A successful small to medium business (SMB’s) must align its technology and business initiatives. Constant employee productivity must be maintained to meet the needs and expectations of customers. To successfully do this, an honest assessment of risk is necessary. Regrettably, many SMB owners or management teams remain in state of denial that mismanaged technology has any serious consequences on their business. Meanwhile, it is costing them every day!
Here are 5 Things SMBs Can Do Right Now To Preserve Their Network and Systems:
1. Backup Files Every Day
The number of businesses that never backup their network is astonishing. According to the Symantec SMB data, only 23% of SMBs are backing up their data daily. Fewer than 50% are backing up data weekly. A number of events can result in data loss. The importance of frequently backing up your network cannot be overstated.
2. Ensure Backup Procedures Are Checked Regularly
Many times business owners think they have a backup system in place only to find out when it’s too late that it hasnât been working properly. It may seem like files are being backed up daily, however, the backup has become corrupt or huge chunks of critical data arenât backed up. Check backup procedures regularly to make sure they are working properly. Be sure that ALL data can be recovered. In this age of BYOD (Bring-Your-Own-Devices) it is also important to frequently backup data on the personal laptops, iPads, or Blackberrys of employees.
3. Make Sure Updated Virus Protection and Firewalls Are Always Enabled
Far too many companies either have no virus protection software installed, expired virus software licenses, or disabled virus programs that arenât running at all. This makes their business technology vulnerable to virus attacks from emails, spam, data downloads, and other websites. Files corrupted by a virus wonât only bring down your network. If the virus is somehow spread to customers and e-mail contacts, itâs a surefire way to damage your reputation as well.
Roughly 40% of small-to-medium-sized businesses will have their network compromised by a hacker. Chances are, they will have no clue whatsoever that they were attacked. Hackers look online for unprotected and open ports and then infiltrate whatever space they can with malicious code and files. If this malicious code cannot be removed, the hard drive will have to be reformatted and all files could potentially be lost.
This is another reason why file backup is so critical in todayâs business world. Updating critical security patches and changing passwords on the departure of employees are also necessary to deter hacking attempts.
4. Monitor Server Drives
Dangerously full server drives can bring on a slew of problems, ranging from program and server crashes to sluggish email delivery. Some proactive monitoring and maintenance of the server can spare businesses a lot of problems down the road.
5 Regularly Check Critical Built-In Logs
Very few tech problems emerge suddenly overnight. They typically progress and worsen over time into a more serious problem. Frequently reviewing the critical built-in log files can often indicate something is amiss before it becomes a major problem that wreaks havoc on your business infrastructure.
The Benefit of Managed Cloud Migration for SMBs
Many SMBs today are turning to cloud-based services and virtualized backup solutions as a means to mitigate downtime and recover from network failures and outages. Virtualization and cloud computing have enabled cost-efficient improved business continuity by allowing entire servers to be grouped into one software bundle or virtual server â this includes all data, operating systems, applications, and patches.
This simplifies the backup process and allows for quick data restoration when needed. But migrating to the cloud or a virtualization infrastructure must also be handled with care as these new technologies still pose significant risks.
While virtual resources and hosted services reduce overall business technology expenses and improve availability, âmanaged cloud migrationâ allows for gradual integration of a company or organizationâs IT infrastructure and virtual data center to the cloud. This can alleviate many of the security and privacy fears that come with moving to a shared space while offering a more varied approach to recovery processes with more customization and control.
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