Author: Stuart Crawford

Of the risks your company faces on a regular basis, those associated with your IT department are likely a low concern and priority. The fact is, in today’s world most office professionals are capable of conducting the majority of their own IT work as needed for their individual devices. However, that isn’t their primary job description; their time is better used for the projects they were hired to do. There is also a matter of uniformity and consistency with how work is performed. When these issues are considered, it begins to make sense as to why a designated IT team is generally a worthwhile investment.

What Are Managed IT Services?

Just like employees are specialists in their own job description, IT people also tend to have specialties. Although IT people have the training and education required to work in any field, their personal expertise depends on their individual professional experience. Someone who has worked in architectural offices, as an example, may have a bit of learning curve when dealing with medical software and equipment. That’s not to say they “can’t” do the job and do it well, but they will take longer and likely have to correct some errors after initial setup. Hiring an outside source with specific industry experience for managed IT services is recognized as a solution for these and other problems that arise when using an in-house team.

Budgeting and Accounting for IT Expenses

With an in-house IT department, you know what you pay the employees who conduct the work, but are you aware of how much you’re really spending regarding efficiency? This can include issues with how much downtime the IT team has, and how much time other employees are spending to do some of the work themselves. Many office needs can be provided with an app, but what happens when the marketing department is using one app while the sales team uses a different app? Then you have to consider the time spent when they work together to make their work compatible with each other. An in-house IT team will likely work with each department individually rather than pointing out how efficiency would be boosted if they both agreed to use the same programming. Having an outside managed IT resource is going to be more likely to assure such inconsistencies are corrected.

Maintaining a Secure Network

To the layman, “Secure Network” can vary according to each person’s concerns. Cyber attack is something everyone who uses a computer is aware of, and certainly a threat every company faces. But there are other ways in which a network can be insecure. Imagine the nightmare of having a major system-wide failure and losing important client information. Such an incident might happen from a computer crash due to improper setup, outdated software, or even a natural disaster. It’s important to remember information has to be backed up, securely, as insurance might cover the physical damage of a flood or fire but no amount of insurance payment can cover the cost of lost data when hardware is destroyed in such a scenario.

Keeping a Backup Plan in Case of Emergency

There always has to be a backup plan in place for such an emergency. One of the worst things that can happen to a business is for clients to lose faith in the company’s ability to provide their service, and that’s what happens when you lose data. Think about how you would feel if an investment adviser had to ask you to resupply all your information with an explanation it had been lost in a network failure. You probably wouldn’t feel comfortable continuing to work with that company because even though they might be really good with financial advice, they aren’t completing the job by keeping your investments secure. Likewise, your clients are going to wonder about your professionalism if you lose their information.

Specialized Services for Your Field

Specialized services are the new norm and expectation of every business, and this concept holds true for IT personnel as well. To return to the previous example, the IT person who works with an architect knows how to set up a plotter to make blueprints, and they understand how to use software toward making graphic designs for presentational purposes. They have an aptitude for such things which is why they went into the IT business, but they still don’t have the experience to set up medical equipment and even though some software might be the same or similar, it’s going to be used differently by a doctor’s office. Someone with a specific specialty working with people in your field is merely going to be more efficient for your needs.

Trying to “Figure It Out on the Fly”

Having office workers conduct their own IT work can potentially be even more disastrous toward office morale and overall efficiency. Most people have a familiarity with computers and equipment and can figure out how to get it working, but might take all day or even settle for a less than perfect setup. Have you ever seen someone print a 20-page document one page at a time because they can’t get the printer to print the entire project as a single function? Now imagine that situation with over a hundred pages, and what else they could be working on instead of manually printing each page and then having to put the papers in proper order after spending half a day trying to make it work. An IT person fixes it by spending five minutes to clear old data and restart the printer.

Conclusion

The rest of your company is specialized by department, so should your IT. A managed IT services company can provide for your needs and due to the nature of the work, makes more sense than allowing the job to be conducted in-house. You end up with oversight for your network by specialists not only in IT work, but how it pertains to your business needs.

