A Quick Guide to the Internet of Things

Internet of things, IOT, Office IT, Office Network, Ophtek, user friendly, , , , ,
30
Apr 2019

You have may have heard the Internet of Things (IoT) mentioned several times in the media and by colleagues, but what exactly is it?

Thankfully, the good news is that the IoT is a relatively simple concept and, more importantly, it can make a huge difference to your organization’s IT operations. It’s likely that you’re rapidly becoming interested in the IoT the more you hear about it, so wouldn’t it be amazing if you had a quick guide to the ins and outs of the IoT? Well, you’re in luck as that’s exactly what we’ve put together for you.

What is the Internet of Things?

Any business, no matter the size of its operations, needs to use a wide variety of IT devices on a daily basis. Traditionally, the majority of these devices have been connected by cables and controlled directly by the end user or through an onsite IT team with access to the network. The IoT, however, brings a whole new level of accessibility with its revolutionary use of internet connections.

Put simply, the IoT allows users to connect devices to other devices and networks that can accept an internet connection. Sure, it may sound as though this is merely using wireless capabilities and nothing new, but the IoT is significantly different. Connecting to central servers through an internet connection means that your organization’s networks and smart devices can be remotely controlled from any location in the world.

What Can You Do with the Internet of Things?

The accessibility on offer from the IoT is clearly an interesting proposition, but what exactly can your organization use it for? To be honest, it’s a more a case of what you can’t use it for. Let’s take a look at some of the IoT most popular uses:

  • Remote Working: As long as your employees have an internet connection, they can connect to your organization’s networks and access email, databases and files just as easily as if they were sat in the office at their workstation. This is highly beneficial for employees who are working away on business, but it also opens up a whole new world of remote working which, with studies showing it’s highly beneficial for staff, could seriously increase productivity. 
  • Collecting and Sharing Data: The amount of data in use by businesses is getting bigger and bigger, but monitoring this is becoming more difficult with traditional IT setups. However, IoT devices are so varied and widespread that it’s now possible to collect data on almost any element of business you want. Tracking vehicle data, for example, through the use of IoT trackers can allow you to make use of your vehicles more efficiently. 
  • Enhance the Customer’s Experience: The lifeblood of any organization is the customer base and thanks to the IoT you can understand their needs better than ever before. IoT sensors installed in products such as, for example, refrigeration units can remotely monitory temperature fluctuations and, if necessary, send alerts when temperature thresholds are breached. 

The IoT Is Here to Stay.

With over 26 billion IoT devices due to be in use by the end of 2019, the IoT is clearly making a massive impact on the IT landscape. With a number of benefits that can make a significant difference to the way your organization works, it’s time to start embracing the power of the IoT.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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What Can a Cloud Backup Provide Your Organization?

Cloud, data recovery, ,
12
Dec 2017

cloud-computing-1990405_960_720

Cloud backups have rapidly become the market leader in terms of backing up data, but what exactly can a cloud backup system offer your organization?

You only have to take the briefest of looks at the IT press to see just how popular cloud backups are, they’re positioned as the future and they’re allowing us to do new things with our data. And it’s not without good reason, cloud backups are probably the most important evolution that data storage has ever seen.

No organization should be without a cloud backup as one of its storage options, so it’s time to understand exactly what it can provide for your business.

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Why You Need Your Data in the Cloud

There are a huge range of benefits on offer from cloud backups, so let’s concentrate on some of the most important:

  • Constant access to your data – As long as you have access to the internet, you will be able to connect to your cloud. And this means that even if you’re a remote worker in the middle of Europe, you’ll still have exactly the same access to the same files as your co-workers in New York. This accessibility can seriously improve your business as employees no longer have to face timely waits whilst files are emailed over and, even better, all the relevant files can be accessed at any time of the day.
  • Energy Efficient – We live in an age where being green is highly important for both the planet and an organization’s public perception. And, thanks to cloud backup providers hosting multiple clients on their servers, everyone’s carbon footprint is seriously reduced by adopting cloud storage.
  • Offsite storage offers enhanced protection – Storing every copy of your organization’s files on site certainly provides quick access and can facilitate a quick restore in the case of a data emergency, but what if a different type of emergency hits your organization? Natural disasters can absolutely obliterate physical data sources, so keeping a backup off site – such as in a cloud system – provides you with an additional option for retaining and then restoring your data.
  • Cost and Space Savings – A cloud backup service reduces the need for your business to purchase and make room for physical storage systems. Almost all cloud backups go through a specialist provider who provides their own hardware offsite. Not only does this allow them to minimize their costs as they’re able to build a huge database of users who are renting their space, but they’re able to pass these cost savings onto your tariffs. And that’s one of the most attractive benefits of cloud storage.
  • Reduces Your IT Worries – Running a business is a highly difficult and time consuming cost, so having to worry about your storage capabilities is something you could really do without. With the explosion in cloud service providers ready and willing to provide offsite storage, this is a task that you can ship out to a third party and allow yourself to concentrate on making your business as successful as possible.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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Never Forget These Business IT Continuity Basics

