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Whether it be cloud, mobile, or on-premises, every technology you use stores certain confidential data that are accessed by your employees. So how do you guarantee the safety of said data from cyber threats like identity theft, phishing attacks and more? IAM is the answer.

What is IAM?

Identity and access management is a system that secures, stores, and manages user identities and access privileges. It ensures that users are who they say they are and will grant access to applications and resources only if they have the permission to use them.

Some of the most common IAM solutions include single sign-on (SSO), multi-factor authentication (MFA), and access management, all of which can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud.

Why is it so important?

Modern technology enables businesses to be more agile and efficient than ever before. For instance, the cloud lets your employees work from anywhere at anytime on any device. However, this means that your workforce has moved beyond the protections of on-premise security.

That’s why you need to embrace another security solution, one that focuses on identity rather than physical or network security, which is exactly what IAM was designed for. It makes sure that your employees, customers, and partners are who they say they are and are only able to access the resources they need, nothing more. And that’s just scratching the surface on how IAM can benefit your company.

Centralize access control

Too much access to certain systems are risky and too little can hamper productivity and frustrate users. IAM strikes the perfect balance by letting you set centralized policies for the right access privileges. For example, you can deny your design team access to the accounting system while granting it to your CFO.

Each user’s role and attribute can be used to determine which resources they’re allowed to access and to what extent. This not only offers better security but also more flexibility and ease of management.

Lower chances of data breaches

With SSO and MFA, your employees will no longer have to remember multiple passwords. Instead, they’ll be able to prove their identity using evidence-based authorization such as answering a personal question that only they would know. IAM also comes equipped with advanced encryption tools to protect sensitive data and so reduces the risk of compromised user credentials.

Improve user experience

Customers today interact with your company across multiple channels, whether in the cloud or via third-party applications. This is where IAM helps provide a better experience through SSO, self-service capabilities, and unified customer profiles that makes communication processes quick and easy.

Your employees, on the other hand, will be able to access the information they need securely and conveniently no matter where they are. This means productivity will no longer be confined to their office table.

Achieve regulatory compliance

Businesses today must meet the constantly changing regulatory requirements concerning data access governance and privacy management. IAM was designed with just that in mind and provides control over who can access data and how it can be used and shared.

Reduce IT costs

IAM automates and standardizes many aspects of identity, authentication, and authorization management. This means you’ll be able to minimize significant labor costs associated with keeping your business environment secure.

Identity and access management solution equips you with much-needed security without compromising on usability and convenience. To operate in today’s digital business environment, it’s not a matter of “if” but “when” you’ll adopt IAM within your company.

If you’re looking to enhance company-wide security, whether with IAM or other solutions, why not give us a call? We’re sure we can help.

In July 2017, Microsoft announced three brand new apps for Office 365: Connections, Listings, and Invoicing. They were designed for businesses with fewer than 300 employees and after a few months of beta testing, they’re finally available to Business Premium users. Take a minute to learn about what they can do for your team!

Microsoft Invoicing

Word and Excel have hundreds of templates for generating company invoices, but this new app does much more than just create documents. Invoicing allows you to store the names, descriptions, and prices of your products and services in a connected database. You can also store your tax information, company logo, and a click-to-pay PayPal badge, which means half of the necessary information is automatically filled out the moment you click Create.

In addition to clean and professional looking documents, Invoicing also makes it easy to organize, store, and search past invoices thanks to a built-in QuickBooks integration. Last but not least, all of this is easily accessible from Microsoft’s mobile app.

Microsoft Listings

With its centralized dashboard, Listings allows you to manage and update company details displayed by Google, Facebook, Bing, and Yelp. It also helps you monitor your company’s online reputation by tracking page-views, company reviews, and Likes.

Microsoft Connections

Connections is the perfect app for small business email marketing. Similar to the Invoicing platform, Connections stores your company information and uses it to create personalized email marketing campaigns with the click of a button.

For example, templates for newsletters, referrals, and promotions include customizable discounts and offers that trigger pre-written follow-up campaigns. Connections tracks and analyzes the performance of all your email-based campaigns to make refining and improving your content a breeze, whether it’s from your desktop or the mobile app.

How to enable Invoicing, Listings, and Connections

As long as you have an Office 365 Business Premium subscription, accessing these apps requires only a global admin login. From the Admin Center, click the Settings tab on the left-hand side of the screen, followed by Services & add-ins and then Business apps. In this menu, you can grant specific users permission to use Microsoft’s newest programs.