Who Has Been Impacted by Chinese Cyber Attacks?

At the beginning of the year, the FBI warned businesses to protect themselves from cyber attacks by foreign entities, saying activity has spiked in the past 18 months.

Hewlett Packard and IBM are among the businesses most recently targeted. There’s a National Counter-Intelligence and Security Center that manages intelligence efforts for the U.S. government. It recently launched a campaign to address continuing threats. The center warns that many companies need to be more to protect against cyber theft.

Foreign governments accused of cyber attacks against the U.S. include Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, with China receiving the most scrutiny in recent reports.

How Do Hackers Breach Company and Government Security?

According to Entrepreneur magazine, hackers create fake social media accounts to get people to reveal work and personal information. One of the ways to guard against bad actors is to carefully scrutinize social media requests from people that aren’t personal connections and to research apps before using or downloading them, as well as keeping antivirus software up-to-date.

The FBI warning including a brochure entitled, “Know the Risk, Raise Your Shield” that targets federal employees. The recent warnings follow a string of cases against individuals and organizations accused of stealing proprietary information from U.S. government and businesses.

Nine cases filed since July 2018 include two hackers investigators say are linked to the main Chinese spy agency. Knicknamed APT 10, they allegedly stole corporate and government information via cyber attacks on employees.

Has There Been an Uptick in Recent Activity?

The breach of private businesses by Chinese hackers first hit news headlines in 2014, when Sony Pictures was hacked. This prompted an agreement in 2015 between Chinese President Xi Jinping and then President Barrack Obama that curbed cyber attack for a while.

At FireEye, a cybersecurity firm, analysts track hackers working on behalf of the Chinese government. The firm’s representative says attacks are on the uptick recently. These hacking groups are referred to as Red Leaves, cloudhopper, and APT10.

Managed Service providers are among the groups targeted. MSPs supply technology, telecommunications and other services to business clients. If they can break the security systems of such companies, Chinese hackers gain access to the sensitive data of the MSP’s clients.

APT10 has routed malware via an MSP network to its business targets. However, there are many steps businesses can take to protect their employees and data from prying eyes in cyberspace.

What Should Business Do to Raise Their Shields?

U.S. businesses should take proactive measures to safeguard against cyber attacks from Chinese hackers via email, social media and other points of entry.

This includes ensuring that advanced detection tools are utilized on network and email servers to safeguard access to company data. Regular threat assessments and employee training can help. This provides a diagnosis of the state of a firm’s cyber defenses regarding advanced persistent threats that attempt to find breaches in the company’s firewall. Precautions taken against the intrusion of foreign governments include:

• Fortify access controls. Evaluate the plans, policies, and procedures that govern corporate technology to keep proprietary data safe. This could include that installation of multi-factor authentication (MFA), data encryption and solidifying a layered defense system on all possible points of cyber attacks.
• Training. Make cybersecurity education and training a top priority. Everyone from the Board of Directors and C-Suite to individual employees needs to understand how to avoid cyber attacks by avoiding fake emails, malware and weak password strategies, among other efforts.
• Incident response plan. Organization leadership and key technical personnel must develop a protocol for dealing with threats. This should include representatives from business administration, information technology and operations.
• Crisis communications plan. Align the protection policy to risk management methodologies and the business needs of employees.
• Adopt a monitoring, detection and response plan. Quickly detect intrusions and breaches via rapid-respond plans to effectively eradicate the malware or other methods of entry.

Most of us, when asked if we would prefer to pay for something we could theoretically do ourselves, will opt to take care of the task personally – even if it’s not our strong suit, or indeed, if we lack all experience entirely. This is often the case with managed IT services.

Whether your company has an in-house IT team or is small enough that you hire only one person, chances are good you don’t spend much time thinking about whether you should update your approach. That could spell disaster for your company, though, especially in this day and age of cyber attack and data breach.

Here’s a quick look at what most people get wrong about IT management and six of the most common signs your company needs it.

Why Does IT Require So Much Management, Anyway?

