Businesses are rapidly evolving in modern times to accommodate the shifting wants of consumers. Organizations are always looking for new methods to stay competitive and adapt to the digital environment. For businesses across industries, digital transformation has become a vital strategic project, allowing them to harness the power of technology to drive innovation, improve consumer experiences, and optimize operations. While the benefits of digital transformation are obvious, the process can be complicated and difficult. This is where IT infrastructure consulting services come in handy. This article is about the role of IT consulting services in digital transformation programs and the value they provide to businesses.

Understanding Digital Transformation
Before everything, first, you need to comprehend the concept of digital transformation. “Digital transformation” implies how digital technologies are integrated into every part of an organization, significantly altering how it functions and provides value to customers. It uses technologies like cloud computing, data analytics, artificial intelligence(AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT) to promote innovation, streamline processes, and develop new business models. Digital transformation is a journey that necessitates a planned and comprehensive strategy rather than a one-time event.

The Challenges of Digital Transformation
Starting a digital transformation path can be daunting, especially for organizations lacking the essential knowledge and resources. Among the common obstacles encountered during digital transformation initiatives are:

Lack of Strategic Vision: Without a clear strategic vision, organizations may struggle to define and align their digital objectives with their overall business goals.

Technology Complexity: The rapidly evolving technology landscape can be complex to navigate. Organizations need guidance to select the right technologies and create an integrated ecosystem that supports their digital goals.

Legacy Systems and Infrastructure: Existing legacy systems and outdated infrastructure can hinder digital transformation efforts. Organizations need guidance on modernizing their IT landscape and integrating new technologies with existing systems.

Change Management: Digital transformation involves cultural and organizational change. Organizations must overcome resistance to change and ensure employees embrace and adopt new technologies and processes.

Data Management and Security: With the increasing volume of data generated, organizations need to develop robust data management strategies and ensure the security and privacy of customer information.

The Role of IT Consulting Services
IT consulting services provide organizations with the expertise and guidance required to navigate the complexities of digital transformation. Here’s how they play a crucial role:

Strategic Planning and Roadmap Development
IT consultants help organizations define their digital transformation goals and develop a strategic roadmap. They assess the organization’s current state, identify gaps and opportunities, and represent a clear vision for the digital future. Consultants work closely with stakeholders to align business objectives with technology initiatives, ensuring that digital transformation efforts are tightly integrated into the overall corporate strategy.

Technology Assessment and Selection
Navigating the vast landscape of emerging technologies can be challenging. IT consultants bring in-depth knowledge of the latest technologies, trends, and best practices. They help organizations evaluate and select the most suitable technologies that align with their digital transformation objectives. By conducting thorough technology assessments, consultants ensure that the chosen technologies integrate seamlessly with existing systems and deliver the desired outcomes.

Process Optimization and Change Management
Digital transformation often involves reimagining and optimizing business processes to drive efficiency and improve customer experiences. IT consultants work closely with organizations to identify process bottlenecks, recommend process improvements, and implement best practices. They also play a vital role in change management, helping organizations manage the cultural shift associated with digital transformation. Consultants provide training and support to employees, ensuring they have the necessary skills to leverage new technologies effectively.

Data Strategy and Analytics
Data is fundamental to digital transformation. IT consultants help businesses build a solid data strategy that includes data governance, data integration, and data analytics capabilities. They assist organizations in leveraging data’s capacity to generate useful insights, make data-driven choices, and drive innovation. Consultants evaluate the organization’s data infrastructure, identify data sources, and offer relevant data analysis tools and procedures. They also aid in the implementation of data security and privacy safeguards to safeguard sensitive information.

Agile and Scalable IT Architecture
A key aspect of digital transformation is building an agile and scalable IT architecture that can support the organization’s evolving needs. IT consultants help organizations design and implement a flexible and scalable technology infrastructure. They assist in cloud adoption strategies, recommend architecture frameworks, and ensure seamless integration between various systems and applications. Consultants can also advise on how businesses use modern technologies like artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things to drive innovation and open up new business prospects.

Vendor Selection and Management
Digital transformation often involves working with multiple technology vendors and service providers. IT consultants help organizations evaluate and select the right vendors based on their expertise, track record, and ability to meet specific requirements. They negotiate contracts, define service-level agreements, and provide oversight during vendor engagements to ensure smooth implementation and ongoing support.

Risk Assessment and Mitigation
Digital transformation initiatives introduce new risks and challenges, including cybersecurity threats, compliance issues, and operational disruptions. IT consultants assist organizations in identifying potential risks and developing strategies to mitigate them. They conduct comprehensive risk assessments, recommend security measures, and help organizations implement robust cybersecurity frameworks. Consultants also provide guidance on regulatory compliance, ensuring that organizations meet industry-specific standards and regulations.

Continuous Monitoring and Optimization
Digital transformation is a continual process that necessitates constant monitoring and optimization. IT consultants assist organizations in developing performance measurements and monitoring procedures for digital initiatives. They analyze data, find areas for improvement, and offer techniques for optimization. Consultants also stay current on emerging technology and industry trends, giving organizations insights and recommendations to help them stay competitive in their digital transformation path.

Conclusion
Digital transformation has become imperative for organizations to stay competitive and meet evolving customer expectations. However, the complexities and challenges associated with digital transformation initiatives require expertise and guidance. IT consulting services play a vital role in helping organizations navigate the digital landscape, enabling them to develop effective strategies, select the right technologies, optimize processes, and mitigate risks. Organizations may expedite their digital transformation initiatives, unleash new opportunities, and achieve long-term success by working with a competent IT service provider company in India.

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Structured data is one of the most valuable assets of the modern age. Every organization looks for suitable and affordable data storage measures to keep its data safe. But storing and fast-moving extensive quantity data can be expensive for organizations. Plus, the volume of data businesses generate continues to grow astoundingly. Therefore, the need for cost-effective solutions to store and move this data has become more pressing than ever before. While traditional on-premise data centers have been the norm for decades, the rise of cloud data centers (CDCs) has presented organizations with an alternative solution that promises a more integrated and flexible approach to data management.

In this blog post, you can explore the key differences between on-premise data centers and the cloud and their pros and cons. This information will help you make the best decision for your enterprise.

