By the DynaSis Team
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One of the biggest pieces of news you might not have heard was that last week (June 10), for the first time ever, a computer program passed the “Turing Test.” This test determines if a computer can persuade 30% of questioners that they are engaging with a human being (and not a computer) during a five-minute, text-based conversation.

The tech world has been talking about artificial intelligence (AI) for years—painting a portrait of a world where computers can stand in for humans in any given situation, and no one will be the wiser. The possibilities are tantalizing—and the perils are alarming.

In this particular instance, the winning computer program, called Eugene Goostman, beat out several other AI programs and persuaded 33% of interrogators that a human was on the other end, crafting the responses. At the event, organized by the University of Reading at the Royal Society London, some participants and observers claimed “Foul!” because the program claimed to be a 13-year-old Ukrainian boy with a limited grasp of the English language.

Other successful attempts at passing similar tests have also been flawed, because they included pre-established topics or questions, which the Turing Test specifically disallows. This time, the restrictions related to the “speaker” and not the topics or questions. Such an approach is not prohibited by the test, but it is a bit questionable.

So, where does this leave us? Undoubtedly, even if this episode fails to persuade the scientific community that a computer has definitively passed Turing’s test, there’s little doubt that such a feat will be accomplished before long. When computers can truly be indistinguishable from humans, the ramifications for online communication and, for that matter, cloud computing could be considerable.

Already, more than 60 percent of Internet traffic originates from bots, per data security company Incapsula. Published reports indicate that any number of human chat-room visitors have been duped into thinking they are speaking with a human—even to the point of accepting an invitation for a date. Chat bots are also becoming increasingly common for customer service and tech support. None of us know how many times we might have interacted with a chat bot and thought it was a real person.

So, as the line between human and computer continues to blur, and the world waits for another, more robust demonstration of true AI, what should you and your company do? Our recommendation is watch and be vigilant.

Texting with a computer posing as a human is a lot different from talking to one on the phone, where we can catch vocal intonations and other nuances that clue us into “humanness.” Nevertheless, with an increasing number of communications happening by text and email in today’s business environment, companies and their employees cannot be too careful.

Warn your personnel of the dangers of chatting with strangers online, especially if they ask for personal or corporate information. Chat bots have stolen personal information from innocent victims (or sending them to Websites that did) after persuading them they were human.

Furthermore, make sure your firm’s digital perimeter defenses are strong enough that they will stop activity from suspicious websites and not let workers interact with them. The weakest link in everyone’s security chain is humans, and the next wave of assaults may be on the way. If you are not certain that your security is up to par, fill out our inquiry form or give us a call at 678.218.1769.

By the DynaSis Team
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With technology gurus and media touting the benefits and adoption rates of advanced technologies such as cloud computing, one might assume that everyone is jumping on the bandwagon. A new study from Ipsos Research (commissioned by Microsoft) shows that for SMBs (small to midsized businesses), that’s not the case.

Per the survey, conducted in early May 2014, only 30% of SMBs polled report adopting cloud computing, despite its obvious benefits. Other “hot” technologies such as tablets, payment technologies and social media apps also don’t rank highly, with only 34%, 34% and 31% considering of SMB owners considering them important, respectively.

Far more important to these business owners are laptop computers (68%), desktop computers (67%), smartphones (60%) and the supposed dinosaurs of technology—landlines (52%). More troubling, perhaps, is that it’s not that business owners don’t like these technologies. Of those polled, 86% said that keeping up with technology trends is important to their business (50% ranked it very important; 36% said it was somewhat important). Rather, they do not think their questions and concerns about these developments have been adequately addressed.

Specifically, the top three concerns of SMB owners regarding adopting new technologies were:
The expense of upgrading and/or maintaining technology (35%)
Security of new technologies (22%)
Mobility and access—specifically, the ability to work with content from multiple devices in any location (16%).

