The five best practices in developing an effective employee security awareness program

Protecting your business from cyberthreats takes more than implementing the latest cybersecurity technology; it also entails educating your staff about their roles in keeping your organization safe from scams, data breaches, malware, and other risks. In fact, IBM and the Ponemon Institute cite human error as the cause of 23% of data breaches in 2020 — that’s almost one in four incidents. And with easily exploitable remote work setups expected to remain in the foreseeable future, it’s even more critical to pay attention to the human component of cybersecurity.

What is a security awareness program?

It is a formal, continuous process of improving cybersecurity posture by increasing employee awareness about cyberthreats, thus helping them avoid situations that might put the organization’s data at risk. A security awareness program aims to equip staff with better cybersecurity habits, as well as the know-how of dealing with various threats. It also aims to cultivate a security culture in a company.

How can you develop an effective security awareness program?

The effectiveness of a security awareness program depends on many factors. We’ve listed down some of the best practices that will help your program become a success:

1. Understand your starting point

The best security awareness programs are those that were designed according to a company’s specific needs. To ensure that your training program will address the security gaps in your processes, you must first determine the weaknesses of your existing security awareness program.

Resources like the SANS Security Awareness Maturity Model can help you determine the maturity (or immaturity) level of your program and what you can do to improve it. A business IT specialist like NetWize can also provide tailored IT services and solutions that will cater to your tech needs as you implement your security awareness program.

2. Start from the top down

Make sure that your security awareness strategy is approved by the top-level management: buy-in from the people who have a lot of influence and power can result in a smooth-sailing, adequately funded program. The participation of executives also sends out a strong message that data protection is everyone’s responsibility and that no one is exempt from undergoing cybersecurity training.

3. Set clear goals but allow flexibility

It’s critical to have timelines for achieving cybersecurity milestones, but it’s also important to have some level of flexibility that will allow you to adjust your targets should initial approaches fail to produce desired results.

The key is to break down your big goals into small, attainable goals that can easily be tweaked. Regularly evaluate them so you can see how employee performance is faring against the standards, and fine-tune future goals and processes based on new information. For instance, if your staff took longer than expected to master your company’s password management app, then you can either modify the timeline to account for this delay or try a different, possibly more effective training approach.

4. Gamify the training

At the heart of gamification is a reward system that positively reinforces learning and drives active engagement. By giving your employees a chance at gaining recognition, physical prizes, or badges or points that can be exchanged for gifts, you can motivate them to take the training more seriously.

Gamification can be as simple as giving equivalent reward points for practicing good cybersecurity habits, such as enabling multifactor authentication or not using the same password for any two accounts. You can even publish an internal tally board showing the names of the employees with the most points, further fostering friendly competition.

5. Measure your efforts

To tell if your security awareness program is working, you must measure your progress against different metrics like deployment and impact. Measuring deployment success includes calculating what percentage of the workforce has taken the training, which materials have they used, and other metrics that auditors use to assess compliance. Meanwhile, measuring impact entails evaluating behavior change, such as determining how many employees who did not know what phishing scams were at the start of the program can now spot one. These measurable metrics will enable you to assess whether your investments are paying off.

Every modern business is exposed to thousands of cybersecurity risks. Protect your organization by implementing a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy that encompasses people, processes, and technology. NetWize can help you get there. We offer complete technology solutions that will enable you to prevent attacks and reduce risks over time. Drop us a line today.

The five biggest threats to business security in 2021

In the first quarter of 2020, a worldwide pandemic forced businesses to implement remote working arrangements, consequently increasing reliance on cloud technologies. A year later, telecommuting has become part of the new normal, and it has become impossible to imagine a future where remote work isn’t an option.

Cybercriminals are expected to exploit the vulnerabilities inherent in this setup, including infrastructure weaknesses, process loopholes, and human error. Protect your business from these five threats that can jeopardize your organization:

1. Cloud breaches

The widespread switch to cloud-based solutions has resulted in a lot of benefits for businesses, but it has also brought in cybersecurity risks. Some organizations implemented cloud technologies without setting up proper cybersecurity defenses, while some simply didn’t have the IT expertise to migrate their workloads to the cloud, resulting in misconfigurations and other issues. To ensure security, partner up with cloud experts who can help you make a secure, seamless transition to the cloud.

2. Pandemic-related phishing

Phishing is a fraudulent scheme that aims to obtain personal data or inject malware into a device. For phishing scams to succeed, they must get their target to click on a malicious link — and one of the best ways to do that is by baiting them with a COVID-19-themed email. Alarmingly, there has been a spike of such phishing emails in the past year, and cybercriminals will continue to capitalize on the pandemic well into 2021.

