Adapting To New Cybersecurity Standards | What To Know About KnowBe4

We are all living in a new age. The idea of everyone lining up on the freeways to head from suburbia into the city for work is left in the fifties to be replaced by video conferencing from the living room and shushing our ‘coworkers’ when they burst into the room. This new normal has been an adjustment, but what are we doing now with the challenges and opportunities that it provides? 

People will always adapt, and it is important that our organizations are adapting to not only fit the new lifestyle but also maintain the same standards of safety and standards as before. With all of these changes comes a surge of hackers that are taking advantage of the new holes in procedures and gaps in communication. 

Different kinds of attacks:

There are a few specialized kinds of attacks that are becoming more prevalent in 2020. The first is business-focused mobile phishing attacks. Mobile security is just as important as the computers that organizations have in their physical offices. As phones become more powerful, people are increasingly taking their work on the go with them. It becomes easier and easier to store what may be sensitive information, even temporarily on our mobile devices. Having a strong education policy as well as technology in place is essential to protect your employees and company data.

Another huge issue is Business Email Compromise (BEC). This is when a scammer poses as a person of authority to request fund transfers or large purchases that would otherwise be unauthorized. People in finance departments, newer employees, and those without proper awareness training fall victim to these kinds of attacks all the time. According to the FBI, in 2018, this generated about $1.2 billion dollars of revenue for scammers. 

One of the most well recognized types of cyberattacks is ransomware. This is your traditional malware link embedded in a seemingly benign email or correspondence that then locks down your company’s data until a sum of money is paid. This is when it becomes essential to have a disaster recovery plan in place. You may think this can never happen to your organization, but Cybersecurity Ventures predicts that it will cost industries $6 trillion dollars by 2021. With many more industries shoring up, they are shifting some to specific people within organizations that are of higher value and sometimes leave those previously mentioned devices unprotected.

So, just to recap three major cyberattack methods are:

1. Business-focused mobile phishing attacks
2. BEC or Business Email Compromise
3. Ransomware or malware

What this boils down to

You need to get protected, like yesterday. Your organization needs this, no matter what this year has brought onto your plate. It is no longer a matter of wait and see as your cohorts get taken down next to you. Training your users and putting protections in place is just the first step of many things you can do. Ensuring that you have a disaster recovery plan in place as well as a regular backup of all files means that you won't be caught down for months like some have. Baltimore City Government in May of 2019 was caught with a bill of $18 million dollars mostly due to the month of downtown their attack caused.

If you already have a provider for your end user training, are they making sure your bases are covered? Are they ensuring that your backups are running properly all the time, not just some of the time? Are they learning right alongside the hackers new ways to combat new attacks? Wondering these things and asking those questions are vital to ensuring that your organization is safe. It is not offensive to make sure since you are the captain of the ship when it sails as well as when it sinks.

So how can we help?

Cima Solutions Group specializes in helping out our government, education, and healthcare clients with these kinds of decisions. With our expertise in disaster recovery practices as well as our premier partnership with best practice educators like KnowBe4, we take the lead in helping our clients take the appropriate steps. With our partnership with the DIR, you are rest assured that you are getting the best price possible. 

KnowBe4 is partner that we are proud to put our name with. They are tackling the tough issues of social engineering with their New-school security awareness training. Not only is their product intuitive and user friendly, it is also one of the fastest to deploy. Time is money, so that is one of the major perks of working with us. We strive to be one of the fastest quoting resellers in the business, so with KnowBe4’s quick deployment; your users are on the top of their game in no time at all. 

Especially when it comes to KnowBe4, we want to prove that your partnership with us is the right choice. Our upfront pricing means you are getting the lowest price around for the same excellent quality product. Plus, because our team is specialized, you know that we have what it takes to ensure your organization in particular is protected. Whether you are looking for the first time or looking to renew, let us show you what we can do for your organization.

Do not let a cyberattack be the last thing 2020 does to ruin your life. Call us at 972.499.8260 or email us at info@cimasg.com for more information and to put together a plan for your organization today.

source https://www.cimasg.com/2020/10/new-cybersecurity-standards/

Avoiding Cybersecurity Placebos in Your Organization

When it comes to your organization, especially its technology, some of the buzzwords you hear floating around can be pretty convincing, almost intoxicating. Unfortunately, like most buzzwords, many of these are aggrandized beyond their worth to the average business. Let’s take a look at how this can impact a business’ perception of its cybersecurity, as well as dig into the reality behind these terms.

