Training Archives - NuTech Services LLC

Mar, 2022

How to Get Your People on Board with Your Security Strategy

It can be tough to get your staff to care about your business’ network security, especially if they don’t consider it part of their day-to-day tasks or responsibilities. However, network security is not just isolated to your IT department; it matters to everyone, and if you can convince your staff to adhere to best practices, your security will be that much more effective moving forward. Here are seven tips you can use to get your staff to care about network security.

Be Up Front

There is an inherent secrecy about cybersecurity that flies in the face of what needs to be done when training your employees, which is being up-front and honest about the threats that malicious entities on the Internet can pose to your organization. In theory, your employees should have a vested interest in the continuity of your business, so therefore, they should also be invested in protecting its future through protecting its network security.

Make it a Personal Investment

Your business stores quite a lot of information, including employee personal data. If they know that their data is at risk if they are careless with their approach to security best practices, they will be more likely to stick to them. After all, why would they willingly put their own data on the line?

Top Down Security

Everyone within your business needs to know that they can become the target of a hacker at any given time. This includes those in management and at the executive level. Security should start at the top. If employees notice that their superiors are taking appropriate action, they will be more likely to fall in line.

Gamify Your Process

When incentives are involved, anything can become more engaging. Gamification can empower your employees to engage in better security practices by offering them a score based on their efforts. A little healthy competition can be a huge motivator when nothing else seems to work.

Standardize Procedure

To get people to follow the rules, there must first be rules to follow. If you can establish procedures that are easy to follow, your employees will be more likely to stick to them. Be sure to have policies that are clearly outlined and accessible to employees whenever they need to learn more about them, and above all else, be sure to keep them consistent.

Start from Day One

Both current and new employees need to be made aware of how important cybersecurity is for your business. If you establish proper security practices right from the start, your employees will be more likely to stick to them over time. After all, trying to get your veteran employees to follow new rules and regulations will likely lead to some pushback, at least initially.

Keep Training

The most important part of training your staff on security practices is ensuring that they are kept up-to-date over time and routinely tested on their adherence to security protocols. Through comprehensive training and routine retraining, you can make sure that your employees are not only understanding the security measures you implement, but also that they are putting them into practice.

NuTech Services can help your business implement security measures and training policies to keep your employees safe and knowledgeable about the countless threats out there. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Dec, 2021

Can Your Business Find VR Useful?

Virtual reality is pretty neat, and many of today’s applications include it as one of their headlining features. With major companies like Facebook, Sony, HTC, and HP buying into virtual reality, one has to question what VR can offer in a business setting.

Virtual Reality Explained

Some folks believe that VR is nothing more than a gimmick, but there are many applications in development that could provide value for businesses. VR can be used to simulate interactive, three-dimensional virtual worlds for a variety of purposes. In 2018, the VR market was valued at $829 million, but thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, VR in business is projected to exceed $4.2 billion by 2023. This growth comes about as a result of advances in hardware, software, and more exposure for the technology. This kind of growth is surprising and impressive, especially considering how difficult the software is to develop.

Two Functions VR Can Bring to Your Business

At first glance it doesn’t appear VR is practical for business, but since the price has dropped considerably, there are three specific reasons you might consider it.

Training

Virtual reality might be ideal for organizations that could use a revamp to their training procedures. If organizations can immerse their employees in a lifelike environment and train them on specific processes and procedures, they are more likely to walk away from the experience with the ability to recall them at a later time.

Retail

VR can also help in the retail sector by providing an online shopping experience customized to the consumers’ needs without having to set foot in a store. VR is currently being used to show heat map traffic in stores, too, just to determine where specific products should be placed. It’s just one way that organizations are trying to find a practical use for VR.

Engineering and Realty

Production costs are quite high these days, so one particular use for VR might be in manufacturing and realty industries. Product designers are building VR applications for board members and buyers to sample and demo products before viewing the real product. Architects and interior designers are using VR to create virtual environments of living spaces, offices, convention centers, and more, all to show off their big ideas to their clients.

While virtual reality is a far cry from solving all operational problems, it might show some promise as a resolution to specific issues that plague many organizations. What do you think? Do you have any ideas for how you might implement VR for your business? Let us know in the comments.

