Cloud Computing – Page 2 – GC Infotech LLC Work Smarter!

Microsoft Teams for dummies: A simple tutorial for beginners

This guide will take you through the essential Microsoft Teams features

Following the rapid shift to remote or hybrid working, many employees were simply expected to know how to use video conferencing tools like Microsoft Teams. However, for the majority of the workforce, a day spent in the office meant little more than responding to emails. The sudden adoption of Microsoft Teams for long-distance meetings and remote collaboration took some getting used to.

Given the pace at which the Covid-19 pandemic spread, the usual adjustment period and training to accommodate the use of Teams simply didn’t take place. Fortunately, Microsoft has tried to make the transition as streamlined as possible by providing an intuitive platform that is full of easy-to-use features for even the most inexperienced IT user.

However, if you’re still unsure about using Teams, we’ve come up with a handy guide that goes over some of the most important features below:

Signing up

Perhaps the most important step to using Teams is the first one: signing up. This is easily achieved by visiting https://products.office.com/microsoft-teams. Then simply enter the email address associated with your Microsoft account and select “Next”. Then enter your password and select “Sign in”. There may be a few more details to enter but then you should select “Set up Teams.”

After that is complete, it’s time to choose how you want to open and use Teams. Microsoft Teams is available in several different versions – with Windows, Mac, mobile, and web options all available. Download or access your chosen version of Teams and the signup process is complete. If you want to know more about logging in, this guide will show you how.

Exploring the Teams interface

The best way to understand how to use Microsoft Teams is to explore its user interface. On the left, you’ll see the App bar, where you’ll find a whole host of different icons. These include “Activity,” which displays mentions, replies, and other notifications, as well as “Meetings” or “Calendar,” either of which is synced with your Outlook calendar and provides a quick way of viewing all your upcoming meetings. There’s also “Chat,” “Files,” “Calls,” “Store,” and “Feedback.”

Aside from the App bar, the interface also boasts the “Teams” section, which displays a list of the user’s teams, “Channel,” the “Command Bar,” and various “Tabs” that allow you to move between different Teams pages. There are lots of additional features to get to grips with as well, so it’s a good idea to start investigating the interface to see what’s on offer.

Collaborate in a Microsoft Teams hub

In order to collaborate with others in Teams, you first need to join or create a Teams hub. To do so, select “Teams” from the App bar, followed by “Join” or “Create a Team.” If you’re creating a team, enter your chosen name and description, select your privacy settings and add your members.

A team can have a maximum of 2,500 members – so the opportunities for collaboration are pretty vast. You can also assign roles to each individual, such as “Owner” or “Member.” If you’re finished with a particular Teams hub, you can always choose to “Delete the team.”

Setting up a Teams call

Another of the most important actions to understand on Teams is how to set up a call. One of the ways is to select the “Schedule a meeting” button during a chat to set up a call with all the people involved in the chat. Alternatively, you can select the “Calendar Meetings” button followed by “New meeting.” Then if you select a time in the calendar, a scheduling form will appear for you to finish setting up the meeting. Once you’re happy with the meeting details, click “Save” and the relevant individuals will be sent a meeting invitation.

Don’t worry if you want to invite someone that doesn’t have Teams to a meeting either. As long you have their full email address, you can invite them. They’ll receive an email with a link to the meeting so they can join just like any other attendee that has a Teams license.

Take part in chat

Sometimes a full-blown video call may not be necessary, so Teams enables

collaboration to occur through its chat function. In order to start a new chat, click on the “Compose Box” and begin typing. Click “Send” to deliver your message to any individual in the team or channel that you’re working in.

One of the best aspects of the chat function is that any new member that is added can look back at all the previous messages – even those that were posted before they joined. This means it is easy for them to get up to speed with a new project.

Following the creation of a Teams hub, a SharePoint site is automatically set up, complete with a document library for each channel. Any file uploaded to Teams will be visible from the Files tab and simultaneously stored in SharePoint. If you want to open the file directly from SharePoint, you can click on the three dots located after the file name and select “Open in SharePoint.”

Accessing help

Teams also has its own dedicated support webpage, which provides guidance, training, and tips so you can discover how any aspect of the platform works. With all that and the above guide, you’ll go from dummy to Teams expert in no time.

Fortunately, there’s another way to find the right app for your business: ask the experts. Contact us today for an IT assessment!

If you are looking for an expert to help you find the best solutions for your business talk to GCInfotech about a free technology assessment

Published with consideration from TechRadar.com SOURCE

April 12, 2022/by John Murray

Cloud Computing, Security

Is Cloud Computing Safe for Small Businesses?

You might wonder if now is the right time for your small business to turn to cloud computing for all your data storage needs.

While you’ll find many benefits with cloud computing, you might also have concerns over potential security issues. Fortunately, you can embrace the advantages of cloud computing while still keeping your small business and your customers’ private information safe.

Look into ideas such as hybrid cloud computing, which costs less money and gives similar advantages to companies. You’ll still gain the safety net of a third-party provider, but for a fraction of the cost.

Here are some things to keep in mind when considering whether cloud computing is a secure option for your small business.

1. Train your workers to identify attacks.

Phishing usually starts with an email made to look as though it’s from an official source.

Teach your staff to go directly to a website and never click on links within an email. You can significantly reduce social engineering attacks by training your workers to recognize them.

