Tips for Optimizing Your Home Wi-Fi
I want you to imagine for a minute you are a salesman. You are in a zoom meeting with a potential client worth millions of dollars. You worked painstakingly on your presentation, dressed in your best suit, and practiced your pitch in the mirror till you were saying it in your sleep. The time for the meeting comes and just as you are getting in your groove, your
screen freezes and you get bumped from your own meeting. This is at best embarrassing and can take you out of your groove. At worse, it can ruin your chances of making a life changing deal.
In the Covid and Post Covid era, working from home has gone from something enjoyed by a select few, to over half of the workforce. Many employers have found that their fear of a productivity dip was misguided. In fact, over 70% of employers have stated that they will continue to encourage remote working as they have seen a productivity increase, not the expected decrease. That is not to say that working from home is one giant bed of roses. It has it’s perks and it’s drawbacks just like anything else. One of the biggest factors in one’s ability to work from home is their home wi-fi network.
TEST YOUR SPEED
We live in an age of high speed internet, but what about those who live in rural areas, are working in parts of their homes far from their routers, or are otherwise having wi-fi issues? The first thing you can do to make sure that your wi-fi is giving you it’s all to check your wired connection. First bring your laptop over to your modem. From there, grab an ethernet cable and plug one end into your modem and the other into your laptop. Depending on the age of your laptop, you may have to get a converter for ethernet to HDMI. From there, run a speed test. There are many sites available via a simple Google search that can test the speed of your connection. If you have an issue, such as getting less bandwidth then you are paying for, call your Internet Service Provider to get it resolved. Why you have them on the line, check if it’s possible to upgrade to a higher bandwidth service. Usually this can be done without even having to change out your hardware!
LOCATION MATTERS
Check where you have your router in the house. Is the signal being blocked or obstructed by a cabinet it may be in or thick walls? While it may seem like an overly simplistic fix, remember that the signal needs to effortlessly pass through your space to achieve optimal wi-fi. Moving it to an unobscured section of the house could drastically change the quality of your signal. You can also try changing the channel on your router. Like the walkie talkies used by security forces, construction companies, and children around the globe, your router has multiple channels. If one has to many signals passing through it, it can slow your wi-fi signal to a crawl. Think about it like driving to work. You see that one route is full of traffic and will make you late. The alternate route however gives you a clear path to work with far less congestion. Your wi-fi signal is no different, so pick the
path of least resistance as often as you can.
UPDATE YOUR ROUTER
If these steps do not work for you, you may need a hardware update. Usually, a new modem can be obtained from your ISP for no charge, or a small increase to your monthly bill. Routers are technology just like anything else and are updated and upgraded on a consistent basis from the manufacturers. You can also pick up a wireless antenna from an electronics store which allows you to direct the signal. You can even choose between a multidirectional antenna or one that points the signal into the direction of your workstation.
BUY AN EXTENDER
While these steps may help those, who have an issue of placement of their router or their signal direction, it is not going to help those who have offices on the other side of the house. It’s also not going to work all that well if there are a lot of walls to pass through in order for the signal to reach you. In these cases, the best thing you can do is invest in
either a wi-fi extender or a wireless mesh system. These are more costly options than those listed above. However, they are powerful tools for extending the range of your signal when all else fails. A wi-fi extender does exactly what it says it does, stretches your wireless signal so it reaches the far ends of your house, no matter where your router is. It does this through acquiring you signal and rebroadcasting it. The strength of your signal in this case diminishes slightly as anything being received through the extender because you
are not receiving the original signal.
UPGRADE TO MESH
If the extender is not doing the trick, the best solution in your Wi-Fi optimization bag of tricks is something called a mesh system. The mesh system does not work in conjunction with your router like an extender does. It replaces your router. While a router signal comes from a single unit, a mesh system is made of multiple pieces, called nodes. One node plugs into
your modem, similar to how your router is set up. From there, the other nodes are placed throughout your house. They work as sort of an air traffic control system, routing the signal effortlessly throughout the house from node to node. This causes the signal to be spread out over your house, like an invisible blanket of wi-fi. This system makes a mesh your best option for those with larger floorplans or large amounts of walls to pass through.
