Inspiring Business by Sharing Success
Added by Love Business East Midlands | 8 November 2021
UPDATED: 9 November 2021
Lincolnshire-based LCS IT Solutions is keen to build on its successes in 2020, when it found its expertise in increasing demand as contract and ad hoc clients rushed to put flexible working arrangements in place while the UK began adapting to restrictions linked to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The family-run company’s directors, Anthony and Claire Bryant, are proud of the fact that more than 98 per cent of support for clients across Lincolnshire and over the county’s borders is delivered remotely – a response which is right in tune with today’s fast-changing working world.
But the Washingborough business warns that many computer users are still leaving themselves open to the nasties of the IT world – scams, data loss and cyber-attacks. Today the firm urged small businesses and homeworkers who haven’t done so, to thoroughly check their systems and networks to ensure they are well-protected.
Claire said:
“We are a business which has been built on what we call our USP.. We always say, we are not all about computers, but we are definitely all about people. We deal with our clients using plain English and we don’t use geek speak (unless our clients want us to of course).
“We are a nine-strong team, and in common with many of today’s firms, we have a hybrid working model. Some days our staff are office-based and other days they work from home, so we are experienced in how to work effectively and safely this way.”
Fellow Director Anthony said:
“Over the past year to eighteen months, we have seen increasing numbers of businesses switch to hybrid working, where many of their staff only visit the office part-time.
“Of course, some firms have taken things a step further and cut their overheads by closing their headquarters or, alternatively, shut the lion’s share of their branch offices. We see these trends continuing.
“Whilst many workers have said they miss the office camaraderie, others love the freedom of working from home. However, we have noticed that few have thought about the security of the computer systems they are using,” said Anthony.
“Naturally, a large number of our contract clients, including companies, educational establishments and community organisations, as well as ad hoc customers, have taken steps to protect themselves from the threat of viruses and cyber-attacks, but a lot still haven’t.
“This means they are unwittingly leaving themselves open to being hit with a virus that infects the networks they remotely connect to. This could potentially pose serious risks and downtime for their employer.
“When you consider that many people are now working on home-based desktop and laptop computers, which are also being used for everything from online shopping to gaming, household banking and children’s schoolwork, it is easy to see the potential problems. We always recommend individuals and businesses talk to their IT providers to check that they are leaving nothing to chance.”
One thing people can do is to add a layer of protection to their systems by using MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) – or ask their IT expert to set this up. MFA ensures that more than one security gateway is used to gain access into key systems and data.