:
So it didn’t work with your newest employee, in fact it didn’t work out would be an understatement…they left under quite a cloud! 
A recent Symantec study states that “half of the employees who left or lost their jobs in the last 12 months kept confidential corporate data and 40 percent plan to use it in their new jobs.”
You’ve got the work laptop/computer back, but have they deleted things?
How do you know what they were doing and looking at before they left?
They used their own devices for work, do they still have their work material?

What to do when employees don't leave on the best terms?
The vast majority of staff finish employment and move on with no issues. But occasionally people leave in less harmonious circumstances, or they are just plain dishonest. We’d like to cover off on some of the basics to ensure that your risks are minimised for if, or when, this happens to you.

Importantly, it makes a big difference what systems you use and how you are set up, so keep that in mind.

For the purposes of this simple article, we assume you are a small to medium kiwi business, with a fairly simple IT setup, using one of the lower-level Microsoft 365 licences for your email document storage and sharing. Set up the employee properly when they join and have proper security.

To get the best outcome when an employee leaves you need to start when they join the company. 

Practice ‘need to know’ access to systems and data:

• People only get access to what they need for their job
• This includes ensuring your work, documents, emails, etc are protected by permissions appropriate to the user. If they don’t need access, they don’t get it!

Set up an off-boarding system
The obvious (we don’t want to tell you how to suck eggs with your HR, but people sometimes don’t do these things, or forget) things to do when the person leaves:

• You probably have an induction process when someone joins, but do you have an off-boarding process for when people leave? 
• Ensure the off-boarding process is promptly followed. 
• Ensure the off-boarding is responsive enough to handle an employee disappearing at no, or very little, notice.
• Promptly close off email and other systems access.
• Promptly close off remote access.
• Take back company owned devices.
• Ask specifically if there is any company data in their possession and if so, make a plan with them for retrieving it.

The not so obvious things
Of course IT being the mysterious being it is to most of us you might not consider the less obvious things to do:

• Don’t let people use personal devices for company work – give them the tools they need, and ensure those devices are properly set up by your IT.
• Setup your business so that ALL work data/information is only ever stored in company systems. Do not allow people to save work anywhere else. Make sure they have a company owned folder they can save drafts and working documents to, if this is needed.
• Have remote wipe enabled, meaning you can remotely wipe the data from any devices they have accessed. The next time they connect to the Internet, the data is wiped.

• Review activity logs; these are detailed, but can give you a picture of what the person was up to.
• If they delete emails or files, systems like 365 and Dropbox Business keep files for a ‘retention’ period and during this time you can restore them.
• Use a company password manager such as LastPass so that people actually don’t know their passwords, so if they leave you (or your IT support) remove their access and they can’t get into anything.

Use technology to protect your organisation. If you are on a lower level 365 licence, such as Exchange Online, Business Basic or Business Standard, then talk to us about the benefits and costs of moving to a higher licence with more security features such as 365 Business Premium. For example, configure 365 to prevent bulk downloading of company data, etc.

In Summary:
Put in place protections now, so that you have them there before you have a problem. Once the person has left, it is often too late. In general, these suggestions are a good place to start with ensuring your business is protected. 
If you need a hand with any of these steps get in touch with the team at Decision1

In IT we love to use fancy jargon, and Managed Service provider or MSP is no exception. In this article we will break down what an MSP is, how it can help your business, and use some real-life examples of businesses. like you, who have made the switch to an MSP.

Firstly, what is a Managed Service Provider???
In a nutshell an MSP is your ‘outsourced IT Dept’ that provides proactive IT support. An MSP provides preventative measures, detecting most issues long before they become a problem.

The mission of an MSP is to protect your business from costly downtime and ensure that business continues seamlessly.
What is the break-fix model of IT support?
In contrast the ‘break-fix’ model of IT support is when you call an IT company when something breaks, and they come and fix it, on an adhoc pay by hour model. There is no ongoing support or preventative security measures taken.
  
Top advantages of an MSP for your business:
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We become an IT partner to your business: As an MSP we are interested in understanding your entire business. We see ourselves as a business partner who wants to help your business to succeed and grow. This is quite different from the ‘break-fix’ model. We anticipate a long-term working relationship with your business.  
Proactive IT Support: As an MSP, our mission is to keep your business technology safe and available, and to anticipate your needs and requirements. This means minimum costly down time, and maximum business continuity.
Knowledge of your needs: As we have a long-term relationship with your business, we become closely acquainted with your IT systems, and your personnel. Because of this we understand how the parts make up the whole, rather than just offering a quick short-term solution, which may be costly in the future.
Cost savings: By outsourcing your IT management to us, you get a well-informed IT department on your team, without the cost and responsibility of training, recruiting, and retaining staff.
 
