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Today’s small business typically starts without a clear picture of how they are going to manage IT. After all, the firm probably started with one to three people, all with computers but no networking, and maybe sharing documents through A) a consumer-grade document sync app (bad idea), B) Microsoft Office 365 (good idea to a point), or C) thumb drives (very bad idea). Security is probably sketchy, at best, and if something goes wrong, well, there’s always your brother-in-law, Malcolm, who at least knows a little more than you do.
As the company grows, you are faced with the reality that you need access to more IT knowledge than Malcolm, good soul that he is, possesses. You have two choices: 1) hire an IT guy, or 2) retain the services of a managed IT support company like DynaSis. If you compare the costs of the two options, you are likely to find that they are the same. The advantage of your own in-house IT person is that he is always available…except when he isn’t. Like when he is on vacation, or over the weekend, or after business hours. And then you soon find out that in today’s IT world, no one person has all the knowledge and training you are going to need, which the managed IT service can provide.
Either way you go at the start, as your company grows, you are going to face the next decision: expand your one-person IT department to two or three or four people, or now that your company is larger, drop your managed IT support provider in favor of building your own in-house team. Ah, but there is a much better solution!
Co-Managed / Co-Sourced IT
Under the co-managed / co-sourced IT scenario, you have your own in-house team, along with the services of the managed IT support provider. You and your provider can determine which services are best performed in-house and which are best handled by your provider. For example, in the treacherous IT world of today (and there are many, many things that can go wrong), you should consider using the 24 x 7 x 365 monitoring and managing services they provide. The right provider will spot small issues and fix them before they become major problems. As your company grows, you also might want to use the provider’s technical help desk, and other services they provide.
One of the major advantages of using a managed IT service like DynaSis, is that it frees your IT person (or people) from mundane, routine, day-to-day tasks and allows them to participate in long-range planning and decisions that help the company grow. You can also call upon the executive team of your IT provider to help in determining and even developing technology that can power your R&D, production, sales and marketing, HR, finance, etc.
By the way, through all of this, you will probably find that the combination of a smaller in-house team and an experienced and qualified managed IT support company will cost you no more, often less, than building up your own team, and will bring to the table more knowledge and expertise than even a small team of three or four can offer.
We wrote a full white paper on the subject recently and we invite you to read it here. At DynaSis, we have been providing IT support, either full service or co-managed, to small to mid-sized businesses here in Atlanta since 1992. Want to know more? Call us today at 678-373-0716.
Is Your Business a Digital Business? It Better Be!
If not, you’re likely to be edged out and become a dinosaur in a modern world.
To be fair today, today every business is a digital business. Do you use email? Accounting software? Do you do research online? Do you have an online store? The question really is: do you use technology to your best advantage? In a White Paper we published not too long ago entitled A Digital Business in a Digital World we quoted a recent article by Forrester Research that essentially said (it’s too long to quote in its entirety here) that over the next couple of years your company is either going to become a “digital master” or “digital prey”. (Click above to read the whole quotation.)
The reality is that in today’s world the small business is already at a disadvantage. Big box stores have gobbled up the market share of hardware stores, office supply companies and apparel retailers. Even your dentist may now be the employee of a large national chain and your local car dealer is now probably owned by a conglomerate of 300-500 dealerships.
How does technology help you?
In a modern business, technology is intertwined into virtually every phase of that business. R&D, production, sales, marketing, finance, HR, customer service. Using technology takes us to the next level in every one of these departments (and all the other not mentioned here.) It keeps costs in line, enables us to provide better customer/client service, reduces errors, and generally makes us more effective in every way.
IT – Are You Inside-Out or Outside-In?
In most companies, IT has traditionally been an “Inside-Out” function, meaning that your IT focus has been on supporting your business as it exists today. This is the case whether you have your own internal IT department or are using a third-party managed IT support provider. This is ok. Your IT people need to be focused on the problems of today. But there is great value in shifting some of that focus “outside-in” so that your IT people are looking at, adapting and strengthening the disruptive business models that your business becomes the predator, not the prey.
