According to an FBI Internet Crime Report for 2020, just in 2020, $4.2B in losses were reported, which is about 200% more than the reported crimes in 2017( $1.4B). According to a recent Gartner report, IT security vulnerabilities are one of the most vital areas of concern for organizations. The cost of data theft is too high, making IT security in an organization crucial.

In most organizations, IT executives are exhausted in managing data breach threats, compliance issues, and exploding security budgets. For efficient IT security management, organizations need expertise, time and budget. Otherwise, it becomes challenging to deal with every potential attempt of hacking, malware, and other types of security threats. This is where organizations can consider hiring a reliable managed IT services provider to bridge their security gaps.

By recruiting a managed IT services provider, companies can outsource advanced IT security services, along with infrastructure management and focus on their core business. This service model allows organizations to ensure the security of their IT infrastructure and its smooth run. A managed service provider (MSP) also helps businesses to achieve high efficiency in operations, reduce operational costs, and improve end-user productivity.

How does Managed Services help to mitigate security risks
MSPs use different techniques to provide their clients with better cyber security, protect their data from hackers, etc. Managed security service providers carry out round-the-clock security operations centre monitoring, network monitoring, managing software security updates, vulnerability management, and many more to improve the IT security. Here are the seven ways that MSPs usually follow to reinforce IT security

1. Remote Monitoring
   In the current distributed work environment, remote monitoring is one of the best ways to monitor the systems of the distributed workforce. It is a continuous process of monitoring vital systems and activities in your business’ IT infrastructure. An MSP offers you the facility of constant vigilance. It helps you to determine whether the systems are functioning at their optimal level and all your business-critical processes are on track.

Remote monitoring also helps organizations identify risks of threats and anomalies. They also proactively take mitigative steps to prevent any attempt of invasion, which helps to minimize the impact or downtime.

2. Perimeter Management
   Perimeter management is another form of remote service that comprise the implementation of firewalls and intrusion detection systems. MSPs use this module to secure the installation, upgradation, and maintenance processes of your whole IT infrastructure. Perimeter management also includes managing configuration settings that ensure optimum security and functional condition of hardware and software.
3. Vulnerability and Penetration Testing
   Vulnerability testing is basically a proactive approach to identifying the security gaps in your systems. Along with software scans, an efficient testing approach also includes simulated hacking attacks so that all vulnerabilities can be identified and addressed immediately. Usually, this testing process doesn’t include a network-wide security assessment. They focus on the perimeter and the loopholes that cybercriminals may exploit to invade the systems without the proper authorization.

On the other hand, penetration testing is usually conducted at regular intervals to evaluate the security measures of your infrastructure. For penetration testing, MSPs use different tools, techniques, and processes similar to cyber attackers to find and demonstrate the business impacts of weaknesses in a system. According to the findings of ethical hackers, organizations can use them to implement security upgrades to plug up any security gap discovered during the test.

4. Risk Assessment
   A risk assessment is an efficient way to identify an organization’s risk posture for critical assets and systems, procedures, policies and controls. This assessment also helps to identify risks associated with information sharing, especially with third-party vendors, and mitigate them. A security expert can help you to address emerging threats so you can focus on your core tasks and also integrate new technology without security risks.
5. Remote Compliance Monitoring
   With an MSP, it becomes much easier to measure and monitor governance, risk and compliance. Remote compliance monitoring allows organizations to run their business processes smoothly without encountering regulatory issues. An MSP can also help you make the critical connection between robust compliance processes and tangible business results. It can facilitate:
   Asset protection
   Revenue enhancement
   Higher profitability/lower costs
   Reputation and brand protection
   Improved workforce performance
   Customer attraction and retention
6. Endpoint Protection
   In the current situation, when many employees are working remotely, endpoint protection plays a vital role in maintaining the security of your sensitive business information. An endpoint protection system is meant to ensure that all access points on the business’ network are protected. Otherwise, it is next to impossible to know whether your network has been breached.

Moreover, several organizations now support Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy to make their employees work from anywhere and anytime. So, the endpoint protection system has become mandatory to assure that the organization’s network is the same irrespective of how its employees work.

7. Access to the best security tools
   Nowadays, there are several cyber security tools available in the market. The more effective a cybersecurity tool is, the more it costs. So, many companies have to compromise efficacy to fit their budget. Moreover, new tools are coming into the market continuously to deal with the latest threats, creating additional strain on fragile budgets.

On the other hand, MSPs have access to the newest and most effective security tools on the market. They are also well aware of the latest tools and resources that can be beneficial to your business needs. As a customer of an MSP, your organization benefits from their buying power and knowledge about effective security measures.

Conclusion
An organization can protect their business with an experienced Managed IT service provider and their threat hunting and monitoring capabilities. They offer real-time threat intelligence technology to protect your information and infrastructure. In short, hiring an MSP can improve your IT security and facilitate a significant return on investment for the business.

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The complexity of your IT infrastructure is being complicated day by day. You need to connect several devices to your secure office network to facilitate your business operations. Connecting multiple devices through the internet can make your IT infrastructure and your business data vulnerable to security threats. Organizations that deal with sensitive customer data or possess vast chunks of business data have more risk of being exploited by hackers. An incident of data theft can lead to loss of potential customers and money. Therefore, it has become critical for businesses to remain safe and ensure the security of their business assets. You need to foolproof your IT infrastructure to prevent any attempt of penetration.

Organizations and managed IT services providers (MSPs) use multiple standardized security measures to protect businesses from attempts of system penetration. Penetration testing is such a specialized technique to detect any gap in the system that an attacker can find and gain access to in your system. Penetration testing is an effective method to stop hackers from stealing your critical data and saving you from losses.