Case-Study
“An IT Alliance member had a company who was reaching out to them on a ‘break-fix’ basis. During Covid the IT Alliance member reached out to them to discuss become their MSP. They sat down and discussed what this actually meant, the services that the MSP offers, and the priority that is given to MSP clients. The client has been using them as an MSP for over two years now, and happily sings their praises, saying that having an MSP has revolutionised their business. No more waiting for IT support, no more downtime and so much more alignment”
So, what does an MSP actually do?
Remote Monitoring: An MSP proactively monitors, patches, and updates your software on an ongoing basis with 24/7 monitoring. This is all done in the background on an ongoing basis and requires no input from you.
Security: As an MSP we constantly review your systems to identify and address vulnerabilities. We can keep up with system updates, software patching, antivirus and more. It would be difficult for any business to keep up to date with all the daily security alerts. With an MSP this is all taken care of and is one less thing to worry about, so you can focus on your business.
Optimising hardware: An MSP provides information on optimal hardware that synchronises across your business. This includes laptops, desktops, and mobile devices, plus your network and servers.  We can work with you to understand your growth requirements and work on the best timeline for your budget.
Strategic advice: As IT is our passion, we hear about a myriad of tools that may be of benefit for business goals. We share this advice with you, rather then you having to research or find out how you can optimise technology for your needs.
Regular reviews: As an MSP client, you are a priority which means that we schedule in regular proactive reviews. No more waiting on the phone to talk to someone to get IT support.
Business Continuity and disaster-recovery strategy: Nowadays it is crucial that you have a solid data-backup plan. We can help you with this process and ensure that everything can be efficiently restored should the need arise.
So what do I do now?
So now you have an overview of what an MSP is, and how they can help your business. The next step is talking to the team at Decision1 about your specific needs. Please feel free to reach out here for further advice. 

Meet Quality Food Southland:
Meet Quality Food Southland or QFS for short. What started as a humble bakery and Café in the 1900’s by Annie C Miller, grew into New Zealand’s leading manufacturer in butter-based bakery products and sauces. They are the largest exporter of butter pastry in NZ. Up until a few years ago they were struggling with their systems and processes.

Document Management and Approvals headache!
Their document management and approval systems were completely manual. This meant a LOT of paperwork, and complex filing systems as each product version had to be kept on hand. There could be many iterations which make things complicated.

Their approval process was also a headache. QFS had eight different approval processes. At each stage, approval had to be signed off by three different signatories. As you can imagine there was a lot of paper, storage and wasted time, not to mention the risk of making a mistake, was really high.

Aiming for Change:
Ideally, the team at QFS were keen to make a few improvements. Document storage and security were key. They wanted to get rid of the complex document folder structure while managing and keeping all their file changes. They wanted to replace the manual time-consuming approval process for an online version, complete with change notifications, tracked changes and approval process stage indicators.  Essentially, they wanted to have the process more manageable, consistent and streamlined.

Empowering QFS with Microsoft:
After consulting with an IT Alliance Member, the QFS team decided that the best course of action was to have these seasoned professionals cook up a nicely balanced solution using some Microsoft products called SharePoint, Power Automate, and power apps. These were all available through having Microsoft 365.

SharePoint helped create an online document management system that had version control, search features and navigation that made finding documents and using them easier. It even had a check in and out function. You could track your changes so that everyone was always up to speed on any project.

Power Automate helped QFS to automate their business processes and approvals using tailored notifications and automated data entry, saving plenty of time and increasing the accuracy of the approval process.

Power apps helped to collect information and display where everything was in the process so that the project could be managed much more easily.

The End Result:
QFS ended up with a very slick looking web-based system thanks to Microsoft 365 and its added products. The best part is that it is all in one place. The new system stores all documents, manages document check-in/out, maintains all version history and records document changes.
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It allows users to check-out a document, make the required changes then completes the document approval process from start to finish. It includes notifications to stakeholders, updates progress and document control lists throughout the process. On approval, it creates a pdf version and stores it in a duplicate SharePoint suite used by “view only” staff.  The result helps their business run more efficiently, with less risk. Sounds too good to be true, right?

To find out more contact us here
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WINDOWS 11 – STOP THE BUS!
So many of our clients around New Zealand have been asking us about Microsoft 11. “Should I upgrade?” “Should I wait?”. It’s new and everyone wants the latest and greatest right.

In this case, however, it may be best to WAIT
With most upgrades, updates are something to install as a matter of course. The manufacturer, after all, is delivering new efficiencies, improved processes, and increased security, so why wouldn’t you?
Well with Windows 11 it’s not quite that simple:
First of all, Windows 11 has been called “the biggest update we’ve seen to Microsoft PC software in more than half a decade.”

Why you don’t need to rush this upgrade:

• Windows 11 is still in its early days and upgrading to it now may cause more problems than anything.
• The feedback we are getting from our industry is that Windows 11 has a number of bugs, and has very limited support for other applications and devices.
• There also seems to be some issues with both software and hardware, such as printers, not being compatible.

Most importantly, Microsoft has said it will support Windows 10 until October 14, 2025, so there is no need to rush any decision.

• Microsoft typically keeps a ten-year lifespan for its products which means that there is no rush to upgrade.
• Windows 11 is not an essential upgrade, so there is no need to do anything right now.
• One of the advantages of waiting is that you will come after the initial launch issues and bugs.
• Yes, the software has been available in beta since June 2021, however, as more users get access, you can expect more updates on the horizon.

A sneak peek of what can you expect from Windows 11:
Windows 11 is a redesigned operating system aiming at improved user navigation. Expect:

• A more Mac-like experience
• Integration with Android apps
• A facelift for Microsoft Teams
• Streamlined switching from monitor to laptop
• Direct access to widgets from the Taskbar
• A few gaming performance enhancements

If you do decide to go ahead here are some things you need to know….

•  The upgrade is rolling out gradually. Those who recently purchased a new laptop before Windows 11 was pre-installed have access now.
• If you are an existing Windows 10 user, you’ll see the Windows 11 upgrade sometime between now and mid-2022. Most users will go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and click Check for Updates. If available, you’ll see a Feature update to Windows 11. Click Download and install.
• Remember to backup all your important documents before starting the installation process!
• Also, don’t fall for any fake versions of Windows 11. Wait to receive an official notification of a systems update.
• Do NOT click on links promising the software on social media or via email. You could end up downloading malware.

