Blog | Managed IT Solutions For Businesseshttps://acsapp.com/blog/2024-03-29T05:56:48-04:00ACS IT Services Blog
Inquiring SMBs Want to Know... What's the Difference Between a Help Desk and NOC?2019-05-01T00:00:00-04:002024-03-28T03:16:22-04:00adminhttps://acsapp.com/blog/author/admin/https://acsapp.com/blog/inquiring-smbs-want-to-know-whats-the-difference-between-a-help-desk-and-noc/<p><br/>Inquiring SMBs Want to Know... What's the Difference Between a Help Desk and NOC?<br/> <br/>It's no secret that any growing small-to-medium sized business must monitor and manage its business technology in the most cost-efficient way. The tricky part is figuring out how to do this without sacrificing the overall experience of the end-user. End-users can be clients and customers or employees. Both rely on the efficiency of a firm's network, servers, and applications, and the availability of the company's data center.<br/> <br/>Thanks to the evolution of managed services, it's actually possible these days to reduce costs, which strengthens IT support and infrastructure. It's just a matter optimally integrating all available resources.<br/> <br/><strong>It's a Staffing Conundrum for Most SMBs</strong><br/> <br/>Most SMBs tend to be short staffed. This isn't just another reference to the many SMBs with little to no onsite tech support. While that's true, and problematic, it's actually all operations that tend to be short staffed.<br/> <br/>Small yet growing companies and organizations aren't just short on tech support; it seems like even their administrative assistant needs an assistant to keep up. Customer support and sales teams are also overworked, and often hindered by having to understand and troubleshoot tech problems when they have no tech expertise whatsoever.<br/> <br/>There is no, "Hold for a moment, Sir. I'm about to transfer you to our tech support team." There is no tech support team.<br/> <br/>This is where managed service providers (MSPs) step in to save the day. MSPs help SMBs better manage their technology to achieve greater ROI (Return-on-Investment). One way they do this is by augmenting a SMBs existing on-site staff with the remote support of a 24/7 Network Operations Center (NOC) and Help Desk.<br/> <br/><strong>What's the Difference Between a NOC and Help Desk?</strong><br/> <br/>This question is asked a lot because it's really not uncommon to see both referenced interchangeably, which leaves many to assume they are one in the same. They are not. Here is the easiest way to distinguish between the two.<br/> <br/>NOC: Most of the work performed by a NOC focuses on the network and systems. The NOC can almost be viewed as a mission control center. They monitor and manage an IT network. A 24/7 NOC typically monitors the network and system security, performance, and backup processes.<br/> <br/>Help Desk: The Help Desk is more customer-oriented. The Help Desk has interaction with the end-user, or someone representing the end-user, to directly respond and resolve technical problems as they arise. Customers or employees can typically reach the Help Desk by clicking a support icon, emailing them, or dialing a toll-free number.<br/> <br/><strong>Do the Help Desk and the NOC Interact?</strong><br/> <br/>Although the NOC and Help Desk are different, they do work together, along with any in-house tech support, to provide cohesive tech solutions to end-users. The Help Desk typically has three tiers of support and may sometimes have to escalate tickets to the NOC for resolution.<br/> <br/>This open communication, and ease of escalation, improves the end-user experience and serves as a proactive cost-efficient approach to managing SMB technology.<br/><strong> <br/>Contact us at Advanced Computer Solutions</strong><br/><br/> </p>Click, BOOM – You're in Business But Is Your Technology Ready?2019-04-18T00:00:00-04:002024-03-28T16:24:40-04:00adminhttps://acsapp.com/blog/author/admin/https://acsapp.com/blog/click-boom-youre-in-business-but-is-your-technology-ready/<p><br/>Click, BOOM – You're in Business But Is Your Technology Ready?<br/> <br/>It's a fast business world. Brilliant business ideas can be conjured up at some hipster-filled vegan coffeehouse, a website is thrown together, and poof... in no time at all there is a living, breathing, small business venture accessible from anywhere in the world.<br/> <br/>But as your head hits the pillow at night, with visions of becoming the next Mark Zuckerberg dancing in your head, understand that many obstacles will greet you on your road to entrepreneurial success. A fresh innovative idea is merely a start. For every successful startup like Groupon, there are even more that have faltered. Some great, even revolutionary, business concepts that just faded into obscurity; leaving behind nothing but tales of what could've been and insurmountable debt.