by Felicien | Oct 3, 2017 | Education
Non-Profit Managed IT Services & Support
The primary function of a non-profit should be to fulfill its goal, not worry about IT. Learn how non-profits can use managed services to maximize operational efficiency while minimizing IT expenditures.
It seems like a contradiction in terms that non-profits are supposed to make profits, but that’s the way things work in the non-profit world. Since your number one priority is to provide the support needed to achieve your worthwhile goal, you need to raise as much money as possible to plow back into your cause – whether that is providing a needed service, conducting research, or spreading the word. But the big irony is that raising money costs money. Potential donors want to know that the majority of their donations will go towards doing good, so you want to keep your administrative expenses as low as possible. That’s easy enough when you’re just a one or two people operation, but it gets tougher as your organization grows.
Many non-profits find that technology expenses eat up a huge portion of their budget. This requires staffing, software, and hardware just to start out. Then you’ve got to worry about keeping up-to-date and maintaining online security. IT management can become a real money pit, draining funds away from your stated purpose. Considering all the out-of-pocket costs involved in managing technology, you might be asking yourself whether it is really possible for a non-profit to manage to make profits.
The great news is that the answer is yes, with something called managed services. At {company}, we provide managed IT services that help non-profits in {city} manage the technical end of your business, while you concentrate on achieving your non-profit goals. Here’s how it works:
What are Managed Services?
If you are managing your own IT needs, you are responsible for choosing software, worrying about security, and managing the day-to-day functionality. If something goes wrong, you might need to bring in an IT expert at an added cost to fix the problem. On the other hand, managed services can be used to eliminate as much of the internal IT management needs as desired.
As the name implies, managed services are services that are managed by an outside company. In this case, a Managed Services Provider, or MSP, is contracted to manage the information technology needs of the non-profit organization. The MSP provides a defined set of services based on its contract with the non-profit. The contract could cover individual services, or the entire IT gamut, depending on the needs of the organization. Examples of managed services for non-profits might include:
Day-to-Day Operations: Instead of trying to analyze and upgrade your software and hardware needs, an MSP can be used to provide servers and consistently monitor your network to be sure that it is operating at maximum efficiency.
Donor Management: Since donations are the lifeblood of any non-profit organization, effective donor management is a high priority goal. Non-profits need to identify and motivate potential donors, while still communicating consistently with current donors to meet fund-raising goals.
Regulatory Compliance: Organizations are required to adhere to a wide range of regulatory guidelines to maintain their non-profit status, and are often subjected to audits by various agencies. It is crucial to have the necessary data easily at hand to pass these audits with flying colors. The MSP can collect and collate the necessary data on an ongoing basis so there is no need to scramble when informed of an audit. Accurate data is also necessary for reporting to the non-profit’s board or for use in annual reports to donors.
Online Security: With recent events in the news about data breaches and non-profit phishing scams, your organization needs to be extra vigilant and proactive in its efforts to eliminate security breaches. An MSP can be used to monitor online security and consistently upgrade technology platforms to counteract the latest threats.
The Benefits of Using Managed Services for Your Non-Profit
The main benefit of using managed services for a non-profit is the lower administrative costs. With an MSP, your organization does not need to purchase, maintain and upgrade the necessary hardware and software to operate efficiently. You don’t need to have a team of computer pros on hand and don’t have to spend your time worrying about your IT needs. Simply meet with your provider, communicate your needs, agree on a plan of action, and then concentrate on what you do best – providing a valuable service to your constituents. While you’re running the organization, the MSP is providing:
Computer Pros: Your organization might find it hard to attract and retain the computer expertise needed to manage your data needs, but an MSP has a team of experts that only deals with IT each and every day.
24/7 Management: Can your organization afford to hire more than one computer pro so that you have round-the-clock coverage? What happens if a new threat is detected at night, or a server crashes over the weekend? An MSP has 24/7 coverage so you don’t have to worry.
Security: It can be impossible for you to stay up-to-date on all the latest cybersecurity threats. That’s where the MSP comes in – all they do is monitor systems for possible breaches. Their job is to look for threats and come up with remedies.
