With recent advances in technology, prospective customers generally expect an uninhibited and easy user experience whenever possible. These customers are looking for a seamless and relatively consistent interaction every time they come online. Even the slightest failure in information or performance can lead to failures or down times and, by extension, lost business. It has never been more imperative to insure that your IT department is up to speed and aware of any potential threat to the unencumbered flow of your business.
Most everyone can agree that nothing is more of a needless hassle than having a technical malfunction during an important call or communication. That’s what makes it most important to find a service that won’t fail, and even if it should, could rectify any mistake within a margin that won’t harm your day-to-day operations.
Cloud Services
Regardless of business type, it seems that more and more the general optimization of stored information revolves around the cloud. The entire prospect of the cloud often seems daunting and insecure to many, and with good reason. If all data is stored in one place, it would be a constant source of worry for a technical failure or even a potential hacking. However, with the right cloud security, the right cloud services for businesses allow you to invest in cost-effective solutions that will maintain all essential information off-site.
The cloud begins with email, as there is simply no other professional way to function in our modern world. Needless to say, it is of the highest priority that any email services that you or your company may be using be as secure and streamlined as realistically possible. Every business should be in the mindset that their means of communication and general exchange of data be of absolutely paramount importance.
Disaster Recovery
Disasters never strike when they’re expected, and this is perhaps why this particular aspect of IT security is one of the most crucial, yet most often overlooked, aspects of keeping all of your information safe and secure. However, if you want your business to remain operational regardless of data breaches, natural disasters, or other system failures, you need to create a disaster recovery strategy that’s tailored to your company’s best practices.
Consider the intense hurricane season underway in 2017. One would never like to imagine such a disaster affecting one’s business, but many companies throughout Florida and Texas are grappling with downed networks and ruined servers, not to mention flooded office and retail spaces. To stay operational and available to customers and clients, companies need to invest heavily in strategies to mitigate disasters whenever and wherever they may strike.
Cyber Security
As innovations in data storage grow and make our lives more convenient, so do the threats to our security on that front. It seems that every time an advance in security comes to the forefront, potential hackers become simply that much more effective in posing a threat to the continued function of any website. This year alone, there were several high-profile data breaches, hacks, and system failures that adversely affected entire regions of the country and even the SEC.
For an individual company, there is nothing quite so frustrating as having your security compromised. Not only can it bring your business to an absolute standstill, it can create a mental sense of complete insecurity and doubt, rendering not only your physical, but mental progress as well, to a grinding halt.
First, there is the tedious business of the guidelines maintained by the OCIE (Office of Compliance and Inspection and Examination). These are known to shift in practice nearly every time there is a major cyber attack. This means that they can be tedious to stay up-to-date on. Second, and perhaps most ideally, there is the matter of simply wanting more preventative solution to prevent such problems from even reaching the surface in this fashion. Luckily, there is a solution for around-the-clock, hands on help.
Modernizing Your IT Department & Priorities
Your business is reliant on its storage of data. There is no reason for it to not be as secure as possible. These are just a few of the latest priorities that companies operating online need to pay close attention to. As we round out this year and move into 2018, there’ll be untold hazards to watch in terms of disaster recovery and cyber security planning. It’ll be up to entrepreneurs and business leaders as well as their dedicated IT professionals to stay ahead of these trends.
Stephanie Rowan is an IT and Cyber security expert that currently works for NIC IT Partner. Her goal is to spread awareness and to help the average user have a safer experience with technology.
