FREE Microsoft Teams & Zoom security for 3 months

Are your users working remotely with Microsoft Teams and/or Zoom? Cyberattackers can and are ruthlessly taking advantage of homeworking setups during the Coronavirus crisis.

If you have provided your teams with collaboration tools, you should also take action to protect them from advanced threats – BitDam can do just that.

BitDam is here to help, securing your Microsoft Teams or Zoom for FREE for 3 months. Click the button to get started now, or read on to find out more.

Homeworking routines

Most people today use some kind of instant messaging channel as part of their workday routine. We use these applications to share files, attachments, connect and work with colleagues, customers, vendors and partners across the globe. In this global world, the use of screen-sharing and video conferencing has also become significant. With most businesses operating online, the security for these applications are imperative.

How has COVID changed things?

This is always true! However, in the past weeks, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and WFH phenomena, we are seeing an unprecedented growth in the usage of these platforms by existing users as we well as a huge spike in demand from new users.

To put things in context, Microsoft Teams user base has grown to 44 million from 13 million users in July 2019.

Zoom on the other hand, experienced a 67% growth in their daily active user base in the first three months of 2020. The company added 2.22million monthly active users so far in 2020, while in 2019 it added 1.99million in total, according to estimates from Bernstein Research analysts.

BitDam ATP for Teams:

  • Protection from malicious files of any type
  • Quarantine malicious files
  • 2-click integration with Teams
  • Seamless to end-users

BitDam ATP for Zoom:

  • Protection from malicious links and file of any type
  • Quarantine malicious links and files
  • Seamless to end-users

Talk to us – we’re just at the end of a phone

Complete IT Systems Ltd have been providing services to our customers for over 10 years and have many satisfied clients. For more information on how we can help, or just to get some general advice on IT and business supplies during the crisis, please call us on 01274 396 213. 

You can also see the full range of products and services we offer, or read more about our support services here.

IT Insurance – no excess accidental damage cover

Now more than ever, laptops and work devices are susceptible to having coffee knocked on them, food spilt on them, little hands treating them a little carelessly, or any of the other perils associated with working from home.

Our IT insurance policies are designed to protect your devices against those everyday mishaps. With both Accidental Damage and Accidental Damage + Theft, we have an option to suit every business!

The policies are ideally suited to mobile devices (tablets/laptops), providing protection against those everyday mishaps that inevitably occur. Whether physical, liquid, fire or flood damage and in some cases theft, our insurance has you protected.

Easy to claim

With an easy online claims process and fully trained and accredited engineers, our aim to have your IT device either
repaired, or replaced and returned to your users within the shortest time possible to keep them productive.

All those irritating scenarios are catered for!

Examples of Accidental Damage that our policy covers can be dropping a device on to a hard surface, such as a wooden or concrete floor resulting in a cracked screen or broken plastics. Or liquid damage that can consist of drinks spillage or full immersion.

All Complete IT insurance policies include No Excess to pay in the event of a claim and there are no claim limitations.

Key features

  • Accidental Damage – Physical and Liquid
  • Fire, Flood & Theft* Cover
  • Worldwide Cover – 365 Days
  • No Excess
  • No Claim Limitations
  • Courier Collect & Delivery
  • Up to 4 years Cover
  • Instant Cover

Provision and process

  • An electronic certificate will be provided to register the device/s
  • Registration must be completed to receive policy documents
  • Claims MUST be reported within 14 days of incident
  • In the event of theft, a crime reference number must be obtained
  • Complete IT Systems will arrange collection of the device and either repair or replace
  • Complete IT Systems will incur all repair and logistical costs*
  • If replaced, the remainder of the policy will transfer to the new device

Talk to us – we’re just at the end of a phone

Complete IT Systems Ltd have been providing services to our customers for over 10 years and have many satisfied clients. For more information on how we can help, or just to get some general advice on IT and business supplies during the crisis, please call us on 01274 396 213. 

You can also see the full range of products and services we offer, or read more about our support services here.

Complete IT’s Insurance services are provided by MendIT – an appointed representative of Summit Insurance Services Limited, who are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Summit Insurance Services Limited FCA Register No. 300172.

Get a 5-incident support pack – and help the NHS

As you are well aware, IT downtime can cost businesses in a big way, and especially in these strange times when you’re also having to make rapid adjustments to homeworking provisions.

