The Office – Is it what you need it to be

Your office, whether it be in an office building or at home, is the place where a lot of work gets done for most businesses. You yourself may have time outside your actual office and you may have employees or contractors out in the field but somewhere there is something you call an office. Is that office set up the way it needs to be for what you need it to do, security and making sure the appropriate personnel can access the data they need to?

In this post, we’ll review some office basics and let you know how PST can help with all things office related.

The Office

Traditional vs New

The traditional office includes but is not limited to the following devices:
- Individual desks with individual computers on them (could be desktops, laptops or a mix throughout the office).
- At least 1 main printer but sometimes individual employees will have their own printer at or near their desk or in place of a main printer there are several smaller printers around the office.
- A modem or modem/router combo device from your Internet Service Provider (aka ISP).
- A router (good to have your own router even if your ISP provides one).
- A switch if there are more wired devices than the router can connect to (most routers only have 4 switch ports).
- At least one but possibly more than 1 wireless access point (aka WAP) to give wireless signal throughout the office.
The new office is a little different
- More small businesses are working from home (the owner and some or all of the employees)
- Some of the trades (A/C & Heating, Plumbers, Electricians, remodelers, fencing companies etc) have home-based offices but still have a warehouse for storing their equipment, vehicles, etc. Sometimes the warehouse has a small office connected to it. This office sometimes has a full-time or part-time employee there.
- Regardless of how many offices are involved and how many individual employees they involve, all offices have a few devices in common.
  - A modem or modem/router combo device from the Internet Service Provider (aka ISP)
  - Possibly your own router
  - Possibly a switch
  - Some kind of wireless signal provider – this can be from the ISP modem/router combo device, your router or a wireless access point (aka WAP)
- The more offices that are involved the more equipment is involved. If you (the business owner) have employees working from home you likely do not have an expense for internet access for each of them as they likely have internet whether they work for you or not.

Data Access

Data access is essential for every business. If employees can’t access the data they need to, they can’t do their job very well or at all. So how do you allow your employees ot access your data and do so securely?

There are several ways you can share data to employees regardless of whether they are in the same office as the data (traditional office) or working from home or multiple homes (a newer version of the office).

Cloud data sharing – Sharing data from the cloud instead of the traditional server in the office is how more and more small businesses are ensuring all of their employees are accessing the data they need. The cost of the cloud sharing option is minimal compared to traditional servers and VPN’s. Managing cloud sharing is also easier for non-IT people once they have a little training on how to do so.
- Examples of cloud sharing options:
  - OneDrive
  - DropBox
  - Google Drive
  - JungleDisk
  - Amazon
Servers – Servers have been around a long time and are still very popular for medium and large companies. The reason for this is for local storage, management and security of the data and security of the computers in the office. Server data sharing also requires additional setup (remote access controlled by the server, a VPN, or other remote access option) for employees outside the office to access the data on the server. These options usually require IT for setup and maintenance.
Hybrid – Some companies use a hybrid solution which includes some data on a server in an office (this can be very sensitive data meant for only a few employees) and other data in the cloud meant for other or all employees. Different reasons for different data being in certain places for certain people do exist and it is up to the company to decide the particulars. IT involvement is usually required in this situation depending on the IT experience level of the employees of the company.

Do you have the right equipment?

Regardless of the type of office setup you have or want, you have to make sure you have the right equipment for the type of office, type of data sharing and number of employees.

Every office
- Do you have the right internet speed? Internet access is not the first or best place to save money by going cheap. Slow internet affects your whole company by affecting data sync, employee access speed, employee production speed, customer access depending on your industry (do you have customer access to your website for services, purchasing products, etc) and sometimes most importantly, employee morale. Frustrated employees because of simple, easily fixable issues like slow internet have lower morale and often level the company sooner than they otherwise would. Proper internet speed is dependent on what the Internet Service Provider (aka ISP) offers, reasonable pricing for that speed, how much internet access you are using (how many computers, VoIP phones, etc) and how many employees are in the office to use the internet.
- The more employees in the office the more internet speed you need, the more wireless signal throughout the office you need, the more powerful a router you need and you may need a switch or a bigger switch than you currently are trying to use. Simply making a run to Best Buy is not the proper way to set up your office.
Specialized equipment – Most small businesses will use very similar devices in their offices but sometimes an office will need something different or special due to increased security needs, remote access needs, or because of specialized software or hardware. We look at each office as an individual case to make sure we are setting up the right equipment for you.

How PST Can Help

At PST, we help businesses like yours navigate technology transitions with little-to–zero downtime, full compliance, and total peace of mind. Our services include:

Network audits and hardware assessments
HIPAA compliance checks
Windows 11 upgrade support
Secure email, backup, and cloud solutions

And to make it easy to get started, we’re offering a FREE 1-hour consultation. No pressure, no strings—just expert guidance to help you plan smart and stay ahead of risk.