Setting up these apps is fairly easy. However, it’s even easier to have your Office 365 account managed by us. We could have remotely installed Invoicing, Listings, and Connections for you almost a month ago, and with our information security expertise and unlimited IT support requests, there’s no limit to the value we can add to your Office 365 subscription. Give us a call to get started!

There are countless platforms that showcase, review and link to small businesses, but few have as much impact as Google does. Although business owners can’t choose where their site ranks in the search results, they can edit information that is displayed and insert some flashy new features.

How to edit your business’s Google listing

When someone types your business’s name and location into Google.com, a “Knowledge Panel” is displayed on the righthand side of the search results with information about your office. If your business doesn’t have a Knowledge Panel, you can change that by opening a free Google My Business (GMB) account.

The GMB platform lets you link to your website, update office information (address, hours, phone number, etc.) and choose which photos Google associates with your company. GMB also gives you data about how many people:

• Saw your business’s Knowledge Panel in search results
• Visited your website by clicking somewhere in the Knowledge Panel
• Asked for directions via the Knowledge Panel

What’s new with GMB?

In the summer of 2017, Google announced that business owners could customize “Posts” in their Knowledge Panel. Posts are made up of a 100-300 word caption, an image and a call-to-action button, such as Learn More, Sign Up, Buy, etc. Posts automatically expire after seven days, which makes them perfect for sales, events and content marketing.

More recently, Google added another exciting feature: the ability to schedule appointments from inside the Knowledge Panel. If your website uses one of the 22 accepted plugins, you can connect it with GMB to make it easier for searchers to book a reservation at your location. Google is in the process of rolling out this feature to gyms, beauty salons and restaurants, but a wider release is on the way.

How do I enable Bookings?

Adding this feature to your GMB page is an easy four-step process:

1. Log in to Google My Business
2. Click on the Sign Up For Bookings icon below your business’s profile
3. Choose your booking provider from the list of approved vendors and sign up on its site
4. Check back in a few days and start tracking your appointments with GMB!

If your business accepts reservations, this feature will be an indispensable tool for improving your customers’ experiences. For more information on low-cost technology solutions that add value to your business — give us a call today.

Modern IT systems are generating more data than ever before, and humans can’t keep up. Thankfully, certain tasks have already been offloaded to machines. Even better, Cisco may have a long-term solution to IT management complexities.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are extremely useful in helping us sift through massive amounts of information, and networking behemoth Cisco recently announced that they will be incorporating these technologies with two of their services.

Business Critical Services

This suite of services uses AI-powered automation, compliance, security, and machine learning analytics tools to reduce the complexity of IT systems management. It helps monitor the health of your business services and mitigate risks via automated compliance and remediation audits.

You can also replicate your network to improve reliability between your hardware and software components, and deploy features with automation capabilities.

Cisco High Value Services

This product support model provides network, software, and solution support using advanced analytics and best practices to access infrastructure performance and remediate issues. Cisco aims to improve business continuity and reduce resource constraints with remote monitoring, automated incident detection, and high SLAs.

Some of the services you can expect include software analysis, workflow integration, customer benchmarking, and predictive network analysis.

Using cutting-edge technologies as well as networking and hardware expertise, Cisco is gearing up its attempt to predict IT failures before they happen. That said, we assume it’s only a matter of time before other major developers follow suit, and when they do, you’ll be the first to know.

If you’d like to learn more about how to predict IT failures before they happen, or stay protected and operational when they do, just give us a call.

When you spend more than eight hours a day staring at a computer screen, it can be easy to lose focus on important tasks. While your device gives you access to some of the most useful applications, an ever-growing number of distractions are vying for your attention. Here are a few tricks for boosting your productivity levels.

Monitor productivity levels
Start by tracking how much work you complete on an average day. Google Chrome Extensions like RescueTime record your most frequently visited sites, and track how much time you spend away from your computer. Running the app will provide you with a productivity rating and a detailed log of how you spend an average day.

If you find out you’re wasting a huge portion of your time on social networking, you’re more likely to make conscious adjustments on how you manage your time.

Get rid of clutter
Another way to increase output is by deleting old files, uninstalling unused programs, and organizing documents into appropriately labeled folders. This makes your work easier to find and improves your computer’s performance.