What is penetration testing

Penetration testing is conducted over the whole IT infrastructure to detect exploitable loopholes of your network, server, software, and hardware. It is also known as ethical hacking. This testing technique is meant to identify any vulnerabilities in your system that an attacker may be able to exploit. Here the testers try to determine whether a hacker’s attempt to penetrate your system, like cross-site scripting, man-in-the-middle, SQL or null byte injection, etc., can breach your organization’s cybersecurity posture.

Penetration testing is an effective way to identify an organization’s security flaws before hackers get the chance to steal your sensitive information. With penetration testing, you can have an impartial assessment of the security posture of your whole IT infrastructure. Penetration testers also provide you with valuable suggestions on improving your security measures.

Types of penetration testing

Whitebox testing

In this testing technique, the testers possess complete knowledge about all your network environment and systems. They even get complete knowledge and access to any source code. Then they conduct pen testing to assess the vulnerabilities in your system. A whitebox testing can result in an in-depth analysis of your system, providing more detailed results and targeted solutions.

Blackbox testing

In case of blackbox testing, the testers don’t get any information about your IT infrastructure before testing. Many people consider blackbox testing the most authentic testing process as it is conducted in a similar scenario as an attacker with no inside information. With this testing method, testers may encounter unexpected vulnerabilities in your network and business systems.

Greybox testing

The term is self-explanatory. In case of greybox testing, limited information, like login credentials, is shared with the tester. Greybox testing is the most popular one as it is the most efficient one in respect of cost, speed, and effort.

Why penetration testing is essential

It’s simple. Cyber security is essential for your business. No one wants to suffer:

• Loss of business data or leak of sensitive information
• Monitory losses
• Lack of customer trust and lose them to competitors

Penetration testing is a vital component of cybersecurity reinforcement. Professional tester conduct penetration testing in a controlled environment to identify the potential loopholes in your business IT systems, network, servers, devices and web applications and helps you to eliminate them before hackers can exploit them. Without proper investigation, you might have loopholes in your IT infrastructure that hackers can locate and use to gain access to your system. It can lead to malicious activities in your system and data theft.

What are the benefits of penetration testing

Evaluation of your IT infrastructure

During penetration testing, testers thoroughly investigate your entire network, Virtual Private Networks (VPN), computers, mobile devices, servers, remote access, databases, along with the networked scanners and printers. It is needed to evaluate your security initiatives and ensure the security of your business assets, resources, employees, and customers. Even with every upgrade of your infrastructure, you need to conduct penetration testing to investigate if any new vulnerability is there. Cyber security assessment at regular intervals can help you keep your infrastructure secured from ever-evolving cyber-attack techniques. Penetration testing is the measure to keep you aware of the efficiency of cyber security systems and where you need upgradation. 

Regulatory compliance

Pen testing is also essential to meet several regulatory compliances, such as PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), ISO 27001, GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), and so on.

Cyber security risk assessment

Pen testing is meant to identify and assess security risks before an attacker can identify and exploit them. So, you need to do a regular risk assessment of your infrastructure to detect if any weak spot is there.

Identification of mobile app data leakage

Along with software and hardware, penetration testing also investigates the flaws of your mobile apps to stop you from making your user data vulnerable to hackers. Mobile apps are often designed to handle sensitive data. They are also an easy gateway to the core infrastructure and often become a preferred target to the attackers. Therefore, you should consider app security as a crucial aspect, and pen testing can help you with it.

Authorization and authentication issues

For ensuring the security of your infrastructure, identification, authentication and authorization of user access is vital. Pen testing can also help you to identify if any gap is there with your authorization and authentication processes. It can also identify issues in your network perimeter and internal systems.

Security

Though it is pretty challenging to secure a system 100%, penetration testing and the expertise of the professionals can help you to minimize the security risks and improve the stability of the system.

Conclusion

Penetration testing is essential for organizations. It can be beneficial in multiple ways, including eliminating potential risks, saving you from monetary losses, preserving the brand reputation, helping with regulatory compliance, and so on.

Therefore, it is vital to perform pen-testing at regular intervals and improve your system’s stability. For the best outcome, you can consider hiring an IT infrastructure consulting services company with years of experience and expertise in conducting effective penetration testing.

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Ever developing information technology is often regarded as a headache for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). It is quite inconvenient for SMBs to catch up with speed and incorporate cutting-edge changes into their companies with their in-house resources and limited budget. Therefore, the easiest and most effective way for organizations to get specialist IT support is to outsource efficient managed IT services providers. Rather than depending on a single in-house IT staff, who might leave, take holidays, or lack the requisite knowledge and skillsets for various issues, it is wise to have professional IT partners by your side. By choosing the right IT partners for your company, you can get maximum IT support from a team of committed IT experts.

It sounds fascinating that hiring a managed service provider can resolve your IT issues, but it is not so easy to get the right managed service provider (MSP). If you don’t have the right one, you may face multiple complications like inadequate IT support, excess expenditure, etc.   

When looking for an MSP for your business, the primary issue is that many MSPs tend to be identical on paper. They all provide surveillance, cyber security, preventative maintenance, help desk facilities, strategic guidance, account management facilities, etc.

In normal conditions, all goes well; but the problem arises when anything unexpected happens. Situations like unexpected downtime with no explanation, disappointed staff for poor MSP’s services, disputed charges, etc., can disappoint you. It is true that unexpected incidents can happen, but important that how your MSP manages the situation, how fast they can up your systems and their attitude to you as a service provider. Here are some aspects to consider that indicates you might need to change your existing managed services company.

1. Insufficient Flexibility

Flexibility and scalability are two top requirements for SMBs. They need versatile service providers who can adjust to their changing needs. You might not have equal service and support requirements throughout the year. If your current MSP doesn’t agree to provide flexible service packages as per your changing needs, you probably need to look for a new service provider. Make sure your new MSP agrees to provide flexible services as you need in terms of services offered and pricing as well.