Updates: Just as soon as you think you have the latest system in place, something new comes out that might put you behind the eight ball. The MSP is constantly evaluating, analyzing and upgrading systems so you get the benefit of the latest and best for your organization.
Budget Control: With a well-negotiated MSP contract, you’ll know exactly what your IT costs will be for the year, and won’t have to build any “wiggle room” into your budget.
Find out how managed services can make a difference for your non-profit organization.
Contact {company} today at {phone} or {email} and ask us how your non-profit can manage to make more profits with managed services.
by Felicien | Oct 2, 2017 | Education
October is Cyber Security Safety Month—How To Keep Your Business Secure Online.
Threats Continue to Increase. Unless You Take Specific Steps, Your Business Is in Jeopardy.
Staying safe and secure online is becoming more difficult all the time. Cyber criminals seem to be everywhere, waiting for any weakness in your IT network.
October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM), and has been since 2003 when the National Cyber Security Alliance and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security worked to raise awareness about this increasing threat to our nation’s security.
Cybersecurity Threats Are Increasing.
There’s no doubt that the prevalence of confidential data stored online tempts cybercriminals. Protecting IT is no longer optional – It’s a requirement.
Even with all the focus on security over the past few years, few are truly prepared to respond quickly and effectively in the event of a data breach. With governments now imposing stringent requirements for data-breach notifications, it’s imperative that you stay up-to-date, educate yourself, and comply with regulations—If not, your business and livelihood is literally at risk.
Having stringent cybersecurity guidelines in place may make the difference between an attack damaging to your business, or one that could strike a fatal blow to your organization.
Education is Key.
National Cyber Security Awareness Month stresses the need for education with a curriculum that spans five weeks:
Week 1: NCSAM encourages you to take steps to grasp the vast scope of cyber attacks that occur in the U.S. every year — More than 169 million personal records are exposed via both private businesses and government entities.
Week 2: They stress that you educate your employees at all levels by providing professional training to help them protect your organization from cyber threats.
Week 3: Combating cybercrime is the focus this week. Educate yourself and your team on the ways that cybercriminals obtain personal information.
Week 4: Our lives are increasingly interconnected, through the Internet of Things (IoT), and the need for cybersecurity professionals who can deal with today’s threats.
Week 5: NCSAM stresses the need for a hardened infrastructure to withstand all but the most brutal cyberattacks.
The Stop.Think.Connect.Toolkit
Cybercriminals target computers regardless of their physical location, or who they belong to. You’ll find resources on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) website to help keep your organization safe with the:
Entrepreneurs and Small Business Tip Card
Cybersecurity Overviews
Social Media Guide
Internet of Things (IoT) Tip Card
Mobile Security Guide
These materials will help you educate your staff, and your customers, about how to stay safe online. Best practices such as changing your security passwords on a regular basis and making them secure and difficult to guess can be implemented with ease once your team understands the significant damage that can occur from hackers or other cybercriminals.
Our Shared Responsibility
The theme for 2017’s month-long event is “Our Shared Responsibility.” It highlights the important role each of us plays in keeping information safe. Whether its users who create a password that’s easily hacked or IT support staff that can’t keep up with critical patches for software, everyone must work together to create a culture of cybersecurity. Employee education, awareness, and ongoing training are the basis to promote positive security practices on an ongoing basis.
Corporate Oversight
Some business professionals indicate that security compliance measures are already in place and that they follow a C-suite level requirement. However, countering cyber risk requires oversight on all levels of an organization.
Understanding and mitigating these risks won’t guarantee that your business is safe from cyberattacks. However, it may help you bounce back from them with more resilience.
The costs associated with preventing a data breach are much lower than attempting to salvage business relationships with suppliers and customers in the event of a cyberattack – Not to mention the potential liabilities or claims that could occur.
Working with professionals in the cybersecurity industry is one of the best ways to ensure that you’re not only prepared for any eventuality, but that you have a solid plan in place and can start damage control immediately after an attack.