As for the clutter in your email inbox, Gmail and Outlook both have features that filter out unimportant messages. Simply enable Priority Inbox on Gmail or Clutter on Outlook to get a clean, spam-free inbox.

Block time-wasting sites
Visiting non-work-related websites is a surefire way to hinder productivity. A quick, five-minute break to check your Facebook feed or watch a YouTube clip may not seem like much, but a few of those per day add up to a lot of time.

If you and your employees have trouble staying away from sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, it’s a good idea to block access to them using URL filters.

Of course, if you want your employees to take occasional breaks during the day, you could use apps like StayFocusd or Strict Workflow. These allow you to set a limit on how long and how many times users can visit non-work-related sites.

Stay on track with to-do lists
To-do lists help you break down large projects into manageable, bite-sized tasks. And perhaps the most satisfying aspect is crossing things off the list, giving you and your employees a sense of accomplishment and total visibility of your progress.

There are wide variety of digital to-do lists available today like Google Tasks or Trello. These platforms allow you to set deadlines for small tasks and write clear instructions for each item on the list. What’s more, they’re incredibly easy to use and are great for keeping track of your workflow.

Use keyboard shortcuts
Last but not least, mastering keyboard shortcuts will make it easier to perform simple functions than if you’re stuck looking for them in the toolbar. There are more than a hundred useful shortcuts, but some that you should always keep in mind are:

• • Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V, Ctrl + X – to copy, paste, and cut selected items
  • Ctrl + Z – to undo changes
  • Ctrl + T – to open a new tab on your web browser
  • Alt + Tab – to switch between open windows
  • Alt + F4 – to close the program

For many more like these, take a look at Windows’ list of advanced shortcuts.

These are just some of the tips every user should know to stay productive. If you need more ideas on how to get more out of your technology, call us today. We provide enterprise-level tools and advice that will make your life a lot easier.

Whether you run a startup or a well-established corporation, there are always ways to improve how the business is managed. For some, introducing new corporate policies can streamline business processes, but if you want to see significant improvement, consider enterprise resource planning (ERP) software.

What is ERP?
Simply put, ERP software integrates various aspects of your business — from accounting and human resources to production and sales — into one system where you can easily manage tasks and process data.

The key feature of any ERP system is a central database that gives users a complete summary of financials, sales figures, and other important metrics. In practice, this means employees in different departments can rely on the same information without your having to reenter that information into a different database.

But simplicity is only one of many benefits.

Enhanced reporting
With business information consolidated in one location, you can generate comprehensive reports and analytics at any time.

One of the most popular uses for this feature is financial reporting. General ledgers, revenue recognition, and tax reporting functionality are built into most ERP software solutions, allowing you to balance the books in seconds.

In addition to this, ERP systems come equipped with business intelligence features that provide intuitive analysis into your operations and forecast the growth of your company. This helps you and other executives find fresh business opportunities and make better-informed decisions.

Better customer service
Access to up-to-date business information also makes it easy to provide high-quality customer service. Suppose a customer inquired whether or not an item was still in stock. Rather than wasting five minutes asking your supply manager, who then checks his or her own records, representatives can access the ERP database to provide the customer with information in half the time.

Simplified compliance
Until recently, most organizations were forced to rely on impractical spreadsheets and manual processes to meet compliance requirements; but with ERP, you can easily and consistently achieve this.

ERP software generally comes with audit functionality, giving you full visibility into your processes. What’s more, it provides templates and guidance to help you meet regulations within your industry, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the International Financial Reporting Standards.

Streamlined workflow
Another key feature is automation. Repetitive tasks that eat a huge chunk of your time can be eliminated by programming automated workflows. For example, you can set your ERP to instantly reorder materials when stock levels have reached a certain threshold. This ensures that your shop never experiences out-of-stock or overstocked incidents.

You can even assign workflows that route invoices and reimbursements to the right accountant to make sure tasks are handled quickly and efficiently.

Rich integrations
The beauty of ERP software is that you can integrate it with other services to extend its capabilities. If you need to track customer information and sales figures, you can combine it with customer relationship management software or pair it with e-commerce services to streamline web-based purchases.

ERP systems can adapt to your ever-changing needs, which is incredibly valuable for your rapidly growing business. If you need more ideas or solutions that can add value to your business other than ERP, call us today!

