Slappey

Data security in the ‘Work-from-home’ environment 2020 threw a lot of challenges at the world. One of them, from the business perspective, that overshadowed the others was cybersecurity. How to ensure data safety and security in an environment where businesses can’t really control what employees do even during work hours? With the world almost a year into the pandemic, new best practices emerged that will be in use not just during the pandemic, but probably also in the future, post-pandemic era. Because the trend of working from home now seems to be here to stay. This blog will discuss some best practices for data security that can be deployed when working remotely. If you can provide your employees with a computer that they will solely access for work, then that solves the majority of the issues. When employees use their own devices for accessing work data, the risk of a security breach is higher as businesses don’t have any control over staff’s personal devices. Your employee’s com...

How the cloud is a solid survival tool for your business during a crisis One thing the Coronavirus pandemic taught businesses is the fact that it is important to move with the times and adopt and adapt to the latest technology. While you don’t have to be the first one in the market to invest in the newest technology, once its effectiveness and usefulness is proven, it does make sense to switch to it. Here’s how the cloud allowed businesses to overcome the challenges posed by having to suddenly switch to the remote operations model. Challenge-1: Access to critical data and applications This could have been easily resolved by migrating to the cloud. The cloud offers unparalleled connectivity to your data—from anywhere and at any time, with any internet-enabled device. Challenge-2: Data safety, cybersecurity concerns The cloud provides solutions to data safety and cybersecurity challenges as well, as data stored in the cloud is naturally much safer and difficult to break into than data st...

Tech agility: A must-have for crisis survival It is a known fact that survival of any species depends on its ability to adapt to change. One major change for businesses in 2020 was the need to switch to the work-from-home model to keep things running during the time of pandemic. When countries all over the world started imposing lockdown restrictions, companies had no choice but to switch to remote operations if their line of business allowed them to do so. This blog post discusses the key challenges faced by businesses that had failed to adopt the latest technology on time. Access to critical data and applications For businesses that didn’t store their key data and applications in the cloud, this was a huge challenge. How do you ensure each of your employees have access to all the business data, programs and apps they need to operate efficiently? Companies that had already adopted the cloud as their core data storage means they didn’t face this challenge: everything was cloud-based an...

What the COVID-19 crisis taught us about the cloud and business continuity The COVID-19 pandemic has changed life as we know it, in many ways. While its impact on our day-to-day lives has been huge, the impact has been even more severe from a business perspective. The social distancing norms, staggered operating hours so as to limit crowds, the masks, shields, barriers, and what-not! From the business continuity perspective, companies have had to adapt themselves to the new normal very quickly. During this global crisis, one technology that truly came to the rescue of business big and small was the cloud. The cloud made it possible for businesses to keep their operations running even with staff working remotely. With all critical data stored online, all that was needed was a compatible device with an internet connection and it was business as usual...well, almost. Here are some core business challenges that were resolved due to the cloud. Access to core business data and software progr...

What’s your argument against an SLA with an MSP? (And why it doesn’t hold water) Part-2 In our last blog post, we discussed 3 reasons SMBs usually cite for not signing a service level agreement with an MSP. In this blog post, we suggest how an SLA with an MSP will add value to your business, irrespective of your business size, budget and the presence of an in-house IT team. Reason#1: Our IT requirements are limited IT is not a one-time thing where you can follow a set-it-and-forget-it approach. Want this to run smoothly? IT needs regular maintenance-- a service level agreement with an MSP is the answer. Regular data backups, timely security patch application, software updates, etc, are all important and won’t happen unless you have a dedicated resource working on them. Plus, there’s the issue of network latency. Services like periodic network monitoring offered by MSPs ensure that any latency issues are identified and taken care of before they result in a major system failure. Reason#...

Keylogger 101 We have all heard of hacking, virus, ransomwares, etc. as they keep coming up in the news every now and then. But, have you heard of keyloggers? In this blog post, we discuss keyloggers and how they can be used to gain unauthorized access to your system, online accounts, network and data. As the name suggests, a keylogger logs keys--it captures the keystrokes you make. In fact, use of keyloggers is not illegal. Keyloggers are perfectly legal and are often used by companies to keep tabs on their employees' IT activities during work and closer home, parents use keyloggers to monitor their children’s computer activities for safety and security purposes. But, as with all tools, even keyloggers can be misused and cause a lot of damage if leveraged by a cybercriminal. By logging keystrokes, the keylogger captures passwords and other confidential information. Imagine someone having access to all your usernames and passwords. Your bank accounts, your shopping accounts, your o...

What’s your argument against an SLA with an MSP? (And why it doesn’t hold water) Part-1 Managed IT services are becoming more popular by the day. Businesses, big and small, are bringing managed service providers onboard to handle their IT requirements. The bigger IT players like IBM, Accenture, CISCO act as MSPs to larger organizations, while the typical managed service provider is often hired by SMBs. However, there’s a question that crops up time and again--Do SMBs really need an MSP? SMBs are sometimes in two minds when it comes to bringing an MSP on board and typically use one of the following justifications. Our IT requirements are limited A lot of businesses in the small to mid-size range believe that their IT needs don’t warrant a full-time service level agreement with an MSP. They believe the only times they need to invest in IT is at the start of their business or when rolling out new technology. As a result, they don’t see much value in signing a service level agreement with ...