What is a data center?
A data center refers to a physical facility that houses an enterprise’s IT infrastructure, including servers, storage devices, and networking equipment. The facility is designed to provide a secure data storage, management, and processing environment. Depending on the business’s size and needs, the data center can be owned and operated by the organization or a third-party provider.

Advantages of a data center
Complete control: Companies that opt for a data center have full control over their IT infrastructure. They can customize their setup to meet their specific requirements, including hardware and software configurations. This level of control allows businesses to optimize their resources and ensure high availability for their critical applications.

Security: Data centers are designed to provide the utmost protection for your data. They have measures in place to protect against physical and cyber threats. These measures include access controls, video surveillance, fire suppression systems, and redundant power supplies. These security measures ensure the safety of your business from unauthorized access, theft, and natural disasters.

High performance: Data centers offer high performance and low latency. This is because the infrastructure is dedicated to a single organization, meaning there are no shared resources. Additionally, data centers are located near telecommunication providers, which ensures fast and reliable connectivity.

Disadvantages of a data center
High capital costs: Setting up a data center is costly. Companies need to purchase the necessary hardware, software, and networking equipment. Additionally, they need to pay for the facility’s construction, maintenance, and electricity bills. These costs can be a significant burden for small and medium-sized businesses.

Scalability: Data centers are not very scalable. If a business needs to expand its IT infrastructure, it has to purchase additional hardware and equipment. This process can be time-consuming and expensive, making it challenging for companies to keep up with their growing needs.

What is the cloud?
The cloud is a remote server network that stores, manages, and processes data over the Internet rather than on a local server or personal computer. Cloud providers offer infrastructure, platforms, and software-as-a-service (IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS). Here you can access computing resources and services on demand without investing in physical infrastructure.

Advantages of the cloud
Cost-effective: Cloud providers offer a pay-as-you-go model, meaning you only have to pay for the resources you use. This model eliminates the need for companies to purchase expensive hardware and software, reducing capital costs significantly.

Scalability: Cloud providers offer unlimited scalability. Businesses can quickly increase or decrease their computing resources and services as their needs change. This flexibility allows companies to keep up with their growing needs without incurring significant costs.

Accessibility: The cloud is accessible from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. This makes it easy for businesses to work remotely and collaborate with team members from different locations.

Disadvantages of the cloud
Dependence on the provider: Businesses that opt for the cloud must depend on their provider for their IT infrastructure. Businesses will not have complete control over their setup and will have to rely on their provider’s security measures.

Security concerns: While cloud providers have measures in place to protect their infrastructure, businesses still face security concerns. Hackers can target cloud providers, leading to data breaches and loss of sensitive information. Additionally, companies may face regulatory compliance issues when storing certain data types on the cloud.

Performance issues: The cloud relies on internet connectivity, which can be a bottleneck for some applications. High latency can affect application performance, leading to slow load times and poor user experience.

Which one is better for your business?
Choosing between the cloud and data center ultimately depends on your business needs and requirements. For example, small businesses with limited resources may find the cloud more cost-effective and flexible. On the other hand, large enterprises with sensitive data may prefer the control and security offered by a data center.

Before making a decision, consider the following factors:

Budget: How much can your business afford to spend on IT infrastructure? Cloud providers offer a pay-as-you-go model, which can be more cost-effective for companies with limited budgets. However, businesses that can afford the upfront costs may prefer to enjoy a data center’s control and customization facility.

Security: How sensitive is your data? Data centers offer more control and protection over your IT infrastructure, making them a better choice for businesses with highly sensitive data. However, cloud providers have robust security measures in place, making them suitable for companies with less sensitive data.

Scalability: How fast is your business growing? The cloud offers virtually unlimited scalability, making it suitable for companies with rapidly changing needs. Data centers are less flexible and may not be ideal for growing businesses.

While both traditional data centers and cloud data centers have their strengths and weaknesses, a hybrid solution is often an ideal choice for businesses looking to optimize their infrastructure. By carefully weighing each option’s pros and cons and considering your organization’s unique needs, you can make an informed decision to set yourself up for success.

Conclusion
The best option for your business depends on your needs and budget. If you need a lot of computing power and don’t want to worry about hardware failures or maintenance, cloud computing is probably the better option. However, if cost is an issue or you want more control over how your data center is set up, investing in a traditional data center may make more sense.

Regardless of which way you go with this decision, you must weigh all the pros and cons before making any final decisions. You can also consult a trusted IT infrastructure consulting services provider the choose the right data storage option for your organization.

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Open-source backup software is essential for most organizations. It offers a cost-effective, customizable, and flexible solution for protecting data and ensuring business continuity. It is a powerful and trustworthy alternative to proprietary backup software that can benefit individuals, businesses, and organizations of all sizes. Here are the key advantages of open-source backup software.

Advantages of open-source backup software

Cost-effective: Open-source backup software is often available for free or at a significantly lower cost than proprietary backup software. This particularly benefits individuals, small businesses, and organizations with limited budgets.

Customizable: Open-source backup software can be modified and adapted to suit the specific requirements of organizations. This means that users have greater control over the software and can tailor it to their particular use cases.

Flexibility: Open-source software is designed to be compatible with multiple hardware and software platforms. So, users can have greater flexibility in choosing the tools and technologies that work best for them.

Transparency: The source codes of open-source software are open, and anyone can inspect and audit them. This makes open-source software more transparent and trustworthy—users can verify that the software is secure, free of bugs, and contains no malicious code.

Security: Open-source backup software is often more secure than proprietary backup software, as it is subject to constant review and testing by a large community of developers and users. Any vulnerabilities or weaknesses in the code are quickly identified and addressed.

Reliability: Open-source software is often tested and improved by a community of developers contributing to its development. So, open-source software is constantly evolving and improving.

Data Control: Open-source backup software gives you more control over your data. You can store your backups on your own servers or opt for cloud server providers for data storage.

No vendor lock-in: With open-source backup software, users are not tied to any particular vendor or service provider. They can switch to a different software solution or provider anytime without worrying about data compatibility or migration issues.