To begin, let’s examine a phrase coined in the early 2000s by cybersecurity technologist Bruce Schneier: “security theater.”

What is “Security Theater?”

Security theater is a simple shorthand for any security efforts put in place that do little to better ensure one’s security, despite making one much more comfortable, generally for some considerable cost. The idea behind it is that security exists as both a reality based in math and science, and as a perception that is based in emotion.

In a 2007 blog article, Schneier cited a personal anecdote where a friend’s newborn was fitted with an RFID tag to help prevent infant abduction during their stay in the maternity ward. However, the rates of infant abduction were astoundingly low at that point. In his blog post, Schneier posits that these bracelets were a form of security theater, meant more to placate the parents when their bundle of joy was out of sight than it was to help prevent the rare case of infant abduction.

While security theater may have perceived benefits, Schneier says, the true concerns come with the costs that are associated with it.

Let’s return to his example of the tracking tags on newborns. With such a low rate of infant abduction, there was realistically little-to-no practical risk of someone’s child being abducted from the hospital. However, as the low-cost RFID bracelets allowed parents to breathe a little easier when their baby wasn’t in the room with them, hospitals found this investment to be worthwhile. Another example that Schneier gives is the introduction of tamper-resistant packaging on over-the-counter drugs in the 1980s. With poisonings getting some significant coverage by the press in this era, the idea that medications would be tampered with was relieved.

It didn’t matter that the statistical likelihood of a drug being altered was negligible, or even that the tamper-resistant packaging wasn’t all that effective anyways. The theater of the tamper-resistant packaging that companies would use helped align the perceived threat with the practical odds.

The Trade-Offs

However, there is a point at which security theater can become detrimental: when the investment (real or perceived) into your security is generating negative returns—or in other words, when your security measures are actually making you less secure. One glaring example from recent years is the 2013 hack into Target, where numerous security teams dropped the ball as numerous failsafe notifications and procedures were ignored. Let’s go into how you might be “overacting,” so to speak, when it comes to some of the security theater you have in your office.

Excessive Password Updates

Forcing your employees to update their passwords each month has long been established as a counterproductive security measure, as this will only encourage them to adopt other behaviors that will directly undermine your resiliency. Perhaps these passwords will become embarrassingly predictable, or your users will resort to writing them down somewhere to keep track of them all. Instead, use other methods of reinforcing your business security, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) or single sign-on solutions, paired with a more moderate password policy.

That said, we’re not advocating never changing passwords, but the bad habits it causes are much worse than what mandatory password changes do for the greater good.

Alert Overload

A never-ending barrage of security notifications can have a few negative repercussions on your users. Naturally, their workflows will suffer from consistent interruptions, but there is also the fact that these notifications will eventually be tuned out. As a result, if a real issue does eventually present itself, it is more likely to be ignored. An MSP’s services can help to separate the wheat from the chaff, preventing your users from encountering interruption in most cases.

Lacking User Awareness

Think back for a second: when you last had a cybersecurity training session for your users, what was the general format? Was it primarily a lecture, or were your employees involved and engaged in the process? When was your last training initiative? Many companies figure that these seminar-style sessions serve their purpose, but the more effective means of instilling good cybersecurity training is through shorter, more frequent, and (most importantly) more interactive efforts.

We have the tools and resources that can help you to better ensure your security efforts are contributing to your practical security. Check out the solutions that we have to offer your team today.

source https://www.cimasg.com/2020/09/avoiding-cybersecurity-placebos/

Inc. 5000 Award 2020

NEW YORK, August 12, 2020 – Inc. magazine today revealed that Cima Solutions Group is No. 3094 on its annual Inc. 5000 list, the most prestigious ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. The list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the American economy’s most dynamic segment—its independent small businesses. Intuit, Zappos, Under Armour, Microsoft, Patagonia, and many other well-known names gained their first national exposure as honorees on the Inc. 5000.

Not only have the companies on the 2020 Inc. 5000 been very competitive within their markets, but the list as a whole shows staggering growth compared with prior lists as well. The 2020 Inc. 5000 achieved an incredible three-year average growth of over 500 percent and a median rate of 165 percent. The Inc. 5000’s aggregate revenue was $209 billion in 2019, accounting for over 1 million jobs over the past three years.

Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found at www.inc.com/inc5000. The top 500 companies are also being featured in the September issue of Inc., available on newsstands August 12.

“The companies on this year’s Inc. 5000 come from nearly every realm of business,” says Inc. editor-in-chief Scott Omelianuk. “From health and software to media and hospitality, the 2020 list proves that no matter the sector, incredible growth is based on the foundations of tenacity and opportunism.”

The annual Inc. 5000 event honoring the companies on the list will be held virtually from October 23 to 27, 2020. As always, speakers will include some of the greatest innovators and business leaders of our generation.

A little about us...

Cima Solutions Group was born out of a vision to help business owners by reducing the costs of their technology infrastructure. The premise was that if we can optimize our client’s IT environment, they could focus their investments on revenue-generating activities.

Many years later, we have proven that formula to be true time and again. The means have changed from strictly server focus to now a storage and cloud focus, but the ends are still the same -- we deliver reliable and efficient IT solutions that create financial value for our clients.

Our team here at Cima Solutions Group has always prided ourselves on our customer service as well as our expertise on more than just IT. The Cima staff are certified in various aspects of IT and bring relevant, practical experience to our clients. Our organization has helped companies of all sizes simplify their infrastructure, streamline their IT operations, and improve their system availability.

CONTACT:   For more information on Cima Solutions Group, contact Michaela Davidson at (972) 499-8263 or mdavidson@cimasg.com.

More about Inc. and the Inc. 5000

Methodology

The 2020 Inc. 5000 is ranked according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2016 and 2019. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2016. They had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies—as of December 31, 2019. (Since then, a number of companies on the list have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2016 is $100,000; the minimum for 2019 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. Companies on the Inc. 500 are featured in Inc.’s September issue. They represent the top tier of the Inc. 5000, which can be found at http://www.inc.com/inc5000.

About Inc. Media

The world’s most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit www.inc.com.

For more information on the Inc. 5000 Conference, visit http://conference.inc.com/.

source https://www.cimasg.com/2020/08/inc-5000-award-2020/

What Does a Value-Added Reseller Add to the Government Market Space?

We talk about the idea of a value-added relationship between our clients and our partners. But what does that really mean to be a value-added reseller? What is it that brings our clients coming back for more? Let's read on to find out.

What is a Value-Added Reseller?

A value-added reseller (VAR) really is just what it sounds like. We are companies that buy direct from manufacturers and either bundle or add to it to sell back to our clients. Through that process, we are adding value to the original product. This is especially important in the technology industry and government agencies for a few reasons.

One important addition provided is possible training or setup associated with specific systems and programs. Having someone on staff that constantly has to learn and relearn is expensive. VARs like us bridge that gap and stay up to date with new products and solutions. This could be new software to cybersecurity protocols developed just for your organization.

The expense doesn't always just lie with keeping up to date with the latest trends in technology. Companies that have to keep items in stock, especially high dollar items like servers, can't charge less. By acting as the thruway between clients and vendors, we can pass savings along as well. Especially if you are qualified under a DIR contract that we are a part of. We save you more than just a pretty penny while complying with all regulations set forth by state agencies. You can learn more about that later on.

When it comes time to upgrade; as the value-added reseller, we bring the expertise of technical training so you don't have to. If the amount of upgrades a year on your iPhone is any indication, technology changes at lightning speed. We carry the load of educating our staff on what the latest technology is best for your company. Rest assured that our quotes are adding value in more ways than one.

What, Specifically, Do We Do?

 We assess. We deploy. We manage. 

We start by evaluating your current environment to provide you a path for resilience and cost savings. Then we offer the ability to quickly deploy the technology so that you can get a fast return on your investment. We then manage the environment for you so that you can focus your critical resources on higher-value services.

When asked what it is that sets us apart from the rest of the value-added resellers, two words come to mind: speed and integrity. We believe that getting you what you need as fast as we can and right from the start is the key to being successful on both sides. At Cima, we pride ourselves as being one of the fastest in the business.

You Come First!

Beyond that, we value YOU, our clients. We often like to call you our partners because we truly become another member of your team. Through deep and thoughtful conversations, we get to know your enterprise on a deeper level. Understanding your business needs as well as limitations helps us to cater our quotes to be more accurate and less expensive. Because we work hard to develop those long term relationships, we can help plan for the future. Our philosophy is that it is more important to have overly satisfied customers at the end of the day than an extra dollar in our pocket.

