An article, “Navigating the New Normal: How Does it Look for Your Company?” was published in 3PL Perspectives, a third-party logistics magazine provided by the Transportation Intermediaries Association.

An excerpt is below:

“Companies are dealing with challenges every day during these unprecedented times. At this point, it is important to look at what we have learned and think about how we can benefit from our recent experiences.”

Read the complete article in 3PL Perspectives: “Navigating the New Normal: How Does it Look for Your Company?” written by RenovoData’s Michele Vayle.

RenovoData was recently featured in an article about Online Security for a Remote Workforce in 3PL Perspectives, the third-party logistics magazine provided by the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA).

An excerpt is below:

“This Pandemic has created countless new challenges in both our personal and professional lives and the fact that team members are being forced to work remotely is one of the most difficult. Since we don’t know how long this will last, we should not think of employees’ working in isolation as a momentary stopgap measure.”

To learn more about remote workplace essentials while maintaining online security, please read the complete article at “Online Security for a Remote Workforce.“

The first stages of the post-pandemic future are already here, and we are rapidly reshaping our lives and our businesses in response.

Despite the downsides, the global health threat gives our companies a rare opportunity for innovation, growth, and improvement. Organizations that manage the turbulence well can emerge from the crisis stronger and more dynamic than before.

Now that we have been living with the worldwide crisis for a while, it is important to look at what we have learned.

Pandemic-era experiences are different for every company, but the following elements should be assessed by all:

• Ask all departments and workgroups what they have learned so far. Which business processes work well and which do not? Which have changed and why? Decide which recent changes are working and keep them going.
• At this point, a comprehensive Business Continuity Plan is essential. The plan documents prevention strategies and workaround processes to counter threats to all departments and IT systems, supporting a company’s ongoing operations before and during a disaster.
• Be prepared to make changes to your business model. Reexamine everything about the company’s activities, with all previous methods and procedures open to challenge.
• Anticipate future obstacles. These could be caused by the pandemic or by unrelated events that could impact operations.
• Your people come first. Their well-being is paramount. Take special care of employees who may be suffering from COVID-19, be mindful of the presence of families in remote workers’ homes, and understand that with so many isolated employees, new customs and behaviors will emerge spontaneously.
• Survey individual employees at every level for new ideas. Do not listen only to management and key staff. People in the trenches understand your company’s operations in deep detail and can be counted on to come up with improvements both great and small.
• Strive to strengthen your remote workforce. Major vendors like Microsoft and trusted sources such as LinkedIn are moving quickly to provide useful online tutorials covering subjects such as VPN, available devices, versioning, and meeting strategies.
• Stay abreast of new products and services for remote workers. These include sophisticated video telephony solutions as well as new workstation gadgets, dashboards, performance-enhancement tools, and more.
• With working remotely having become mainstream, the evaluation of each worker’s value and abilities takes on a new dimension. This can lead to some realignment of responsibilities.
• Keep employees, customers, vendors, strategic partners, and the trade press well-informed about your company’s activities. In this rapidly evolving business environment, people need to know what you offer, how you are now doing business, and how you expect to move forward.
• Our growing understanding of the new landscape is a goldmine of information. Take note of potential modifications and always be open to new ideas.
• If you have not done so already, shore up your security and boost efficiency with a resilient, multi-feature file-sharing package. Collaborative file-sharing and backup solutions deliver enterprise protection for remote workers by backing up content each time they save their work. Endpoints are protected because users are able to roll back to previous versions when their systems are under attack.
• Accept that your company’s goals and priorities are changing, and may not change back. Substantial realignments are in the cards. The new landscape causes us to see job assignments, core business objectives, and even corporate missions in a new light. When we get the all-clear, will the adjustments continue or revert to their former state? The question is, what parts of the new normal work? Another factor will be the cost of returning to past methods.
• Evaluate existing security measures and identify potential improvements. Vital safeguards such as cybersecurity, data backup, and disaster recovery may need to be enhanced. This is particularly important because remote workplaces are more vulnerable to malware than established office ecosystems.
• Count on new ideas to improve your company’s agility. Even minor improvements contribute to operational speed and efficiency.
• Focus energy on developing new vertical markets. Where possible, seek out niche sectors that are emerging because of today’s business landscape.
  With more employees working remotely, some companies will be able to reduce their office space without diminishing the business.
• Establish plans for possible future disasters. The novel coronavirus underscores the need for companies to continuously improve processes in preparation for unforeseen events.If you do not have one already, establish a fully functional alternate location. We emphatically recommend being able to duplicate your physical and virtual presence at a separate site. This allows you to continue production if your main site is compromised.

RenovoData can be your guide to your company’s new normal. The opportunities for innovation and growth are out there, and our expert assistance can help you find them.

Because we don’t know how long the pandemic will last, it would be a mistake to think of having employees working from home as a momentary stopgap measure. As long as the quarantine is in place and staff members are widely dispersed, our mission is to keep our companies as productive and safe as possible.

Key steps include:

• Careful construction of a pandemic-oriented Business Continuity Plan
• Close examination of every area and process of our companies, in search of effective workarounds
• Alteration of established procedures
• Reduction or elimination of some functions
• Realignment of duties
• Revised training methods
• New ways of holding meetings
• Documentation of new processes and procedures
• Modification of communications at all levels

Cyberthreats on the rise

The growth of remote workforces has weakened many organizations’ normal protections, resulting in a new generation of malware and cyber threats. New varieties of fraudulent clickbait appear in the form of fictitious cures and bogus pandemic services, along with the usual scams.

Home workplace defenses

• Whenever possible, remote workers should take home the devices they use in their offices. These machines are already set up with requisite functions, from firewalls to corporate policy features to malware defenses.
• If people must use their own equipment, these personal devices should be equipped with the same types of protection utilized in the office.
• Strong and up-to-date firewalls are a must.
• No home PC should go into service without solid antivirus resistance.
• Employees working with their own PCs should make certain that their network connections are secure.
• A VPN adds an extra layer of safety by protecting passwords and other individual information.
• All updates and patches should be installed to ensure that home PCs can deliver optimum performance.
• Employees should be kept aware of the latest cyber threats.
• Because cybercriminals are now working overtime, workers should be especially vigilant regarding iffy links and unrecognized emails.
• Personal details should never be shared.
• Remote employees should keep an eye on network traffic and be wary of presences that appear suspicious. A widely dispersed workforce can make it easier for bad actors to invade networks.
• The safety of all endpoint devices should be verified because they are among the most inviting targets for cyberattacks. These include computers, smartphones, tablets, USB drives, and any other hardware attached to the system.
• All data must be frequently backed up and safely stored, and bolstered with strong disaster recovery capabilities. This is especially important in remote environments where interruptions, spilled beverages, rambunctious kids, and equipment failures can cause damaging data losses.
• Security-assured solutions should be used when sharing files. Negligent file-sharing can be as damaging as outright file theft.
• Thorough backup is needed for rolling back to previous versions or times.
• When video cameras are not in use, they should be blacked out to prevent hackers from spying.
• Employees must be sure that no one else uses computers that have been pressed into service. Games, private emails, remote schoolwork, and other online content can pose severe dangers.

This is a lot to take in, and conducting business when your workforce works remotely is a tremendous undertaking. But you need not face the task alone. RenovoData can provide solutions that assure your remote users of solid defenses against disaster as well as effective recovery when problems do occur. To learn more about powerful protection against threats posed by the effects of COVID-19, call us at 1.877. 834.3684 or email us at info@renovodata.com.