Community support: Open-source backup software is developed and supported by a large community of developers, users, and contributors. So, you can benefit from the knowledge, expertise, and support of a global community of backup professionals.

Let’s learn about some efficient open-source backup software that can improve your business.

Top ten free and open-source backup software

1. Duplicati:
   It is a free and open-source backup software with encryption, compression, and backup verification facilities. This software can back up files and folders, databases, virtual machines, and almost everything. It supports a number of cloud storage providers, such as Google Drive, Amazon S3, and Dropbox.
2. Bacula:
   This backup and recovery software is designed for enterprise-level data centers. It offers client-server architecture, backup scheduling, and encryption. It supports various operating systems like Windows, Mac, and Linux.
3. Amanda:
   “Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver”, or Amanda, is an open-source backup and recovery solution for Unix, Linux, and Windows systems. It supports tape, disk, and cloud backups and offers a range of features, including encryption, compression, and client/server architecture.
4. Areca Backup:
   Areca Backup is a free, open-source backup software offering compression, encryption, and backup verification. It can back up files, folders, databases, and virtual machines. It supports various operating systems, such as Windows, Mac, and Linux.
5. FOG:
   “Free Open-Source Ghost” or FOG is an open-source imaging solution for Windows and Linux systems. It can simultaneously clone and deploy operating systems and applications across multiple computers. FOG supports various file systems and network booting and also offers a web-based management interface for easy administration.
6. Clonezilla:
   This is a free and open-source backup software that offers disk imaging, cloning, and partitioning facilities. It can help backup files and folders, entire disks and all partitions. This open-source software is also suitable for various operating systems, such as Windows, Linux, and iOS.
7. Redo Backup and Recovery:
   This is a free and open-source data recovery and system imaging software. It is designed to create an exact copy or backup of an entire hard drive or partition, including the operating system, applications, settings, and data. The software uses a simple, user-friendly interface requiring minimal technical knowledge.
8. UrBackup:
   UrBackup is a free, open-source backup software offering incremental backups, encryption, and backup verification. This open-source client/server backup system provides data security and fast restoration times through a combination of image and file backups. It is easy to install and offers a variety of features, including incremental backups, backup scheduling, Data Deduplication, etc., making it unique and suitable for multiple organizations.
9. Veeam Backup Free Edition:
   This free backup software is designed for virtual machines. It offers backup scheduling, replication, and recovery. It supports various virtualization platforms, such as VMware and Hyper-V.
10. Rsync:
    This free and open-source backup software is widely used for backups, mirroring, and data migration. It is available on various operating systems, including Linux, macOS, and Windows, through third-party tools. It allows file synchronization, compression, and encryption to keep your data transfer safe and smooth. It can be used to synchronize files between local directories or across networks using various protocols, including SSH, FTP, and HTTP.

Conclusion:
Choosing an appropriate open-source backup software for your business can lead to cost savings, flexibility, security, support, innovation, and interoperability. It can help you improve your business processes and achieve your business goals. With the help of a reputed IT infrastructure management service provider, you can explore free, open-source software and opt for the right ones according to your business needs.

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In the post-pandemic era, every organization expects fast and effective services to improve productivity and efficiency to establish a profitable business. This makes managed IT services essential for organizations to get efficient IT services, maintain a good quality IT infrastructure and reduce IT expenses. Organizations look for managed service providers (MSPs) to stay competitive in this fast-changing market and to get innovative and customized services.

To meet the ever-changing requirements of the market, MSPs face multiple challenges, like
Ever-evolving tech advancement
Limited talent pool with appropriate skill sets
More work to complete with limited resources
Budget crunch
Time shortage

MSPs need to overcome their internal challenges and provide innovative services to their clients in the digital business, satisfy their customers, and also improve their profit. In such a situation, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered automation can help MSPs to be more efficient in serving their customers and improve their business.

Artificial intelligence is one of the advanced processes where human intelligence is mimicked through software and perform several works that needs human thought process. Therefore, AI-powered automation can help managed IT services companies to automate some of their services with no or partial human intervention. It helps to provide their customers with error-free, fast, and quality services without investing in substantial human resources. The MSPs have to provide services to several clients in parallel. So, AI-powered automation tools can be supportive and helpful for them to meet their customers’ requirements.

MSPs can utilize the power of AI-powered tools to identify the customer’s pain points and provide a more customized solution. For example, the implementation of chatbots to interact with end-users and provide them immediate responses to solve simple issues can minimize the load on dedicated IT professionals for critical IT issues.

Specially designed tools for MSPs backed by IT automation, Hyperautomation, or IT process automation (ITPA) are very useful. Some tools are supported by technologies like Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Integration platform as a service (iPaaS), etc., which can significantly improve the service quality of MSPs. Let’s learn how MSPs can improve their services using AI-powered automation.

5 Ways MSPs can utilize AI-Powered Automation to improve their services

1. Resource Optimization and Improve Productivity:

For MSPs, it is always a considerable challenge to develop and implement a process workflow that utilizes all available resources in the most optimized and efficient way. With AI-powered process automation, one can centrally support and manage a large number of remote data centres from one single network operations center with limited resources.

Managed services companies always have to handle multiple customers’ demands and deal with several manual tasks, which is quite time-consuming. It is important to address those manual tasks timely and error-free to keep your customers satisfied.

AI-powered automation can be a great solution to take care of those repetitive and time-consuming daily tasks, like user authentication, etc. Automation helps MSPs to bring a tailor-made approach to streamlining internal workflow processes. AI-powered automation tools are flexible and customizable to serve each user per their individual requirements. Automation will help you quickly complete simple and repetitive tasks and allow your in-house staff to focus on more critical and strategic tasks requiring a human eye and intelligence.

2. Meeting Service Level Agreements (SLAs):
   Meeting SLAs is critical for any MSP to satisfy customers, build a positive market reputation, and get repeat business. Automating minor and repetitive tasks, like monitoring, password generation, etc., help your organization to improve overall service quality. Auto-monitoring can catch errors or risks fast and without failing and notifies the appropriate team about issues. So, the issues or concerns can be taken care of, and your customers receive immediate assistance. Similarly, auto-assignment and auto-routing of tickets are beneficial to assign the tickets promptly to the right person and help quickly solve issues.

