Home How We Help Be a better employer Where to find business tech support during covid-19

Be a better employer

Where to find business tech support during covid-19

Australian businesses have been urged to allow their employees to work from home during the COVID-19 health crisis. However, rolling out a remote working model from one day to the next can prove to be challenging. Here’s where to get a helping hand with your tech set-up.

Where to look

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced thousands of small businesses to radically overhaul their operations to comply with government shutdown restrictions and reduce the risk of spreading the virus further. Asking your team to work remotely is the obvious solution but, unless you’ve done it before, you may need some help to get things running smoothly and securely.

Your current information and communications technology (ICT) service provider, if you have one, should be your first port of call, according to WatchGuard Technologies ANZ regional director Mark Sinclair.

They may be able to offer you a virtual private network (VPN) which can enable remote workers to access your business network securely using their home internet connection. Additional authentication services could also be warranted to minimise the danger of opportunistic cyber-criminals taking advantage of the COVID-19 crisis to infiltrate your systems by posing as off-site employees.

It may also be worth asking for a step-by-step guide to show your employees how to set up their work laptops at home, connect to the office via a VPN and request technical support if they’re having trouble.

A helping hand from the ICT industry

If your business doesn’t have a relationship with an ICT service provider, assistance is at hand from the Australian Information Industries Association (AIIA). It's Business Continuity portal is a free, one-stop-shop for small businesses in need of a little, or a lot, of help to get into remote working.

Supported by the Federal Government, the portal provides advice about business continuity and remote working practices, including tele and video-conferencing, online collaboration, virtual meetings, and events and professional consultations.

There’s also access to complimentary products and services from major software and telecommunications vendors, including Telstra, Google, ServiceNow, Cisco, Salesforce and SAP.

It’s the ICT industry’s way of supporting the economy during difficult and unprecedented times, according to AIIA CEO Ron Gauci.

Since its launch in late March, the portal has been accessed 10,000 times, with most visitors searching for information on workforce management and collaboration.

If it’s feasible, allowing your employees to work from home is the safest way to operate your business through the COVID-19 crisis. Timely tech advice and support can help you get the team working securely and at speed, whether they’re on- or off-site.

Looking for more help to navigate your business through the COVID-19 crisis? Visit our free resource centre.