of the big ways you can make sure your team feels seen, appreciated, and understood is by respecting them enough to give them the tools they need to do their jobs effectively. 

What You Can Do to Preserve Security With Remote Work in Play

 Remote work is now more common than it has ever been before, so we want to ensure that you are informed about the security implications of switching from in-house operations to remote or hybrid operations. Let’s discuss some practical ways you can implement remote work security policies and procedures.

Securing Your Remote Operations is a Multi-Faceted Process

To get started, let’s review some of the common ways you might secure a remote network infrastructure.

Utilize a Virtual Private Network (VPN)

Virtual private networks are going to be more secure alternatives to just about any other network, and they can transform your typical wireless network connection into an encrypted tunnel for security even while away from the protections of your in-house network. A VPN encrypts data sent from and received by your device, giving your users a secure way of transferring data. It’s a must-have for any company that has remote operations in any capacity.

And yes, this means using the VPN when the employee is working from home, away for a business trip, or just working from a public location. You don’t know what else is connected to those networks, so treat them with some scrutiny.

Only Use Secured and Approved Hardware and Software

Similarly, you’ll want to ensure that your team members are only using devices and applications that have been cleared by IT. Only appropriate tools should be used by your business, and these tools need to be approved by your IT department to ensure the security of your network. Any devices housing or accessing business data, after all, need to be screened and protected for the purposes of compliance.

This is especially important for remote workers who might feel tempted to just find their own solutions for problems rather than bother those who are in-house or seemingly inaccessible. We recommend using cloud-based tools that can be accessed by any approved device, thereby eliminating the need to pursue other avenues of productivity that are not approved for use.

Keep This Hardware and Software Maintained

Once you have made it clear what tools you need your team to use, you’ll have to put every effort you can into ensuring they are maintained and managed properly. This means making sure they aren’t a headache to use by updating them with patches and updates as they are released.

Furthermore, your solutions will need to be monitored, particularly for the remote employees, to ensure that no security threats are happening while out of the office. If you maintain diligence and vigilance, you’ll be surprised by how many security breaches you can thwart before they even become an issue for your business.

Implement Basic Security Standards

Look, you might think we are making a big to-do about security, but the fact of the matter is that security really is that important. Poor security practices can make or break businesses much larger and more profitable than yours. Remember that no business is too small to become the target of a breach, and you should have proper security standards in place, like secure passwords and multi-factor authentication, to protect your company at all times.

We’re Here to Help Businesses Operate Effectively and Securely, Regardless of Where Their Team Members are Working

Tip of the Week: Optimizing Your Business’ Technology in Three Ways

 Businesses cannot run without technology. This relationship has only grown more complicated and complex over time, and with so many businesses depending on their technology in ways never before seen, you’ll have to understand just how great of an impact your technology has on the way your organization runs. Here are three ways you can implement the right tools to see increased success.

Invest in Mobility

Businesses are not confined to the office the way they used to be. Any place can become your office with the right mobile technology solutions. Depending on the circumstances, you might encounter times when it is actually preferable to work in one location over another, like if you are sick with a viral disease. Naturally, it makes sense that you should take steps toward providing everyone with the tools they need in a mobile-friendly environment like the cloud.

Be Intentional with Your Network Design

Hardwired networks do provide benefits, but again, so too does a Wi-Fi connection. In order to get the most value out of your Internet connection, you’ll have to be strategic with which devices use your hardwired connection versus your wireless connection. How far will your wireless travel, and which devices need to maintain constant uptime with little room for error? Focusing on these issues now will save you a lot of time when you have to reexamine your infrastructure later on, after your business has grown a bit.

Accept Help from Experts

Chances are that even with an internal IT department, there is plenty of work to go around. An internal department might even be overwhelmed or overworked to get everything done, leading to, well, things just not getting done. Considering the plethora of tasks that must be accomplished, ranging from monitoring a network, securing it, providing assistance to your staff, and implementing new solutions, it’s no wonder that even a dedicated IT department could get burnt out or overlook tasks.

Instead of overworking your staff, you can instead turn to Net It On, LLC and outsource some of these responsibilities, making everyone’s lives easier. In fact, an MSP can be just as effective as an internal IT department, particularly if you don’t have an internal team to supplement. Regardless, however, we are sure that your business can benefit from having more IT professionals around.

