Blog

As your business grows, you’ll eventually need someone to help you choose and deploy technology to protect your business, improve processes and support your organization’s goals. If you’ve never heard of a virtual CIO, you might assume you don’t need one – but virtual CIOs, or vCIOs, give companies the benefits of a high-level technology executive without the cost of hiring an in-house CIO.

Virtual CIOs examine your current infrastructure, locate gaps in security and productivity, and implement solutions to improve your business operations. They bring their personal experiences and a network of technical resources to work with you and determine the best IT solutions for your business. Here are five aspects of your business that you can outsource to a vCIO:

1. Strategic Initiatives
   Have you been putting off large projects because you’re worried about not having enough bandwidth to successfully manage them? Virtual CIOs can be brought in on an as-needed basis to oversee strategy IT initiatives that promote long-term growth and competitiveness within your organization.
2. Business Continuity Planning
   Natural disasters, employee errors, even potential data loss during a planned system update or migration – there are numerous threats facing your business’s mission-critical information. A vCIO designs a comprehensive strategy to keep your business in operation during and after a disaster.
3. Emerging Opportunities
   Technology trends come and go, but the right solutions can make a measurable impact on your efficiency, growth and profit. Your vCIO keeps on top of emerging technologies and identifies opportunities for innovation in your business to help you make higher-ROI technology investments.
4. Cybersecurity Services
   Small and medium-sized businesses aren’t immune to cyberattacks – in fact, hackers often view them as easy targets. With help from an experienced vCIO, you can protect your business by implementing strong security measures to deflect malicious software and unauthorized access.
5. IT Budgeting
   Technology costs can vary wildly from month to month – or, you can partner with a vCIO who helps you stick to a predictable IT budget. Plus, virtual CIOs implement technology strategically to reduce operating costs and drive revenue, allowing a larger budget for your business to expand and thrive.

Virtual CIOs are ideal for businesses that don’t have the budget for a full-time, in-house CIO. With our vCIO services, you get access to a team of knowledgeable IT experts at a price that makes sense for your business. To discuss how a vCIO fits into your company, contact us today and start your business transformation.

In a tech-driven world where digital is king and consumers are demanding transparency and reliability, working from anywhere becomes crucial to the success of your business. But the IT challenges that come with working remotely are intimidating, and you’re not always sure how to get started. Managed services is your answer, and here are five ways managed services can help get you started:

In a tech-driven world where digital is king and consumers are demanding transparency and reliability, working from anywhere becomes crucial to the success of your business. But the IT challenges that come with working remotely are intimidating, and you’re not always sure how to get started. Managed services is your answer, and here are five ways managed services can help get you started:

1. Mobile/Wireless/Endpoint Protection | Accessing confidential information from personal devices is all well and good as long as they’re kept safe. From theft to phishing emails, personal devices create opportunities for cybercriminals to obtain your customer’s data. With endpoint protection services, you gain a multi-layer security approach to ensure your laptops, tablets and mobile devices are safe.
2. Server & Network Management | Protecting your business begins at the core—your network. Working remotely, you need the ability to work on encrypted documents and files from the server, but also, to monitor and maintain a distributed IT infrastructure. With server and network management, you gain a secure connection to your network, so you can access encrypted files and other crucial data while maintaining a multi-location network connection.
3. Office 365 | Working with your team is one of the toughest challenges of the remote workforce. With Office 365 services, you gain access to advanced applications including Skype for Business, Word and Excel. You’ll collaborate with team members—from any mobile device—in real-time on a single document and converse using Skype.
4. UC & VoIP | Meetings are a large part of your day—you need tools that allow you to continue the conversation away from the office. Unified Communications and VoIP make conversing easier with call conferencing features and reliable call connectivity. By using your IP address instead of a physical phone, you can call into a meeting from any of your devices.
5. Cloud Hosting | Connecting with your team is increasingly difficult without a single source for projects and ongoing files. With cloud hosting, your network, servers, applications and critical documents are encrypted and hosted from a single location. This makes it easier for your team to work from multiple locations and a variety of devices.

Whether you’re working from an airplane terminal or from the comfort of your favorite coffee shop, working remotely is easier than ever with a managed service provider. As your partner, we’ll provide managed services designed to make your life easier without raising your operating costs.

Contact us today to learn about our other services, and how we can help you safely work from anywhere.

