MSPNetworks Blog

A lot has been made about 5G and the way that it is going to significantly alter what is possible, without much mention about the other technology that will fuel this complete digital transformation. We thought that we would talk a little bit about smart technology, how your business can use it to your advantage, and what this technology needs to do to be ready for the world to come. 

What Technologies Are We Talking About?

There are literally millions of different technologies that claim to be “smart”, but the smart technologies that can help the small business be more efficient and build revenue aren’t usually the things that you would go out and buy from the shelves of a big box store. Like any other technology, getting the most out of it requires a strategic approach. Some of the key smart technologies that are being used to improve efficiency, boost the speed of business, and control costs include:

• Artificial Intelligence - AI is having a profound impact on the way that technologically-savvy businesses operate. There are many applications AI is used for, but many small businesses have incorporated it into their supply chain and support strategies.
• Internet of Things - IoT devices have been around for a while now and as wireless capabilities continue to improve, you will see more small businesses looking to smart IoT devices like RFID chips to improve inventory control and make supply chains more efficient.
• Big Data - Larger enterprises are already using big data initiatives and other data technologies to get insights into their business. Smaller companies are just now scratching the surface of what is possible in this arena.
• Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality - AR and VR applications are just now being developed targeting costly employee training as well as for use in the retail industry to provide online shoppers a more interactive experience. 

How Your Business Can Use These Technologies

These four smart technologies are being implemented in all types of businesses. For the small business, who is often forced to do more with less, these technologies can initiate automated strategies that can give a business the flexibility to use their capital to build revenue streams and not use it to pay for people to do jobs that don’t really bring in any revenue. Businesses that choose to implement smart technologies will likely see visible changes almost immediately. 

The Future of Smart Technology

Interestingly enough, the future of smart technologies don’t just come in the form of wholesale IT changes. Many of these technologies will be integrated into solutions that small businesses already utilize, making them more apt to help businesses cut costs and manage their business much more effectively. 

These technologies (and others) will present a massive opportunity for businesses going forward, as the more streamlined a business can be, the more productive it can be with fewer operational investments needed to create the same amount of revenue. That’s good news for any business, especially the small business that has to cut corners to compete with the larger organizations that function in their market. 

Smart technology is the future of business, and getting on board now, before the monumental shift in wireless technology takes hold, is a really good idea. If you would like to learn more about how smart technology can help you run your business more efficiently, give the IT professionals at MSPNetworks a call at (516) 403-9001 today.

Businesses use technology to varying degrees, but even small businesses have a lot of technology that must be tracked on a daily basis. With so many devices floating around the office, how are you making sure that you know who has which device, when it was issued, and how it’s being used? We suppose the question is not “how” you are keeping track of it all, but “if.” For this task, we recommend implementing an inventory tracking system for your business’ technological assets.

Do I Really Need One?

In short, yes, and for a number of reasons. Even small businesses have a ton of technology that is constantly being assigned, reassigned, and taken out of the office. Take, for example, the average employee. They might have a work desktop that stays at the office, a company-issued laptop for working remotely, and maybe even a company-issued smartphone to stay in touch while out and about. It makes sense to track who is in possession of which device from both a logistics and security perspective.

That said, your tracking system will be made up of two different components: the tracking method itself and the records you keep. You could, of course, keep a paper leger of technology, complete with manual sign-in and sign-out, but this system is just begging to be replaced by technology. Paper records are much less secure and prone to user error, so we encourage you to use one of the following methods for tracking your business tech.

Tracking (Barcodes, RFID)

There are two ways that your business can track inventory coming into or out of your organization. The first is through the use of a barcode scanner system. In this case, you assign each piece of technology, be it a laptop or smartphone, a barcode. When the device is assigned to someone, you simply scan the barcode. This records in the system that the device is “checked out,” so to speak, along with all other necessary details (which we will get to in a moment).

The other notable method of tracking your technology is to use what’s called Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. The difference between the two is that unlike barcodes, which are just pieces of paper with a pattern printed on them, RFID uses microchips attached to the device. There are two types of RFID technology that can be used: passive and active. In an active system, the microchip is tagged when the device moves through a reader (kind of like a scanner in the aforementioned system). In a passive system, the microchip is tagged when it enters or leaves a specific radius.

Electronic Record Keeping

Whichever method you decide to go with, it should be hooked up to automatically populate information into an electronic record keeping system. As for what information should be included in said system, you will want to know who is taking the device, what the device is, what the device will be used for, contact information for the employee taking the device, and any other information that you might find pertinent. Essentially, what you should be aiming for is enough information to be able to track down the employee should you need to retrieve any assigned devices.

Need Help Getting Started?

As you might have guessed, this kind of tracking system can be used for much more than just technology. MSPNetworks can help your business get set up with an inventory tracking system that will help you reduce waste, increase your bottom line, and improve redundancy. 

When we work with a business, we track every device we implement or touch. That way, we can track the overall history of support over the lifespan of the device. We’re big on documenting and linking all of our documentation to the device and user, because it helps us streamline and provide the best support possible.

To learn more, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.

Data privacy is a bit of a hot topic in today’s business environment, especially with high-profile hacks and ransomware attacks emerging and putting organizations at risk. In particular, the emerging concept of “privacy engineering” has a lot of businesses thinking about how they can secure their organization and future-proof their data privacy infrastructures.

Let’s discuss what privacy engineering is, as well as what some big names in the industry have to say about the future of data privacy.

What is Privacy Engineering?

The International Association for Privacy Professionals, or IAPP, defines privacy engineering as “the technical side of the privacy profession,” which can mean any number of things. For some, it is making sure that the processes involved in product design take privacy into consideration. For others, it might mean the technical knowledge required to implement privacy into the products. At the end of the day, it seems there is a general consensus that privacy engineering is the consideration of privacy, from a user’s standpoint, throughout the production process, from conception to deployment.

This is notable for a couple of reasons. Systems and products that take privacy into consideration at every stage of development will be much more consumer-friendly. Users can be more confident that their privacy has been considered through each stage of the process, making them much more likely to buy into the product. When products have this kind of reputation, it would be no surprise to see profits increase.

This sets off a chain reaction for businesses that create these products, increasing their bottom line. When businesses achieve this level of success, the value of the company increases, leading to more investors and the production of similar goods or services. Furthermore, since privacy and security is such an important part of modern computing, these types of investments are relatively safe from a shareholder’s point of view, as organizations that invest in products that meet specific regulations and set these high standards are more likely to persist into the future.

You can see how this all shakes out; in the end, the concept of privacy engineering is beneficial to both the consumer and producer. Therefore, placing your bets on technology that facilitates this is a great way to invest in your own company’s future.