We value each and every relationship that we have built over the years. Our very first client of over 15 years ago is still a valued client to this day. The CEO has a framed dollar in his office from his first deal with them. It is one of the most special things that has moved from office to office as Cima has grown.

Being a part of your team means putting you first.

Understanding our clients' needs on a deeper level means that we are able to plan ahead and save you money in the long run. Maybe buying the biggest best system today isn't the best option; maybe buying something smaller now and investing later would work better for your bottom line. Either way, our experts are there to ensure that you are getting the best product at the best value at the best time for your business.

Integrity, trust, and speed go hand in hand when it comes to how we work here at Cima Solutions Group as a VAR. 

What sets us apart even further is our specialization with government and healthcare value-added reseller programs. We understand that the purchasing process is different with these kinds of clients. With over 15 years of experience in each of these fields, our team is prepared to handle anything that can come our way.

DIR Cooperative Contract Usage

Our partnership with the Texas Department of Information Resources is a special one that we take great pride in. As a minority business enterprise certified through the State of Texas and the National Minority Suppliers Development Council, we model ourselves on our commitment to diversity in the workplace and marketplace. Cima resources are certified in all solution areas and bring relevant, practical experience to our clients and government partners. 

You can see who all is a part of this relationship on the contracts page, but it is not limited to IBM, Hewlett Packard, Google, and Lenovo. With a full array of partner contracts, we can service your needs. The DIR website defines the benefits best, 

“When you purchase through DIR, you have the bulk buying power of the State of Texas on your side, which means that eligible customers can buy IT products and services at aggressive discounts without the need for a lengthy procurement process. All DIR contracts comply with state purchasing requirements.” 

So there’s no need to double-check certifications or shop around. We already have that covered.

Benefits of Cima as Your Partner

So let's get down to the bare bones. What are the benefits of using a value-added reseller instead of going directly to the vendors? Here are just a few of those reasons:

1. Cost/Time Savings.
2. Relationships with multiple vendors through one person.
3. Our technical knowledge is not only up to date but also forward-thinking.
4. A partner you can trust.
5. One of the fastest procurement processes around.

It's easy to think when you're looking at different value-added resellers that we are all the same. That is far from the truth. Just as you would keep going back to the same trusted friend for advice, we believe that our relationships with our partners make Cima Solutions Group the most worthwhile and trustworthy VAR out there. 

Let us come alongside you in the coming months, years, and decades to help you and your enterprise grow in ways you never believed possible. Let us take you to whole new heights. Let us be that trusted advisor that you never knew you needed. Contact us today!

source https://www.cimasg.com/2020/08/government-value-added-reseller/

Government IT | Challenges To Face Amidst COVID

The disease known as COVID-19 has changed people’s personal lives for better or worse. It has also changed the way government agencies have to function. Operating on overload and having to educate a panicking public at the same time has its challenges. Let’s unpack what issues they are facing now as well as what lingering IT issues from the past are holding them back from their fullest potential.

Old Challenges Made Harder

The pandemic has had its impact on everyone, namely the state and local government agencies that everyone is now looking to for answers. But those problems, that have been there for decades now, haven’t gone away. Most of them are now magnified by the effect of this pandemic in every country across the globe. 

One thing that even the private sector can have issues with is how to engage with their customers, or in this case, constituents. Governments began the shift to social media a bit behind the herd, but they are making tons of ground. That being said, how do we get people to stay engaged with content that isn’t necessarily that exciting most of the time? 

Marketing the state and local governments seems unnecessary, yet it can mean the difference between happy and unhappy voters. Especially now, communication with their followers must be clear, helpful, and easily distributed among many people. With Cima’s partners like Sprinklr, a CXM (customer experience management), it takes the work out of communicating with the audience. From excellent ways to communicate as a team to live streaming, your audience will never miss a beat. Social media has led the way in the fight against misinformation in a time when it can be life or death.

Infrastructure Is the Bane of Policy Maker's Agendas

Another hurdle taking a while to clear is the paper processes that have been in place for well, centuries. It’s extremely difficult to train the same staff on a new process overnight, let alone trust that it is all there in a cloud or on a server. Things like meeting minutes, flyers, and proposals took millions of sheets of paper every year. Not to mention just how many times something was ‘lost’ in the paper shuffle from one committee to another. The pandemic has forced this into perspective in a way that leaves no one looking too good, and they can no longer get by with a bare-bones IT strategy.

