When running a company, business owners soon learn the world of network security is a frightening and perilous place. With all the data breaches, social engineering attacks, and malware occurring on a daily basis, it almost seems like the odds are stacked against the small- to mid-sized business owner.
Spam can leave a bad taste in people’s mouths, and in this particular case we’re not talking about the lunch meat. At one point or another, we’ve all been sent an unsolicited message of no importance whatsoever. Whether it’s from a retail store you visited two years ago or from a business you have no recollection of, receiving thousands of junk emails, or spam, can be a huge nuisance, especially if they’re malicious in nature.
Updates can be infuriating, especially when Windows, iOS, or Adobe Flash Player patches prompt you to install them as frequently as they do. You could always put the task on the back burner, but doing so puts you and your business at risk. Your infrastructure, workstations, data -- any of these are but one missed patch away from being compromised.
With 10 years of IT consulting under our belts, we’ve had the privilege of working with businesses and organizations all over the country. And surprisingly, we see many of the same problems plaguing businesses over and over again. From employee productivity to information security, a lot of companies fail because they’re unable to solve these issues on time.
Earlier this August, Delta Air Lines suffered from an extended power outage that caused 2,300 flight cancellations in just a few days. The Atlanta-based airline company was eventually able to contain the disaster, but the damage left in its wake remains.
Infrastructure-as-a-Service, or IaaS, has become an irresistible solution for many businesses. Rehosting servers, hardware, software, and storage to a third-party provider is cost-effective, scalable, and doesn’t take much to manage and maintain. In fact, IDC reports have found that the IaaS market will see a 41 percent growth through 2016 to 2017. But choosing whether or not it’s right for your business isn’t the hard part, it’s the implementation process that you, as the business owner, should focus on.
Would your rather keep your data center onsite or house it in a remote location? After considering logistical, legal, and financial implications, the issue may seem pretty complicated. But for small- to medium-sized businesses, the decision should be clearcut.
It goes without saying that landline phones are on the sharp decline - considering the myriad of options available for businesses today, it’s easy to see why. Employees can miss calls if they’re not at their desks and they’re only productive if they’re inside the office.
Whether it’s a 30-60 minute bus ride, or squeezing into the subway during rush hour, morning commutes rarely put you in the right frame of mind for starting a day at work. But for a growing number of workers, the morning commute is as short as the trip from their bed to their home office, local cafe, or practically anywhere with a steady internet connection.
Just a couple decades ago, business owners depended on single countermeasures and stratagems to fend off external attacks. But by the looks of it, hackers seem to be attacking businesses from every conceivable angle. Case in point, phishing, ransomware, zero-day hacks, and targeted attacks are just a few of the devastating attacks we’ve seen evolve into new heights this year.
