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World Backup Day

CMMA Blog

Today is World Backup Day and we are celebrating and gently reminding IT organizations across the world, backup your data! Though we celebrate it once a year, it does not mean we backup data once a year. Let’s consider 3 reasons why backing up to protect your data is crucial to your organization: 

The Rising Tide of Data 

Managing data is becoming a challenge for many IT organizations. The continued rising volumes of data is putting pressure on backup strategies that were once effective. IT leaders need to find the latest, fastest, most cost-effective forms of backup solutions that can make sizeable backups manageable and easy to implement. IDC projects that there will be 79.4ZB of data created by connected IoT devices by 2025, growing from 13.6ZB. Unstructured content related to entertainment (creation, production, distribution and consumer consumption) continues to be the largest category of data.” This volume of data presents many challenges so backup methodologies and strategies need to be revisited often. Finding the right backup tools and methodology are an essential piece to finding the right recipe for your organization as is preparing your infrastructure for the vast amount of data that is being generated. 

Back Up Regularly to Avoid Disaster 

Why do you need to backup anyway? Because you never know. Infrastructure hardware will fail. Malware, such as ransomware will strike, and humans will make errors. There is no question IT Managers must be prepared for those moments when disaster strikes a blow when you least expect. Backing up your data regularly will ensure you can protect and recover data quickly and effectively. In addition, they should be done intelligently to address the hyper-growth and the requirement for hyper-availability. Part of finding the right solution requires an analysis to help determine the value of data to efficiently manage greater volumes that applications are generating. It is a necessity not a luxury to future-proof your infrastructure.  This exercise helps organizations acquire the correct tier of technology to not only manage but restore within the specified SLAs of the organization. 

Ransomware 

Highlighting ransomware is important because of its prevalence in cyberspace. Threats and attacks are getting more aggressive and those ransomware-focused threat actors are using creative means to break into systems and deploy ransomware for the threat actor’s payday (Source: TechCrunch). There is a rule as old as time that has been proven true time and time again:

Keep 3 copies of your data, using 2 different storage media types (object, flash, HDD, tape) 1 offsite (physically separate from the building such as DR site), and 1 offline (completely disconnected from your network).

Keeping a clearly defined data copy offline and air-gapped to protect against malware attack will enable you to retrieve that data and get back up to speed faster and back to business sooner in the case where your network-connected copies are compromised. 

Conclusion 

World Backup Day is not about backing up just one day of the year. Let today serve as an awareness day to remind enterprises and SMB’s that protecting data by backing it up regularly will prevent disasters that can come in any form. Restoring data from a backup copy will allow businesses to resume operations effectively. There is value in protecting your data. What is the value? In many cases, unquantified. Preserve and protecting your data, whether for the three factors mentioned or to simply provide the continuity of business operations. Learn more about our Enterprise Backup and Archive solutions .

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3 Tips for New Remote Workers

AV Everywhere

For organizations of all types — schools, businesses, government agencies — and millions around the world, the COVID-19 outbreak has seriously disrupted the way we work. Even if your company or institution had already embraced video collaboration among team members, you may not have used it to the extent you have to now. 

AVI-SPL wants to help by giving you the guidance you need to stay connected with each other and be as productive as you can during this difficult time.

That’s why we’ve launched our Together We Can initiative , in which we share tips, advice, and resources for reinforcing our connections, building new communities, and maintaining business continuity. This blog is the hub for much of that content, and the most recent resources are at the top of this list:

I strongly encourage you to bookmark the Together We Can page so that you will always have the latest tools, tips, and outside-the-box ideas for keeping your teams engaged and productive.

3 Tips for Remote Workers

In this post, Laurie Berg, AVI-SPL director of services product management, shares her insight into ways you can make remote work a productive, successful experience.

Remote worker, home worker, teleworker — it doesn’t matter what you call it, you are not working from an office for an extended period of time. I’ve been a home worker for the last decade and worked in the collaboration technology industry for two decades. I can say with confidence I have seen it all. But what I have discovered is that working remotely is as much about my state of mind as it is about the technology I have access to. Technologies evolve and trends come and go, but how I deal with my environment is completely within my control. Therefore, I wanted to share my top three takeaways from what I’ve learned over the years and provide a little guidance to the trial-and-error everyone is going through.    