What Does the Future Hold?

Back in 2020, Gartner made some predictions for where the data privacy industry was heading in the years to come. Here are some insights from their report:

• Proactive security and privacy is better: When you take measures to build security and privacy into operations, you are more likely to build trust and adhere to regulations. We preach this all the time; it is easier to prevent issues from emerging than reacting to those that are already here.
• Increased reach of security regulations: According to Gartner, 65% of the world’s population will have their privacy governed by some sort of data privacy legislation or regulations by the year 2023. This is notable, especially with the rise of regulations like GDPR.
• The rise of a privacy officer: By the end of 2022, 1 million organizations will have appointed a data privacy officer. Having someone within your organization whose sole responsibility is to keep you compliant means that you can rest easy knowing that you are doing all you can to make sure it stays that way.

Don’t Wait to Get Started

MSPNetworks can help your business ensure it is implementing adequate data privacy and security standards all across your infrastructure. To get started, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.

Businesses use cloud resources all the time; and, they use them for many different reasons. Some use them because they have to support a remote workforce, some use them so they don’t have to come up with large swaths of capital or don’t want to pay interest rates for financing their central hardware. Some only use them sparingly to fill in the gaps created by product and service demand.

Whatever your business uses the cloud for, there are some major problems that can arise if you don’t actively manage your cloud accounts. Let’s take a look at three major issues small businesses can run into when over-relying on cloud services:

Cost Management

Consider that an individual can forget that they have signed up for a streaming service or another Internet-based service. This is exactly the problem with cloud services for business. Workers or departments can sign up for services through the business, and then never use those services again, but since most cloud services auto-renew every month “for convenience”, companies can be paying substantial money for services they don’t even use.

Beyond that, most cloud service providers market their services to small business owners and decision makers as being cost effective, but the more that a business depends on cloud services, the more they will pay for those services. Sure, they have the flexibility to scale up and back as needed, but if services that aren’t being used continue to be paid for, it can be plenty expensive.

Another consideration for businesses that forgo the software-as-a-service model to host their own infrastructure in the cloud can have difficulty predicting the costs of their hosted computing resources. Since most businesses need to set a baseline of cost for any and all of their technology, it could conceivably become problematic if the processing costs supersede the budgeted amount. There are ways to keep cloud computing costs under control, of course, but they can be difficult to manage for small businesses that may not have the IT coverage some larger companies do.

Lack of Security

From day one, the biggest bugaboo surrounding cloud computing has been the security costs, with good reason. The biggest problem is that, when using cloud computing, companies cannot see the location where their data is being stored and processed, and with no control over the physical infrastructure hosting the resources, they have to have faith in the provider to do the right things to protect data and infrastructure. In fact, it can be a very important consideration when storing what could be potentially sensitive information in the cloud. 

All the threats that a business faces from the Internet are still relevant for cloud providers. Things like data breaches, compromised authentication, hacked interfaces, account hijacking, and other security problems don’t go away because your business uses the cloud. It makes trusting a third party business to protect your data a little more difficult. Some tips that will help include: 

• Ensure the security of your cloud provider - You will want to choose cloud platforms that have identity management, authentication and access control tools integrated to give you the best shot at protecting your data. 
• Check their privacy and security controls - Before choosing a provider you will want to check which database privacy and security laws they adhere to. There is a growing list of new laws on the books. The organizations that adhere to those regulations will be more reliably secure than ones that don’t. 
• Ensure they help you stay compliant - This goes without saying, but if your business has regulations that you have to maintain compliance with, you will want to choose a cloud provider that will make that possible. 
• Set up cloud management - Today there are several business intelligence tools that can help you monitor the effectiveness of your hosted solutions. This will not only help you maintain security, it will also provide you with insights on how the solutions are working for your business. 

Cloud Performance

One issue that you don’t always hear about, but is an important consideration is how the cloud platform actually performs for your business. Of course, downtime is always going to be a consideration for platforms that require an Internet connection to work. That obviously isn’t going to be an issue if you’ve already decided to use cloud-hosted solutions. What is a consideration, however, is that if your business is using the cloud to gain access to tools that you likely couldn’t afford otherwise, will the cloud-based services have the reliability that is advertised?

A couple of the major cloud providers have had major outages the past couple of years, and this could actually negatively affect the continuity of your business. You will want to make sure that if there is an issue that the provider you choose has a system that will alert you as the problem is happening and not after, when it is also a major problem for your business. Remember, if you have problems with your cloud-based services, you have problems with your business, so be sure to do your research before adding cloud SaaS services to your infrastructure. 

Cloud computing can be a godsend for your business, but it can also change the way you need to think about your IT. Give MSPNetworks a call today at (516) 403-9001 to talk to one of our consultants about getting the reliable and secure cloud services your business needs.

It’s no secret that new technology can be useful for a business, unfortunately too many businesses struggle with their technology implementations. When adding new tools to your business, you will need to understand that the more deliberate you are, the more success you will find. Rushing any new deployment is sure to have some types of issues. For today’s blog, we take you through some of the best practices of adding new technology to your business.

Your Business’ Needs

When looking to add technology, you should only do so when you recognize a need for some. Too many businesses add technology that, in theory, will enhance productivity only to have problems supplanting the practical usefulness of their current technology. Of course, there will always be some type of transitional period, but the more a business is identifying problems and deploying technologies as a response, the fewer problems they will ultimately run into. 

Take a Beat

Another solid practice to adhere to before you go ahead and start putting new technology in place is to take a bit before you make any financial commitments. Can you make do with the technology you have? Could it just be some strategic alterations you can make that won’t necessitate the time and expense that goes along with new technology? Sometimes it’s just about using the tools you have more effectively, not introducing new tools. Take some time to adjust and monitor, but at the end of that time, if you’re convinced the new technology gives you the best chance to be competitive, then go ahead and go for it. 

Assign a Competent Project Manager

A large percentage of new technology implementation failures happen because the people running the project are stretched too thin, or aren’t up to the task of carrying out the project. For small business owners, it is tempting to do it yourself, but your influence is more important in other parts of your business. You need to have a project manager to serve as the point of contact, develop the training regimens and schedules, and deal with the inevitable challenges that arise during the new technology deployment. 

Stand Behind Your Choice and Get to Training

Once the project begins, one of the most important parts of implementing new technology is to get your people behind it. Typically, there is some type of pushback, even if people have been complaining about the old technology for some time. Workers get comfortable with one thing and are afraid that their jobs will change for the worse if they are forced into using new technology. Some even think that their jobs will be irrelevant. For the business owner to get their people behind the new technology, you need to explain how it will positively affect their jobs and the company as a whole. By getting people to understand the positive aspects of implementing new tools, they will be more engaged in the training process, and ultimately, get up to speed faster. 