In the current situation, especially with remote working culture, communication plays a crucial role in improving turnaround time and reducing downtime. Without automation, you may have to face costly human errors, which can reduce the profitability of your organization. Automation helps to improve bi-directional communication and facilitates remotely controlled execution of processes. For instance, as an automated monitoring tool alert a network and server down, MSP can take immediate measures towards a full or partial resolution.

3. Minimize Operational Costs:
   Accepting AI-powered automation may be costly at the start, but in long run, automation of different processes is cost-saving as it reduces the need for human intervention and hiring multiple in-house staff. Plus, automated processes are free of human errors and comparatively faster than the manual workforce.

When MSPs don’t have to involve their in-house staff in repetitive routine tasks, their human resources can handle other complicated tasks more efficiently. AI-powered automation can easily take charge of several L1-level routine jobs like handling simple queries, service requests, etc. System automation also helps to improve recovery time. So, improved and fast services and minimal downtime help to keep the customer satisfied and minimize the risk of penalties.

4. Save Time:
   In this fast world, everyone looks for quick responses and services. Adopting automation helps MSPs to take care of almost every simple and routine IT tasks very fast and without involving human resources. Along with time-saving, automation also helps in performance optimization. Time-saving system automation allows MSPs to provide services to more customers as they can handle higher workloads and provide quality services to all their customers.
5. Retaining Customers:
   A satisfied customer is the best campaign for any business. Therefore, customer satisfaction is the key for every managed IT services organization.
   To satisfy customers, MSPs should leverage automation and provide proactive services. Adopting AI-powered automation will be beneficial for managed service providers to offer effective, fast and accurate resolutions to their clients’ needs.

Conclusion
MSPs can leverage artificial intelligence as well as automation to offer their customers the best services. Automation allows MSPs to take care of all repetitive IT tasks with partial or no human intervention, without error, and at a jet speed. AI-powered automation helps MSPs to not only serve their consumers better and keep them satisfied but also minimize operational expenses.

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For any organization, individual productivity plays a crucial role in influencing the growth of a business. Irrespective of industry and business size, when employees don’t perform their roles properly, companies can experience negative consequences. It is true that ‘trust’ is vital for remote working culture, but employers also need to track the productivity of their staff.

In remote working environments, employers can use tracking tools to monitor teams’ productivity and time spent on remote work. Multiple tools are available with various features like deadline setting, attendance tracking, logging hour tracking and reporting to track remote employees’ activity. Let’s learn how to monitor remote workers’ productivity with transparency.

What is remote employee monitoring?
When working with a distributed workforce, remote monitoring plays a vital role. There are several tools to monitor the activity of remote employees. These monitoring tools will make you aware of your staff’s actions and productivity when working outside office premises. Using different software, you can track how employees utilize their daily time. You can monitor employees’ computer usage, website visit, software download, file download, and so on using tracking software. You can consult reliable IT infrastructure consulting services to choose the right tracking software for your remote employees.

How to track your remote employees

1. Track employee’s email activity
   Modern professionals spend a lot of time (about 28 – 50% of their working day) in their email inboxes. But it is not enough information to judge your staff working from home. You need information about what’s actually happening during dedicated office hours, such as:

Whom are they emailing?
How many emails are business-related?
How many emails did they send and receive in a day?
How fast do they respond to customers or other business concerns?

All this information can help you know about someone’s activities during business hours – how much time they spend on business-related tasks and personal affairs. Multiple email communications don’t imply maximum productivity.

If you want to inspect your employees’ email activity, you can consider tools like EmailAnalytics. With such tools, you can visualize your employees’ email activity,
how many emails they’re sending and receiving and to whom. You can also know about average email response times. Their daily or weekly email report will allow you to monitor their email activity silently.

So, let your team continue working as they usually do, and you get all the insight from their activities. Based on the activity report, you can take steps and manage your team effectively.

2. Implement attendance, absences, and active hour tracking software
   For remote working staff, punch cards are not an option to track their attendance, absence, or working hours. You have to go for time-tracking software. In distributed working culture, fixed times of joining and closing are not always applicable. But every employee needs to work for a specified time of the day.

You can go for electronic time-tracking software to track an employee’s attendance and logged hours. When an employee logs in, it will start tracking their working hours. This will help to increase efficiency and productivity in the team.

With the owner’s log-in, you can view how your employees use their business hours. You can also track which of your employees are fully occupied with productive work and which have time to fill.

When looking for monitoring software for attendance and working hours, you must consider some of the features:

The software must be easy to use for employees from different backgrounds.
The tracking tool must allow your remote workforce to apply for absences and vacations.
The software should track the extra time your employees have worked.

Based on your findings, you can track who is taking continuous offs or working overtime. It will help to track your team’s productivity.

3. Use a project or task management software
   Project or task management apps are beneficial when working with a distributed team. Here project managers can add all project-related tasks, assign them to particular employees, and overview the progress of that task. When multiple programs run simultaneously, these apps can help track the project progress at a glance, identify the over or under-utilization of specific employees, etc. This software allows you to manage, organize, and assign tasks to employees who are not occupied enough.

If your managers and the team have done the correct task and time assessment and provided accurate task planning along with the timeframe, task management software can help you to monitor the complete project cycle through the project management software. Using the dashboard of those apps, you can track the progress of the project, whether any disproportional work distribution is there, etc.

But, here, you have to consider that different projects may come with varying levels of responsibility or time commitment. So, you have to consult the respective employee and create the timeline based on that.

4. Track your employees’ web-activities
   When working with a distributed team, cyber security becomes a huge concern. You must monitor your employees’ activity to protect your organization from cybersecurity threats. Some remote monitoring tools conduct behavior analysis, detect insider threats, detect unauthorized software in employees’ systems, investigate incidents with audit and forensics tools, and prevent data loss.

Some tools can track employee activity, location, idle versus active time and productivity levels. You can subscribe to monitoring plans according to your business needs.

Based on your employee behavior, you can filter and block employee web content to prevent the chances of data leakage. You can also track file activities and detect portable drives to avoid contamination.

