With most organizations now in the fourth quarter of their fiscal year, the time has come to get serious about budget planning for 2020. As usual, the process is likely to be challenging for IT managers. Historically, most organizations set aside a percentage of revenue and expect IT to keep spending within that range. According [...]
You depend upon your computer systems to boost productivity and enhance customer service, but when they’re not working properly business grinds to a halt. Today’s end-users are fairly tech-savvy, but few have the expertise to troubleshoot complex problems. They need expert IT support to get back up and running. And when they need it, they [...]
Although the Mid-Atlantic states were largely spared from the devastating effects of Hurricane Dorian, the recent storm still serves as an important reminder of the need for effective disaster recovery and business continuity planning. In a survey conducted just months after Hurricane Florence caused billions of dollars in damages and affected roughly a quarter of [...]
Data breaches are on pace to reach an all-time this year, and the rising frequency of these incidents is driving organizations to increase spending on IT security measures. Gartner analysts predict worldwide spending on IT security will reach $124 billion this year. Network access control (NAC) technologies rank among the top spending priorities. NAC technologies [...]
Technology is woven into virtually every business process. If IT systems go down or fail to work properly, certain business functions might come to a halt. At the very least, they could be disrupted. Productivity suffers, the customer experience suffers, and sales could be lost. However, most small to midsize businesses (SMBs) don’t have the [...]
During the so-called “baby boom” between the end of World War II and the mid-1960s, nearly 80 million babies were born in the U.S. Representing close to a quarter of the nation’s entire population, boomers have had a massive economic, social and cultural impact for the better part of seven decades. However, boomers are now [...]
Personally identifiable information (PII) is the holy grail when it comes to cybercrime. Hackers know PII can be sold easily on the dark web or used to commit identity theft. Healthcare and tax-related information is particularly valuable as it enables criminals to commit fraud over a long period of time without getting caught. While more [...]
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions such as Microsoft Office 365, Salesforce, Google Suite, Dropbox and QuickBooks have made it easier for small to midsize businesses (SMBs) to adopt cloud services. In fact, Office 365 is by far the most popular cloud platform by user count, with global usage increasing from 34 percent in 2016 to 56 percent [...]
Many organizations, including small to midsize business, have branch and satellite offices spread across a wide geography. That means more and more corporate data is being created outside of company headquarters. Much of this data is mission-critical and must be backed up regularly. However, remote office/branch office (ROBO) backup is much different than data backup [...]
Launching an IT project without a well-developed project plan is like traveling to a strange city without a map — there’s a good chance you’ll get lost, wandering around aimlessly and potentially winding up in a dangerous predicament. As the old saying goes, failing to plan is planning to fail. The Project Management Institute (PMI) [...]
