Every business has to choose how they network their office. Most businesses choose the ease and convenience of wireless networking to allow their employees the freedom to use their mobile devices, IoT tools, and other devices. This month, we look at some of the best tips for setting up your organization’s Wi-Fi network.
Datalyst Blog
If it has been a few years since you have made any changes to your office’s wireless network, you and your employees may have noticed that it’s starting to feel a little slow in comparison to other types of network connections. No, it’s probably not your current Wi-Fi access point going bad, but it’s likely that it’s struggling to handle the office environment you have today, versus the office environment you had back when it was first installed.
How much does your business rely on its Wi-Fi connectivity? If it’s like most, the answer is almost certainly quite a bit. There is no denying that Wi-Fi is a staple in modern workplace processes, but at the same time, it can also prove to be a major security liability if the proper steps are not taken. Therefore, it’s beneficial that you take these steps.
If you find yourself frustrated with the speed and reliability of your office Wi-Fi, you aren’t alone. Even though the technology has been around for a decade and a half, it hasn’t always been a perfect solution. Modern wireless solutions have evolved a lot over the last few years, so if you are dealing with slow, unreliable connections, it’s likely time for an upgrade.
This is going to start out with a nerdy tangent, but I was watching the classic Star Wars films with the family a few weeks ago. There is a scene in Star Wars: A New Hope where our heroes slip aboard the Death Star, and R2-D2 plunks his little robotic USB cable into a computer and gains seemingly untethered access to the entire battle station.
I was briefly taken out of the fantasy of the moment because my IT brain started firing at full speed, and I thought “Ew. Imagine how insecure the Death Star’s network must be!”
Look, we get it—we all like to be able to access the Internet at our leisure, so there’s no doubt that your clients and customers will feel the same and will want a reliable connection as they’re doing so. This much is true anywhere, from airports to restaurants to conference rooms.
However, you don’t want just anyone accessing the same network that your staff uses. A lot of critical, sensitive information is moving back and forth on your office network, and opening your Wi-Fi up to the public means giving the public potential access to your data.
We recently went over how modern technology simplifies the processes that property management firms and property managers undergo each and every day. We wanted to circle back on this and focus more specifically on the cybersecurity aspect of this conversation, diving into how the right tools could benefit property managers in terms of their security and data protection.
A lot of business is being conducted over the Internet right now, in terms of communication and transactions alike, which makes a business’ capability to remain connected to its clientele even more important. Now is not the time to wonder if your business is as connected as it should be, which means that you need to know how much bandwidth you have available—and that what you do have is sufficient.
As face-to-face communication continues to be on the back-burner, tools such as your website, social media, and other online conferencing solutions allow your business to remain in the public eye. Yet, as you rely on more bandwidth to continue to be productive, you may find you aren’t as productive as you like. Now is the time to consider a high-speed internet consultation to determine where the bottleneck in your productivity lies.
The amount of data that gets sent back and forth through the air these days is amazing. Just think about it—our phones are constantly connected to cell towers, and often nearby wireless networks, while our computers and laptops send and receive information continuously as we work.
Sometimes, I still marvel over how we can stream music, movies, and conference calls over the airwaves. However, with all that potential, it is important that we protect the data that we’re sending and receiving.
The current crisis has exposed many weaknesses in society, most notably, inequalities in our education system. While many schools have switched to hybrid and fully remote learning, other school districts are finding their students are unable to fully engage due to a lack of reliable broadband access. One solution school districts can consider is providing hot spots to give the students connectivity.