With shifting dynamics in the way today’s workforce operates, a prime asset is any technology that increases productivity and the level at which a business functions. Organizations frequently struggle to find a no-nonsense, easily managed solution that improves collaboration, communication, security, and workflows. The integration of SharePoint with Office 365 is the answer many business owners are seeking. A tool for document management and collaboration, Microsoft SharePoint effectively accommodates the control and management of internal documents and business content.
In our modern technology-centered work environment, businesses often operate from multiple locations. Operating hours and a tool for delivering on-time work must be flexible. With Office 365 and SharePoint, users are able to share and store documents in a tightly integrated data management system that has the needed flexibility.
It’s always an added benefit when business solutions cover multiple challenges, which is why Office 365 and SharePoint are a popular option. Whatever your business goal, there is a good chance you will find in SharePoint a helpful tool toward that end.
BYOD is when employees of an organization are allowed to use their own electronic devices for work purposes, including smartphones and computers. Most organizations have adopted BYOD, remote access, and mobility, putting demand on vital business applications that can be accessed round-the-clock from any geo-location. SharePoint Online makes it easy to coordinate with other team members and access company files from anywhere in the world that has an Internet connection. The fact that no one has to wait until they return to a physical office to open, edit, or review any document improves productivity and business performance.
Business Intelligence (BI) is a reference to applications, practices, and technologies for the presentation, analysis, integration, and collection of business information. Office 365 is rich with features that include self-service BI capabilities. The integration of multiple applications can be effortlessly leveraged to garner knowledge from various systems. This capability enhances the competence to gain ready-to-use insights and make cognizant decisions.
With manual handling of approvals and handoffs, productivity is slowed and time is wasted. Automizing business workflows with Microsoft Office 365 and SharePoint cuts down the time required to complete business processes. Involved individuals receive instant notifications that make them aware of activities awaiting their attention. Ultimately, organizations are better equipped to focus on their core expertise as resources are released.
Certain capabilities that are lacking in many document management programs are easily integrated with Office 365 and SharePoint. For instance, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM), which help to increase an organization’s overall profitability, can be integrated with SharePoint. Workflows, administrative systems, and planning can all be linked through the SharePoint platform.
Contact Aperio IT to learn more about the benefits of integrating SharePoint with Office 365 today.
With trillions of losses caused by cybercrime, increasing cybersecurity is a must for businesses nowadays. Organizations can prevent more devastating, headline-making breaches by improving their network security.
The first half of 2019 has been marked with massive cyberattacks. The US Customs and Border Protection’s data breach exposed 100,000 people’s license plates and photos. A ransomware attack targeted manufacturing and industrial firms. Wired Magazine also cited the American Medical Collection Agency’s breach involving millions of healthcare patients’ records as one for the records this year.
Cybersecurity breaches have lasting negative effects on a business and its relationships. Follow these best practices to help improve your network security:
1. Pinpoint Potential Threats in the Organization’s IT infrastructure
Everything that is connected to the network must be outlined. This can help the IT department identify potential weaknesses in the devices’ connectivity. For instance, there may still be those with outdated software or default passwords. For organizations with a Bring Your Own Device policy, every device must have updated antivirus software and firewall. Unidentified external hardware must not be connected to company devices too.
2. Develop a Tight Network Security Policy
Even small businesses are cyber targeted, so security standards must be in place. Put these in writing in the organization’s security manuals and brief each employee about them. Conduct regular checks of the employees’ awareness about these network security protection standards. Review these standards regularly and update the employees about them. Cyber threats are fast evolving, so network security protocols in place must change as well.
3. Teach Employees about Cybersecurity Vigilance
Train employees to check security certificates, URLs, and email addresses every time before providing their private information or credentials. Encourage them to identify potential threats and compensate them for it.
Phishing attacks still prove to be one of the biggest cybersecurity threats this year. It helps to teach employees how to spot phishing attempts. Some organizations used the following tips to help employees pinpoint phishing attempts:
4. Monitor the Entire Network regularly
Anyone in the network can be a target so you have to be vigilant. This is why privilege management is important. It limits access to sensitive information based on the employees’ job requirements, not their position in the organization’s hierarchy.
