COVID-19 Preparedness for Businesses

Your Best Defense Against COVID-19 for Business Continuity

Twin State Technical Services takes a broad approach to service continuity, including potential effects of an outbreak such as COVID-19. While there is currently no foreseen impact to Twin State Technical Service’s operation of our services, we wanted to provide some detail regarding preparedness should the situation change.

Twin State Technical Services employs a security-first approach to administering technical support. Each TSTS engineer can securely administer your service without direct access to the corporate location. We want to provide specific details around support of the service should your staff or Twin State Technical Services engineers by constrained to work from home.

If you need immediate assistance, please call our help desk at (563) 441-1504.

Recognizing customers will have plans in place for enabling remote work in a situation like this, we are providing guidance regarding IT best practices during situations like this.

IT actions your business can take:

  • Assign an internal company response coordinator
  • Coordinate with Twin State for remote access for employees
  • Determine any additional software licensing needs
  • Educate employees on how to work remotely and what tools they need in place
  • Designate certain employees to work remotely to test systems and provide feedback
  • Determine how phone call flow will be handled if your office is closed

Please feel free to reach out to your Twin State Technical Services representative for assistance. Our help desk is available at any time to our clients via phone at 563-441-1504 or email at helpdesk@tsts.com.

We stand by ready to provide IT solutions to your business. We are your business’s best defense against the effects of COVID-19.

TSTS Tech Advice

Emergency Contact Information

Help Desk Call (563) 441-1504 or email helpdesk@tsts.com

If you are down, and your business has ceased operating, call your engineer/account person. Next, call the cell numbers below. It is always an option to telephone, text, or email – but in an emergency, we at Twin State encourage you to follow the safest way to know the problem is identified by hearing a response from us in reply. Please continue to escalate promptly using this list, in case someone is away from email/phone, until the request for help has been acknowledged in the affirmative. Remember, in emergencies, don’t email first, CALL and escalate to the assigned emergency managers.

FIRST, call your assigned engineer or project manager.

SECOND, go to the following assigned emergency managers listed here:

Emergency Networking Issues

You may want to restart the server, modem, switch, or computer/device that’s affected, or call your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and see if it’s their issue (internet-related) before escalating for off-hours support.

Emergency Software Issues

Emergency Website Issues

How to Clean Your Tech

Devices with Screens: like phones, tablets, monitor

What to wipe with: For all electronic devices, grab your microfiber cloth, like the one you use to clean your glasses. Paper towels, facial tissue, or your sleeve are all too rough and can damage most device screens and their protective coatings.

What to clean with: you have a few options with the goal of killing germs.

  • Home brew = 60% water/40% rubbing alcohol
  • Sprays made specifically for cleaning tech screens
  • Antibacterial gels

How to clean:

  • Power the device down; turn it off.
  • Remove the device from its protective case.
  • Never spray the device directly; spray the cleaning cloth.
  • Rub in gentle circles.
  • Dry thoroughly.
  • Clean ports with a toothpick or cotton swab.
  • Clean the case with good old soap and water. Some cases can go in the dishwasher. Dry thoroughly before returning the device to the case.

Computer Parts

Your keyboard is not only harboring the crumbs from your lunch, but it is a haven for the germs from your fingers that carry even more germs. Power down the computer and remove the power cables to avoid shock.

After using canned air or a dust vacuum, use your microfiber cloth sprayed with cleaning solution or antibacterial gel and wipe gently across the keyboard. Dry thoroughly before powering back up.

Clean your monitor with the same method as your phone or tablet. Monitors are more delicate than they look and can be easily damaged.

Remote Productivity Tools

TSTS, as a Microsoft Gold partner, has implemented Microsoft Teams as a our go-to productivity tool. Teams allows you to bring your team together for easy-to-schedule meetings, group chat, secure file sharing, and customized organization. Make your team productive no matter where they are located with Teams. Read more about Teams and schedule a free consultation with our network engineers to get started.