The team at {company} understands these challenges. We’ll work with you to create a comprehensive security plan to protect your business in {city} from data breaches, malware or other cyber threats. Contact our security professionals at {phone} or {email} to schedule your no-obligation consult.
by Felicien | Oct 2, 2017 | Education
Learn why your company should be using managed IT services.
By 2019, the managed-services market is projected to grow by $193 billion. Both small, medium and large businesses are becoming very aware of the reasons to choose the managed-services business model, and the demand is strong. Here’s an outline of some of the reasons why your business should choose IT managed-services.
Enhanced Security and Compliance
Today, security and compliance are a major concern for all businesses. Operating systems, smartphones, tablets, laptops and other types of technology store and transmit important data. This makes security critical. Falling victim to a security breach or hacker is a common fear. A breach can cost companies a loss in reputation and a huge loss in dollars. Managed service providers help protect businesses from a security breach event and take quick action if one does occur. All businesses must be compliant with regulations specific to their industry, especially the legal and health industries. A managed service provider can supplement additional policies, protocols, and procedures to ensure compliance.
Efficient and Reliable IT Operations
This is one of the most important reasons businesses need managed IT services. Lack of employees with the knowledge and skills to handle an entire network and an overburdened IT staff just leads to inefficiency and unreliability. It’s difficult to negate the value of having an IT provider. It’s a partnership that is collaborative that leads to more efficient and reliable IT operations. While it doesn’t replace an in-house IT staff, it enhances its capabilities. Not only do issues get resolved quickly, businesses have the benefits of the latest technology and innovative solutions to maximize uptime and profitability. These technologies include cloud computing, backup and disaster recovery and remote monitoring and management. The need to keep the entire IT infrastructure efficient and reliable is a big reason for managed IT services.
Cost Effectiveness and Return on Investment
Working with a managed IT service provider benefits companies financially. It’s a considerable cost saving. It helps control outgoing expenses and increases return on investment. Typically, an IT budget consists of many things like IT labor, maintenance costs, software and network infrastructure and hardware costs. Using outdated software negatively impacts return on investment. Plus, managed IT services provide scalability and flexibility to grow in a manner that internal IT teams cannot provide. Businesses can easily project IT expenses on a monthly basis and can plan for improvements and larger projects. IT services play an instrumental role in cost-effectiveness and return on investment.
A Proactive Approach to Maintenance
This is another major reason to work with a managed IT service provider. Businesses no longer have to waste time thinking about its IT infrastructure. There’s no need to worry about daily things like the speed of network connections and dependability. With a managed IT service provider, businesses are given the luxury of an all-day, every day around the clock coverage. Security and service solutions are always at work detecting potential disturbances, vulnerabilities, and threats. Issues and bugs can most likely be detected and fixed before the business is even aware of a problem. And data management on the cloud with a service provider yields more revenue. IT service providers offer a proactive community with regular and encrypted backups, virtualization and cloud computing.
Free Up Internal IT Staff to Concentrate on Strategic Projects
Often, businesses need their own internal staff to focus their energy on other tasks. It’s a good reason to work with an IT managed provider. Projects and other needed tasks get the time and attention needed. It maximizes the company’s IT budget. Think about it. It doesn’t make any practical sense to have an internal IT team handling things like migrating over to Microsoft Office 365 when it can be expertly handled by a provider. With specialized services, managed service providers take the pressure off the internal IT team.
Variety of Solutions
Many businesses need solutions specific to their individual needs, such as accounting software solutions and customer relationship management software (CRM). Managed service providers offer accounting software to monitor its transactions. It automates the business process and manual information. With CRM, businesses can get greater visibility garner through:
surveys
notes
campaigns
The end result is a secure data control system that helps manage business information and customer information. With accounting software solutions, businesses can monitor financial information, vendors and taxes. It’s designed to suit the needs of the specific company.