In late August 2017, Hurricane Harvey caused widespread power outages and floods across Texas and certain parts of Louisiana. Weeks later, Hurricane Irma hit the coast, affecting Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina businesses. Now, experts are saying there are more storms to come, which is why you need a good disaster recovery (DR) plan that has you prepared for the worst.

Pay attention to location
First and foremost, your backup site should be in a hurricane-free zone. Ideally, your offsite facility should be located at least 100 miles away from your main location. If this isn’t possible, make sure it is built to withstand wind speeds of 160 mph (as fast as Category 5 storms), and is supported by backup generators and uninterruptible power supplies.

You should also request an upper floor installation or, at the very least, keep critical IT equipment 18 inches off the ground to prevent water damage.

Determine recovery hierarchy
Certain parts of your IT are more mission-critical than others. Ask yourself which systems or data must be recovered in minutes, hours, or days to get your business back to running efficiently.

For example, you may find that recovering sensitive customer information and e-commerce systems take priority over recovering your email server. Whatever the case may be, prioritizing your systems ensures that the right ones are recovered quickly after a disaster.

Use image-based backups
Unlike fragile tape backups, image-based backups take “snapshots” of your systems, creating a copy of the OS, software, and data stored in it. From here, you can easily boot the virtual image on any device, allowing you to back up and restore critical business systems in seconds.

Take advantage of the cloud
The cloud allows you to host applications and store data in high-availability, geo-redundant servers. This means your backups can be accessed via the internet, allowing authorized users to access critical files from any device. Expert technicians will also watch over and secure your backups, allowing you to enjoy the benefits of enterprise-level backup facilities and IT support.

Back up your data frequently
Back up your data often, especially during disaster season. If your latest backups were created on the 15th of September and the next storm, Hurricane Jose, makes landfall on the 28th, you could lose nearly two weeks of data.

Get in the habit of replicating your files at the end of each day, which should be easy if you’ve opted for image-based backups.

Test your DR plan
After setting up your backups, check whether they are restoring your files accurately and on time. Your employees should be drilled on the recovery procedures and their responsibilities during and after disaster strikes. Your DR team should also be trained on how to failover to the backup site before the storm hits. Finally, providers, contractors, and customers need to be notified about how the hurricane will affect your operations.

As cell towers and internet connections may be affected during this time, make sure your company forums are online and have your employees register with the Red Cross Safe and Well website so you can check their statuses.

It’s nearly impossible to experience little-to-no disruptions during disasters like Harvey or Irma, but with the right support, you can minimize downtime. If you’re concerned about any natural disasters putting you out of business, call us today. We offer comprehensive business continuity services that every company must have.

Today’s workforce is no longer confined to office walls. People work from home, while they’re commuting to and from work, and even on vacation. This is made possible thanks to remote access solutions, and Amazon’s powerful web features. Here’s what you need to know about this powerful application streaming service.

What is it?

Initially released in 2013, Amazon AppStream was created as a platform for remote access to digital resources to help businesses streamline the costly process of managing apps on-premises. Simply put, it streams desktop apps to users across various devices via a browser.

Today, Amazon AppStream 2.0 has been updated with major improvements thanks to user feedback. Now, you can stream desktop applications from Amazon Web Services to any device running a web browser compatible with HTML 5.

What can you do with Amazon AppStream 2.0?

You can run desktop applications on any device, including Windows, Linux, Macs, and Chromebooks. Amazon AppStream 2.0 features multiple streaming options, including the General Purpose, Compute Optimized, and Memory Optimized.

Everything is fully managed by Amazon and all your applications and data will be kept on Amazon Web Services. This means you can expect robust security like network firewalls, web application firewalls, secure streaming gateway, encryption in transit across all services, and the ability to isolate your applications for secure delivery.

You’ll always have access to the latest version of your applications and minimize the risk of compromising confidential data if your device gets lost or stolen, as data is stored on Amazon’s cloud infrastructure.

What other benefits are there?

Apart from mobile access to documents and applications, you’ll appreciate the simple user interface that allows you to upload files to a session, access and edit them, and download them when you’re done.

What’s more, Amazon AppStream 2.0 uses NICE DCV for high-performance streaming. This ensures secure and fast access to applications since NICE DCV automatically adjusts to network conditions.

Amazon AppStream 2.0 also supports delivery of high performance graphics applications from Amazon Web Services. This allows you to stream powerful graphics applications to a web browser on any desktop.