One way to combat phishing scams is to educate your workforce on the most common tactics phishers use. A continuous cybersecurity awareness training program will equip your staff with the knowledge and skills to identify and get rid of phishing scams. It will also inculcate the best cybersecurity practices, empowering your workforce to better protect your systems.

3. Business process compromise (BPC)

If phishing scams rely on human error to succeed, business process compromise attacks count on weaknesses in systems and processes. Once hackers find a loophole in your systems or processes, they can discreetly exploit it and find a way to profit from it.

Conducting a successful BPC attack isn’t a small feat: a cybercriminal must have a deep understanding of their target’s internal systems and operations, as well as their defenses. Knowledge of these allows them to hijack processes such as procurement, payment, delivery, or account management. In the BPC attack against the Bangladesh Central Bank’s computer network, for instance, hackers were able to conduct unauthorized transactions by tracing transfers and seizing the bank’s credentials.

BPCs are silent attacks, and they are not easily noticeable until it’s too late. However, implementing advanced security measures, 24/7 monitoring, and penetration testing can help you detect BPCs early or even thwart them completely.

4. Internet of Things (IoT) attacks

IoT is a network of interrelated smart “things” such as devices and appliances that can communicate and exchange information with each other via the internet. With 5G becoming available in more areas and promising faster internet speeds, customer experience expert Forrester predicts that healthcare, location services, and smart offices will see dramatic IoT adoption in 2021.

All your IoT devices collect data in order to be smart, and this makes them prime cybercrime targets. And since a lot of IoT devices are still novel, their technology isn’t perfect yet and can easily be hacked. If you’re using or if you have plans to use IoT technology, it’s critical that you invest in IoT security solutions. Setting strong, unique passwords, installing the latest device updates, and restricting permissions also help in protecting your data.

5. Remote work end-point security

While there was an unprecedented rise in the adoption of telecommuting in 2021, the majority of employees working off-site connect to networks that don’t have any perimeter security, making them one layer more vulnerable to cyberattacks.

Inevitably, cybercriminals took this opportunity to exploit remote working environments, particularly launching attacks on cloud-based services, unpatched computers, and improperly secured virtual private networks (VPNs). In 2021, it’s imperative that remote teams use end-point protection and management tools that will enable remote IT support to automate software updates and patch management, monitor networks, and manage backups — all while optimizing technology to improve productivity.

Running a business entails protecting your data from various malevolent actors that lurk on the web. Thankfully, you don’t have to ward these off by yourself. Fortify your business’s cyberdefense strategy by partnering with NetWize and signing up for our data protection services. Apart from proactively monitoring your networks, we will continually test your systems for vulnerabilities and implement necessary cybersecurity measures to ensure that your business doesn’t suffer a data breach. Schedule a FREE consultation with our experts or call us at 801-747-3200.

5 Benefits of Outsourcing IT Services

Today’s work environment is constantly changing. Companies are relying on IT support more than ever to help them quickly adapt to the work environment and rapid technology advancement. Outsourced IT services have become a popular solution for companies of all sizes. Here are five benefits to outsourcing your IT services no matter what size your company is.

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Reduce Costs

One of the biggest benefits of outsourcing your IT needs is that it will help your business save money and reduce your overall cost. The investment of training and hiring an IT team can be very time consuming and expensive. Rely on our team of experts to fill that need for you saving on overhead costs as well as resources spent on hiring and training an IT team. Also, by outsourcing IT services, you only pay for what your current needs are. As your company grows and changes, we can quickly adapt and support any new requirements.

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Scalability

By taking advantage of outsourced IT services, your company can quickly scale and grow without incurring huge cost or time limitations. NetWize provides companies with the flexibility to implement new technology and respond to the current work environment. It is essential to be able to reach your customers and address their needs quickly. We will work with you to develop a business strategy that will meet your needs as they change.

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Limit downtime

System outages and downtimes are incredibly costly for companies. Outsourcing IT services can be a very effective way to prevent and reduce downtime. Constant monitoring, management of software and hardware, and our help desk will help keep you up and running. At NetWize, we pride ourselves on being the most responsive IT service provider in Utah. So, when you encounter downtime, we will be there to help you get back up and running.