Technology is transforming the world of business. But it changes fast and is a complex industry. Most companies today want to streamline its IT operations and turn to managed IT service providers to accomplish that goal. If you’d like to learn more about managed IT services, contact {company} in {city} by calling phone} or by emailing at {email}. The IT professionals at {company} are always happy to answer any questions.
by Felicien | Sep 29, 2017 | Education
A series of online accounting-specific scams popped up in recent months, prompting cybersecurity experts to take notice.
Late August saw a series of very similar phishing scams make a brief appearance in the inboxes of online accounting software consumers. By spoofing well-known online accounting software companies, these phishing scams have targeted a large number of consumers in an attempt to sneak banking trojans past their cyber defenses in order to steal banking data and other forms of personal information.
Customers of Xero, MYOB, Quickbooks, and Dropbox received phishing emails that contained legitimate looking invoices that would prompt the recipient to download a zip file that contains a malicious JavaScript file. This JavaScript file quietly executes the banking trojan – a version of Dridex malware – onto the user’s computer.
Once this malware is inside of your system, it will seek out banking data for the hacker behind the phishing scam to use as they please.
Online Accounting Users Should Exercise Caution
While email communication from these online accounting companies to their users isn’t unusual, it’s important to take notice of messages that seem out of the ordinary. Unexpected or suspicious-seeming messages should be handled with caution, especially when they come with strange attachments or embedded links. You should never download a zip file coming from an unknown source – a common indicator of a phishing scam – and it’s never a good idea to execute an unknown file format like JavaScript – especially since more and more malware is using this file format to distribute itself to unsuspecting victims.
You know what typical correspondence from your online accounting software provider looks like. Anything that feels wrong to you probably is, and where the security of your sensitive business information is concerned, you can never be too careful. Despite the best efforts of those in the cybersecurity industry, these types of phishing attacks continue to be effective in part because they evolve too fast for the experts to stay ahead of.
Luckily, a lot of these attacks can be stopped in their tracks as long as you and your team are paying attention.
Protect Your Online Accounting Information With Next-Gen Security
Fighting back against cybercrime in its many forms is an ongoing battle, but for every advancement the hackers make, the security industry is making advancements of their own.
Next-generation cybersecurity solutions are tipping the scales back in your business’ favor by offering anti-virus, anti-malware, and firewall software that boosts your defenses against the vulnerabilities and exploits cybercriminals take advantage of. The stronger and more capable your endpoint projections are, the lower your risk of falling victim to a data breach or serious malware infection – and with phishing scams continuing to impact businesses of all sizes, the more obstacles you can throw in a hackers path, the better.
The need to have top-notch IT security solutions in place regardless of the size of your operations hasn’t escaped our notice. {company} offers a complete range of next-generation security solutions to protect your business from threats that are simply more than basic security measures can stand up to.
Our next-generation anti-virus solution offers your business:
Remediation-as-a-Service
Added defense against security exploits and phishing attempts
Encrypted restoration points for added protection against ransomware
Continuous monitoring of your anti-virus and firewall software
Our employee cybersecurity training services add a much-needed extra layer of protection by educating your team on phishing awareness and helping to make sure that when these types of scams start making the rounds, your staff has the know-how needed to outsmart these hackers. It’s not just your online accounting software that has the potential to be targeted in this way.
Aside from having a predictable end goal, the bulk of these phishing attempts follow the same pattern and rely on the same tricks and tactics in order to work. They also tend to rely heavily on cooperation from their targets, which means they’re counting on someone inside your business falling for their ruse and unintentionally helping them get what they want. These digital crimes have a surprisingly big human element to them, and when you take away a hacker’s ability to manipulate that human element, their threats become much less dangerous.
Having smart and capable employees complimenting your cybersecurity safeguards is as close to the perfect IT security solution as you can get. Training your employees is important, but accepting that humans are prone to making mistakes and having the right protections in place is just as important.
Cybercriminals are getting smarter, but so are the security solutions businesses have at their disposal to protect their digital assets like online accounting data, client information, and any other mission-critical data your business relies on and is responsible for.
