According to a survey of 1,500 SMB IT leaders by BetterCloud in the spring of 2015 …
49% of SMBs expect to run 100% of their IT in the cloud by 2020.
Are you moving to the cloud? Is your roadmap in line with your business goals? Contact us for a no-obligation Cloud Advisor session.
Hurricane Matthew as of 2pm on Oct 4th
As of this blog post, Hurricane Matthew is churning through the western Caribbean with a projected path eerily similar to Superstorm Sandy in 2012. In its wake, Sandy left a path of destruction up the East Coast and deep into New England with many families and businesses still in the process of rebuilding. Small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) up and down the eastern seacoast were crippled by flooding, loss of infrastructure, and extended Internet and power outages; many were unable to recover.
Have you ensured that your information services and data will survive the next storm? Do you know how quickly your business can recover if (more like when) the next storm hits?
Path of Hurricane Sandy in 2012
These questions feel more pressing as our next potential big storm churns towards Florida.
Your “Better” strategy is Recovery. In addition to backups, ensure you have the ability to recovery quickly to new systems or to a temporary data center. When your Return to Operations (RTO) time lets you continue running your business without significant impact to you or your customers, your recovery plan is sound.
Your “Best” strategy is Resilience. Your business is resilient when you can continue running your business with minimal disruption and with little or no inconvenience to your customers, regardless of the weather outside. By placing key applications and services in the cloud, your business can continue to run whether or not your office is open. With Internet access and a browser, your team can connect and work. And while you still may have some aspects of your IT running on premise, a solid cloud strategy keeps critical systems available and operating.
For most SMBs, you should consider having the following services hosted or in the cloud. Depending on your applications and needs, you can use Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions or host your applications on cloud/hosted servers with virtual/remote desktops.
Creating a Resilient business requires strategic thinking, advanced planning, and solid execution. This is especially true when you have integrated applications and systems that you cannot change in isolation. At a high level, the roadmap is:
While you may not have time to make your business Resilient before Hurricane Matthew works its way up the coast, you have options to improve your backups and your ability to recover that can be implemented within hours rather than days and weeks. Think about the value of keeping your business running and ensuring its survival. Act now.
Contact us immediately if you want assistance with your backup, recovery, or resiliency services.
In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, small businesses face numerous challenges when it comes to managing user access to various applications and systems. A single sign on for small business is unlike the traditional methods of authentication, such as separate usernames and passwords for each platform, can be cumbersome, time-consuming, and prone to security risks. That’s where Single Sign-On (SSO) solutions for small businesses comes in.
Single Sign-On is a powerful authentication solution that enables small businesses to simplify and centralize user access across multiple applications, platforms, and services. With SSO, employees and stakeholders can log in once using a single set of credentials and gain seamless access to all authorized resources.
This technology not only enhances convenience and productivity but also strengthens security measures by reducing the risks associated with weak passwords, password reuse, and unauthorized access. By implementing SSO, small businesses can effectively mitigate the complexities of managing multiple logins and bolster their overall operational efficiency.
As you move your small or midsize enterprise into the cloud, you will face new challenges around identity management. Historically, identity management was an operational issue that managed user logins to desktops and local area networks. As you move to the cloud, the network is no longer local. Your network includes the suite of applications and services run and hosted by others. Identity management is now a security issue that should control access to your cloud applications, data, and services as well as your computers and mobile devices.
Even with the proliferation of usernames and passwords, most small businesses are not investing in Single Sign On (SSO). With many applications using federated or 0Auth login services from platforms like Google Apps or Office 365, SMBs expect users to adapt and manage their identities. The result is a mix of usernames, passwords, and connections without a clear system of record and no centralized management. And while Single Sign On can help eliminate this mess, most SMBs struggle to justify the value. In addition, single sign on solutions for small businesses lack the ability to manage access to devices, WiFi services, and other resources.
With SSO in place, you still need to manage and maintain a directory service. Directory services, such as Microsoft’s Active Directory and the many LDAP solutions are, in theory, capable of managing more than on-premise systems. Actually integrating directory services, however, is complex, costly, and requires regular maintenance.
Directory-as-a-Service® (DaaS) is a modern identity platform that centrally manages user connections to this new world of cloud and SaaS-based infrastructure.
Compared to a single sign on for small businesses, it acts as a virtual directory, enabling businesses to securely manage user accounts, permissions, and policies across diverse applications, systems, and even remote environments.
Identity Management, on the other hand, refers to the processes, technologies, and policies that govern the lifecycle of user identities within an organization. It encompasses activities such as user provisioning, authentication, access control, and user lifecycle management. By implementing Identity Management practices and leveraging DaaS, businesses can streamline user administration, improve security, and enhance operational efficiency.
Features of a cloud-based directory service include:
In short, Directory-as-a-Service covers what contemporary organizations need in a modern identity management platform.
Learn more about Directory-as-a-Service and JumpCloud (our preferred DaaS solution), or contact us for a free, no obligation Cloud Advisor Session.
Just because you can see it and touch it, does not mean it is safe and secure. With the number of successful ransomware attacks up more than 400% in the past year, it is increasingly clear that on-premise systems are not inherently more secure than they would be in the cloud. Many companies are hacked and remain unaware for weeks or months, as the use by cyber criminals of advanced persistent threats continues to rise.
Microsoft Office is secured with technologies and resources beyond the reach of nearly every small and mid-market business.
Large enterprises know that security is a full-time job, requiring a team of expensive experts and advanced technologies. And while large enterprise can afford to make this investment, most small and mid-size businesses do not have the resources to prevent, detect, and mitigate security issues.
Moving to Office 365, you enter an environment designed for security, backed by a team of security experts, industry leaders in regulatory compliance, and the latest security technologies and methods. Office 365 complies with the latest rules and regulations, including but not limited to:
And, with this security, you get a 99.9% uptime guarantee.
Thinking of going cloud — or expanding your cloud use — and remain concerned about security and data privacy, give us a chance to assess your needs and map out a solution.
This is the third of a multi-part series designed to help companies better asses the opportunity and value of cloud-based solutions. Contact Us for more information or a free Cloud Advisor session.