<br/> <br/>Failed business technology is often a big reason for this. Many startups think big but tend to operate small-minded to keep overhead and costs down. They then find themselves completely unprepared to meet the demands of growth, particularly when it comes to their IT infrastructure. There is no one-size fit all approach to how to manage technology for optimal efficiency, uptime, and profitability. Especially given the challenges of limited budgets and the need to keep overhead down.<br/> <br/>So exactly how do SMBs make sound decisions regarding their technology infrastructure? Choices that are cost-effective enough to get their business off the ground and running without screwing them over once it truly takes off?<br/> <br/><strong>Combine On-Site and Off-Site Support for the Best of Both Worlds</strong><br/> <br/>Over 45% of SMBs have no dedicated in-house IT staff and no contracted IT consultant regularly monitoring and managing their technology. Roughly only 7 percent of SMBs have a full-time onsite IT technician on payroll. The rest rely on third-party on-call IT companies who appear only when technology goes haywire and disrupts business. These on-call companies can sometimes take a day or two to even show up, which means issues aren't resolved in a timely and efficient manner. And did we mention they're expensive?<br/> <br/>Most SMBs say they simply can't afford full-time in-house support. Even those who do budget for it face overwhelming challenges. They often experience a revolving door of on-site help who leave for a larger company and better salary once they've beefed up their resume. And those hires that do remain loyal often feel as if they have no reliable help and become overworked and frazzled as the business and their responsibilities grow. Discontent may even set in if wages aren't raised proportionately to the added responsibilities, or if they grow bored of doing the same mundane repetitive work everyday.<br/> <br/>But today's SMB has access to technology that won't drain resources. In particular, the evolution of cloud computing and managed services can either automate or re-assign a lot of the day-to-day caretaking of technology to remote employees, leaving onsite support available for more meaningful and potentially profitable projects.<br/> <br/>Better yet, it saves money on equipment costs.<br/> <br/>Whenever possible, a mix of on-premise and off-premise IT support is the best way to make your technology scalable and prepared for growth.<br/> <br/><strong>Contact us at Advanced Computer Solutions</strong><br/> </p>How SMBs Can Utilize the Cloud To Build Their Business2019-02-11T00:00:00-05:002024-03-29T05:56:48-04:00adminhttps://acsapp.com/blog/author/admin/https://acsapp.com/blog/how-smbs-can-utilize-the-cloud-to-build-their-business/<p><br/>How SMBs Can Utilize the Cloud To Build Their Business<br/> <br/>There has been a lot of talk lately about the cloud and its ability to put small to midsize businesses (SMBs) and startups on a level playing field with large global enterprises. Can this be substantiated or is it a load of trendy hype to push SMBs to cloud-based solutions? We’ve compiled this breakdown of how the cloud can be used to boost profitability.<br/><strong> <br/>The Convenience Factor</strong><br/> <br/>It once took smaller companies and startups weeks to launch and configure their own IT infrastructure. Doing so also required a ton of overhead costs. Today’s cloud technology provides the benefits of this very same infrastructure but on an as needed and on-demand basis. SMBs can build a technology infrastructure for themselves online in less than a minute.<br/> <br/>For example, a smaller agency that provides apps for its clients, can turn to a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) cloud provider. A PaaS provides companies an environment that enables them to more easily host and deploy apps. They do this by shielding developers from the hassles that come with the set up, configuration, and management of things like servers and databases.<br/> <br/>Without having to worry about things on the infrastructure side, the company and its application developers can focus on creating innovative apps that will generate business revenue. Once their server is online and available, they can launch instantly with a 1-click deployment of their application.<br/> <br/><strong>Mission Critical Agility & Scalability</strong><br/> <br/>In the tech industry, everyone must channel his or her inner Maverick and Goose* because there is a need... a need for speed. Speed is everything and agility is mission critical. The cloud’s rapid provisioning of computer resources can offer additional storage space in mere minutes rather than weeks.