Complete IT Systems have skilled technicians available to help business of all sizes and types remotely at the end of the phone.

5 incident remote support package

During the COVID-19 crisis, we are offering a specially priced 5 incident remote support package.

And even better, for every purchase, we’ll donate 10% of the price to your choice of either our NHS or a local food bank to say thanks and help them as much as we can during the crisis. Click the button below to let us know what you need and get started now.

The supported incidents include:

Windows

Windows All revisions Server/Desktop

HyperVisors

VMware Hypervisor – All Revisions
Hyper-V – All Revisions

Server Stack

Exchange All revisions inc 365
Office – All Revisions
Teams
Skype/Skype for Business
WSUS
WDS/MDT

Backup

Veeam – All Revisions
Datto – All boxes
Barracuda
Nakivo
Backup Exec

Storage Arrays

HP
Dell
Tegile
DotHill

Anti Virus

Kaspersky
Sophos
Symantec
McAfee
eSet
Norton
Vipre

Firewalls

Barracuda
Sophos
Sonicwall
Draytek

Talk to us – we’re just at the end of a phone

Complete IT Systems Ltd have been providing these services to our customers for over 10 years and have many satisfied clients. For more information on the support packages, or just to get some general advice on IT and business supplies during the crisis, please call us on 01274 396 213 or email us on .

You can also see the full range of products and services we offer, or read more about our support services here.

Please note this is a limited time introductory offer, and is limited to a maximum of 1 package (5 incidents) per customer.

5 tips for effective remote working with Microsoft Teams

Many teams are having to quickly adjust to remote working, and if it’s not something they have done before it can take a bit of getting used to – especially the social side of work.

To this end, we’ve put these short tips together to share with your users if you’ve rolled out a new collaboration tool such as Microsoft Teams. This will help them replace the social and interactive elements of office life as best they can during the current crisis.

  1. Start the day with a “stand up meeting” – greet one another with videos on just as you would in a physical office. It gets everyone started for the day and you can chat about your evening
  2. Coffee breaks – get together mid-morning and mid-afternoon to chat and enjoy tea or coffee together as a team
  3. Randomly ping colleagues at various points during the day
  4. “Ask me anything” (within reason!) brainstorming sessions with managers and sub-teams
  5. Friday after work – enjoy a drink together online after you finish work on a Friday

In some ways, all of these actions could actually make teams more sociable than in an office!

Adjusting to homeworking during the COVID19 crisis

Over the coming days and weeks the expert team at Complete IT Systems are publishing a series of guidance and tips to help you and your business through this situation. This will cover all aspects of quickly providing safe, comfortable and efficient home offices for your users, including data security, collaboration tools, laptops, desktops, print and consumables, support for critical IT tasks, and more.

Get Microsoft Teams FREE for your users!

Connect on Teams anywhere with Windows, Mac, iOS and Android devices, or bring remote participants into meeting spaces of all sizes with Teams.

We know Microsoft can be a little daunting to navigate – we can guide you through the process. Just give us your email address and we’ll get you started.

Talk to us – we’re just at the end of a phone

Complete IT Systems Ltd have been providing these services to our customers for over 10 years and have many satisfied clients. For more information on how we can help, or just to get some general advice on IT and business supplies during the crisis, please call us on 01274 396 213. You can also see the full range of products and services we offer, or read more about our support services here.

Remote working that doesn’t feel remote

In the era of accidental homeworking, it’s vital to give your users the tools to enable them to remain productive, creative and efficient from remote locations – the trick is combining this flexibility with the requisite levels of security to prevent your customers’ data from falling into the wrong hands, or your core IT systems to be hacked.

The trick during the COVID-19 crisis (and for effective homeworking strategies in general) is to provide the right portfolio of collaboration tools to ensure that teams don’t become remote and isolated from one another, and that customers, prospects, suppliers and partners can be managed effectively.

Remote working that doesn’t feel remote…

The best initiatives come from meeting, talking and sharing ideas, so it’s crucial that your users working from different locations doesn’t mean that teams drift apart and become more siloed.

It’s therefore crucial that your users can connect, chat, collaborate and produce just as productively than they can in a face-to-face environment in an office.

Collaboration, virtual meetings and file sharing with Office 365

The Microsoft Office 365 portfolio provides the perfect way of handling these challenges of remote work – and in some ways make for an even more productive environment than that of an office environment!

The power of Microsoft combines to provide a best-in-class operating system, enterprise level security safeguards, and seamless integration between applications for optimal user efficiency.

Where to start?

We know that the Office 365 portfolio can be a bit daunting due to the number of options and variables. But that’s where the licensing experts at Complete IT Systems come in, and we can guide you on where to start based on your priorities and composition of your teams and users. We can also help you choose, deploy, use and maintain your solutions.

There’s no “off the shelf” fit for any business, but in short the Microsoft tools can be summarised into the following business needs:

  • Work hub: Teams provides a central “place” where employees, contractors and partners can talk, chat, hold meetings, and share files and apps for a fully collaborative working experience
  • Securely sharing and editing documents: OneDrive for Business and SharePoint enable seamless sharing and collaboration on presentations and other documents
  • Email and calendars: Online and offline with Outlook

Need some help quickly deploying homeworking for your business?

The expert team at Complete IT Systems are publishing a series of guidance and tips to help you and your business through this situation. This takes in all aspects of quickly providing safe, comfortable and efficient home offices for your users, including data security, collaboration tools, laptops, desktops, print and consumables, support for critical IT tasks, and more. Read more in our central COVID-19 crisis hub.

Talk to us – we’re just at the end of a phone

Complete IT Systems Ltd have been providing these services to our customers for over 10 years and have many satisfied clients. For more information on how we can help, or just to get some general advice on IT and business supplies during the crisis, please call us on 01274 396 213. You can also see the full range of products and services we offer, or read more about our support services here.

Get set for virtual meetings with the right headset for homeworking

In these times when your teams will likely be spending a lot of time on calls and virtual meetings, it’s important to give them the right tools for the job. One of these is a business-class headset for homeworking.

Why it’s a great fit for homeworking

The JEDEL JD-032 gaming headset is a fantastic choice and is certainly great value for money. Comfortable to wear all day long and includes an in-line volume control with 3.5mm Audio Jack connectivity.

The headset comes with two large 40mm magnetic neodymium driver to deliver high-fidelity audio and ensure excellent clarity through the entire frequency range, ideal for playing games, watching movies, listening to music or making calls.

Fully adjustable padded headband ensures perfect fit with different head sizes (both adults and kids) and wearing comfort. Breathable earpads reduce heat and moisture build-up to keep your ears comfortable during long, intense gaming sessions, they also block ambient noises to ensure full concentration.

The boom microphone with noise reduction function can be freely positioned to pick up your voice or keep silent when you do not want to be heard. The in-line volume control is attached to the cable at you hand for quick operation.

Resources for COVID-19 homeworking

The team at Complete IT Systems are publishing a series of guidance and tips to help you and your business through this situation with everything from IT security to collaboration tools – you can read more here.

Talk to us – we’re just at the end of a phone

Complete IT Systems Ltd have been providing these services to our customers for over 10 years and have many satisfied clients. For more information on how we can help, or just to get some general advice on IT and business supplies during the crisis, please call us on 01274 396 213. You can also see the full range of products and services we offer, or read more about our support services here.

COVID-19 homeworking for business: Quick guide

With the government publishing its coronavirus action plan earlier in March, and the more stringent measures that have come in since to enforce COVID-19 homeworking where possible, it’s quickly become vital for businesses to adopt homeworking arrangements for users. If your organisation isn’t familiar with this, it can be a daunting task, especially in a short space of time!

To help UK businesses prepare as effectively as possible , we’ve put together a short guide and a COVID-19 resources page that outlines some key points for adopting temporary homeworking – and making it work for your business and users.

Our experience

We’ve done this based on over 10 years experience helping our customers with remote workforces working in a secure, productive and efficient manner. So we’ve summarised some of the main IT considerations for COVID-19 homeworking into a simple checklist – addressing these before (or very quickly after) homeworking starts will ensure all parties are happy and comfortable with the new working arrangements, and ensures that business can function as smoothly as possible during the COVID-19 crisis.