5. Self-reporting
   In remote working cultures, trust plays a vital role. When you have faith in your employees, you may institute a self-reporting policy. Employees can individually report to managers about what they have done in a day, how busy they feel, and whether they can take on new responsibilities.

Self-reporting can be helpful as workers can determine whether they are overburdened or underutilized or have a balanced workload.

Conclusion
To monitor your remote working employees, you can implement different tracking tools. With the help of your managed services provider, you can choose work-from-home productivity trackers that most closely fit your business’s needs.

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A strong password formed by combining alphabets, numbers, and symbols can prevent security issues and keep your data safe. Here are the key reasons to implement password security and stay secure online. You can also get tips for you and your staff to prevent breaching attempts.

1. Protect your accounts or data storage from unauthorized access
   Some activities like online shopping or banking require a person to enter sensitive information like address, credit or debit card details, date of birth, etc. Or some people also use their email accounts to store personal information and online storage to save documents, identify proofs, PAN card details, photos, projects, etc. Moreover, personal computers are a giant pool of personal information. And a password is the only authorization checking process to keep the data safe.

If you have a weak password, hackers can quickly access your account and all your personal information. And, if you are using the same password on multiple websites, a hacker will win the jackpot —you’ll lose everything. Every piece of your personal information, like bank account details, personal information, and payment info, everything will be revealed to the hackers. Hackers can clear out your bank accounts, hold your information for ransom, or do anything they want.

Therefore, it is essential to create a strong password and avoid commonly used password combinations, like
“password,”
number strings like “12345,”
common phrases like “my account” or “my love”
dictionary words
your name or your partner’s name
Birthday or anniversary date
All these are very easy to guess, and hackers easily predict them.

You can form a strong password using special characters, lowercase and uppercase alphabets, and numbers. It is wise to use randomized strings of alphabets and numbers to create a secure password.

2. Minimize the risk of identity theft
   To avail of online banking facility, online shopping, etc., one has to provide personal data like your full name, address, contact number, email address, card details etc., to log in. Some sites ask for other information like first school, location, workplace, hobbies, pet name, etc., to verify your identity. If some of those accounts are hacked, hackers can get all information to steal your identity and use them. If someone has your identity, they can do several criminal activities using your identity, such as using credit cards, taking loans, filing false insurance claims, and many more.

Identity theft can cause not only financial loss but can make you accused of criminal charges. So, once you identify your identity has been theft, you’ll have to go through multiple corrective measures like canceling credit cards, filing a police report, notifying businesses involved with the theft, and so on.

To avoid identity theft and subsequent situations, you can use a password manager. A password manager is an efficient way to store, generate, and manage your passwords for online services and local applications. A password manager also autogenerates complex passwords for you and helps retrieve and store such passwords in an encrypted database. This is an efficient way to enhance cybersecurity.

3. Secure social media accounts
   Hackers can even target your social media accounts like Facebook or Instagram. Access to your social media account can ruin your social image by sharing vulgar or inappropriate content on your behalf. They can even access your entire life, including your photos, personal posts, private messages and other information.

A hack on a corporate scale can disrupt companies image and spread a negative impression among customers.

Always use separate passwords for every social media account or email ID to avoid such incidents. That will help to protect your accounts. If your one account is hacked, others will remain secure. You should also use complex passwords and PINs to ensure the security of your devices, like laptops, smartphones, or tablets.

4. Protect your business data
   Unauthorized access to your business data, customers’ information, and employees’ information can harm your market reputation, and your customers also lose trust in your business. Plus, hackers can misuse your customers’ data. Many countries maintain a strict privacy policy, and violating their rules can make you pay massive compensation.

Hackers’ access to sensitive business information like internal data, private emails, company secrets, development plans, upcoming projects, etc., can cause massive losses. Hackers could sell your business data to competitors or use them to get a ransom.
Or, your competitors can use hackers to get your critical business information.

You can use multifactor authentication to prevent hackers from accessing your business data. This advanced technology can provide you with maximum security. This type of authentication
is a layered approach to securing data and applications. Here users need to provide a combination of two or more credentials to verify their identity for logging in.

Additionally, you must be careful about sharing private information on public computers, so hackers cannot easily intercept your passwords and other data.

5. Keep viruses off your devices
   If hackers get a chance to break in, they can silently install viruses or some malware to your system and corrupt your entire system. When you realize your systems are hacked, it can be too late to stop your programs from crashing and personal data leaking.

Here are some tips to protect passwords, such as
Never talk about passwords or PIN in person
Never store them in easy-to-access places, like a notepad, sticky note on your desk or a Word file on your computer.
Use automated software like a password manager
Use password analyzers to assess your password’s strength and security.

Conclusion:
Password security is a vital aspect of every organization. You can prevent malware attacks, data breaches, and other security issues with sound password protection systems and IT security. You can consult IT infrastructure consulting services to learn more about implementing password security in your organization.

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Managed IT services are in trend to support organizations with their day-to-day IT needs, security, and so on. But do you really need a managed service provider (MSP) to help you with your IT needs? Different organizations have different business needs. Some of them suffer from the insufficient support system, lack of cyber security, budget crunch, lack of regulation and compliance support, and so on. Especially, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) may not have unlimited resources. They usually look for cost-efficient measures to meet their business needs without compromising security and service quality. But lack of funds can make it challenging for some companies to get the efficient and proactive IT support they need to keep their devices running optimally and prevent unauthorized access to their system. In such cases, an MSP can be an excellent choice to get IT support and overcome these challenges.

Who are Managed IT Services Providers?
Managed service providers are third-party companies providing IT management and support services, remote support, cybersecurity, troubleshooting, etc., as needed by organizations against pre-determined remuneration. Depending on the service level agreement (SLA) terms, an MSP can also provide support during the implementation of new technologies (cloud migration), help with infrastructure management and system update, office moves, advise clients on professional services automation, etc. Here are the services one can expect from partnering with managed service providers.

> Network monitoring
> Security and system update
> Mobile device management
> Remote firewall administration
> Backup and Disaster recovery plans
> Help to implement cloud computing or cloud services
> Patch management

With a remote monitoring facility, MSPs help to identify security gaps in your network and potential security threats. They also proactively identify and resolve threats before they can cause expensive data breaches. Therefore, organizations, especially SMEs, can be benefited from working with MSPs to meet their business needs, data backup and recovery, prevention of data loss etc.