You have a lot of options available in the market and mustn’t hook up with an MSP that refuses to meet your service and support needs. You should move on and look for the one that works for your business.

2. Repeated problems

Your MSP should use advanced incident databases and efficient monitoring systems to proactively find and fix issues before they interrupt your business. Incidents can happen, and when a problem arises – your MSP must have the documentation and processes in place to resolve the issue. They also need to have a standard method for quickly fixing the problem if it arises again.

If you have to face the same issues and subsequent downtimes over and over, you may need to switch your service providers. Having the same issues repeatedly means your MSP is not properly tracking issues, or they are not able to fix those issues permanently. Common issues like backup failure, low memory, and PC or server crashes are those that your MSP needs to be aware of before you do. An efficient MSP should be able to prevent issues from occurring and build up a system to avoid them in the future.

3. Poor communication

A successful partnership and teamwork depend on good communication. Lack of effective communication between an IT consultant and their client not only results inefficiency but also delay in response time. It is essential to maintain good communication, convey updates and/or feedback to the clients, and provide fast responses to queries.

It’s probably time to find a new managed IT service provider if your communication with your current MSP is not prompt and effective. Working with IT experts who are direct, frank, and open to constructive feedback is not only beneficial for clients to understand an issue but also helps in making correct decisions.

4. Slow response time

Issues like network outages, server crashes etc., are common; and when such situations happen, you expect an immediate response for your MSP. If you notice that your MSP is taking ages to restore the system to workable condition, you might need to think about changing your service provider. It is frustrating to deal with a poor and slow IT support service at a time of emergency. Every idle minute due to an unresolved IT issue can lead to a loss of productivity.

5. Trust issues with MSP

It is crucial to have a trusted partnership with your MSP for an efficient work environment. At any point of time, if you find that your MSP seems far away from your business goals and budget—it’s time to rethink about your partnership. Your tech service provider should treat you as a partner and do their best to meet all your IT and security requirements.

A competent MSP provides guidance for hardware upgrades and better workflow and software systems. They generally possess invaluable industry-specific knowledge of what can be the best fit for your business and what may not work at all. Without a trusted IT partner, you cannot be confident about the best services, applications, and/or components to invest in.

Is it time to change your existing managed IT service providers?

It is not always possible for business owners to have adequate knowledge about every technology update, and this is where you need the help of your MSP. You need to assess your tech service provider to ensure that they are helping you to make the best decisions for your company. Make sure that MSP is a reliable business partner. Otherwise, you can’t trust your MSP to deliver reliable, cost-effective IT solutions for your business, and you might face difficulties in the long run.

If you find that your MSP is not keeping you up-to-date on possible problems or proactively checking your infrastructure to make sure your IT solutions are still working, they are not playing the role of true advisors or IT consultants.

If you and your staff have encountered that your current managed IT service provider is not functioning accordingly, you should consider changing your MSP to better your organization.

Now what?

Changing your MSP will not be so difficult. An efficient MSP can easily take over the charge of your IT services without affecting your productivity and security services at all. With a trusted you’ll experience better technical support, security measures, strategic IT consulting, and also the value your company deserves.

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Data is the most crucial component for any business. Keeping the business data safe is a priority for every organization to save your business from competitors and cybercriminals. But, data security is not a one-person’s job. Every employee of an organization either work with data or generate data—so it should be a collaborative approach to keep your business data safe. To keep your critical business data safe, the implementation of data security measures is not enough. You also need to aware your workforce about the importance of data security and how to maintain the security practices. Here are seven ways to protect your sensitive business data efficiently.

1. Install protective measures

To keep your business data safe, first, you need to secure your systems with protective measures like firewalls, antivirus and anti-malware software, and so on. These are essential online security weapons to prevent unauthorized access, virus attack, etc. and keep your data safe from cybercriminals.

A firewall is meant to protect your network by controlling internet traffic coming into and flowing out of your business.

You also need to update your programs regularly. Frequently update keeps your programs up-to-date with the latest fixes on any recent issues or holes that programmers have already encountered.

2. Create a data security-aware workforce

As an owner, it is your responsibility to create a work culture in your organization that emphasizes how cybersecurity hygiene can protect your business data as well as employees’ data. Here are a few ways to establish a security aware workforce.

Establish Regular Security Training and Education Protocol: Make sure every employee of your organization understand how vital your company’s data is, and make them aware of all the measures they can maintain to protect it. Arrange regular training programs to upgrade your employees with updated security measures.

Restrict Data and Application Access: You should restrict free access to data. You should allow your employees to access data on a “need to know” basis. You can keep your business data safe by restricting access to strict job-related areas.

Implement control measures on data usage: You can also set automatic blocking for unsafe websites and actions, like sending emails to unauthorized contacts, uploading data to the web, using unauthorized external drives, copying business data to external drives, etc.

Reinforce a Password Policy: You should implement a strict password policy like employees need to change their passwords on a regular basis, passwords need to be complex—a combination of numbers, letters, and symbols, and so on.

3. Manage your business assets (hardware and software assets)

For proper management and security of your business assets, you need a 360° view of your network and devices, especially when your organization has highly segmented departments with different resource needs.

Use Guest Networks: If possible, you can segment your traffic and keep guests on a separate network from your employees. This will help to reduce the risk of unwanted threats. You can also monitor all user access to these networks, encounter any authentication error or unauthorized access.

Respond Quickly: In case of any unauthorized activity, you can quickly disconnect that suspicious device to stop the unauthorized access.

4. Manage Vulnerabilities 24×7

Around the clock network monitoring is a crucial aspect for any business. To have a reliable security monitoring system across compliance frameworks, you can consider having an in-house IT team or can hire managed IT services to help you. These solutions can help you effectively manage vulnerabilities, monitor and proactively detect threats, and respond to malicious and risky activities in real-time.

