People sometimes wonder, why bother switching from the “old” Microsoft Office productivity suite to Microsoft Office 365. After all, with the old way, you still have Word, Excel and PowerPoint. As we have come to discover ourselves, there are lots of reasons to make the change, but one of the best is team collaboration. What does that mean? Team collaboration: the ability of a group of people (a “team”) to work closely together no matter where they are. So, let’s say your company is working on a project that includes a Word document to discuss the project’s parameters, an Excel spreadsheet to analyze costs and potential revenue, and a PowerPoint to explain the project to your client(s), the media, financiers, etc.

With Microsoft Office 365, during the preparation phase, team members can work on and share all their files in real-time, with each making changes with notations, until the work is complete. They can communicate through Skype for Business, which features the ability to not only show a document on the screen, but for each team member to actually work on that document in front of his/her team members. Instead of everyone emailing files back and forth, making corrections, then making corrections to the corrections, and corrections to those corrections, ad infinitum, in a single Skype meeting, all the finishing touches can be added.

When it comes time for the presentation, again, it’s Skype for business, which can pull your completed Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents up on the shared screen for all to see. If changes need to be made to satisfy a client, you can make them then and there.

Collaboration works in other ways, as well. Do you have multiple offices with people of varying skill sets in different locations? This type of high-level, yet easy to use collaboration allows growing companies to take advantage of highly skilled people who are located in one office, but whose talents are immediately needed in another.

Here’s an example: a construction company has offices and projects in different states. The nature of their business is cyclical, depending on weather, project bids won, local economy, etc. By using the tools available in Office 365, this company can share the talents and skills of employees between locations, not only reducing the need for highly paid employees at multiple offices, but also decreasing seasonal layoffs. Effectively, this enables a company like this to move from a “divisional” model to an integrated operation, forming teams that include individuals who may be located at remote distances from each other. And depending on a given project, the teams can change at a moment’s notice.

It also gives the company the ability to unify business practices and processes, where in the past, each division might set its own parameters, methodologies and workflows. By integrating seemingly simple processes such as calendars and email, less time is spent figuring out how to deal with fellow employees, and stress levels are greatly reduced.

We at DynaSis have been Microsoft partners since 1993 and we believe that Office 365 is not just the latest Office upgrade, but a giant leap forward and would love to share this knowledge with you. Give us a call or email us and we’ll take you on a “tour” of Office 365.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These days everyone is concerned about data security, and with good cause. Not surprisingly, Microsoft has been a leading player in security, along with reliability and user productivity. When they took the Office productivity suite to the cloud with Office 365, they also took a giant leap forward in terms of being able to secure your most important and confidential information.

But let’s make one thing perfectly clear: your data is yours and it belongs to you alone. Office 365 gives you extensive control over privacy and visibility in terms of who has access. You manage these controls and you can customize them to fit the needs of your company. In the unlikely event that you choose to leave Office 365, you take you data with you and it is completely removed from the Microsoft cloud. Let’s look at some other features:

Secure Identity Controls

Office 365 allows you to manage users through access control, identity management and password authentication, which fully supports 3^rd party identity providers. Through the use of multi-factor authentication, you can choose the level of ID control that works best for your organization:

• Enabling and enforcing end-user multi-factor authentication
• Using a mobile app (one-time password) as your 2^nd authentication
• Using a telephone call as the 2^nd auth factor
• Using an SMS message as the 2^nd factor
• Separate passwords for non-browser baser software, such as Skype for Business

In other words, Office 365 gives you options from fairly basic to extremely advanced and you are free to choose what works best for you.

Infrastructure Security

Microsoft spans the globe and their sheer size allows the use of techniques and strategies for defense against attacks on their network that few service providers can offer…certainly far above the ability of the typical small to mid-sized business.

Threat Management

Microsoft uses threat management controls that identify intent, determine capability of achieving that intent, and the likelihood of that threat successfully exploiting a vulnerability. This protection includes email spam, malware, viruses, and protection of Exchange.

