By the DynaSis Team

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In the current corporate landscape, business continuity requires ongoing access to important company files, no matter what. No longer are customers willing to wait a week to receive a quote for a job or to have their order confirmed. The world operates in real time, and customers expect the businesses with which they work to do the same.

This need is leading many business owners to rely on real time data storage solutions that could actually hamper their business continuity in certain situations. To illustrate this point, let’s consider Dropbox—one of the most popular file storage services on the planet. Dropbox is an inexpensive way for organizations to store and share files among employees, customers and other authorized individuals. However, Dropbox has serious limitations from a business continuity perspective.

Dropbox has an easy-to-use mechanism to help users recover deleted files—or restore older versions—for up to 30 days (up to a year with Dropbox for Business Accounts). It also has redundant servers protecting customer data in the event Dropbox itself experiences a server failure.

However, for company personnel to make the most effective use of Dropbox, they must sync some or all company files to their local computing devices. To do this, during setup they tell Dropbox what data they want to store and sync locally. Most users share and sync folders rather than individual files, and these can become enormous over time as other users add files to them.

If local devices lack enough storage to stay in sync, Dropbox will stop syncing and prompt the users to reevaluate their Dropbox allocations, a process that wastes time and drains productivity. When users don’t have time or knowledge to manage those allocations, many will save their files locally, planning to upload them to Dropbox later. When that doesn’t happen, the entire system falls apart, along with any pretense of having a complete backup.

Second, most file storage and sharing services such as Dropbox (and Google Drive) do not offer end-to end-security. Files stored with them are encrypted on those servers, but they're not locally encrypted on the computers where they originate before being synced to the cloud, which also means they are not encrypted during transit. If a hacker has access to a user’s account or has penetrated the corporate network, he or she could easily steal company data unless the firm is using local encryption, which is a rarity.

The advanced file backup solutions offered by companies such as DynaSis will eliminate both of these challenges, and they can incorporate on-demand file access and sharing, as well. Productivity is maximized, and concerns about local PC and backup continuity are resolved.

In today’s threat laden environment, data protection is king, and ensuring it is appropriately secured and replicated is essential. We’re not saying that companies should avoid online file storage and sharing. Rather, we’re suggesting that business owners should work with a competent IT advisor that can help them determine exactly which file storage, sharing and backup solutions are right for their environments.

About DynaSis

DynaSis is an Atlanta IT services and cloud computing provider for small and midsized businesses. All of our solutions focus on helping companies achieve the three fundamental IT necessities of the modern business—availability, security and mobility. We specialize in on-demand and on-premise managed IT services, managed cloud infrastructure, desktops and backups, and professional hardware and equipment installation. For more information about DynaSis’ IT support and services, visit www.dynasis.com.

By the DynaSis Team

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Although small and midsized businesses (SMBs) were a bit late to the cloud party compared to larger enterprises, several research reports indicate that SMB decision makers are now embracing the cloud enthusiastically. As we might expect from overworked, budget-limited business owners, they are expressing a preference for “bundled” cloud services, whereby an SMB can have its email, applications, data storage (servers) and security united under a single service with a single provider.

Such a solution makes complete sense from the SMB business perspective. Not only is it easier and faster to deploy the cloud with a unified solution, but company personnel enjoy access to business-critical applications and data without the bur­den of IT infrastructure support. Furthermore, the bottom line gets a boost from a fixed, pay-as-you-go model, including converting IT costs to an operating expense and eliminating infrastructure and software upgrade expenses.

So popular has this approach become among SMBs that a survey of 1,300 SMBs, conducted by Coleman Parkes Research, found that nearly 70 percent of SMB decision makers prefer to receive their cloud services as a bundle. SMBs expressed even greater support for having all communication-related services united. Among those surveyed, 80 percent supported the idea of receiving a single monthly bill from one provider for both cloud environment and telecommunications services.