Working from home can be daunting enough as it is. The last thing you need is to lose a deal because your connection decides to drop right when you are hitting the peak of a presentation. Utilizing these tips, you can work through your day without worry that you’re going to drop an important call or miss vital information. After all, between your kids, pets, and significant others, working from home can be daunting in and of itself. By optimizing your wi-fi, you optimize your workday, and maximize your productivity and potential.
Work From Home Security: 5 Types of Cyberattacks That Target Remote Workers and How to Defend Against Them
Remote work is a way of life for many businesses across the globe. The opportunity to see productivity and workforce satisfaction increase encouraged many employers to keep either partial or fully remote workforces. However, the drastic shift towards remote work left many companies with IT infrastructures that weren’t built to handle work from home security and business data privacy. According to the FBI, cybercrimes have increased by 300 percent since the beginning of the pandemic! This article will explore the most common cybercrimes businesses encounter due to remote workforces and how to properly implement data security protocols to ward of cyberattacks.
#1 Social Engineering:
A study by the Ponemon Institute concluded that cybersecurity prevention measures can save businesses up to $1.4 million per attack! But what exactly is social engineering and how does it affect your remote workforce?
Social engineering is tricky because it can be performed both in person and via digital strategies. This form of cyberthreat is the extraction of critical information or breach of security through psychological manipulation. This threat could appear as harmless as a conversation at a coffee shop or a hacker posing as a potential client.
The Defense:
Just like a conversation with an employee can compromise your data security, it can also protect it. By hosting workforce training, you can reduce the likelihood of human error and help your employees spot warning signs of potential social engineering attempts. As an extra layer of protection, you should also establish the use of a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to act as a gateway extending your private network across a public one. This keeps malicious activity that could threaten private information security isolated at the source.
#2 Cloud-Based Vulnerabilities:
In Q2 2020 alone, McAfee reported seeing a steep 7.5 million external attacks on cloud accounts, a growth of over 250 percent from 2019. These attacks especially targeted cloud servers that weren’t password protected. While motivations once the cloud security was breached vary between ransomware, brute-force entry, DDoS attacks and more, the results are all ones to avoid! With businesses utilizing cloud-based systems more with remote workforces, this is an area of work from home security that oftentimes needs attention.
The Defense:
As the vulnerability above illustrated, simply adding a unique, random character password that changes regularly can be enough to halt many attacks on data security. Finding cloud-based systems that provide extra layers of data security can also protect your data privacy. An additional measure you can take with remote employees is requesting cloud collaboration tools only be accessed on secure, company-based devices and that all files are securely stored in the cloud system. You should also work with an IT expert to ensure regular updates are being maintained on all software and technology, as unpatched technology leaves a door open for hackers to enter otherwise secure systems. By taking these steps, your cloud system’s security will be far more reliable.
#3 Ransomware and Malware:
For 2021, Cybersecurity Ventures predicts that businesses will be attacked with ransomware every 11 seconds. Even worse, a study by the Ponemon Institute calculated out that the average cost for a business to clean up the aftermath of a cybersecurity breach to be approximate $690,000 per small business, and over $1 million for middle-market companies! With your private information security and ROI on the line, it’s critical to bolster work from home security to prevent these costly attacks to your profit, brand reputation and data privacy.
The Defense:
There are a few strategies you can implement in unison to provide your business with 360-degree protection from ransomware and malware threats. The first strategy is the provision of company-owned devices rather than allowing employees to use personal devices. This allows you to control the security measures in place and monitor access points from potential hackers. Another strategy is the use of Data Loss Prevention (DLP) plans. When an IT expert is consulted, a DLP is a robust defensive plan that can tighten preventative security measures, backup valuable data, isolate potential attacks from the main network and react swiftly to active threats and data breaches. These plans should be disseminated to all employees so that everyone is on the same page regarding appropriate digital behavior, potential risks and how to react if they see something suspicious occurs or arises.
#4 Password Attacks:
This is a simple vulnerability that many businesses can potentially overlook. If you reflect on your own password usage, odds are you use a specific set of passwords that you’ll remember across many of your digital accounts. This could be your social media passwords, subscriptions, billing accounts and workplace device passwords. However, this is a worst-case scenario for businesses if an employee’s personal account information becomes compromised. This can create an entryway into your business’s secure network, servers and data that can wreak havoc before anyone realizes it’s happening.
