The Covid-19 pandemic has had lasting effects on all of our lives. With the increasing number of remote and hybrid workers compared to before the pandemic, many employers believe that they need to monitor their employees to keep them productive closely. Some organizations invest in software programs that enable the surveillance of employees while working from home. Research suggests that investing in these monitoring solutions may have the opposite effect. Besides being a privacy concern, monitoring workers can result in tension and resentment in the workplace. 

The adverse effects of employee monitoring

The surveillance of employees can significantly lower employee morale. Many people may feel hurt or offended that upper management does not trust them, leading to increased turnover rates. At times, too much control in monitoring can be dangerous. Personal information, such as bank accounts, medical health records, or private emails can be accidentally seen. Employees may feel that their privacy is being invaded. If the company’s software or system is hacked, this information can be leaked to others.

The positive effects of employee monitoring

The advantages of employee surveillance include increased productivity and workflow and cost-effective solutions. The research found that employees work better when they know they’re being monitored as they are more conscious of their actions while at work. Team performance has also been shown to improve as the strengths and weaknesses of each member are identified, and you can delegate employees to complete work tasks that they can be successful in. By implementing surveillance software, employers are more than likely to “get their money’s worth” while paying employees since employees will be paid for the time they are being productive. Employee monitoring software does not have to be expensive. It ranges from about $20 to $150 per user per year. The price depends on the number of features and licenses that are needed for the organization.

Is employee surveillance necessary?

It is essential to think about employee monitoring and how it can improve your organization’s needs. Many times, it is not necessary until problematic behaviors occur. Having a surveillance system can cause adverse effects within the company. Therefore, it should only be used when absolutely necessary.

Why monitor employees?

If you begin monitoring employees in the hopes of catching them in the act of doing things they should not be doing, such as wasting time, you are using employee surveillance for all the wrong reasons. Employee surveillance is used to measure productivity, but it can also be used to keep your company’s information secure. Monitoring employees can help detect suspicious activity like if personal information is being shared with outside sources or if private documents are being viewed. 

How can you effectively monitor employees?

As previously stated, employee monitoring software comes with various features. One feature is website tracking that can provide employers with employees’ web browser history and online activity. Application monitoring can track employees’ activity on various applications and software. Social media tracking can identify the amount of time people spend on various social media platforms and messages that were sent via social media. Email tracking is used to retrieve emails that were sent, received, or deleted. Keylogging software can keep track of what employees are typing.

AE Technology Group can help you identify and implement monitoring solutions that correspond with your organization’s goals. To learn more, contact us today at (516) 536-5006.

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is an electronic authentication method that gives users access to a website, application, or a VPN after successfully providing two or more verification factors. Utilizing multiple verification factors reduces the likelihood of a cybersecurity attack. Although Multi-Factor Authentication is highly recommended whenever it is available, it isn’t faultless. An improvement on these security methods is supposedly in the works. Continue reading to learn more about possible developments on the horizon. 

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Has its Issues

By providing additional authentication factors prior to accessing an account or various applications, it is clear that the account or application is made to be much more secure. However, there may be too many hurdles or obstacles that the members of your team may have to go through, which can result in employees becoming bothered, leading to decreased engagement.

In addition, the most commonly used mode of Multi-Factor Authentication is the use of a generated code provided through a smartphone. By doing so, this requires everyone to have their cell phones with them and ready at all times. Unfortunately, situations can occur and people may have either forgotten their phone, the cell phone battery dies, or their phone might have been broken. This makes the use of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) not as practical as one had hoped. 

It is obvious that there are many security benefits of Multi-Factor Authentication but there are added stresses that also come with it.

Adaptive Authentication Can Reduce This Stress

Some organizations have begun utilizing a new approach called adaptive authentication. Instead of having to provide multiple forms of verification as a means of authentication, adaptive authentication collects various kinds of data, mostly based on the user’s behavior. Majority of the time, the processes in a work day are regular and consistent. Users come up with a specific way of typing and utilizing the mouse and/or trackpad. Adaptive authentication analyzes a user’s patterns of behavior to determine whether or not the user is who he or she is claiming to be. Adaptive authentication then creates this profile to compare a user’s behavior and provides access when everything matches. 

If an action is seen as out of the ordinary, a multi-factor will be issued. For example, if an unusual device is attempting to gain access to someone’s data from a new place at a different time, a multi-factor is then requested. If everything checks out, users will be able to access whatever they need without any difficulty. 

By having a balance of security with convenience, this idea of adaptive authentication is ideal for most people. This method has been adopted by many companies in various industries. Although it may not yet be available to small- or medium-sized businesses, it is definitely something to keep in mind for the future. 

At AE Technology Group, we are always striving to help you and your business maintain a sense of security within your business operations, in hopes to improve the overall productivity and efficiency of your company. For any questions or to learn more about adaptive authentication, give us a call today at 954.474.2204.

