Connecticut's IT Managed Services Blog

Dear Small Business Owner, 

You are not alone.  According to Symantec SMB, 50% of small and medium businesses have no backup or disaster recovery plan in place.  41% of those surveyed, stated they haven't given much thought to implementing a disaster recovery or business continuity plan. 

Statistics like these are impressive, aren't they?  Unfortunately, they don't actually help you solve the problem of not having a data backup plan, and they may even support the idea of NOT getting one.  Let's take a look at some questions that will help us decide if you even need a better, or beginning backup plan.  

As an IT Support provider to small business, one of the most common trends we find among our customers is a true acceptance of how much downtime they experience on an ongoing basis.  To me, "downtime" is a word that has two extreme and opposite meanings:  

Dear Apple:  I only want my iPhone to ring if it’s important.

Apple:  Your wish has been granted.  I bring you:  Do Not Disturb…

Personally, I do not take a lot of naps, but if I were to partake in what many experts refer to as “the best thing for productivity, ever” and snooze for a brief period of time during the day, I would certainly want a very select few individuals to be able to reach me -  no matter what. 

Microsoft Office 365 Security concerns?  You are not alone.  I recently attended a networking event where the guest speaker gave a talk about Software in the Cloud.  He touched on Microsoft Office 365, but his main topic for the evening was focused on Adobe’s recent move to cloud-only subscription based software, as the majority of attendees were Adobe users.  As the presentation moved along, questions erupted from the audience, and not surprisingly, the major concern among cloud software subscription users (or soon to be users) was SECURITY.  Runner up:  The potential that you would “Pay Forever”.  Several people wondered why anyone would pay for software that you could get for free, i.e.:  Google or GIMP.

We have to admit; we were not immediately sold on MS Office 365, but during the last couple of years we have noticed that Microsoft has listened to consumers and the product is clearly a contender, especially for small businesses looking for a solid cloud-based productivity suite.  Any company who is willing to admit that the START BUTTON is important, and humble enough to resurrect our long lost friend, can’t be all bad.

How are small businesses handling Mobile Devices?  We know that business owners rely on their mobile technology more than ever, because we see these trends when we review the types of calls received by our Help Desk. When NSI TotalCare added its robust service offering designed specifically for Mobile Devices, it was in response to feedback and requests of our clients, who expressed a need for this kind of support. Policies, management, security, data backup and best practices alone are a lot for a business owner to handle, not to mention the variety of user issues, questions, and continued operating system upgrades required to keep each device up to speed.