5. Secure Mobile devices:

With remote working culture, employees use different types of digital touchpoints, even personal devices to access office networks and complete a job. You need to implement secured connectivity between the office network and users’ devices. Implementing a virtual private network (VPN) can help establish a secured private network across a public network. It enables users to send and receive securely.

Portable devices like laptops and smartphones are high-risk assets and can be stolen easily. Therefore, it is important to take more security measures to protect all portable assets. In such conditions, encrypt is an easy and effective solution to protect business data. Data encryption practices are useful to safeguard your sensitive files and prevent leaks. Without the correct password, your computer’s data is unreadable, so that it will be safe.

6. Have a data backup and recovery system

Data backup is crucial to deal with unexpected natural and man-made disasters. In case of a cyberattack, you will need a backup of critical data to re-establish the functionality. This will help you to recover data and bring applications back online fast and seamlessly. You can either go for a data center or opt for cloud-based solutions. Depending on the solution, your data backup plan may include:

• Long-term data retention
• Storage redundancy and recovery
• Assistance to meet industry compliance
• Regular testing and monitoring for validation

7. Have a well-structured Compliance Framework

Depending on the framework, your compliance requirements may vary a lot. These are general practices to protect sensitive personal information and how to respond in the event of a data breach.

It is good to hire a Data Protection Officer (DPO) who can help your organization to establish a data protection strategy and form written contracts with external partners. They also help to foster compliance across your organization and help your employees to maintain the best practices.

It is also essential to record all data breaches, where necessary, report these to relevant authorities. A detailed record of data breaches allows taking preventive measures to avoid further attacks.

Conclusion:

By following all or some of the data protection measures, you can ensure the safety of your valuable business data. You can make your data protection strategy by yourself and your in-house IT department. Or, you can consider hiring a managed It service provider to help you with around the clock monitoring, data protection, backup, and recovery measures. They can also help you to educate your employees with data protection practices and monitor their activities.

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In the present fast-moving world, new trends of technology and software are continuously emerging and vanishing. Companies are always challenged to figure out which one is good for them and persistent and which one can be left behind. 2020 was a year of mixed thoughts, where the COVID-19 global pandemic has disrupted the business landscape worldwide; it also accelerated the rate of digital solution adaptation throughout the world. In 2021, most companies face challenges to meet their business requirements, fill up the workforce and skill shortage, technical challenges, and so on. Here are top business challenges in 2021:

1. Executing a growth strategy for uncertain times: To fight back the uncertainty, most organizations are planning to be more digital to accelerate productivity and business growth.

2. Looking for better tech support and broader expertise within a particular technology stack in 2021: To offer new services and work toward a broader portfolio, businesses need better tech support and expertise in cutting-edge technologies to incorporate them and implement. 

3. Struggling to adjust client needs within verticals: Clients’ needs and service requirements have changed, and it is hard to meet them without the latest technologies and innovative solutions.

4. Finding talent amid labor shortages and security challenges with the distributed workforce: Along with a shortage of skilled workforce, companies also face challenges working with distributed teams. Security gaps, data theft, lack of collaboration, etc., are the common issues with remote working infrastructure.

5. Struggling to maintain company culture in a remote environment: The work culture of the organizations is disrupting with this prolonged remote working.

To deal with the business challenges that arise in 2021, managed service providers are also upgrading their services. They are focused on offering services considering people centricity, location independence, and resilient delivery as per the client’s need. Here are the technology trends to improve services and organizational plasticity to help guide companies in the next 5 – 10 years.

1. Privacy-enhancing computation

In the current situation, privacy-enhancing computation is a crucial factor for most businesses as some countries (like EU countries) have become very particular about data security and privacy. Privacy-enhancing computation ideally features three technologies to protect data whenever it is being used. Firstly, it ensures a trusted environment in which sensitive information can be processed or analyzed. The second technology performs processing and analytics of data in a decentralized manner. And the third one encrypts data and algorithms before processing or analytics.

Therefore, privacy-enhancing computation enables companies to collaborate on research securely across regions and with competitors without bothering about confidentiality. MSPs have adopted this approach to meet the increasing need to share information while maintaining privacy and security.

2. Distributed cloud

Distributed cloud service is actually the distribution of public cloud services to diverse physical locations. However, the governance, operation, updates, and evolution of the services remain the responsibility of that public cloud provider.

With distributed cloud service, organizations can experience low-latency scenarios, reduce data costs, and accommodate laws that dictate data must remain within a specific geographical area. Along with cost-efficiency, distributed cloud computing also offers auto-updates, rapid development, unlimited storage, and an efficient data backup facility. That means organizations still benefit from the public cloud without bothering about managing the costly and complex private cloud.

Distributed cloud is the future of cloud that offers cloud computing benefits along with location-dependent cloud use cases.

3. Anywhere operations

Anywhere operations model is one of the best options for businesses to emerge successfully from the COVID-19 crisis. Anywhere operation model is based on a decentralized enterprise that enables better business resiliency and access to a broader talent pool. It allows customers, employers, and business partners—everyone to operate from a remote environment along with business to be accessed and delivered to anywhere.

The basic concept of this model is based on “digital-first, remote-first”. With complete digitalization, anywhere operations help to eliminate the wastage of effort because it allows to keep everything operating everywhere and accessible to anyone in any way.

Anywhere operations are not dependent on one server, one firewall, etc.; instead, it has the correct diverse configuration. This operation model provides the ability to run a business remotely. From the convenience of a mobile device, any designated administrator can monitor the overall system and functionality and even can address issues in real-time.