Last but not least, this remote access solution lets you scale up or down as needed and pay only for the streaming instances you use, and a small monthly fee per authorized user. There’s no upfront capital or premises infrastructure maintenance costs.

If your business mainly consists of a remote workforce or is planning to adopt remote work policies, Amazon AppStream 2.0 is one solid option. For other tips on how small- and- medium-sized businesses can leverage technology to improve efficiency and lower costs, give us a call and we’ll be happy to advise.

Customer relationship management (CRM) software is essential for every marketing, sales, and customer service department. It allows you to capture your customers’ information and keep a record of their interactions with your business. If you’re new to the concept of CRM, here are some tips and tricks to help you get the most out of it.

Always update customer information
A CRM system is only effective when the data it provides is current. If the customer’s address, company name, or preferred method of contact has changed, your staff should be recording this information immediately so your sales and marketing teams are always equipped with the right information.

Use purchasing history for upselling opportunities
It’s easier to sell to existing customers than acquiring new ones. Boost your sales performance by analyzing your existing clients’ purchasing history and designing promotions or events designed just for them. For example, if they recently purchased a razor from your online store, you can program your CRM to recommend related products like shaving cream or aftershave. Not only does this widen your profit margins, it also makes customers’ lives a lot easier and promotes repeat business.

Automate processes
Take advantage of the workflow automation features in CRM apps to eliminate time-consuming and repetitive tasks. For instance, when a new lead is added to your CRM (via newsletter subscriptions or website visits), the CRM can be programmed to send follow-up emails, offer promotions, and other interactions to keep your business at the forefront of their attention. This saves you from writing the same canned responses while also making sure that you’re engaging your clients throughout the entire sales process.

Learn from analytics
CRM also makes it possible to analyze customer trends and behavior. If you noticed a spike in demand for certain products and services during the holidays, be more aggressive in pushing them out next year. If certain email campaigns were more successful than others (e.g., higher open rates, click-through-rates, and potential customers), understand what elements were responsible for that success and try to replicate them the next time you send a newsletter.

Customer data should also be used to shape sales and marketing tactics. A salesperson that already knows the client’s name, locations, and preferences can deliver more personal sales pitches and has a better chance of closing a deal. The point is this: If you’re not learning from your data, your business growth will be limited.

Integrate CRM with other business software
Tying CRM software to other programs makes it even more powerful. Integration with accounting software combines customer and financial data, eliminating redundant manual data entry and providing more insightful reports. When used alongside a VoIP system, your staff will get relevant customer information from multiple databases displayed on one screen when they’re about to make a call.

Get some CRM support
Last but not least, work with a CRM provider that offers 24/7 support. Ideally, they should be keeping your data safe, updating your software regularly, and advising you on how to use complex CRM features.

This may seem like a lot, but the important thing to remember is that just like every technology investment, CRM requires active participation from executives, managers, and frontline staff. If you need more advice on keeping customers happy or want to know what technologies can add value to your business, call us today.

Employees don’t usually prioritize managing files and photos because they can be tedious and time-consuming. Those who have to deal with a high volume of files and photos across different devices often depend on the auto-sync functions of Google Drive or do manual backups on external drives or SD cards. With Google’s nifty new application, managing files and photos is more seamless.

Seamless backups and syncing

Google’s new application, Backup and Sync, allows both PC and Mac users to seamlessly back up files, photos, and video files from various devices, SD cards, and USB drives in Google Drive or Google Photos.

To use the app, download and install it on your Mac or your Windows computer, sign in with your Google account, select your sync settings, and choose the folders you wish to back up. If you’re uploading photos or videos, you can choose between High or Original quality upload size. And if you want to upload photos only, you have the option to upload to Google Photos.

Once you’re done setting up, a folder will be created on your computer where files can be saved and accessible anywhere via the cloud. Any file dropped into this folder will automatically sync to Google Drive.

Benefits and downside

Although Backup and Sync is free, you can store only up to 15 GB of data. But if you want to exceed the limit, simply upgrade your Google Drive storage. That said, this new tool is valuable because it simplifies the backup process.

The app is especially beneficial to businesses because it’s easy to set up and requires minimal effort from users. It’s also useful to companies with remote work policies; employees can simply drag and drop files into their computer’s folder and access them anywhere from any device.

Backup and Sync not only gives your business greater flexibility by providing anytime-anywhere access to your files, but it also helps keep them safe and sound in the cloud. If you want to explore other productivity tools for your business, get in touch with us today.