The root of many companies’ unwillingness to bring on IT help stems from a fundamental misunderstanding about its nature. Most people think of computers and other technology as a blank canvas of sorts. You put your applications and software on them, type messages, input information, manage spreadsheets and message others using the systems IT makes available to you. But you rarely think about the systems themselves.

That’s a problem. If we compare it to dentistry, you’ll see why. No one would claim that you can eat and eat all day without ever worrying about your teeth. Taking care of your teeth requires both daily maintenance and constant vigil, looking out for any problems that might be headed down the pipeline. Brushing your teeth isn’t enough to stay safe and healthy, but neither can you neglect to brush your teeth simply because you watch for cavities.

Managed IT is like any other sphere requiring both care and prevention. Your daily activities are the food. Your hardware and software and network security protocols are the teeth. If they don’t stay healthy, you won’t have the tools to eat for long.

Sadly, most companies have neither the expertise nor the resources to care for your company’s IT the way it needs. The result is that they use IT systems until they break, at which time they cast about wildly for the quickest possible fix, so they can go on with business as usual. Sometimes your in-house team can handle it, but more often (at least when the problem is serious), they can’t. As for preventing those problems in the first place, that’s usually more than one small team or a single individual can handle on behalf of a company.

5 Signs Your Business Needs Managed IT Services

That’s where managed IT services come in. When you outsource your IT needs to an outside company, you have access to a true wealth of expertise and professional tools. Rather than the limited knowledge and skills of one person – and whatever budget you can put toward information technology in-house – you now have an entire business on your side.

Still, think you don’t need outsourced IT services? Here are five signs you do.

1. Tech issues stop productivity in its tracks: You’ve been there. The day was going just fine, and suddenly someone’s computer manifested a weird bug … and then everyone’s computer seemed to have it. Or maybe your SSL certificate grew outdated and no one fixed it; the network went down and no one could figure out why; half the people in the office were locked out and asked to create new passwords for no reason. These “temporary” problems might have solutions, but that doesn’t make them easy to deal with. If you’re facing a lot of them, it’s time to do something about it.
2. Your “IT guy” doesn’t have experience in your niche: It hardly bears saying that banking IT and artisanal grocery IT are not the same thing. While both require careful safeguarding of customer information, the former industry manages far more detailed, and personal data is under much greater scrutiny and is subject to particular federal laws regarding the safeguarding of information. To keep your company aboveboard, you need someone who knows exactly what they’re doing, both on the day to day, and in extreme situations or crisis.
3. You don’t have a security plan: One of the primary responsibilities of an IT staff is to ensure you have a good security plan and robust software to back it up. If you don’t have a strong defensive approach, you could find yourself at the mercy of cyberattackers and data thieves, so don’t wait for that to happen before contacting a real IT provider.
4. Your maintenance plan is casual at best: Again, many companies use a “break it, fix it” model, in which they turn a blind eye to systems until something goes wrong. With preventative maintenance, however, you can avoid many (if not most) of those breaks – but you need someone who knows what they’re doing. An expert can help you configure your systems most intelligently, reallocate resources as your company grows, protect new vulnerabilities that open up and stay on top of updates, so you’re always protected and functioning at the highest level of productivity.
5. You’re paying too much for IT: If you’ve ever asked yourself “Why does it cost so much to deal with this?” that’s a bad sign. Believe it or not, it often costs less to pay for outsourced IT, because you have access to economies of scale that you just don’t have if you employ a few people in-house. We challenge you to do a cost comparison and see what happens.

Don’t Wait to Get Started with Managed IT Today

In the end, your decision to outsource your IT services to a professional provider should be an easy one. It’s like getting a dentist. Is there really any doubt that your company needs one to stay healthy now and in the future?

Hint: The answer is no. If you want to stay safe from attack, steer clear of potential disaster and keep your business humming along at the most productive rate, it’s time to make the switch today.

Your business is at a higher risk for security breaches and data when you don’t utilize a managed IT services company. A managed IT service company is more affordable than you realize. Managed IT service can be priced as a flat monthly fee, a per-user fee or a per-device fee. Then your business has a fixed line-item on your budget, and the assurance that your risks are managed by a professional service 24/7.