So, what does a “bundled” cloud solution look like? Optimally, it would be a fully managed, cloud-based IT platform with the following features and functions:

• Corporate data, email and applications hosted at world-class, ultra-secure, compliant data centers, ensuring best-practices security for all corporate assets.
• Company personnel would be able to access corporate assets, 24/7/365, from a secure online portal that ensures security in transit from the cloud to the user. With no data stored on user desktops and devices, endpoint security will also be assured.
• The provider would guarantee system uptime of 99.999%.
• The provider would include 24/7/365 IT support for all users, in addition to monitoring and maintaining the cloud-based corporate assets.
• Space allocations would be dynamically managed to ensure users always had enough storage.
• All corporate data and applications would be mirrored to a separate, secure server for disaster recovery purposes.
• Migrations and subsequent updates and upgrades would be actively managed by the provider to eliminate unplanned downtime and inconvenience for company personnel.

Providers such as DynaSis offer solutions that meet all of these critieria, giving SMBs the freedom to walk away from IT burdens and headaches, forever. As SMBs realize the potential of these offerings, we expect a large percentage will move from supporting the concept of a unified cloud solution to actively using one. In essence, all-in-one cloud hosting is the best way to realize the core value proposition of the cloud, which is to deliver high-value applications and data securely, anytime, anywhere and on any device.

About DynaSis

DynaSis is an Atlanta IT services and cloud computing provider for small and midsized businesses. All of our solutions focus on helping companies achieve the three fundamental IT necessities of the modern business—availability, security and mobility. We specialize in on-demand and on-premise managed IT services, managed cloud infrastructure, desktops and backups, and professional hardware and equipment installation. For more information about DynaSis’ IT support and services, visit www.dynasis.com.

By the DynaSis Team

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The technology world is filled with inscrutable acronyms, but two that seem to really confuse our customers are RPO or RTO – Recovery Point Objective versus Recovery Time Objective. Both metrics are crucial to data and system backup and recovery – and by correlation, to business continuity. Unfortunately, and not surprisingly given the confusion, business owners often don’t realize the importance of these two KPIs (key performance indicators) until their company has lost business or been placed at risk after a system outage.

When firms contract for backup or disaster recovery/business continuity services, they may assume their provider’s recommendation will meet their levels of risk. They may not ask the right questions to ensure sufficient protection. In reality, the level of data loss tolerance after a technology outage varies from company to company, and even from department to department within a single firm. There are ways to address these differences, but the time to consider them is before an outage, not afterward.

To get started, let’s explore these acronyms and why they are absolutely crucial for business survival. To the list we will also add MTO (Maximum Tolerable Outage), a less-commonly used KPI that is perhaps the most important of all.

Recovery Time Objective (RTO): This number reflects your goal for how quickly you would like to restore access to corporate data, applications, email and other IT systems after an outage. Could you wait a week and not suffer business losses or damage to your corporate reputation? Alternately, would you prefer to give personnel instant access to applications, data and email, perhaps through a secure portal on a computer or mobile device? Perhaps your level of risk tolerance lies somewhere in between?

Recovery Point Objective (RPO): This figure reflects the most recent point to which company data and applications would be restored after a data or system disruption or failure. Backup and disaster recovery solutions create periodic “snapshots” – mirror images of the assets being monitored by the solution. The most advanced systems take snapshots every few seconds, while others take them every few minutes, every hour, daily or even weekly. In the event of an irrevocable server or system crash, that lapse after the last snapshot is the amount of data you would lose forever.

Maximum Tolerable Outage (MTO): This KPI indicates the longest amount of time your business could be disrupted by loss of access to your data, email and applications before it would constitute a “disaster” for your business operations. Calculating your MTO is the first step in determining your data loss tolerance. Many business owners are surprised when they honestly consider this issue and realize how short of an outage their business could tolerate.

Calculating these metrics — called a Business Impact Analysis — is beyond the scope of this article, but we will discuss that process in the future. Many firms discover there is no “magic number” that will suit the entire organization. A company might be able to survive without a week’s worth of payroll data but wish to retain as many email messages and customer purchase orders as possible.

Fortunately, there are solutions that can accommodate different RPOs and RTOs within the same organization. Technology providers such as DynaSis have the tools and expertise to help business decision makers calculate their data loss tolerance accurately and eliminate unpleasant surprises when an outage occurs.