4. AI engineering and Hyperautomation

Artificial Intelligence engineering strategy facilitates the performance, interpretability, scalability, and reliability of AI models while delivering the total value of AI investments. AI engineering also helps to make AI a part of the mainstream DevOps process instead of keeping AI as a set of specialized and isolated projects. Acceptance of AI engineering can tame the AI hype while providing an easier way to value when operationalizing the combination of multiple AI techniques.

On the other hand, hyper-automation is applying advanced technologies to scale automation capabilities in an organization. This is a disciplined approach, used to rapidly identify, evaluate, and automate as many business and IT processes as possible. Acceleration of digital business needs efficiency, speed, and democratization, which can be achieved through hyper-automation of business processes. Organizations that are reluctant about business agility, efficiency, and efficacy through automation will be left behind.

5. Cybersecurity mesh

Cybersecurity mesh is a distributed IT security infrastructure meant to offer better cybersecurity control along with scalability and flexibility. Instead of implementing a single security ‘perimeter’ around all devices or IT network nodes, it establishes smaller, individual perimeters around each access point. With a remote working environment, many assets exist outside the traditional security perimeter.  So, cybersecurity mesh is a more reliable and efficient approach for the current situation. It enables a more responsive security approach by centralizing policy orchestration and distributing policy enforcement.

As companies are increasingly deploying microservices, the cybersecurity mesh approach for data protection adds efficiency and transparency to the process. Even this architectural approach can be combined with a zero-trust strategy to harden the security posture.

Conclusion

To make your business more suitable to sustain and flourish implementation of cutting-edge technologies is crucial. You can consider managed IT services to get the right advice about technology adaptation and the implementation of innovative solutions to meet the business challenges in 2021.

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Nowadays, technology is the key to the success of every business, irrespective of industry. It empowers businesses to have better and faster solutions for multiple business processes and also helps to automate different processes to improve efficiency. To tap into every recent technology like cloud computing, hardware, and application, small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) need the support of managed IT services providers. But, why are SMB companies prefer turning to managed IT support services? To explain why it is wise to invest in outsourcing IT infrastructure services, it is good to start with “what are IT support services?”.

What Are IT Support Services?

Managed service providers (MSPs) are professionals offering IT support services to help organizations manage their network, users, services, and devices integral to every business operation. MSPs ensure that the organization’s network is current, and the tech support of the MSPs allows organizations’ to enjoy seamless operations across all departments, hierarchies, and roles within the company.

Though you can outsource different services from an IT support provider according to your requirement, the most common tasks include:

• Network monitoring, management, and security
• Systems operation and support services
• System update and troubleshooting
• Process execution and enforcement
• Data backup and recovery
• Data storehouse, warehouse, and management
• Authentication
• Cybersecurity

Even businesses want a common IT setup for their network, tools, data, and security management. For efficient IT management, businesses need dedicated expertise to maintain systems and consolidate new technologies. Hiring an IT support service provider can be a solution in such a situation.

Why is Outsourcing IT Support Solutions beneficial?

Here are immediate and long-term benefits to outsourcing IT support services.

1. Managed Services:

When you opt for outsourcing your infrastructure management services, you can enjoy the complete service package, including proactive monitoring and management, database and data centre management, data protection, cybersecurity, and other support services. This means that the IT infrastructure management service providers manage the operations, but you still retain complete control over your systems.

As technology grows complex day-by-day, hardware and software management has become remarkably more challenging. But businesses need to have innovative hardware and software solutions to meet the ever-changing customer demand. It is good to hire professional IT service providers in such a situation as they can fully handle such technicalities.

2. Access to latest technologies and experienced professionals:

It is difficult for any SMB with limited IT resources to manage the whole IT infrastructure and update with the latest technologies. When anIT outsourcing company comes in, it becomes easier to keep track of everything and also get expert’s advice on the technology implementations.

In SMBs, where an in-house IT team contains limited resources, it is very difficult to continuously be updated with the information of cutting-edge technologies. Even it is more difficult to suggest the latest technology that can be beneficial for your business. On the other hand, managed service providers hire experts to serve their clients. So, you enjoy the experts’ advice and efficient to keep your business up-to-date with the latest technologies.

3. Predictable budgets and cost control

Installing and maintaining an IT infrastructure with networks, servers, storage, security, and a whole host of other components is quite expensive. Outsourcing IT infrastructure support services generally charge according to service packages—it transforms the fixed IT costs into variable costs. So, you get a chance to opt for the most suitable service package according to your requirement and budget. In short, you only pay for “what you use”; it can lead to huge cost reduction. In addition, the cost of system maintenance and servicing frequently exceeds the cost of the initial outlay—consider this, outsourcing seems wise.

4. Improved Efficiency

When you choose to outsource your IT infrastructure, most of your regular infrastructure monitoring and maintenance work will be taken care of by your IT partner. So, you can have more time to concentrate on your core competencies to improve overall efficiency and generate business value. You can utilize your dedicated resources in productive work rather than bore and time-consuming maintenance work.

5. Reduce labor costs

Hiring, training, and maintaining a large in-house IT department is expensive. Apart from the regular salary, the cumulative amount of other perks is also high and causing a huge burden on the company. Even hiring temporary IT support staff often end in disappointments.   On the other hand, outsourcing IT support servicesbrings highly skilled and experienced professionals to handle your IT needs at a fraction of the hiring in-house IT staff cost.

6. Reduce risks

Managed IT service providers offer efficient disaster management and data recovery service, which reduces the anxiety of the owners and employees as well. Outsourcing IT infrastructure also helps to reduce downtime and worry about lost productivity, threatened security, and disappearing information. Outsourcing IT support services even can manage multiple other business risks for you, especially security and compliance-related risks.