As technology progresses, we’re finding new ways to keep all of our devices connected for a seamless user experience. This idea is called the Internet of Things (IoT), and it works for more than just computing devices – it also includes mechanical and digital objects.

From microwaves, washing machines and lamps to televisions, projectors and security systems, connecting your technologies is a powerful concept. Gartner predicts that IoT will be a $1.9 trillion industry by 2020. So, what do you need to know to take advantage of this trend to grow your business?

The Good

The IoT helps you track behavior in real-time and enhances situational awareness, but what does that actually mean for you? Imagine it’s 6 pm, and you’re cooking dinner while listening to music. You connect your mobile device to your surround-sound television. Your technology keeps track of your activity, and IoT uses that information to analyze what you’re doing, viewing or listening to in real-time. Using that data, you’ll gain a customized experience. You skip a slower song, and your devices react by adjusting algorithms to produce fewer slow-tempo songs. Now, imagine how you can use IoT to enhance your customer’s experience. You can use the data you collected to figure out when their technology needs updated or to identify breaches based on location and trends.

The Bad

It’s important to note that the more devices connected to the Internet, the more vulnerable your information is to unauthorized users. By connecting your mobile device to your home security system, your business’s Wi-Fi, your email and more, you open up a variety of entry points for hackers and other cyber criminals to access and manipulate your systems. But, even the bad isn’t all bad – a reliable IT partner can keep your endpoints protected by multiple layers of security.

The Integration

When considering an IoT approach, you need to ask yourself a few questions:

• What are the goals of my business?
• What is my realistic budget?
• Which solutions make the most sense for my business?
• Should I integrate technology all at once or in stages?

A managed service provider can help you answer these questions while ensuring IoT devices are properly integrated and secured. Integration begins with identifying your needs, determining which solutions work best for your business needs, then deploying those solutions, testing services post-deployment and protecting your endpoints.

Adopting the IoT approach impacts your business significantly. The vast amount of data and services available can shape your daily workflow. For more information on how IoT can affect your business, or to start implementing IoT, contact us today. We’ll help you work through the good, the bad and the integration.

We can look back on 2017 as the worst of times – when it came to disasters, at least. Severe weather, data breaches and global hacking attempts affected thousands of businesses, costing them an estimated $926 to $17,244 for every minute of unplanned downtime. Instead of letting the unthinkable damage your business, fight back with these five strategies:

• Back Up Your Data to the Cloud

Following Hurricanes Irma, Harvey and Maria, hundreds of businesses found their physical equipment and servers submerged in water. Storing data on-site is convenient, but an unexpected disaster can wipe away years of information in the blink of an eye. Migrating your data to the cloud means your information is protected and readily available – and you’ll never have to start from scratch.

• Prepare for a Remote Workforce

Even after the Thomas wildfire in California was contained, smoke and poor air conditions made it impossible for many employees to return to their offices. Anything from a severe storm to surprise pest control treatments can force employees out of their workspaces, so have a plan in place that will allow your team to access necessary tools from any Internet-enabled location.

• Monitor for Breaches and Respond Quickly

A massive breach of data from Equifax – one of the three largest credit agencies in the US – lasted from May to July and wasn’t reported publicly until September. The Social Security, credit card and driver’s license numbers of more than 145 million consumers were compromised, and victims rushed to protect themselves against potential identity thieves. Avoid losing your customers’ trust by proactively monitoring for breaches, shutting them down promptly and providing a full inventory of the damage to those affected.

• Don’t Underestimate Human Error

People are unpredictable – that’s why 90 percent of cyber security issues stem from human behavior. Employee negligence is the number one cause of data breaches at small to medium-sized businesses. Comprehensive training can close the gap, but it’s not foolproof. Combine your team’s efforts with strong cyber security policies.

• Update Outdated Software Programs

The WannaCry Ransomware Attack, which resulted in hackers taking control of more than 200,000 computers in 150 countries, targeted a weakness in outdated software for which a patch was already available. Hospitals, airlines, police departments and more were brought to a halt, and paying the ransom did not result in the return of data. Update your software regularly to fix vulnerabilities and avoid becoming an easy target for hackers.

Don’t panic. A solid IT disaster recovery plan will protect your business and get you back up and running with minimal – if any – hassle and downtime. Unsure where to start? Unique Computing Solutions learns the ins and outs of your business to develop and implement a customized recovery plan. Contact us today to get started.