The Defense:
Luckily, as easy as it is to overlook, it’s a quick fix. Establish security protocols surrounding passwords, like random character strings, the use of varied symbols, letters and numbers, a set timeframe that all passwords are required to be updated and the prevention of using old passwords for account access. If you want to take your security to the next level, you can also require things like multi-factor authentication and session locking mechanisms. These will aid in detecting suspicious traffic and activity within your network and deter hackers from infiltrating your system.Coupled with a vigilant team, data loss prevention (DLP) strategies are measures that can be set in place to preserve your data in the event of a natural or manmade disaster striking. These plans work to prioritize data, learn risks, closely monitor data movement and ensure that backups are regularly implemented to swiftly restore order back to your business.
#5 Business Email Compromise:
Business Email Compromise (BEC) comes cloaked in various forms. BEC could be executed through phishing attempts, spoof domains, malware or many other hacker strategies, all with the intent to obtain entry into secure networks, money or private data. And with remote employees, they can be targeted in calculated ways that many aren’t expecting. In fact, IBM noted across their studies that human error is the leading cause of 95 percent of cybersecurity breaches and the average time businesses took to identify data breaches was 207 days! Once the hacker enters a secure network, they can do anything from establishing wire fraud, SQL injection, DDoS attacks, session hijacking and more! This information should be startling, considering Cisco predicts that DDoS attacks alone are estimated to reach 15.4 million by 2023!
The Defense:
External network security with remote access to secure, cloud-based tools and VPNs should be staples in a business’s work from home security strategy. Also, employees should be instructed on vigilance and precautionary measures when using public networks, such as coffee shops or co-workspaces. The ability to isolate a hacker’s breach to a single device allows your business to respond quicker to the threat! Another action step you can take to improve data security, especially if your employees are required to travel, is mobile device protection. This, again, can be done either by the provision of the device or by crafting a mobile device management solution that can take control of any lost or stolen devices.
Preventative Measure for Work From Home Security Success
While this information seems straightforward, it can be challenging to implement and maintain for businesses. Bringing on a team of technology experts whose sole focus is to provide exceptional managed IT services, 24/7/365 support and innovative thought leadership can remove the stress and worry from your digital security implementation. Many of our clients enjoy the luxury of being able to focus on the success and growth of their businesses, knowing that we are standing behind them as their partner against cyberthreats. If you’re interested in learning how your current cybersecurity measures stack up, potential vulnerabilities and ways you can effectively implement advanced technology solutions that won’t break your budget, give us a call or contact us for a free assessment today!
Best Practices for Working with a Managed Services Provider (MSP)
How The Microsoft Exchange Hack Can Effect Your Business
This past year we have heard a lot about ransomware, phishing attacks and other exploits by those in the hacker community. Solarwinds, Office 365 local governments and huge corporations such as Marriot being hit with ransomware, it has been a great year for cybercriminals but not so much for those who got attacked. Now you may be reading this and saying “Well, those all hit government agencies and giant corporations.”, and you would be right. However that doesn’t mean that your firm or business is immune. In the case of the
latest hack, the Chinese attack on Microsoft exchange, these hackers switched their targets, among them are law firms, banks, medical and bio-tech firms and non-profits.
In early March, it was revealed that Microsoft Exchange servers were hit by not one, but four Zero Day exploits by Chinese hacker group Hacnium. Zero Day refers to the amount of time between the exploit being discovered to the exploit being hacked. After Microsoft announced they would be patching the exploit, no less than 5 more hacker groups from around the world began to use these exploits to go into various organizations Exchange servers and create fake logins under radar to gain access. Once they are in they leave a webshell, a password protected hacking tool which basically allow for a malicious user to login to the network undetected remotely from anywhere. To date, 30,000
organizations, mostly in the United States, have been breached through this exploit, nearly double the amount of the SolarWinds breach. On top of that, it is estimated that the actual total including those networks that haven’t been identified is in the hundreds of thousands.
The first issue we come across is that these exploits aren’t new. What we know, is that it was recognized and officially reported to Microsoft and became known in January of 2021, two months before a patch was created. What we don’t know is when the first breaches actually occurred. These exploits are seen in Exchange 2013-2019. Potentially, one could have made themselves an admin and created an entire group of users that shouldn’t have had access to an organizations system undetected for years before the problem was identified. This can fly under radar for months if not years as most companies don’t look at their directory’s and what functions they are utilizing with a fine tooth comb. Which brings us to the second issue.