  1. Make your tools work for you. Instant messaging, audio conferencing, video conferencing, project and task management applications, digital notebooks, file sharing — there seems to be a tool for everything you can think of. However, having access to tools does not magically make you productive or efficient. Take the time to learn your tools and discover how they best benefit your world. Personally, I have access to so many applications it can be overwhelming at times. There is always something buzzing or dinging somewhere. But what I find the most useful are tools that combine instant messaging, audio, video, and document sharing. I can have multiple conversations at once with the instant messaging, some with individuals and some with groups of a shared topic. But sometimes those chats need to escalate to a larger conversation over audio and/or video. That is as easy as clicking a button within the chat window, and I can invite others just as easily. And when all is said and done, notes and documents can be shared with others into specific topic spaces to keep things organized. We all know multitasking exists, and instead of trying to train myself not to, I use a tool that helps me do it better.  
  1. Etiquette. Etiquette sounds like such an old-fashioned term, but meeting with people down the hall, in a local meeting space, is not the same as meeting with people remotely, and even less so when everyone is remote. Think about not only how you interact with your colleagues, but how others interact with you. Remember things like: 
    • Minimize distractions. Working from home can bring all sorts of distractions. My dog, for example, is on a different schedule than me, and he is not concerned if his barking interrupts. So as you go into meetings, take a moment to mute your microphone and close your door, if you have one. Any minimizing that can be done to disruptions is a plus.
    • Utilize application “presence.” Applications that merge instant messaging with other capabilities, such as Microsoft Teams or Cisco Webex Teams , have a presence engine. In essence, it enables you to set yourself to “available,” “away,” “busy,” “do-not-disturb,” etc. This is similar to walking down the hall and seeing that the person you need is behind a closed door, on the phone, or otherwise engaged; therefore, do not interrupt. Similarly, if you are not available because you are trying to get something done, set yourself to “busy.”
    • Turn off your video when needed. It can be very easy to forget you are in a “working environment” at home. With shelter-in-place directives, stay-at-home orders, etc., we are faced with a constant barrage of phones ringing, kids rummaging around in the kitchen, someone or something needing your attention and immediate gratification. We are also faced with network congestion we have never experienced before, causing poor video quality. So while I know we cannot get rid of those issues, as you cannot lock everyone else away or make people get off the public internet, please turn off your video when you do need to step away, move to another place or want to decrease the bandwidth you are using. And let other attendees know. People are very understanding but be respectful of others. Often when people turn off their video, others think they dropped from the call.

 And my number one piece of advice for all of the new remote workers:

  1. Go to your virtual office everyday. This may sound silly. Of course, you are working every day. You are dedicated employees doing your part for your organization’s continued advancements. However, as I mentioned up front, this is about your state of mind. Get up, have your cup of coffee, bowl of cereal (my preference is Wheat Chex), get your family ready. All of the things you would normally do, but then continue your daily routine. You get ready. We would all love to wear a pair of sweatpants, a T-shirt, and a baseball hat, but go with business-casual or a “jeans Friday” mentality. Do your hair, makeup, shave, whatever your routine would be if you were going into the office — continue that routine as best you can. Separate out lounging at the house/family time from work. And then go to your new space. This could be an in-home office, kitchen table, living room. Wherever it is, make it your workspace.

We know home demands on all of us are different than ever before. And none of what I mentioned can be done 100% of the time to 100% productivity. But if you take the time to make slight adjustments and create a “new normal,” your mind will more settled, your family will be more settled, and your work will be more settled. 

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Stream Zoom Meetings and Webinars with Brightcove Live

Brightcove

In the last few weeks, we’ve seen an unprecedented amount of organizations forced to close their physical doors and set up operations, meetings, and events in the virtual world. No surprise, video has remained a core tool for enabling these organizations to stay connected with both employees and customers. Today, we are sharing a quick tip on how to scale your Zoom meeting to hundreds of thousands of attendees , leveraging Zoom and Brightcove Live.  

With Zoom + Brightcove Video Cloud, remote and geographically dispersed speakers can join a Zoom meeting or webinar to create a multi-speaker experience, such as a company town hall or a live webinar panel discussion, that can cost-effectively scale to reach thousands or hundreds of thousands of attendees. By copying and pasting Zoom’s RTMP stream into the Brightcove Video Cloud Live module, you can securely stream the source video and capture detailed video analytics for large scale events within seconds.

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Figure: Zoom meetings and webinars with Brightcove Video Cloud

Brightcove Player and Brightcove Live 

The Brightcove Player and the Brightcove Live modules are industry-leading tools that enable you to stream your events to any device across any of your properties and simulcast them to YouTube and Facebook. 

Once connected in Video Cloud, you can take advantage of features, including: 

  • Player Customization enables you to style and customize the look and feel of the Brightcove Player leveraging Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and the Brightcove Player module. 
  • Live Video Clipping allows you to create a short, teaser clip that can be posted to social media to drive views to live stream.
  • Live Event Porta l offers pre-, during, and post-event states and supports page-level ads and calls to action. 
  • Brightcove Audience provides detailed video analytics and viewer level tracking 
  • Single-Sign-On (SSO) enables you to authenticate viewers and secure your video content.  

Videos from Zoom that run through Brightcove Live are automatically added to your Video Cloud media library and are immediately available for your normal production workflow. For step by step instructions on how to connect Zoom and Brightcove Video Cloud read the Host Zoom Conferences with Brightcove support article.

Happy Meeting! 

