Are you losing hours each week setting up video calls? • Blisstech Solutions

Setting up video calls could be losing a full-time working week for every member of your team.

Video calling has revolutionised team meetings, and saves a huge amount of travel time. But we’re still not getting the full benefit from the new technology, according to new research.

Employees aged between 18 and 24 take up to 10 minutes to get set up for each remote meeting.

Times that by a typical five meetings a week, and it’s suddenly lost you 40 hours every year. That’s a whole working week of wasted time – a figure that gets even higher when you look at older age brackets.

It isn’t necessarily a result of differing technological know-how. The research shows that employees blame the tech itself for the loss of productivity.

Almost a third of people said they didn’t have the right tools for the job, and 23% even said they felt excluded from remote meetings thanks to inadequate tech.

Employees often feel that the audio-visual (AV) technology they’re provided for remote and hybrid working simply isn’t up to the job. That means poor microphones that don’t play ball, jittery webcams that interfere with communication, or the wrong choice of video calling software. All that makes meetings harder to set up and causes them to take longer than they should.

Despite this, businesses that offer remote and hybrid working are reaping the rewards in many other areas, including staff engagement and performance.

But there is a solution.

Assess your employees’ AV technology to make sure their tools are not slowing them down – new webcams and microphones could be a cheap and simple fix.

It’s also a good idea to ask your employees to find out where they see that problems are occurring. If they are finding your existing system difficult to use, or slow to log in to, you should consider alternative options or better training.

If this is something that’s slowing you down, we can help – just get in touch.

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How to create secure passwords

Weak passwords are one of the biggest security risks to your business.
Why?
Because cyber criminals are getting smarter than ever before. If they manage to crack just one password, they could gain access to your sensitive business data, financial information, or even gain control of your entire system.
Cyber criminals use automated tools to guess passwords, allowing them to try out millions of combinations in seconds. So, if you’re using something like “Password123” or “CompanyName2025”, you’re practically handing them the keys to your business.
A compromised password can lead to big issues, such as:
• Data breaches
• Financial losses
• Identity theft
• Reputation damage
But how do you create strong passwords without driving yourself (and your team) mad?
Think of your password like a secret recipe, where only you should know the ingredients. It should:
• Be at least 14 characters long (the longer, the better)
• Include a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters
• Contain a few numbers and symbols (like @, $, %, or &)
• Not contain any common words or easily guessable information (like birthdays, names, or the word “password”)
Instead of using a single word, you could try a passphrase – a short, random sentence that only you would understand. For example, instead of “Sailing2025”, try something like “Coffee&CloudsAreGreat9!”. This is much harder to crack, yet still easy to remember.
You should also steer clear of these common mistakes:
• Using personal info (your name, birthday, business name, etc.)
• Reusing the same passwords across multiple accounts
• Using simple sequences (“123456” or “abcdef”)
• Storing passwords in an easily accessible place (like a sticky note on your desk)
If remembering unique passwords for every account sounds impossible, there is another option: Password managers. These generate strong passwords, store them securely and autofill them for you.
With a password manager, you only need to remember one strong master password for the manager app itself. The rest are encrypted and stored safely, reducing the risk of data breaches.
Even the strongest password isn’t foolproof, which is why multi-factor authentication (MFA) is also important. MFA requires a second form of verification, like a one-time code sent to your phone or generated from an authentication app.
If you have employees accessing your business systems, it’s a good idea to have a password policy in place to explain your rules and why they’re important. This should include:
• Unique passwords for each system and account
• Regular security training on password best practices
• Business-wide use of MFA for critical systems
• Scanning for compromised passwords regularly
By making password security a priority, you can reduce the chances of a cyber attack creating a nightmare for your business.
And if you need help making your business more secure, get in touch.

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