Mobility

Your people are on the move. They work from home, in airports, hotels, clients’ offices…in town and around the world, and they take their devices, both self-owned and company provided, wherever they go. Whether they use Apple, Android or Windows platforms, the Office 365 mobile device management system identifies, monitors and protects your company’s sensitive information.

Incident Response

Stuff happens. Microsoft has a highly-advanced incident response program that includes multiple dedicated teams to prevent security incidents from happening, but when they do occur, they are immediately detected and immediately responded to.

Multi-Tenant Security

This is a fancy way of saying that multiple clients share the same infrastructure, which sometimes leads to a concern about keeping one client’s date secure from another client. Microsoft works under the assumption that any single client may have bad intentions and has created an enterprise level of security that insures privacy, confidentiality and integrity of files. It would be next to impossible for any single company to achieve this level of security on their own. By the way, it is this multi-tenant structure that enable small companies (although large companies do this as well) to have enterprise level infrastructure at affordable costs.

Physical Security

All Office 365 clients’ data is stored in data centers located around the world, using multi-layer “defense-in-depth” security protection. These centers are constructed to withstand natural disasters, or unauthorized access and have extensive power and internet backup systems. Geo-redundancy (co-locating in multiple centers) with automatic failover provides still further protection.

So as you can see, Microsoft Office 365 provides extensive security controls. We hope this information will give you a strong level of comfort, but if you have any questions, please give us a call.

DynaSis has been a Microsoft Partner since 1993 and specializes in Office 365 installation. You can find us online at 678.373.3716 or www.DynaSis.com.

Last week we began a discussion of myths surrounding business cloud computing. Here is a quick recap of the ones we tackled:

1: Data can’t be all that safe in a “cloud” – not true.

2: We lose control of our data in the Cloud – not true.

3: If I move to the Cloud it means that everything has to be in the cloud – not true.

If you missed last week’s blog, you can find it HERE. There are a number of other myths surrounding business cloud computing that we want to address, so let’s pick it up again:

4: Cloud computing is only for tech companies. First of all, the way we see it, today every company is a technology company. Are you using computers? Do you have email? Do you shop or do research online? Chances are you answered “yes” to every one of these question so, yes, you should be looking at cloud computing.

5: The cloud is harmful to the environment. Some people think this is so because large data centers use a lot of energy. They do. But when you add up all the energy saved by the companies that use the data center, there is actually a net energy savings and pollution reduction.

6: The cloud costs jobs. The fact is, the cloud has created jobs. Estimates are that by the end of 2015, the cloud was responsible for creating more than 13,000,000 jobs across the globe. Some jobs were lost along the way, but many more were created. But computerization in the cloud, and in general, has been responsible for such an exponential increase in productivity that the net effect has been extremely positive for almost every business.

7: Migrating to the cloud is just too much trouble. That depends on who is doing the migration for you. The right IT service provider can make the process virtually painless and with minimal downtime.

8: You should avoid the cloud for highly important applications. Again, this goes to unfounded fear of the cloud and whether or not it is truly safe. In reality, your mission critical apps are best run in the cloud, where they will also benefit from minimized downtime and automatic backups.

9: I’ll be locked in to my cloud vendor. Not true. A knowledgeable and reliable managed IT service provider or skilled in-house IT manager can get you quickly and safely up and running in the cloud, and, if the need arises, transfer your files and applications to another.

10: The cloud is for large companies – smaller companies aren’t moving there. Today, companies of every size are moving to the Cloud. Why? 94% of IT managers report that their tech security is better in the cloud. 75% of SMBs using the cloud reported better availability. 91% of companies that have significant compliance requirements use the cloud to satisfy them.

11: The cloud is best for everything in every business. Every company is unique and every company’s needs are different. We work with many great firms that keep all their data on-premises, many that are fully in the cloud, and others that are using a hybrid infrastructure that combine both on-premises and cloud. The goal of a managed IT support company should always be to find the very best solution on a client-by-client basis, and at DynaSis, we have been doing just that for Atlanta small to mid-sized businesses for 25 years. If you would like to learn more about our DynaSis Business Cloud services, click HERE.

