Connecticut's IT Managed Services Blog

In previous blog posts, we have emphasized the importance of data security and the fact that every business can expect a data breach at some time or another. Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting Connecticut small to medium-sized businesses (SMB) to steal potentially valuable information, and to hijack SMB computing resources to attack other businesses. When launching these attacks, hackers target the weakest link—your employees. That’s why cybersecurity training is essential for every organization.

It’s still hurricane season, and as I write this, Hurricane Harvey recently swept through Texas, leaving Houston underwater, and Hurricane Irma is pounding Florida. Natural disasters cost billions of dollars, and in Connecticut, we routinely suffer from natural disasters such as winter storms and blizzards that disrupt power and shut down businesses. Then there are man-made disasters such as cyberattacks that can bring your business to its knees. No matter what the disaster, you want to restore normal operations as soon as possible, and that means understanding disaster recovery basics in order to develop a disaster recovery plan.

If you ask the average owner of a Connecticut small to medium-sized business (SMB) why he or she doesn’t outsource his or her IT support, he or she can cite dozens of reasons: ”It’s too expensive,” “outside IT support doesn’t understand my business,” “outside IT support can’t respond fast enough,” “I would have to cut my IT staff,” etc. The fact is, the right IT managed services provider (MSP) can save you time, money, and resources while making your IT staff more efficient. It’s all a matter of how you use your IT MSP and how well you integrate it into your team.

When most owners of Connecticut small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) look at their balance sheet and see assets and expenses, they usually put their IT managed services provider (MSP) in the “expense” column. That’s a mistake. If you look carefully at the value-added services and capabilities that your IT MSP provides, you’ll realize that your MSP actually is an invaluable asset that can add to the bottom line of your Connecticut SMB.

More employees than ever are working remotely, which is creating new challenges for Connecticut companies’ IT support teams. When users have to access business-critical data outside the office, it presents a different set of challenges to secure and manage corporate data. Every day, there are new internet and mobile technologies that are enabling new levels of remote office computing to increase productivity. However, if the IT support team can’t support and protect remote workers, your business can’t profit from the benefits of telecommuting.