We're back with our next edition of the Honest IT Company. We sit down with Glo MD & Founder, Chris, to chat about all things Glo, IT, and everything in between. Unfiltered, honest, and hopefully, helpful. Ready for this month's diary? Let's go!
Hey Chris, what’s new with Glo?
In recent weeks, two customers asked about switching to G suite from Office 365 which is a rare and surprising occurrence considering the last time we dealt with moving users to G suite was around 11 years ago! We've found it particularly interesting and want to investigate why this has turned up. Stay tuned!
We've also come to the end of our recent recruitment process with four new fantastic members of the team. One member has already begun and is getting stuck into Glo-life and two are yet to join the fun starting in August. Our aim has been to take on more than we currently need in anticipation of future growth. We've landed a lot of new customers recently, it's critical that we maintain our WOW-factor service and ensure we are continuously looking at how we can serve our customers better. That's why we have found some star candidates to join the team.
While recruiting, I was surprised at the volume of good candidates out there. And also, equally surprised at how many simply didn’t put the effort in or read the advert properly. We had over 200 applications, one person particularly stood out and got hired immediately. Their energy, manners, and attention to detail were great, they were smartly dressed and answered questions in full and with care. It's been an eye-opening process and I'm happy to have expanded the team in the way we have. We're ready to rock!
What has piqued your interest this month in the IT industry?
It's been a consistently growing concern that cybersecurity is an absolute mess in the IT world right now. The Kaseya ransomware hack was a massive disappointment for the industry because of the wide-ranging impact it had on businesses and the vulnerability of the system in place. Many businesses were put at risk via a system that was comprised, the providers have a responsibility to ensure their product is as secure as possible and that simply did not happen here.
On top of this, there was the print spooler fiasco. Every time you send a print job from your device to a Windows print spooler, you are inviting the print spooler service into your system and that is some significant bugs. There have been attempts to fix this time and time again but one surefire way of dealing with this would be to switch off printers around the world. However, this is not a viable solution when printing spoolers are used in so many ways, including PDFs and documents. There is likely to be more of these vicious predicaments as cybercrime and the security around it progress at different rates.
Acting fast is key
The trick with these attacks is to act fast. One of our clients, who is very tech-savvy, fell victim to a dodgy email fishing for his credentials. If someone with that level of expertise can fall for such scams, what hope is there for the masses? His whole system would have been completely gone in several hours, luckily, he contacted us quickly and we had the right protocol in place to combat it. Knowledge is power and acting fast and staying protected is your safest bet.
Action is needed
What you should be able to do is send the original phishing email to an authority, they can chase it and that person gets appropriate punishment. The internet is, of course, worldwide, countries have different opinions on what is good and bad, and cybercriminals are boosting the economy of whichever country they are in. Because of this, putting legalities in place and reinforcing punishments for cybercriminals is difficult. But what does the future hold when the threat of a digital modern war is looming?
It’s a tough industry to be in at the moment. No kickbacks from bigger corps like Microsoft, there are increasing battles in cybersecurity, and many owners of MSPs are shutting down due to the stress of dealing with it.
You’ve only got to have one big hacking incident followed by a couple of nice days off with the family to consider walking away from a business. Life is full of curveballs, it depends on how big the curveball is that comes your way.
In the words of Basement Jaxx, 'where's your head at' recently?
I truly believe humanity needs a wake-up call to assess what is important in life. There is a relatively new phrase 'forest bathing' that has grown in popularity recently. It refers to the act of running or moving through trees and spending mindful time in nature. The simple importance of nature has always really resonated with me, and one I hope more can embrace. The Glo team is still reaping the benefits of our outdoor meeting and more have requested to join in on the next one. I urge you to try it!
I've also been reading a lot about four-day weeks and the overwhelming success that the Icelandic Government had when they recently tried it. Now, lots of companies are jumping on board and it's really got me thinking. No pay cut, simply work 4 days instead of 5. As a customer-service-based company, we would have to alternate the days off between the time but it'd be great to see the difference. Are we quicker, smarter, or more energised? The team is absolutely engaged enough as it is, but if it gives them time to do their own thing and achieve personal goals then even better! Watch this space...
Quickfire, what has made you happy this month?
First up, my daughter, Mia, has randomly begun trying to sit herself up using her cot. This is mindblowing to me considering her disability and previous progress.
Out of the blue, one of our Glo Partner customers has given us amazing feedback recently and it's brilliant to see our new client packages are off to a winning start. I treasure unprovoked feedback massively at Glo, internally we call them 'WOW's and it's considered a great accolade amongst the Glo ranks.
Lastly, we're nearing the end of our business year and we have exceeded targets. We're ploughing any profit back into employing new team members and starting to plan exciting and crazy goals for next year. I'm thinking of sharing the goals with the team to see their contribution and get them more invested in it. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes out of these conversations.
And now time for the curveball question... What do you think is the best way to deliver critical feedback?
Spit it out. Precede by asking them whether you can give some feedback in order to help them along, and then deliver it in black and white. Don’t sugarcoat it, but ensure they understand that there is nothing nasty meant here. I offer feedback frequently as if you don't tell someone, how are they supposed to learn and grow?
Very wise words indeed. That's it for another exciting bite of Glo! Thanks, Chris.
Get in touch with any questions, comments and suggestions. We loved hearing from clients and readers about last month's editions. Keep 'em coming!