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Cyber Security

10 Ways to Make Your Business More Secure

For the small to medium-sized-business (SMB) owner especially, the impact of cyber attacks go beyond the immediate financial loss and disruption to the daily working schedule – there’s the loss of reputation and customer trust to factor in, too. Despite this, it’s SMBs that have the most difficulty finding affordable and doable security measures. This can lead to substandard protection or worse still – no security at all. To help solve the problem, here are ten simple ways to make your business more secure.
Nicholas Salem
November 5, 2018
Non-Profits

Non-Profit IT Services

Non-profit administrative functions such as accounting, sustainability forecasting, and donor management are all operated on IT Systems. Non-profits organizations are now more than ever relying on their IT infrastructure to sustain their mission. Non-profits IT challenges Money: Non-profits have a hard time with IT budgeting, whether it is because of cash flow issues or because every dollar spent on IT is a dollar less than can be dedicated towards their mission. Staff: Typically it  would be hard for non-profits to staff technical expertise in-house. Partnering with a Managed IT firm allows non-profits to deliver more dollars to their mission and give their staff the IT support they need. Flexibility: You want to be able to receive donations and donor information quickly and efficiently. Are your donor apps mobile ready? Is your website mobile ready? Is it all secure? Boston Managed IT takes on the responsibility for managing your IT environment to deliver the skills and security your board members and donors expect. By spending less…
Nicholas Salem
October 16, 2018
IT Support

4 signs you’re partnering with the right IT Company

1. The company has a low employee turnover rate Partnering with a company encompasses more than simply purchasing their solutions at a competitive price. Forming a strong relationship may (and typically does) involve, at minimum, regularly working with their employees to identify cooperative areas of growth, and improve collaboration and communication where needed. Now, if your level of interaction simply doesn’t go beyond the purchasing phase, that doesn’t mean you’re not presented with opportunities to strengthen the relationship. For example, you likely have to contact your customer’s technical support department for information regarding solution updates and repairs or for answers about general product installation, implementation and usage. These too are chances to form deeper connections. Here’s the problem: When your partners have high employee turnover rates, it’s often difficult to maintain a strong relationship. You may have noticed this already. When you need assistance, you want to work with technical support experts—professionals who are regularly exposed to and therefore know the ins and outs of their…
Nicholas Salem
October 4, 2018
Cyber Security

October is Cyber Security Awareness: Week 1: Make Your Home and Office a Haven for Online Safety

About Cyber Security Awareness Month National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) – observed every October – was created as a collaborative effort between government and industry to ensure every American has the resources they need to stay safer and more secure online. Since its inception under leadership from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Cyber Security Alliance, NCSAM has grown exponentially, reaching consumers, small and medium-sized businesses, corporations, educational institutions and young people across the nation. 2018 marks the 15th year of National Cyber Security Awareness Month. With recent legislation and support from the White House, cybersecurity is continuously a popular topic of discussion and rightfully so. More specifically, there is even stronger focus on consumers and their cyber safety. Everyone at every age is a consumer, and thus this year each theme will focus on the consumer and his/her needs regarding cybersecurity and safety. NCSAM 2018 also marks the 8th anniversary of the STOP. THINK. CONNECT.™ campaign. Week 1: Make Your Home…
Nicholas Salem
October 1, 2018
IT Support

How can Boston Managed IT help us?

Outside of functioning on a day to day basis, businesses must focus on the future. The pace of business and business technology is too fast to just sit back and take things as they come. What I see all too often are business leaders putting out fires instead of working to prevent them. HOW BOSTON MANAGED IT CAN HELP Boston Managed IT completely takes over the management of day-to-day end-user support so internal staff can focus on the company’s mission Many organizations function without a ticketing system, or they have a ticketing system their employees don't abide by. This leaves the organization with a lack of data to drive their decision-making. Even enterprise organizations who have implemented ticketing systems often find that employees go around them and instead call, email and stop by the desks of their coworkers to make requests or notify them of issues. Alternatively, Boston Managed IT eliminates any opportunities for employees to seek IT support without submitting a ticket. This way…
Nicholas Salem
September 29, 2018
Case StudyNon-Profits

Case Study: WCI – Work, Community, Independence

WCI provides residential, individual, in-home & employment/day supports to people with a wide range of intellectual disabilities. WCI - Work, Community, Independence originally hosted its email, data, and even desktops with a third-party vendor. This service was extraordinarily expensive, wasn't a great user experience, and when things broke, it often took over a week to fix. I was able to help WCI migrated to Office 365,  available as a donation from Microsoft, which significantly increased its system reliability while reducing costs. The organization moved its email to Office 365's Exchange Online service and all of its files to SharePoint. I connected WCI staff with a help desk and a guaranteed two-hour response time on all issues. This solution provided huge savings to WCI because it was able to drop its hosted environment and gain a team of tech experts. When WCI moved locations, it also moved its phone system and wiring. Me and my team were able to find a third-party wiring vendor who quoted…
Nicholas Salem
December 12, 2017
Non-Profits

Managing Nonprofit’s IT Needs

Meeting Nonprofit Needs Boston Managed IT provides nonprofits with the power of a fully staffed IT team so they can stay focused on their mission rather than their technology. BMIT includes access to a help desk that clients can call when they have questions or need technical support for their PCs or the back-end servers that power their organization. Nonprofits can be hesitant to devote much, if any, of their budget to technology. They tend to rely on volunteers, friends, family, board members, and on-staff "accidental techies" to keep their IT up and running. According to NTEN's 9th Annual Nonprofit Technology Staffing & Investments Report, released in 2015, the median technology budget of a nonprofit is between 1 and 2.2 percent of its total operating budget. Nonprofit Challenges The problem is that although nonprofits should be spending more to keep their technology better maintained, often what happens is either The costs associated with having an in-house technology team is financially out of reach, or The…
Nicholas Salem
December 12, 2017
Non-Profits

Top 4 Reasons Non-Profits use MSPs

1. Organization Size Many smaller organizations cannot afford to hire IT staff, and many midsize and large organizations can only afford one or two IT staff members. Compared with an entire team, those staff members may not have the expertise in networking, security, databases, web development, data management, and disaster recovery. They may not always be available when they're needed, like during vacation or sick days. Outsourcing IT services provides organizations with the full force of an IT department whenever they need it and for a fraction of the cost. 2. Account Management Boston Managed IT account managers talk with clients regularly to proactively spot potential problems and provide recommendations. Often, organizations are not equipped to identify technology issues in advance, such as a failing server or PC or an outdated version of antivirus software, which means they could end up losing vital data or resources. Account managers work closely with organizations to monitor their technology resources, back up data, help create a disaster recovery…
Nicholas Salem
December 12, 2017