At DynaSis, we have long maintained that security, availability and mobility are the three pillars of success with technology, so we couldn’t agree with these business owners more. What these SMB owners (and others) may not realize is that it is no longer expensive or complicated to address security and achieve mobility and accessibility.

Furthermore, when SMBs develop technology plans that are aligned with their business objectives, the cost of upgrading proactively can be less expensive than dealing with equipment failures and outages as they occur. In fact, when the cost of downtime, lost business opportunity and company standing, and the productivity value of new technologies are factored in, unplanned upgrades and repairs are almost always considerably more expensive than making improvements at a measured pace.

With the survey also reporting that a substantial percentage of SMBs still manually collect and store data on individual hard drives (36%) and/or use filing cabinets and folders to collect, store and share files (26%), it’s evident that many SMBs are really missing out on the value of centralized (including cloud/online) storage solutions.

On the plus side, 40% of SMB staffers are now able to work remotely at least 50% of the time. That’s great news, but if they are still tied to hard drives and file folders, they are not working very productively.

If any of these statistics ring a bell with you, please fill out our inquiry form or give us a call at 678.218.1769. Our certified IT pros will come to your location, review how IT is (or isn’t) helping you achieve your business goals and objectives, and show you how it can be affordable to transition from outdated, insecure and impermanent technology solutions to a future where everyone works collaboratively and productively, from any location they choose.

By the DynaSis Team

[featured_image] One of the three characteristics that IT solutions must possess to propel business success and efficiency, in our opinion, is mobility. Microsoft appears to agree, and has been making big strides in its effort to develop solutions that transcend the barrier of desktop versus mobile, giving users a unified experience, as much as possible, across all their devices.

Earlier this year, Microsoft took another step in that direction with its release of the Outlook Web App (OWA) for the Android platform. This debut fulfilled the company’s stated goal of providing a Microsoft email client on all major mobile devices (smartphones and tablets). (Windows Mobile has Outlook Mobile, which works equally well.)

With Exchange Server 2013, Microsoft thoroughly redesigned OWA with a goal of making it work well on a variety of devices and form factors other than the traditional PC. The result was an adaptable, device-friendly interface that works as well on tablets and smartphones as it does on desktop and laptop displays. The feature set is a little lighter than the previous desktop version, but we are confident that Microsoft will address this over time.

Microsoft chose to debut OWA for iOS first (in July 2013), quite possibly because Microsoft wanted to control the end-to-end technology (and connection) for the mail delivery pipeline. With Microsoft’s old Exchange “handshake” tool, Exchange Active Sync, if something went wrong on another platform, users likely blamed Microsoft, at least in part, no matter where the fault lay. It made sense to give users a product that was thoroughly Microsoft and also worked as well as possible.
Unfortunately, things still are not perfect in iOS-land for OWA―a fact that doesn’t surprise anyone who has followed the ups and downs of Apple and Microsoft’s relationship over the years. However, if an enterprise runs (or leases hosted space on) an Exchange 2013 Server, things tend to work more smoothly.

Even better for companies with numerous Android users, OWA and Android seem to get along quite well. Google doesn’t have the complex “trust” issues that Apple has with outside developers. Furthermore, Microsoft has announced that it will debut new features in OWA within the next year, and it continues to tweak OWA incrementally to improve its functionality, as well.

Despite lingering problems with iOS, the most functional email client on iOS or Android for Exchange is still OWA. Users can default to the built-in email apps available in iOS or Android if they prefer, but for enterprises running Exchange, it makes more sense to get everyone over to OWA.
If your company has yet to transition its iOS and Android users to the new version of OWA, you owe it to yourself (and them) to give it a test drive. Our certified technicians can provide a demonstration and then help you get set up and running, quickly. To learn more, please fill out our inquiry form or give us a call at 678.218.1769.

By the DynaSis Team
[featured_image]Across the board, IT experts recommend that organizations conduct quarterly business reviews (QBRs). Whether these transpire with internal IT staff and key company stakeholders or between third-party IT providers and those same stakeholders, they are crucial to keeping an IT plan on track.