What does this mean? Let’s look at some extreme cases. First, as this piece was being written, we saw a TV segment that Blockbuster was down to its last store. From 9,100 stores with 84,000 employees to one store with about 10 people working. Disruptive business models killed it. NYC taxi medallions (the license to own a taxi) have fallen in value from over $1,000,000 to about $200,000 because of services like Uber and Lyft.
Less “blockbuster” moves companies can make to disrupt their businesses positively can be updating websites to make them more interactive, adding third party products lines, more efficient production through technology, R&D to improve products and services ahead of your competition, improved employee satisfaction and productivity, and saving money across the board.
As an Atlanta-based managed IT support company, here at DynaSis we have had more than 25 years-experience helping small to mid-sized companies grow through secure technology. Give us a call and we will be happy to explain how. 678-373-0716.
Yes, compliance can be a pain in the butt.
Yes, the current administration has been eliminating a lot of regulations so for some industries, compliance has become somewhat easier.
But, no, not all compliance regulations are not going away, and, no, not all regulations are evil. A world without any regulations would be a difficult place to do business and consumers and companies alike would be at the mercy of bad players with no recourse. Regulations are necessary, although we are not going to get into the debate of how many are good and how many are bad.
The question for you, as the owner or an executive in a small to mid-sized business, is how to not only follow the rules, but use the fact that you are in compliance as a competitive advantage. Look, you have to follow the rules anyway, so use them to your advantage.
Not long ago, we published a full White Paper: “Compliance as a Competitive Advantage”. In it, we looked at a number of ideas. We started with the riskiness of non-compliance and the negative press that can follow. We discussed the large fines that can be incurred, including a $50,000 fine to a hospice that had a laptop with unsecured patient records stolen.
We also talked about the Public Relations nightmare that can occur. No, if you are running a small to mid-sized business here in Atlanta, your compliance shortcomings aren’t going to make the CBS Evening News, but you can definitely expect them to make all the local affiliates at 4 PM, 5 PM, 6 PM, 11 PM and again at 5 AM and 6 AM the next morning.
You’ve heard that there is no such thing as bad publicity? Don’t believe it because the next thing that will be affected is the confidence of your clients/customers. Your company doesn’t have the staying power or the public relations budget of Home Depot, Sony, Target or the other major national and international firms that have been hit by these scandals. In fact, statistics show that up to 60% of SMBs that have been hit with compliance scandals (this includes data breaches, etc.) either never reopen or close permanently within six months.
We strongly suggest you read the full White Paper, then look at the series of Compliance web pages we also published recently. Start here: Compliance: Getting Started, and in the lower right corner you will see links to a whole series of short but highly informative web pages on a series of compliance-related subjects.
Here’s the thing about compliance: it should be one of those things that you just do and do right so that so that it never becomes a major issue. Here at DynaSis, as a managed IT support provider here in Atlanta, we have been helping companies with compliance for more than 25 years. Give us a call and we can discuss your needs. 678-373-0716.
When is Your Business Ready for the Cloud?
Simply put: Now!
Like we’ve been doing in recent weeks, we are taking another look-back at some recent white papers we have written that we believe are important enough to again bring to your attention. This blog refers to the white paper: Is Your Business Big Enough for the Cloud?
First, what exactly is the Cloud? The cloud (and the term is not something we would have chosen) is simply a cluster of servers that serve many businesses. These servers are usually located in a highly secure facility that offers protections that no small to mid-sized company could afford. The cloud is not some bizarre technology that only the most sophisticated businesses should consider. In fact, you are using the cloud right now: smartphone apps, mobile banking, Google Docs, Gmail, and lots more.
While the White Paper mentioned above goes into more detail, let’s just quickly take a look at some of the advantages of using a cloud (like the DynaSis Business Cloud):
Data Backup: there are few things in today’s technology world more important than good backups. There is so much that can go wrong, although proper IT support and planning can prevent much of this, that you need to be prepared. Sure, you can back up in your office, but the cloud is much safer. (Hybrid systems are also good options, where some backup work is done in your office and other is done in the cloud. Ask us.)
