Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / Leveraging Technology in the Remote World with Burton Kelso

Transcript

Leveraging Technology in the Remote World with Burton Kelso · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  3, 10, 1, 0, ignition, liftoff,
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  Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with a number 1 small business expert Melinda Emerson.
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  Bolinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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  you need to succeed and live the life you've dream of.
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  Now here's the small biz lady herself.
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  Melinda Everson.
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  Welcome back to small biz chef I'm Melinda Emerson, the small biz lady.
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  And now my guest is Burton Kelzo.
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  He is an entrepreneur, TB Tech segment contributor.
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  And he's the chief tech expert at integral.
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  His vision is to remove the frustration and complexity of computers and technology out of
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  the way so that people can get open to the new world ideas and experiences opportunities that
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  are available because of technology.
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  He's read all the manuals, and he loves helping people conquer their fears and frustrations
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  with technology.
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  Burton, welcome back to small fish chat line.
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  Tough crisis, isn't it, with this coronavirus?
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  Let's talk about what's going on out here in these coronavirus streets.
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  Okay?
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  People are scared.
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  You know, money is super tight or nonexistent.
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  You know, and it could be another 7, 8 weeks.
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  That's true.
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  But, you know, the good thing is is the internet's the great equator as far as small
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  businesses are concerned.
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  I mean, it can definitely be a tool that many businesses can use in order to keep in contact
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  with customers, stay in contact with their current workforce and to market their business.
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  Alright.
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  So so let's talk about, everybody's working from home.
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  Okay.
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  How how do we do this safely, Bert?
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  What do we need to do?
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  Well, the first thing you do before you, start working with your remote workforce is you need
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  to make sure that they've got good internet.
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  Because a lot of the collaborative tools require high speed internet.
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  So before you just send your employees home, you need to verify that they've got high speed
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  internet.
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  Now The definition of high speed Internet is anything that is 20 megabits download or
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  faster.
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  If you have anything slower than that, it's a good possibility that you won't be able to
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  access the online tools or to log in to that office VPN.
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  Now, there's a tool that you can use to check your internet, speed test dot net, go to the
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  website, check out your download speed, and find out if you've got fast internet.
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  Alright.
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  Well, that that's a I didn't even think about that.
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  That is important.
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  Like, does everybody have the same speed of internet?
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  Well, what about I know that there's still all these cyber threats out here.
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  Is it is it even more pervasive now that people are working from home, working on their own
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  devices, and stuff like what, like, How can we still kind of manage the whole cyber threat
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  thing?
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  That hasn't gone away, has it?
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  No.
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  Cybercrime's probably going to increase because you have more people that have left the
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  umbrella of the large corporations that they've worked in in the corporation.
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  You've got the IT team that's keeping on track of what the employees are doing, but once you
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  send your workforce out into the wild so to speak, then they're on their own and a lot of
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  employees just don't have the knowledge in order to keep track of cyber crimes.
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  And the unfortunate thing about this, Melinda, is that 99% of cybercrime requires user
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  interaction.
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  So if you're clicking on stuff that you aren't supposed to, you're putting your company at
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  risk or your employees are putting the company at risk So education is the key.
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  As far as making sure that employees understand how cybercrime works and to make sure that they
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  know what steps to keep your business safe while they're working remotely.
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  What kinds of things do the do the employees need to do to keep themselves safe in their own
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  homes?
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  You know, from a cyber standpoint?
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  Well, phishing emails are key because those are the way that most cyber criminals get access to
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  your personal data.
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  One of the things that employers can do if they are working with a good IT team or a good
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  cybersecurity team they can have the team send out occasional emails to the employee so that
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  they can understand what is the between a phishing email versus a legitimate email and
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  make sure they're not clicking on things that they shouldn't be clicking on.
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  Okay.
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  Now what about I know that a lot of companies provide, you know, laptops and things for their
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  workers, but what I mean, what about people that have their own laptop from home?
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  I mean, do people need to implement sort of, like, bring your own device policy now be, you
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  know, with people working from home?