Money, Money, Money

So why not just make it all over and start fresh next quarter? The major infrastructure changes that many have been pushed off for years are held up either by the bureaucratic process or the ever-decreasing budget that these agencies have to work with. After the oil crisis in the ’80s, Texas especially began to set aside a rainy day fund in case of another emergency. Today that day has come, but almost none of that will get spent on IT improvements when people need unemployment benefits paid out. With the candle burning from both ends, that doesn’t leave a mountain of money left over to make sure the state and local government agents know about and use a secure cloud.

IT Companies Are Here to Help

The last issue from before the pandemic is the competition for IT personnel. When the private sector can compete and do for the best people at the best price, it makes it hard for the government agencies to stack up. Their needs are the same if not greater for privacy as larger corporations.  With a smaller budget, it may mean working with fewer people than expected and stretching projects even longer. 

Amidst a budget crisis, it's imperative that IT shops make sure their dollars go as far as they can.   That's where asset management and optimizing IT infrastructure with hyper-converged solutions from Nutanix come into play. We can cut back the spend on legacy virtualization software from VMware, manage server sprawl, and help to reduce costly maintenance. A small investment can lead to massive improvements in the effectiveness and efficiency of staff as well as a better user experience.

Communication is Key

The immediate effects of COVID-19 are felt by everyone. Supply chain issues are at the top of that list. With everyone staying home and ordering everything online rather than in person, it was only a small factor. With restaurants shut down, food couldn’t even be pushed to the grocery stores instead. It was processed for mass consumption, and changing that would take time. Government agencies helped through this process, yet it remains an issue. 

Communication throughout this process has been essential, and governments are making important steps to remedy the gaps. As social media has been flooded with opposing opinions on what’s going on, people have been starving for answers. This need has been answered in part by new portals within the government websites. You can see in the figure here, just how quickly adaptations are taking place to accommodate the needs as they come. 

Emerging Tools for Enterprise

At a time when answers are crucial, these portals could mean survival or not. This is also the best opportunity to reach out to at-risk parts of the population that otherwise would not seek help from state and local government agencies. This could include those suffering from mental health issues and families teetering on the brink. With an enterprise-focused partner like Spriklr, you can get updates to you and your team's phones about popular key phrases and press release approvals. Having the ability to apply instant action is just what this crisis called for.

Partnerships between the private and public sectors are making the push through possible. Factories have converted and companies are putting their communities first while government agencies help to orchestrate it all. In the United States, in particular, there has been an initiative to partner with artificial intelligence experts to help mine necessary data about COVID-19. This is done through text and data mining that would otherwise take years to accomplish otherwise. They have also been partnering with social media influencers to help the general public understand how important it is to listen and follow the guidelines put forth by those in charge. 

New & Growing Threats

Artificial intelligence and technological advancements have what seems no limits these days. There are hundreds of applications for all kinds of technology. One of the more controversial ones is contact tracing. If the traditional method is employed, that means thousands of people interviewing those who were infected to see who they’ve been in contact with. Artificial intelligence could potentially use their cell phone GPS data to show what people they were interacting with at the time of infection.

Hacking | It's Not New, But It Is Dangerous

The controversial part is what happens to all this information? Where is it stored? Is it secure? Cybersecurity is a major part of both the state and local government infrastructures and accounts for a significant part of that limited budget. Now, more than ever, people are leaving data vulnerable to attack. Emailing unsecure files back and forth, potentially opening new phishing campaigns with ‘COVID-19’ information inside, and accessing data, not through proper channels. 

Cima also takes cybersecurity seriously. Our partners at KnowBe4 and cybersecurity packages help bridge the gaps that are left by all that’s happening. Hackers are relentless and it’s easier than you might think to be fooled. It’s important to take the time and make sure your team understands policy, procedure, and has proper training. 

Bottom Line

Governments will likely have to decide whether AI contact tracing is worth using political capital for or if the traditional method is fast enough. Either way, strong partnerships with technology firms are likely to continue for the remainder of the pandemic. But what happens on the regular, when these agencies aren’t out saving the world with new robots? The day to day still has to function which leaves us with the same old problems as before: outdated systems and a staff that may be behind.