We provide complimentary IT Assessments to determine the best course of action in implementing business cloud computing, in whole or in part, at once or over time, based on your needs, comfort level and budget. We can be reached at www.DynaSis.com or 678.373.0716.

The Challenge

Scarlet Deahl, Controller for Smart Lighting Solutions, recognized there was a problem with their managed I.T. service provider when she was unable to get fast response to resolve recurring I.T. problems. “We kept seeing the same problems over and over.” Among other issues, it sometimes took the provider’s service team as much as two hours to reach Smart Lighting’s Duluth, GA, office. “This was more than inconvenient”, states Deahl. “We were actually having trouble serving our customers because of network issues.” Additionally, neither helpdesk nor field support were available before 8 AM nor after hours.

The Selection

Taking advantage of the technical knowhow of an intern who was working at the company, Deahl assigned him the task of researching the best of the best managed IT service providers in the Atlanta area and coming back to her with the two companies he had determined were the best fit to take over the Smart Lighting Solutions account. The intern came back with his final two choices and, after meeting with both, Deahl chose to go with DynaSis.

The Solution

Knowing that the Smart Lighting executive team was concerned about their network security, DynaSis sent its Chief Solutions Architect onsite to perform a full assessment, including an in-depth cyber security review. Among the problems he discovered were: there was no business-grade backup, passwords were set to never expire, and their network was running on an old repurposed Cisco server that has been designed to run a phone system. While the server functioned, it was so old that it was out of warranty and there would have been no way to get it rapidly up and running again in the event of a failure. To resolve this, a new server was installed and the old server was again repurposed as a backup, with further backup to an offsite cloud-based facility.

Additionally, there was a switch problem that was causing trouble in fully accessing server resources, and this poor network performance was negatively impacting productivity. A full documentation of all network switches was conducted during which it was discovered that two “loops” existed, essentially causing information requests to run around in circles. This was also rectified.

The Result

Today, Smart Lighting Solutions’ I.T. network is running smoothly and when minor problems do arise, the DynaSis helpdesk and field support teams are available 24 x 7 to address all issues. As with all DynaSis clients, network monitoring is performed 24 x 7 x 365.

“DynaSis works proactively, not reactively. For example, when our power went out overnight recently, DynaSis discovered it and alerted us. With our old I.T. provider, nothing was done unless we reported it.”

Deahl also reports that the onboarding process went more smoothly than expected and that everyone has taken to the new processes very well.

“DynaSis has taken a burden off my team and me, now that I no longer have to be the main point of contact for I.T. issues. But the most important consideration is our customers. When our IT network isn’t functioning properly, servicing our customers becomes very difficult and that is something we simply cannot allow.”

It may be one of the most unfortunate names ever given to a form of technology. The Cloud. On one hand, it seems wonderfully ethereal. On the other, how can you trust all your data and applications to something so flimsy and unstable as a cloud? So here’s the thing:

The Cloud is not a “Cloud”.

It is a network of highly secure data centers that provide a level of cyber security that few small to mid-sized businesses could afford on their own. The cloud got its name back in the 60s when software engineers would draw diagrams of the components on which they were working, then enclose them with a hand drawn bumpy circle that came to be known as the “cloud.” The name stuck.

It is unfortunate because one of the most important advances in cyber availability, security and mobility is all too often looked upon as something as flimsy as…a cloud! Today let’s look at some myths that surround the cloud and hopefully by dispelling them, you may decide to take a closer look the next time your IT service provider asks you to..

1: My data can’t really be safe if it’s out there floating around in a cloud. That must be what they call “cyber-space.” No. Your data isn’t floating around. It’s in one of those incredibly secure facilities mentioned above. And cyber-space isn’t a real thing. It’s just a euphemism used when someone can’t figure out what they did with their email.

2: If we move to the cloud, we won’t have control over our technology. Actually, you will still have total control. The data center is just a storage facility and you control what goes on. You will also find that your headaches and time spent maintaining and upgrading hardware and software will be significantly reduced. Plus, you will no longer have to spend larger and larger sums of money on email and document storage.