Ready to put enterprise-grade cybersecurity to work for your business? Contact {company} at {email} or {phone} today to learn more about our Next-Generation Anti-virus solution or to sign up for a complete security audit to find out exactly where your business stands.
by Felicien | Sep 29, 2017 | Education
How to Use the Office 365 App Launcher to Work Smarter and More Productively
Few people will argue that Office 365 offers many features that can help them work more productively. For instance, the cloud-based software and storage will let you work from just about anywhere, use multiple devices, and also collaborate with ease. Typically, Microsoft productivity products have a good reputation for functioning well and offering the features that most people need to do their jobs.
In fact, the main complaint about Office subscriptions is that they come with so many different features that it’s often difficult to find the right tool or document to start working. For example, in the past, lots of us have run into a few snags with these apps:
Opening up the apps: When you want to open up Word, Excel, or other apps do you find yourself searching for existing documents that you can open just to get the app to open? Yes, we certainly used to do the same! Sometimes, it seemed quicker to just find a Word document than to hunt around for the Word App icon on the computer or other devices.
Knowing which apps are included: The other issue with bundles of apps like the ones that we buy with Office 365 is that they’re first purchased for a few driver apps, like Word and Excel. Like us, you might not even be aware of every piece of software that you have purchased access to. Plenty of users waste time and money to find free or paid applications for certain tasks, and only later, they realize they already had paid for access to a Microsoft product that would have worked very well.
How the Office 365 App Launcher Will Help You Work Smarter
If you’ve ever found that the setup for Office products has hampered your productivity, you should take a few moments to learn more about how the Office 365 App Launcher can help you work smarter and get even more value out of your software products.
Since Office relies so much upon providing online and cloud-based services, you might consider the recent suggestions from the official Office 365 blog to use your products directly from the new app launcher within your browser.
Find Your Customized App Launcher at Office.com
To get started, simply log into Office.com directly. After you have logged in, you will find that the Office 365 App Launcher has already been personalized for you. For example:
You will see icons for your own set of most-used apps at the top. You can get started without having to look around for them.
On the lower area of the screen, you will see a list of recent documents. You can simply click these to continue working with them right away.
You won’t have to hunt around in different directories or app menus for the apps that you regularly use. Instead, you can just get started by clicking the app icons or one of the recent documents on the list. This feature should help you save time and frustration when you just want to resume work fast.
Explore Your Apps
The features described above will help you get started with common or recent tasks very quickly. However, because those features have been tailored to your typical usage patterns, they won’t help you explore features of Office 365 that you have never or infrequently used. In order to make sure you make the most of your products, the app launcher also includes a feature that helps you learn more about all of the products that you already have access too.
To start learning about different apps, find the link below the list of app icons that invites you to: Explore all of your apps. This exploration function can help you get the most out of your software:
You don’t need to know the name of a particular app that you may want to use for collaboration, image editing, and so on. Instead, you should just have a task that you would like to perform in mind.
This feature will base its first app suggestions upon your subscription and typical usage patterns. For example, you may see some suggestions that are based upon other apps that you use.
Of course, you may want to perform some task that isn’t closely related to your typical work. In that case, you can improve the suggestions by using search terms in the search bar towards the top of the screen.
You can also use this exploration feature to do more than simply comb through all of your apps. For instance, you may have collaborated with a particular person on a document that you need to find so you can search for that person’s name to find the documents you worked together on.
Let the Smart Features of the App Launcher Help You Work Smarter
The new Office 365 Office App Launcher offers a great solution for people who want to make the most of their subscription. Its smart search and listing features can almost serve you as an office assistant that will rapidly help you find the documents and software that you need.
If you have any questions, you can rely on us here at {company} in {city}. Simply contact us by calling {phone} or sending an email to {email} for more information.
by Felicien | Sep 29, 2017 | Education
The iPhone X was announced a few short weeks ago, but why do major manufacturers skip release numbers? Turns out, there’s a great reason.
Apple recently held their annual release party while the world watched and waited to see what new wonders were in store. When the dust settled, there was a fair amount of surprise that the iPhone 8 Plus and the iPhone X were the only versions announced. What happened to the iPhone 9? Was it simply overlooked? For that matter, what happened to the BlackBerry BB9 and the Windows 9 Phone? While it may seem a bit crazy, there’s a logical reason why these major manufacturers decided to skip releasing a version 9 of their popular phones and instead went straight from 8 to 10.