Backup and Recovery, IT Continuity, IT Plan, ,
28
Nov 2017

businesscontinuity

Any organization worth their weight in gold will have a business IT continuity in place, but will it have taken care of all the basics that are required?

It’s crucial that your business IT continuity plan addresses these basics or you’ll discover – when it’s far too late – that it’s not possible to get your business back on track as effectively or quickly as you could have. And, often, these basics are so simple that you’ll be kicking yourself that they weren’t covered in the first place.

Now, the last thing we want is for your business to go offline for longer than necessary, so we’re going to share some simple, but effective tips to make sure your IT continuity has a strong foundation and can get you up and running as quickly as possible.

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  • Research and Prepare: If you want your IT continuity to be implemented as smoothly as possible then it’s essential that you plan, plan and plan some more. You need to understand exactly what your IT operations are and how they rank in importance to get a better picture of how your organization uses its technology. To achieve this, you must regularly liaise with department heads to discuss their needs and then link these all together to produce a plan which ensures the business as a whole can get back online as soon as possible.

 

  • Regularly Test Your Plan: You would be surprised by just how many organizations fail to test their IT continuity plan. And the potential for disaster is greatly increased when you neglect testing your plan. You see, no IT continuity plan is perfect, so it needs regularly testing to iron out any creases and maximize its speed and efficiency. Once you know that it’s as perfect as it can be, you’ll find that you can sleep a whole lot easier.

 

  • Responsibility Needs Identifying: In the case of an IT disaster, it’s common for panic to spread throughout a business. As a result, it’s vital that those in charge of implementing an IT continuity plan can be identified quickly. Creating a responsibility chart should allow your organization to see who is in charge of what when it comes to an IT disaster, so make sure this has been circulated to all staff. And you must ensure that paper copies are also available as an IT disaster means no access to PowerPoint!

 

  • Align Technology Accordingly: Downtime is inevitable in all IT disasters, but the ability to minimize this can depend on the technology at your disposal. Larger organizations are likely to have more complex IT capabilities and, as such, the time required to rebuild this will be greater than a smaller organization. And the power of your backup technology can make a real difference in the speed that an IT continuity plan can be executed and completed. Therefore, it’s crucial that you understand the time taken to restore your IT capabilities and the technology which can achieve this most quickly.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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The Importance of a Business IT Continuity Plan

IT Continuity, IT Plan, Security, Services, , , , ,
07
Nov 2017

 

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A backup plan for your IT system in the case of a sudden disaster is crucial to ensure your business continues operating whilst that disaster is rectified.

Many businesses, however, don’t have a contingency plan in place that will allow their IT operations to continue in the case of an emergency. And this lack of preparation can lead to your business having to cease operations and, therefore, hit you hard financially. Naturally, no one can forecast an emergency or a disaster, so it’s important to get something established sooner rather than later.

To understand, in a little more detail, why a business IT continuity plan is so important, we’re going to take a closer look at what it can bring to your business and how to implement it.

The Main Benefits of Business IT Continuity

Say, for example, your business suffers a huge malware attack, this could seriously compromise all the PCs on your network and render them redundant. And how are you going to process orders or bring up customer records then? Exactly – you aren’t! However, with an IT continuity plan in place, you can put this into action whilst your IT team work at eradicating the malware attack – this allows you to continue serving your customers and helps your organization minimize the downtime.

It’s also quite possible that your business premises could be put out of action due to disasters such as fire or even natural disasters which could visit in the form of hurricanes. With your office, for example, out of bounds, it could appear that there’s no option but to down tools. If, though, you’ve planned for occasions such as this, you could execute remote working accessibility for your staff to work from home or alternate premises. Again, this helps to keep your organization afloat and operating.