Testing 

After implementation and training, understanding how best to use the technology is going to be a process. The best way to ascertain this is by testing. Testing the solution, the employees, and the whole workflow is a critical step in understanding what changes need to be made, what policies need to be altered, and how the system works for your business. You’ll want to give your workers advanced notice that there will be training and monitoring as to make them understand that the more committed they are to getting the technology incorporated, the faster things can go back to normal. Additionally, you will want to get feedback from your employees. They are the ones that are using the new technology, after all. 

Get It Working 

Finally, after all the hand wringing, politicking, testing, and tweaking, your business will have new, and hopefully better technology to use. Adjustments to the tool will be ongoing, of course, but it’s a solid practice to get it as close to finished before you start using it for day-to-day operations. 

New technology can be extremely useful for a business, but without the consideration that it is going to change the way you do things, it can be a major problem, too. If you would like to talk to one of our IT experts about how we can help your business implement the technology you need to improve your operations, and do it successfully the first time, give MSPNetworks a call today at (516) 403-9001.

For some companies, their IT is like a boat to a fisherman: they could conceivably do the work without it, but they wouldn’t have a business. For this reason it is important to know how to ascertain which technology investments are right for your business at any given time. Let’s go through a few considerations decision makers should highlight when choosing new technology for their businesses. 

Start With Business Problems

There is very little reason to add new technology to a business if the business already functions optimally. You know that saying, “you can’t draw blood from a stone”? Many business owners will try to add technology to their business only to find out that it is more of a hindrance than a benefit. If you want to choose the most beneficial technology, start with the parts of your business that don’t function the way that you’d like them to.

The best way to go about ascertaining this knowledge is to ask your employees what the business can do better. You might find that your staff has the best insight on what you can do to make their jobs less stressful and help them to be more productive.

Prioritize Security

When deciding which technologies to add to your business’ IT infrastructure, it’s important to prioritize the ability to secure the solution. The sad truth is that each day more and more businesses become victims of cybercrime, and this makes adding technology that much more difficult. In order to successfully add technology that is secure enough to use for business, business owners must realize that cybersecurity isn’t just about having the right preventative technology solutions in place, it requires a great deal of awareness and efforts from the entire staff. 

It is important to have a well-thought-out information security plan in place that states the goals and priorities of the organization as it relates to cybersecurity. This extends to all aspects of the organization’s computing infrastructure, including social media, email, and other Internet-facing resources. Another consideration is to have a regularly-updated inventory that identifies all of the hardware, software, and sensitive data that the organization keeps. Beyond that, you’ll need an access control system in place and comprehensive employee training to ensure that your staff has all the necessary information and skills to keep your business’ data and infrastructure safe. 

Consider Long Term Costs 

Another important consideration is to figure out what the new technology will cost your business. Sure there is a price tag on new servers or workstations, you know what you pay for new software, but if you are looking to add to your business’ computing infrastructure, the actual cost of the solution is going to be much greater than the sticker on the box or what shows up on the invoice.

Is your new technology going to have to be replaced in two years? Five? Eight? You’ll need a plan of attack and an idea of what all the resources surrounding the new implementation will cost. While the point of new technology is to improve your business, what is an acceptable ROI for each new deployment? To do this most effectively, you’ll want to figure out the total cost of ownership (TCO) of any new technology. The TCO’s math isn’t always simple. The variables that go into it include:

• The cost of acquisition
• The cost of implementation
• The cost of operation
• The cost of improvement and maintenance

Each variable has several considerations. For example, the cost of implementation also includes the costs related to testing the technology and training your staff. These costs often dwarf the acquisition costs. You’ll need to figure out if a technology project provides the return you are looking for, or if adding the solution is going to cost your business more capital than it’s worth. 

Understand Your Limits

You may not even know where to start when it comes to adding technology. Fortunately, the IT professionals at MSPNetworks can help you choose the right technology, help you get it in place, and assist you in every part of the process. Give our technology experts a call today at (516) 403-9001 to learn more about how we can help you get the technology you need.

When you are looking to implement new technology solutions for your business, the last thing you should do is skip the planning process. You need to carefully consider all of your options, your business’ specific needs, and the various benefits that can come from all of these options. Today we will discuss how your business can choose the best technology that suits your organization and its operations.

This process involves conducting a proper analysis of your business’ needs, identifying how your new technology will fit into your existing payment structure, whether or not it leans into what your business does well, and what your employees think will help them do their jobs better.

Analyze Your Business’ Needs

You can’t make the right choices for your business technology if you don’t know what your specific needs are. Consider what challenges your business faces and how you might overcome them. In this case, however, one thing we want to emphasize is that you should only implement technology when you believe that it will truly make things easier. Sometimes businesses implement technology solutions that only make things more complicated, which does the exact opposite of what it’s supposed to do. 

Consider the Price Point

Small businesses often struggle with large up-front costs associated with purchasing new technology solutions, mostly due to the large payments not being particularly conducive to budgeting. We’re not saying that you can’t purchase technology or services up-front--sometimes there are benefits to doing so--but what we are saying is that you should look at other options, like Software as a Service or other services with a monthly payment model. These services tend to be more scalable and fit more easily into budgets.

Lean Into Your Strengths

You do this every day with your employees on a micro level by segmenting off duties and responsibilities based on their roles within your organization, but on a macro level, you can encourage your business to lean into what it does well with the right technology solutions. For example, businesses that pride themselves on great customer service can provide even better customer service by implementing help desk solutions and instant messaging chats. In other words, you are supplementing your business with technology that makes your efforts easier and more effective.

Ask Your Employees

If you are unsure of how your business can more effectively utilize technology, consider asking your employees for their feedback. Ask them what challenges they face and how they might address them. You can then use this information to make informed decisions regarding the technology that you eventually go to implement for your infrastructure. Plus, employees love it when their opinions matter, so if you can learn a thing or two about your organization by listening to their woes, you can make your business a better place to work as a whole.

Work with a Managed Service Provider

If you’re unsure of any of the above, MSPNetworks can help your business identify business technology solutions that you will find helpful for making progress toward your goals. To learn more, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.

Hardware is expensive, this much is certain. When a small or medium-sized business is looking to get the most bang for buck from their technology investments, they have to consider hardware to be the most crucial part of the equation. One option that businesses can take advantage of today is to use virtualized environments. Whether these computing environments are hosted onsite or in the cloud, a business can extend the usefulness of their IT budget by utilizing them. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of virtualization on your business.

Business Computing is Shifting

There was a time, not too long ago, where there weren’t a lot of options when it came to business computing. The small business that wanted to expand its computing infrastructure would buy a server and use it for a dedicated purpose. This strategy gives the business the most control over their hardware, data, and applications, so for the business that has an onsite IT support team, it’s logical. 

It’s also very expensive. 

One of the main problems with this organizational computing strategy is that it doesn’t utilize the capacity of these servers. The servers are used for a specific purpose and that can leave a significant amount of resources unused. This underutilization is a wasted opportunity. By using virtualized environments, new hardware can be more effectively utilized, and therefore, can help control hardware costs. 

Here’s How Virtualization Works

Instead of running one server for every mission-critical application, you run several virtual machines on one server. Each virtual machine only uses the hardware resources that it needs, meaning that three or four servers can be consolidated into one. You will get the same performance out of one server with many virtual servers on it as you would get from multiple in-house servers. 

Pros of Virtualization

Outside of the admittedly hefty upfront cost of virtualization, the reduction in hardware costs you see down the road make the strategy a sound one for almost any business. Not only do you save money on buying servers, the environments are accessible from nearly any device. This means that you cut down on your workstation spend, and you can take full advantage of remote workers. All-in-all, businesses that commit to virtualization can save between 40-to-60 percent on their organizational hardware costs, and see reduced management, utility, and maintenance costs as well.

This also allows you to spend more time driving your business forward and less time managing it. Virtual servers can deploy new environments in minutes, expediting the process by a substantial amount. Virtualization also makes security and data redundancy much easier as your IT admins only need to work on one server rather than several, and back up one piece of hardware.

Your Company in the Cloud

Another consideration is hosting your virtual environments in a bigger virtual environment. Cloud computing is more affordable and secure than ever and companies have been paying attention. By using cloud offerings to extend the benefits of virtualization you’re effectively paying to host your company’s servers in the cloud. This can be even more cost effective than using virtualization on your own in-house servers, but it does remove some of the control you and your team have over your hardware. 

Either way, if you aren’t considering virtualization, you are probably wasting money. If you would like to learn more about virtualization for your business, contact the IT professionals at MSPNetworks at (516) 403-9001 today.

The productivity suite is one of the most utilized software combos going. Usually it comes with a word processor, a spreadsheet program, a note taking program, and a presentation creator. There are other pieces of software included in some of today’s most dynamic options, but for our purposes we are going to limit it to these. 

It’s not a surprise that most businesses choose tools they can both afford and work for their needs. This typically has more to do with integrations it has with other pieces of software the organization uses. Let’s look at some of the variables that businesses have to consider when determining what productivity software is right for them. 

Cost

For businesses, it’s no secret that cost really matters. Most organizations, when comparing productivity suites, will find little differences between the actual software itself. Sure, one particular word processor is better than another, one spreadsheet program works best with your existing tools, and so on...but as a suite, the cheapest option is probably going to give you the ability to do what you need to do. That said, this software is going to be used for storing (and sharing) presumably sensitive company data. For that reason it has to be a reliable option. 

Compatibility

Your staff has a way of functioning that is different from another set of people. As a result, your productivity software has to be compatible with as many platforms as possible. If you have a team that uses ChromeOS-fueled laptops, but your productivity suite only supports Windows 10, it’s not going to do them any good. Make sure that the apps can be available on most or all of the major computing platforms. 

Mobility

The ability to access files on a mobile device has to be considered essential for today’s business. Today, many of the top productivity suites are available as a cloud-hosted service. This provides much of the mobility that users who access business data on the go would need.

Security

This kind of goes hand-in-hand with reliability, but it’s always important to prioritize security when you are picking software for your business. Two of the most-utilized productivity suites, Microsoft Office 365 and Google Workspace, come as cloud-hosted solutions. This means that Microsoft and Google, respectively, will host your files and data as well as the software.

Communications

Today, communications that happen over the Internet are extremely important to any business with remote workers. Most of the top productivity suites also come with hosted email and the ability to at least integrate a video conferencing solution. This ensures that your team will have options in which to communicate and collaborate in innovative ways.

Regardless of which appset you choose, you should know that MSPNetworks can help your organization design a computing infrastructure and deploy all the tools your staff needs to keep your company productive. Call our expert technicians at (516) 403-9001.

Making solid business decisions can sometimes be confusing. Not that you try to make anything other than good decisions, but a lot of business is, and has always been, trial and error; and, you may know this from experience, error happens to be a big part of it. Today, we thought we would discuss what goes into good technology decisions and how many times it comes down to the results. 

How to Make Good Technology Decisions

Making the right decisions in regards to your business’ technology has to do with multiple factors, but one sticks out: What do we do? It seems simple enough, but when you are choosing technology you are probably going to run into technical people that don’t speak your language or salespeople who speak your language a little too well. This will confuse the vast majority of people. It’s not as if there is a guide that can help you match the specific technology to your business; you will have to rely on people to help you do that.

Our consultants at MSPNetworks understand that there is a balance that needs to be considered when advising our clients on how to make the right technology decisions for them. The balance is between cost/complexity and effectiveness at meeting the goals you’ve set out for your business. Here are a few tips that can help you make the right technology decision, regardless of the situation.

Start with Security

Like any highly guarded place, all technology that you add to your infrastructure has to pass through security clearance. You should start every IT decision with the notion that you need to have the tools in place to protect it. If you don't, any decisions you make probably won’t help as much as they will hurt. 

Be Optimistic, but Prepared

Why else would you make strategic IT investments if not to improve your ability to turn a profit? In that regard, any IT investments you plan should be targeted to solve a problem your business currently faces. That’s not enough, however. To ensure any IT purchase you make works for your business, you need to protect it. That’s why we suggest that if you don’t have a dedicated backup and recovery platform in place, you need to prioritize that before you spend another cent on your business' IT. A backup system that builds data redundancy and has a cloud-hosted option is the best. Our BDR service utilizes both network-attached backup with a device that uploads your backed up data to an offsite data center. This will help you be prepared for any eventuality and will make any IT investment that much stronger. 

Work to Build a Knowledge Base

Another consideration that will help you make the best IT investments is to understand what you are getting into before you get into it. By researching solutions to your business problems you will be able to ensure that any IT decisions you do make are made for the right reasons and that you are getting technology that fits into your business plans. The more knowledge you have about the processes you need technology for, the better and more sound your decisions will be. 