Apple’s iPhone X Release
The big news is the iPhone X: the all-new, all-screen iPhone that has a price point as voluminous as the screen size. While innovative for Apple, the iPhone X doesn’t display a great deal of functionality that can’t already be found in a variety of other platforms, such as the lack of physical home button on the front or the OLED screen that provides a whopping 2,436 x 1,125 pixels of resolution — called the Super Retina Display by the hardware giant. The one truly new feature is the Face ID, which is encountering challenges in production, which has caused delays in delivery such as those that have plagued Apple technology repeatedly in the past. It’s now estimated that Apple will be attempting to fulfill current iPhone X orders well into 2018.
Romeo and Juliet
Aside from improved video resolution, better battery time, cool augmented reality features and a 7-megapixel front camera, the new iPhone X delivers 30 percent greater speed than previous versions. Perhaps the most intriguing part of the Face ID feature is the fact that you will literally be one in a million — one in a million chances of someone else unlocking your phone with their face, that is. Apps that currently use Touch ID will be transitioned to Face ID, something that not all users are overjoyed about. The Romeo module inside the phone is an infrared dot projector that creates a depth map of faces by utilizing more than 30,000 invisible dots, while the data returned from the mapping is surveyed and analyzed by the Juliet module.
Long History of Skips
Microsoft, in particular, has a long history of skipping numbers in their naming conventions. Think back to Windows 10, which skipped Windows 9 and went directly from Windows 7 to 10 to make it appear that there were a few generations between the releases. This marketing trick makes version 7 seem much older than it really is, with the side effect of encouraging users to move more quickly to Windows 10. This clever and subtle play with numbers provides hardware and software manufacturers with a way to entice users to the latest edition with the idea that the upgrade may be more significant and the gap between functionality more expansive. The theories swirling around the iPhone X and the lack of an iPhone 9 range from grim to hilarious, but perhaps the easiest to understand the reason for the skip in this particular instance is that the tech is being announced on the tenth anniversary of the iPhone’s original release date. When you think about it, it might be a bit confusing to have a tenth-anniversary phone that was named the iPhone 9 — and that may be the simplest explanation of all for the skip.
Human Nature
Superstition is a big part of human nature, and perhaps one of the least-studied as well. Die-hard sports fans dress up wearing certain socks or their team won’t win. Some people insist upon getting out of bed on the same side every day or doing things in a certain order as part of their morning routine. Still, others wear lucky jewelry before a big job interview or skip over cracks in the sidewalk when taking a walk. This behavior is reinforced when these extraneous actions happen to lead to a positive outcome, while an unexpectedly bad outcome could turn your lucky charm into a bad omen. The crux of human nature is to assign power to inanimate objects or ideals, which allows us to feel slightly more confident in the outcome — which can reduce overall anxiety and increase our comfort levels with a particular action. This is the reason why few hotels have a floor numbered thirteen; a number which some individuals feel has negative connotations or is dangerous.
Cultural Context
While unverified, there are some reports that the number 9 has some seriously negative meanings in Asian languages, with one translation meaning a literal curse in Chinese and torture or agony in Japanese. With the massive Asian market for technology, this would likely be reason enough for Apple to make a skip over the number to avoid any chance of alienating a large portion of their buying public. Whether or not this is accurate, it is true that cultural context is important when considering product naming and other conventions. The leap over the 9 version provides a visual and audio cue that the changes to the technology are significant, something that is well-accepted across cultural and language boundaries.
While conspiracy theories abound, one thing is absolutely certain. The iPhone X is set to fundamentally change the way Apple users relate to their phones through the revolutionary new Face ID. Learn how this technology will impact your {city} business, and how to integrate new endpoints safely into your system when you work with {company}. Contact our professionals today at {phone} or via email to {email}.
Contact our professionals today at {phone} or via email to {email}.
