How big a role does security play in your business’s network management? If it takes a secondary role more in favor of operations, you might want to reconsider why this is the case. After all, your organization’s critical assets--namely sensitive data like employee information, payment credentials, and usernames or passwords--all hold immense risk for exploitation from hackers. Therefore, even if you don’t fear a potential attack, you should at least consider it as a possibility.

Run your Windows Updates and be very skeptical about opening unsolicited emails. Failure to do so may result in a very dangerous strain of ransomware that could infect your entire network and spread to your clients, partners, and prospects.

As digital systems have been adopted by more businesses, data has become a bigger tool. This is due to businesses having the initiative to direct this data into creating strategy. Today, data services are a desirable component for a business to embrace. Let’s take a closer look at how businesses are expanding their use of their data.

Whenever you install software on your computer, you agree to certain terms put in place by the developer or vendor. Even free software, such as Google Chrome and Firefox, have terms that the end-user opts into during installation. One of the most important terms business owners need to be aware of are those that pertain to software licenses; if you aren’t, someone else will be.

What would happen if you were in the middle of typing a report or performing some task, and the office suddenly lost power? Too many would find themselves staring blankly at an equally blank screen as their infrastructure suddenly ceased operations. However, there is a device that can help save you from the worst effects of sudden power loss.

A crucial step of setting up your business is the implementation of a physical infrastructure, including cabling and electrical lines. Unfortunately, the same setup won’t work for two very different businesses, so you’ll need to put considerable time and effort into the cabling process as a whole. Here are a few ways that you can make the process easier.

We always try to communicate the numerous benefits of managed IT services, but when your business is happy to have their own internal IT department, those benefits tend to look less appealing. For organizations that rely on the expertise of their internal IT staff, they may not think they have a need for--or simply can’t afford--an outside IT presence. This misconception may actually be harming their businesses. Today, we will introduce co-managed IT services, and how they can be leveraged to maximum benefit.

In the natural course of doing business, an owner/operator will have to face many difficult situations, but none of these situations are as difficult as asking them to determine whether or not to close the doors of the business for good. Many problems could cause a business to fail, but it has to hurt the failing owner a little more when the solution for the problem was not only within his/her reach, it was affordable.

While you are probably spending a fair amount of time thinking about your business’ security, can you confidently say the same about those that you’ve employed? Unfortunately, your workers may not put much thought into network security. This could very possibly lead to some severe issues potentially harming your business operations.

Did you know that over 2,000 Domino’s Pizza franchises in Australia, New Zealand, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Japan, and Germany feature delivery by robot? Starship Technologies, a self-driving robotics company, announced on March 29th that they would be partnering with Domino’s to revolutionize the way the delivery process works.

It’s difficult to know what you can and can’t trust in the realm of cybersecurity. However, you’re likely to trust your own security solution. Yet, even this could be a devastating oversight, as some malware masquerades as your security software.

It’s a far too common scene in businesses: an employee is working on an important project when their workstation starts acting up. Flustered, they call in the IT department, but they won’t be able to make it up to them for an hour at least. So, what’s a worker to do? Just sit there and wait? With a Help Desk solution, this wouldn't be an issue.

A business’ critical operations aren’t something that can be casually postponed. Therefore, any issues that present themselves must be attended to as quickly as possible in order to avoid wasted time and lost productivity. A Help Desk solution allows an employee to call in the cavalry, so to speak, the moment something begins to go wrong.

Once the employee contacts the help desk representative, the underlying issue can be identified, rooted out, and resolved. This can all be accomplished without disturbing other members of the business. The employee’s coworkers will not need to be disturbed by a member of the IT team coming up to troubleshoot the problem, and IT will have one less distraction from their innovating responsibilities to deal with this problem.

Finally, the employee will be able to return to their work much more quickly and easily than they would otherwise--minimizing the effects of the issue on all fronts.