7. Recover from disaster

Disasters are irresistible; so, it’s better to be prepared. Data is one of the vital resources for every business, and when disaster hits, it becomes vulnerable. An efficient IT infrastructure service provider offers you effective backup technology and a disaster recovery plan to keep your valuable data safe even in adverse conditions. With an efficient data recovery plan, you can easily retrieve your data when the situation comes to normal.

Conclusion:

Outsourcing IT infrastructure service for your small or medium-sized business is obviously a wise step over hiring an in-house IT department. By outsourcing IT support services, companies can free up their valuable resources and help them to focus the core business functions —what matters to achieve the business goal. Even instead of a fixed payroll per month, you have to pay only for what you have used. IT outsourcing companies in India also allow you to focus on marketing, product development, and improving customer relations. Hiring outside IT professionals enables you to learn, grow, and evolve to achieve your ultimate goals. Managed IT services have become the game-changer in the business of recent times.

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An IT Roadmap is a visible layout of a company’s technology initiatives. These initiatives include every possible aspect of tech-integration, an approximate timeline of technology solutions implementation, and reasons behind the changes.

For a successful implementation of the IT roadmap, it is essential to consider whether the organization’s in-house workforces have access and proper training of the technology that can improve their productivity. As it is not always possible to have in-house experts of the latest technologies, the enterprises have to depend on outsourced professionals for training and tech support for implementing new technologies.

Implementation of a successful IT roadmap needs thoughtful planning about technologies, their requirement in achieving the businesses goals, and assessment of the capability of the employees who will use them. Otherwise, there is a risk of overrunning both your budget and your project schedule without detailed planning.

What Makes a Successful IT Roadmap?

An IT roadmap basically represents the sequence of events that need to be incorporated into your business process within a limited timeframe to get the desired outcome. If the entire IT implementation goes appropriately, it helps to achieve business goals. But the incorporation of new technologies is not so simple. It needs an appropriate selection of technologies, infrastructure development, hiring, training of the existing workforce, around the clock tech-support, and most importantly—experts’ support.

Most of the companies have neither the expertise nor the time to explore the new technologies, choose the right one according to business requirements, introduce new technology, and bring employees up to speed. Outsourcing virtual CIO (vCIO) can be a solution to this. An outsourced vCIO with Managed IT Services is the most suitable solution for developing a useful IT roadmap and its implementation. Managed IT service with their professional expertise can quickly identify the trouble spots of your business—many of which you may not even notice earlier, and can suggest the right technologies for business development and productivity. With the reliable guidance of your vCIO, you can climb up the steps to incorporate new technologies and take your business to the next level. With a reliable managed service provider, your tech integration will be facilitated through –

1. Appointment of Virtual CIO:

An experienced vCIO works to bridge the gap between the shortage of IT infrastructure and the business goal of your organization. They determine the requirements throughout the company and areas of weaknesses; based on the investigations, they also provide their recommendations and solutions. Their investigation covers everything from operations to IT support, sales, service requirements, and finance to develop a useful IT roadmap. Your vCIO can help you with strategic planning for the workforce shortage or surplus, projects to take on, and even help to handle expired software or necessary upgrades.

2. IT deployment with proper Tech-Roadmap

Many organizations, when they want to install new technologies according to their technical roadmap, might find it difficult to get a free time slot in the day for system update of the in-house squad. Even sometimes, network problems, technical maintenance, and other issues can keep the in-house team away from major projects. To resolve these tech issues, managed IT services can take day-to-day responsibilities of monitoring, maintenance, and troubleshooting so that the in-house team can focus on technology deployment.

3. Provide necessary skill and resource support

IT departments of a small and midsize business (SMB) generally consist of a limited number of experts. It is also common to have individual experts for a particular skill or technology. So, if a particular person drops the project for any reason, there is a high chance of delay in the rest of the tech roadmap. Until a suitable replacement is hired, your IT development roadmap will be stagnant.

To avoid such a situation, your outsourced IT infrastructure partner can be the solution. Along with providing managed IT services, they align a squad of experts or skilled engineers that you can hire to bridge the gap in the skill sets of your group.

Even when SMBs struggle to get the right person with selective skill sets to support their IT roadmap, the managed service partners can help you by providing a suitable resource to accomplish the job within the timeframe. 

4. Around the clock monitoring service:

When your in-hour IT support system is inadequate to provide around the clock network monitoring facility as well as tech-supports, you can consider your managed service partner to incorporate 24*7 vigilant monitoring and maintenance system to ensure the smooth running of systems and network. Managed IT services are equipped to address the difficulties quickly and restore the IT infrastructure. Otherwise, untimely network failure or system malfunctioning can affect your team, your roadmap, and the entire business.

5. Create your strategy

Managed IT services prepare the tech integration strategy according to your business roadmap and business goals. When planning or creating a technology roadmap, it should be firm with some room for flexibility. IT is growing abruptly, and a useful IT roadmap needs you to incorporate step-wish IT development, which ultimately leads you to your strategic goals with a long-range destination in mind.

6. Plan for disaster recovery

Back up and disaster recovery is essential for the successful completion of any project as well as an infrastructure development initiative. Considering your managed service partner for the backup and disaster recovery during the implementation of the IT roadmap is one of the best options for the organizations. 

Apart from the above-mentioned criteria, your managed service partners take care of tracking IT progresses and report license compliance. They also do thorough research and find out the best Cloud practices for your business to reach your desired destination.

Conclusion:

A managed services provider (MSP) is one of the most crucial factors to navigating your way to reach the ultimate business goals and a bright future. The outsourced IT support service under the guidance of your vCIO provides a comprehensive service package that takes care of all your essential jobs to following an IT roadmap.  Your MSP partner helps you to dodge all the “traffic” and “accidents” along your way on the IT roadmap and help you arrive quickly and safely to your desired destination. It is always good to have a reliable managed service partner who can guide you all the way.