Technology can solve a lot of today’s most pressing business problems. If you would like to talk to one of our knowledgeable IT professionals about what technology you should be targeting, how to successfully implement it with the technology you already have in place, or if it’s time to retire a piece of technology, give us a call today at (516) 403-9001.

If you are an avid reader of our blog, we are constantly saying how there are always a growing number of threats. This is true. Two-in-every-three business owners consider that their cybersecurity risks are increasing each year. The other third must not focus on them, and that is a problem. In fact, many business owners don’t give the proper respect to cyberthreats and many of those businesses pay the price. This is why every business should consider a security and compliance audit a mandatory part of their yearly IT assessment. 

Explaining the Security and Compliance Audit

Since there is a constant stream of threats coming at your business from the Internet, it stands to reason that you need to come up with a strategy to reduce or completely eliminate those threats’ path to your business’ IT infrastructure. Traditionally, that means installing security software solutions such as firewalls and antivirus, training your staff on how to navigate potential scams, and doing your best to monitor the threats as they come in. This seems comprehensive, right? Unfortunately, these efforts are unlikely to prevent a breach of your network or a corruption of your IT infrastructure.

The IT infrastructure that continues to grow.

If you consider that every year more and more is added to your IT infrastructure, it’s not a stretch of the imagination to not only gain more to support, but also additional points of potential exploitation. New systems can create new vulnerabilities in your network, and more to support can add even more holes in your existing system. These are the avenues hackers use to access your network and steal your data. 

Additionally, the more complicated your IT infrastructure gets, the more difficult it will be to stay in compliance with any regulations your business operates under. As issues with data privacy start to be taken seriously by lawmakers, expect more regulations; and additional focus on compliance. 

A security and compliance audit is basically the full assessment of your cybersecurity situation. It goes far beyond your average vulnerability scan as it takes into account how your technology is used and provides you with specific criteria that you need to take into account. This profile will go above and beyond your cursory network and infrastructure scan. MSPNetworks has the certified technicians on staff to comprehensively conduct such an assessment. We can provide you with information on where your business is weakest and what you can do to bump up your network security to stay in compliance and keep your network resources safe. 

Go Even Further

Our security and compliance audit can tell you what you need to know, but once you have taken the steps to patch the potential vulnerabilities in your network and infrastructure, you will need to keep it up. We can conduct penetration testing to ensure that the steps you take work to fix the vulnerabilities in your network. This can function as assurance that your business isn’t caught up in two terrible situations: a data breach or fallout from non-compliance. 

If you would like to talk to one of our IT professionals about getting a security and compliance audit, or if you would like to talk about how our managed IT services can work to thwart all types of negative situations, give us a call at (516) 403-9001 today.

Let me ask you a quick question: when was your critical business technology last updated? When do your software licenses expire? When did your printer last have any maintenance performed on it?

If you’re unsure of the answers to these questions, you need to have a better handle on your IT inventory. Let’s go over why, and how we can help.

Here’s the thing: for your IT to work to your favor, you need to maintain total control and awareness of it. You effectively need to know everything about every piece of hardware you possess—when it was purchased, who initially set it up, when and by who it last received maintenance.

After all, your IT required some significant investment on your part… doesn’t it make sense to invest in protecting it? Keeping a record of this kind of information is a very important part of protecting it, as this record can help you form your decisions in the future.

MSPNetworks can help you there. Not only do our professional IT technicians expertly deploy and manage the solutions our clients rely on each day, but we also maintain detailed documentation of every component of their infrastructures as well as a running record of all the actions we take to keep them up and running efficiently. Using advanced diagnostic tools, we identify and mitigate any shortcomings, ensuring your systems are fully updated with all appropriate patches applied.

Of course, doing so will cause us to generate extensive documentation. For instance, here are some of the records we keep:

• All network-attached devices you have, from your networking devices to every company-owned endpoint and peripheral that attaches to it.
• The proper configuration for each of these devices.
• The date that each of these devices was installed.
• The licenses that your business needs to maintain, and the status of the ones you have.
• A comprehensive history of any service that each of these devices have received.

Tracking this information helps to guide us as we manage our clients’ critical technology solutions so that we can deliver the greatest benefit to their operations. This record also assists our staff in identifying and diagnosing future issues that could potentially impact a client’s IT.

Experience These Benefits in Your Own Business

If you would like to find out how managed IT services could assist your operations, reach out to our team. MSPNetworks is always available to answer your questions and give you more information about our services. Give us a call at (516) 403-9001 today.

Let’s be real. For most small businesses during this period, it’s been extremely difficult.  If you were somehow able to sustain operations during this time, you most likely had to make some serious alterations to the way that you normally do things. Today, we’re going to take a look at some of the technologies that you probably already have, and how you can change the way you use them to benefit your business as concerns spike over COVID-19. 

Working With What You’ve Got

When the pandemic first hit, and many states mandated that businesses close or move their operations offsite, not many people had the foresight that the situation would last as long as it has. Of course, the situation was new to almost every living person, but as far as business goes, many organizations chose to close up shop and wait it out. As the days turned into weeks, however, it became evident that if they didn’t do something they could stand to lose it all. For those businesses, and the businesses that went to a remote workforce right off the bat, the transition was filled with issues. How can I pay my bills? How can I get everyone set up with the technology they’ll need to be productive? How can I ensure that my staff is capable of being productive from home? What other choices do I have? 

For most businesses that chose to lay off their workforce at the outset of this thing and suspend operations, they were given a lifeline from the paycheck protection program (PPP) and were able to function at a limited capacity for many weeks. Does this mean they didn’t struggle? No. But with the subsidy, many hired back their best workers and made it through by replacing the productivity they would get from their additional staff with automation. Since payroll is a major expense for any company, in times when you need to keep your finances as liquid as you can, automation helps. 

Many of the automated tools that were added included payroll processing tools, operations management tools, and invoicing tools. These tools are designed to keep businesses from having to deal with actions that usually take up time and money, and are often outsourced. Other parts of the typical business, including employee collaboration, supply chain management, and project management can be improved dramatically through the use of automated tools. 

Security In Uncertain Times

Another part of the business experience that has seen less attention due to all the other things that are going on is cybersecurity. In fact, despite more business being conducted online than ever before, cybersecurity spending is conclusively down. It was actually one of the first places small businesses looked to cut when they realized that they were going to see a drop in revenues.The cybersecurity industry, which as a whole has been growing at about five percent per year for the past eight years is only expecting growth of just over one percent this year. 

If you are relying on a remote workforce, it stands to reason that you would want to provide them with the best chance to succeed. The numbers suggest that many organizations, despite reducing their overall cybersecurity outlay, are holding fast to their endpoint and intrusion protection spending. This means that with the uncertainty of when--or if--the world will return to normal, businesses acknowledge that by securing their network endpoints, their organizational risk goes way down. 