3: It’s all or nothing. I if start with the cloud, I have to move everything. Not so. Many IT service providers will suggest that implementations actually start in hybrid fashion, moving just one application, like email. Then many companies decide to move their productivity software to the cloud. In fact, every company’s migration can be different.

More next week

If you follow DynaSis on Facebook, LinkedIn, or elsewhere, you are aware that we have been discussing Digital Disruption for some time now. If not, here is a 30-second overview: digital disruption on a global scale happens with developments like the advent of computers and/or the Internet. On an industry-wide scale, Digital Disruption comes from events such as Uber’s effect on the taxi industry or Netflix’s effect on video rentals. Since neither you nor I are likely to re-invent the Internet, nor create the next Uber, we are far more interested in how positive Digital Disruption (aka Digital Transformation) can affect our own businesses.

Inertia is a powerful force. It’s the reason why we can’t push a boulder uphill, or why you fall when you jump out of a car (your feet stop when they hit the pavement, but your body keeps going.) And it is emotional inertia that keeps us from making changes in our business when we know we really should. This is what keeps us from embracing Digital Transformation: using technology to transform our business, propelling us past our competition. The alternative is waiting for our competition to propel past us.

The first step in overcoming inertia and bringing digital transformation into your business is as easy as migrating from the Microsoft Office version you are currently using, to Microsoft Office 365. This is not merely upgrading to a newer version of Office. This is providing your employees with the ability to become more productive, to collaborate with colleagues, to function as powerful and effective teams, all while greatly increasing your network security.

But here is where inertia often sets in. You are using a version of Office that’s only three or four years old. It’s working fine. Everyone uses it; everyone is skilled in it; everyone is comfortable. Why change? Good question, so here are some answers:

1: Your people have left the building…they are working from home, in airports, clients’ offices, on the beach, etc. Microsoft Office 365 lets them work with anytime, anywhere access to all their files. It works on desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones.

2: Up to five devices per user: desktops (home and office), laptops, tablets and smartphones.

3: Data loss prevention. Office 365 backs up data in its world-wide network of secure facilities, and you know that with Microsoft’s financial strength behind it, it will always be there.

4: New applications, like Delve. Delve acts like your personal secretary. It finds hard to find documents, does research, keeps track of your projects, and so much more. (There are many more new apps.)

5: Migration is easy and since Microsoft Office 365 updates itself, migration is a one-time thing, and never need be repeated as new versions come out.

Right now, it’s also especially cost effective as we at DynaSis have just introduced our Cloud Accelerator Program with great Microsoft Office 365 migration incentives. You owe it to your business to LEARN MORE.

With 25 years of experience providing Atlanta’s small to mid-sized business community with IT support, DynaSis continues to lead the way in IT security and managed support. Learn more at www.DynaSis.com or call us at 678-373-0716.

 

If you have heard of ransomware but are not exactly sure what it is, here is a quick explanation: essentially, ransomware attacks start when cyber criminals hide links in what seem to be normal everyday emails or website pages. When these links are clicked on, a malicious virus is unleashed that encrypts your files so you cannot access them. The only way to decrypt these files is with a “key” that is sent to you by the cyber-criminal once you have paid the ransom.

If your personal files are encrypted, you may be asked to pay $300-$500. (There are no rules; it’s the criminal’s choice.) A small business may be asked for several thousand dollars up to tens of thousands. Large businesses and government have sometimes been asked for millions. Ransoms are usually paid in bitcoins, which are completely untraceable. When the ransom has been paid, the key is sent, and the owner of the encrypted files can unlock them. Most of the time.

There have also been cases where the key has not worked. Why? We don’t really know, but we do know that the criminal vanishes, leaving the business owner’s records forever locked and totally useless. Hopefully, there were back-ups that can replace the locked files, but often, the backups get encrypted as well. In fact, in 2016, only 42% of companies that were attacked were able to fully restore their files and avoid paying ransom.