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Remote Infrastructure Management has become a vital aspect for organizations irrespective of the size and the industry. In earlier days, companies used to manage their entire Information Technology (IT) infrastructure from their premises. With the increased demand for better services and advancement of technologies, this on-site model seems inadequate to serve all the business requirements. Now, the companies require a faster, efficient, and cost-effective IT infrastructure management system that offers instant scalability. 

Remote Infrastructure Management (RIM) is the most suitable solution for evolving tech support demand of organizations. This is the process of managing an organization’s IT infrastructure entirely or partially from a remote location. Sometimes, the entire physical infrastructure of the IT management service remains geographically separated from the operating units of the organizations. Several large organizations possess a central IT infrastructure management unit that remotely controls and manages all functional areas functioning from distinct locations. Even multiple organizations outsource the entire remote infrastructure management processes to other IT service providers with expertise in managed IT services.

Why choose RIM?

With a remote infrastructure management service, enterprises can remotely manage or outsource  IT components like computer hardware and software, networking, data storage devices, IT security devices, cybersecurity, and servers. The incorporation of remote infrastructure management services can help enterprises reduce their IT expenditures and improve productivity and flexibility in operations. Remote infrastructure management companies are equipped to provide services like complete Network Operation Center (NOC) managed services, hybrid management services (NOC + On-site), incident and problem management, Operating System health management, and user management services. These services are beneficial for enterprises in managing their IT infrastructure with better coordination and reduced workload related to system maintenance and troubleshooting.

Benefits of Remote Infrastructure management

Key benefits of incorporating remote infrastructure management services in your business are:

24*7 Support Service:

Technological infrastructures are prone to breakdowns and malfunctioning. Therefore, enterprises need 24*7 support services for troubleshooting and instant solution to restore systems. This makes remote infrastructure services an indispensable solution. Efficient remote infrastructure management companies allocate a team of experts that conduct around-the-clock IT infrastructure monitoring to identify and resolve problematic changes in the network and provide instant support as required by the enterprise’s in-house workforce.

Enhanced Uptime:

Remote infrastructure service providers offer advanced technologies, state-of-the-art equipment, professional expertise, training to the employees about the latest technologies, and so on to improve the productivity and efficiency of the IT infrastructure.  This integration of technologies, 24×7 support service, and system upgradation improves the enterprises’ uptime, which ultimately contributes to revenue generation.

Constant Technological Advancements:

Technology is an ever-changing aspect. To cope with the constant technological advancements, enterprises need the help of their remote IT infrastructure service providers to incorporate the latest technologies, provide training to the staff, and manage infrastructure. Otherwise, it could be a hurdle for enterprises to pay for constant staff training and invest in new technologies and management services.

By hiring efficient RIM support, enterprises can update and manage their IT infrastructure at a comparatively low cost.

Customized Services

Remote infrastructure management service providers offer customized services to meet the business requirement of different enterprises. They offer varieties of service packages to cope with the business-specific requirements of the enterprises such as complete management of servers, networks maintenance and solutions, on-site experts for training or to cater internal help-desk, and so on.

Along with these standard services, they also offer services like infrastructure analysis or provide skilled resources to ramp-up or ramp-down according to business demand, etc. All these services aid enterprises in saving costs and minimizing downtime.

Reduce day-to-day maintenance

RIM services help enterprises in regular IT infrastructure maintenance services and also take timely action to minimize downtime. With this centralized IT infrastructure management facility, the in-house workforce of the enterprise can focus on their work and innovations.

With a reliable RIM partner, you can have around-the-clock access to crucial system and software upgrades and patch management services. This privilege will enable you to enjoy seamless continuity of business operations and improved service experience for customers and stakeholders.

Supports productivity and efficiency:

Incorporation of remote IT infrastructure management services is the easiest way to optimize the IT functionality of the enterprises. Your RIM partner brings all of their experience and expertise into your organization. When your RIM partner focuses on maintaining IT systems, you and your workforce can concentrate on your business strategies and goals. Maintenance support also helps to reduce the IT budget of the enterprises as a single, central setup handles the responsibility for the entire IT infrastructure instead of numerous distributed infrastructure setups.

Fast integration of the newest tools and services

With a reliable RIM partner on your side, your organization will be equipped to integrate the latest technologies and tools quickly. They will also help in the fast incorporation of state-of-the-art services into your on-going IT strategy, as required.

Cost-efficiency:

Hiring a RIM company is a cost-efficient practice. The cost of outsourcing your IT responsibilities to a reliable RIM vendor is much lower than the expense of maintaining an on-site IT department. Especially for enterprises with business locations scattered across diverse geographies and time-zones, RIM is the best option for centralized and around the clock services in a cost-efficient manner.

Stay One-Step Ahead of Your Competitors with a reliable RIM partner

With an efficient and reliable remote infrastructure management partner, you can empower your organization with the latest technologies and tools for operational success and provide the best service experience to your customers. Hiring remote infrastructure services also helps enterprises minimize their overall business risks, downtime, and expenditure while improving user satisfaction levels. However, it is crucial to get the right vendor to avail services according to your business requirements. There are leading remote infrastructure management companies having experienced and certified consultants to ensure the smooth running of the IT infrastructure of your organization with continual monitoring and maintenance service.

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Outsourcing cybersecurity adds value to your business. External security providers such as IT outsourcing companies in India are the best option for businesses looking to ramp up their security because:

1. They specialize in what they do

Security is a very sensitive issue for your business. When you want to keep your IT systems safe, you have to choose the best service provider—someone with vast industry experience and a proven track record.

Your internal IT team may not cut it because they are busy juggling a whole lot of other IT issues to keep up with the latest in security. An expert, on the other hand, has all the latest information about how you can keep your business safe because that is their specialty!

There is also a serious skills gap plaguing the market today. There are hardly enough competent candidates to take up the complex and demanding work of safeguarding businesses’ tech systems.

