Business
Challenges and Needs
The needs and challenges
below represent what we at ITP believe to be universal needs
and challenges of most businesses today. Of
course, we recognize that every business has
specific needs and challenges unique to its business
model and everyday task requirements. ITP excels at building
customized solutions specific to individual
businesses. Contact us today
to discuss how ITP can deploy technology
to meet your unique needs and challenges as well
as the universal needs and challenges outlined
below.
1.
Avoid Downtime
2.
Disaster Recovery
Preparation
3. Ensure Data Protection
4.
Network Security
5.
Viruses & Spyware
6.
SPAM (Unsolicited
Email)
7. Software Patch Management
8.
Prompt Problem Resolution & Fast Administration
9.
Resource Sharing
10.
Remote Access
***
Advanced Needs...
****
Technology Solutions...
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1. Avoid Downtime
We may
appear to be stating the obvious here… we
all know our business will suffer if the
technology we have come to rely on so
heavily doesn’t work – even for a few hours…
But everyday we see businesses that risk
being down by trying to save a few dollars
by deploying technology that is sub par.
When that technology fails (and all
technology does at some point in time) the
cost to get back up and running will far
exceed the few dollars saved during the
initial deployment. When you add up the lost
revenue from being down, plus the cost of
repairing the hardware, plus the
professional services to repair the
hardware, software and restore the data – it
is almost always more economical to have
deployed better technology in the first
place and avoid the downtime altogether.
This brings us to the next few points…
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2. Disaster Recovery
Preparation
As we said
above, technology will fail at some point –
hard drives wear out, power supplies burn
out, network cards fizzle out – the reality
is that there are many points of failure in
any given network. So, the question is, are
you ready to deal with that inevitability?
How quickly can you recover from a hardware
or software disaster? With the right
technology, you may never have to actually
find out! How you ask? Well, the key is
hardware redundancy. True servers are NOT
just a desktop computer that holds all your
information and has the printer attached to
it! A true server is one that has redundant
components so that even when one component
fails the server can still run while repairs
are made. Typically, a true server will have
a minimum of three hard drives configured in
such a way so that one drive can fail and
the server will still run on the remaining
two drives while a new drive is provisioned
and installed. True servers will also
include several power supplies so that if
one burns out the others will continue to
provide power while the replacement power
supply is provisioned and installed. True
servers also have a tape back up system. So,
don’t skimp on your server! A great sever is
the foundation for a solid, reliable and
highly available technology infrastructure.
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3. Ensure Data Protection
Of course,
the reason we can’t afford to be down or
have the server sputter and die on us is
because we have important data everyone
needs in order to get their job done. Your
data is what helps you take care of your
customer, make good business decisions and
ensure that payroll gets done and done
correctly. What if all that data were
destroyed? Most people turn pale at the
thought! Yet, poor data management is
rampant in many small businesses. There are
two major ways that business put their data
at risk. 1) There is no central data store.
2) If there is a central data store, it is
not backed up regularly. If you allow
employees to store key company data on their individual computers then you have no
central data store. In this scenario, your
business risks losing key data if the hard
drive in any individual computer fails and
the person using that computer fails to create a manual back up to disk or CD/DVD at
the end of each day. The best way to store
your company’s vital data is to store it on
that really great server we talked about
above. The server can then run an automated
tape back up system to ensure that the data
is backed up regularly. When you store your
information on the server, not only will it
be backed up by the tape system we just
mentioned, but keep in mind that your true
server has three hard drives of which one
could fail and the server will still keep
running. So, again your data is backed up in
a redundant fashion – once by the special
hard drive configuration and again by the
tape back up system.
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4. Network Security
Security
involves many aspects – but for now, we will
just talk about two sides of security…
internal security and external security.
Simply put, by internal security we mean
that there exists certain company
information that perhaps only certain people
should have access to while there may be
other information that everyone should have
access to. For instance, payroll information
should probably be keep visible only to the
people responsible for that business task.
Likewise, company financial information
should only be available to upper
management. Buy storing all data on the
server, as we described above, not only is
the data backed up redundantly, but it is
also more manageable (organized, available)
and secure (access to it is controllable
based on defined privileges for each user in
the organization).
By external security we mean the ability to
control access to the corporate
network and
its resources and information from outside
the internal network.
In many cases,
businesses would like to give certain
employees access to
the network and its
information so they can work from outside
the office –
from at home or while on a
business trip for instance. But we must also
make sure that ONLY these authorized
employees are able to access the network!
Deploying the right technology will ensure
that employees have access to what they need
and can do what they need to do while at the same time ensuring that no one else can
access the network and its resources and
information. External security also
encompasses virus protection, spyware
protection, spam filtering and patch
management. We will cover each of these
crucial areas on the following pages.