About DynaSis
DynaSis is an Atlanta IT services and cloud computing provider for small and midsized businesses. All of our solutions focus on helping companies achieve the three fundamental IT necessities of the modern business—availability, security and mobility. We specialize in on-demand and on-premise managed IT services, managed cloud infrastructure, desktops and backups, and professional hardware and equipment installation. For more information about DynaSis’ IT support and services, visit www.dynasis.com.

By the DynaSis Team
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Due to the rising cost of breach remediation, including potential fines, penalties and lost customer goodwill from data theft, cybersecurity experts are now looking at “cyber risk” in a new light. Today, the riskiest threats aren’t necessarily those that do the most system damage. They are the ones that expose a company to the most liability. For example, an attack that reconfigures software or deletes data might be expensive to remediate, but its total damage footprint will be less than having thousands or even hundreds of confidential records stolen. And, because profit is now the central motive of the vast majority of threats, theft or fraud-based activities are a component of nearly every attack.

Exacerbating the situation, 2014 saw the continued development of Malware as a Service (MaaS). Like the cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) programs – from Salesforce to Dropbox – that are popular with consumers and businesses, MaaS is highly intuitive, sophisticated and able to serve many users at once.

Essentially, companies are producing and packaging these products and services and selling, leasing or subcontracting them to others, making it easier than ever for criminals to stage complex and highly evasive multi-stage attacks. Other are customizing malicious source code on a contract basis for their own and others’ benefit.

These companies and individuals are also sharing information to enhance each other’s capabilities. There is no “competition” among malware authors that prevents information sharing. All of them have the same goals and all can profit individually from their attacks.

Finally, the development of detection-evasion techniques is also accelerating. Given that a successful threat actor only needs to focus on one or two evasion techniques to deploy a threat capable of breaching many organizations’ defenses, firms that rely on outdated security solutions are operating with a false sense of complacency - and putting their firms at extreme risk.

In such a landscape, organizations must constantly enhance their security postures to counter this evolving threat environment. Furthermore, the IT teams that work on corporate security, whether they are in-house or outsourced, must have very high-level skill sets that are continually updated. Integration with an advanced threat detection resource that continually scans the globe for new threats - and a mechanism for automatically updating whatever solution is in place - is also vital.

Currently, the courts are taking a dim view of companies that fail to adequately protect confidential assets and thereby expose other, unwitting individuals to risk, as well. Taking steps now to implement a comprehensive, advanced, largely automated security solution is the surest way to protect your firm, your assets and your customers and to sharply reduce the potential for unsurmountable liability.

About DynaSis

DynaSis is an Atlanta IT services and cloud computing provider for small and midsized businesses. All of our solutions focus on helping companies achieve the three fundamental IT necessities of the modern business—availability, security and mobility. We specialize in on-demand and on-premise managed IT services, managed cloud infrastructure, desktops and backups, and professional hardware and equipment installation. For more information about DynaSis’ IT support and services, visit www.dynasis.com.

With 74 percent of organizations either using or planning to adopt BYOD*, (bring your own device), the days of companies issuing corporate devices are coming to an end. In fact, Gartner predicts that by 2017, half of employers will actually require personnel to provide their own devices.

If enterprise mobility is no longer defined (and secured) by device selection, what does the future of mobility look like? Increasingly, progressive organizations are moving away from a model where employees access a handful of corporate assets (most commonly mobile email) on their smartphones. Rather, as we discussed in our recent article, “Moving Your Business to the Cloud: Three Top Reasons Why the Time Is Now,” true corporate mobility, today, affords secure employee access to a much broader array of corporate resources on any device, at any place and at any time.

To support full mobile productivity, companies now enable users to access and work with data, email and productivity applications. In other words, a district manager should be able not only to view an Excel spreadsheet but also to run analytics on it and generate a report. A salesperson should be able to pull up a contract on his or her tablet and allow a customer to sign it, onscreen, and then submit it to the finance department for processing with a single click.

These types of activities foster significant productivity gains, but they also require organizations to engage in effective application and content management, and to secure both email and productivity applications. In this environment, and especially with BYOD in the picture, the blanket approach to securing an entire device simply doesn’t work.