To view our Partner blog, click here

Leverage Video Meetings to Lead Your Team Remotely Through Disruption

AV Everywhere

For organizations of all types — schools, businesses, government agencies — and millions around the world, the COVID-19 outbreak has seriously disrupted the way we work. Even if your company or institution had already embraced video collaboration among team members, you may not have used it to the extent you have to now. 

AVI-SPL wants to help by giving you the guidance you need to stay connected with each other and be as productive as you can during this difficult time.

That’s why we’ve launched our Together We Can initiative , in which we share tips, advice, and resources for reinforcing our connections, building new communities, and maintaining business continuity. This blog is the hub for much of that content, and the most recent resources are at the top of this list:

Bookmark the Together We Can page so that you will always have the latest tools, tips, and outside-the-box ideas for keeping your teams engaged and productive.

Leaders always juggle a myriad of responsibilities, priorities, and challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified these commitments almost beyond comprehension. Protecting the bottom line. Driving revenue. Security. Maintaining culture. The well-being and safety of employees. Transitioning overnight to remote work models. The list goes on. Thankfully, the modern workplace was ready to embrace full-time remote work.

Use video conferencing to manage disruption and maintain productivity

As the business climate changes on what seems to be a daily basis, leaders at every level face continuous decisions, each as critical as the next. The natural inclination for many is to retreat into the work itself. But this is the exact moment when employees need to see and hear from leaders. And this is the moment when leaders can show up, speak up, and help employees navigate this challenging time.

There is good news amidst all of these challenges. We have video conferencing. While the days of water-cooler chats, in-person town halls, the impromptu office drop-by, and casual lunch meetings are gone for the near future, virtual communication has never been easier, even for businesses that weren’t initially set up for remote work. Leaders can continue to have face time with their teams, whether in large virtual town hall scenarios, all-hands video meetings, or more personal one-to-one touchpoints over Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Webex, and other applications.

Communicate, communicate, and then communicate some more

The cadence and method of communicating and collaborating with employees are important. It needs to be more than a one-and-done task. Establish specific work-from-home routines and distribution platforms for executives. Set expectations for weekly communications from senior leaders and cascade daily communication responsibilities down through your organization and across cross-functional teams. It’s also important to carve out regular one-on-one virtual meeting time with your employees to check in and see how they are doing. Doing that from home has never been easier thanks to simple yet robust meeting and team collaboration tools.

Tailor your message for your remote workforce

Executives and senior leaders should share your organization’s strategy for navigating through these changes, as best you can. Emphasize priorities and how you’re going to meet those priorities. Be clear, confident, and realistic. And be real and transparent; employees need to feel like you have things under control.

By reaching out frequently and using video as a way to connect, your leadership and visibility can lead to a more engaged workforce who is better able to handle the new working conditions while also balancing the stressors of the “new norm.” Now is one of the most important leadership moments of your career.

Your team needs to see you. They need to see each other. Video conference calls, emails, and texts are great ways to communicate under normal circumstances. These formats can now supplement virtual communications to reinforce key messages during this time of crisis.

But the sense of togetherness and humanity is vital, and video conferencing with platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Webex make this possible. It’s the closest thing we have to a sense of normalcy – a face-to-face way to collaborate, brainstorm, coordinate, give and receive feedback – and also to smile, laugh, and even commiserate and share frustration. We can get your team set up and running. This resource guide has a library of tips and an online shop of tools essential in the new work from home paradigm,

Lead by example

The more your employees see you adapting to the remote model and utilizing video platforms to meet, communicate, and get work done in different ways, the more likely they are to do the same. Even if you or some of your employees are still in the office, start adopting video technology as your primary meeting platform to increase confidence, usage, and experience. Be sure to use your laptop camera or webcam so your team can see and connect with you during virtual meetings.

How you show up matters – use the right online tools and devices

When everything seems like chaos around you, it’s easy to let appearances slip. But it’s still critical to portray a sense of professionalism and calm and position yourself to look your best. Your team needs to see that sense of normalcy from you. Are you set up to do this? Headsets, proper lighting, professional attire, and limited background noise all help keep video meetings productive.

Make sure your employees are set up for success too – do they have what they need to be effective and efficient from their home office with tools like desktop monitors, noise-canceling microphones, and speakers? This is not just an investment for now, these are all items that can be used when everyone is finally back in the office and able to travel again. We’ve set up this online shop with shortcuts to the best work from home tools .

Humanizing the virtual world

Of course, we’re all living and working under new circumstances, and it’s okay for employees to get a glimpse of your “life behind the curtain.” It makes you more human and relatable. So if the dog barks, there’s a burst of laughter from another room, or your video suddenly crashes, make light of it and move on. In fact, sharing work-from-home “bloopers” can become a great ice breaker when kicking off your meeting.

With visible leaders communicating face-to-face every step of the way, organizations can get through this time, and carry these best practices forward. Together we can. And together we will.  

 

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