We should mention that no automation is going to stop cybercriminals. While newfangled IT solutions use AI to better identify and eliminate threats, most of the threats that will be a problem for your business in the foreseeable future will be from phishing scams. If your workforce works remotely, this risk is exacerbated by the fact that most people work from their personal devices and not from company owned hardware when they are out of the office. You will want to keep your phishing identification training strategies going and keep them frequent. The last thing that you want is for a remote employee to trigger a major malware attack on your company’s network because you didn’t properly train them. 

The future of business is one that is done over the computer. That much is clear now. If you need help with your business’ technology, you want to talk about what strategies are best, or if you just want to make sure you are doing the right things, call our knowledgeable team of IT technicians today at (516) 403-9001.

Productivity is—generally speaking—the core goal of any modern software solution. Today, we wanted to go over a few tools that can boost your productivity and efficiency right now.

Cloud Collaboration and Storage

As many people continue to work remotely, many businesses have faced the challenge of supplying these employees with the resources needed to be productive. Plus, there needs to be some consideration into how their home networks differ from the one in the office, particularly in terms of their security.

Cloud solutions can offer the security and access that your team members need to collaborate on their work. So, if your workplace still isn’t using the cloud to its fullest potential, you should prioritize these changes.

Instant Messaging

With instant messaging tools in their toolkit, any team can more easily conduct the brief conversations that so often take place throughout the day. Instant messaging is more efficient, which helps those involved in these messages keep their productivity levels high. This is thanks to the conditioning that we have all received from messaging and texting in our daily lives.

The other benefits of messaging include its availability. With workstations and mobile devices alike supporting instant messaging solutions, your team is essentially guaranteed to have access wherever they are.

Project Management

As your team is divided amongst their homes, a project management solution can help to keep them productive. As they are no longer working in the same place, your team members may start to lose the sensation of being part of a team. As a result, your team may start to slip out of collaborative habits. A project management tool can help prevent this by showing your entire team how their activities play into the overall success of the business’ endeavors.

Video Conferencing

Finally, your communications are greatly benefitted by a video conferencing platform of some kind. This solution can enable your remote workers to participate in meetings almost as effectively as they could while at the meeting table, supported by capabilities like screen-sharing and other collaborative features. While it isn’t a perfect replacement for in-person collaboration, it is about as close as we can currently get.

To learn more about these solutions and the processes of implementing them, reach out to the professionals at MSPNetworks by calling (516) 403-9001.

As an owner of a small business, there are a whole lot of issues that you have to confront every day. Besides the normal issues, there are always situations that pop up without warning. When your business is small and more easily manageable, they are easier to steer one way or another When your business starts growing rapidly, however, turning things around can get more difficult. This can turn into roadblocks to progress. Today, we will look at some of the issues that a small business owner will encounter when their business grows fast.

How Big Is Your Business?

Entrepreneurs have a tendency to look to other business owners to find what works and what doesn’t. Of course, your business functions independently and will react its own way to any solutions you enact for its problems. Once you get to a point where your business has moved out of the tinkering stage and you’ve figured out the best way to move forward, you should have a pretty good idea about what to expect. With such a high percentage of businesses failing before they can see any substantial growth--or because of prematurely investing in your business’ growth--it is important to know where your revenue is coming from and how to forecast its continued expansion.

For the small business owner, this takes more than working in your business. It takes working on your business. Unfortunately, it is a luxury few small business owners have time for. That’s why you have to make time to do it and begin to delegate responsibilities early. That way you can spend more time making sure that your business is moving in the right direction rather than doing things that keep you from doing so. 

How IT Fits In

IT plays a huge role for small businesses, but as a business grows, it becomes even more imperative. This is because IT presents solutions to solve operational inefficiencies. All businesses feed off of their ability to produce goods and fulfill services in a timely manner. The more IT a business comes to depend on, however, the more IT your business will likely demand.  

Small businesses may start out with a server or two, but as it grows into a medium-sized company, the infrastructure demand will grow rapidly. That’s not to say that there will be a huge shift in the way that you use your IT as you grow. Most medium-sized businesses still utilize the same technology, just on a much, much larger scale. 

Management of Growth

Some entrepreneurs have a difficult time when their role shifts from team leadership to company leadership. In fact, many businesses see a plateau in growth due to a reluctance to innovate and properly delegate responsibilities. The fact is that once your business gets to a certain point, your main value should be leadership, not proficiency at completing role-specific tasks. In fact, if you are too involved in the day-to-day running of your business, and you have hundreds or even thousands of subordinates, things can get pretty dicey. It can even stall a business at a time when it should be advancing and looking to break into new markets and diversify its revenue streams.

The ability to hire people with complementary skills--and to trust those hires to do good by you--is an important part of business growth. Sad to say that most entrepreneurs favor hiring people that are like them, but the most successful companies work because they have the different perspectives needed to create products and services that people want, fulfil those roles efficiently, and know how to move business forward.

Lean on Outside Experts

Sometimes, when your business gets to the point where it isn’t functioning as a small business anymore, the best thing to do is to scale up or back. The easiest way to accomplish this is through outsourcing. There are people in all manners of work that you can lean on to do a job that you wouldn’t need a full-time employee for. These services typically come with favorable financial terms and can be contracted until they complete a job and then let go when they are no longer needed without the problems that accompany turnover in human resources.

At MSPNetworks, we work with small and medium-sized businesses as an outsourced company, and we believe that we provide substantial value through our managed IT services platform. If you would like to talk to one of our consultants about getting what you need to keep your business moving forward, call us today at (516) 403-9001.

If you are an entrepreneur, changing the way that you look at your business can be pretty difficult. Many businesses start out with not much more than a ray of hope, so if your business is doing well, you must be doing something right. When demand makes you think bigger, your technology spend becomes a major priority. Let’s take a look at some of the changes a growing business has to make. 

You’ll find that a lot of businesses succeed because the people running them are able to adapt to the challenges tossed their way. Whether that is learning from particular case studies or an intuition that makes you know you were made for this, you know that problems come from every angle. Technology smooths those angles out. Here are a few tools worth talking about:

Hosted VoIP

Voice over Internet Protocol, further to be referred to as VoIP, is a telephone system, sure, but really what it is, is a financial correction. Why continue to waste money that could be better spent advancing your business? A VoIP system is a telephone system that uses your company’s bandwidth to deliver enterprise level call, text, and conferencing services. 

