Computer Talk Services offers some guidance
The way we communicate with our clients, our co-workers and even our friends and family has changed. It is one of the biggest and most far reaching impacts of the coronavirus.
But social distancing and being quarantined doesn’t mean we can’t still have good communication.
To help figure out how best to navigate communicating during the rolling seas of the COVID-19 crisis, we reached out to Chamber member, Tim Seegmiller of Computer Talk Services (CTS). CTS was founded in 1990 and despite being busy helping local businesses of all kinds manage their I.T. and communication needs, Tim took some time for quick interview for this week’s Chamber Corner.
Chamber: Tell us your Sun Valley story?
CTS: My mother was born here and then was living in Las Vegas, so I was born in Las Vegas. We moved back here in 1980 … and I’ve been here ever since. So I’m a longtime Valley resident now. Went to high school in Wood River, went to work in the computer field. I ran several other small businesses while I was getting my expertise in the computer industry and then went to computers full time.
Chamber: Tell us about CTS or Computer Talk Services?
CTS: I just had a fascination with technology even when I was little kid. I built my own computer when I was 12 … but things progressed and I always loved technology … so that’s what I made as my passion.
I got to where I could start CTS, that’s what we do. We help people with technology; understand it, use it, get the most out of it, keep themselves safe. As you use technology there comes increased risk. We try to help people with that whether it’s a huge businesses or just a mom-and-pop … anybody and everybody and businesses of all sizes, we just try and help them with their technology and keep safe.
Chamber: Obviously you’ve been busy with COVID-19 taking over. It seems like we’ve used things like Facetime to communicate to friends and family, but now we’re transitioning this type of communication over to business. How has this been going for you?
CTS: It’s been pretty interesting. We’ve been trying to help people get to the point where they can work remotely, because it’s a common thing. But as you do so you need to do it safely. We’ve been helping a lot of people recently with the rush, so they can work from home, helping them with everything from transitioning their phone systems … from remote-ing in to their computers at work … or moving their entire network up to the cloud so everyone can work together and have access to their resources … It all depends on the business, what they need to do, what they need to access, then we can recommend the best solution and get them transitioned in a safe manner.
Chamber: Zoom, GoToMeeting, there are lot of communication options. Could you walk us through some of these?
CTS: Zoom, Go To Meeting, Join, there’s a lot of those out there and most of them have different feature sets. So it depends on what the client or what the person needs to do when they’re in a meeting situation. Do they need five people in the meeting or do they need to get a hundred people in a meeting. So different solutions have different feature sets. Do they need to share documents and share their screen … or instant chat … Once again, it all comes down the customer’s needs and what we can do to help them stay efficient in their work environment, but from home.
One thing you want to remember right now is security. Everything that I do I try and keep my customers safe … You do want to make sure you use the feature of a password … Zoom, it’s a random number and so anybody can put that random number in and be in on your meeting … and be looking at your documents and hearing sensitive information … so putting the password on there is crucial in order to help secure your meeting.
Chamber: Is there any particular technology you need to have?
CTS: Most of the time whatever you have is good enough.
Chamber: What are some keys to being successful now that things are evolving
CTS: The key is security. With every change that happens in the cyber landscape there are new threats and this COVID crisis has not stopped the threats. In fact, criminals have ramped up … so these are things we have to take very seriously. You don’t want to compromise business data simply because you’re working on a home computer … So security is the best way to think as you move forward.
For more information about Computer Talk Services, go to CTSHelp.net 208-788-2345.
By Mike McKenna
This story originally appeared in the Chamber Corner for the Wood River Weekly.