Access to information technology experts

Working with an IT company provides you with access to certified IT experts and consultants with a wide range of skills. NetWize has been providing IT services for over 20 years and we have experience addressing IT needs for companies of all sizes. You can rely on our knowledge and specialization as our business consultants work with you to develop an IT strategy that will work for your unique company and goals.

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Decrease risk

Relying on an internal IT team, or even managing it yourself can open you up to a lot of risk. At NetWize, we can help ensure your business information is safeguarded and cybersecurity measures are in place. Our IT services also include ensuring compliance which is very important for a wide variety of industries from government agencies to law firms.

If you’re still wondering if your company could benefit from IT services, check out these commons signs that it is time to consider outsourcing. If you would like to learn more about how NetWize can help you, please contact us today and one of our IT business consultants will be able to discuss your unique needs.

5 Risks to business continuity you need to be aware of

Approximately 40% of businesses never reopen after a serious disaster. Whether their primary workplace is rendered unusable after a natural catastrophe, or a severe data breach results in an enormous loss of trust with customers, the risks have never been greater. If you’re not prepared for such eventualities, it’s only a matter of time before your business becomes just another statistic. The effects of such disasters can be mitigated by having a solid business continuity plan.

#1. Unplanned outages

Hardware failures and service disruptions can both lead to extended periods of downtime. Now that people have more options than ever before, it doesn’t take a lot for your customers to start looking elsewhere if they can’t, for example, access your website or reach customer support.

That’s why you must identify the business processes and data you can’t live without in the event of an outage. The maximum amount of data you can afford to lose and the maximum amount of time it should take to get a system back up and running are two of the most important parameters to address in your business continuity plan.

#2. Data breaches

Hackers are out in force exploiting system vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to confidential business data, which they’ll then sell on the dark web. Most companies don’t even realize they’ve fallen victim to a data breach until months after it actually happens and the damage has already been done. A proactive approach to information security is essential for identifying, evaluating, and mitigating potential threats before they have a chance to cripple your organization.

#3. Natural disasters

Many businesses still depend heavily on a central base of operations. But if it goes offline due to a natural disaster, the potential losses may result in the company closing its doors for good. This isn’t helped by the fact that it can take months to rebuild, which is more than enough time to lose all your customers.

Fortunately, the worst effects of a natural disaster can be mitigated by migrating your operations to the cloud where your applications, data, and processes will be backed up in multiple off-site locations. That way, your employees will be able to work from secondary premises or even from home if your primary workplace becomes inoperable.

#4. Ransomware attacks

Ransomware attacks might have dropped over the past couple of years, but they remain one of the biggest threats facing businesses of all sizes and industries. While it’s not always easy to avoid ransomware attacks altogether, it’s not nearly as difficult to mitigate their effects as you might think. By having an off-site backup, preferably in a cloud data center, you’ll always have a fallback if ransomware makes it onto one of your office computers and spreads across the network.

#5. Supply chain disruption

Today’s businesses entrust their data and operations to dozens of different companies, which can result in many single points of failure. For example, the massive Target data breach a few years ago resulted from a vulnerability in an HVAC company that the retailer was working with. While your supply chain and other third-party vendors are crucial to the continued operations of your business, it’s essential that you know where your data resides and which controls are in place to protect it. For critical suppliers that your company can’t function without, your continuity plan should always stipulate a second and, preferably, tertiary option to fall back on.

Netwize helps clients leverage modern technology to ensure they’re prepared for any catastrophe. Call us today to get a robust business continuity solution so you can rest easy.

5 Steps to handling a data breach like a pro

With data breaches hitting the headlines every day, many people have become desensitized to them. This isn’t helped by the fact that most attacks that do make the news are those targeting large enterprises, thus leading many small business leaders to believe they’re not attractive enough targets to hackers. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, since small companies often present a sweet spot to attackers who view them as easier targets that still offer substantial rewards.

Many breaches have cost victims their entire business, which is why companies must take every possible measure to protect against the threats and mitigate the damage caused by attackers who do manage to infiltrate their network.

Here are five steps towards minimizing the damage before it gets out of control:

#1. Contain the breach

On average, data breaches go unnoticed for more than six months, often after irreparable damage has already been done. It’s crucial to contain the breach as soon as possible since even a small delay can exponentially increase the damage to your organization.

Isolate compromised systems, such as hacked user accounts or physical assets that have been infected with malware. You should also block any IP addresses from which the attack originated.