A cloud-based, professionally maintained VoIP system can solve a lot of communications problems many could see with traditional phone systems. They include:

• Price - VoIP customers have the obvious cost reduction of eliminating their reliance on the telephone company. 
• Scalability - A VoIP system makes adding and removing lines easy. A new phone can be up and running within minutes. 
• Mobility - VoIP systems typically come with soft phone options that can turn any smartphone into a VoIP phone. 
• Options - Any option a traditional telephone system can have, a VoIP platform offers. With VoIP you can get comprehensive communications tools that can be integrated with your business’ other operational systems. 
• Hardware - Hosted VoIP systems typically use top-of-the-line hardware systems to ensure reliability. 

A new Hosted VoIP system covers a lot of your business’ communications and can be a great tool for the growing business. 

CRM

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is an end-to-end piece of operational management software that can function as a liaison between a business and their customers or potential customers. The CRM comes in many forms but their purpose is always to streamline and facilitate action on the operational end and offer support on the consumer end. Some of the features found in the CRM include:

• Contact management 
• Lead management 
• Relationship tracking
• Account management
• Quote and purchase management
• Procurement/Vendor management
• Workflow automation
• Sales process automation
• Service automation
• Campaign management 
• Business analytics

...and more.

Why do you need these options? Because as your business grows, you will have less and less time to do all the things that need to be done. So as the amount of oversight that is needed to ensure that your sales team are doing the right things, your marketing team are doing the right things, your production staff are doing the right things, customers are getting value, and are properly supported when they don’t, increases, the reliance on automation will increase. The CRM automates a lot of the departmental interoperability, thus delivering an efficient and collaborative workflow that supports administration, staff, and customer, alike. 

The CRM’s tools can be combined with payroll software, supply chain management software, service delivery software, and more to provide businesses the resources needed to support a business’ end-to-end operations. Growing businesses need to focus on efficiency and opportunities, and one of the best ways to get opportunities is by having a significant web presence. 

Online Presence

Brand awareness is extremely important for modern businesses. In fact, it is right up there with convenience as the most important variable that consumers say plays into their decision to choose a product or service. With this in mind, having a web presence is more important than ever. Getting a website made isn’t enough anymore. Today’s businesses not only need to focus their marketing efforts locally using traditional methods, they also need to invest time and effort into their web marketing.

Many businesses have started using social media to start the conversation as it gives a business access to a customer base that they may not have access to in normal situations. The conversation that starts on social media by sharing knowledge via blogs and other pieces of content, responding to user problems with direct interaction, and promoting the good work that you do through case studies and other testimonials, can quickly become a great way to engage an audience that is looking for answers to their own problems. By linking your webpage to your social media accounts, you will increase traffic, which increases sales opportunities. 

If your business is growing, you need to get out ahead of it by accepting that investing in technology is the way to go. If you would like to talk to one of our expert IT consultants about the technology your specific business needs, call us today at (516) 403-9001.

This is a strange time for everyone. For business owners, it’s filled with uncertainty as many of their businesses have had to shut down in the face of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Others were forced into embracing remote operations. For these companies, their cloud platforms are turning out to be major benefits. Today, we’ll explain why.

Identifying the Best Plan Ahead

A business owner’s priorities have likely changed during the past few months. They’ve gone from worrying about specific problems to being concerned over the sustainability of their entire enterprise. It is important for the businesses owner to stop worrying about how to keep their business functioning in the same way that it was, and focus on coming up with a plan to adjust to the situation they are in and do the best they can to keep operations sustainable and profitable. 

The advice we’d give is to consider a cloud migration strategy. This shift will allow for anytime/anywhere access and will work to reduce your management, support, and utility costs. Furthermore, there are specific tools available in the cloud that can simplify your entire computing platform.

If you are chomping at the bit to move your computing infrastructure to the cloud, you should start by choosing the systems that need remote access. This will ensure that you will have a lot of the most valuable resources for your needs. After that you can work your way onto new workloads. Migrating your business’ computing resources to the cloud in phases will reduce the strain you will put on your staff, as the process of doing so is time consuming. 

As you are doing so, you will need to train your staff on the best practices of authentication, including password management and other security protocols to prepare them to protect your new cloud systems. Otherwise, setting up the cloud is as simple as working with your IT administrator to get the tools to the people that need them.

MSPNetworks can help. If you want to improve your IT infrastructure, or if you are forced into accepting remote operations, give us a call at (516) 403-9001 and our knowledgeable professionals will help find the solution that works for your organization’s needs. 

Technology can be complicated, and it doesn’t help when all you hear is an alphabet soup of acronyms used to describe it. As professionals, this kind of jargon has become a second language to us and it is easy to forget that not everyone will recognize these acronyms. For your reference, we’ve assembled some common ones you’ll probably hear us use.

-aaS

This means “as-a-service” and is typically preceded by another letter or letters, like “IaaS” (for Infrastructure-as-a-Service) or “DRaaS” (Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service). This means that a given business need is available from a service provider at a monthly, budgetable rate, with the provider managing whatever the solution in question is on an ongoing basis. This approach has grown in popularity amongst businesses, who benefit from the sustained nature of the given service delivered.

BI

BI, or business intelligence, is the culmination of data analysis to better understand business trends. While enterprises have put it to the most use, business intelligence and big data are slowly being introduced to businesses of all sizes to help them boost their operations. 

BYOD

BYOD, or Bring Your Own Device, is a strategy that many businesses use to cut costs and boost their employee satisfaction by allowing their staff members to use their own devices in the workplace, rather than ones provided by the employer. With the right precautions in place, BYOD can prove to be very beneficial for the business’ budget.

DoS

A Denial-of-Service attack (and sometimes, a DDoS, or Distributed-Denial-of-Service attack) is a form of cyberattack where a system’s operations are overwhelmed by an onslaught of incoming traffic. The interruptions that this causes can create significant challenges for a business.

EOL

When a solution reaches its EOL, or its End-of-Life, it effectively means that the developer is no longer updating its security to protect it and, by proxy, its users. This makes it of significant importance to keep apprised of the status of your solutions and have plans to migrate away from any that are approaching their EOL dates. Windows 7 reached its EOL not too long ago, for example.

IoT

The IoT is shorthand for the Internet of Things, the assortment of non-traditional devices that feature an Internet connection to boost their capabilities. While the IoT is a fascinating development in technology today, it also presents many challenges to your organizational security that must be addressed.

LAN

A LAN, or a Local Area Network, is a network used to share resources between computers contained within a limited distance. This is present in many offices, especially those that share printers or access to other pieces of connected equipment.