Phishing can also look like an email from someone higher up in a company, but will actually be from someone trying to gain access to accounts. It’s always best to double-check requests for passwords or personal information by calling the other employee directly.

According to Verizon’s 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report, approximately 36% of breaches come from phishing attacks. Phishing is quite avoidable if you train your workers to recognize and avoid it.

2. Install virus and malware protection.

Make sure every device used by your company or its employees – even remote workers – has the latest virus and malware protection installed.

One of the biggest threats to the computing safety of your small business is workers not protecting their accounts. Hackers can do a lot of mischief if they get their hands on login credentials.

Make sure any device used to access accounts has protection installed. Remote workers may need to go through IT to ensure they add two-factor authentication and install all available software.

Companies should provide protection and follow up frequently to be sure it gets installed and updated properly.

3. Insist on strong passwords.

One way people allow hackers into their accounts is by reusing passwords, not changing them frequently, or using easy-to-guess combinations.

At a minimum, you should change all your business passwords every few months, including any passwords to cloud computing software.

Encourage employees to use passwords that aren’t easy to guess and contain lowercase letters, capitals, numbers, and characters.

Don’t forget to watch the passwords you use for software as a service (SaaS) applications. A company with under 500 employees uses as many as 123 different SaaS apps.

For example, if you use several different websites for various tasks, make sure you change passwords when an employee leaves or you terminate them. Not keeping up with passwords opens your business to vulnerabilities.

4. Set clear security policies.

Avoid confusion over security protocols by setting some policies.

What happens to customer data when you no longer need it? How often do you change passwords? Are there tiers to data access?

Figure out what works best for your organization and set the rules. This helps current and future employees know what’s expected of them.

5. Comply with all applicable laws.

Know the rules surrounding data protection.

For example, if some of your customers reside in the European Union (EU), you fall under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and must comply with the rules or face fines.

States such as California have similar standards. Your state and local governments may vary, so be sure to check any applicable laws.

You also must comply with laws in areas where your out-of-state customers reside.

6. Set a budget.

McKinsey & Company recently noted most companies plan to have $8 of every $10 in their IT hosting budget go toward cloud hosting by 2024.

The pandemic brought many companies online with cloud access for remote workers they weren’t planning to implement yet.

The increase in data means an increase in online criminal activity.

So, is cloud computing safe for your small business? The answer isn’t always the same, but most cloud hosting providers invest quite a bit of money into the most recent security measures possible.

It’s likely as safe as any other method of storing data, short of keeping information only on paper, which isn’t practical. Set a budget that meets your company’s goals. You can always increase it if you feel your data isn’t safe enough.

Is cloud computing safe or not?

Cloud computing is as safe as any other form of digital data storage.

You should ensure any companies you hire have the latest in safety standards and security. Take steps to protect your information, such as training employees and frequently changing passwords.

With some good security practices and awareness, it’s much less likely that you’ll face a data breach.

While the cloud offers a wide variety of benefits and solutions, choosing the service which is best for your company’s needs can be tedious. To ease this burden, we can help you find the best solutions for your business. by talking to GCInfotech about a free technology assessment. We’ll you find the best solution your business needs, ensure proper migration and implementation allowing you to focus on running your business.

Published with consideration from SmallBiz Technology SOURCE

April 6, 2022/by John Murray

Cloud Computing, Law Firms IT

Benefits of deploying a hybrid cloud

More and more companies these days are hosting their business components on the cloud, as it has proven to be reliable, cost-effective, and secure. However, many small- and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) experience certain operational pains on either the public or private cloud. Fortunately, they can now opt for a middle ground that offers the best of both worlds: the hybrid cloud.

Hybrid clouds are a combination of private and public clouds. In private clouds, data and applications that require tighter controls are hosted either internally or privately on an off-site facility. Meanwhile, public clouds are managed externally by third-party providers with the express purpose of streamlining a company’s IT infrastructure.

Benefits of a hybrid cloud setup

Here are three significant advantages of hybrid cloud environments.

Adaptability
Having the ability to choose between internally or privately hosted cloud servers and public ones lets you pair the right IT solution with the right job. For example, you can use the private cloud to store sensitive files while utilizing more robust computing resources from the public cloud to run resource-intensive applications.

Cost efficiency and scalability
Does your business struggle to meet seasonal demands? With a hybrid cloud solution, you’ll be able to easily handle spikes in demand by migrating workloads from insufficient on-premises servers to scalable, pay-as-you-go cloud servers whenever needed, without incurring extra hardware and maintenance costs.

So if there are last-minute computing demands that your hardware can’t support, or if you’re planning for future expansion, you can easily scale capacity up or down with a hybrid cloud solution.

Security
Last but not least are the security advantages of a hybrid cloud solution. You can host sensitive data such as eCommerce data or an HR platform within the private cloud, where it will be protected by your security systems and kept under close watch. Meanwhile, routine forms and documents can be stored in the public cloud and protected by a trusted third party.

How to set up a hybrid cloud

The following are the different ways to set up a hybrid cloud model based on your SMB’s requirements and the providers available to you:

Employ one specialized cloud provider who offers comprehensive hybrid solutions.
Integrate the services of a private cloud provider with those of another public cloud provider.
Host a private cloud yourself and then incorporate a public cloud service into your infrastructure.

Our experts can help you transition to a hybrid cloud solution without interruption and huge costs. Contact us today to learn more about the business benefits of a hybrid cloud.