The Top 6 Projects to Tackle While Fewer People Are In The Office
At A M Exclusive , we ’ re big fans of making lemonade
out of lemons ! While I ’ m sure , like us , you are yearning for more of a return to normalcy and would love to have more people in the office , the reality in the IT world is that having minimal staff allows for some unique advantages when tackling projects . Not only that , the changes to how we work are likely here to stay , so you ’ ll need to be prepared with the technology to facilitate a hybrid at-home / in-office culture .
Here are some projects to consider doing now
( and if you need an extra hand completing them , our staff can help !):
1 . Prepare for higher bandwidth demands & add video conferencing rooms
Even when people come back to the office , we anticipate the demand for video conferencing to remain , so you need to make sure you have the bandwidth to support this . Not only that , but you likely will have many teams that will have people both in the office and working remotely that will need to be able to collaborate efficiently . You can turn some private offices into bookable video conferencing rooms . Using the Bookings app and an HP Slice will allow you to achieve this if you ’ re using Microsoft Teams .
2 . Cable cleanup & inventory of equipment
We touched upon this in a previous issue with “ 4 Tips to Follow When Finally Cleaning Your Network Closet .” If you do this now before people start returning to the office , you ’ ll be able to diagnose issues and plan so much better , and you won ’ t regret it .
3 . Workstation refreshes & getting rid of old equipment
Clear out the old and make room for the new ! Reduce or eliminate your “ IT Graveyard .”
4 . Transition to VoIP
As mentioned earlier , the flexible work culture is here to stay . Forwarding calls to a cell phone robs employees of easily conferencing in and transferring calls to colleagues . Now is the time to evaluate your infrastructure and make upgrades to support internet calling and vet vendors .
5 . Downsizing copiers & getting rid of personal printers
Perhaps you can finally get rid of those pesky personal printers ?! Any employee who was not given a printer to work from home can probably do without a printer in their office . And those huge copiers in designated copy rooms that haven ’ t been used much over the last year ? You can save a ton by downsizing them . What makes more sense , is more cost-effective , and is more easily supported by your IT team is deploying midsized multifunction machines for smaller workgroups .
6 . Reduce security vulnerabilities by patching your printers
Firewalls are not enough to keep out the bad guys . Steps must be taken to reduce vulnerabilities once someone is already in your network . You ’ ve been patching PCs for years ; the time has come to patch your printers as well .