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5. Viruses & Spyware
If your
employees have access to the internet and
email then you must protect every computer
in your network from viruses and spyware.
Everyone agrees on this point when it comes
to viruses, but the latest threat to your company’s productivity and efficiency is
less known: Spyware!
Have you noticed your once fast and smooth
running machines are suddenly running slow?
You scan for viruses but none are found. You
wonder why you are getting a bunch of pop up
windows every time you use your web browser.
Sometimes, your machine even goes to a web
site you never intended… or the browser
crashes often all of a sudden. If this
describes your recent computing experience
then your machine is probably inundated with undesirable software know as Spyware.
Spyware (sometimes know as adware) is
software that is installed on your machine
as you visit web sites that are programmed
to download and install that software often
without you approval or knowledge. Once
there, the software typically monitors the
web sites you visit and sends that
information back to whichever site installed
it in the first place. Armed with that
information about you, the software is then
instructed to create pop up browser windows
that attempt to sell you the products it
thinks you are interested in based on the
sites you’ve visited. A huge privacy issue! If that’s not bad enough, then
consider that
many computers we’ve scanned usually have
hundreds if not thousands of these spyware
programs running – taking up system
resources,
network bandwidth and your
employees’ ability to get their work done
efficiently.
It gets worse… the most malicious types of
spyware can capture and report
back each key
you press. That keystroke information is
then examined for passwords, credit card
numbers, phone numbers, sensitive company information and any other personal
information or valuable corporate
information that can be found. Keep in mind that almost all of your current
network defenses – antivirus software,
firewalls (hardware and software), fully
deployed security patches, won’t protect you
from this latest threat. You need Anti
Spyware software.
In a business environment where many
computers are used, it pays to have centrally managed antivirus and antispyware
software. This software is installed on the
server and allows monitoring, alerting,
updating and scanning of every computer on
the network from the administration console
installed on the server. No more running
around to each machine to update the virus and spyware definition files! These
enterprise level applications do all of that work automatically! This saves a huge amount
of time and ensures that no machine is
overlooked thereby creating a weak point in
your corporate network.
In addition, with a mail server in house,
most viruses can be removed from email at
the mail server and before they make it to
each individual computer.
This removes from
the end user the responsibility to make good
decisions about opening or not opening
questionable incoming mail.
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6. SPAM
(unsolicited email)
The only
thing people hate more that viruses and
spyware is SPAM! With
the right software installed on your
internal mail server, most spam can be
stopped at the mail server and before it
makes it to each individual computer.
Any SPAM that does get through can then
be handled by the email client.
With this approach, SPAM can be
controlled if not eliminated completely
from your inbox. You and your employees
will be free to spend time on
real work rather than sorting through
hundreds of unsolicited emails.
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7. Software Patch Management
The last
threat to your machines and thus your
company is security
vulnerabilities found in software. It is
always important to make sure that
your Windows Operating System and other
Microsoft applications have the
latest security patches installed. Much
like antivirus and antispyware software,
with patch management software on your
server, you can deploy security patches
to all computers in your network from
the server. Again – no more running
to each machine to install security
updates! Again – this saves a huge
amount of time and ensures that no
machine is overlooked thereby
creating a weak point in your corporate
network.
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8. Prompt Problem Resolution &
Fast Administration
Much like
employees sometimes need access to the
network from outside the office, we at
ITP can enhance that access so that authorized
technicians can remotely diagnose and
resolve issues on any computer in the office. We can also remotely administrate the server, all applications
on the server (such as those we’ve
discussed already: backup, antivirus,
antispyware, patch management, etc.) and
other network equipment.
This allows ITP to provide extremely
fast service at a reduced rate.
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9. Resource Sharing
The beauty of a
network is that it allows sharing of resources.
I go to offices all the time that have a printer
connected to every computer and I wonder why!
For less than the cost of all those printers,
you could buy one good laser printer and one
good color printer and configure the network to
allow every computer to print to these two
printers. This scenario saves time, money (ink,
toner costs also) and you get better output from
higher quality printers. It just makes sense!
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10. Remote Access
A server also
provides the ability to check and send email,
use your calendar and contacts list all from
outside the office. A server also provides the
ability the move files to and from your remote
computer. You may also be able to use the same
software on your remote computer as you do while
in the office depending on the application’s
capabilities. Remote access allows you and your
employees to be more productive and efficient
ultimately enhancing your bottom line.
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Advanced Needs...
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Small Business
Server Enterprise
Adds: ISA (Firewall/Proxy) and SQL
(Database) |
|
|
Wireless
Networking |
|
|
Internet
Monitoring Software |
|
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Internet
Filtering Software |
|
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Voice Over
Internet Protocol (VOIP) |
|
|
No-IP (for
Dynamic IP address scenario) |
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