<br/> <br/>Having that kind of agility bodes particularly well for the scalability needs of SMBs. As business grows and the need to store more data increases, the cloud is flexible enough to resize your infrastructure on the fly and grow with you.<br/> <br/>The cost of cloud-based solutions is much more beneficial to SMBs than the cost of traditional shared or dedicated hosting plans. This eliminates the high overhead that comes with buying dedicated hardware and hiring staff to run the servers.<br/> <br/>Cloud technology has empowered SMBs by eliminating any need to make the same kind of costly upfront investments that large enterprise are able to incur. There is no longer a need for SMBs to spend thousands of dollars building out a massive infrastructure to support their big data applications. Better yet, backing up that big data is also inexpensive compared to traditional hosting solutions.<br/> <br/>* Top Gun, 1986, in case you were wondering<br/> <br/><strong>Contact us at Advanced Computer Solutions</strong><br/> </p>Improve employee morale with this simple tip.2018-12-11T00:00:00-05:002024-03-25T17:43:38-04:00adminhttps://acsapp.com/blog/author/admin/https://acsapp.com/blog/improve-employee-morale-with-this-simple-tip/<div class="wistia_responsive_padding" style="padding: 56.25% 0 0 0; position: relative;">
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<p><br/>Hi, I'm Albert Steed with Advanced Computer Solutions. We find many small businesses suffer from computer downtime. At Advanced Computer Solutions we employ a group of professional nerds who eliminate computer downtime. Companies that work with Advanced Computer Solutions enjoy higher productivity, more profitability and just overall more happiness once their computer problems are eliminated.</p>
<p><br/>Today I want to talk about one great big thing you can do to help eliminate computer problems on your network and for your business. Today's challenge is for you to eliminate all of the consumer grade equipment that is running on your network. Consumer grade equipment is stuff that you buy at Best Buy, and at Staples, in your local office supply store.This equipment, well, it comes from an office supply store, is truly only meant to be used for your home network. It also has almost no security built into it. </p>
<p><br/>I've got a prime example of something we would consider consumer grade. This is a piece of equipment made by Netgear. What's neat about this is it also is fully hackable by the Russians. Netgear may or may not have release an update to it so that the Russians can no longer access it. I would highly suggest that if you have piece of equipment made by Netgear in your network that you should remove it promptly. Get with your network I.T. professional and put in some managed gear some high quality business grade gear. This one thing can eliminate hours of downtime every year for your network.</p>
<p><br/>Again, I'm Albert Steed with Advanced Computer Solutions where we find that companies that eliminate computer problems enjoy higher productivity, increase profitability and just overall happiness with their business and computers.</p>
<p><br/>Thanks Have a good day.</p>
<p> </p>SMBs: It is Hackers v. You - Don't Let Them Score2018-09-12T00:00:00-04:002024-03-29T04:27:51-04:00adminhttps://acsapp.com/blog/author/admin/https://acsapp.com/blog/smbs-it-is-hackers-v-you-dont-let-them-score/<p><br/>SMBs: It is Hackers v. You - Don't Let Them Score<br/> <br/>Selling stolen IDs and other personal data is a lucrative trade for hackers. They are always looking for sources where vital information is stored. As a small to midsize business you store your client's personal information, collected from different sources, on your computers and servers. Your Point-of-sale (PoS) terminal and some website transactions can be completed by use of electronic banking, credit cards or debit cards only. Your customers have to key-in their pins or passwords to make payments. That information has to be saved. Also, depending on the kind of services or products you provide, you may be collecting Social Security numbers, addresses, driver's license numbers and DOBs of your clients. Information that personal is as important as it can get. Any source of that information is like a gold mine for a hacker. All this means only one thing for you: A data security nightmare.<br/> <br/>Here are the channels hackers can use to break into your IT infrastructure</p>
<p>Your website: Hackers have become very sophisticated in cyber attacks on websites. They can access specific information by targeting websites that have the information they are looking for. For example, if they want only financial information about their victims, they can use tools that will fish for the websites that carry that kind of information. Implementation of web-based applications has made it easier for cyber criminals to connect to your website data base. They are able to find the loopholes and hack into systems. They can then access your customer's personal information, allowing them to steal from your clients by committing credit card and bank fraud. Or they can just sell your client's info on the Internet.</p>