When we say that ransomware has hit the big time, consider this: in the latest report published by the SonicWall security team, ransomware attacks have grown:

2014:                3,200,000 attacks

2015:                3,800,000 attacks

2016:           638,000,000 attacks

No, that’s not a typo. Yes, attacks increased 167 times or approximately 20,000% in one year!

The obvious question is “Why?” The answer is that committing ransomware crime has become very easy. While it used to take advanced programming skills and sophisticated hacking to commit cyber-crime, today the kid down the street can easily, quickly and cheaply search for ransomware software online and for a few hundred dollars buy the software tools he needs to attack businesses all over the world. No experience required.

Another reason: Studies have also shown that 91% of these attacks start with employees who are tricked into opening email that they should have left alone. Advanced ransomware programs now are also able to rapidly spread the infection from computer to computer within an organization, quickly spreading to servers.

What can you do? We have found that in most cases, cyber-attacks get through because the proper precautions have not been taken. We have seen computers upon which tens of thousands of attacks have been attempted, with not a single one getting through. Here are some suggestions:

1: Ongoing employee instruction in cyber security, particularly concerning email.

2: Advanced business-grade security against all forms of malware

3: Crypto-containment software (isolates and shuts down encrypted files, preventing spread of virus.)

4: 24 x 7 x 365 network monitoring

5: Off-site (cloud) back-up

Call if you have any questions.

DynaSis has been serving the small to mid-sized business community for 25 years and is a national leader in development and deployment of crypto prevention and crypto-containment solutions. 678-373-0716. www.DynaSis.com/managed-security.

If you haven’t heard the term “Digital Disruption”, think of the effect of Uber on the Taxi industry or of Netflix on the video rental business. But you don’t have to set an entire industry on edge to be a “digital disruptor.” No, you don’t have to be the next Uber. Digital disruption can occur in any business on any level and, without changing your industry entirely, it can rocket your business past your completion…or push your competition past you.

Company level digital disruption is about taking advantage of new technologies that can empower your marketing, speed up R & D, reduce manufacturing costs while improving results, research better materials pricing, bring products to market faster, improve customer service, and, on the most basic level, improve employee productivity while increasing network security.

Live Seminar March 10 in Alpharetta

Dave Moorman, Founder & President of DynaSis, a leading Managed IT Services provider in Atlanta for the past 25 years, has long been a student of Digital Disruption and how it can power companies to new levels of success. He is currently helping DynaSis clients understand the potential that new technologies have for them and working with them to identify these opportunities.

Dave will be presenting his seminar on “Digital Disruption: Don’t be Left Behind” at the 2017 Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce (GNFCC) Business Expo on Friday, March 10^th at 10:30 AM. You can PRE-REGISTER for the entire EXPO now for FREE. Admission at the door will be $10.

This seminar has been met with enthusiastic praise for its insight into a technological world that most small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) have been largely ignoring, but which, in fact, could be taking advantage of with minimal investment in time or money. In addition to owners and executives of (SMBs), this program is highly recommended for the attorneys, accountants, business advisors, and other firms that support them.

Learn more about DynaSis at www.DynaSis.com.

Now that you have made the switch, there are Office 365 features should be using. Yes, old habits die hard, so it is very likely that everyone on your team is continuing to use “O365” the same way you have been using the desktop-only application for years. That would be most unfortunate because many of the new Office 365 Features offer an opportunity to make everyone on your team much more productive...and improve network security.

Let’s look at a few:

1: Real-Time Co-authoring. In Word, Excel and PowerPoint, online collaboration becomes much more effective. When you save your files to OneDrive or SharePoint, your colleagues can work along with you, actually seeing each other’s changes as they are made.

2: Chat with Your Co-Workers right in O365. Skype in now built right into O365 and you can use it to chat, share your screens, as well as have audio and/or video chats with your cohorts…and you do it right there in the application you are using.

3: Instead of attaching files to emails, insert links into your emails that allow your co-workers to access the files right from the cloud. You can set up proper permissions, even allowing the person to whom you are emailing the right to make changes to the file. Of course, you can change permissions at any time.