Key Benefits of Hiring Managed Service Providers
Partnering with a managed IT services provider has several benefits for SMEs. Cost-saving is one of the critical benefits of recruiting an MSP instead of hiring in-house, full-time IT staff for basic IT needs. With an MSP, an organization usually pays a per-user charge for system monitoring and troubleshooting.

Managed IT services providers also help organizations access the latest tools and technologies, choose the right one for their businesses, and assist in incorporating them. They also give business owners access to a wide range of IT expertise. Working with an MSP gives you access to IT experts with experience in different areas of IT, including infrastructure maintenance and management, security as a service, data backup and recovery, cloud services, etc.

Signs When Your Organization Needs To Work With a Managed IT Services
Here are some common signs that indicate the requirement of hiring a managed IT services provider is right for your business.

1. Difficulties in conducting routine maintenance of IT infrastructure:
   For your in-house IT department, there are too many things on their plate to handle. They have to manage different tasks in a day. When you need extensive troubleshooting, system update, fault analysis needs, etc., your in-house IT staff may not have enough time to take care of them and perform regular maintenance. Routine maintenance is crucial to keep your devices running optimally, prevent premature device failure, and reduce downtime.
   If you find that your internal team doesn’t have enough time to perform routine maintenance of your IT infrastructure, It is time to look for a managed services company for IT support.
2. Trouble with annual IT cost estimation:
   Sometimes you may find it difficult to estimate your annual budget for IT with your in-house team. Your internal team may not be efficient enough to assess your upcoming IT needs, including the requirement of new employees to your internal IT department, purchase of new hardware and software, replacement of broken or obsolete items, etc.

With the managed service model, you just need to choose the right service package covering your IT needs, making it much easier to anticipate your IT costs.

3. Internal IT staff are struggling to manage their current workload:
   In almost every organization, especially SMEs, IT employees are pulled in many directions. Even other departments need IT staff to update or install new software, set up new devices, create new accounts, provide access to new employees, address IT security issues, and restore malfunctioning devices. So, if they have to spend most of their day handling support tickets, they will not be able to focus on their core jobs.

Entering a service agreement with a managed service provider will help alleviate most of the support services. So, your in-house team will get more time to focus on their primary tasks.

4. Misuse or insufficient use of tools and software:
   Organizations are not always aware of the latest tools and technologies – either they don’t have enough information or enough money to implement them. Sometimes companies also hesitate to purchase new software or tools because they don’t understand how to use them effectively. Moreover, companies also invest in IT tools but fail to implement them properly, making it difficult to get the optimum outcome and return on investment.

On the other hand, MSPs offer subscription-based service models, often including the best-in-class infrastructure tools, which is a huge benefit for organizations. Some MSPs also provide employee training to help their clients to use newly incorporated IT tools successfully.

5. Uncertainty regarding employee retention:
   It is dangerous to depend on a single employee for everything from system backups to IT troubleshooting. Because if that employee leaves your company, you’ll be left with a massive crisis. You may have to suffer several IT challenges without proper hand-over or communication.

In contrast, working with an MSP is safe. You don’t have to struggle to continue normal operations even after leaving a high-value employee.

6. Insufficient IT expertise:
   Business growth is vital. And that needs versatile IT employees with immense knowledge in different IT domains. And, it is impossible with single or a few IT staff. They may not have the expertise required to take your business to the next level.

Here also, a trusted MSP can be the solution. They can provide expertise in different areas of IT so that you can get the needed support and advice on time.

Conclusion
Hopefully, the signs mentioned above will help you decide on recruiting an MSP. With an MSP, you can get a cost-effective solution to most of your IT problems.

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IT consultancy is a popular term in the present world. But how much do you exactly know about this service facility? Do you know whether you need IT support for your enterprise? Or why do you need an IT consultant for your organization? How can you be benefited from hiring these services for you?

Well, this is an era of technology. And, if you lag in adapting technologies and using them, you may face difficulties in dealing with the changing demands of your consumers. So, it is the time to focus on the bigger picture and take steps to upgrade your organization and make it future-ready. You may face challenges in choosing the right technologies for your organization and incorporating them. And, here comes the need for IT support services. You can take the help of managed IT services to take charge of the technical complexity.

Irrespective of your business types—banking, healthcare, food and restaurant, retail and eCommerce, and so on, IT is affecting your regular business processes at a jet speed. So, it is time to look for the most appropriate IT support service provider to help you develop your enterprise and meet your IT needs.

Having an appropriate IT support service provider by your side can facilitate doing your business most effectively. They can help you to develop your organization and support your IT infrastructure. Your IT support service can be your shepherd to streamline the entire business method, minimize cost, improve performance, adopt the latest technologies and tools, and create more additional contacts. When you recruit a professional IT consultant or IT infrastructure consulting services, they will assist you with your every need, including the incorporation of the most advanced technologies, operation optimization, etc.

Why IT consulting services are essential for your organization?

The IT industry is ever-evolving. Every day, a new and fresh option for programming languages, technologies, tools, platforms, methodologies, etc., is coming in and out. And some of them are really beneficial for your organization to meet its needs. But, it is pretty hard to find the right option among such a large variety. So, you need to hire a reliable IT consulting company with excellent knowledge to help you take advantage of cutting-edge technologies. Having a knowledgeable IT consulting service provider by your side assures effective management and deployment of your IT infrastructure.

Let’s look at the top seven advantages of hiring an IT support services provider.

1. Access to Latest Technologies and Industry Experts

Recruiting an IT consulting company can provide you with easy access to cutting-edge technologies and tools. The skilled professionals of consultancy companies can help with their specialized knowledge in various IT domains. Their deep knowledge and expertise will help create more opportunities for your business growth. They help keep your system up-to-date with state-of-the-art software products and support your business in monitoring and managing technical requirements.

For instance, if you are in the e-commerce industry, you will be interested in technologies that can make you more accessible to potential customers. At the same time, you need to be focused on protecting your customer data. You have to upgrade your software, policies, and regulations to match international standards for data privacy, cyber security etc. To take care of all these services, you can hire an IT consulting company and enjoy flawless services.

