The shift to hybrid working is having a real impact on businesses and the way they operate. Like it or not, it’s changing the way people perceive the office and interact with one another — right down to the tech they use and the way they use it.
A recent blog published by the Chartered Institute for IT highlights some of the very real issues that business owners and employees have to face as hybrid working becomes increasingly the norm.
Not unsurprisingly, it touches on the additional security measures that need to be put in place. But it’s not just those far-off risks from international hackers that are a worry.
The blog also highlights things a little closer to home and the threat of little fingers playing on “Daddy or Mummy’s work laptop and accidentally downloading their company database to the Dark Web”.
In effect, while hybrid working helped keep businesses afloat during the pandemic, it also raised a whole new set of potential problems that need to be addressed.
And those challenges are compounded when you consider that for many SMEs, the person who looks after IT often takes on the role in addition to their main job.
While this arrangement may have worked when everyone was in the office — when all the IT issues were, in effect, under one roof — the adoption of hybrid working may, for some at least, be a step too far.
Which is why some people are saying ‘enough is enough’ and recognising that now is the time to bring in outside resource and expertise to help manage the burden.
And don’t think that larger SMEs — that may have people dedicated to running their IT estate — are exempt from this business headache.
A recent report from the BBC warned that a shortage of IT tech talent ‘threatened to stifle’ growth within the UK. In other words, there simply aren’t enough tech savvy people around to meet the needs in the UK.
All of which suggests that the shift to hybrid working — compounded by a far-reaching skills shortage — means that businesses are coming under pressure to do something about their IT.
Here at Techsolve, we’ve seen an uptick in enquiries from companies that are struggling to manage on their own and are looking for help.
For some, they’ve never outsourced their IT support in this way, so it’s a question of talking through their exact needs, what they’re looking to achieve, and how we can help.
But we’re also talking with firms that do have IT resource in-house — but are being squeezed by too many demands compounded by not having enough people on their team.
In these cases, we act as an extra resource — shouldering some of the essential day-to-day work such as network maintenance and cyber security — so they can focus on helping to complete fee-generating work.
If you and your business are facing any of these issues, please feel free to get in touch.