With Christmas fast approaching, it’s time to think about preparations for the office. Whether you’re simply reducing your opening hours over the festive period, or shutting down for a few weeks, you need to set up the appropriate measures to keep your customers informed and your technology secured.
It can be frustrating when you don’t get a response from an email - and even though plenty of people expect some disruption over the festive period, you should still set expectations to provide a good service.
Set an out of office reply which automatically responds to your emails, letting people know that you may be on annual leave or out at the Christmas party.
If you’re closing for a longer period of time, it might be worth taking the time to email all your customers with details of your festive opening hours, so that they know when everyone will be back in the office.
Instead of leaving customers ringing through to your office without much luck, you should make sure they get information about your opening times. Either allocate an employee to act as the call forwarding number (and rotate a schedule among employees so that everyone gets a fair share of the phone calls over the break) or set up a voicemail to explain when you’re back or who to contact in an emergency.
At a time of year where offices are quieter, if not completely closed, it can take longer to spot a breach, so it's a good time to have a review of your security.
Are all of your devices accounted for? Are all accounts correct - if people have left, has their access to your systems been disabled? Is 2-Factor Authentication enabled on all systems to protect them?
If people are travelling over the break, what's your policy about them using their work devices? Will you allow them to login from other countries (if they're going abroad)?
Make sure you know who has access, what type of access they have, and that everything has full security measures.
Physical security is equally important - are all of your keys and pass cards accounted for?
To save clients a wasted phone call or email, add your updated opening times or hours to your website. A simple text box on your homepage can be really informative and keep customers happy in the knowledge that a quick look on your site has given all the information needed. Remember to include all the relevant details and a phone number or email address for urgent matters.
You can also update your Google My Business page with your opening hours, so people don't even need to click through to your site before finding out what they need to know - this is particularly helpful if you have a physical premises that customers visit.
By posting your opening hours on to your social profiles, you can update your clients and prospective clients with ease. Make sure you log in regularly to reply to any posts, tweets or questions that your customers may have.
If you’re struggling to sort your IT out for the Christmas period, and would like the help of a Bristol IT Company, get in touch with SpiderGroup. You can call us on +44 117 933 0570 or email us here.