Jul, 2021

How Often Should You Train Your Team on Cybersecurity?

Cybersecurity is an important part of running a business, especially in today’s age of ransomware and other high-profile hacks. It stands to reason that you periodically assess how effective your security practices are and how well-prepared your team is to respond to threats, but how often should you do so? Let’s take a closer look.

How Often Should You Train and Evaluate Your Team in Cybersecurity Practices?

With how commonplace security threats are today, you need to ensure that your security is as comprehensive as possible. While you can implement powerful security software that can alleviate some of the issues related to network security, it is crucial to remember that these solutions are only as effective as your staff’s understanding of network security. You must prepare your team to handle cybersecurity events appropriately. Here are some ways that you can make sure your cybersecurity training is up to snuff.

Regularity

Sharing training materials with your team is great, but the frequency at which it happens can make or break the experience. A once-a-year pow-wow is not going to do the trick, as cyberthreats are far too prevalent and constantly changing for an annual training to be effective enough. More frequent training is going to be more effective for protecting your organization’s network and informing your team on how to do their jobs in the most secure way possible.

Reinforcement

When we talk about reinforcement, we mean taking what is learned during these training sessions and applying it to real-life scenarios. In other words, showing rather than telling. If you simulate cyberattacks that show how real-life threats operate, you can test your employees’ abilities to react to them.

How Often Should You Train, and Test, Your Team?

Proper security training is not something that happens once; it’s something that happens regularly throughout an employees’ tenure at your organization. Today’s threat landscape is always trying to one-up security standards, and if you fail to keep up with these constantly evolving threats, you are placing your business at risk needlessly.

NuTech Services can help your business establish security standards and safeguards that can keep your business safe, as well as assist with the training of your employees to best understand these standards. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Mar, 2019

Have You Provided Your Staff With Enough Training?

Technology training is something that all employees have to go through at some point in their career, whether they are a CEO learning how to use a new solution, or an end user that uses it every day. However, we know that your employees don’t necessarily have time to sit down for training, as they likely have other responsibilities that must be tended to. How can you make sure technology training is a valuable investment on your part?

Why Your Employees Need Training
The most notable reason to provide training for your employees starts from their first day on the job, when they might need to be educated on how to use the solutions your organization depends on. This might be time-consuming, but it is critical if you want to save time in the long term. Training employees as soon as possible will mean you’re not leaving employees to figure it out for themselves.

Even more experienced employees will need training every now and then. The average employee will only retain about 40 percent of what is covered during their introduction to a topic, making education a critical part of maintaining operational productivity. Since technology is changing often, you should take some time to improve your training processes.

Training Options
There are many different ways to approach employee training, but one common factor among them all is pairing a new employee with an experienced one to teach them a thing or two about the process. On-the-job training is a practical way to make sure that instruction is taught by someone who knows what they are doing, and it can even help develop relationships between your workers.

On the other hand, when a new technology is introduced to the workplace, your entire staff might need to know how to use it. In cases like this, you can use webinars to help employees “self-teach” themselves on how to use it. Avoid holding all of this training in a single session, though, as it’s better to spread it out so as to avoid a situation where your employees are stuck in training for a week at a time. Some organizations have had success in splitting their teams up into internal groups to help employees learn as much as possible.

If Your Team Needs Help…
A help desk solution is a perfect way to supplement what your employees already know with what they need to know. You can provide your staff with access to trained technology professionals who can provide assistance when it’s needed. NuTech Services can help your business get started with technology training and support. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Aug, 2018

The Major Points of A Secure Email Solution

It’s not out of the ordinary for employees to not know the best practices surrounding email management, but it’s something that any self-respecting employer needs to consider. How are your employees using their email, and are they putting your organization at risk? The best way to address these issues is taking a two-pronged approach involving training employees on proper best practices, as well as taking technical measures to keep the risk of a breach to a minimum.

We’ll go over some of the most viable options for keeping your email communications as secure as possible, including encryption, spam protection, and employee awareness.

Email Encryption
Encryption is extremely important for keeping your data safe from prying eyes. Encryption is easy to understand when it’s explained in terms that aren’t mind-bogglingly complex. Data that’s sent through a connection that isn’t encrypted can be intercepted. When data is sent through an encrypted connection, it’s scrambled so that it can’t be read by those who might steal it while it’s in transit. Only those who hold an encryption key can unscramble it, making it a much more secure method of sending and receiving important data. Some industries, such as healthcare and government organizations, mandate compliance standards that may include encryption to send and receive email.