If a comprehensive Help Desk solution sounds like it would be a welcome addition to your support, let us know! Reach out to us at (800) 588-4430 for more information today.

It’s no secret that finding a particular program or file on your computer can be a pain, especially when you don’t have the time to hunt it down by clicking through folders. However, there is a much easier way to locate your desired data. All you need to do is use the search option found in the Start menu, which is the subject of this week’s tip.

In October of 2016, the Federal Communications Commission designed a set of rules known as the Broadband Consumer Privacy Proposal. These rules had intended to flip the status quo and require Internet service providers (ISPs) to gain their customers’ permission before they harvested their browsing histories to sell to advertisers. This proposal is now moot with the establishment of a new law that passed through Congress and was signed by President Trump in April 2017.

When it comes to a business being successful, it’s only natural to eliminate any wasted expenses and focus on those that can serve multiple purposes. Many businesses are very good at doing this, but they overlook a great opportunity to cut costs through the consolidation of their telephony system.

While at first glance, a telephone may seem to be just a telephone, this communication technology is not quite so cut and dry. More and more businesses have embraced a Voice-over-Internet-Protocol approach to handle their voice communication needs, with benefits that have a very real impact on their business. Let’s go over some of the ways that VoIP can directly assist your organization.

Significant Cost Savings
First and foremost, a major benefit to VoIP is the fact that it can take a considerable chunk out of your operating budget by eliminating some or all of your existing telephone bills. Since VoIP uses the Internet to send and receive sound, you have the potential to save in the long term.

This is helped by the fact that many VoIP solutions don’t require particularly specialized hardware, meaning that you will not only be saving on the phone bill, but in some cases, you might not need to replace all of your existing equipment.

Record-Keeping and Collaboration
Both the ability to document what progress has been made and the ability to work cooperatively with teammates are crucial to a business’ success. VoIP can enable a user to do both of these things. Whether it’s used to hold a meeting, recording what was discussed, or to allow clearer communication between two coworkers working on the same project from different locations. Either way, VoIP assists in keeping the lines of communication clear.

Convenient Utility
With the right setup, a VoIP line is extremely adaptable to the needs of the user. If a user has many virtual phone numbers for whatever reason, they can all be set to ring on a single headset. On the flip side, a single number can be set to ring on assorted devices, and any device can be set to forward the call to another, based on time of day. Calls can even be sent and received by smartphones.

Therefore, for a busy business owner, VoIP is an excellent option if they’re looking to stay connected to their business. Telesys Voice and Data can help you set up this option in your business. Give us a call at (800) 588-4430 for more.

Cloud computing has taken the business world by storm, fulfilling so many needs and simplifying as many processes. If you’ve been on the fence about incorporating the cloud into your IT infrastructure, you should know a few of these benefits to help you make your choice.

Business owners require ubiquitous access to certain information stored on their organization’s infrastructure. Thus, there’s an immediate need to safeguard this data from any sort of impending destruction. We’ll discuss ways that you can prevent the worst when it seems like your data will fall victim to a loss incident.

The average employee and business owner relies on various hardware solutions to go about their day-to-day duties. These hardware devices--think keyboards, wireless mouses, external microphones, and any USB devices--utilize drivers which allow for inter-device compatibility. What happens when these drivers aren’t installed or kept up to date? Your technology suffers, and so does your productivity.

An unfortunate fact about the modern business world is that any organization that utilizes technology is playing with fire. Cyber attacks can circumvent even the most well-protected networks through the company’s users. This is, unfortunately, something that business owners often don’t learn until they’re on the receiving end of an attack; just like the two companies that fell victim to phishing attempts that were supposedly operated by Evaldas Rimasauskas, a Lithuanian hacker who has been accused of stealing $100 million from them.

Do you understand what the event logs of your network are, and how they keep your organization secure? If not, you could be ignoring one of the most basic components of network security. Event logs are important for spotting significant issues on a workstation or laptop.