<p>Your computers and servers: Your computers and servers are treasure-troves of information. By sending malware into your systems they can steal your admin passwords, and then login to your servers and other network devices. These hardware devices are the ultimate prize for cyber thieves because these devices not only hold important information about your clients, they also have all the information about your business and possibly about your vendors and associates. There is nothing about your business that these hackers don't know. Imagine how devastating this attack can be.</p>
<p>Mobile devices used by your employees: If you are one of those entities that allow their employees to use their mobile devices to conduct business, you have another security dimension to worry about. You don't know how secure their mobile phones, iPads, laptops or tablets are. You don't know how hard or easy their passwords are to crack. Breach of security into those devices will lead hackers right into your networks where they can steal data at will.</p>
<p>Unsecure Wi-Fi network: Most businesses keep their Wi-Fi networks well protected, but unsecured Wi-Fi is an open invitation to cyber criminals. If your Wi-Fi network is not secure, hackers are one step closer to breaking into your systems without even trying.</p>
<p>Your PoS systems: PoS systems are the prime targets for hackers who want to commit financial fraud. Cyber thieves know that PoS systems that come with pre-loaded software can be hacked using an unsecured Wi-Fi network. This fraud has a direct impact on an individual's finances because a hacker can make unauthorized credit card charges quickly and move on before anyone realizes what happened. Ruined credit can take years to mend.</p>
<p>Your emails: Email is another venue that hackers use to infect computers with malicious software. They send viruses that replicate themselves in the host computers, performing various tasks such as denial of service to the users of your systems, spamming your contacts and accessing data without authorization.</p>
<p>Summary: After reading this article you probably feel like you are in cyber warfare with hackers and your IT infrastructure is the battlefield. You are absolutely right. Hackers are relentless and they are devising new methods all the time to steal from businesses. But this is one fight you can't let them win. Protecting client data is not just a moral obligation. You are legally bound by the privacy laws to protect this information by all means. Breach in data security can ruin your reputation, and the financial liability to meet legal obligations may become too much to sustain.</p>
<p>So how do you fight this war in which you have to make certain that there is only one winner? Outsource your IT managed services to professionals who will monitor your networks 24/7 from a remote location. Your in-house IT management team may be able to fix problems, but it is important that proactive solutions are in place in case there is data loss as a result of a breach. Managed services can create solid data backup & recovery plans that will have your systems up and running quickly, so you can reduce downtime and protect your revenue.</p>4 reasons you will never be secure using your Mirotik, Netgear, Linksys or other consumer grade devices.2018-07-02T00:00:00-04:002024-03-27T14:27:49-04:00adminhttps://acsapp.com/blog/author/admin/https://acsapp.com/blog/4-reasons-you-will-never-be-secure-using-your-mirotik-netgear-linksys-or-other-consumer-grade-devices/<p>4 reasons you will never be secure using your Mirotik, Netgear, Linksys or other consumer grade devices.</p>
<p>The VPNFilter vulnerability has opened a lot of eyes to the world of network security. The very thought that a foreign governments military has complete access to our internet life is terrifying. The ramifications of the vulnerability are real, stolen data, stolen identities, theft, and fraud. It should really be no surprise that the VPNFilter vulnerability exists, and here are the reasons why.</p>
<ol>
<li>These devices were never designed to provide security.</li>
</ol>
<p>If you visit each of these manufacturers web site and do a search, you will not find the word “security”, as it relates to their product, on any of their home pages. This is because these devices are not security devices.</p>
<ol>
<li value="2">You can never provide adequate security at the price point these devices are sold.</li>
</ol>
