Versatile Technology Group, LLC - News Blog

Two things you can do with your technology that may prevent the flu pandemic from affecting your company’s productivityThe United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) predicts that 1/3 of the US population will catch the flu this year, with the average employee missing between two and four weeks of work.  This pandemic will cripple many small- to medium-sized businesses according to disaster recovery experts. But believe it or not, how you deal with your computers can actually prevent the flu from affecting your employees and ultimately, your business productivity.

#1 Do Everything You Can To Slow The Spread Of The Flu
The flu spreads through personal contact like shaking hands, touching a keyboard or mouse used by an infected coworker and through the air by coughing and sneezing. So watch who you touch and use disinfectant wipes to clean your workspace including the keyboard and mouse before and after you use them. You can also reduce the amount of people who need to touch your computer equipment by using a program like our complete:IT managed services, where the engineer can work on your system remotely.

#2 Prepare For Employee Absence With Remote Access
No matter how hard you try to prevent it, you may still have some of your staff out sick at the same time.  While no one with the flu is going to do much besides lie in bed, many employees will work part time from home if they have access to their office computer.  Some doctors believe this could actually hasten their recovery by eliminating boredom. So, setting up a way that your employees can remote into their computer from home helps you both.

You’ll Be Needing It Sooner Than You Think.

The electricity your computer needs to run can also destroy it. In a flash, you could lose your computer along with all that data you’ve spent hours entering.  The makers of inexpensive surge protectors have bamboozled the public into thinking their computers and data are safe if they simply plug in to a “power strip”.  In truth, a few thunderstorms turn that surge protector strip into a fancy extension cord. The lighting and electrical surge can actually fry the surge protector’s components.

Plus, surge protectors don’t protect against brownouts and blackouts.

Basically, when the power goes out, it is an extremely traumatic event for your computer—one that it often doesn’t recover from. The US Department of Energy advises you to protect your computers because “power disruptions can result in data corruption, burned circuit boards, component damage, file corruption and lost customers”. Even Microsoft warns that if a computer can’t boot up after a power failure, it generally cannot be repaired.  So, if a surge protector isn’t actually protecting your computer then what are you supposed to do?

The simple & inexpensive solution is the battery backup, a.k.a. Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS).

A properly installed UPS will switch to battery power whenever any type of electrical problem or surge is detected and, once the electricity returns to normal, it will automatically switch back.  If a blackout lasts longer than the battery can handle, your computer is safely and automatically shut down then turned back on when power returns. No destroyed computer, no lost data, and no need for that emergency call.