Is It Time to Upgrade Your Router?
Focus on security, performance and redundancy when considering a new router. Users never think about routers — unless they break. Small businesses often have the same attitude: If packets are flowing, the router is fine. But there are three reasons why you should examine, and perhaps update, your router: security, performance and redundancy. A router [...]
Don’t Underestimate the Importance of Off-site Backup
Relying on local storage alone is the IT equivalent of walking on thin ice. Since everyone hates the term “backup,” I refer to it instead as the “pre-restore process” when speaking with my clients. And when I explain the pre-restore process, people treat it very seriously. This sets the stage for a discussion about storing [...]
What Businesses Should Know Before Heading to the Cloud
Consider these six security issues before turning data over to a cloud-based service. “The cloud” buzzword dominates discussions these days, with talk about public clouds, private clouds, leveraging the cloud and moving applications into the cloud. While cloud solutions offer financial and operational benefits, they also bring with them a host of security concerns that [...]
IT Workers Should Provide Service with a Big Smile
Customer service values apply to everyone in the organization, including IT. In many IT departments, a personal touch is often absent from the day-to-day operations of staff. In the race to keep existing systems running and new systems deployed, there is often a noticeable dearth of compassion when it comes to resolving user issues. It’s [...]
4 Common Mistakes Businesses Make When Outsourcing IT Support
Outsourcing is a great way to get professional services at a fraction of the price of hiring someone or a department full time. Your company may or may not be at the point of outsourcing information technology (IT) support. However, as your business grows, there is a high probability that outsourcing will become a realistic [...]
Cloud Computing Is Not Just a Name for Outsourcing
I’m guessing many of you are asking if cloud computing isn’t just a new name for ASPs, software as a service, outsourcing or, for us older guys, timesharing. While the cloud certainly shares principles with all of them, something more significant is happening, something with the same impact as the generational shift from mainframes to [...]
IT Outsourcing: The Reasons, Risks and Rewards
As the owner of a small company, you have probably entertained the thought of outsourcing some aspect of your business. The benefits of outsourcing seem obvious, touted by experts across numerous industries as the answer to cutting costs for business functions ranging from information technology to accounting, marketing and human resources; it seems possible that [...]
IT Outsourcing: Why It Pays to Appraise Your Contract
Everyone knows a good outsourcing relationship needs to be actively managed. So does a good IT outsourcing contract. Even a seemingly healthy IT outsourcing arrangement can benefit from an annual check-up to ensure that metrics are providing meaningful insight into performance, get an updated understanding of outsourced operations and how well they’re running, and ensure [...]
Overworked Help Desk? 10 Ways to Cut the Stress
It’s no secret that the IT help desk doesn’t always get along with all users throughout the company. Here are some steps IT managers can take to repair the relationship and keep IT support staff productive. There’s rarely one party to blame for struggles between users and help desk staff — during help desk calls, [...]
10 Dangerous Mistakes Most Users Make
For all the energy IT departments spend securing their networks from outside attacks, it might pay off to put more focus on an even bigger threat: mistakes made by the company’s own employees. Employee negligence or maliciousness was the cause of at least one data breach at 78% of companies within the past two years, [...]
5 Typical IT Mistakes Behind 97% of Data Breaches
Many businesses are spending money on advanced security tools but missing basic defenses against hackers’ attacks, according to a study of recent data breaches. For all the talk about sophisticated methods hackers are beginning to use, most cyberattacks succeed using basic methods that take advantage of IT mistakes and human errors made by organizations, according [...]
Don’t Get Hacked Like Yahoo: 3 Lessons to Learn
A group of hackers recently stole the email addresses and passwords of more than 450,000 Yahoo account holders. Here are three key IT security lessons organizations can learn from the Yahoo hack. On July 11, a group of hackers gained access to a file containing the email addresses and passwords of roughly 453,00 Yahoo accounts [...]
7 Cases Where Virtualization Does More Harm Than Good
Virtualization has been a lifesaver for many IT departments, helping them cut costs and boost efficiency. But that doesn’t mean it’s the best solution in every situation. Overall, virtualization is a good thing, said Dave Asprey, VP of Cloud Security at Trend Micro. But the problem is that, like driving — or dating — in [...]
How to Keep Top IT Talent when Competitors Offer More
The latest data shows that hiring is picking up for employees with tech skills. That’s good news for staffers, but it could leave IT departments scrambling as their best workers jump ship for new opportunities. According to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in May, there were 4,009,900 active IT jobs in the [...]
10 Ways to Cut Your IT Budget
Many IT departments are under pressure to trim their budgets, but don’t know where to look to find cost savings. Here’s some advice from tech experts on smart ways to cut the IT budget. Some areas of the IT budget — such as security — require constant increases in order to remain effective. The key [...]
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