Not convinced? Let’s look at the realities of not have a managed IT service company.

Uncontrolled Spending.

Have you looked at what your IT department is costing every month? You may be surprised at how much you’re spending, and yet, you are still unsure at how well your company’s data is protected. Unless someone within your company is monitoring your IT department, you might not even be aware of what they are doing.

Have they ensured that your data is backed up in a cloud or are they developing a new app that may or may not help your business grow? Is your firewall up to date? Are your employees well-informed on cybersecurity threats that come via email? An unsupervised IT department could be investing in hardware and software that doesn’t protect you or help grow your business.

Add in the cost of recurrent training to keep your employees up to date with the latest security threats and emerging technology, and your business could experience uncontrolled spending. Managed IT service companies offer different pricing modules so that you can pick the plan that best suits your company yet allows for growth.

Unsecured Network and Uncertain Data Back-Up.

No matter what type of business, your business is responsible for the secure storage of employee records, customer data or patient information, which is protected by HIPAA regulations. A cybersecurity breach has the potential to put your business out of business.

Besides employee and client information, your business has a considerable volume of transactional data and customer/patient history. Are you sure that your IT department could have you back up and running after a natural disaster, ransomware attack or network failure?

Speaking of natural disasters which seems to be happening more often and are more severe, do you have a disaster recovery plan? Has your IT department developed and implemented a disaster recovery plan? It’s not enough to have your data backed up to a cloud. Your business should have a plan of where you’d relocate and how you’d get back up and running again.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency estimates that 40 percent of the businesses hit by natural disasters do not reopen and 25 percent of those who do fail within the first year. The Small Business Administration found that 90 percent of businesses fail within the first two years after a disaster. Data loss is catastrophic when coupled with a natural disaster.

A managed IT services company will provide you with a disaster recovery plan that protects your data to help prevent business failure should a natural or man-made disaster occur. The recent Paradise, California fire is a prime example of what could happen to your business should the worst scenario happen. Could your business recover?

Qualified IT employees are in short supply.

According to the George Mason University School of Business, IT jobs have increased by 13 percent while graduates in IT have decreased by 11 percent. Recruiting and retaining qualified IT personnel is expensive and challenging.

If you contract for managed IT services, you don’t have to terminate your entire IT department. You might decide to have a managed IT services company oversee the complex jobs while allowing your in-house IT personnel to focus on new projects or new business initiatives instead of responding to IT crisis resolution.

Most likely, a managed IT service company is able to hire the most qualified IT professionals. Why not get these people to oversee the most complex parts of your business?

Timing of new technology purchases.

Your company could be operating with outdated technology that can’t be upgraded to new security and/or operating systems. Restoring data might become impossible with obsolete technology.

Personnel from managed IT services companies regularly attend the major technology shows and can easily spot potential problems in your existing technology systems that could create significant problems in the future.

A managed IT services company starts to work for you on the first day that you contract with them. They’ll evaluate your entire IT system and make recommendations for updates to ensure the best performance and longer operating cycle. An added plus is that your managed IT services company can recommend new products specific to your industry or business type.

Minimize risk.

Savvy businesses know that minimizing the risk of security breaches, ransomware threats and data loss is one of the best ways to ensure the continuity of the business. A managed IT services company is more than just an IT “guy” that someone recommended to you. They become a valued partner of your business ensuring that your files and data are protected and that you can focus on your business operation.

Ask any small or medium-sized business owner and they’ll tell you the same thing: They’re terrified of a data breach. Sure, their fears might not exist on the same plane as, say, a Target or a Wells Fargo, but that doesn’t mean they’re not real and quantifiable.

The average numbers are pretty scary, in fact. According to MarketWatch, citing a study by IBM Security and Ponemon Institute, “the 2018 Cost of a Data Breach Study found that the average cost of a data breach globally is $3.86 million, a 6.4 percent increase from the 2017 report.”

