Prioritize Your Computer Infrastructure and Network Security Needs
Are you seeking a smaller office space due to more staff working remote permanently? Do you need to expand your existing space to allow for social distancing between workstations? Finding a new office space is a challenge with a lot of things to think about. In my experience, the last thing many businesses take into consideration is their computer systems.

Computer Equipment:
I frequently find small business servers crammed into a corner of a room with little or no ventilation and no place to access and work on them. Ideally, server infrastructure should be located separate from the main work space in a room large enough for a person to comfortably move around. The door should have a large gap at the bottom to allow for ventilation, and most importantly, the door should have a lock.
Air Conditioning:
Does your building management control the HVAC or will your office have control? If the building controls the A/C, they will likely let temperatures rise at night and during weekends and holidays. During the summer, that can cook your computer systems! I have seen temperatures inside server rooms get close to 120 degrees. You can ask your building to keep the A/C at a constant temperature, but they will charge a premium for this.
Internet Providers More are Better:
Ask your building management how many internet service providers (ISPs) come into the building. If you only have a choice of one ISP, it’s probably best to keep looking and move on to look at the next space. Several ISP choices make for better service offerings and pricing—and this will help you save thousands of dollars in the long run.
What kind of wiring is in the space—wireless is not the answer?
Most commercial space is wired with the correct Ethernet wiring, and it pays to check it out in advance before you move in. Many people like to use wireless, and this is a problem at times.

I recently consulted with a firm that would tell me their wireless keyboards and mice would intermittently fail. I also looked at one of the desktops that were wireless and the transmit receive is not would it should have been.
So, I did an analysis on the wireless frequencies, and there were at least 12 access points / routers in the area. The signals were overlapping as the wireless devices were hopping around the spectrum trying to find a clear channel to broadcast on hence the intermittent. I brought a wire crew in and made some more Ethernet runs. I also bought wired keyboards and mice that cleared up the problem. If you don’t have to use wireless—don’t.
Securing the Remote Work:
Before the paradigm shift to remote work, most organizations functioned under a centralized security infrastructure. Now, with so many employees working from home, network security is only as strong as your company’s weakest link.
I only know of one corporate employee who has an employer-provided firewall at their home. Most remote employees are only using their ISP’s modem to secure their internet. This is a boon for hackers during the pandemic. These moderately secured connections offer easy access to infect the corporate laptop, and potentially the rest of the corporate network by traveling down VPN tunnels with other network traffic.
The good news is these kinds of attacks can be prevented with a well-thought-out security plan designed specifically for remote users.
Arnold Consulting has been working with small to medium-sized businesses for 20 years. We have the expertise to design your computer networks and secure them on-site and remotely. We also have the disaster recovery and business continuity experience. If your systems become compromised, we can restore them in as little as 15 minutes.
Lastly, every business has sensitive information, and we can help you keep it that way. We offer encryption products that will protect files on your desktop and your hard drive with ASE 256-bit encryption. This is an effective deterrent from most hackers or malware developers.
Call us today at 847-464-5855 to see if our products and expertise are a fit for your businesses’ data protection needs.