As technology has advanced, the ability to work from home has become increasingly accessible for employees across a variety of industries.
The coronavirus pandemic has tested this ability by causing all but essential businesses to close their physical offices and rely on remote workers to continue productivity.
The coronavirus has undoubtedly caused The KR Group’s managed IT services department to see an influx of companies wanting to set up their users to work from home. However, assisting companies with setting up remote users is something The KR Group’s managed IT services department has been doing for years.
For the most part, managed services stay the same whether you’re working on-site or remotely. Still, there are three ways MSPs are particularly supportive when transitioning to a remote workforce.
- They provide redundancy for IT support.
- They require and set up a firewall for security.
- They configure a VPN for remote access.
By providing these services, managed IT service providers (MSPs) can help businesses transition users to work remotely when needed or when necessary, such as right now.
MSPs provide redundancy for IT support
One of the major overall benefits of managed IT services is the redundancy it provides companies.
MSPs staff multiple IT engineers. Reputable providers assign engineers to clients, and if your engineer is absent, you still have access to the other engineers employed by your MSP.
Even if you’re relying on an MSP for supplemental IT services – augmented IT – you’ll have redundancy to cover absences from your in-house IT staff.
With a remote workforce, this doesn’t change. You’ll have redundant MSP engineers available to assist you remotely regardless of your users’ locations.
This facet of managed services is particularly beneficial right now with the coronavirus global pandemic as companies prepare to have ill employees who are unable to work.
If your assigned MSP engineer is unavailable because they’re sick, MSPs should staff enough engineers to still provide a remote response to your IT issues.
This redundancy can be helpful for businesses considering or using an MSP for augmented services.
And if your in-house IT staff happens to be the one on sick leave, an MSP will have redundancy and provide a backup, so your IT needs continue to be addressed.
MSPs set up a firewall for remote workers
At The KR Group, we require our managed IT services customers to have a Meraki firewall installed.
Not only does this allow your MSP (or you) to configure a VPN connection (which we’ll discuss later), but it also provides a layer of security for remote workers accessing on-site, web, and cloud-based files.
Firewalls have many uses and benefits, but when it comes to remote workers, they are specifically great for the following reasons:
1. Intrusion detection and prevention
Perhaps the most significant benefit of a firewall is it provides intrusion detection and prevention for users.
Working remotely makes your employees more susceptible to malicious attacks, so by having a mechanism in place to detect and prevent anomalous (and likely malicious) activity, you can continue to protect your users and assets.
2. Content filter (emphasis on security)
Firewalls also come with content filtering options. Administrators can configure filter options based on words and phrases, IP addresses, domains, etc.
Content filtering serves two purposes.
First, it prevents your users from using their company devices to access websites they shouldn’t be on – even they’re working from home.
Second, it prevents your users from accidentally accessing a malicious website and inadvertently infecting their device or, even worse, your entire network.
3. Prevent unauthorized remote access
Firewalls also monitor for unauthorized remote access and prevent it.
If a hacker makes their way onto your home network and tries to access your desktop, this layer of protection prevents them from looking around or dropping malicious files.
MSPs set up a VPN for remote workers
When setting up your remote workforce, the first piece of information your MSP will need to know is what files you access every day to perform your job.
The benefit of web and cloud-based files or applications is they can be accessed anywhere. As long as you have security measures in place, you shouldn’t have to take any additional steps.
However, for those files that are stored on on-site servers, your MSP will set up each user with a virtual private network (VPN) to give you a secure path to access them.
A VPN provides security and privacy to users accessing their home networks, public networks, and Wi-Fi hotspots.
A VPN connection provides privacy and security in three ways:
1. It changes your IP address
Changing your IP address is highly important when you’re accessing public networks or hotspots since you can’t know what users are accessing those networks. By changing your IP address you hide from hackers and ultimately protect yourself.
While home networks generally have less visibility than public networks, you aren’t invisible. When working from home, either a neighbor or passerby could sniff your network and compromise your privacy.
2. It encrypts data transfers
Another way VPNs protect you is by encrypting your data transfers. This layer of security protects sensitive data, such as banking information or login credentials.
Like changing your IP address, if a public network or your home network is compromised, data encryption protects you from hackers on the same network.
3. It masks your location
When you use a VPN, the security measures ensure hackers can’t see your IP address, your sensitive data, and your location.
While this doesn’t add any additional protection, by allowing you to appear to be in a different location, you can circumvent restrictions a public network may have.
To give your users VPN access, your MSP will install a soft client on each user’s desktop. Each user will use his or her login credentials to sign onto the VPN and thus access those on-site files.
What do managed IT services look like for a remote workforce?
Overall, managed IT services don’t look much different for a remote workforce than a traditional workforce, especially when it comes to redundancy.
Once your MSP sets up users with firewall protection and VPN connection, they should be able to access what they need. From then on, your MSP will continue to offer remote IT support to your users.
However, whether you rely on an MSP or not, having redundancy, a VPN setup, and a firewall installed are important components to successful – and safe – telecommuting.
For more information on how an MSP can support your remote workforce, check out our other articles: