What a year 2021 was! First, I would like to express how proud I am of the growth we achieved as one big team. Despite 2021 being another tricky year for everyone with the pandemic and its economic ripple effect, our resilience as a group shone through.

An organization is only as good as the people and culture driving it. I was proud to see the collective determination; how our people collaborated and adapted to new challenges to find innovative ways to solve problems for our clients.

In our digitization journey, we have embraced even higher levels of automation and digitization which have kept us strong. We have also made great strides in several industries including Oil & Gas, agriculture, and real estate with IoT Technology. We will keep at our goal to connect everyone and everything in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa with Internet of Things technology.

To our incredible clients, OEMs, and channel partners, thank you for being a big part of our 2021. We couldn’t have done it without your support. By God’s grace, 2022 will be another transformative year for Tranter Group of companies.

I wish everyone a happy, healthy, and successful year!

Lare Ayoola

Executive Chairman, Tranter IT, & IoT Africa

When you think of workspaces what comes to mind? You think of a table or desk to place laptops, phones, documents, and chairs to sit on. A place where people perform administrative work for a company.

Traditional workspaces are evolving rapidly toward flexible and smarter workplace models. We’ve all been through the pandemic and had to work remotely, this has evolved the employee experience and companies are still deciding what changes they are going to make to their work models.

This simply means that CEOs, COOs, HR Managers, Facility Managers and other key company managers have to be innovative with change for better productivity. An optimized work environment reduces costs and enables smart work. Organizations moving to a Smart Work Environment can save up to €1,220 (about ₦596,000) per year in real estate costs.

The ultimate goal here is to save cost, improve productivity while attracting and retaining talented workers. Even though rapid changes like Covid-19 and social distancing are making it difficult to optimize space layouts, good data is essential for planning space use. This is where Smart Space Monitoring comes in.

What is Space Monitoring? It is simply a workplace management solution that helps you to understand, prioritize and decide how to increase employee productivity and wellbeing. It is the system of controlling and managing the different physical workspaces a business occupies.

Covid 19 & Space Monitoring

It’s clear that the covid 19 pandemic has created a significant disruption in the business environment. The increase in number of employees working from home, as well as new restrictions on safe working environments, have a direct impact on the use of office space. As a result, companies will need to reassess their approach to office spaces in light of new data suggesting that even after the epidemic, remote work will grow increasingly popular.

Indoor Air Quality is also a growing concern with the Covid-19 pandemic and its new variant, emissions, and the desire for people to be healthy. Good indoor air quality is important to improve productivity and reduce Illnesses/sick leaves and airborne disease contamination. Employees also need tools to find the right space, book a room and feel safe. To have a more productive, happier, and healthier workforce, companies are combining improved air quality and space management applications.

Early this year, a space monitoring webinar was organised by IoT Africa (Tranter IT Company) tagged How to Improve Productivity & Safety using IoT. At the webinar, we had three global industry experts as keynote speakers, the speakers included Tom Lindblad, the Founder of Connected Finland; Maija Patjas, the Head of International Relations, Rapal Oy; and Melanie Ayoola, the Executive Director of IoT Africa Limited and Tranter IT Infrastructure Services Limited. The event was moderated by Wole Bamgboye, the Communications Manager, IoT Africa Limited, and Tranter IT Infrastructure Services Limited.

Maija Patjas, the head of International Relations at Rapal spoke at length on the need to welcome Space monitoring at our workspaces. She described how optimized workspaces can create a better work environment and lead to higher efficiency levels among company staff. Maija spoke about how managing hybrid work is making it difficult to optimize space layouts. She highlighted how the way we working is changing from an individual-based system into a social, collaborative use of space, with more focus on how employees feel about the environment, and how they can use a more flexible environment to be more productive. She also explained how improved productivity and collaboration, better satisfaction, better indoor comfort, reduced real estate costs, and energy savings can all be achieved when organizations integrate Smart Space Monitoring.

To watch the full video of the webinar, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55FFcbZyIEs

Why exactly do we need space monitoring in our businesses you would ask? Why not stick to what we know? Because space monitoring greatly influences the physical workspace of a business, it enables strategic planning to provide cost-effective solutions and allows the record of space you have available to be optimized for employees to perform their work more efficiently.

6 reasons to embrace Space Monitoring:

1. Reduce real estate cost: It may appear that determining when the space is being utilized is as simple as glancing at the office’s normal opening hours, but this naive approach ignores numerous aspects of today’s working environment. For example, with flexible and hybrid working hours now more popular than ever, can you actually say for sure when most of your employees come and go? A space management system can give you an accurate picture of how many people you need to have space for on an average day, and show you the trends of demand for this space across weeks and months.

2. Reduce your Company’s energy consumption: Knowing when the company is in use gives you a chance to better plan and operate lights, ACs, gadgets to coincide with actual demand and not just whe4n you assume the most people will need it.

3. Protect the well-being of your employees: as we feel the fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak, there is no question that the pandemic has left a potentially permanent impression on how space is organized in the workplace. With social distancing firmly fixed in our minds, people will be more conscious than ever about how closely they may be crammed in their offices.

4. Flexible Allocation of Space: It aids in the flexible allocation of space, ventilation, cooling, and cleaning costs.

5. Use your Building Better: Knowing how conference rooms, workstations, and workspaces are used in practice makes it much easier for managers to establish effective capacity usage plans.

6. It offers invaluable insight into how employees, office space, and technology interact to create a healthy and productive workplace. As a result, you can increase the productivity of your staff, who will find it easier and more efficient in a smart office tailored specifically to their working needs.

About IoT: IoT Africa Networks Limited is the exclusive Sigfox operator in Nigeria and we are responsible for rolling out the first IoT nationwide network in Nigeria. The IoT LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network), powered by IoT Africa Networks Ltd and Sigfox, is a game-changing digital technology in Nigeria.

About Tranter IT: Tranter IT Infrastructure Services Limited (Tranter IT) is an ICT and Internet of Things Solutions company that provides unified technology solutions to business problems. The company is the exclusive distributor of many IoT Connected devices in Nigeria. Tranter IT was founded in 2004 and has over 340 highly skilled employees, including about 280 ICT and IoT engineers.

About Rapal: Rapal specializes in the financial and environmental effects of the built environment. It is The company provides SaaS software for space management, space utilization, and smart office solutions. It is the company’s belief that a functioning work environment and a great workplace experience is a competitive factor that increases productivity and employee wellbeing.

For more information, please visit IoT Africa’s website https://www.iotafricanetworks.com/.

T: 07083557478, 07085801253

Email: enquiries@iotafricanetworks.com, enquiries@tranter-it.com

Website: www.iotafricanetworks.com, www.tranter-it.com.

Are you exhausted but unable to sleep at night? Do you wake up feeling cynical and unmotivated to start the day? Have you turned to food, or other substances to cope with how you feel? If this sounds close to home, you may be experiencing burnout. That feeling that you cannot keep moving forward, but do not know what else to do or how to get out of it. All you want to do is sleep and wake up when things are better.

You are not alone in this. A Gallup study found that 23 percent of people in the workforce experience burnout very often or always, and an additional 44 percent feel burnt out sometimes. All this means that nearly two-thirds of employees are burnt out on the job. Burnout triggers a full physical response such as triggers high blood pressure, vulnerability to illness, and insomnia as common symptoms.

The 5 stages of burnout

This guide is inspired by Winona State University’s burnout study, as well as our own psychological research. Burnout can affect anyone, at any time in their lives. However, a recent study has shown that the average professional experiences burnout by the age of 32. As with any illness, symptoms of burnout change from person to person, however, we have identified that the following five stages are commonly observed:

1. HONEYMOON PHASE

When we undertake a new task, we often start by experiencing high job satisfaction, commitment, energy, and creativity. This is especially true of a new job role, or the beginnings of a business venture. In this first phase of burnout, you may begin to experience predicted stresses of the initiative you are undertaking, so it is important to start implementing positive coping strategies, such as taking practical steps to support your well-being alongside your professional ventures.

The theory is that if we create good coping strategies at this stage, we can continue in the honeymoon phase indefinitely. Common symptoms include:

• Job satisfaction

• Readily accepting responsibility

• Sustained energy levels

• Unbridled optimism

• Commitment to the job at hand

• The compulsion to prove oneself

• Free-flowing creativity

• High productivity levels

2. ONSET OF STRESS

The second stage of burnout begins with an awareness of some days being more difficult than others. You may find your optimism waning, as well as notice common stress symptoms affecting you physically, mentally, or emotionally.

Common symptoms include:

• High blood pressure

• Inability to focus

• Irritability

• Job dissatisfaction

• Lack of sleep or reduced sleep quality

• Lack of social interaction

• Lower productivity

• Unusual heart rhythms

• Anxiety

• Avoidance of decision making

• Change in appetite or diet

• Fatigue

• Forgetfulness

• The general neglect of personal needs

• Grinding your teeth at night

• Headaches

• Heart palpitations

3. CHRONIC STRESS

The third stage of burnout is chronic stress. This is a marked change in your stress levels, going from motivation to experiencing stress on an incredibly frequent basis. You may also experience more intense symptoms than those of stage two.

Common symptoms include:

• Lack of hobbies

• Missed work deadlines and/or targets

• Persistent tiredness in the mornings

• Physical illness

• Procrastination at work and at home

• Repeated lateness for work

• Resentfulness

• Social withdrawal from friends and/or family

• Uptake of escapist activities

• Anger or aggressive behaviour

• Apathy

• Chronic exhaustion

• Cynical attitude

• Decreased sexual desire

• Denial of problems at work or at home

• Feeling threatened or panicked

• Feeling pressured or out of control

• Increased alcohol/drug consumption

• Increased caffeine consumption

4. BURNOUT

Entering stage four is burnout itself, where symptoms become critical. Continuing as normal is often not possible in this state as it becomes increasingly difficult to cope. We all have our unique limits of tolerance, and it is key that you seek intervention at this stage (for clinical issues, please refer to our partner Thrive Your Life). Common symptoms include:

• Development of an escapist mentality

• Feeling empty inside

• Obsession over problems at work or in life

• A pessimistic outlook on work and life

• Physical symptoms intensify and/or increase

• Self-doubt

• Social isolation

• Behavioural changes

• Chronic headaches

• Chronic stomach or bowel problems

• Complete neglect of personal needs

• Continuation or increase in escapist activities

• Desire to “drop out” of society

• Desire to move away from work or friends/family

5. HABITUAL BURNOUT

The final stage of burnout is habitual burnout. This means that the symptoms of burnout are so embedded in your life that you are likely to experience a significant ongoing mental, physical or emotional problem, as opposed to occasionally experiencing stress or burnout.

Common symptoms include:

• Chronic sadness

• Depression

• Burnout syndrome

• Chronic mental fatigue

• Chronic physical fatigue

How to prevent burnout

While burnout can cause issues at work, at home, and in life in general, it is always possible to take action and move towards Stage 1. Even if you are not experiencing stress or burnout now, we suggest the wisest course of action is to proactively take up self-care practices and build your mental resilience.

Solution 1: Focus on the things you can control. This starts with doing an evaluation of all the things you feel are out of your control (working hours, break times, projects) and then focus on the things you can, in fact, control.

• Do you actually have to check your email every minute? You need to question these types of work habits when considering how important it is to give your mind a rest.

• Do you have too many notifications buzzing on your phone? When you are in the middle of completing a task, it is your decision whether you pick up the incoming phone call or reply to that never-ending text group. If your boss hands you a new project, you have the right to ask your boss to help you prioritize your workload. The conversation can sound like, “Can you help me prioritize these projects for a moment? Here’s what I am currently working on, and here is what I have pending on deck. Here’s how long X will take me, here’s how long Y would take me. Should I make any workflow changes to honour your priorities?” Boom.

Solution 2: Take an inventory of the people in your life. Write down all the names of those you interact with most and then consider if they lift you up or drag you down. When you read their name on the list ask yourself:

• Do I get excited or anxious when their name pops up on my phone with a call or text? This will help you become aware of who feels unhealthy for you, allowing you to set limits.

• When a complainer starts venting, try to transition the conversation from what is wrong, to how it can be fixed. Ask them if they need help coming up with solutions for the problem. If they continue to wallow in their negativity, set a time limit and then politely excuse yourself from the conversation. Consider adding more positive people into your life, like a mentor who can help direct you towards professional and personal growth.

Solution 3: Bring balance back into your life.

• Tackle the most important task of the day first. Whether the task is a workplace presentation, or getting a doctor’s appointment set up. The majority of the population’s productivity is highest in the mid-morning hours, so considering carving this time out for that top task.

• Establish little goals and rewards. With both monotony and chaos, small rewards will help give you the motivation to keep going. Allow these sweet moments of joy to be a reminder of why you are working.

• Keep a gratitude list. At the end of each workday jot down three things you are grateful for. Counting your blessings is not simply a “woo-woo” mindset shift, it actually helps improve cardiovascular health and makes you more resilient to stress. Take it seriously.

• Accept that there is no such thing as “perfection” when it comes to balancing your life. You will tetter and totter, but it’s all about being aware and course-correcting efficiently. Accept that some days will be all about work, but then some days must be all about rest, family, and fun.

Burnout is not a new problem, but as the pandemic continues into 2021, it is critical that company leaders understand how to identify and mitigate it.

Source:

• https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleystahl/2020/03/10/workplace-burnout-heres-whats-causing-it-and-how-to-avoid-it/?sh=3927daa7178d

• https://www.thisiscalmer.com/blog/5-stages-of-burnout

Remote work is on the rise. Advancements in technology and cloud-based tools have made this incredible feat possible—you can work, communicate, and collaborate virtually from virtually anywhere. You no longer have to be confined within the four walls of a traditional office. As a Nigerian company, Tranter IT is a big supporter of remote work. We have over 400 staff across the country, with a solid majority working remotely from their homes. We are even able to stay connected using our own digital tools that we’ve created for our customers. Right now, the number of first-time remote workers is on the rise.

And as an IT Support company, we understand that working remotely during this lockdown can be overwhelming for any management, especially as it concerns monitoring and managing teams. 85 percent of our clients have reached out to us to help them strengthen their remote working operations while away from your office and onsite infrastructure. If you are a remote work beginner, we have a few tips, best practices, and stories to share that will help you get started on the right foot. Here’s what some of our experts have to say: Long blog post alert! Bring a cup of coffee, this might take a while. #1 – Have the right tools in place “Even if times are tough to the extent that humanity is challenged, with the right tools, things that may seem remotely possible, can be made possible remotely” – Hariharan Muralimanohar, Head of Marketing – Zoho One

Did you know that our new Zoho Remotely suite was built in less than a week? Even the website went live in just 3 days. We had to manage this whole project with everyone working from different locations following the new mandate to work from home. We were already accustomed to text chatting with peers, but this time, we made frequent use of our video and audio call features to interact with teammates, designers, copywriters, and developers. These cloud-based tools made it possible for everyone to stay working as a unit as the project was progressing. It is best to be prepared with the right set of cloud-based software tools when going remote. I can’t imagine how much more difficult the project would have been without these tools in place. Speaking personally, as a family man with a wife and two kids who were also required to stay at home, I had to keep the focus on work amidst all kinds of domestic noise. I’m grateful that I invested in good noise-canceling headphones! Of course, it should go without saying that it is crucial to have high-speed broadband set up with a powerful WiFi router. So, it’s best to be prepared with the right hardware tools to complement your software tools.

Even if times are tough to the extent that humanity is challenged, with the right tools, things that may seem remotely possible, can be made possible remotely.

#2 – Self-direct: be your own boss (especially when no one is around)

“Put your work in the context of the larger vision, do what you believe in, and make it all a game. Soon you will get to a stage where the only boss you will need is yourself” –Hari Narayanan, Head of Marketing – Zoho Projects and Sprints

Those of us who are used to the buzz and interactions of a busy office may find it hard to stay motivated when they are suddenly by themselves at home. This adjustment can feel impossible for some. If you are one of these people who struggle with the transition, there is no need to fret. There are steps you can take to ease the adjustment period. Over time, you may even learn how to use the focus gained from solitude to get a lot more done.

The key step is to keep your purpose, or “big picture” in mind. The story of the three stonecutters is a great example. When asked by a passerby what each stonecutter is doing, the first says he is chipping stones, and the second says he is earning a living. But, the third says he is building a grand cathedral that will be the pride of the town.

There was even a similar historical incident in which President Kennedy asked a janitor mopping the floor at NASA what he was doing. The janitor simply replied that he was “helping send a man to the moon.”

What is the cathedral your team or organization is trying to build? What is your moon mission? Look at your work not as a series of chores, but as indispensable contributions towards realizing a larger vision.

Do the work you believe in. Do you feel the impact your work creates is in proportion with your abilities? Do you find this impact personally satisfying? If not, it could be that you are overly focused on trying to please someone else, acting out of fear, or “just in it for the money.” None of these options is the best position to be in if you’re looking to find self-motivation.

Often, what the brain craves above all is instant gratification. You can play to this by gamifying your work. Set short term goals, and give yourself rewards that are independent of the outcome of your work. Ex: “If I work for the next three hours on this tough problem, I will watch my favourite show or nap for the next half hour.” “If I can clear my to-do list by Friday, I will go to the spa during the weekend.”

To summarize, put your work in the context of a larger vision, do what you believe in, and make it like a game. Soon, you will get to a stage where the only boss you will need is yourself.

To conclude: set your mind right,  do your part, and the rest will come to you naturally

Remote work really requires a strong commitment. It might take you a few days or a few months to master remote work. Just be professional, and pace yourself. Take the time to learn the ropes.

What do you think?

Join the conversation! Please feel free to share your remote work tips, best practices, setups, and more in the comments section below. 

Click here for more information – https://www.zoho.com/remotely/blog/become-remote-work-ready-tips-best-practices.html/amp?__twitter_impression=true

Thanks for reading!

Working from home is awesome … right up until the cat throws up on your computer. And your neighbor, who you can only assume is building a time machine, starts firing up all sorts of power tools and noisy machinery across the street.

For many modern professionals, working from home every once in a while is a luxury that our respective companies afford us. But which environment actually allows us to be more productive: the home office or the office office?

In the office office, your coworkers often pose the greatest threat to keeping you from getting some real, heads-down work done. They drop by your desk, engage you in conversation, and invite you to lunch. The social benefits of a workplace are definitely nice to have, but they can become a challenge if you’re easily distracted.

At the home office, however, I find that it’s easy for you to become your own worst enemy. Because when you’re not surrounded by coworkers, you’re free to drop those pesky inhibitions. At the home office, no one’s watching. You don’t necessarily feel that same peer pressure or communal obligation to get stuff done. (Also: You don’t have to wear pants.)

Below, I’ve compiled a bunch of great work-at-home tips and tricks from some of my awesome coworkers.

How to Work From Home: 20 Tips for Telecommuters

1. Get started early.

When working in an office, your morning commute can help you wake up and feel ready to work by the time you get to your desk. At home, however, the transition from your pillow to your computer can be much more jarring.

Believe it or not, one way to work from home productively is to dive into your to-do list as soon as you wake up. Simply getting a project started first thing in the morning can be the key to making progress on it gradually throughout the day. Otherwise, you’ll prolong breakfast and let the morning sluggishness wear away your motivation.

“When I work from home, I wake up, put on a pot of coffee, and start working immediately — much earlier normal working hours. I only start making breakfast once I’ve hit a wall or need a break. I’m a morning person and find I can get a ton done in the early morning hours, so this works really well for me.”

– Lindsay Kolowich

2. Pretend like you are going into the office.

The mental association you make between work and an office can make you more productive, and there’s no reason that feeling should be lost when telecommuting.

When working from home, do all the things you’d do to prepare for an office role: Set your alarm, make (or go get) coffee, and wear nice clothes. Internet browsers like Google Chrome even allow you to set up multiple accounts with different toolbars on the top — for example, a toolbar for home and a separate toolbar for work.

“Get fully ready for the day and pretend you’re actually going to work. Otherwise, you might find yourself back in bed.”

– Anna Faber-Hammond

3. Structure your day like you would in the office.

When working from home, you’re your own personal manager. Without things like an in-person meeting schedule to break up your day, you can be quick to lose focus or burn out.

To stay on schedule, segment what you’ll do and when over the course of the day. If you have an online calendar, create personal events and reminders that tell you when to shift gears and start on new tasks. Google Calendar makes this easy.

“Are mornings for writing while you’re in the office? Use the same schedule at home. While you probably will get tasks done faster at home than at work, this structure will help keep you focused and productive.”

– Ginny Mineo

4. Choose a dedicated workspace.

Just because you’re not working at an office doesn’t mean you can’t, well, have an office. Rather than cooping yourself up in your room or on the couch — spaces that are associated with leisure time — dedicate a specific room or surface in your home to work.

“Have a place you go specifically to work. It could be a certain table, chair, local coffee shop — some place that’s consistently your ‘work space.’ It helps you get into the right frame of mind.”

– Sam Mallikarjunan

5. Don’t stay at home.

Is your home office just not getting it done for you? Take telecommuting a step further and get out of the house. Coffee shops, libraries, public lounges, and similar Wi-Fi-enabled spaces can help you simulate the energy of an office so you can stay productive even when you don’t sit in an official workplace.

“I get out of my home to work, and go to a Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, or other WiFi enabled establishment with actual tables, chairs, and people. It helps simulate the work environment for me — white noise, chatter, that kind of thing — that usually helps me work better than utter silence. It also removes the distractions I typically have at home like the urge to finally actually clean my room, do laundry, or watch TV. I also refuse to play into the trope of being some jerk sitting at Starbucks not doing any real work, so I feel motivated not to mess around on Facebook all day to show there are still people who actually get stuff done at a coffee shop!”

– Corey Wainwright

6. Make it harder for yourself to mess around on social media.

Social media is designed to make it easy for you to open and browse quickly. At work, though, this convenience can be the detriment of your productivity.

To counteract your social networks’ ease of use during work hours, remove them from your browser shortcuts and, according to Fast Company, log out of every account. You might even consider working primarily in a private or, if you’re using Chrome, an “Incognito” browser window. This ensures you stay signed out of all your accounts and each web search you conduct doesn’t autocomplete the word you’re typing. It’s a guarantee that you won’t be tempted into taking too many social breaks during the day.

“I remove all social networks from my toolbar bookmarks. Even if I don’t mean to browse them, some uncontrollable impulse subconsciously clicks on them when I experience downtime. You can get sucked in without knowing it (or even intending to), so eliminating the gateway to those networks keeps me on track.”

– Alec Biedrzycki

7. Commit to doing more.

Projects always take longer than you initially think they will. For that reason, you’ll frequently get done less than you set out to do. So, just as you’re encouraged to overestimate how much time you’ll spent doing one thing, you should also overestimate how many things you’ll do during the day. Even if you come up short of your goal, you’ll still come out of that day with a solid list of tasks filed under ‘complete.’

“Our team has a daily standup meeting each morning where we share what we’re working on for the day. On days I’m working from home, I tend to slightly overcommit on what I’ll deliver that day. It helps keep me honest, so even if I get the urge to go do something else, I know I’ve already committed a certain amount of work to my team.”

– Corey Wainwright

8. Work when you’re at your most productive.

Nobody sprints through their work from morning to evening — your motivation will naturally ebb and flow throughout the day. When you’re working from home, however, it’s all the more important to know when those ebbs and flows will take place and plan your schedule around it.

To capitalize on your most productive periods, save your harder tasks for when you know you’ll be in the right headspace for them. Use slower points of the day to knock out the easier, logistical tasks that are also on your plate. Verily Magazine calls these tasks “small acts of success,” and they can help build your momentum for the heavier projects that are waiting for you later on.

“For me, the most productive times of the day are usually early in the morning or late at night. I recognize this and try to plan my day accordingly. Also, music that really pumps me up doesn’t hurt.”

– Brittany Leaning

9. Save calls for the afternoon.

Sometimes, I’m so tired in the morning, I don’t even want to hear my own voice — let alone talk to others with it. You shouldn’t have to give yourself too much time to become productive in the morning, but you can give yourself some extra time before working directly with others.

If you’re struggling to come up with a reasonable work schedule for yourself as a telecommuter, start with the solitary tasks in the morning. Save phone calls, meetings, and other collaborative work for when you’ve officially “woken up.”

“Take advantage of morning hours to crank through meaty projects without distractions, and save any calls or virtual meetings for the afternoon.”

– James Gilbert

10. Focus on one distraction … like a baby!

There’s an expression out there that says, “if you want something done, ask a busy person.”

The bizarre but true rule of productivity is that the busier you are, the more you’ll actually do. It’s like Newton’s law of inertia: If you’re in motion, you’ll stay in motion. If you’re at rest, you’ll stay at rest. And busy people are in fast-enough motion that they have the momentum to complete anything that comes across their desk.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to find things to help you reach that level of busyness when you’re at home — your motivation can just swing so easily. HubSpot’s principal marketing manager, Pam Vaughan, suggests focusing in on something that maintains your rhythm (in her case, it’s her daughter).

“When I work from home, my 20-month-old daughter is home with me, too. It seems counterintuitive, but because I have to manage taking care of her and keeping her happy and entertained while still getting my work done, the pressure helps to keep me focused. When she’s napping or entertaining herself, I go into super-productive work mode. It’s the same idea for why some people work better when they have very busy schedules — you learn how to manage your time VERY efficiently. The ‘distraction’ of my daughter (I mean that in the most loving way possible) means I can’t possibly succumb to some of the other common distractions of home — putting in a load of laundry, turning on the TV, doing other household chores — or else I’d never get any actual work done.”

– Pamela Vaughan

11. Plan out what you’ll be working on ahead of time.

Spending time figuring out what you’ll do today can take away from actually doing those things. And, you’ll have planned your task list so recently that you can be tempted to change your schedule on the fly.

It’s important to let your agenda change if you need it to, but it’s equally as important to commit to an agenda that outlines every assignment before you begin. Try solidifying your schedule the day before, making it feel more official when you wake up the next day to get started on it.

“If I’m planning on working from home on a certain day, I’ll make sure to get any work done ahead of time that requires me to be in the office — for example, if I’m working on a task that would be infinitely easier to complete with access to my large monitor screen, or need to schedule meetings with coworkers that are best had in person. Plan out your week in advance to optimize for the environments you’ll be in.”

– Niti Shah

12. Use technology to stay connected.

Working from home might help you focus on your work in the short term, but it can also make you feel cut off the larger operation happening in the office. Instant messaging and videoconferencing tools can make it easy to check in with coworkers and remind you how your work is contributing to the big picture.

“Part of what enables us to work from home so much more often now is the array of apps and tools designed to help remove distance as a barrier between team members. Finding the right tools to keep you and your team connected is important for staying productive at home. At HubSpot, we use Slack to keep conversations going remotely, Trello to keep us organized around priorities, and Google Hangouts plus Webex to make remote meetings more productive. Getting the right stack of support tools to fit your work style makes a big difference.”

– Meghan Keaney Anderson

13. Match your music to the task at hand.

During the week, music is the soundtrack to your career (cheesy, but admit it, it’s true). And at work, the best playlists are diverse playlists — you can listen to music that matches the energy of the project you’re working on. Video game soundtracks are excellent at this. In the game itself, this lyric-free music is designed to help you focus; it only makes sense that it would help you focus on your work as well.

Want some other genres? Take them from startup marketer, Ginny Mineo, who offers her own work music preferences below.

“When I’m powering through my inbox, I need some intense and catchy rap/R&B (like Nicki Minaj or Miley Cyrus) blasting through my headphones, but when I’m writing, Tom Petty is the trick. Finding what music motivates and focuses me for different tasks (and then sticking to those playlists for those tasks) has completely changed my WFH productivity.”

– Ginny Mineo

14. Use laundry as a work timer.

You might have heard listening to just two or three songs in the shower can help you save water. And it’s true; hearing a few of your favorite songs start and end, one after another, can remind you how long you’ve been in the bathroom and shorten your wash time.

Why bring this up? Because the same general principle can help you stay on task when working from home. But instead of three songs off your music playlist, run your laundry instead.

Doing your laundry is a built-in timer for your home. So, use the time to start and finish something from your to-do list before changing the load. Committing to one assignment during the wash cycle and another during the dry cycle can train you to work smarter on tasks that you might technically have all day to tinker with.

“It’s already been said, but waking up early and getting things done before other people get online works for me. I also usually do laundry when I work from home and I set mini deadlines for myself corresponding to when I have to go downstairs to switch loads. If I’m working on an article, I tell myself I’ll get to a certain point before the wash cycle ends. Then I set another goal for the dryer.”

– Emma Brudner

15. Communicate expectations with anyone who will be home with you.

Of course, you might be working from home but still have “company.” Make sure any roommates, siblings, parents, spouses, and dogs (well, maybe not dogs) respect your space during work hours. Just because you’re working from home doesn’t mean you’re home.

“If anyone else is going to be at home when you’re working, they just have to be clear that when you’re in your ‘office’ (in my case, my signal to the family is having headphones on), you’re working — even if it looks like and feels like you’re hanging out at home. It’s easy to get distracted by the many things that have to be done around the house during the day.”