IT Services are aligned to the customers needs. Dynamic Lifecycle approach to service. Interconnections between processes. Quality of Service. Reduced cost to serve because of use of standard process. ITIL is NOT… A methodology. A complete set of predefined low level processes – only the framework with which to build them.

Creating an Effective Plan

A good business IT continuity plan is one which has been carefully planned and designed by a team which incorporates all areas of your business. Whilst it may seem sensible to have an IT bias towards leading the project, they won’t necessarily understand which data and which applications are most important for different departments. And this is why we would always recommend a team comprising of individuals who can cover all aspects of the business’ needs.

Once this team is in place, you’ll find that the prioritization of IT resources allows you to get a better understanding of what’s required from your business IT continuity plan. Naturally, these plans are never perfect as they’re relying on a situation which hasn’t happened yet. Therefore, to get the best out of your IT continuity plans you need to put them in to practice to discover how effective they are for keeping your organization in business.

As we pointed out earlier, no one can predict when your business is going to be hit by a disaster be it through hacking, natural disasters or even just plain old equipment malfunction. However, what we can predict is that a business IT continuity plan is going to minimize the impact of such a disaster on your business and should be a prerequisite of any forward thinking organization.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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Do Your Ex-Employees Still Have Access to Your Data?

disable employee access, disgruntled employees, OneLogin, Security, SIEM, , , ,
19
Sep 2017

Insider_Threat

Your employees can often pose a huge risk to your data security, but what about ex-employees? Well, it turns out they may present an even bigger threat.

When employees leave an organization, it’s prudent that their network and application privileges are immediately terminated. After all, there’s no need for them to have access to your data and this is particularly important if they’ve left to join a competitor. Not only that, it presents them with an easy route for sabotaging your network. So, it’s clear to see why it’s so important to revoke privileges, but it would appear this isn’t always the case.

Research by OneLogin has demonstrated that 50% of accounts previously held by ex-employees with the power to make IT-decisions are still active 24 hours after they have left the organization. And many employees have revealed that around 25% of their employees’ accounts will still be active for up to a week. And, as you well know, it can take mere seconds to completely compromise a PC, so the delay reported by OneLogin has the potential to cause real damage.

Why Do IT Accounts Need to be Terminated Immediately?

The majority of employees who leave your organization are highly unlikely to even consider wanting to log back on to your network, but there are some who may try as soon as they’ve left the building. In particular, disgruntled ex-employees who have had their contracts terminated are likely to be looking for revenge and, of course, those who have left the business to join a local rival may be tempted to log on and steal sensitive information to give them an advantage. While these individuals are in the minority, it still represents a huge threat to your data.

Despite being a basic threat, and one that’s easy to remedy, the statistics provided by OneLogin would indicate that it’s a simple procedure which is being ignored by many organizations. And the end result of this lackadaisical approach is, as OneLogin’s poll has found, that 10% of all data breaches are believed to have been committed by ex-employees. Eliminating this security risk, therefore, can make a real difference to your overall security.

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How to Prevent Ex-Employees Accessing Your Networks

OneLogin have found that ex-employees can spell trouble for your security, but what can you do to minimize the risk? Let’s take a look:

  • Create an exit procedure for IT privileges – Thankfully, most employees will give a certain amount of notice before leaving and this gives organizations plenty of opportunity to plan for their exit. Therefore, there’s no excuse for login details to be disabled as soon as that employee leaves. Sometimes, of course, employees will leave suddenly and, in these instances, IT departments need to be informed immediately to close these accounts.
  • Reduce remote access – Some organizations may have networks which can only be accessed internally, so an ex-employee may struggle to even log in once they’ve left the business. However, many organizations provide remote access to their networks and, if an ex-employee can obtain the web address to access this, they could easily connect. To avoid this, make sure that only certain login names are allowed to log on in this manner.
  • Incorporate an SIEM system – Using a security information and event management (SIEM) system can indicate employees’ activity within individual applications, so this can quickly indicate if any unauthorized access is being made. OneLogin discovered that 41% of organizations do not use this type of system, but it would appear to be crucial in protecting your data.

These approaches are simple, quick and easy, so there’s no excuse for being negligent in this area of security.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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