That’s just the average, mind you. Things get much more frightening on a large scale: “the study also calculated the costs associated with ‘mega breaches’ ranging from 1 million to 50 million records lost, projecting that these breaches cost companies between $40 million and $350 million respectively.”

These numbers become even more heart-stopping when you consider that a data breach’s costs don’t end at the financial. There are some hidden costs of data breaches that you may not yet have considered. While no one likes to conjure more bogeymen than necessary (isn’t the world scary enough?), it’s critical to take data breach extremely seriously.

Here are seven of the most notable – and the most frightening – hidden costs of data breaches.

1. Loss of Intellectual Property

One of the most significant losses associated with a data breach is intellectual property. This can include:

• Blueprints for setting up a factory
• Specs for a project
• Code for a piece of software or another product
• Proposals for new products or services
• Recipes for proprietary dishes or ingredients (think “secret sauce”)
• The means of replicating patented products

If an attacker gets their hands on this information, you might suddenly have a competition where before you owned a niche. This is bound to decrease your profits and impinge upon your success.

2. Disruption of Operations

Data breaches cause a lot of panic and havoc, and unfortunately, this means suspending normal daily activities in favor of dealing with the crisis. This can put your standard timelines behind by days, weeks or even months … which is time and money you can’t get back.

3. Destruction of Property

We tend to think of data breaches as a one-way flow of information out of the formerly secure system. This includes client or customer information, intellectual property, company figures and documents, or other pieces of information customarily kept private.

However, some data breaches also include an element of cyber attack, information flowing in that is harmful to the system. Perhaps the attacker sends through the malicious code to damage it. They may also attempt to shut it down while withdrawing the data, with the intent of making it more difficult for the company to protect itself. In some cases, these attacks leave long-term damage behind, and it takes thousands or millions of dollars to pick up the pieces.

4. Loss of Customer Relationships

For obvious reasons, your customers aren’t going to be thrilled to learn that their credit card information, medical records or private purchase histories are now out in the world. While some may forgive you, especially if you take the right steps to fix the problem as soon as possible, others will not. The loss of their business can majorly cut into your margins.

You may even face canceled contracts. Money that was already factored into your budget on a monthly or yearly basis is now gone, and it will take time to replace it through new clients and customers.

5. Disrupted Vendor Relationships

It’s not just customers you have to worry about. Most people don’t want their names associated with an accident or leak that gets their end users in trouble. B2B companies still worry about what consumers will think, especially when they’re products are used as-is and branded. They may pull out as well, forcing you to find new vendors for your goods.

6. Disappearance of Important Information

Client and customer information is precious to your company. Not only do good records allow you to keep serving your important people well, but they also form a valuable basis for your business in the future. In addition to creating acrimony between yourself and your clients, losing that information can cost you considerably.

For instance, consider a breach of your customer relationship management (CRM) software. You keep a lot of valuable information inside that system, such as:

• Customer details, including their personal information
• Records of past interactions with clients or customers, such as medical history or purchases
• Contacts made with the customer
• The nature of contact made, such as phone or email
• Financial information
• Personal notes regarding the relationship you’ve forged with each client or customer

… and additional information that helps you to relate to your VIPs day in and day out. Starting from scratch does more than failing to impress them; it can ruin all the hard work you’ve put in so far.

7. Increased Cost of Loans

Data breaches, despite your best intentions, send the signal that your company can’t be trusted. Usually, we assume that it’s consumers whose good opinion we’ll lose, but banks and other lending companies also tend to become a little cold.

Post-data breach, it’s very likely that your company’s credit score will drop. The results of this vary:

• You might have a harder time getting loans or extending lines of credit
• You may have to pay higher interest rates when you do get loans
• You might not be able to get loans at all

Any of the above may hamper your growth and limit your ability to produce new revenue, which can cost just as much in the end as losing money you’ve already made.

Bottom line? You can’t take data breach seriously enough, so if you haven’t yet done a risk assessment and put a security plan in place, make that a top priority right away. Otherwise, you’re a sitting duck just inviting breach and attack, and that’s no way to run a business.