<p>Visit a true security device manufacturer and you will see the devices sell for multiples of the cost of these devices. Providing security means having Security Operations Centers, international monitoring of the security threat vectors, complicated resource intensive software to run on the devices, and many other expensive security related costs.</p>
<ol>
<li value="3">Your security device needs to be continually updated.</li>
</ol>
<p>Threat vectors are constantly changing. Updating the firmware once or twice in a devices life will not keep you protected. Your device needs to be constantly receiving updated information on the threats that are being thrown at it. A true threat protection device will be receiving updated virus definitions daily or hourly. In the case of a Fortinet, with their security fabric, the device will get updates in real time from other devices as threats are discovered. Not one of the above-mentioned devices is capable of this. As a matter of fact, some devices may only get one update in its entire lifetime!</p>
<ol>
<li value="4">These devices are only as smart as you are.</li>
</ol>
<p>These devices have only a few simple jobs of which they are capable. These include, getting you online quickly, getting your devices online cheaply, keeping others from getting direct access to your network from the outside (I know what you’re thinking “see it does protect me, you just said so!” Read on, and learn why this statement is very misleading.)</p>
<p>Microtik, Netgear, Linksys, and the others do two of these things very well. It’s true, you can get several devices online very cheaply, and the connections tend to be very fast. However, the last item, keeping the bad guys out of your network, they do very poorly.</p>
<p>Let’s start with the VPNFilter problem. In this vulnerability the bad guys literally have direct, secret, and comprehensive access to all of your internet traffic. This is because they have literally gained access to your very device that is designed to protect you. If the very device that is designed to keep people out of your network, is itself compromised, then it very well cannot be doing its job of keeping people out of your network.</p>
<p>Lastly and most importantly, these devices are not intelligent. They will allow you to do anything you want. Whether it is dangerous, harmful, or benign, the devices do not care. If your computer begins suddenly communicating with computers in Russia, the firewall doesn’t care. If you invite a virus into your network, the firewall doesn’t care, it will let it through. If you click a link that brings you to a website that endangers your network, the firewall just allows you to go. These devices do not protect you from your own mistakes.</p>
<p>Conclusion</p>
<p>We at ACS believe that only a <a href="https://www.fortinet.com/solutions/small-business/connected-utm.html" title="What's a UTM firewall?">UTM</a> firewall, produced by a true security company can secure a network. We work with Fortinet, and sell the Fortigate firewall. Gartner ranks the Fortinet firewall as a leader among all firewall vendors.</p>Higher goals get dragged down by Tech: The NPO story2018-05-31T00:00:00-04:002024-03-28T16:23:38-04:00adminhttps://acsapp.com/blog/author/admin/https://acsapp.com/blog/higher-goals-get-dragged-down-by-tech-the-npo-story/<p><br/>If you are a smaller Not-for-Profit, it is likely that your organization has been driven from its inception by individuals strongly motivated with a passion for their cause or humanitarian goal. As a result, it is also possible that the leadership has little interest in developing the administrative technology infrastructure that is necessary for any organization to function in the internet age.<br/> <br/>Failure to understand and focus on technology can damage an organization's growth and success. However, NPO leadership has to be laser focused on the day-to-day struggles of the organization such as seeking funding, keeping the doors open, and pursuing the mission. As a consequence, technology infrastructure may be cobbled together as an afterthought; resource limitations may lead to short term tech decisions that can be wasteful and more expensive in the long term.<br/> <br/>An NPO, with its tight budget margins, is an excellent example of an organization that could benefit from outsourcing its fundamental tech needs to a MSP. A MSP can determine short and long term needs, assess possible solutions, and propose the most cost effective tech solutions to ensure a stable, long-term tech infrastructure. Without the time or stomach for administrative distractions, NPOs may continue to use the break/fix model, making less informed tech decisions that may ultimately waste precious resources. Good and careful planning with a professional can mean a better strategic use of organizational resources far into the future.<br/> </p>