Regular network audits are also a must to maintain network security. This can identify vulnerable access points, especially the ones that do not screen traffic. Fortify these points with an access policy. This may include restricting unknown devices from accessing the organization’s network. Filtering Media Access Control (MAC) addresses is a solid first step. It denies access to any devices with MAC addresses that are not in the company’s whitelist.
A good network security policy may also require employees to go through a heavily monitored virtual private network to access the organization’s network.
5. Augment Cybersecurity Support
Cybersecurity departments often point to the lack of support as a hindrance to implementing a strong network security plan. Aside from hiring an in-house team of IT staff, external support may be necessary at times. It could be in the form of a Managed Service Provider (MSP) implementing customized solutions based on the needs of the organization. This is the go-to practical solution for small businesses and organizations with a limited budget.
Network security affects every part of the organization. It should not be dismissed as a cost but instead a benefit when it means protecting the business, its consumers, and its overall integrity as an organization. A study shows that data breaches have forced around 60% of businesses into bankruptcy in as fast as six months.
6. Use Up-To-Date Hardware and Software
Be keen on monitoring and downloading the latest patches. Regularly check for potential weaknesses and threats and fix them. Protecting network security should not only fall on the shoulders of the IT staff. End users should also be involved by giving them constant security policy education.
Conclusion
Contact Aperio IT if you need help managing your computer systems and network security. Our team will implement innovative solutions to protect your network from cyber criminals while ensuring compliance and driving workplace efficiency.
Acquiring secure IT services to promote cybersecurity is a good step to ensure your company is protected from malicious forces. Professionals who provide secure IT services will be there to guide you and your workforce in keeping all endpoints and networks worry-free. However, the effort to make sure cybersecurity is maintained should not rest solely on secure IT services providers. It is the end-users who should be even more careful, as it is they who roam company networks and use online resources. Companies can lose a lot with employee negligence, but such errors can be avoided. Through well-planned cybersecurity training, awareness and vigilance does not rest solely on secure IT services providers.
Building a culture of cybersecurity is integral to make sure that the entire workforce is calibrated when it comes to cybersecurity knowledge. While training may include how to use company resources and provided secure IT services, it can also dig deep with cybersecurity basics like how employees can be safe at home as well, and how they can promote a secure lifestyle in and outside of work. Professionals who handle secure IT services can take the lead in these trainings, with some collaboration with company leaders.
What transpires in one training session can immediately be applied, as time goes by, these tidbits of cybersecurity knowledge may fade. Companies may fail in instilling a habit of cybersecurity mindedness within the workforce without adequate follow-up. Sessions that aim to remind the workforce of cybersecurity basics need not be actual sessions. These can be in the form of email newsletters, company-wide memos, even short instructions sent to team and department leaders to disseminate to their members. Efforts to follow-up need not come from your hired secure IT services providers. Strategic ways to look after the workforce can be effective, albeit simple.
A noteworthy way to make cybersecurity impactful is to bring it to a personal level, yet connect it to how it affects one’s professional matters. Negligence in keeping one’s personal gadgets secure may end up bringing viruses and malware to the office. This is a common occurrence for those who use company gadgets for personal affairs e.g. using the office computer to open social media accounts, or using company internet for personal affairs, like booking flights or online shopping. Chances are, these “bad habits” can ultimate affect one’s personal online life, and also their work-related online resources, such as cloud storage and company email accounts. This lack of awareness can be noticed in age gaps, as more senior employees seem to be less adept in practicing cybersecurity measures than younger professionals. Secure IT services providers can be tapped in approaching this age gap, and also in emphasizing in general that personal bad habits can bite one back when brought in the office. Your personal cybersecurity errors may come back as a company-wide problem, and there’s no greater shame in knowing you included many people in a singular error.
Through training, secure IT services professionals can emphasize the need to be proactive and vigilant. Slight cybersecurity threats can balloon into major threats, and the enterprise workforce must be pushed to speak up even at the slightest suspicion. There is a bit of shame when one has to admit that they may be the cause for a certain virus or malware to penetrate company networks, but rather than seeing the trouble snowball, nipping it in the bud through professional honesty is the better act. Incident report forms may also be created to promote anonymity when there are specific instances to be reported. Training must make sure that professional honesty and vigilance is part of the cybersecurity culture that is upheld. Company leaders and secure IT services providers must work together to put this habit front and center.