In early March, Microsoft issued a statement that they were working on a patch. This caused a flood of new attackers to hit basically any exploit they can find indiscriminately.
According to Ben Read of Mandiant the hack hit "tens of thousands of targets, most of which really don't have any intelligence value… they're just sort of small towns and local businesses”. What started as looking for certain types of data became basically a free for all. A patch for these exploits was issued, which can keep future attackers out. However, and this is a big issue, a patch doesn’t expel the unauthorized users, meaning that anyone who was already in, is in. In fact, the Canadian government just issued a warning about a piece of
ransomware similar to the WannaCry software that plagued Europe last year.
According to Steven Adair, the president of security firm Veloxity, who discovered these breaches “Even if you patched the same day Microsoft published its patches, there’s still a high chance there is a web shell on your server. The truth is, if you’re running Exchange and you haven’t patched this yet, there’s a very high chance that your organization is already compromised.”
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
If this is your first time hearing about this hack and this patch, you aren’t alone. According to Katie Niccols of security firm Red Canary, “"The most concerning victims by far are small- and medium-sized businesses who don't follow security news everyday, who may not be aware that there is this massive patch." We here at Delval Technology Solutions suggest you start there. Download all available patches from Microsoft, and make sure you stay up to date.
PASSWORDS
Changing passwords regularly is always recommended security protocol, but if you are running an on site Exchange server, the best course of action is to reset all passwords in the directory. From there, reassign all authorized personnel new passwords. Using randomly generated passwords and using multifactor authentication will help you ensure that the person you want to have access is actually the person who has the access to your network.
TRAINING
You aren’t the only person looking at your network. Having a staff that is properly trained to spot red flags is imperative to operating a secure system. MSP’s such as Delval Technology Solutions, usually offer security training for your entire enterprise. This helps you ensure that your team is on guard and ready to report any indiscretion that they come across.
A PROPER PARTNER
Here is where an MSP such as Delval Technology Solutions can help. Partnering with a strong MSP gives you a team of experts who know what to look for. They can run a full diagnostic on your system to assess any vulnerabilities and can scan your directories for unauthorized users. From there, they can unleash software that can track and disable these webshells and find other unpatched holes in your system. A proper MSP partner will stay on top of both the goings in in the cyber security world to make sure you are up to date and continuously monitor your system to make sure your business and your data is protected.
Unfortunately, attacks such as these are becoming more and more prevalent. However, it doesn’t mean that your company needs to be at risk. The most important thing you can do is to have a plan that addresses the three universal security elements: awareness training for end users, responsible systems management, and detection of system failures and incidents. Start by asking your IT service provider for a risk assessment and an internal vulnerability scan.
What is A VCIO and What Can It Do For You?
Valerie had a problem. She runs an accounting firm, but they still do many things the old fashioned way. She knows she needs to update her hardware and software to stay compliant and ahead of the curve for her business and her customers. After all, her competitors are. Valerie isn’t a “techie” as she calls them, and she also can’t afford to hire a full time CIO to keep her informed and keep her company up to date. A friend of hers told her to look into a VCIO, or Virtual Chief Information Officer. That way she had access to
an expert for a fraction of a cost. Is a VCIO right for Valerie, is a VCIO right for you?
WHAT IS A CIO
CIO stands for Chief Information Officer. This executive is responsible for managing, implementing and executing decisions related to IT and computers for the company. Technology is everchanging, with new updates and products hitting the market seemingly daily. It is the job of the CIO to stay up to date on both emerging technology as well as how the technology that is currently being used by the company is functioning, both strategically and practically. However, having a full time CIO is a costly endeavor. The average CIO salary
currently stands at $129,000 annually. For companies that are in the tech field, having a full time CIO is a necessity. For other enterprises, such as Valerie’s, the need for tech
expertise on an as needed basis is there, but having a full time CIO on staff is simply unfeasible. They will not be utilized on a full time basis after all, but will have to be paid on one. This is where the VCIO comes in.
WHAT IS A VCIO
A VCIO is a virtual CIO. It gives companies access to expert advice and opinion on an on-call basis. It is usually a service offered by an MSP such as Delval Technology Solutions. Having a VCIO is a great way to fill in the gaps in expertise of both yourself and your staff. It’s also a fantastic way to grow your business while saving money. What can a VCIO provide your business?