– Sam Mallikarjunan

16. Take clear breaks.

It can be so easy to get distracted as a telecommuter that you avoid breaks altogether. Don’t let the guilt of working in the building you sleep in prevent you from taking five to relax. Rather than just opening YouTube and watching some comfort clips, however, use your breaks to get away from your desk. Go for a walk outside or spend time with others who might also be in the house.

“Breaks, like making and eating lunch, can recharge you to do better work. Don’t assume you need to be working 100% of the time while you’re home to be more productive.”

– Ginny Mineo

17. Interact with other humans.

Remember: You’re working from home, not the moon. Interacting with other people during the day is allowed, even if they’re not your coworkers. In fact, it’s a good idea to see another face during the day when most of your work day is solitary.

“Go outside and find a human to interact with — ordering your coffee, running an errand, whatever. It keeps you sane.”

– Corey Wainwright

18. Prepare your meals the night before.

When you’re in your own home, it can be tempting to spend time preparing a really nice breakfast and lunch for yourself, chopping and cooking included. Don’t use precious minutes making your food the day of work — cook it the night before.

Preparing food ahead of time ensures you can actually use your meal times to eat, and that you aren’t performing non-work tasks that spend energy better used at your desk.

“Cooking at home is time you wouldn’t have spent meal prepping if you’d been in the office that day, and I find the minutes can really add up in the end. To mitigate that, I try to cook and prep my meals the night before, just like I would for a day at the office.”

– Lindsay Kolowich

19. Pick a definitive finishing time each day.

You might be under the impression that working from home establishes more work-life balance, but be careful with that assumption. Working from home can also feel like being at a casino — you can get so caught up in your activity, in a relaxing environment, that you lose complete track of time.

In lieu of coworkers, whose packing up and leaving the office reminds you to do the same, set an alarm at the end of the day to indicate your normal work day is coming to an end. You don’t have to stop at exactly that time, but knowing the work day is technically over can help you start the process of saving your work and calling it quits for the evening.

“If you work from home full-time (or on a regular basis), it’s really easy to let your work life bleed into your personal life. Maintaining a boundary is important for both halves of the equation.”

– Tyler Littwin

20. Keep the TV on in the background.

“I spent my first two years out of college working from home as a freelance writer. Of all the tips, tricks, and secrets I’ve uncovered for being more productive at home, one stands out above the rest: Putting on the History Channel. No joke. Just keep the History Channel running in the background at a low volume, and I swear, you’ll get stuff done. (I’m not exactly sure why this trick works, but I can only assume it has something to do with ancient aliens.)”

– Me (Erik Devaney)

Source: Hubspot Marketing

In June 2018, Unatrac Holding Limited, a company which deals in sales of heavy industrial and farm equipment, was said to have approached the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) over a breach in the email account of its chief financial officer where a fraudulent transfer of funds was done. The intruder was said to have sent phishing emails containing a web link, purportedly to the login page of the CFO’s online email account hosted by Microsoft Office 365. Believing the link to be genuine, the CFO was said to have imputed his username and password from where the intruder got full access to the account and sent a fraudulent wire transfer request to the company’s internal financial team. Acting under the impression that the email emanated from the CFO, the finance staff processed approximately 15 payments between April 11 to 19, 2018, totalling $11 million.

Email security gateways protect enterprises from threats such as spam and phishing attacks. This article explains how these products get the job done.

Companies use email security gateways to prevent email messages that violate an organization’s policies — particularly ones with malicious intent — from reaching their destinations.

All email security gateways have the ability to quarantine or block email that contains detected malware, phishing attacks, spam, as well as other malicious content. This prevents most attacks from reaching their intended recipients, which, in turn, reduces the number of successful compromises of hosts, user credentials and sensitive data.

Some security gateways also offer data loss prevention capabilities that thwart inadvertent or intentional leakage of sensitive information via email messages. This is mainly a concern for outbound traffic — email messages sent from within the organization.

There are many products available. It is not feasible to exhaustively capture the characteristics of every single one, so this article focuses on the most widely used types of gateway products.

The architecture of email security gateways

There are several possible architectures for hosting email gateways, including the following:

1. The email server: Some gateway products are email server-specific — e.g., for Exchange servers only or for Domino servers only — and these products are typically installed directly onto the email server. Most products do not fall into this category.

2. An on-site hardware appliance: The majority of secure email gateway products offer a hardware appliance option. Companies install this dedicated appliance on the organization’s network, and inbound and outbound email traffic is routed through the appliance for analysis and filtering.

3. An on-site virtual appliance: Most vendors offer on-site virtual appliances for email security. Companies can install these virtual appliances as part of a private cloud controlled by the organization, or they can be run on an on-site server without necessarily being part of a cloud architecture.

4. A public cloud: Many email security gateway products are available as public cloud-based services. They function the same way as the on-site appliances do; all inbound and outbound email traffic for an organization is routed through the service.

5. A hybrid approach — combining public cloud and on-site presence: Many vendors offer a hybrid architecture, which combines a public cloud-based service and a locally deployed hardware or virtual appliance.

