When most leaders think about “enterprise IT,” they imagine huge budgets, massive teams, and complicated systems that slow things down. For many growing businesses, that image is enough to put off investments in IT until something breaks.

But the truth is, you don’t have to be a Fortune 500 company to have Fortune 500-level IT infrastructure. In fact, your ability to scale smoothly and stay competitive depends on building a scalable IT foundation before growth forces your hand.

Picture this: it’s 9:30 AM on a Monday, your entire sales team is locked out of their email, and the clock is ticking. You submit a ticket to your IT provider, get a generic auto-response, and wait. And wait. And wait… By the time the issue is resolved, you’ve lost half a day of productivity, and maybe a client or two.

This scenario isn’t unusual. It’s the hidden cost of an outdated IT support model built on ticket queues. While queues might help IT providers manage internal workloads, they create a frustrating and expensive bottleneck for the companies they serve.

So, you’ve leaped to the Cloud – awesome move! Lower costs, data access 24/7, and better reliability are on the horizon. But, hey, let’s talk about something real: your data’s safety. It’s like that cool gadget you bought – you want it secure, right? Here are three simple steps to keep your data safe in the Cloud.

Data loss is as unique as the various sources from which it comes. The key is to identify the areas in which your business is weak and work toward a mitigation plan for each one of them. An MSP can act as a trusted partner in such cases, guiding you through the process of safeguarding your data.

In today’s landscape, cyber threats loom large over businesses of all sizes, and cyber insurance has emerged as not just a choice but a crucial necessity. Despite the growing prominence of cybercrime, many small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) remain unaware of the pivotal role cyber insurance plays in safeguarding their interests.

As someone running an SMB, you probably have a lot on your plate. You are the core decision maker, responsible for growing your business, keeping your clients happy, and getting all the work done. Often, when you have so much going on, one area that gets overlooked is IT. When you are so busy looking into other things, the start of IT issues may slip your watchful eyes. In this blog, we discuss the IT red flags that you need to watch out for.

Small-to-medium-sized businesses and large enterprises may seem worlds apart, but they face many of the same cybersecurity threats. In recent years, cybercriminals have increasingly targeted SMBs because they have smaller budgets and less in-house expertise for protection. Thankfully, there are several things SMBs can do today to get more from even the most limited security budget.

Most businesses are now technology-dependent. This means security concerns aren’t just worrisome to large corporate enterprises anymore, but also to the neighborhood sandwich shop, the main street tax advisor, and the local non-profit. Regardless of size or type, practically any organization has valuable digital assets and data that should not be breached under any circumstances.

The foundation of any successful business continuity solution is the ability to retrieve data from any point in time from anywhere. When the topic of data recovery and business continuity comes up, you get the feeling that many decision-makers at smaller businesses and organizations wish they could channel their inner six-year-old, simply cover their ears, and sing “La, la, la. I Can’t Hear You. I’m Not Listening.”

Shielding against an internal security breach proves to be the ultimate challenge in preventing data loss. While digital safeguards can be implemented to thwart external intrusions, curbing the inadvertent sharing of confidential information among employees poses a distinct challenge. To fortify defenses, businesses must delve deeper into the intricacies of this looming threat.

Entrepreneurs and small businesses, fairly new ones, often don’t think about making plans to recover in case of a disaster. However, it is the smallest business that most likely has the fewest resources to fall back on in case of disaster.

If you are unfortunate enough to be the victim of a ransomware attack, there are only three options open to you. Ransomware is a type of computer virus that kidnaps your data and holds it hostage for money. It has become increasingly common to attack governments and all manner of businesses and not-for-profit institutions.

It sounds like the plot of a movie… It is called “ransomware" and it does exactly what it says: holds a ransom over your company’s information until payment is submitted. The most common type of ransomware on the street is CryptoLocker.

Hearing “all of your confidential information is extremely vulnerable, we know this because…” is bad news, but whatever follows the ellipses determines just how bad. Consider two scenarios.

Below, you will find a list of questions to ask potential vCISO vendors. The list covers a wide range of topics, from security and compliance to experience to the right tools and the team. The answers to these questions can help you determine whether the vCISO you’re assessing is the right choice. In many cases, there is no right or wrong answer, there are answers that are right for your business needs.

Industries are becoming more interconnected and the demand for robust security measures is skyrocketing as larger organizations force their smaller partners to adopt stringent security practices as a contractual requirement. For many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), the pressure to comply with enterprise-level security standards is a make-or-break factor in securing profitable contracts and maintaining partnerships.

In the previous blog, we discussed how enterprises are imposing their security standards on SMB partners. These standards may feel overwhelming, especially when resources and budgets are limited. However, these requirements are not simply a contract requirement—they are now your security requirements.

It’s no secret that cyberthreats pose an existential threat to your business. Even if an in-house CISO is not in your current scope, you can still take meaningful steps towards a solid cybersecurity strategy and actionable cybersecurity policies, leveraging your existing IT resources. To get started, here are five things your team should be doing, yesterday…

The vCISO concept has been gaining prominence as of late, particularly as small and medium-sized organizations face cyber threats that are growing in severity and sophistication. Without the resources to hire an in-house CISO and security team, businesses are increasingly turning to vCISOs for their cybersecurity requirements.