5 Reasons Why Every Small to Mid-Sized Business (SMB) Needs Managed Business-Grade Firewall Protection

The digital world today is changing at break-neck speed. The protections that worked not that long ago become out-of-date in the blink of an eye. Cyber crime has also become a rapidly advancing and sophisticated “industry”. The more you rely on the Internet, and you are probably more reliant than you realize, the more you need to ensure that your business is protected.

Some of the easiest decisions can also be some of the most harmful. Why bother to install additional protection when your carrier (Comcast, ATT, CenturyLink, etc.) gives it to you for free with your bundled software? Answer: this level of protection simply is not powerful enough to provide the protection you need today, and you need to seriously consider upgrading to business grade firewall and software.

But lets take it one step farther. Even the best firewall is not going to give you the level of safety you need if the right people are not managing it. Like pretty much everything else in the IT world today, firewalls start to become outdated almost as soon as they leave the factory. The right managed IT service will monitor and maintain that protection 24 x 7 x 365, installing patches and updates on a regular basis.

So, here are 5 reasons why your SMB will be better protected with a managed IT service that maintains your firewall:

1: Your company is not an IT company. You are in business for an entirely different reason. You are a law firm, a group of CPAs, you manufacture widgets, run a call center, service automobiles, etc. Just like you would not expect an IT service provider to give legal advice or fix your car, you should not expect the people in your company to set-up, run or maintain your IT infrastructure. “But I have an IT guy on staff.” That’s great. We recognize the value in that. But does he/she have the depth of knowledge that a provider with 25 to 30 certified engineers will have? Will he/she be available 24/7/365? Think not.

2: Hiring consultants is very expensive. Here is the problem with consultants: while they may be very knowledgeable, they are expensive and since they are not involved in the day to day IT operation of your company, quite a bit of money will be spent on the time they take to get up to speed on your network, much less solve the problems. (This goes for all IT problems, not just your firewall.) And you still run into the problem that no single consultant can have the breadth of knowledge that a large team of certified engineers will have.

3: Stuff breaks. Yes, firewalls are equipment and equipment can break. The right service will be monitoring this 24 x 7 and can jump into action as soon as it happens, with technicians trained for the job. Most importantly, your service provider will have a disaster recovery plan in place and be ready to get your network up and running in the shortest amount of time. No business, large or small, wants to start searching, then waiting for, a consultant to figure out what is wrong, then try and fix it. You want a full team of experts at the ready. (BTW, engaging a managed IT service provider is often also the most cost-effective way to go.)

4: You also need protection from internal threats. Employees frequently expose their employers to viruses, worms, and other malicious attacks on their infrastructure through unauthorized use of gaming, gambling, pornography, social media and online videos. Of course, this is not only a network threat, but also a serious threat to office productivity. The right professional team can manage this and keep the filters updated.

5: New threats are being developed daily. While we are not going to do a deep dive into cyber security here (see our Cyber Security White Paper), suffice it to say that cyber criminals are today focusing more on SMBs than on big businesses. Why? The large corporations that make the news when they are attacked have invested millions of dollars in cyber protection that no SMB can afford, but your IT management company will have partnerships with the top companies in the IT world and have the best protection software available.

DynaSis has been providing IT Network protection for the SMBs of Atlanta for the past 25 years. Our resources include a team of more than 55 professionals, including more than 30 highly trained and certified engineers who specialize in IT infrastructure security. Firewalls and firewall management are just one of our "12 Layers of Protection", a unique and proprietary cyber security program we use for our clients.