That is where companies like us come in to help. We specialize in state and local government IT solutions to make our plans just right for them. We are here to help with the everyday struggles as well as the hard stuff without breaking the budget. Us understanding how the process works to get things done means one less thing to think about. At Cima, we provide it all from staff training, to system rebuilds, and back to cloud integration.

Let us be the partner that not only helps with the here and now but also plans the future together as well. Contact our staff to get a quote for what your agency needs today at (972) 499-8260.

source https://www.cimasg.com/2020/07/government-it-challenges/

Tech Tips: Improve Your Management of Remote Workers

For the past few months, a much larger percentage of people have been working from home. This remote workforce has proven to be much more effective than many would have thought, but some companies haven’t had the success getting the production out of their remote workers that others have. Today, we present three tips that will help you get the most out of your remote workforce.

1. Communication Is Extremely Important

When people who work together--and typically see one another--don’t for long periods of time, you may think that collaboration would stall and productivity would wane. This may not be the case for businesses that have the communication tools in place to make it work. To get a jump on this, taking the initiative and using the conferencing tools to have regular virtual meetings is a good way to give and get feedback, give direction, and ensure everyone is on the same page.

2. Provide the Tools Needed for Collaboration

This is basically an extension of the first point, but remote teams absolutely need software solutions that are integrated with the features that allow for solid collaboration. This includes:

• Communication tools - email, instant messaging, VoIP, conferencing
• Productivity software - multi-user word processor, spreadsheets, presentation software
• Collaboration software - project management, task management, customer support

By having the right tools to keep team members motivated and engaged, you will see more higher degrees of productivity and better product and service delivery.

3. Engage Your Team

One of the biggest challenges for a company when they depend on remote workers is that their staff tends to get less engaged with the company than they otherwise would be. This is natural, but it doesn’t have to be so. Engaging with your remote teams in chat, in an email chain, in virtual meetings, and talking about human things like what people have been eating, what they are feeling, and how they do what they do can go a long way toward getting your business the remote staff that wants to get up and come to work each day.

Remote work is filled with potential pitfalls, but the benefits can be pretty fantastic if it is handled correctly. If you need to talk to someone about how to properly manage your remote workers, or if you need solutions for problems you have surrounding your remote team, call the IT consultants at Cima Solutions Group today at (972) 499-8260.

source https://www.cimasg.com/2020/06/improve-your-management-of-remote-workers/

How Automation Will Play into the Post-COVID-19 Workplace

As workplaces and offices everywhere have struggled to cope with the restrictions brought on by social distancing mandates, the adoption of automated solutions has surged ahead. Of course, this does open a few important questions to consider. For instance, what this could mean for employment post-pandemic, and how automation may be used in the future to mitigate the impacts we’re currently experiencing.

The Situation

As COVID-19 spread across the world, many businesses suddenly found themselves in a very tough spot—especially those who were not deemed essential and were therefore unable to open to help reduce the risk to their employees. To try and counter this, many businesses have adopted assorted tools to simplify their responsibilities and maximize their output—including automation.

Pharmaceutical companies, for instance, are feeling significant pressure to deliver right now, as many are seeking treatment options for the COVID-19 virus. To assist with the more administrative and record-keeping aspects of their operations, these companies have put solutions in place that can accomplish what would have otherwise taken weeks in mere days. By removing rote responsibilities from an employee’s workflow, this employee’s time can be better spent elsewhere.

The Future

It is likely that these kinds of solutions will be adopted on a wider scale when implementing them can help improve safety within the work environment. Furthermore, counter to the fear many have held that “the machines will take our jobs,” the focus has increasingly been on an approach that emphasizes an optimal end result through the combined efforts of your human workers and the output produced by the tools they have at their disposal.

Calculators didn’t replace accountants, they just made their jobs far more efficient, and there are countless more examples that we could cite.

Of course, this does mean that your employees will need to adapt to these changes as well. By learning new skills and embracing the capabilities of modern technology, your team members can enable themselves to accomplish far greater results than they could previously, without the procedural responsibilities that would once eat up their time.

The real question is how your business will use these trends to innovate and maintain itself, especially during challenging times like the one at hand. We can help you to do so with modern technology solutions and services. Learn more about what we have to offer by calling (972) 499-8260 today.

source https://www.cimasg.com/2020/06/automation-post-covid-19-workplace/