Mobility: Your people are on the road, working from home, in hotels, customers’ offices, etc. Your cloud service is much less likely to go down than is your in-office service. The last thing you want is your sales team that’s visiting a customer on the west coast to be unable to open important documents.
File Synching and Sharing: Actually part of Mobility, the cloud allows quick and seamless ability to share documents and synchronize them so everyone is on the “same page”.
Storage: As your needs expand or shrink, you can cost effectively increase or decrease storage capacity without buying new server equipment. If your business changes, you can download archive document to tape and decrease storage costs.
Always Up-To-Date: For apps like Microsoft Office 365 and others, online versions (which are in the cloud) are always updated, including fixes. Your people are always working on the latest versions with the most useful features.
There is a lot more to understand about the cloud, so download the White Paper mentioned above. Even better, give us a call. After more than 25 years as an Atlanta managed IT support provider, and having worked with the cloud since its inception, we have a lot of good information we are happy to share. Call us at 678-373-0716, or visit us at www.DynaSis.com.
For a long time now, we have been making the claim that “every company is a technology company.” It doesn’t matter if you are designing websites, building houses, or selling pet food and supplies. Do you have a website, an email account? You are using technology every day and in more and more ways every year. Therefore, it seems only natural that you will eventually need a CIO – Chief Information Officer.
Not so fast. Yes, it is entirely possible that a CIO may be the best thing for your company, but it is not something you should be jumping into. It can be very expensive and if the need isn’t really there, you may want to look at other alternatives.
We published a White Paper not too long ago titled: Does Your Company Need a CIO? and in it we examined the costs, benefits and other options.
Good technology people are hard to find and consequently command big salaries. For example, in the Atlanta metro area, the average salary plus bonus for a CIO is $327,000 (per Salary.com). You can save some with a Chief Technology Officer ($267,000) or an IT Director ($201,000), but for the average small to midsized business, that’s still a lot of bucks. (Check out the white paper for details, charts, and descriptions of the different positions. They do NOT all accomplish the same things.)
The answer: (again, read the white paper for details) Hire an experienced and qualified managed IT support provider that will cost you a fraction of the expense of a full-time hire, and will bring to the table a staff that includes professionals that can handle virtually any problem. “Virtually any problem”. That’s important because, with the breadth of technology out there today, no one person, no matter their training or background, can know everything about everything when it comes to the technology your company needs to grow and thrive.
Here at DynaSis, we have been providing managed IT support for more than 25 years. Concerned about cyber security? Ready to investigate the Cloud? We have a staff of well-trained and certified professionals…more than 60 team members…who are well-equipped to see small problems and fix them before they become major issues. We also have the people to work with your executive team to make technology plans and decisions for the future. And we have real live people on duty 24 x 7 x 365, awake and in our office, dealing with overnight patches and upgrades, who can deal with your issues day or night.
If you really want to learn more, give us a call at 678-373-0716 or visit us at www.DynaSis.com.
Not too long ago we published a white paper on Compliance as a Competitive Advantage. In case you missed it, we wanted to mention it again, along with a number of webpages on the subject that we have recently published.
Here’s the thing: if you are in a business that is compliance-centric (finance, healthcare, chemical manufacturing, etc.), you are probably already well-aware of the rules and regulations affecting your industry and, hopefully, keeping everything up-to-date. But there are many other businesses that need to be compliant that haven’t taken the steps necessary to ensure that disaster doesn’t strike…or if it does, be prepared for a quick and seamless recovery. We recently published a series of web pages that address some of the topics and sub-topics of which you should be aware, and they are quick and easy reads.
Compliance: Getting Started. The first step is often both the easiest and the hardest. The information included here gives you a good road map for pulling the trigger. Read More.
Compliance: Data & Network Protection. Takes a look at the protections your company needs internally, including from disgruntles current and former employees, among the biggest threat today. Learn More.