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Streaming is everywhere, and everyone in some capacity is using streaming technology daily. Whether streaming your favorite movies through Netflix, watching live performances, or listening to music through Spotify, it’s hard to imagine life without streaming. Streaming platforms changed how we consume and create content powered by cloud services. Streaming continues to improve year over year. How exactly does it work?

Changes in Streaming Over Time

Streaming is a way of continuously viewing or listening to content over the internet without the need to download files. The internet of the past wasn’t built to support the services we rely on today. When streaming was first introduced, users experienced long buffering times and chopping video and audio. Today, with the advancements in internet and cloud technologies, high-definition quality streaming has become one of the most dominant ways people consume media. 

The Difference in Streaming versus Downloading

Streaming is a way of viewing or listening to something in real-time and is a more efficient way of consuming media. It’s actively using the internet to access the files at any time with a strong internet connection without saving it. If you have a poor quality connecting, the quality degrades, and you’ll end up with some buffering issues.

Downloading a file or media is saving a copy of the file to a device’s hard drive from the internet. You have to wait until the file downloads in order to view it, but the upside is you can view it at any time with or without the internet after the initial download. You usually only have access to it on the one device unload the data is stored on a cloud server. 

How Does Streaming Work?

It works by breaking down the data or audio files into packets or compressed files to open once they reach the user’s device. The data packets are interpreted as a video or audio file through the user’s preferred service or player. Types of streaming and its technology will vary by the kind of protocol that runs it. 

Services use either user datagram protocol (UDP) or transmission control protocol (TCP), depending on the type of streaming. TCP and UDP are transport protocols to move packets of data across networks. TCP uses a dedicated connection to ensure data arrives in order and is the more reliable way of transmitting data. UDP is a faster option, but the transfer can cause a loss in the data quality along the way.  

Providers are always working on improving and enhancing streaming capabilities to make their service as fast and as reliable as possible. Although it does require a high-speed internet connection, it’s far better than having to download content. Streaming is improving rapidly, and the future will only further integrate it into our daily lives.

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There are a ton of productivity suites out there, the most common being Microsoft Office. However, Google Workspace is rising in popularity among business owners for its countless benefits and resources. Interested in how Google Workspace operates and if it’s right for your business? Keep reading!

Google Workspace’s main advantage over the competitors is that you get the same experience on any device. This mobile compatibility makes data access and sharing so much quicker and easier. You’ll also get all of the resources below.

Google Docs

Docs is relatively simple in functionality compared to Microsoft Word, but this isn’t necessarily a disadvantage. Docs are far more user-friendly, which can increase the speed of operations.

Google Sheets

Sheets is Google’s equivalent to Microsoft Excel. It is very comparable in functionality, so you can expect a similar experience with this business software, but with better mobile compatibility. Sheets are also more intuitive and easier for beginners to pick up.

Google Forms

The ability to create and administer a custom survey through your productivity suite is one of the most interesting and useful features Google Workspace has to offer. This makes collecting information from users much simpler and more organized.

Other Notable Google Applications

Beyond these basic applications, Google business software offers Google Drawings (diagram creation software), Google My Maps (map and location tracking software), Google Sites (a wiki and web-page creation tool), Google Apps Script (scripting platform to create add-ons for Google Apps), and Google Jam board (an interactive whiteboard interface).

So, do you think your business could benefit from Google Workspace? Contact AE Technology Group! We can help you decide which productivity software is right for your company. To learn more, reach out to us at (516) 536-5006.

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Customer relationship management is an essential operation for any business to convert leads to customers, maintain customer satisfaction, and increase the rate of returning customers. To make these processes more efficient, CRM platforms offer tracking and automation CRM features that take burden off of your employees and increase the functionality of your business operations. Let’s take a few minutes to review what these benefits look like, based on the features your CRM should provide. 

What CRM Features should my Platform Offer?

Workflow Automation

The more your CRM platform automates customer service operations on your behalf, the more time you have to spend on other responsibilities and initiatives. Not only does this save time, but it eliminates the risk of human error in your processes. Even the best employees make mistakes sometimes, so why not guarantee flawless customer relationship management with CRM workflow automation?

Integrations

The more your departments work seamlessly together, the easier and more accurate your workflows will be. Therefore, seek out a CRM that offers many integrations like marketing automation, chat, call center, and web analytics. This will ultimately pay off in improved communication and organization for your business.

Contact Management

It’s essential to keep in touch with the people you’ve turned into leads, prospects and clientele, and to track where they fall on that pipeline in order to provide more individualized customer service and marketing content. Having a CRM that manages your contacts will automate an important process that needs to be constantly attended to and updated, taking a lot of busy work off of your employees. 

Lead Management 

Like contact management, one of the best CRM features to have is lead management. Tracking your leads automatically with a CRM makes the process much simpler by crunching the numbers and delivering your business with actionable metrics. That way, you can focus more energy on nurturing viable business leads when you know which targets are the most promising to pursue.

This is only a fraction of what a good customer relationship management system can – and should – do for your business. At AE Technology Group we can get you set up with a quality CRM that will perfectly suit your business’s needs. Give us a call at (516) 536-5006 to get started.

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