Other tips:
If you are in the market for a new laptop, make sure you’re getting one with Windows 11 pre-installed. That way, you’ll be sure to get one that will be able to run the new operating system without hassle.

Your IT specialist may have already suppressed some of the reminder notices for you, so that you don’t get asked to upgrade all of the time. However, they can’t stop them all.

If you see the official Microsoft screens saying ‘click here to install Windows 11’ our suggestion is to not do anything and just wait. It might be a good idea to also inform your team to do the same.

Conclusion:
One thing to be mindful of is that if you do go ahead and install Windows 11, any problems you encounter may not be covered by your IT specialist under your current plan.

However, if you are sitting at your computer reading this and are still using Windows 7 and Windows 8, its definitely time for an upgrade to at least Windows 10. Windows 7 and 8 are no longer supported by the manufacturer and without support or security updates, these systems are vulnerable to malware attacks.

In conclusion the best thing to do is to talk to us about this upgrade to Windows 11 to see when and if it is right for you. 

The POWER Trifecta Solution for Document Automation
The environment in which we operate has significantly changed. Businesses in New Zealand have been driven to embrace remote working.

Every good business is constantly on the hunt for new ways to improve their efficiency, keep their costs down, and increase productivity and profit and decrease risk.
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What if we told you that you might be sitting on a goldmine of opportunity?
Having Microsoft 365 is bit like owning a spaceship. You know what it’s used for, but how to use it? Let’s unpack it a bit further.

Most Common Problems
The most common problems we hear of through our IT Alliance network around the country are:

• Putting your documents into the cloud, document management and approvals
• Empowering your business while working remotely
• Managing emails and automating them
• Keeping your company cyber safe

Would it surprise you to know that 50% of IT Alliance clients underutilize their Microsoft 365 Teams account? So why pay for something, and not use it all? You can join in our Empower Series here to hear more, but for now let’s start with document management and approvals.

Making the most of Your Microsoft 365
Sharepoint and Power Automate are both free with your business Subscription. Did you know you could use them in these ways?

Microsoft SharePoint
SharePoint (their free document management system) can seem overly complicated because it can offer so much. But it doesn’t need to be so scary.
You can start small and use more functionality as needed or as you grow.
Basically, it’s a platform that offers content management and collaboration.
It helps with reducing duplicate files, gives you remote access (needed more than ever!) and allows you to work on the same document at the same time.
Find out more about SharePoint here:

Microsoft Power Automate
This is another free app that allows you to automate workflows across applications. You can use it to connect email and instant message alerts, synchronize files between applications, copy files from one service to another, collect data from one app and store it in another, and much more.

Templates are available to get you started. Efficiency is key for sustained success across businesses and Power Automate assists this by simplifying workflows with the automation of repetitive tasks.

Power Apps
This is a low-code application development platform that integrates with Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Azure and more.

With Power Apps, web and mobile applications can be built without writing code. Instead, you can use pre-built templates and components with drag-and-drop simplicity.

Power Apps has been described as a bit like a meal delivery kit. The ingredients are pre-measured and chopped. The instructions are ready to go. All you have to do is prep and cook.

Because Power Apps has advanced logic and rules built-in, development time is cut by 70%. In some cases, it takes just a few hours to build an app. Or you can customize one of the pre-built templates in just minutes. Plus, Power apps connects to hundreds of business systems and databases. Here are some impressive statistics to show how Power apps is super useful.

• 188% ROI over three years3
• 74% reduction in app development costs4
• 2 hours of line-of-business employee productivity improvement per week

Real Business, Real Change
Quality Food Services is the largest exporter of butter pastry in NZ.  Up until a few years ago they were struggling with their documents and approvals as they were complicated and manual.

They used SharePoint to create an online document management system that had version control, search features and navigation that made finding documents and using them easier.

You could track your changes so that everyone was always up to speed on any project.
Power Automate helped QFS to automate their business processes and approvals using tailored notifications and automated data entry, saving plenty of time and increasing the accuracy of the approval process.

Power apps helped to collect information and display where everything was in the process so that the project could be managed much more easily.

All of this saved them time, money and decreased their risk significantly. Contact us to find out more. 

Meet Northland Kindergarten Association:

The Northland Kindergarten Association or NKA, has 25 kindergartens between Kaitaia in the Far North, to Ruawai in the heart of Kaipara.

NKA were concerned about their IT setup, so they approached an IT Alliance member with the below key issues:

• They were running out of space on their server.
• Their system was out of date.
• They weren’t working in the cloud which meant poor communication and knowledge sharing.
• Each of their 25 kindergartens couldn’t connect and learn from each other.

They asked an IT Alliance member to do a risk analysis of their organization and to help them brainstorm a solution.

What was discovered:

• Together they discovered that they had a disjointed network with outdated hardware and software.
• Each kindergarten was getting a mixed level of service and support from a variety of IT support services.
• To make matters worse each kindergarten team shared one email address and could not access each other’s files.
• They had limited ability to communicate well which means work kept getting reinvented and upskilling was difficult too.
• Their cybersecurity was not where it needed to be either.

They needed a solution that made their systems more secure, connected their team and helped bring their collective knowledge into one place.

Empowering Kindergartens with 365 Teams:
The IT Alliance member suggested to NKA that they could use Microsoft 365 Teams to empower their kindergartens using the following steps:

1. They developed a rollout process of new hardware.
2. Everyone got a new email address and were set up on Microsoft 365 Teams.
3. They provided training with one-on-one support during the implementation.

