Corporate Technologies Solutions

Protecting Your Data and Your Network!
– Could You Become an IT Hostage?
By: Dan Boughton, Corporate Technologies Senior Security Consultant.

Who holds the keys to your kingdom?
Your IT systems, servers and infrastructure are the nervous system of your company. You count on your IT systems for customer information (CRM), accounting, billing, service delivery, manufacturing (ERP), design (CAD), email and many other functions. Without access to these systems, and the information they hold, your organization would not be able to perform. How long could you survive?

What about a disaster? It doesn’t have to be a meteor, flood or tornado. It could be human error or simply something unexpected that fails.
Most large companies spend between 2% and 4% of their IT budget on disaster recovery planning; this is intended to avoid larger losses. Of companies that had a major loss of computerized data, 43% never reopen, 51% close within two years, and only 6% will survive long-term.

A San Francisco Network Administrator made news recently when he essentially locked the city out of its own network infrastructure. The one individual who had designed, configured and implemented the network was the only individual who understood how the physical network was configured, and the only person who knew the various logon credentials to manage the network infrastructure. When he decided that he didn’t want others to tamper with “his” network, he locked everyone else out.

How can you prevent your organization from being held hostage to a rogue administrator, or to a critical situation where the Network Administrator is unavailable? By having a complete Network Assessment and documentation performed, you can ensure that the critical details related to your IT assets are documented so that others can be engaged as necessary to gain access to some of your most critical assets – your data. The Assessment is also one of the first steps in developing a comprehensive Business Continuity Plan.

Click here or contact your Corporate Technologies Account Manager to discuss how we can help you with your Business and Information Technology needs.

Why Small Businesses Choose to Outsource IT
Information technology and support is often overlooked in small to medium sized businesses. Keeping a full time IT person on staff can be costly and is often times the first department to see cuts when business takes a downturn. This can force businesses to become reactive rather than proactive when it comes to IT and computer issues, costing more money and wasting more time in the long run.

When a system is not being monitored or properly maintained small issues that could have been resolved without disrupting work can easily turn into a major crisis. Critical system and security patch updates can get put off, making a network more vulnerable to viruses, worms and even hackers. Employees spend more time trying to fix computer and network problems than performing their actual job duties. Businesses rely too heavily on quick fixes rather than proper preventative solutions. It is important to stay proactive when it comes to information technology, but for small or midsized businesses trying to reduce overhead costs, doing so can seem nearly impossible at times.

But there is a solution. With Corporate Technologies Technology Advantage® service, small and medium sized businesses are able to outsource all of their IT needs, saving time and money without compromising their computer and networking systems.

Technology Advantage®:
•	Allows businesses access to real, innovative IT support and provides real time solutions for day to day issues
•	Provides unlimited remote support by phone and email from a team of trained specialists
•	Includes on-site IT support for those problems that can’t be fixed by accessing your business servers and desktops remotely
•	Provides continuous monitoring and maintenance of your systems’ entire network to optimize its performance and prevent small issues from becoming critical problems

IT support and maintenance is a vital part of any business today, but all too often it is ignored until there is an actual problem. Without continuous monitoring and maintenance, simple issues can explode into crippling problems, costing more money and time than if they had been dealt with proactively. Proactive solutions, such as Technology Advantage®, can be a cost effective solution for smaller businesses that can’t afford or don’t need someone staffed full time. Technology Advantage® provides consistent monitoring and maintenance of your system, stopping many issues before they even begin. Get the business IT support you need now to ensure your business does not come screeching to a halt tomorrow.

To see if Technology Advantage can help your business, click here to request more information or click here to watch our podcast.

Are you frustrated with spam?
Manage Spam and Email with mailMAX
Do you struggle with spam? How many hours of productivity are you losing? Assuming that each employee spends just 5 minutes per day either deleting or reading unwanted email, the cost to your organization is surprising.

The mailMAX Spam Filtering solution is an affordable managed service which is specifically designed to prevent spam from clogging your network and diluting the productivity of its users. mailMAX uses filtering technologies to identify likely spam content and block unwanted messages from entering your network. The mailMAX filtration process:
•	Consistently blocks 95% of spam directed at a typical domain
•	Conserves system resources
•	Saves valuable employee time

Now through September 30th, we’ll waive the $300 setup fee for new mailMAX customers. If you are tired of dealing with spam and junk mail, click here or call your Account Manager for more details.