Compliance & Cyber-Security. Every business today, especially small to mid-sized firms, are at risk. Companies that fail to provide adequate protection to their customers’/clients’ data are more and more being held liable for damages. Learn More.
Compliance & Disaster Recovery Planning. With the complexity of today’s cyber-crime industry (yes, it’s an industry), 100% protection is virtually impossible. Planning for rapid and seamless recovery is critical. Learn More.
Compliance & Disaster Recovery Execution. Planning is critical, but so is having the tools and expertise to execute the plan if and when it becomes necessary. Learn More.
Disaster & Recovery Planning & Execution as a Service (DRaaS). If you have the expertise on staff to plan and execute, that’s great. If not, you may want to consider engaging a managed IT support provider to ease the burden. Learn More.
Business Continuity. According to FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), 55% of small to mid-sized businesses that experience a major disaster never reopen, or close within a short time. The reason: lack of preparedness. This quick read gives you an overview of the part an experienced managed IT service company can provide. Read More.
DynaSis has been in the managed IT support business for more than a quarter century. If any of the above topics gives you cause for concern, give us a call. No obligation, no pressure. Just a friendly call during which we can start to explain the cost-effective support we can bring to your company. 678-373-0716.
There’s an old fable, often attributed to Aesop.
A small community of mice lived in the same home where there was also a cat. The cat was a skilled hunter, and the mice were afraid for their lives. But a clever, young mouse had a solution.
“We should tie a bell around the cat’s neck,” the young mouse said. “Then we’ll hear her coming and we can hide before she finds us.”
The other mice readily agreed that this was a good plan, until the oldest mouse in their community raised a weary paw.
“That is a fine plan,” the old mouse said. “I see only one problem. Who will bell the cat?”
All too often, the problem with good ideas isn’t finding them. It’s implementing them.
Like belling the cat, the best IT strategies in the world won’t do you any good if you don’t know how to make them a reality. That’s why you need managed services.
Legendary author Douglas Adams once said, “We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works.”
Running an SMB is fraught with tough choices. What do you tackle on your own? When do you turn to experts for outside help? What’s the ROI of keeping things in-house versus outsourcing?
When it comes to the things you truly rely on, like your technology, you can’t afford to take chances. Even short periods of downtime cut into your productivity, hamper customer relations, and sap the enthusiasm from your employees.
You need the best possible performance from your network. But . . . who’s going to bell that cat?
We have a solution. Instead of handling all of your IT solutions yourself, call on the support of a managed services provider. There are several reasons why that’s a smart move for any SMB leader.
We even made a list.
Why wait for something to break to fix it? A managed services provider can proactively keep an eye on your network 24/7. If there are early warning signs of an issue, they can deal with it then instead of waiting until it slows you down.
Of course, some issues pop up without warning. When they do, who do you call? A managed services provider is there at all hours, ready and willing to step in with the solutions you need when you need them.
There’s no shortage of cyber crime. Recent headlines about ransomware attacks and data breaches don’t just spell trouble for huge companies. Small businesses are at risk, too. A managed services provider can help you take steps to mitigate those risks.
Even well-protected networks experience disasters – big things like successful cyber attacks and acts of God, as well as less spectacular interruptions like power outages and human error. A managed services provider can give you a plan for bouncing back from any incident.
Technology is constantly changing. The solutions that work today will be outdated next year. Or next week. A managed services provider can help you keep pace with the best IT options for your business, making sure you always have a cohesive, smart technology strategy.
With your network in good hands, you’re free to focus your attention elsewhere. Grow your business, or cultivate better work/life balance. Your managed services provider will help with any IT hiccups so you can concentrate on what matters to you.
The experts at DynaSis take managed services seriously. We know what it takes to support SMBs. We’ve been doing it successfully for years.
Plus, we see the full picture. Running a business isn’t the only thing you do, and keeping your network online isn’t your only priority. We want to help make you a success in every way we can. Perhaps that’s why working with us is a unique experience.
We truly care.