Although they had only intended to create a safer network and shared resources, NKA was able to use Microsoft 365 Teams for so much more!

How it helped them:
They moved all their documents into the cloud using a feature of Microsoft 365 called SharePoint. It helped them organize their document management so that they could share and manage content across the entire network of kindergartens. This saved them time, improved consistency and made their documents more secure.

They also improved training, communication and connectivity within their team. They had a whopping 120+ attendees at their annual conference. Due to Covid, they had to host the event online.  Microsoft 365 Teams came in very useful. Again, training was provided, and they had two run throughs so that they could help anyone with login, microphone and camera issues. Their event went on for 5-6 hours and went off without a hitch!

The Education Review Office, and five other national guests were able to present vital information easily. They broke out into subgroups for discussions using the meeting room function. Their CEO even pre-recorded his video message.

One of the risks of always being online is that they were worried that they might miss a quality engagement. Luckily 365 Teams gave them the ability to engage. They were able to raise a hand, ask questions in the chat and follow along from home. Overall, it was much less expense than an in-person event!

The end result:
Overall, implementing Microsoft 365 Teams into NKA empowered their association with better cybersecurity, improved communications, empowered resource sharing that saved time and decreased event costs whilst maintaining event engagement. Not bad for one system in one place!

 “We were grateful to have streamlined our processes and we now have one point of contact for all our sites. We enjoy having a consistent service throughout our organization. It means that the team understands what we need, and we know we are providing top notch service to our kindergartens.”
Lloyd Gurr Head of Projects, Northland Kindergarten Association.
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Learn more by contacting us here

Microsoft Planner is a tool within the Microsoft 365 suite. Planner is an easy way to organize teamwork with intuitive, collaborative, and visual task management. Planner is simple, easy to use for new users, and included in the licensing for all enterprise plans, education plans, business essentials and the Microsoft 365 business premium plan.
Advantages of Planner:Planner improves teamwork by organizing a Microsoft 365 group or team’s tasks, files, and conversations.
Planner helps to organize your tasks by adding one or more Planner tabs to a team channel. You can then work on your plan from within Teams, remove or delete your plan, and get notified in Teams when a task is assigned to you in
Planner.
All tasks are easily accessible in one place: Plans comprise content-rich tasks that contain expected details, such as due dates, and extra elements like color-coded labels and files.
Automatic chart report: Planner automatically visualizes task status into pie and bar charts for you with no setup required.
Work where you want: Use Planner wherever you’re working. At your desk? Open Planner from tasks.office.com. On the go? Update tasks from your mobile device. In Microsoft Teams? Select the Tasks app powered by Planner and
Microsoft To Do.
Connect across Microsoft 365: Planner is part of Microsoft 365, so it’s highly secure like your other Microsoft 365 apps. Microsoft 365 also connects Planner  with Microsoft to Do, SharePoint, Power Automate, and other apps for efficient task management.
Manage all your tasks in Microsoft Teams: Planner and Microsoft Teams work well together. The Tasks app in Microsoft Teams combines all your team tasks from Planner and individual tasks from Microsoft To Do with advanced collaboration tools.
How to add planner: In your team channel, select Add a tab +.
 In the Add a tab dialog box, choose Tasks by Planner and To Do.
 Create a new task list to make a new Planner plan and add it as a tab
to this channel.
 Use an existing task list to choose an existing Planner plan to add to a
tab in this channel.
 Choose whether to post to the channel about the tab, and then
select Save.
 The tab will be added alongside your other team channel tabs, and
you'll be able to start adding tasks to your board.
Six Tips to use planner wellUse the buckets:
Microsoft Planner lets you create buckets for various tasks. Within each
bucket, you can create specific assignments.
The calendar feature:
The calendar is very important for keeping everyone on task. Items in the
calendar can be assigned both due dates and a specific task owner. This helps
individuals know who is responsible for what and whether or not they are on
schedule.
Checklist:
You can create a checklist to keep on top of tasks. This checklist can be a list of
necessary actions for this project. As the assigned user works their way
through the project, they can check off individual items on the list. This creates
an effortlessly easy visual to be able to track progress.
Categorise tasks easily
You can create easy visual categories for tasks by color-coded labels and
priority. For example, you might split things up into “low-priority,” “medium-
priority,” and “high-priority” based on deadlines. This is visually easy for your
team to follow as they can see what is coming up on their calendar and what is
a priority.
Easily integrates with 365
With Microsoft Planner, you can integrate easily with 365. This means that you
can take advantage of Outlooks calendar and reminder features. This helps
keep your employees focused and on track every time they open their e-mail.
Connects to the Cloud
Members of the team can upload various files as attachments to different
projects and cards. Once the file is attached to Microsoft 365 Planner,
everyone has access to it via the cloud. You no longer have to worry about vital
information being unavailable to the rest of the group.
In Conclusion:
Planner is a wonderfully simple, yet effective way to manage projects across a
team and to improve communication and efficiencies.

More then just that flashing box, lighting up like a disco in the corner of the room, routers play a particularly important role in keeping your business safe, and your data secure, as well as creating efficient, and safe remote working conditions.
Here we look at the role of the router, and what you can do to ensure you have the right one for your business.
Think of your router like an important Traffic Officer only allowing approved content in and out of your business.
The difference between an entry level router and a higher quality router, provided by your IT Alliance member is a lot. Sometimes it pays to think outside the box, and not just take the router provided for free in the box.
Top reasons why you need a good quality Router:

•  Determines the speed with which your internet will work.
• Speed determines the productively of remote workers.
• A good quality router means that multiple people can work remotely at once.
• Ensures you can connect to the office remotely.
• Controls what sites are allowed to be accessed during work hours.
• Allowing access to other content to protect data loss from staff.
• Adding additional security features from software such as intrusion protection.
• Prevention from attacks like denial-of-service attack, designed to cripple your router, or make it just give up and let hackers in.
• Keeps your business safe from Cyber-attacks
• Ensures that accidental clicks from staff on content does not cause a security issue.