Spam Protection
Employees are almost certain to encounter email hazards like spam messages and phishing attempts, and if they don’t know how to identify these dangerous messages, they could expose your organization to data breaches. This is because hackers can ask employees for various information, such as passwords, usernames, and other credentials that aid them in infiltrating your carefully laid-out defenses. The best way to keep this from happening is to keep spam and phishing messages from hitting the inbox in the first place with spam protection systems.

Phishing attempts are a bit trickier, as they will need to be handled in a careful and calculated manner. Scammers often personalize messages to optimize their odds of the message being opened or an attachment being downloaded. Therefore, you need to consider employee training to properly defend against it.

Conditioning Your Employees for Security
Your network’s security can’t be complete without taking care of the ones actually using the technology. Since your end users are going to be using the organization’s email, it’s only natural that you prepare them for the act of keeping it secure. You can provide your users with a list of best practices for them to keep in mind while going about their duties. They are the following:

Check the sender: Who has sent the message? Is it a suspicious email address that can’t be traced to any of your contacts? Does it come from a strange email domain? If the answer to any of these is in question, you might have a spam message.
Identify the intent: Hackers want you to click on their spam messages as quickly as possible. Therefore, they will often try to incite immediate action to prevent you from thinking twice.
Check the spelling and grammar: Many hackers come from countries where English isn’t the hacker’s first language, making their messages quite identifiable compared to others. If you receive messages filled with these inconsistencies, you can bet they are either unprofessional or likely a hacker.
Don’t open unrequested attachments: Attachments are a big way for hackers to spread threats, as a lot of people don’t think twice before downloading a supposed receipt or statement. Double-check who sent the attachment before downloading it.
Don’t click sketchy links: Before clicking on any links in an email, make sure it’s going where you expect it to. You can do this by hovering over the link without clicking on it. If the link goes to a weird URL or an IP address (a string of numbers and periods), it might be a phishing attempt. The destination might look legitimate and ask you to log in, but it will capture your credentials and give access to the bad guys.

Of course, the biggest thing to keep in mind is when in doubt, ask your IT department about the message. For more information on how to keep your organization safe from spam and email threats, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Feb, 2017

Tip of the Week: Easy Ways to Train Your Staff About IT

You might wish that your employees know more about IT and its inner workings, and you’re not alone. SMBs often suffer from a lack of IT talent, and they might try to supplement this lack of proficiency by training employees on how to do basic computer tasks required to work effectively. Thankfully, you don’t have to rely on just your knowledge and that of your employees when it comes to maintaining your technology.

You can augment your employees’ IT knowledge with the following services offered by IT providers.

An IT Help Desk
One of the best ways to supplement your organization’s in-house knowledge of technology troubles is by taking advantage of an outsourced IT help desk. Basically, this is a phone number or live chat system that your employees can utilize when they need help with specific technology problems. This strikes a unique balance between allowing your employees to get their own support, and giving them access to help when it’s needed most; allowing them to learn more about IT without letting them perform advanced procedures on their own.

If you want to use a help desk as a training tool, you’ll want to make sure that your IT service provider is remotely accessing your employees’ workstation during this process. This helps the service provider guide them through the steps one-by-one, without letting them make big mistakes that could derail operations. Once an employee knows how to do something in particular with minimal effort, they’re less likely to waste time on the same process in the future.

When this interaction is remote, it is typically more cost effective than having a technician go on site.

Focused IT Training
Training is an accepted part of the office environment, and one of the most valuable lessons that you can provide for your employees is technology best practices. Every so often, require that your employees review basic IT protocol, such as how to make secure passwords, how to handle sensitive information, troubleshooting common technology problems, and so much more. Ultimately, your goal should be for your employees to walk out of the training session with the sense that they’ve learned something new about how best to work for your organization and how to handle its technology with care.

In fact, some IT providers can provide all-you-can-eat help desk support for end users, while providing training materials, best practices, and more. We figure that the more educated and effective your staff is, the more growth you will experience. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.