If you’d like to learn more about managed services with DynaSis, feel free to give us a call. We’ll be happy to explore how our IT support can help you meet your goals.
Mobility is the key to making your company run smoothly. Without mobility, you’re left with a giant bottleneck that makes your company dependent on both physical locations and connections.
Synchronizing your data and making it readily available to your company can open up new business possibilities. With it, you can become more productive, more flexible, and more scalable than ever before.
With these 3 ways, you can attain data mobility and unlock all the benefits that come with it.
The first step to attaining data mobility is to interconnect your physical hardware on your network.
When we talk about hardware, we’re talking about:
Connecting these devices allows them to facilitate information sharing. It also gives you more overall control over your network infrastructure, meaning you can better monitor security and overall data throughout.
Did you know: Smartphones will account for more than 55% of total IP traffic in 2025.
You’ll need to ensure that the devices within your network support connection technologies, likely through wireless transmission methods (such as bluetooth and WiFi connectivity).
Once connected, you can remotely log into a controller device and monitor your entire network of connected hardware.
One of the most important aspects of data mobility is file connection. Utilizing cloud services reduces bandwidth usage on your network. It can also greatly cut costs.
Migrating some applications to the cloud makes them easily accessible by employees, giving them the flexibility to keep work going from anywhere. Take Microsoft Office as an example.
Related: 3 Managed Services to Drive Business Productivity
You can run an Exchange server on-premise to host all your Microsoft Office needs. However, there are exorbitant costs related its maintenance, hardware upkeep, and resource allocation.
On the other hand, migrating to cloud-based Office 365 removes the burden of your on-premise dilemmas. You eliminate costly server upkeep completely while freeing up physical space. Server updates are handled for you, and Microsoft takes care of keeping your data safe.
In addition to cost reduction, your employees attain fluid data mobility to connect to their files and folders from anywhere in the world.
Accessing files remotely is important, but the highest quality work happens through collaboration. For that, it’s vital to invest in a business-grade file sharing solution that can keep up with your workflows.
File sharing allows people to collaborate in real-time on files. The best file sharing platforms will take your interconnected devices and your cloud services and merge them together. Once your data is synced completely, you can easily manage it from a centralized console rather than through multiple complex methods.
Did you know: 56% of businesses say a mobile strategy is very or extremely important to their objectives.
It’s important to note that not all file sharing platforms are equal. You must consider your security, too. The right file sharing platform will encrypt data and prevent it from data theft, data corruption, and data leakage.
Related: Avoiding Cyberattacks: A Brief Guide
Once you establish a proper file sharing platform, your business will have the tools it needs to unlock the full potential of data mobility.
Once you attain data mobility, your business becomes primed for growth and scalability. Data mobility gives you the power to add and remove users easily, while keeping up with your company as it evolves.
It also unlocks unlimited productivity and collaboration, as your organization can work from anytime, anywhere, and from any device.
While extremely important, mobility is just one of the critical aspects of ensuring your IT infrastructure is propelling you towards business success.
For the most part, the days of criminals pulling off dangerous heists are largely gone. And why should they continue? There’s plenty of inherent risk – the criminals could be identified on camera, or face a gun battle with a guard or twenty.
Forget about criminals doing things the old fashioned way. The new era of criminals prefer to steal and sabotage businesses digitally. That means anything from brute-force hacking methods to sly social engineering tactics.
All hope is not lost. Here’s how to mitigate your cyberattack risk.
Simply put, antivirus (AV) programs prevent, detect, and remove malicious programs and code from your systems. They help you catch the minor stuff that you don’t even think about. With a robust AV program in place, your network is protected from cyberthreats roaming freely about.
55% of organizations have had a security incident or data breach due to a malicious or negligent employee. After all, users are typically the entry point for many modern cyberthreats, such as email viruses and phishing attempts.
Training users on IT security matters entails keeping them up-to-date with the emerging threats. That can be done as a mass email sent out to everyone in the organization, or as regularly hosted training seminars.
There’s no point in jumping various security hurdles if your password is readily accessible to cybercriminals. You may think that people have realized this, and adjusted their passwords accordingly.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case. "123456" and "password" topped the list of leaked passwords for four consecutive years. We’re still waiting to see what this year will bring us.
A good password means mixing capital letters with lowercase letters. Add in some special characters and throw some numbers in there, too. A major component of password security is having different ones for each account.
If that’s too annoying to handle, consider getting a password manager to safely handle it for you.
Not all cybercriminals are trying to access your data through the internet. Many times, cybercrimes happen because the wrong people have access to important devices and software.
Keep your server room under lock and key. Install physical security systems, such as badge readers and video cameras. Make sure to routinely check on these to make sure only people who are supposed to have access to critical IT components are using these things.
Sending files through unsecured channels means that data is ripe for picking. Encryption, in its simplest form, adds a digital lock to your files. Only the intended user gets a key.
Related: Check Out Our Unified Email Management for Email Encryption
Even if you were to suffer a data breach, your encrypted data would be functionally useless to cybercriminals. To guarantee maximum protection, you’ll want to encrypt your data at rest, as well as your data in motion.
Security breaches often occur as direct result of unpatched devices and software. Software vulnerabilities change over time and give cyberattackers security pockets to exploit. However, keeping your IT infrastructure fully updated gives you the best chance at defending your data.
It can quickly become tedious to keep everything updated, so it’s important to automate your updates. Automation can free up your time and resources that can be better spent elsewhere in your business.
Cybersecurity best practices constantly evolve and shift over time. Though you can keep up with them on your own, you may not have the time or overall knowledge.
Related: Signs That You Need Managed IT Services
Partnering with a security specialist can keep your organization protected and give you peace of mind. For a flat-rate fee, you can have a cybersecurity team on standby to monitor and protect your network 24/7/365.
Ransomware has completely locked you out of crucial files needed to run your business. Customer names and addresses have been obtained by a cybercriminal to be sold to shadow brokers. Employee names and social security numbers are being distributed as you try to understand what happened and how to stop the madness.
Sounds terrifying, doesn’t it? That’s because it is.
We’ve put together a short list of 6 best practices to follow to avoid these scenarios from ever taking place.
Antivirus is often your first line of defense against malicious programs that are embedded in files trying to worm their way into your system. Keeping your antivirus updated and enabled on your machines is the key to ensuring proper network protection.
The most common way for your network to be attacked is through user targeted emails. Invest in a sophisticated external email filtering software. It will prevent those malicious files from ever entering your network space.
Not every user needs access to everything on your network. It’s important to understand who needs what, and why. In the 2016 Cyber Security Intelligence Index, IBM found that 60% of all attacks were carried out by insiders. Of these attacks, three-quarters involved malicious intent, and one-quarter involved inadvertent actors.
Setting proper permissions greatly cuts down on these attacks from happening in the first place.
It may be difficult to keep all the workstations on your network updated with current security patches. Without setting proper update policies, you’re stuck manually updating each computer.
Consider outsourcing the task entirely. With a security professional handling your security patches, you’re free to focus your time on other projects.
The most important line of defense when it comes to network security is education and training. If your users don’t understand how to look for phishing scams or suspicious files, they’re going to open your business up to a world of pain.
Keeping them in the loop entails actively sending them material, as well as regularly testing their knowledge. They don’t have to become overnight experts, mind you – just enough to avoid the obvious scams and viruses.
Despite your best efforts, it’s functionally impossible to guarantee 100% IT security and safety. Part of being secure and ensuring continued success is being ready in the event of a large data breach.
Crafting a thorough business continuity plan should be a core component of any business-grade network security plan.
A team of network security specialists is the ideal solution for modern businesses that don’t have a large MIS/IT Department. They’re also ideal for businesses looking to remove or supplement their in-house IT security efforts.
A network defense provider can help support in a large variety of areas that are important to the protection and sustainability of your business. They will protect your time and efforts using a wide variety of network security best practices.
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