2. Cost-efficiency

Having in-house IT resources for every aspect is quite costly, especially for small and medium-sized businesses(SMBs). Instead of having a full-time IT team in-house, it is beneficial to recruit an IT consultancy firm and get all IT support services at a much more affordable cost. A managed IT services provider(MSP) can offer you a wide range of service packages for your business needs. So you can choose one that suits your budget. Outsourcing IT support services is the most reliable way to get almost every IT support service at a reasonable cost; the services can vary from setting up the network infrastructure to its management.

3. Better security

Data security is a huge concern for every business. To keep your data safe from cyber-attacks and internal threats, it is essential to implement appropriate security standards. An external IT support service provider is the right choice to reduce such risk, enhance security and protect your business from cyber-attacks.

4. Market Forecasting

An experienced IT firm will examine every aspect of your business, consider all influencing factors and help you make predictions about factors like the future needs of your business, market size, capitalization opportunities, etc. Considering such realistic assumptions, you can formulate long-term strategies and set practical objectives for your business.

5. Effective Management of Big Data

Big data is beneficial for handling successful marketing operations and retaining potential clients. But managing big data is a real challenge for organizations. But you can make this time-consuming task easy with the help of your MPS. They can suggest you data analysis tools to know the micro and macro specifications of the target public, and you can customize your products accordingly.

For instance, a cookware manufacturer can use big data analytics to identify the type of material, size, design, and cost range of cookware being used by the target public.

6. Increase ROI and Save Money Over Time

With an IT  support service, you won’t have to bother about consistent costly software investments, repairs, updates, and other investments. When you opt for a package service, you’ll not have to worry about unexpected costs or fees, and you can enjoy every service at a flat rate that should be flexible with your business needs and budget.

Investing in IT support means opting for financial security in such an area that is quite an expensive aspect of businesses today. Recruiting the right IT support team can maximize your ROI for all technology costs.

7. Competitive Analysis

The rapid growth of the IT industry needs continuous up-gradation of your system. To cope with the fast speed of the corporate world, you need to have an optic on the competitors’ attitudes. Your IT partner can play a vital role in keeping you ahead of your competitors and make a strong position in the respective field. IT Consultancy Services can give you relief with valuable suggestions on different business aspects. They help you choose the best software solutions that can keep you up with the latest technological trends.

Conclusion

IT support services mean services that maximize your business efficiency and leave your customers satisfied. IT support services can save your money in the long run and provide you access to leading-edge technologies your business needs. At the end of the day, IT consulting companies in India can help your business rise to the top.

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1. Data Management, Security And Governance

With digital transformation in every aspect, it has become a real concern for organizations to take care of each piece of digital information and keep that safe. Moreover, with digital transformation, organizations continue to collect and use the ever-increasing business data. To deal with the never-ending cyber threats, it is important to implement cutting edge security measures like the Zero-trust model, end-to-end encryption, etc. Along with cyber security, organizations need to be concerned about network security, cloud security, Internet of Things security, and application security.

Despite technological advancements, most companies still struggle with security breaches. According to Deloitte, in 2021, the average cost of a single data breach was $4.24 million, which was a 10% jump from 2019.

In such a condition, cyber AI can be the most efficient way to protect your data. Using the capability of Artificial intelligence to learn and detect novel patterns, you can accelerate the rate of threat detection and develop a fast response system, reducing the burden on security operations centre analysts.

2. Adopt Automation 

Starting from robotic process automation to low-code technologies, there are multiple options to make your application development process simple and fast. Though the automation of business processes can reduce the day-to-day workload for IT teams, you must ensure that those new applications meet the security standards. About half of all existing workload could be automated in the coming years, as next-level process automation and virtualization have become more obvious.

With reliable automation tools and technologies, your IT professionals will be free from monotonous maintenance works and will have more time to spend on productive works.

A recent survey report shows that about 74% of respondents said that automation had helped their staff work more efficiently. 59% has reported that automation has helped in cost reductions of up to 30%.

3. Cloud Computing

Cloud migration and utilization are not just the ‘fit and forget’ type of concept. You need to take your CIOs’ or vCIOs’ help for more than a decade to implement cloud-based systems and services in your business. There is still much more to invent and implement in your industry. In the past two years, most organizations have rushed to implement more cloud services, and now it is the time to firm up and expand those platforms throughout the next year and beyond. After individual cloud services, it is the time when a multi- or hybrid-cloud approach is in for more optimized and cost-efficient services. According to industry analyst Gartner, most organizations, about 85%, will establish a cloud-first principle within the next five years.

Cloud databases and software-as-a-service are two of the widespread trends for the following year. The COVID-19 crisis and extensive remote work migration have pushed organizations to move critical workloads from on-premises to the cloud. As a result, there would be a loss of appetite for data centers even in the post-pandemic era. There are also multiple technologies like containerization, virtualization and edge computing, which are becoming more mainstream and influencing additional cloud spending.

4. Data Fabric

Data fabric is one of the top tech trends to observe in 2022. It is an architecture and set of data services that provide a flexible, resilient integration of data sources across platforms and business users. Data fabric also makes data available everywhere it is needed irrespective of where the data lives.

Data fabric is designed to help organizations resolve their complex data problems and manage their data. It can use analytics to identify and recommend where data should be used and changed. Data fabric can reduce data management efforts by up to 70%.

5. Cybersecurity Mesh

Cybersecurity mesh is a state-of-the-art cyber defence procedure that can individually secure each device with its perimeter. It is a flexible and holistic security approach that integrates widely distributed security services.

Cybersecurity mesh enables the best-of-breed security solutions for organizations to improve overall security while moving control points closer to their assets. It can verify identity, context, and policy fast and efficiently throughout cloud and non-cloud environments.

6. Privacy-Enhancing Computation

Privacy-enhancing computation (PEC) is the way of securing the processing of personal data in untrusted environments. PEC will be vital for organizations due to evolving privacy and data protection laws and growing consumer concerns.

PEC utilizes multiple privacy-protection techniques to extract value from sensitive information while still meeting compliance requirements.