EXPERTISE
If you are like Valerie, your business is your expertise. Many business owners have specific ways of doing things, however some of these methods may be outdated and while providing personal comfort can leave a company falling behind. We exist in an era of ever changing and ever updating technology. If one were to try to keep track of everything new on the market, it would eat into those valuable hours spent servicing customers and building your business. Having a VCIO in your proverbial back pocket allows you to have
an expert to call on to answer questions, help you strategize, and aid in implementation of your hardware and software upgrades. It is key to remember that since this person does not hold an executive position within your organization, they are providing suggestions and insight, which is up to you and your team to implement.
INCREASED SECURITY
Cyber-security is becoming an increasingly hot button issue. Hackers and other cyber-criminals are working full time to breach businesses and steal data. They are crashing servers with DDOS attacks, installing various forms of spyware to pick up vital information, and even installing ransomware, locking up sensitive files until a ransom is paid. Once these breaches occur, your data can hit the dark web where it is for sale to anyone with access. These attacks and breaches can ruin an enterprise. Having a VCIO gives you
access to someone who can help you build not only a nearly impenetrable network, but also aid in both monitoring of your network and help your business bounce back in case a breach does occur. A VCIO stays up to date on all the newest threats and the newest ways to combat them, helping you keep your business and your customers safe from the dangers of cyberspace.
STRATEGY/OPTIMIZATION
Choosing your technological plan for your business isn’t something to do with haste. It takes proper insight and foresight, so your choices work for your business, not hinder your company. Having a VCIO on your team gives you access to someone who can think five steps ahead. They know what you don’t know to look for, the hurdles and headaches you may encounter, and how to navigate through these issues to ensure that your plan is properly executed from the start. Not only that, but they will also evaluate your existing systems so that you can use what is already in house to the best of your and your technologies abilities.
CONTROL
At times, adding an executive to your team can bring with it some headaches. While you may control the budget, you do not however, control the decision. A VCIO puts you in the driver seat with an expert co-pilot. Your budget is under your control, from start to finish. You know what your expense for the VCIO each month will be, without having to worry about paying out bonuses (unless of course you want to), hiring more employees for your team to aid you CIO, paying benefits, and other costs incurred from hiring new employees.
When it comes time to make the final decision, they will guide you, but at the end of the day, you are in control of the situation. To top it all off, most companies such as Delval Technology Solutions have multiple VCIO’s, so if you don’t feel your particular VCIO is right for your business, you can easily change who you are working with seamlessly.
Valerie called her MSP and signed up for their VCIO program. She was comfortable knowing that she now had access to an expert who could help. They made a strategic plan, working with her to upgrade her technology to fit the growing needs of her business. They showed her how to utilize her existing systems more effectively and she was able to eliminate hardware and software that was now obsolete. Valerie felt relieved knowing that she had someone watching her back on the security end to keep her system protected and have a plan in case the worst did occur. Her staff now had access to better technology and had someone to call on if they had questions, and productivity soared. When it came time for Valerie to choose what to add to her business, she did so with confidence as her VCIO had set her up for success. She had all that, without having to break the bank on a new executive. Valerie didn’t just gain a VCIO, she gained peace of mind.
Compliance and You
Compliance and You
As a business owner, you have to look at the cost of every decision you make. Cutting corners may save a few dollars up front, but in the long run can have disastrous consequences. If you have an office space or warehouse, you need to get proper permits, do proper maintenance and be compliant to local laws or face steep fines. When hiring and dealing with employees, you have to follow rules, guidelines and laws set out or face fines and lawsuits. It is no different when dealing with the digital realm of your business. Lapsed security, improper record keeping, and inconsistent reporting can lead more than loss of revenue, it can lead to heavy fines and perhaps even criminal prosecution.
For companies such as financial services, banking, or medical companies, the data you are entrusted with is of utmost importance. Your customers give you access to their most vital information to utilize your services, and trust that it will remain safe, and if a breach does occur, they will be notified as quickly as possible. Breaches happen, how they are dealt
with can make the difference between understanding customers and heavy fines.
Equifax is one of the largest credit reporting agencies in the country, making their network ripe with information that could have dangerous consequences in the wrong hands. In 2017, they were breached, with over 150 million customer accounts being compromised. That wasn’t even the worst of their troubles. It was revealed that they were non-compliant in two areas. They knew about a vulnerability within their system and didn’t act on it, and also failed to alert their customers in a timely matter. The consequences? In 2019, they settled with the Federal Trade Commision to the tune of 700 million dollars.
