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How a Managed IT Services provider in Sacramento can help you
Nov 4th, 2015 by aperio

There are many different types of things that are going to be important when considering the computer systems of any type of business. There will be a lot of different types of information that is going to be stored on these, including business plans and confidential information for employees. IT managed services are going to continually track what is going on with each system to ensure that everything is working smoothly.

The team will also be able to install programs and update the system when necessary. Many companies are using The Cloud for storage options. This is because it frees up storage space on their computer systems that they are currently using.

One problem with this is that they need to make sure that their systems are secure. This is something that can be hacked without anyone knowing about it. It is not something that should be taken lightly either.

This is why companies are hiring the IT managed services to help them to complete this. The companies are going to make sure that the computer systems are functioning properly and not allowing hackers to get the information. This is going to require monitoring and continual updating to the software.

Another advantage to having the IT managed services is that there will be someone that is available for support at all times of the day. There are many different types of things that can be a problem for a user. These systems could freeze or just not function properly.

When this happens, it is important to call someone who understands how the system operates. Sometimes, this can happen due to the temperature of the hard drive though. If there is not sufficient cooling systems in place for the size of the computer system, the company can risk a lot.

They need to make sure that they have the proper equipment in place as well as having the programs that will work best for their type of company. Not every company is going to benefit from the same types of programs. This should be taken into consideration before any recommendations are being made.

There are many different reasons why certain types of companies will use the same types of programs though. They want to make sure that everything is going to be compatible with their customers’ systems. This is especially true of mobile devices.

There are a lot of people who are accessing the web using their mobile phones and tablets. Not all of these are able to open certain types of programming. This is why it is important to make sure that the system is mobile friendly as well.

There can be a lot of things that customers need to know about and will be posted online. Social media websites and much more are going to allow for unhappy customers to let others know about their experiences too. This is why it is going to be very important to make sure that everyone is able to do what they need to do.

There are many different types of programs that are used for every type of computer system. It will be important to use security software as well. This is going to be something that will need to be done to the computer even if it is only used for general business for the company.

There are a lot of hackers and viruses that can harm these computers. When a company takes advantage of IT managed services, they can make sure that their computers are set up properly as well as take care of any problems that occur very quickly. This is something that is going to be beneficial to the employees as well as to the entire company.

Ways to Protect Against Data Loss
Nov 2nd, 2015 by aperio

The statistics are worrying. According to a study done by the University of Texas, slightly over 40% of businesses that experience a catastrophic data loss never reopen and just over 50% of them shut down within as little as two years.

 

Perhaps surprisingly, most data losses are not caused by hurricanes, floods, and fires. A study from Pepperdine University breaks down causes of data loss from most to least common:

 

  • Hardware failures
  • Human errors
  • Software corruption
  • Theft
  • Computer viruses

 

What can you do to protect your business from these risks?

 

Hardware failures

 

To avoid data loss from hardware failures, you must consistently back up your systems and data. You must also consider the hardware you’ll use for your backups. For example, tape backups are known to have a high rate of failure. You’ll want to avoid using them as your backup storage medium. Additionally, you’ll want to have your backup data storage be completely separate from your primary storage.

 

Human errors

 

You can’t completely avoid human errors. Even if your business has well thought out policies data policies along with clear instructions for shutting down and/or rebooting systems, your employees cannot be guaranteed to follow the policies perfectly at all times.

 

The best way to protect your business from these errors and from accidental deletion of files or records is to assume that the errors are going to happen, and back up your data accordingly. Key concepts for these backups are automation and retention. You need to have your backups occur automatically without human intervention. And you need to have retention of data. This means that even if errors are not identified for long periods of time, your data will be available for recovery when the errors are eventually discovered.

 

Software corruption

 

Software corruption occurs when software becomes unreadable by your computer. The causes for this can vary, and the results can be subtle and may go undetected for some time. As with human errors, the best way to protect your business from this cause of data loss is to have automated data backups and retention of data in case the errors are not found for a significant time period.

 

Theft

 

Theft involves copying data for use by competitors or actually destroying it. Copying data this way can be considered a form of corporate espionage. Our blog post, “Cyber Corporate Espionage,” discusses some of the ways you can protect your business from such attacks.

 

Actual destruction of data, however, is a different matter. This sort of vandalism is usually committed by a disgruntled or former employee. You can gain some protection against it by having careful policies regarding employee terminations. These should be the same for voluntary or involuntary terminations, and should include promptly disallowing former employees access to your systems. If destruction of data occurs despite your best efforts, automation of data backups and retention of data are once again your most effective ways to recover your data.

 

Computer viruses

 

A computer virus is code or a program that is loaded onto a computer without the user’s knowledge and runs against the user’s wishes. Viruses can take over computer memory, destroy data, and can often transmit themselves across systems.

 

To protect your business against viruses, you must have a firewall and you must install anti-virus software.

 

Although the risks from data loss are significant, you can take steps to minimize them. Planning for hardware failure, implementing policies to reduce the effect of human error, software corruption, and theft, and protecting your systems from computer viruses are all ways you can protect your business.

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