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  Yeah.
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  That's that's a good question.
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  The the thing is is that if you're a business that has some throwaway cash, then obviously
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  you wanna move to a a model of providing devices because you can make sure they're
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  locked down.
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  You can make sure that they've got the proper security security in place to make sure that
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  your workforce isn't infecting the business.
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  But if you've gotta bring your own device policy, one of the things that you wanna look
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  for is it doesn't matter if it's windows or Mac, but one of the things you wanna look for
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  is that devices that are four years old or newer to make sure that they can handle most
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  current software and online application so that they can do work in the business.
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  But the challenges with small businesses is if you have a bring your own device policy, are
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  the employees are gonna do things that are gonna jeopardize your business?
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  So that's one thing businesses really need to watch out for.
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  Well, are there some other, like, mishaps that that employees need to be looking out for?
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  Yeah.
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  The fish and emails, but is there anything else that people need to be paying attention to?
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  Well, phishing emails are key.
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  Spear phishing emails are very important because in this time, people are gonna be
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  looking for emails from their executive.
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  So cybercriminals can use what's called spear phishing where you get a quote, unquote email
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  from the executive of the company.
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  So if the executive may be asking for sensitive data, the employee doesn't really pay attention
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  or verify that the emails coming from the higher up and then they click on it, or they
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  give out company secrets that they really shouldn't.
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  So, you companies really need to put in the practice methods in order to make sure the
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  employees understand how these crimes work.
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  I see.
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  Now what about collaboration software?
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  I know that you know, if somebody has worked from home for the last 8 years, I know all
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  about it, but average bear folks don't necessarily know.
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  So what's the best collaboration tools that you that you'd like to recommend.
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  The ones that I always recommend are Microsoft Office 365.
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  You've got OneDrive that allows you to collaborate and share documents with employees
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  across the comp across the country, even across the world.
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  And you also many companies are also moving to Google Docs, which allows you to share
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  documents and collaborate with documents through Google Drive.
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  And for businesses that may experience a number crunch, you need to look and make sure that you
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  haven't already signed up for a subscription because we always run-in the businesses that
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  aren't aware that they have a OneDrive account to share documents.
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  Same thing with Google Docs.
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  Google Docs is a small fee per month, or if you're a smaller business, you can use it free,
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  but you can still collaborate, with your customers and with your employees just to make
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  sure that everyone's on the same page and to keep up with your workforce and documents.
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  I was more so actually asking you about video conferencing stuff.
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  Like, we're we're a lot on Zoom right now.
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  Right.
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  Exactly.
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  You know, but what what other, you know, resources that people need to do a sales call?
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  Hey.
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  Why not do it on video right So what kinds of of resources do do you suggest people use?
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  Well, there's you can use utilize Zoom for example, to do video conferencing, but you can
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  also utilize Skype.
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  If you've got a Microsoft account, you've got a Skype account.
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  It's included free.
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  So Skype is a good one on one tool that you can use.
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  And truth to be told, you can even use FaceTime to, collaborate and connect with customers and
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  just anybody.
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  It's it's just there.
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  And if you wanna do conferencing just to a large scale, why not just get on Facebook live
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  and and conference that way with people.
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  You can do it within a group, and, of course, you can do it with a public as well.
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  Good point.
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  Good point.
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  Well, listen.
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  I I am really excited to learn about this.
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  When we come back, we're gonna talk to you just a tad more.
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  About one of some other things you need to be thinking about if you've got a remote workforce
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  and you're trying to leverage technology I'm one of the members of the small business lady,
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  and we will be right back.
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  My new book fixture business is really about encouraging people to take back control of
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  their business and change how their businesses is run.
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  It's not okay just get paychecks.
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  It's not okay to never feel like you can take a vacation, and it's also not okay to not know
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  how much profit you've made in your business until your taxes are done.
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  I really want business owners to stop letting their businesses be run away trained.
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  I've written this book to teach people processes and systems to help them run their
• 9:04
  businesses intentionally.