Security and Routers: When it comes to security, it is a good idea to take preventative measures. This is where the best secure routers come in. A router with built-in security controls and services that monitor your network around the clock is going to save you a lot of potential headaches. With your router protecting your area of coverage, your devices and your network safe.
SECURITY TIP“You must always change the factory default password for the router and ensure that the firewall and other security features are in fact enabled”.
Ever been confused by the codes that come up when you go to log in to your network?
WPA2 and AES are the best settings to secure your Wi-Fi from hackers. Remember that if a hacker is able to breach your network, they could steal important information, like bank details, or even your identity.
We strongly suggest against using an open network. An open network means you won’t have a password, so anyone can have access to your Wi-Fi and all of your devices.
Make sure to apply WPA2 to your router for improved protection of your online information.
In Conclusion:Routers can be complex and can create harmony or havoc depending on the route you choose to follow. Buying a router with the highest security is crucial to protect your network.
Remote working conditions are the new normal, which means that many of us may need to upgrade our home routers too.
By speaking to your IT Alliance local member, you could find quick connectivity and security gains with an upgraded router.
To save time and money and to make sure that you have done all that you can to make your business safe, speak to us here and find out what is the best and most secure router for you.

​We have seen an explosion in the ways we communicate, and, in the ways, we use these forms of communication. The last few years have seen people that would have rather picked up their land line, now reaching for their laptop or tablet to make a video call.

Our original and oldest form of distant communication, the letter, has been branded snail mail and the volume of snail mail has steadily decreased to the point that the humble letter box is on the verge of redundancy. 

We have transitioned from the art of formal letter writing, taught with passion by our English teachers, to communicating in text or even emojis. We are evolving not just our means of communication but also the way we use these tools. 

In business, while an initial introduction is more commonly made in person, or by voice, further contact takes the form of electronic mail. This leads to a bombardment of the recipient’s inbox and the frustration of unread emails at the end of the working day. It is true to say that if our humble letter box had to deal with our daily volume of mail, it would have long since collapsed to the ground.

Getting on top of email
The first thing is to ask ourselves is “Should this communication take the form of an email?”. If you yourself are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. Solve as much of the problem at the source not at the destination. 
If your email is urgent, short, or to a large audience question the medium you are using, would communication be better served by picking up the phone, chatting in teams, or holding a team’s meeting or presentation.

When should I use email?
We all unconsciously know that email is great when we need a record of a communication, date, or action. For example, if I was to respond to a work order or quote, I would reply via email and simultaneously schedule a task. If I was going to tell a colleague a joke or organize a get together, I would do that in person, via voice or message via teams.

A matter of etiquette: Remember to use email to “create a record or reminder”. There are certain things that you can do to ensure your message is heard. 

• Be concise.
• Proofread in the voice of the receipt so you more accurately convey the tone you intended. 
• Use a grammar checker as well as a spell checker. 
• If you are asking a question, use a question mark?
• If you require a response, say so. 
• Ensure you have a email signature on new emails and a shorter signature on forwards and replies. 
• If your email recipients need to contact you outside email, how hard are you making it for them? I would personally question the practice of having your email address in your email signature. Use a relevant subject line. “Meeting request” vs “26th May at 4pm re Communication is Key!” 
• Make your email easy to search for!
• Using the carbon copy (cc) field is the most abused part of the email. It is NOT to shame the recipient into action it’s to record other parties to the action when they do not directly have to participate in the email. 
  

Sorting your inbox:
Which brings us to organizing the inbox. How can we work more efficiently, giving emails the priority, they deserve? 

If an email has been cced to you, it automatically implies that it does not requiring my immediate attention. You can even create a rule outlook to move these to another folder called cced emails. These rules can be as simple or as complex as you decide. If the cced email has a mention of you in it, or is marked high importance, you can ignore the move rule. You can also do the same for group, broadcast or “send to all” emails. 

When it comes to the external mail, you can sort the rules sender and or subject line. For example, an email from an IT alliance member with the subject containing “communication is key” goes to “webinarblogs” folder in the sub folder “ITA”.

How you build your rules is up to you and it does take some initial work and experimentation, but the gains will be worth it.

A great example is a company in New Zealand that uses some of the AI engine’s ability to determine a customer’s tone in an email to prioritize unhappy customer. This allows them to be more responsive when required. It can also be implemented to send an automatic response such as “we are sorry to hear about your recent experience with Contoso and would like to speak with you to resolve this issue at your earliest convenience. Please press here to schedule a call with our team”. 

Can I have emails go to a team?
Of course, if you have all the sales team respond to emails sent to enquiries@contoso.co.nz then you can have a shared mailbox. Members that are granted access to the shared mailbox can be setup to send as enquiries@contoso.co.nz or as themselves salesguy@contoso.co.nz 

However a shared mailbox does require its own license. What about a public folder? A public folder is designed for shared access across the whole organization, it can be enabled with a mail address so that when added to the address field can be forward to a folder for centralized record keeping but it does not allow controlled access, hence public.