7. Decision Intelligence

Decision intelligence is a practical approach towards improving organizational decision making. Using intelligence and analytics, here each decision is represented as a set of processes, which is helpful to inform, learn from and refine decisions.

Decision intelligence can support and influence human decision making in a positive way. It can potentially judge each decision through augmented analytics, artificial intelligence, and simulations.

8. Hyperautomation

It is an infrastructure of advanced technologies to rapidly identify, check, and automate as many business and IT processes as possible. With hyperautomation, you can enable scalability, remote operation and business model disruption.

9. Distributed Enterprises

Operating business as a distributed enterprise allows you to establish a digital-first, remote-first business model to improve workforce experiences, digitalize customer and partner touchpoints, and improve product experiences. With distributed enterprise model, you can better serve the needs of remote employees and consumers.

Conclusion:

To implement appropriate cutting-edge technologies to your business, you need to consult with CIOs and IT executives. They need to analyze how these above-mentioned practices and technologies can be implemented into your organization. You also need proper planning for implementation and technology adoptions over the next three to five years of the best result. You can consult your Managed IT service provider to provide you with the experts’ advice and help you opt the right technologies for your organization.

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Over time, cybersecurity is one of the most crucial aspects for every business. And cybersecurity preparedness is something that cannot be neglected. You can’t wait for an actual crisis to occur. This is an urgent need for organizations to improve cybersecurity awareness among their staff and education them to better prepare against an inevitable cybersecurity event.

This ‘new normal’ with remote work practices is already a covetable situation for cybercriminals, and that make cybersecurity more challenging to organizations.

Here are some of the critical cybersecurity trends that can be protective for companies in the coming year. As 2022 is already at the doorstep, let’s see how you can prepare your organization to be ready to deal with cybersecurity challenges in 2022.

1. Ransomware

The number of ransomware attacks has been continuously increasing for well over a year since the pandemic crisis impacted the business process and work culture. The ransomware global attack volume has increased by 151% for the first half of 2021 compared to the first half of 2020.

To prevent your organization from ransomware scourge, you need to have a proper understanding of what exactly is ransomware.  How it can infect your system, and how to prevent them. Ransomware is actually a malware that encrypts sensitive files once inside a company’s network. This activity makes those files unusable, and the systems that rely on that information to run fail to function properly. So, the cybercriminals get a chance to demand a ransom in exchange for decryption.

One of the vital reasons behind this increase in ransomware attacks is the quick shift to remote work culture. Traditional on-premise operating networks are more secure and reliable compared to remote network access. Due to the abrupt incorporation of remote working, organizations don’t get time to establish reliable and secure remote access facilities without vulnerabilities. In this new work-from-anywhere world, organizations are facing trouble to seal all the vulnerabilities of their network, and malicious actors get chance slip threats through those cracks. Organizations may also miss the security patches and critical vulnerability updates, which lead to potential vulnerabilities in the network. In the case of remote working, employees often require access through a VPN, and even that can introduce a number of vulnerabilities as well.

In the case of cloud-based organizations, the security challenges can happen due to misconfigurations, insufficient credentials, and access management. 

To get rid of these cybersecurity challenges, you need to create defined vulnerability programs to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities more efficiently. And, to achieve this goal, first, they need to find and understand the organization’s threat surface. Plus, they also need to find and hire the right staff who understand the basics of vulnerability management.  

Additionally, organizations can also go for hiring third-party specialists (IT infrastructure consulting services) to help them map out the threat surface and identify ways to fill the cybersecurity gaps effectively.

2. Old Attacks, New Targets

For many years, cybercriminals have been using the same tricks and threats in new forms to invade and steal sensitive information from companies. In the case of cybercrime, the same type of attacks keeps happening because hackers continuously upgrade their techniques of intervention and monitor their target’s networks to identify the vulnerabilities.

One of the recent and prominent evidence of such is the T-Mobile attack in August 2021. The hacker of this cyber-attack explained that he was able to steal sensitive customer information through unprotected routers started in July for the organization. Within a very short time, he had stolen millions of files and sold many of them online by August 16th.

So, it is quite clear that regular surveillance like security log monitoring, log aggregation, and managing security logs from your connected devices are vital security features. For effective cybersecurity, logging and monitoring are some of the crucial policies that an organization should implement across its network to know about every event when it happens. Another important feature is the reduction of the time to respond—it not only minimizes the impact of a cybersecurity incident but could also discourage cybercriminals from targeting your organization in the future.

In 2022, organizations need to explore their security log monitoring and work towards improving their cybersecurity policies. As cybersecurity involves multiple complicated processes and needs an extensive budget along with a very specific skill set, it is better to consider experts to get incorporate appropriate cybersecurity measures in your organization.

 3. The Human Factor

Workforces are crucial for every organization and still an organization’s weakest link. There are multiple ways your human resource can be a risk factor for your organization; not patching systems or remediating vulnerabilities, or falling victim to phishing scams, are some of the common instances. All these reasons make employee education a critical aspect of an organization’s cybersecurity efforts.

According to the latest study, about 88% of data breach incidents occur due to mistakes employees make. And, as threat actors also know this, they reapply old attacks on new targets. So, it is not enough to use expensive security solutions — organizations need to implement them correctly and keep them updated without a miss for ultimate protection. Even missing just one update can open a business up to different vulnerabilities that can grow in complexity and size over time, exposing the company to various malicious threats.

To keep your organization safe in 2022, it is expected to see an increase in efforts around employee education training to improve awareness around the manual error causing leakage or stealing of sensitive business data.  

Protecting Your Organization

To keep your organization safe from cyber-attacks, you need to effectively prepare your organization against the threat of cyber-attacks, which requires increased visibility of the threat surface. This will offer insight into what vulnerabilities your organization have so you can implement measure to timely mitigate those attempts and enhance your security posture. 

From increasing awareness in the field of cyber-attack attempts, their effects, and preventive measures to better educate your employees about existing threats and traps of the hackers, all these can help you to keep your organization protected from the evolving threat landscape. You can consider IT infrastructure consulting services to get help to build greater awareness among staff and create plans to build a better cybersecurity framework for your organization. You can go for services like penetration testing, social engineering and ransomware preparedness services to have a proactive approach to cybersecurity.     

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