Why is this? To be most effective and help a company drive productivity and ROI, firms need their IT plans to be proactive, not reactive. IT plans need to reflect what is on the company’s horizon―and where leadership wants the business to go. With this information, IT staff and consultants can help a company make better decisions during budgeting, or when unexpected purchasing opportunities (such as a hardware failure or expiring software license) arise.

QBRs are also a time for company stakeholders and their IT staff and/or vendors to reevaluate priorities, and reflect on how emerging trends or interesting new developments might change the trajectory of the firm and its IT plans.

So, how do they work? For DynaSis’ customers, Quarterly Business Reviews take place with their Technical Account Manager (TAM). During the QBR, the TAM asks about the firm’s current and future business initiatives to determine how DynaSis (and technology, overall) can best support them. At the conclusion of the event, the TAM has collected enough information to ensure DynaSis is up to speed on your business goals and can help the firm align its IT programs and plans with those goals.

QBRs are not a forum to discuss upcoming projects, or ticket resolution or any other detail of your service plan. And they are certainly not a time when a vendor should try to sell a firm on purchasing more products or services.

We have discovered that when DynaSis stays informed about its clients’ long-term plans and objectives―and when we learn, early on, about any shifts in their business directions―we can better help them plan for that future. This often includes preventing IT missteps or making advance decisions that avert unnecessary downtime and expenditures.

If you are not conducting QBRs, we urge you to incorporate them into your IT calendars. And, if you are a DynaSis customer, when your TAM calls to request your next QBR, we hope you will look forward to the discussion and be excited about scheduling a meeting.

To learn more about QBRs (or to initiate a meeting if you already work with us), please fill out our inquiry form or give us a call at 678.218.1769.

By the DynaSis Team

[featured_image]In the last few weeks, we’ve come across more studies and reports that highlight the value to businesses of mobility and availability, and we wanted to share them with you. First, Forrester Research last week released a brief entitled, “Microsoft Office Crosses The Cloud Rubicon: The Focus Is On Business Agility, And Here's Why It Matters.” In it, Forrester talks about recent moves by Microsoft that confirm the future of its Office portfolio is in the cloud (Office 365). Microsoft kicked this messaging off at the SharePoint Conference 2014, Forrester noted, and then put an exclamation mark on it with the release of Office on iPad for Office 365 users. Forrester completed the brief by predicting that these moves will facilitate sharing, communication and individual mobility for organizations, helping them “become more agile and responsive to a customer-driven marketplace.”

We concur, and believe that although communication and sharing are important, what really sets Office 365 apart is mobility. For workers to be able to access their Office productivity tools anywhere they have an Internet connection (availability), and to always work with the same (and latest) version of Office, is an enormous productivity booster.

We’ve worked with companies whose workers were nearly hamstrung because they were trying to work with different, outdated, and in some cases nearly incompatible versions of Office in the office, at home and on the road. On their mobile devices, many of these companies’ workers were limited to Office “reader” apps that weren’t really letting them work, at all. When we helped these firms transition to Office 365 (with an affordable, per-seat pricing model), worker productivity and satisfaction soared.

At the same time this report hit our desks, we saw another one, released late last year, about office productivity in the UK. The report found that the adoption of information and communications technology in the past 40 years has increased office worker productivity by 480% over its 1970s levels.

This productivity report, released by the Centre for Economic and Business Research, determined that these technologies, including the mobile phone, “paved the way for a revolution in the use of technology in the office.” It also forecast that over the next five years, productivity will continue to accelerate, driven by “ascendant technologies such as high-speed mobile internet access and tablet computers that will allow office workers to stay connected and productive wherever they are.”

Here again, we see central themes―mobility and availability. At DynaSis, we call it “Modern Officing”―the ability to be connected and productive anytime, anywhere, provided you have a computing device of some sort and an Internet connection. We have long believed that mobility and availability (along with security) are the three key drivers of business success. Now, the entire world is echoing the call.