Email security
As with phones and postal services there will be abuse. The more a communication tool is used the more likely some people will see an opportunity to scam others.

As “email is a record” as postulated earlier, do you retain and control access to these records. Do your emails contain personally identifiable information or other forms of sensitive information? How can you ensure emails are not sent to the wrong person?
Digital communications are more secure than physical forms of communication as technology “can” ensure trust and authentication at every step of the path between sender and recipient. We stress the word “can” in the previous sentence! 

You may be surprised to learn that you can encrypt your email so only the intended recipient can read it. Even more surprising you can encrypt the email so it cannot be forwarded, printed or copied.  You can even stop sensitive information being sent outside the organisation automatically. Technology is available to digitally sign all email from your business to stop imposters posing as your business via email. Technology can check links and attachments in emails for malicious behaviour.

What next?
Casting the human eye over an email, no matter how much training they received, will never match the ability of the technology to weigh the huge amount of data necessary to make a good decision. 

Technology can make our digital communication more secure, as with all communication it is up to us to evolve to use our tools to their full potential. 
Talk, email, send a letter (maybe not!) or message us to discuss how to take your next step.

MICROSOFT TEAMS VS ZOOM - Which one is the best for you?
Meeting anyone? Remember the good ole days when we all used to cram in to a conference room, pass around the muffins, slurp on our takeaway lattes, and talk over the top of each other?
​
Nowadays, with the new remote way of working, video calls ARE the new “business meeting” and often the new “phone call”.
         
Top perks of video Technology:

• Streamlined communications.
• Video ensures people are more engaged.
• Faster responses and improved team communication.
• Ability to connect from remote workspaces.
• Ability to host large global meetings.
• Improve collaboration and productivity.
• Recording of meetings for those unable to attend.
• Great platform for online events to be conducted.
• Plus, you can see other peoples body language on a meeting (no more secret eye rolling at the boss Susan!)

​
What is Microsoft Teams?
Microsoft Teams is a communication platform included in Microsoft 365. Though Teams offers video conferencing capabilities, that’s far from its only use. The platform also includes chat and voice calling functionality and enables teams to share and edit files in real time via a shared virtual workspace. Teams is highly integrated with other products in the Microsoft suite, including Word, PowerPoint and Excel, making it a true collaboration platform.
What is Zoom?Zoom is a communications platform that encompasses audio and video conferencing, chat functionality, video webinars and more. Zoom offers an entire marketplace of application integrations, including MailChimp, Zendesk, Marketo and even Microsoft Teams for additional extensibility. Though Zoom has been around since 2011, it’s seen stunning growth in 2020, increasing from 10 million daily meeting participants in December 2019 to over 300 million daily meeting participants in April 2020.
 
Consider your audience?
The first step is to consider who and what you are using video calling for. If the main focus is meetings amongst colleagues at an organisation that already uses Microsoft products—especially Office365—then the obvious choice for video calls is Microsoft Teams. Even if you do use Teams at work, you still might want to use Zoom for meetings with people external to your organisation as Zoom is still more well-known than Teams.
 
The nuts and the bolts:
But how easy are each to use? Both Teams and Zoom give users the option to join via the browser rather than downloading. This means that you can just send them an invitation, they click on the invitation, and the application will open up automatically. Easy!
 
User Interface 
New users may find Teams more complicated to use than Zoom since it is part of Microsoft’s much larger universe of productivity, collaboration, and communication tools. There is an initial learning curve because of the many ways Teams integrates with other Office apps. That said, the integrations are intuitive, and their usefulness outweighs the required learning. The Zoom video conference controls are similarly simple and user-friendly.
Microsoft Teams and Zoom share many of the same features. Both providers offer:

• Screen and app sharing
• Whiteboards
• Chat functions
• Voice calling
• Customized backgrounds
• Breakout rooms
• Meeting recordings

Pricing:
Both Teams and Zoom have free and paid versions. Microsoft offers a number of different pricing tiers for Teams, some of which come with varying degrees of access to other Office365 apps
The main differences between free and paid versions are meeting duration limits, participant capacity, file storage and the Microsoft apps you gain access to with each plan
Free plans:

• Zoom gives its free users just 40 minutes for group meetings but up to 30 hours for one-to-one sessions.
• Microsoft teams: Microsoft Team users on the free plan are limited to 60-minute meetings.

Paid plans:
Zoom’s paid plans:

• Meetings can last up to 30 hours
• Capacity of 1,000 max participants

 Microsoft Paid Teams:

• Caps meeting duration at 24 hours.
• 300 max meeting participant allowance.

File storage varies by provider plan; Zoom’s top plan offers unlimited file storage, while Microsoft Team caps storage at 1 TB per organisation and 10 GB per license.

So who is the top dog on the day?
 As you can see, Microsoft Teams and Zoom are both highly intuitive, very comparable platforms, which can be useful in different situations.
 
Teams also offers so many other benefits beyond just video conferencing including

• Teams and Channels 
• File storage within SharePoint Integration 
• Audio Conferencing 
• Security and Privacy 

Every business has its own particular requirements, so please feel free to reach out to our friendly team here at Decision1 to help you make those great Decisions.

 There are so many easy things that you can do to ensure you keep good working practices either at home or in the office.

Here are some top tips:

1) When to Reboot your computer:
It’s a well known joke around the IT world, that support calls always begin with “have you tried rebooting?."  It may seem like a frivolous joke, but there is truth to the joke for good reason.   Your computer performs important updates and resets during a reboot, so rebooting regularly keeps your computer functioning at its best. 