Retail companies deal with hundreds to thousands of transactions a day. Part of their unspoken agreement with customers is that their credit card and personal data are secure. In the case of Home Depot, a breach cost them more than unhappy customers. In 2014, hackers used stolen credentials to get into Home Depot’s network. From there they stole over 50 million credit card numbers and email addresses. Due to their lack of compliance when dealing with their network and the breach, Home Depot was ordered to pay over 200 million dollars in restitutions and fines to it’s affected customers and financial institutions.
These are just a few examples of companies that have been hit with massive regulatory fines and fee’s for not maintaining proper security measures, not alerting customers in time, and other corner cutting measures. Most of these fines are levied by record, meaning the more records get breached, the more you pay. In fact, in the medical industry, the average cost per record is $439, meaning that even for smaller firms, the cost could be in the hundreds of thousands.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMPLIENCE
Now I’m sure in reading this and seeing these numbers, you understand the importance of compliance to your network, your business and your customers. However, identifying the areas that you need to maintain compliance in are not as easy to figure out.
HIPAA
For those of you in the Health and Human Services industry, you are familiar with this one. HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accessibility Act, and was established in 1996 as a way to protect consumers as the health care industry entered the digital age. With this was also the implementation of the HITECH or Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act. Agencies are constantly auditing providers and there are mandatory minimum fines for those who fail to secure
data that could cripple your business. Not only is keeping up on your systems, security, and procedures the right thing to do for your business and customers,
it’s also the way to ensure you are on the right side of the law when it’s time for your audit.
PCI
Does your business handle credit cards? If so, you need to stay PCI compliant if you want to continue doing business with the major credit card providers and avoid fines. PCI fines are leveled monthly until your business is up to code and range form $5,000 to $100,000 dollars per month! PCI has twelve requirements that are separated into 6 groups. These groups are simply worded to avoid confusion as to what you need to do to maintain PCI compliance. They are:
1. Build and Maintain a Secure Network
2. Protect Cardholder Data
3. Maintain a Vulnerability Management Program
4. Implement Strong Access Control Measures
5. Regularly Monitor and Test Networks
6. Maintain an Information Security Policy
SOX
When it comes to your accounting and finances, SOX compliance is key to keeping out of the crosshairs of regulatory agencies. SOX refers to the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002, and was created to ensure that consumers were protected from improper reporting of financials and other accounting fraud. Much of SOX is about protection of digital data. As more companies move to the cloud, SOX compliance is increasingly more of a prevalent issue. Another facet of SOX is ensuring companies maintain financial transparency with the
public, ensure investors and customers are not mislead by hidden accounts and other shady accounting practices. This is not an area you want to be found non-compliant in, as not only could the fines be in the millions, but there is the potential to be incarcerated for being non-compliant.
HOW PARTNERING WITH AN MSP CAN HELP
Compliance and the laws surrounding it can be very tricky things. Just like tax codes and laws, these are living, everchanging codes that you do not want to be on the wrong side of. Having to personally stay on top of these codes and protocols can take time, cost money, and if you aren’t a tech expert, have a steep learning curve. This is where a strong partnership with a managed service provider, such as Delval Technology Solutions comes in. An MSP gives you an expert to aid you in approaching your compliance needs before they become compliance problems. They will train your staff, monitor your network and practices, and preform audits on your system similar to those done by the auditing agencies. They stay up to date and in the know on any changes to these laws and can implement necessary changes to your network to keep you up to date and compliant. An MSP can track tickets to keep a record of issues within the system to patch any needed holes and keep your data safe and your business up to date.
Remember, compliance requires diligence, oversight, and proper organization. While it may seem daunting, by keeping your network compliant and up to date, you can save yourself and your customers headache and heartache. Find a great partner like Delval Technology Solutions and make your network work for you, not against you, and never have to worry that your data is exposed.