Where are you on your road to Modern Officing? Whether you are just getting started or are ready to take another step in the process, our technology experts can help you plan for and make the journey securely and cost effectively. To learn more, fill out our inquiry form or give us a call.

By the DynaSis Team

[featured_image] In conjunction with the kickoff of National Small Business Week, Time Warner announced the results of its most recent survey about small business technology trends. The survey results were illuminating, to say the least, and we thought you might find them interesting. Despite interest in cloud technologies, mobile productivity and other hot technologies, small business owners put three more “basic” needs at the top of the list: fast, reliable Internet access, clear, reliable phone service, and a reliable Wi-Fi network at their businesses.

Among survey respondents, 80% indicated that their customers expect them to offer free Wi-Fi at their locations, yet only 43% of businesses offer it. These business owners may recognize that allowing customers and guests to roam onto the company network isn’t a safe practice. What they may not know is that setting up a parallel “guest” network isn’t difficult. Businesses that take this small step could increase their customer satisfaction.

Another interesting issue, especially with Microsoft’s recent end of support for its popular Windows XP operating system, was that 33% of small businesses have been negatively impacted by outdated technology. Furthermore, business owners recognize the advantages of up-to-date technology, with 73% stating it would give them easier/faster access to information and 57% projecting it would increase customer satisfaction.

Of those surveyed, 93% had performed at least some technology upgrades in the past five years. However, as we reported last week, the pace of technology itself makes such upgrade timeframes impractical.

This survey was conducted with primarily very small business owners (24 employees or fewer), and among larger businesses, the priorities shift somewhat. For 2014, research firm SMB Group found that the number one technology challenge for medium businesses would be data integration.

Firms in the 25-100 sector continue to adopt cloud technologies, but they often do not proceed in an integrated or cohesive fashion. As a result, they end up with disparate silos of information that are not accessible to all workers. SMB Group predicted that cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-premise integration would both take center stage for the remainder of 2014.

DynaSis technical experts can help companies achieve all these goals, whether they seek a guest network for their clients or want to deploy a unified data store to hold all of their digital business assets. We can also help companies adopt a fully cloud-based solution that gives all workers―on premise or mobile―access to data and applications, 24/7/365. To learn more, fill out our inquiry form or give us a call.

By the DynaSis Team

For company management, the thought of replacing server hardware is daunting, at best. Not only are servers and other core hardware expensive, but the disruption that replacement causes can be considerable. As a result, many firms bumble along with aging servers, replacing them only when they reach the end of their life cycles―or worse, when they fail altogether.

DynaSis has long been a proponent of proactive hardware replacement on optimally timed cycles to reduce disruption and maximize ROI. IDC, a leading technology research firm, has published an opinion piece that proves the value of this approach.

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In February 2012, IDC released The Cost of Retaining Aging IT Infrastructure, which found that the cost advantages of owning aging infrastructure diminish considerably over time. The paper also found that failure rates begin to accelerate rapidly around year four―far earlier than many companies plan for replacement.

In the paper, the IDC researchers noted, “The pattern of stretching the useful life cycle of servers has a number of near-term benefits for customers in terms of depreciating assets over a long period of time or prolonging an existing lease. But if a transition to new technologies has been deferred too long, then the time comes when the system has fallen far behind the performance and cost-efficiency levels being offered by multiple vendors in the marketplace today.”

They went on to note that this issue is having greater impact as time goes on, because the performance of processors is not often doubling each year due to the availability of multicore, multiprocessor system designs with improved system speeds. The paper found that a “buy and hold” strategy actually adds costs, primarily due to three factors:

• Hardware maintenance costs rise over time, and performance lags behind more current server offerings.
• Energy efficiency is not as advanced in older server models — leading to rising power/cooling costs in the latter years of the server's usable life cycle.
• Applications software and systems software fall behind the current versions available in the marketplace, and security may require frequent updates. After five years of use, the cost of replacement climbs.