Rather, such an environment requires companies to take a much more granular approach to mobility management. To assist in this effort, specialized Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) tools have been developed. They allow organizations and/or their IT partners to manage and secure mobile and cloud-based (software as a service, or SaaS) apps and their data, and to encrypt and protect all data transfers between a device and the corporate network and servers. These tools also allow organizations to create and apply policies selectively based on type of user (e.g. employee or contractor), job description and requirement, level of authority and many other variables.

This maturation of enterprise mobility is enabling worker behaviors most of us wouldn’t have dreamed were possible only 10 years ago. In the most advanced mobility deployments, retail employees roam around stores, using tablets to provide inventory checks for customers and then taking payments for merchandise on the tablet, as well. Doctors consult and update medical records from the bedside of a patient. Technicians receive text alerts on their smartphones when company equipment experiences a problem and adjust their schedules to address the issue more quickly.

These are only a few examples of what mobility is doing for the workplace, today. The new era of mobility is incredibly exciting, and here at DynaSis, we are delighted to be part of it.

*Tech Pro Research, 2015

By the DynaSis Team

With the news of the data breach at the Federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM), where some 21.5 million confidential, sensitive records were stolen, security experts are reinforcing how important it is for every organization—private or public; large or small—to implement robust security measures. Yet, 58 percent of SMBs haven't invested additional resources in cyber security in the past year, even though 81 percent of them are concerned about it and 91 percent "think about it often."*

That's deeply concerning, because even the smallest firm is at risk. With the emergence of tools that scan the Internet 24/7, "sniffing" for vulnerable systems, hackers no longer need to target a company to penetrate it.  Once these tools find a vulnerable system, they are programmed to infiltrate it, steal the data and even install software that can then turn these systems into "bots" that help troll for and exploit more victims.

So, what security measures should a small or midsized business (SMB) take to repel these invaders? Following are a few solutions that are absolutely critical for SMB security, today.

1. Physical or virtual security appliances that incorporate firewall, intrusion prevention, wireless and wired security, application control and Web filtering, at the minimum.
2. The services of an advanced threat research team that scans for new threats and automatically updates protective services 24/7/365.
3. A unified, user-friendly management console that makes it easy for organizations or their security providers to add and delete corporate personnel and computing devices including smartphones, adjust access restrictions, perform updates and more across the entire security platform.
4. Preferably, all solutions should incorporate high-performance network boost filtering performance and reduce drain on operating systems.

This list may sound daunting, but solutions that meet these criteria are readily available. As discussed in our recent article, "Moving Your Business to the Cloud: Three Top Reasons Why the Time Is Now," cloud-based security platforms are the most efficient and cost effective. However, firms that insist on physical security can achieve that at a slightly higher cost.

The most disconcerting issue with the OPM breach wasn't its extent. It was that 80% of the breach wasn't even discovered until a forensic investigation occurred. For businesses with fewer resources at their disposal, it often takes a call from an outside entity, such as the FBI, for a business to discover it has been hacked. Thanks to the current generation of sophisticated, automated hacking tools, your corporate system could easily become a victim—and even a "bot" for future attacks—unless your systems are adequately protected.

About DynaSis

DynaSis is an Atlanta IT services and cloud computing provider for small and midsized businesses. All of our solutions focus on helping companies achieve the three fundamental IT necessities of the modern business—availability, security and mobility. We specialize in on-demand and on-premise managed IT services, managed cloud infrastructure, desktops and backups, and professional hardware and equipment installation. For more information about DynaSis’ IT support and services, visit www.dynasis.com.

*Endurance International Group, 2015.

DynaSis, Atlanta’s premier provider of IT services and support for small and midsized businesses (SMBs), today announced it has added Kaseya® AuthAnvil™ to its line of service offerings. Kaseya AuthAnvil, a leading secure identity and access management solution, will be available to DynaSis’ Ascend, Business Cloud and Digital Veins customers for a nominal fee.

“Passwords have long been a staple for user authentication of corporate resources, but studies show they are often not effectively secured, or users fail to make them appropriately complex,” said DynaSis President Dave Moorman. “Kaseya AuthAnvil removes the burden of creating and managing secure passwords for corporate sign-ins from both the company and its employees, assuming responsibility for password creation, management and access as well as authentication management, across the board.