Your computer should be rebooted at least once per week.  A good habit is to shutdown your computer at the end of your working day.  This ensures your computer is updated regularly and that your machine also gets the opportunity to completely cool down.   

During normal operations the internal components of your computer heat up, and most workstations are not designed to handle these high temperatures for long.  They are normally designed to stay warm for 8-10 hours per day.  Machines that are run for longer than that regularly often have a much shorter life, as internal components wear out quicker. 

To reboot your machine, press the windows icon on screen (or the windows button on your keyboard), select the power icon , then Restart . 

We recommend shutting down your computer at the end of each shift, following the same procedure, but selecting Shut down . 
 
2) Installing Apps Yourself:
During your working day, you may find the occasional time where you feel the need for a new application you don’t already have, to perform an additional function, or to improve on the application you currently use.  New, and free, applications can be easily found on the internet, but these applications can be malicious, and it can be hard to tell which is and which isn’t.  In addition, a malicious application can contain a virus or open a “back door” giving others access to your device with your knowledge.   

We strongly recommend that you do not install applications on your machine without first vetting the application for safety.  All the software you need to perform your job would normally be provided to you from your manager, so make sure you talk to your Manager if you require additional software, so you can make a safe plan.   

Alternatively, you can contact Decision1 and we can help you decide if this is safe software to install. 

Read more below....

3) What to do when you get an Antivirus Alert 
Sometimes you computer will show you a scary looking virus alert. We often get calls from users who worry about these alerts, and wonder what they should do about them.  Good news!  There is nothing to do.  These alerts simply mean that your antivirus software is doing its job. 
 
In the event you get an antivirus alert like this that means that the antivirus softwre has recognised malware or a virus on your computer, and that the software has done its job and protected you from the attack.  You don’t need to do anything, except relax knowing you are being taken care of. 

Of course, if you are still unsure, call us and we can check it out for you. 
 
4) My computer has an Error Message 
Error messages can, but shouldn‘t be, a regular occurrence on a computer.  Error message appear for a variety of reasons but the top reasons are: 

• The application you are using has a problem 
• Your operating system has internal issues with itself 
• Hardware in your computer has issues 

If you get the occasional error message, then you can usually safely ignore the message, or close and reopen the offending application.  Most of the time the error is temporary and will not appear again. 
However, if the error message keeps coming back, or you are getting a variety of different error messages, then this is an issue you should raise a ticket for. 
If possible, take a screenshot of the error when it occurs, so you can send this to your technician.  Alternatively, call your technician when the error occurs, so they can look at it immediately.  Seeing the error message can hold some vital clues as to what is going wrong on your machine. 
 
5) Going away from Your Workstation 
Computer security is a big topic of conversation right now, but one discussion that is often not discussed is physical security.  One critical piece of physical security that you are responsible for is how you leave your computer.  Whenever you are away from your computer, it should be secured so that others cannot use your unlocked computer while you are not there.  This can potentially give up sensitive information to malicious “guests” in your office or to other internal staff.  To prevent this type of intrusion, whenever you are away from your computer you should lock your machine.  You can do this by  
PRESS (on your keyboard): <windows><L>   
or PRESS (on your keyboard): <ctrl><alt><delete> 
Then, SELECT the “Lock” option on screen 
You can also set your “Power and Sleep” settings so that your computer is automatically locked after a certain period of inactivity.  WE recommend this be set to a maximum of 5 minutes.  This means that if you leave you machine, and forget to lock your machine, then your machine is at worst unlocked for 5 minutes.  

For more tips or if you have any queries on any of the above please reach out to us here.

To watch a video where we go through these steps click here

New Zealand small businesses are currently facing a new and often misunderstood threat to their livelihood.  COMPUTER SECURITY.  Over HALF of all small businesses in New Zealand was targeted by ransomware in 2020.  (Ref.) That's 50% of us!  As cybercrime cannot be seen, and can be hard to imagine, we tend to think, is it really that bad?
Small business computer security is an often overlooked challenge, by both IT providers and small businesses owners themselves, but we have made it our mission to improve the security of ​New Zealand Small Businesses.  "...there are approximately 530,000 small businesses in New Zealand representing 97% of all firms. They account for 28 per cent of employment and contribute over a quarter of New Zealand's gross domestic product." (ref.)
We think this sector of our community should get the same protection from cybercrime as big business gets.  So we are going to show you how to achieve this for yourself.

Maintenance.  This word can seem a little to much like the word 'Housework'.  Its a bit boring, a bit repetitive, and really who knows what you should actually do.  But, it is the first step to securing your network, and without it, your network will never be secure.  Security vulnerabilities are found daily, so to keep your equipment safe, manufacturers release patches and updates to their software to keep up to date.  Equipment and software that is out of date becomes insecure over time, so keeping up to date is a vital part of your security protocol.

The first step to maintaining your equipment is to establish what equipment you have.  Write down a list of every computer, laptop, server and any infrastructure equipment you have.  This can include:

• Computer Workstation/Laptop
• Server
• Tablet
• Mobile Phone
• NAS Appliance
• Firewall Appliance
• UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply)
• Wireless Access Point
• Router
• Switch/Hub

Once you have established a registry of equipment, you need to add into the list your applications, as these often need to be considered separately.
Start with the Operating Systems.  Likely these will patch themselves automatically, but if you are not often connected to the internet, then this will need specific attention.
Then consider your infrastructure applications, such as Antivirus, SPAM or Malware applications, and Backup software.  These will likely require manually updates.  Antivirus software will require definition updates as well as software updates.  
Lastly add in your industry software, such as Payroll, Accounting, Creative and Productivity software.
​Note: You will not need to include applications that are solely accessed via the web (such as Xero) as these are updated for you.

