More and more businesses are turning to managed service providers (MSPs) to handle the complex IT solutions required to stay competitive in today’s marketplace. However, some still view the MSP as the guy who fixes the computers when they go down. The role of the MSP has evolved since the days of the single consultant who would come in and reconnect the printer or remove a virus from your computer.
In order to address security concerns, such as password spray attacks, Microsoft has announced it will end Basic Authentication support on Oct. 13, 2020 for certain protocols. From a risk assessment perspective, the services slated to be blocked as of March 2020 are ActiveSync, POP, IMAP, EWS, and Remote PowerShell.
Businesses are increasingly feeling the need to re-architect their enterprise networks in order to accommodate the rapidly growing demand for wireless connectivity. Many of them are now compelled to build their own enterprise wireless network to support the influx of mobile devices, Internet of Things, and cloud-based applications, as well as increased adoption of WiFi-hungry practices like BYOD.
Talking about the cloud as a solution no longer draws skepticism in the business world. With over 77 percent of businesses having at least one application or a portion of their infrastructure in the cloud, it is safe to say businesses are now comfortable with cloud technologies. Yet with the increased comfort level comes deeper discussion about what businesses can move to the cloud.
IT budgets continue to increase each year as business needs evolve, requiring more digital needs and larger infrastructure—according to Spiceworks, 88 percent of organizations expect their IT budgets to stay the same or grow in 2020. Businesses are looking to replace older operating systems by providing hardware such as laptops and to improve security setups to protect sensitive business and personal data.
Over the years, businesses’ mission-critical technology has expanded at a rapid pace. A network no longer consists of only servers, client computers, and basic networking equipment. Cloud computing has been introduced to host “X as a Service” solutions and applications that rely on big data, allow mobile and remote endpoints, network shares, and multiple communication applications, just to name a few. Even the solutions meant to secure the network and endpoints have grown complex to the point where a misconfigured security solution could leave an organization vulnerable.
This is why many organizations turn to outside partners to conduct a network security assessment. Having one performed by a trusted partner lets you know not only where your organization's security posture currently stands, but also what you can do to better protect yourself from the current threat landscape.
As with most emerging technologies, BYOD (bring your own device) is now something that is accepted among most businesses. BYOD policies benefit both the workers who bring their own personal devices into the workplace and the businesses that allow for it.
Public cloud infrastructures continue to rise in popularity. According to Gartner, Amazon Web Services (AWS) accounts for nearly half of the global infrastructure-as-a-service market. For many organizations, moving to the public cloud can seem intimidating, but it offers benefits of high reliability and scalability.
AWS is popular because of the number of data centers it has around the globe, providing business leaders with a sense of security and availability of company data and systems. As companies expect to expand and grow their business, moving infrastructure to AWS can result in time and cost savings.
However, businesses looking to move to the cloud need to evaluate how to minimize the costs of running applications and workloads in the cloud. Although there are numerous ways to accomplish this goal, here are five helpful tips for AWS cost optimization for your business, whether you’re in Boston, Worcester, Manchester, or elsewhere.
In light of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), companies are looking for a means to offer employees the ability to work at home to maintain "social distancing." With employees hunkering down to remain healthy, Microsoft is helping companies by offering Office 365 E1 licenses for six months. This version of "free Teams licensing" provides unlimited chat, built-in group and one-on-one audio or video calling, 10 GB of team file storage, and 2 GB of personal file storage per user. You also get real-time collaboration with the Office web apps, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.
Organizations that move to Office 365 still need to use Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) relay to route mail from a line-of-business app or scans from a multifunction device to either internal or external recipients.