”Kaseya AuthAnvil integrates several leading authentication methods, including two-factor authentication, single sign-on and password management, into a unified solution. Kaseya AuthAnvil also provides advanced features, such as one-click access revocation, automated synchronization of password updates, and permission monitoring and reporting. The utility’s password management system manages user accounts and stores/retrieves passwords securely, eliminating the need for corporate oversight.

The end result is better organizational control of, and security for, the most valuable corporate asset –data. A variety of customization options will also enable DynaSis to tailor the solution to fit the needs of its customers.

“With Kaseya AuthAnvil integrated into our service platforms, we are taking yet another proactive step to ensure our customers have the most bulletproof IT systems possible,” said Moorman. “Even firms subject to strict compliance guidelines will find this service invaluable.”

About DynaSis
DynaSis is an Atlanta IT services and cloud computing provider for small and midsized businesses. All of our solutions focus on helping companies achieve the three fundamental IT necessities of the modern business—availability, security and mobility. We specialize in on-demand and on-premise managed IT services, managed cloud infrastructure, desktops and backups, and professional hardware and equipment installation. For more information about DynaSis’ IT support and services, visit www.dynasis.com.

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By the DynaSis Team

Availability has become a pervasive buzzword regarding technology, but what does it really mean? More importantly, is it as vital to your operation as IT providers would have you believe?

In the technology world, availability is used as a formal term for uptime—the amount of time, over a year, that a computing system's resources are available. As we discussed in our recent article, "Moving Your Business to the Cloud: Three Top Reasons Why the Time Is Now," system availability is generally measured in "nines." Best practices availability for corporate efficiency is 99.99%. At that level, an organization can expect to suffer less than an hour of downtime per year (52 minutes and 35.7 seconds, to be exact).

On a more general basis, "availability" is a characteristic that enables a resource to be usable, on demand, to perform its designated or required function. From this perspective, businesses measure availability for many resources beyond computer systems. Companies often track availability of portable IT assets such as laptops and tablets; they also track the availability of personnel, conference rooms and more.

For businesses, availability is an irreplaceable driver of productivity. The more resources of all types that are available to a company and its employees, the more the organization can accomplish. Nowhere is this truer than with IT availability. At 99% availability—a mere percentage point from the 99.99% level we mention above, a firm can expect to experience three days, 15 hours, 39 minutes and 29.5 seconds of availability, each year.

Downtime may not be a big deal if it happens when the offices are closed, but if outages occur during the working day, they can be deeply disruptive. Additionally, if downtime occurs during important, off-hour operations such as system backups, it can cause major headaches and potentially data loss. For firms that sell or service customers online, downtime of any amount and at any time can lead to lost sales and reduced customer loyalty.

For this reason, we believe that availability is one of the most—if not the most—important corporate assets. Security and mobility are also pivotal to business success, but unless resources of all types are readily available for personnel and processes to use, an operation will literally be unable to function.

Availability is not automatic. Businesses employ scheduling solutions to ensure availability of people and physical resources. For computing systems, IT providers go even further, using specialized techniques, such as hardware redundancy, load balancing and proactive system monitoring, to sharply curtail the likelihood of downtime. They also maintain and manage the cloud environments that help businesses enjoy the highest possible availability of digital resources, as well.

All of these efforts become woven into the fabric of daily operations—unnoticed until they break down. Prudent business owners do everything they can to ensure that never happens.

About DynaSis

DynaSis is an Atlanta IT services and cloud computing provider for small and midsized businesses. All of our solutions focus on helping companies achieve the three fundamental IT necessities of the modern business—availability, security and mobility. We specialize in on-demand and on-premise managed IT services, managed cloud infrastructure, desktops and backups, and professional hardware and equipment installation. For more information about DynaSis’ IT support and services, visit www.dynasis.com.

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By the DynaSis Team

As a company that helps small and mid-sized businesses (SMB) adopt technology as a true enabler of their success, we frequently answer the question, “How, exactly, does technology drive my business forward?” Many business leaders see technology as a requisite support system for conducting their operations, but not as a performance enhancer.

Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, numerous recent studies and surveys indicate that modern technology not only can enhance business performance; it can fundamentally reconfigure a business for success in the digital era. Implemented intelligently, technology both drives innovation and expands potential.

To help business owners and executives explore this innate value of technology—and align it as effectively as possible with their own business strategies—DynaSis President Dave Moorman is penning a series of targeted, quick-read articles. Ranging from cloud technology to risk mitigation; from security to mobility; he’ll cover every facet of how technology can propel SMB success in an era when ignoring it can mean business failure.

We invite you to read our first article, “Moving Your Business to the Cloud: Three Top Reasons Why the Time Is Now.” It’s filled with insightful commentary and powerful supportive statistics that validate our belief that the Cloud is a key enabler of SMB growth and competitive advantage, moving forward. We think you’ll enjoy it.

We’ll be announcing each article that debuts in our blog, but if you would like us to send you a copy as soon as it’s ready, please email chas.arnold@dynasis.com. We promise you, this is a series you won’t want to miss!

About DynaSis

DynaSis is an Atlanta IT services and cloud computing provider for small and mid-sized businesses. All of our solutions focus on helping companies achieve the three fundamental IT necessities of the modern business—availability, security and mobility. We specialize in on-demand and on-premise managed IT services, managed cloud infrastructure, desktops and backups, and professional hardware and equipment installation. For more information about DynaSis’ IT support and services, visit www.dynasis.com.

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By the DynaSis Team

Does your company have a business continuity plan? If so, do you test it? If you answered "Yes" to the first question and "No" to the second, you are in good company. A recent survey of mid-sized business owners and C-level executives, conducted by The Hartford financial services company, found that 59 percent of mid-sized businesses had formal, documented business continuity plans, but only 19 percent of them had tested those plans. Among the remainder, 33 percent had an informal, verbal plan and eight percent had no plan at all.

If you're one of those with an untested plan, don't think you're in much better shape than your less-prepared competitors. A separate study by the Disaster Recovery Preparedness (DRP) Council also found that the majority of businesses (of all sizes) fail to test their continuity plans. Of even greater concern, the DRP found, among those who do test their plans, most plans fail.

Failure during testing is unfortunate, but it's far better than the alternative. Many things can—and do—go wrong when continuity plans are finally put into action. Some breakdowns are unpredictable, but many are fully within the control of the business owner and his or her chief executives. Reasons for plan breakdowns include:

• The plan is based on invalidated assumptions about processes, people and technology.
• The plan is built on an inflexible scenario (e.g. No Access to Office). Disasters rarely follow an orderly flow.
• The plan hasn't been adequately shared with personnel that have decision-making authority.
• The plan is no longer current with the business model, organizational structure or other important aspect of business operations. Continuity plans should be updated yearly, at the minimum.
• The "plan" is a borrowed document with a "Who to Call" list. It's amazing how many business owners adopt business continuity or disaster recovery plan "templates" with few to no changes, add their contact lists on top, and stow them in a drawer or on a shelf. That's a recipe for certain failure.
• The plan has never been tested. As we mentioned earlier, the only way to determine whether or not a plan is functional is to test it. Testing explores the merits of the "how"—whether or not a document that appears sufficient is going to prove its mettle in action.

We understand that small and mid-sized businesses often operate in near "fire drill" mode, with something more important than continuity planning always on the horizon. Humans can do this because we innately have a high degree of risk tolerance, especially for threats we haven't experienced yet. That's what allowed us to seek out and settle new lands and create new civilizations. It's also what allows us to get into airplanes that rocket along at 600 miles an hour, miles off the ground.

However, the odds of crashing in an airplane are infinitesimal compared to those of experiencing a business disruption. Running a business without a well-documented, tested continuity plan is a risk no business owner should take.

About DynaSis

DynaSis is an Atlanta IT services and cloud computing provider for small and mid-sized businesses. All of our solutions focus on helping companies achieve the three fundamental IT necessities of the modern business—availability, security and mobility. We specialize in on-demand and on-premise managed IT services, managed cloud infrastructure, desktops and backups, and professional hardware and equipment installation. For more information about DynaSis’ IT support and services, visit www.dynasis.com.