Is An MSP Right For Me? What to Look For In Choosing an MSP
Before we get into everything else, let me take a second to introduce you to Luis. Luis is the managing partner at a successful law firm. He spent decades studying and practicing law. He has assembled a team that is a force to be reckoned with in and out of the courtroom. He spends his days working with his clients, reviewing case law, and building the best arguments he can, all while managing his team. In short, when it comes to law, Luis is an expert. However, things aren’t like they were when Luis began practicing law
decades ago. Gone are the days of giant filing cabinets and one or two computers. Now all of his important documents are in cyberspace, and his team all uses computers for everything. Luis knows he needs to always have his network in tip-top condition, but he isn’t a computer expert, he’s a legal expert. His partner told him about outsourcing with an MSP, but what does Luis need in an MSP?
An MSP or managed service provider is at it’s best, a company that partners with you to manage all of your network needs. The cost of an MSP is usually far less than it would cost to hire a full time IT department. An MSP also gives you access to cutting edge technology at a fraction of a cost, as well as experts on hand when you need them. However, not
knowing what to look for in an MSP can cost you in the long run. What should you look for when partnering with an MSP?
CUSTOMER RETENTION/SATISFACTION
When it comes to choosing the right MSP for your business, looking at their other customers is key. Some offer case studies, which you can read to see if the problems the MSP has solved for others is relevant to your business. Read testimonials and reviews. See if they are from other business owners in your sector. Remember, not every MSP specializes in your field, so you want to choose a partner that is right for your business. Like any other services, MSP’s are not immune to turnover. What is their customer retention rate? On
average amongst managed service providers, the retention rate is about 81%. Some go lower, others such as Delval Technology Solutions which boasts a 98% customer retention rate, go much higher.
RESPONSE TIME
When your network goes down or you run into other tech issues, an expedient response could be the difference between a minor inconvenience and a catastrophe. A delayed response to an inquiry or a problem can cause downtime that costs you money and productivity. It can also give enough of a gap to allow a small problem to snowball into a major one. Luis and business owners like him and yourself need a partner that treats you like their only customer when you have an issue. Many MSP’s offer a dedicated help desk
that your employees can send any issue they have be it a lag, a forgotten password, or a system outage to and get a real time response. You want to find out if your MSP offers onsite technicians and where they are located. This is why working with a local outfit, such as Delval Technology Solutions, can be beneficial to your enterprise. A local MSP will have local technicians, meaning they can get out to you when you need them to, not hours or days later.
GROWTH POTENTIAL
Scalability is a word that suggests rapid growth for your business. For someone like Luis, it’s being able to add junior partners, assistants and paralegals without sacrificing network quality or using more resources than needed. For your business it could mean the need for more licenses for new hires, more bandwidth, faster connections, and better software
and the ability to house more users. A proper MSP like Delval Technology Solutions backs you as you grow by providing you the tools needed for seamless scalability.
SECURITY
When choosing an MSP you want to partner with a company that is as dedicated to your security as they are theirs. Every week, the newswire is filled with cases of malware, spyware, hacking, and breaches. These are problems that require expertise to solve and a focused proactive approach to avoid. As we said before, like Luis that most likely isn’t your area of expertise. An expert partner can assess and monitor your system, properly train your staff, prepare your protocols and compliance, and help you turn your
network into a nearly impenetrable fortress.
That’s only part of the security equation. Just as the relationship you have with your clients is built on trust, so should be the relationship between your company and your MSP. After all, all of your company and customer data, your financials, and proprietary information are on your network, which you have entrusted them to run. Fact of the matter is that hacking attacks on MSP’s have increased since the beginning of 2020. Making sure you have an MSP, such as Delval Technology Solutions, that is diligent about their security is paramount to your security. They should have multifactor authentication in place on their network, should monitor their own systems, run tests for their vulnerabilities, and constantly update their own security, just as they do for you.
SAVINGS
Employing a fully staffed IT department is a costly endeavor. In fact, the average IT Manager alone will run you around $125,000 annually to keep them in house. Having a full staff that includes auditors, technicians, and a helpdesk can run you upwards of a quarter of a million dollars a year. With a proper MSP like Delval Technology Solutions, at your disposal gives you all of the perks of having an in house staff at a fraction of the cost. A great MSP is like having a team of experts, auditors, technicians and specialists at your side, without having to break the bank on personnel.
Luis looked hard for the best MSP he could find. When he found them, his network of headaches became a network that made headway. He didn’t have to worry about downtime, breaches, and other issues like he did in the past. He was able to focus on his expertise, his business and his clients,and so will you.