Each option has advantages and disadvantages in terms of security, performance and reliability. However, all of these architectures ultimately deliver the same type of email analysis and filtering services to their user communities. Email security gateways are strictly that — gateways — and they have no presence on client devices. The lack of a dependency on client-side security controls is important for achieving effective email security in many environments, especially those that have email users with client devices outside the organization’s control, such as bring your own device laptops, smartphones and tablets.

Typical environments suitable for email security gateways

Secure email gateways are a necessity for virtually every organization since email-borne threats are ubiquitous. They allow all types of organizations to boost their security.

Gateways go beyond the traditional detection capabilities of legacy antivirus and antiphishing tools by offering more sophisticated detection and prevention capabilities. They also make use of threat intelligence to stay up to date with the latest threats.

Since email security gateways monitor network traffic, the gateways filter email messages before they reach users’ inboxes. Consequently, they can offer a strong level of protection for email clients on all devices, protecting employees who use their own devices for work or who work remotely. Secure email gateways don’t affect the performance of these devices.

However, to ensure endpoint and mobile security, companies should consider upgrading to cloud versions of their email security gateways that include more advanced phishing protection, particularly to protect against impostor email threats — email fraud — or business email compromise — a financial cyberthreat. Cloud platforms are also more agile and better able to adapt to new threats without the need for administrators to upgrade on-premises appliances or software. Email security gateways are beneficial for organizations that host their own email services and those that outsource their email services, assuming the outsourcer isn’t already providing security gateway services.

Organizations that outsource email services should check with their outsourcer to see what security services they provide, before inadvertently duplicating those services.

The costs of email security gateway adoption and deployment. The cost models for adopting and deploying gateways vary considerably depending on the type of product selected. For example, public cloud-based email security gateway services usually charge per-user, per-month fees. Appliance-based models typically have a flat fee for the appliance itself and may also charge a subscription fee to supply the appliance with the latest threat intelligence information and other updates. Because email security gateways should be transparent to end-users, client support should be minimal. Gateways do make mistakes, but most products are extremely accurate in their classifications of email messages, so it’s quite rare for one to block a nonthreatening message. Such instances may require a gateway administrator to intervene. Some secure email gateways offer add-on security capabilities, such as email encryption. These capabilities generally involve a separate charge in addition to the gateway itself and any support or maintenance subscriptions.

Beefing up organizational security with email security gateways

Secure email gateways prevent malware, phishing attacks, spam and other unwanted email messages from reaching their recipients and compromising their devices, user credentials or sensitive data. Because so many attacks today are email-based, a security gateway can sharply decrease the number of successful attacks against an organization.

Next Steps

With over 146 billion records expected to be stolen over the next five years, enterprises can no longer rest on their laurels when it comes to protecting the data under their care. As recent events show, the impact of data breaches can be severe, not just in terms of monetary losses but also reputational damage.

Speak to a consultant today via call 08183405221/09023416588 or email – enquiries@tranter-it.com.

I have often been asked by clients about what makes our IT support engineers at Tranter IT unique and what they should look out for when selecting IT support engineers for their companies. I know a lot of business owners also have such questions especially as not every business owner can consider themselves a tech guru. This is why I have taken the time out to put out an article on the things your company should be looking out for when choosing an IT support engineer for your company.

It is no news that no organization in this current age can survive without IT. With that in mind, here are a few skills to look out for when choosing the right technical support engineer for your company or while evaluating your current technical support engineer.

• Communication Skills: An IT support engineer should be able to effectively communicate technical issues to his colleagues. He must be able to listen and understand the technical problems being faced by a user and communicate solutions to such user effectively. In essence, he must be able to break down technical terms to smaller pieces as much as possible.

• Time Management Skills: An IT support engineer must be able to effectively spread his time among the different technical tasks that he must attend to in a day. He must possess strong time management skills and be able to achieve more in less time.

• Patience: Just like customer care agents, IT support engineers often have to attend to frustrated and impatient users. Therefore, he must be able to patiently listen to complaints and walk the user through the process of resolving technical issues and ensuring that such issues do not reoccur.

• Technical Skills: Of course, an IT support engineer must be skilled at working with various software and hardware, web-based applications and more. He must also display an interest in self-development and be willing to update his skills when needed. IT is always evolving; therefore, the right IT support engineer must be one that is willing to always get updated on the latest trends in the industry.

These are the things to look out for when choosing your IT support engineer. Remember, they must possess communication skills, technical skills, time management skills and be able to patiently attend to users’ complaints.

At Tranter IT, these are the skills we ensure that our IT support staff must possess. We ensure they go through a rigorous training to keep them up to date in the IT industry.

What do you think? What other skills do you look out for when choosing an IT support engineer? Please share below.

PS: At Tranter IT, we provide IT support engineers for growing businesses under our 10+ IT support platform. If you want to get a highly experienced IT support staff equipped with all the skills mentioned above and more, contact us here: https://www.tranter-it.com/10plus to sign up for a free consultation with us. If you already have an IT support staff that you want to retain, we can also adopt the staff and constantly update their skill set and IT knowledge, thereby rendering better quality service to your organization.

Melanie Ayoola

Executive Director, Tranter IT