COVID-19 homeworking checklist

  • Do your users have the right hardware for working remotely – high spec laptop, mobile, comfortable workstation, printer, etc?
  • How will you and your team collaborate for group meetings, workshops, customer demos, etc? Should you consider collaboration platforms such as Microsoft Teams? This means you can get together for formal meetings, but also have daily coffee breaks in front of your screens to catch up more informally
  • Can confidentiality and compliance with data protection regulations be satisfied from a homeworking environment?
  • Don’t forget to update email signatures with mobile numbers instead of office landlines if they will go unanswered while the office is closed (IT can do this centrally across all signatures in Outlook)
  • Are users able to work at home securely with access to servers, VPN, etc?
  • Have you provided the right file sharing, collaboration and filing tools such as SharePoint and OneDrive

Further guidance about work duties and how to support your homeworkers with tasks, breaks, regulations and so on can be found here.

Find out more

Complete IT Systems Ltd have been providing these services to our customers for over 10 years and have many satisfied clients. For more information on how we can help, please call us on 01274 396 213 or read more about our support services here.

Printers & consumables for home workers during the COVID-19 crisis

Home office

Whether you’re looking for a quick solution for printers for homeworking during COVID-19 crisis, or you’re looking to deploy a more strategic print refresh, Complete IT Systems provide full range and expertise on printers and consumables.

We offer competitive prices, expertise on many lines of printers, inks and toners from all the major brands, in addition re-manufactured and compatible cartridges to fit all budgets and requirements – most lines are stocked and available on a next-day business delivery service.

From small desk based ink jet systems up to the high end departmental multi-function lasers, we have your requirements covered.

Find out more

Complete IT Systems Ltd have been providing these services to our customers for over 10 years and have many satisfied clients. For more information on how we can help, please call us on 01274 396 213 or read more about the print and consumables brands we carry here.

More guidance for businesses trying to quickly setup to enable homeworking is available here, and we’ll be publishing many more tips and guidance over the coming days and weeks.

Enable remote work while securing data during the COVID-19 pandemic

During this crisis, many office-based employees have become remote workers, and especially so now that confinement restrictions are in place across the UK.

As well as bringing up challenges for users such as how to juggle children, meals, and work and home life, remote working brings new security risks and productivity challenges for IT departments.

Over the coming days and weeks the team at Complete IT Systems will be publishing a series of guidance and tips to help you through this situation. In our first article, we focus on how Barracuda can help secure your data and infrastructure while ensuring reliable connections to maintain employee productivity.

How to secure your remote users in 3 easy steps:

  1. Reliable remote connectivity – Provide remote users with VPN access from any device with better performance than traditional IPsec-based VPNs.
  2. Zero touch provisioning – Centrally manage large deployments with minimal IT resources. Users can download and access apps without elevated privileges on their device.
  3. Support – The team at Complete IT Systems are committed to helping you in this challenging time by being a full partner in your business security. Find out about our support options for Barracuda and other solutions here.

Whitepaper: Advanced Secure Access for Remote and Mobile Workers

Barracuda CloudGen Firewalls incorporate advanced client-to-site VPN capabilities to ensure remote employees secure access to the network. Read more about how in this whitepaper.

How can I find out more?

As Barracuda Partners, Complete IT Systems can offer you expert advice on the solutions and how they could be effectively deployed in your business.

To find out more please call us on 01274 396 213 or use our contact form and we’ll arrange a good time to call you back.

Extended IT Support Cover

Are you having issues around support & deployment during the Covid-19 crisis? If you have new users working from home or remote locations to contend with, engineers off sick or self-isolating, or are unable to access your office location, then flexible IT support is a great way of ensuring your organisation’s core IT systems remain up and running.

How can we help?

Complete IT Systems have skilled technicians available to help business of all sizes and types remotely at the end of the phone.

We can provide support with VPN, Connectivity, Remote working as well as Server configuration issues be that Virtual or Physical.

Our credentials

Complete IT Systems Ltd carry accreditations from all major vendors including VMware, Microsoft, HP, Dell, Datto, Barracuda, Sophos and Kaspersky to name just a few. We can support systems running all Windows variants and Software revisions, we have specialists covering Office 365/Teams/Exchange.

Find out more

Complete IT Systems Ltd have been providing these services to our customers for over 10 years and have many satisfied clients. For more information on how we can help, please call us on 01274 396 213 or read more about our support services here.