The Evolution of Internet Speeds

 With the Internet cementing itself as one of the best tools to get work done, it’s easy to forget just how sluggish it used to be back when it first became available for use. Internet speeds have undergone some dramatic shifts over the years, so let’s remember the good old days when it took ages to do just about anything with it.

Internet speeds are measured in megabits. 1,000 kilobits (technically 1,024 KB) is equivalent to 1 megabit and 1,000 megabits (technically 1,024 MB) is equivalent to 1 gigabit. Keep these numbers in mind as we discuss Internet speeds and their development over the years.

Dial Up

Can you believe that it’s only been about 25 years since the Internet became widely accessible in offices and homes? It was first introduced to the mass market through the use of dial up Internet, which used the phone line to connect. In the 1990s, people would have one telephone line for both the telephone and the computer. If an individual wanted to connect to the Internet, they would be charged for long distance—even if the “call” was to the next village or city over.

Around 2000, the average modem was 56 KB/s with an uninterrupted signal. A one-megabyte image would take about 20 seconds to download. This snail’s-pace speed by today’s standards was enough to make instant messaging and email possible, but other media-based activities would take days or weeks to transmit across the connection.

DSL

“High-speed” Internet became popular as we moved into the 2000s. DSL, or Digital Subscriber Line, utilized cable connections, allowing ISPs to transmit data at much faster speeds compared to dial up. The bandwidth of a cable was able to transfer much more data compared to the traditional telephone wire. In fact, DSL was so revolutionary that it still makes up the vast majority of connections you’ll find out there. A DSL connection is capable of delivering speeds of up to 100 MB/s, but realistically, it is more likely to be around the 5 MB-to-20 MB/s range.

This large increase in speed allows for much more in terms of the work you can do. Cloud-hosted email, for example, can be utilized with these speeds, along with music streaming and website browsing. Around 2010, when DSL became widely available, there was a huge burst of application development utilizing the speeds—a new trend which is still happening to this day. Even video streaming, in the grand scheme of things, is quite new, but it wouldn’t have been possible without the inception of DSL connections.

Fiber Optic

Of course, there is also the fiber optic cable option, which is what many of today’s fastest Internet speeds utilize. Fiber optic uses light to transmit data, and is therefore much faster than DSL connections. DSL cable systems lose speed and performance the farther the signal must go, but with fiber optic, Internet speeds and bandwidth are exponentially better. Fiber optic is capable of speeds of up to tens of gigabits per second. Absolutely wild stuff.

Mobile computing has only further changed this fact, as people rely more on Wi-Fi signals than ever before. Otherwise people would be exceeding their data caps more frequently. Fiber has given people access to much faster connections—connections that systems and businesses rely on to function. It’s made working from home easier and more efficient, online schooling and telehealth more accessible, real-time data collection much simpler, and communication and collaboration more reliable.

If you’re curious about your current Internet speeds (and you should be), you can use free Internet speed test applications, like the one found at https://www.speedtest.net/. This should give you a decent enough look at your Internet speed

You Can’t Outsource Everything: 3 Parts of Your Business that Need to Remain In-House

 Businesses today have more options than ever before for their needs. With so many vendors available outside your typical in-house office environment, you can get most of the services you need via outsourcing. That said, there are certain processes you shouldn’t outsource, even if you think it might be a good idea.

Administration

You shouldn’t be outsourcing the jobs of people who run the company, and we can say this with confidence for a couple of reasons. For one, why should employees follow the vision of someone who doesn’t even work in your office? Furthermore, what real vested interest do third-party administrators have in your success? Outsourcing project implementation is one thing, but outsourcing the administrative infrastructure of your business is another entirely, and not a good idea.

Onboarding and Offboarding

Some businesses outsource their human resources functions, which is perfectly reasonable, as there can be a lot of value from doing so. That said, you shouldn’t have all of the functions of a human resources team be handled by a third party. You’ll want to ensure that talent acquisition in particular, as well as letting go of people, is handled in-house. This is because you want to ensure that you get and keep the right talent for your company, which is something that an outsourced human resources department will have trouble keeping up with.

Product Development

Your products and services are the core reasons your organization is in business. Why should you continue to work with others to help them? Whoever is in charge of developing your offerings needs to have an intimate knowledge of your consumers, as well as your company’s values. You can’t expect any third-party provider to know these things, and you shouldn’t need to.

Outsourcing opens up plenty of opportunities to improve operations for your business, including outsourcing some or all of your IT operations to a provider.