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  My goal is to help existing entrepreneurs create a business that allows them to live
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  their dream life.
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  Hi, everybody.
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  Welcome back to small fish chat.
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  We're talking with my guest, Burton Kelso, about how you can help your technology be safe
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  with your remote workforce.
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  If you're working from home or your team's working remotely and you just started doing
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  that.
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  Some things you need to have in place, Burton.
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  Alright.
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  Let's get back to it.
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  What should companies do to handle, like, tech support in in the remote environment?
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  How does that you know, my computer's messing up.
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  What how do how do I handle that?
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  Well, you've gotta have a strong relationship with a tech support company.
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  I know there are many small businesses that deal with the part time tech, and that's just
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  not gonna do in a remote work environment.
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  So unfortunately, it's gonna cost you some money to do it, but at the same time, you do
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  need to partner up with a strong tech support team that can not only support your business
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  brick and mortar business, but it can support your remote business too.
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  So you wanna work with somebody who's available all the time because they may need to go
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  on-site to customers, and they may also need to remote.
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  So you need to make sure they have those capabilities.
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  And most importantly, you need to work with a tech team or tech individual that is taking
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  steps to disinfect themselves and their technology when they enter the home of yourself
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  or your employees to make sure that they're not putting your workforce at risk.
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  Alright.
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  And then how can we ourselves, though, disinfect our devices and stuff.
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  I I once heard somebody say that a cell phone has more germs on it than a toilet seat.
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  Is that true?
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  Like, what what need to do to disinfect my cell phone.
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  That is true, Melinda.
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  That it's bad.
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  And and I read a report out of China that was telling people quit buying mask disinfect your
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  smartphones because those are the carrier of germs.
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  So the best way to disinfect your phone You can buy phone soap if if you have phone soap, get
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  it.
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  If you don't have it, you won't get it because they're sold out.
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  But the quick and easiest thing to do is to get a solution of 50% water and 50% al rubbing
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  alcohol that has 70% minimum of the alcohol mix, mix them together, and then spray the
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  solution on your smartphone or any other device.
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  Now the key is you have to let that solution sit on your device for no less than 4 minutes
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  in order to kill the germs.
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  Wow.
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  Yes.
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  Yes.
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  There's been a lot of reports.
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  You just spray the solution and then wipe it, but it doesn't work that way.
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  With viruses like the flu virus, you gotta give that solution time to kill the germs.
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  And it also may be tempting to just bleach everything, but when it comes to computers and
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  smart devices, you don't wanna use, corrosive, chemicals like bleach on them at all because
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  it'll ruin your smartphones, tablets, and touch screen computer screens.
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  Oh, you just made me clinically depressed with that.
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  Okay.
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  I got I gotta give my solution, Burton Jesus.
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  Okay.
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  Alright.
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  Well, listen, last question.
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  What are your thoughts on VPNs, remote desktops?
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  Like, what do what do people need to do to keep their Internet stuff safe?
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  Well, a VPN is gonna automatically keep your computer safe because your VPN, you're logging
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  into the company network.
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  If you've got a server, go ahead and keep using the VPN.
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  If you don't have a server, you can use remote desktop tools like Zoho Assist, TeamViewer, and
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  even log me in so that you can log into the office desktop and still remote we're mostly
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  worked like you're sitting at your desk.
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  Awesome.
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  Awesome.
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  Well, Burton counsel, thank you so very much.
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  You have given us great tech tools and scared us to death too, but that's alright.
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  I'm gonna leave you with this.
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  You know, you never lose in business either you win or you learn If there's any more resources
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  I can possibly provide for you, head on over to my website.
• 12:59
  Succeed as your own boss dot com.
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  I have over 5000 articles there about how to start and grow and survive in business.
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  If you need something, I gotta for you.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson, the small biz lady.
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  America's number one small business expert.
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  God bless.
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  Thank you for listening to the small biz chat podcast.
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  With Melinda Emerson.
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  For more resources and small business success strategies, visit succeed as your own boss.com.
• 13:27
  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcast and join us next Wednesday.