Companies that upgrade prior to year four enjoy a return on investment (ROI) of more than 150% over three years. Most importantly for budgeting, the payback period for the upgrades, on average (per IDC), was 11.7 months.

IDC also notes that the trend to virtualization is further increasing the efficiency gains and cost savings of regularly planned upgrades. Virtualization also fosters better resource utilization and gives companies more granular control over server workloads, with the result being higher availability.

DynaSis can help your firm plan for, select and procure new server and other infrastructure hardware that is appropriate for your current and future business plans. We will also deploy and configure it for you. Optionally, for companies wishing to avoid a large capital outlay, our Ascend solution lets you lease hardware from us, with appropriately timed, planned upgrades and 24/7 proactive management and support included, for a set monthly fee. To learn more, fill out our inquiry form or give us a call.

By the DynaSis Team

[featured_image] few decades ago, when mechanical hard drives were notoriously prone to failure, the technology media often issued dire warnings about the dangers of not having a good data backup. That was in the days when tape backups were the norm, and companies that hadn’t experienced the pain of a data failure were hesitant to engage in such a complex and time-consuming effort.

Then solid-state drives (with no mechanical parts) and the cloud came along and these backup methods caught the public eye. The noise level relating to the danger of failing hard drives appears to have dropped substantially since then. Ironically, during the same period, businesses have become no more protected against data failure. We submit many are now operating at even greater risk.

Why? Data storage is at an all-time high, with company data pools often weighing in at a terabyte (approximately one million megabytes) or larger. Compounding the problem, huge-capacity, solid-date data drives are inexpensive and small (often the size of a deck of cards). Furthermore, many businesses use both the cloud and solid-state drives for data storage, causing files to become scattered into multiple locations. Some firms even allow (or do not forbid) employees to store company data on personal laptops, portable drives they take home at night, and other off-site locations.

Many companies do not even know that their backups are inadequate until they have a data disaster (or even a minor crash) and lose something important, like that presentation for a new client that took 20 hours to complete. In fact, a November 2013 survey from research firm The 2112 Group found that 23% of companies purchase cloud-based backup solutions after data loss or system downtime due to an unprotected system. Some 44% of purchases occur either after a data disaster or because of concerns one might be looming. Furthermore, an unrelated study found that 44% of business owners have no data governance policy to control where or how they store data.

These statistics point out a dire problem―that nearly half of business owners are not adequately protecting and managing their data. The solution to this problem is simple:

Data and Backup Analysis, Planning and Management.

To get a handle on their data before a data loss occurs, companies need to figure out where it is and then come up with a workable plan to manage it and back it up. They need to embrace the notion that a comprehensive backup and data recovery (BDR) solution involves more than a second hard drive on someone’s desk or an old server in the “computer closet”. It involves data and risk analysis, planning and management, and offsite data backups (usually cloud-based and either redundant or transferred nightly). Such a system, once implemented, gives firms the best chance of backing up everything, everywhere, and ensuring the latest versions of company files are available to everyone―even if the unthinkable happens.

Here at DynaSis, we live, eat and breathe BDR and develop customized solutions on a daily basis. If this blog has hit home, we can perform an assessment that will find all the data hanging around your network. We can then help you decide what you want to back up, and make a plan for a solution and configuration that works within your risk tolerance and financial constraints. To learn more, fill out our inquiry form or give us a call.

By the DynaSis Team

[featured_image] Week of April 7, the tech world was in a frenzy with news of the Heartbleed bug. Websites scrambled to close the flaw and notify their users that they were protected. Some security experts proclaimed that everyone, everywhere, should change all their Internet passwords―but not until each site was safe. Internet users looked on with confusion, not sure exactly what they should do.

Here at DynaSis, because our servers use Windows SSL and not OpenSSL (the security protocol that is vulnerable), we didn’t need to worry about it. For the handful of our customers that are running the Linux operating system and have a secure (https) website, we patched their systems as soon as the fix came out. Those patches took only a few minutes to install, after which time we confirmed that they were working. Mission accomplished.