Applications will often not be able to be updated if they are not on a maintenance agreement, or simply may require the upgrade to be purchased once available.  This particularly applies to antivirus software, backup software and operating systems, but can also apply to payroll, accounting and other industry software.  Include details of the purchasing requirements in your register.

Many, many hours can be lost in maintaining equipment, so we recommend creating a roster for these tasks.  Some equipment/applications will require patching regularly, such as operating systems or firewall appliances.  Other things, such as Access Points, NAS, or switches likely only require firmware updates once a year.

Now that you have a clear indication of the equipment and applications that you need to update, what you need to update, and a schedule to stick to, all you need to do now is follow your schedule to ensure your network is kept up to date and secure.

Check out for Secure Your Small Business Network Part Two: SECURITY MEASURES for the next stage to securing your network.

More Resources:
www.cert.govt.nz/business/guides/secure-your-small-business-network/
www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/small-business/resource-center/security/network-security-checklist.html
​https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/networking/set-up-your-small-business-network
https://www.business.govt.nz/risks-and-operations/it-risk-and-avoiding-scams/protecting-business-data/​

​Small businesses (ie your business) in general are not taking data security seriously, and the New Zealand government has just given us all a wake up call.  
Many, many of us have been the victim of a phishing or ransomware attack.  As from the 1st December 2020, these breaches will need to be reported to the government, under the newly updated Privacy Act. 

I don't collect that kind of data!
No small business wants to be in a position where you are declaring a data breach to the privacy commissioner, so how do you avoid it?   Do you even collect information that would warrant protection?   If you collect customer information in any way on your computer, such as names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses etc (spoiler, you do), then this act is directed exactly at you.

My data is already safe!
Most small businesses are already under the impression that their data is safe already.  "My IT guy has it sorted" is a common misunderstanding between business and IT provider.  

IF YOU ARE NOT PAYING YOUR IT PROVIDER FOR SECURITY SERVICES (Go check your contract) THEN YOU ARE NOT PROTECTED.

Data security is a complicated task.  Unless your contract (do you even have a contract?) specifies security services, then YOU ARE NOT PROTECTED.

Are you sure we are not protected?
If you can answer YES to ALL these questions, then you are on the right track.  If not, then you have some serious work to do:

• Do you have Antivirus?
• Is your Antivirus checked at least monthly?  
• Are your devices patching at least monthly?
• Are your devices checked at least monthly for correct installation of patches?
• Do you have a firewall?
• Is your firewall checked for correct operation at least quarterly?
• ​Is your border checked at least weekly for current attacks?
• Is your Office365 security in place?
• Is your Office 365 Security checked for compliance at least monthly?
• Are your password security policies compliant?
• Are your password security policies checked at least annually?
• Is your wireless network security compliant?
• Is your wireless network checked for security compliance at least annually?
• Is your remote access security compliant?
• Is your remote access checked for security compliance at least annually?
• If you have a StaticIP, is it security compliant?
• Are your backups security compliant?
• Are your backup checked at least annually for security compliance?

Looks like I might not be compliant...
If you have answered NO to any of these questions above, then you need to act now.  Business data security is now a major threat to your business.

As always, we can help you resolve these challenges.  Email us at sales@decison1.co.nz or call us on 0800 471 8232.

One attack we witnessed this week came in this format.  You can see it looks like any other email.  The person this email is from is known to us (we have changed the name for this example), and it reads like a normal email.  The email address is from a legitimate email.   The link included in this email is a genuine one-drive address.  So how did we know it was a phishing attack??

There are clues.  1. We haven't heard from this person in several years,  2.  We have no knowledge of the project they are talking about.

Phishing attacks such as this one, tricks you into opening multiple links, then you are asked to confirm your identity by entering your email address and password.  These credentials are not being entered into a legitimate authorisation source, instead you are actually entering them into the phishers' website disguised to look like the real thing.

Once they are in possession of your credentials, malware is installed onto your machine, giving them full access to your contact list.  Then your own email system (Outlook etc) is then used to send on emails to all your contacts, looking for new victims of this scheme.  ​

So what if the phisher has my email address and password.  I will just change it, then they don't have it anymore.

Sure you can change your password.  But by the time you realise you have been scammed, your email address and password has already been a valuable tool for the phisher.  The whole interaction has told the phisher many things about you that are handy later:

1. ​They now know that an actual person uses that email address (you won't change that will you?) so they can send you more phishing - you fell for the first one, so you will probably fall for it again.
2. They know the patterns you typically use in your passwords, so they can use that to guess your next one.
3. They know that you re-use passwords, so they can test other cloud services to see if these credentials work, and they probably will.

Even better for the phisher, you have given them plenty of time to get full access to your email account and to copy your emails to their local machine.  It doesn't matter if you change your password, they can sift through your emails at their leisure (once your email history is on their machine) for any juicy tidbits like that password you emailed to yourself, or those VISA details you sent off to that supplier in Australia.
Additionally, if you are a global admin on your network, they will have spent a little time setting themselves up a back door into your network, so they can send you something even more nasty, like a cryptolocker, which disables your network entirely. ​

New Zealand small business has an enduring love for Pay-As-You-Go IT support.  When it breaks, I call you.  Easy.  The costs are low, and you feel like you have some control.  If I don't have a need for you, or I can work it out myself, then there are no costs to me.  But pay-as-you-go support is bad for business, so we are moving away from it. ​