Now that an internal knowledge and awareness of cybersecurity has been instilled, external forces to encourage maintenance of a cyber-secure workforce, alongside reprimanding bad habits and negligence, are compulsory. Policies can be executed to keep cybersecurity as robust as possible. You may work with secure IT services providers to help you in coming up with policies, or in writing down details of suggested policies below:
Put a strict, discernible line between websites, apps, and other internet-related resources that allowed or not in the office. Some social media sites may appear more personal than professional in terms of use, or the office can agree on what browser to use so that configurations are uniform for all computers. Identifying which websites or apps to use limits gateways for hacker or malware to enter.
Ultimately identify what kind of information stays in the office, and nowhere else. Company secrets and industry processes that took years to perfect must not reach competitors in any way. This specific policy will make sure that company data are kept where they should be kept, and will not reach areas vulnerable to cybersecurity threats.
Controlling as well what kind of email service providers will help in maintaining company data. While not all businesses are able to come up with a private email domain, executing email laws will uphold cybersecurity standards.
There is merit in the Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) scheme, as it promotes employees to use gadgets there are more accustomed to in promoting work efficiency and mobility. However, a policy to govern security measures for these gadgets will support this request to use one’s own laptop or tablet to meet workload deadlines. Secure IT services providers may come up with ways to give access to antivirus program installations or do routinary scanning of gadgets that aren’t company-owned.
Non-company personnel will come in once in a while, such as industry partners or potential clients. Assigning which internet connections they are limited to is a valid way of promoting the company’s cybersecurity. Another way would be to come up with temporary connections that only function during a specific period. Some companies opt for this when they host events within company premises.
Employees come and go, but your company’s human resources team must work with your IT team or your IT provider to cut a former employee’s “IT trail”, such as deactivating company email accounts and making sure personal gadgets are banned from connecting to company networks. These processes should be part of clearance whenever an individual severs their professional relationships with the company.
Protecting your enterprise’s cybersecurity sounds like a tall order, but the repercussions of being lax are massive. A proactive approach should be in place, and it should come from company leaders and administrators.
While small & mid-sized businesses are opting to use MSPs (managed service provider) for various operational aspects, using one specifically for security has presented itself as a viable choice. Threats to cybersecurity are both increasing in number and complexity and having an MSP for security purposes proves to be very helpful. Consider the following signs to help your organization decide if you need a Managed Service Provider to strengthen cybersecurity.
Managed Service Provider for Security: “Pesky” Security Alerts
If you’re guilty of ignoring security alerts because they seem repetitive, hard to understand, or unactionable on your end, you’re not alone. A study reveals that among respondents, 31% claim to letting alerts pass by because they appear to be false positives, while 40% think that the alerts can’t be acted on, or have a definite solution. These alerts would make better sense to security MSPs. Explanations for unfamiliar sets of actions and why alerts seem redundant are what a security-based managed service provider can offer. What’s good about these MSPs is that they will unearth even the smallest of threats. After all, an organization on average executes 2.7 billion security tool-related actions per month, according to the same study. Less than one million of these actions attend to real security threats, not a menial number at all, considering the gravity of threats these days.
Managed Service Provider for Security: Repetitive Mistakes
Security-based managed service providers will not only help defend you from threats. MSPs specializing in security will also explain what these threats are, what they could do, and what everyone else can do in response. The thing with some companies is that they intercept these threats over and over because they do not realize their repeated mistakes. Managed service providers will assist you in applying new knowledge from past errors to generate better security decisions.
Managed Service Provider for Security: Too Many Solutions
The more, the merrier? Not necessarily. Having many security solutions do not make your system automatically safe and stable. Some enterprises have up to 20 differing solutions and chances are they don’t work together. Through a security MSP, you can rally these solutions and find ways to let them work harmoniously, so that you avoid generating system overloads, too much data traffic, or even more security threats in the form of disparate processes. Allow security professionals, like managed service providers, to perform better security management for you.