4: OneNote notes can be easily converted to Outlook calendar events for yourself, or assign them to co-workers, even adding reminders and/or deadlines. You can also use OneNote to take meeting notes, then add details such as attendees, dates, etc., and distribute by email.

5: Your mouse can become a laser pointer for PowerPoint presentations. It just takes a simple keyboard shortcut. This is one of the very cool Office 365 features.

6: PowerMap Turns Data into a Map. This is a powerful “data visualization tool” that converts data into a solution that helps with analyzing and sharing data. In the image at the top of this blog, data about a certain condition within the 50 states was converted into a map showing each state in the color representing the value of that condition. It can be used for sales, opportunities, population, weather events or for a virtually unlimited number of possibilities.

To learn more and watch a short video on Office 365, CLICK HERE.

Keep checking back. We will be covering a lot more really cool features of Office 365 in the near future.

Let’s start by understanding two things: What is the IoT? And what is the Law of Unintended Consequences?

IoT: The "Internet of Things". This is the connecting of virtually any device to the Internet. Smartphones, dishwashers, refrigerators, headphones and earbuds, lamps, HVAC systems…you name it. “Alexa, please add milk to the shopping list.” That’s IoT. But IoT also includes the parts of machines, such as airplane engines and oil rigs. Critical components are equipped with sensors that signal the manufacturer when potential problems are on the horizon. Important stuff.

The Law of Unintended Consequences kicks in when the outcomes of an action are not those that were intended. These can be both positive and negative. Examples include the discovery that aspirin, intended for pain relief, can also prevent heart attacks. The setting aside of large tracts of land as hunting preserves for nobility in the middle ages has led to space now being available for large green areas, including public parks, throughout England.

On the other side of the coin, the passing of laws for the use of safety helmets for bicyclists in Australia did lead to a decrease in serious head injuries, but has also led to a reduction in bicycling and this overall decrease in exercise has had a net negative health effect.

The US Park Service eradicated wolves from Yellowstone Park to protect the other species. The unintended consequences included a rapid and huge increase in the deer population, which led to overgrazing, which led to an almost total elimination of new forestry growth, which led to riverbanks collapsing, which led to a decrease in fish population…you get the picture. In 1997, 10 wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone. Since then, the deer population has been under control, new forest growth has abounded, fish populations have returned, etc., etc., etc.

Unintended consequence: When you use an app to turn your light bulbs on and off, you do not know how much information is being collected. Say you always turn your lights on by app when you get home at night, but not when you are away. Therefore, for three nights in a row your lights are not turned on. Or maybe your refrigerator door hasn’t been opened in a week. Is this information available to someone looking to break into homes in your neighborhood?

Unintended consequence: The one-way device that allows you to look in on your infant may also allow a cyber-intruder to do the same.

Alexa may be great at adding milk, butter and eggs to your shopping list, but is she also remembering private conversations that can be listened to real-time or later on? The answer to a lot of these questions is simply: we just don’t know. What we do know is that cyber-criminals have become incredibly adept at their craft and you can bet your last dollar that right now there are people working their tails off trying to figure out how to use this technology to steal identities, money and possessions.

How big is this problem? The truth is, again, we just don’t know, but consider this: right now there are approximately 11 billion IoT devices in the world. By 2025 it is expected there will be 80 billion. You may remember a massive cyber-attack that shut down servers across the east coast of the USA this past October. Without getting too technical, this was caused by an attack on millions of IP addresses associated with IoT devices. (Every IoT device is connected to the Internet with a unique IP address, and the Internet allows two-way communication.)

The other real truth is that the manufacturers of these IoT devices are way behind in developing the security measures that are needed for consumer/business protection, and that even when they have been brought to an acceptable level of security, the vast majority of the billions of devices out there can never be updated. Their technology does not allow for updates. They will be sitting out there for decades, possibly as easy targets for cyber-crime protocols of the future.

Protecting yourself requires more than just common sense. It requires vigilance, thinking like a criminal and always being aware of possible unintended consequences.