MFA

Multi-factor authentication, sometimes referred to as 2-factor authentication, is the practice of requiring an additional means of verifying one’s identity as one requests access to an account or a resource. By identifying a user with a username, the traditional password serves as the first factor of authentication, while the second requirement might demand a PIN number dictated by an application, or even biometric information.

SSL

SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer, is a protocol for encrypting data between a server and the device a user has. Used to protect data as it passes from client to server and back again, SSL is what turns HTTP into HTTPS in a web browser.

UPS

Disasters are nothing to fool around with, which makes the inclusion of an Uninterruptible Power Supply so crucial to your infrastructure. Many pieces of computing hardware need to go through a process to safely shut down, so a sudden power outage is a dangerous prospect. A UPS gives them the juice needed to safely power down, protecting your business’ hardware.

VM

A VM, or a virtual machine, is an interesting piece of technology. Rather than installing an entirely new piece of hardware, a simulated version is introduced into an infrastructure, allowing users access to an additional solution set. This enables you to make use of additional resources without investing in additional hardware.

VoIP

As the acronym for Voice-over-Internet Protocol, VoIP describes an approach to telephony that cuts out a large chunk of the costs associated with office telephones. In addition, VoIP solutions come with many business-friendly benefits included, while they would ordinarily come at a cost.

VPN

A VPN is a virtual private network. A virtual private network effectively creates a tunnel that encrypts data as it makes its way to its destination, protecting it along the way. It is an excellent solution for a business, especially one that utilizes many remote workers.

WAN

WAN, or wide-area networks, are used by organizations that have multiple locations over a wider area by connecting multiple small networks into one larger network. 

To learn more about these solutions, and many others that we can help you to implement, reach out to MSPNetworks at (516) 403-9001.

If you’re in business today, there are three words that are critical for you keep in mind: Cybersecurity. Is. Important. As such, every business needs to have taken the time to put together a cybersecurity policy--a set of guidelines that instruct the business how to proceed with the highest level of security possible. We’ve taken the liberty of suggesting a few guidelines for your business to follow as you do so.

Establish Definitions 

When you’re putting together a cybersecurity policy, there cannot be any uncertainty in what you are referring to at a given time. It is important for you to make it clear: if one of your policies references a “cyber incident,” what kind of situations could that apply to specifically?

This makes it imperative that you clearly establish what certain terms you use in your policies refer to, relatively early on. Take the “cyber incident” example: does that refer to an attack by a cybercriminal, or does it refer to an internal mishap or equipment failure. If it does refer to an attack, does it describe a limited scope, or do all attack vectors (phishing, man-in-the-middle attack, et al.) fall under its umbrella?

Remember, the person referencing this document will be a relative layman, so you need to make sure that these definitions make it clear to them what situation they are encountering and how to proceed.

Establish Processes

When you are putting together a cybersecurity policy for your business to follow, the fundamental idea is to make sure everyone is on the same page in the event of some major issue, event, or need. Therefore, you need to make sure you create standards that apply to a variety of circumstances, such as the need for remote work to take place, what qualifies as acceptable use of the Internet, and the modern demand for improved passwords and other forms of authentication. You also need to remember that various regulations and other compliance requirements could come into play, and adjust your standards accordingly.

As you document them, these procedures themselves should include:

• What protections are in place (and what they protect against)
• What backup policies are in place
• What the updating/patching process looks like regarding your protections

... among other key pieces of information that would come in handy if recovery from a cybersecurity issue was ever a concern.

Establish Accountability

Once your processes are devised, refined, and finalized, you need to make sure that they are properly documented and that your staff is trained to follow them… otherwise, the effort you made to put them in place is rendered redundant.

The importance of this particular aspect cannot be emphasized strongly enough. In fact, part of your new policy should address how much harm an employee can do to the business’ well-being and outline how your employees need to conduct themselves as they go about their work. There are many ways that you can--and should--do so.

Education is going to be key, of course, as your established protections will only do so much if one of your employees doesn’t recognize a threat when presented with one. Phishing is incredibly popular for a reason.

Just as important is to keep in mind that accountability can often be shared, especially when a cybersecurity issue has transpired. Sure, an employee may have fallen for a phishing scam, but could that have been because the training they received to avoid them was inadequate or outdated? When was the last time you held a training session? In order for your business to properly secure itself against threats, the whole business must be involved.

MSPNetworks can get involved, too. Our professionals have the experience needed to ensure that your business has the security it needs, with the policies in place to support that security. Find out more by giving us a call at (516) 403-9001.

Businesses today are doing more than ever to utilize the data they take in, and it shows. They are operating with more knowledge about their business, and thus are able to successfully create a usable knowledge base that, for some, will allow them to predict positive and negative market dynamics fairly accurately. After seeing how this platform can positively affect individual businesses, many other businesses are taking to the strategies. The problem that many businesses encounter, however, is that they are woefully unprepared to utilize analytics; or, they read too far into them. Today, we’ll take a look at data analytics and confront some of the problem's businesses are having.

Are You Prepared?
The first thing that you have to understand about the placement of a data analytics system is that you need to have a reliable silo of information in which to work from. If you don’t set this up properly, the analysis will not be thorough enough to properly represent your business’ operations and will therefore not be as reliable as you would typically want this type of analysis to be.

To get reliable analysis through analytics, you will first want to set up a data warehouse. A data warehouse is essentially a database that is fed by your existing databases. By having all of your business’ information in one spot, it will make your analysis, whether it’s conducting analytics or intelligence reports, more accurate and reliable.

Reading Analytics
Once you have your analytics platform set up properly, you are ready to run reports. There are a couple really simple, but crucial, mistakes people routinely make when reading their analytics reports.

1. Correlation Doesn’t Always Mean Causation - There are times when you will be looking at two metrics and they are so amazingly similar that it can’t possibly be a coincidence. You then discover that the two seemingly correlated variables have no direct (or indirect) relationship with each other. It’s important that you don’t read into every similarity.
2. Make Sure to Keep Everything in Context - When you are actively using analytics and you start making headway in one facet of your business, it can be intoxicating. Make sure to not transfer a false optimism that other numbers will react the same way if the indicators say they won’t.
3. Just Too Much - Whether you are just tracking too many metrics, or you are tracking some that are completely meaningless for your situation, wasting time with certain metrics is just convoluting your practical understanding of your business. Scale it back for more success.
4. The “Wow” Factor - Metrics that report very positive or very negative situations will always be alarming, but if they are reported very infrequently, you can consider them outliers and exclude them in your overall report.

It’s great when you decide to let the data your business collects work for you. If you would like some information about how to integrate data analytics into your business’ call the IT professionals at MSPNetworks today at (516) 403-9001.