Managed Service Provider for Security: Staying Informed
Another service of MSPs is to give you precise reporting of how threats were handled. It is the job of managed service providers to keep you in the know of how security tools were used to counteract cybersecurity concerns. Coasting along without knowledge of a newly-resolved threat won’t do for MSPs. Managed service providers giving you cybersecurity assistance will alert you on the dot when a threat is happening, and how it is being intercepted.
Managed Service Provider for Security: Your Boss Says So
Especially in the age of advanced technology, many CEOs and other company leaders are investing in staying protected against the dangers of the cyber-world. But that’s not enough. It is imperative that CEOs are involved in security means and ways of the company. MSPs rendered for cybersecurity services can assist your company leaders in going through the security structure of the entire enterprise. No need to have substantial knowledge in cybersecurity; managed service providers will make sure that your CEO will have a good glimpse of how things are working.
Managed Service Provider for Security: Conclusion
More than ever, cybersecurity should be a top IT priority for any organization. In the past years, malicious cybersecurity forces were to blame for wiping out at least $52.4 billion off stock shares value, an average fall of 1.8%. With these threats in mind, security MSPs should be considered as good options to battle the rising threats to IT security. These MSPs are not only equipped with the right tools, but also with expertise in the matter. With managed security providers to handle your cybersecurity, you and your company may shift your focus to other enterprise objectives, and hand the baton to MSPs in handling software updates and security monitoring. Consider security MSPs in assuring safety and future-proofing your organization.
Contact us to learn more about strengthening your cybersecurity with Aperio IT.
Hurricanes, floods, fires, tornadoes, earthquakes, even ransomware — these devastating events can strike almost without warning. Does your business have a plan to not only safeguard sensitive data but contingencies for recovery should a catastrophe occur?
Management should acknowledge their company’s potential exposure to disasters, natural and otherwise. These events can endanger the accessibility and support of an organization’s IT systems and networks.
It’s trite but true: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. So how does a business protect the integrity of its IT processes before cataclysm strikes? An effective option is to collaborate with a reputable data center, one with the resources to protect valuable data while keeping it secure and accessible.
Now that you recognize the utility of a data center, what should you look for? Below is a laundry list of essentials your DR service should provide.
An effective disaster recovery plan starts long before storm clouds gather. You want your IT partner to customize a comprehensive and ordered strategy that maintains and monitors network infrastructure and ongoing processes. Too, your employees should be trained and evaluated on how to reduce or avert system downtime.
Proactive planning also encompasses preventive maintenance. Your DR provider should regularly schedule tests of fire detection/extinguishing systems, power supplies/generators and HVAC systems.
How do fiber optic networks provide such outstanding redundancy and protection? In large part, due to bidirectional line-switched architecture. This means that in the event of network element failure, optical signals can be rerouted, either with “protection” spare fibers or by backhauling.
You want the same from your DR provider. Does it offer alternative facilities should its primary data center be offline? Are their data centers sited to prevent damage from floods, fires, winds or earthquakes?
Power failures and loss of environmental cooling can wreak havoc on vulnerable infrastructure elements. Look for facilities with redundant uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), supported by generators that switch seamlessly online if utility power fails. Seek the same redundancy within the data center’s HVAC configurations.
Redundancy also includes instantaneous access to multiple “core” or “Tier 1” long-haul networks should the primary carrier interrupt service.
Is the DR provider’s data center monitored at all times? Are employees required to wear visible ID whenever onsite? Nowadays, constant surveillance of network assets is a must to maintain network integrity and data security.
Your DR provider should have a cross-trained and experienced emergency ops team in place, ready at a moment’s notice to restore operational functionality to networks and systems in case of a disaster. They are the “cavalry” riding to the rescue, freeing local employees to see after their families and homes.
Now that you know, consider Aperio IT as your partner in disaster recovery planning. We provide cloud hosting and backup services to small and mid-sized businesses like yours. It’s never too early to prepare before catastrophe strikes.
Contact us to learn more about planning your Disaster Recovery Plan with Aperio IT.
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