2. They will be there for your business 24/7

Keeping your business secure is not a 9 to 5 job. There is no telling when hackers will strike, so you need a team that is available 24/7. Getting your internal team to work overtime or during odd hours would mean that you have to chuck more benefits.

An outsourced IT company can offer you the same services at a more affordable rate. They will also respond swiftly to any security threat, ensuring that your systems are safe at all times.

3. You do not have to invest in staff and infrastructure

For you to have an in-house cybersecurity system, you would need to incur huge upfront costs. First, you will buy the security equipment required and later hire a full-time cybersecurity professional or two. When you add up all these costs, you are better off with an outsourced service. You also benefit from higher levels of security service when you hire a firm.

4. You gain the perks of having an independent team

Working with the cybersecurity advice from your internal team can be risky. An independent can uncover security gaps that your internal team may have overlooked.

Remember that people remain a weak link in your organization’s security. Internal threats are the major cause of security breaches, which an outsourced company can help you to reduce. An outsourced firm can also train your employees on the adhering to security measures to reduce the risk of a security attack.

Final Words

Security remains a top priority for businesses in the height of cybersecurity threats. IT outsourcing companies have the expertise, the tools, and the required independence to keep your business safe.

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Security incidents are known as events that showcase the compromise or the measurement set in place for the protection of an organization’s system or data. In the world of information technology, a security event is signified for software or system hardware and the incidents are mainly the events that can derange the general operations. Security events are generally differentiated from security incidents by the severity’s degree and the in-association calculated risk towards the organization. In case, one of the users has been denied access for a requested service, for instance, it might be a security event as it can symbolize a compromised system. But, the failure of access can be caused due to a lot of things. Basically, one does not create a severe impact on the organization.  This can be sorted out easily with the managed IT services.

Nevertheless, if a huge number of users access is not accepted, then it simply implies that there are major serious issues, like an attack of denial service, such that the event is described as a security incident. 

A security breach is regarded as a confirmed incident that has the inclusion of confidential, sensitive, and protected data that is disclosed or accessed through an unauthorized manner. Irrespective of a security breach, an incident of security does not mandatory imply that the information is being compromised, it is just that the information was threatened. Taking an example, an organization that is successfully thwarting a cyber attack can experience a security incident however not a breach. 

How Can You Detect Security Incidents?

Nowadays, there is one of the other new headlines regarding high profile data breaching. However, there are way too many incidents that go away unnoticed as the businesses are not aware of how to detect the same. With the help of IT infrastructure consulting services, you can do the same in a flexible manner. 

Measures For Detection Of Security Incidents 

• Cases of creepy behavior from reliable user accounts

If there is any kind of anomaly in the behavior of the reliable user accounts then the same can be a symbol of someone using it for earning a foothold in an organization’s network. 

• Cases of unauthorized users accessing servers and data

A lot of times, insiders will try to test the waters for the determination of systems and data that can be accessed. Some of the warning signs can involve unauthorized users attempting to access the servers and data, by requesting access to data that is not in relation to the job, logging in during abnormal times from not so casual locations or logging in through various locations in a shorter period of time. 

• An oddity in the outbound network traffic 

It is not just the traffic that can enter inside a network which the businesses must worry about. The businesses must monitor the traffic for leaving the perimeters also. This can involve insiders who are uploading bigger files to the personal cloud applications, downloading huge files into external storage devices, like USB drives, sending a huge number of mail messages with the attachments that are from the outer part of the business. 

• Traffic sent towards or from unknown locations 

For an organization that only operates in a single country, any kind of traffic that can be sent to the other countries can give signs of malicious activities. Administrators must investigate any kind of traffic to the unknown network for ensuring it is legitimate. 

• Excess Consumption

A rise in the performance of server memory might indicate that an attacker is trying to access in an illegal manner. 

• Alterations in Configuration 

The changes that are not approved involving the reconfiguration of services, installation of startup programs, or the changes in the firewall are definite symbols if possibly a bitter activity. The same process is true for the scheduled tasks as well that are added. 

• Secret Files 

These are regarded as suspicious as the file name, locations or size provide signs that the data or logs might be leaked. 

• Unpredicted Changes 

These changes have the inclusion of user account lockouts, password changes, or the surprise changes in the group memberships.

• Anomaly Browsing Activity 

This can be unexpected redirects or various changes in the repeated pop-ups or browser configuration.

• Dubious entries of the registry 

Most of the time, it can happen when the malware has infected the windows system. It is one of the major ways that malware can ensure that it remains in the infected system. 

Incident Response Plan 

There are several businesses who are pretty active in creating incident response plans as it creates minimal impacts on the business. An incident response plan is known as a written, documented plan that has six different phases which are helpful for IT professionals, and the staff can recognize and deal with cybersecurity incidents like breaching of data or cyber-attacks. Proper creation and management of incident response plans include training and daily updates. With the help of cloud infrastructure companies, you can easily maintain the process. 

Process For Creation Of IRP 

An incident response plan must be set up for addressing a suspected data breach in a series of distinctive phases. In every phase, there are different areas of need that must be considered. 

The incident response phases are as below:

• Preparation 
• Identification 
• Containment
• Eradication
• Recovery 
• Learned Lessons 

In this way, you can easily take help from the cloud infrastructure companies for the creation of IRP. Not only this, but these companies will save you from intricate security incidents as well. 

On the whole, you must know about the security incident management process. It is the process of management, identifying recording and analysing security incidents of threats in real-time. With this, you will have a robust and comprehensive view of security issues with the IT infrastructure. A security incident can be anything, from an attempted intrusion to an active threat for a successful compromise or a data breach. Research more about the security incident management process and take help from the professionals, and you’re halfway to solving all the problems! 

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