The Heartbleed bug―which was not a virus, worm or any other type of malware introduced by criminals, but rather a coding flaw in the software itself―highlights the importance of regular system updates and patches. These types of security flaws are not uncommon in software code, and vigilant developers issue “repairs” as soon as they become aware of them.

The patches and updates that we and others receive from software developers contain these fixes. At DynaSis, most of our services include what we call “proactive network and server management,” which includes application of all patches and updates, so our customers never have to worry about patching their systems. (This service also includes a host of other benefits, but that’s not the topic of this blog.)

The real question, of course, is should you be worried? A study released last week by the U.S. Energy Department’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory says they cannot find any evidence of a Heartbleed-based attack since January 2014. The researchers also suggested that any attacks in the two years prior to discovery of the Heartbleed flaw would have been uncovered by now.

However, now that the bug has been so widely publicized, it may become a target for cybercriminals. The top 1,000 most heavily trafficked sites have patched their OpenSSL installations, but millions of smaller sites have not. Researchers at the University of Michigan are maintaining a Heartbleed Bug Health Report which lists the top 1,000 most vulnerable sites and maintains updates on activity surrounding the flaw. Furthermore, a handful of Android mobile devices use the version of OpenSSL that contains the Heartbleed bug. Those concerned about the security of their information on the Internet or their Android device can take a variety of precautionary measures, many of which are covered in this article.

If all of this sounds like too much to process, much less handle on your own, the technical experts at DynaSis will be happy to assist. Just fill out our inquiry form or give us a call.

By the DynaSis Team

[featured_image]Have your employees complained about slow connections to either the Internet or the company network? Have you tested your upload/download network speeds at the server and found them to be fine?

One of the issues small and medium-sized businesses face is getting the fast throughput (transfer of data) to their workers’ computers. Firms purchase business-grade (or even very fast home-grade) Internet packages and then find that their employees’ connections are not fast enough for optimal productivity. They assume the problem must be old or misconfigured computers―and hold off on performing upgrades or repairs due to budget concerns.

Although outdated or improper configuration can be the culprits for slow network connections, there are other, less complex (and expensive) issues that may be in play. Among workstations, problems that impact connectivity can range from too many browser add-ons to a badly fragmented hard drive. The frequency of these types of issues―and the regularity with which online “experts” mention them―leads companies to assume that if only a few employees have slow network connections, the obvious cause must be those particular PCs.

In reality, network issues―even those that impact only a handful of PCs in the office―can be due to many factors other than the machines themselves. In the days when most companies used Ethernet cables to create hard-wired network connections, speeds from the Web server were fairly consistent and predictable for all personnel. With the current popularity of Wi-Fi routers, however, all bets are off.

In some cases, the routers around the office are unable to broadcast at the high speeds coming from the main connection. In other cases, intervening obstacles such as a concrete wall―or even sheer distance―weaken the signal. A third common cause is an insufficient number of routers to handle all the traffic at the highest speed possible. (Network connections are like highways for data. When too many people try to travel on them at once, everything slows down.)

Fortunately, resolving network issues outside the PC is often faster and less expensive than replacing or repairing computers. Sometimes, fixing the problem can be as simple as configuring two conflicting firewalls to work together more effectively.

The DynaSis Network Assessment offers an affordable way for companies to determine exactly where network bottlenecks are occurring, so they can make a plan to eliminate these performance busters. A Network Assessment is much more efficient and cost-effective than manual troubleshooting. It takes minutes and does not impede worker productivity while it runs.

After the assessment, DynaSis’ trained technicians review the results and present your company with a detailed report of findings, including any problems we have identified. We can then develop a “resolution roadmap” that fits your budget and gets your network back on track. To query our experts about your network performance issues, or to learn more about our Network Assessment, fill out our inquiry form or give us a call.