Follow Shaun Linkedin Facebook
Email Shaun Email
Technology
Dec 11, 2015

Three Tips For A Stress-Free Holiday Season

Sponsored Content provided by Shaun Olsen - CEO & Founder, CloudWyze

The holiday season can be extra stressful for small businesses.

Employees are distracted (at best) and often take vacation time, leaving fewer team members available to manage what tends to be even more work. Your customers are stressed, too, and often have last-minute requests for year-end budget spending.

To help you prepare for a stress-free season, consider the following preparations you can make:

  1. Prep your technology: If all goes well, you’ll have a lot of data to process this holiday season! Make sure your technology is humming along. Take a few minutes to check on these things:

    a. Has your network been running efficiently? If not, you may need to look at updating your server, or at least running some diagnostics to be sure your drive is appropriately partitioned and running at peak performance.

    b. Is your Internet working well? So many people are online this season that if you do not have dedicated Internet, you may see a real slowing down of your access. This can also affect phone quality if you’re using Voice over IP systems. Now’s the time to upgrade to a dedicated Internet service.

    c. With more online surfing during this shopping season, be sure that your antivirus is up to date and your backup system is fully operational. One misstep can be disastrous, so take time now to update all your antivirus systems.

    d. Do you have someone to turn to if there is a crack in the system? Before you need help is the time to prepare. Reconnect with your IT help desk and be sure your contract is up to date.
     
  2. Prep employee access:

    a. Just because your assistant needs to be in Connecticut for the holidays doesn’t mean she’s inaccessible. Consider a cloud-based system so that so that critical issues can be resolved, no matter where your team members are.

    b. If your phone system has not been updated, you might think about getting a hosted voice platform in place. That will allow each of your employees to have office calls forwarded to their mobile devices, keeping your customers connected when they need you most.
     
  3. Prep your mindset: This is probably the most important preparation you can undertake. Something will likely go wrong this season. December is so busy, with so many contracts being negotiated for the new year, so many more sales taking place, so much more activity all happening when the team just wants to take a break and watch football.
If you’re prepared, you can relax. You’ll know that you’ve done what you can, and the emergencies that pop up will be more manageable.
 
From all of us at CloudWyze, we wish you happy and peaceful holidays and a prosperous 2016!
 
Shaun Olsen is the CEO and president of CloudWyze. CloudWyze was created to help businesses focus and perform at their optimal level by crafting and executing custom technology plans for businesses of every type and size. To learn more about CloudWyze, visit www.CloudWyze.com. Shaun can be reached at [email protected] or (910) 795-1000.
 

Other Posts from Shaun Olsen

Bizjournalad300×250px
Ico insights

INSIGHTS

SPONSORS' CONTENT
Screenshot2022 01 06at338 162234623

Food is the Foundation for Prosperous Communities

Girard Newkirk - Genesis Block
Chris coudriet

A Public Service Profile on Creating Beauty in Our Community

Chris Coudriet - New Hanover County Government
Chris 16239425

‘Creative,’ An Adjective To Describe Your Accountant?!

Chris Capone - Capone & Associates

Trending News

Conservation Group Signs $8M Deal To Buy The Point On Topsail Island

Audrey Elsberry - Mar 26, 2024

National Organization Bestows Top Award On Cape Fear Professional Women In Building

Staff Reports - Mar 26, 2024

Engineering Firm Hires Four Employees

Staff Reports - Mar 26, 2024

N.C. Ports Officials React To Baltimore Bridge Collapse

Audrey Elsberry - Mar 26, 2024

NCino's Fourth-quarter Earnings Signal Rebound From Liquidity Crisis

Audrey Elsberry - Mar 27, 2024

In The Current Issue

INFO JUNKIE: Jack Fleming

Jack Fleming, owner of Socialry Marketing & Scourz and emcee for 1 Million Cups Wilmington, shares his media and tech picks....


Hacking Cyberdefense Shortage

A shortage of cybersecurity professionals influenced professor Ulku Clark and her team to slowly evolve UNCW’s offerings to now include eigh...


Expanding Tastes On Castle Street

As John Willse and Beth Guertin, owners of Wilmington Wine bottle shop and now the recently opened Creative Tastings restaurant on Castle St...

Book On Business

The 2024 WilmingtonBiz: Book on Business is an annual publication showcasing the Wilmington region as a center of business.

Order Your Copy Today!


Galleries

Videos

2023 Power Breakfast: Major Developments