#2. Assess the damage

Assess the damage and figure out how hackers managed to gain access to the affected systems in the first place. Starting with a thorough analysis of the compromised system, you’ll need to work your way back to the source of the attack as well as determine which data was affected. Most attacks begin with a phishing scam, so you’ll want to interview your employees to find out if they’ve noticed or interacted with any suspicious emails. You’ll also need to determine the value of the information stolen, learn who it pertains to, and which, if any, compliance regulations it’s subject to.

#3. Notify relevant parties

In cases where customer information, such as personally identifiable data, patient health data, or payment card data, was stolen, you have a legal and ethical duty to warn affected parties so that they have a chance to take the steps necessary to protect themselves. Larger breaches may require you to alert the authorities as well as a major media outlet. You should also notify any other relevant third parties. Regulations require you to report the date the breach was discovered, which data was stolen, and what affected parties need to do to protect themselves.

Although it may be tempting to keep cybersecurity incidents under wraps, coming forward early is better for your business in the long run. Because if external parties discover the breach before your company releases a statement, it can seriously damage your reputation.

#4. Audit your network

Conduct a thorough security audit and threat analysis so you can take the necessary steps to protect against future attacks of the same type. If, like most breaches, the attack started with a phishing scam, you should ensure all your data is encrypted and protected with at least two user verification layers. You’ll also need to train your employees to better identify future risks.

#5. Roll out your recovery plan

To get compromised systems back up and running as soon as possible to minimize the effects of unscheduled downtime, you must have a data backup and disaster recovery (BDR) plan in place. You may need to update your BDR plan to provide better protection against future attacks.

Protect yourself from data breaches by partnering with Netwize. We bring 20 years of business technology experience to the table to drive real growth and reduce the risks associated with digital transformation. Call us today to learn more.

What are DDOS attacks and how should Utah businesses prepare for them?

You’ve probably heard of DDoS attacks before — they’re some of the most common cyberattacks out there. They’re also growing more sophisticated. Generally, the perpetrator attempts to slow down or disrupt a network by overwhelming it with a flood of internet traffic and service requests, until the whole system crumbles under pressure and shuts down.

Experts warn that these common attacks are now growing much larger and more sophisticated. In 2015, the largest DDoS attack consumed around 500 Gbps of data; within a year, that number had doubled, to around 1 Tbps.

And, whereas once it took a skilled cybercriminal to carry out an attack, new, automated tools are putting increasingly sophisticated versions of DDoS attacks into the hands of smaller and less skilled actors. A relative newcomer can purchase a mid-sized DDoS capable of taking a company offline for an entire day for a few hundred dollars on the dark web now. And analysts say the number of DDoS attacks on the private sector has been increasing by 15 percent annually.

Because of Utah’s growing local economy and increasing attractiveness to top international enterprises, it is at the top of many cybercriminals’ hit lists.

Every business needs protection

No matter what sector you operate in, it’s imperative you have some sort of DDoS protection. But many of the classic forms of protection lack adequate safeguards against the nuances of more recent DDoS attacks.

So what’s the best way to stay protected? Consult a professional managed IT services provider (MSP) to tailor a solution that fits your business’s needs and prepares you for a host of cyberattacks.

Plan ahead

Your plan will depend on a thorough security assessment of your business and IT infrastructure. It will prove essential when an attack occurs since there is no time to think about what to do next — you must be prepared to jump into autopilot. Your first act can often define the success of your defense. While details will depend on company size, risk exposure, and several other factors, certain elements remain constant. They include:

Tools checklist – Create a list of the tools in your response arsenal so you can more easily identify any holes that may pop up in your defenses. Ideally, you should safeguard your systems with advanced threat prevention systems, firewalls, and security monitoring services. Review your list regularly with a professional to make sure that everything is up to date, since DDoS attacks are ever-evolving.
Response team – Before disaster strikes, have a team of trained staff assigned to perform each task in a predetermined chain of responses, and make sure everyone knows exactly which task they are responsible for. Again, the exact chain of responses will depend on company characteristics and is best formulated in consultation with a cybersecurity professional.
Team-wide training – Aside from a dedicated response team, there are certain things your entire staff should be trained on. For instance, make sure every employee can identify the early warning signs of a DDoS attack and they know who to contact if they suspect an attack may be occurring.
External communications – Less of a technical consideration, but for the sake of business continuity and maintaining positive customer relations, it’s also imperative to design an external communications strategy to let customers, investors, other stakeholders, and the general public know if they need to expect service interruptions, etc. — and that your team has precautions already in place and is responding to the threat now.

These may sound like basic precautions, but they are simple steps that too many businesses in Utah neglect at their own peril. To tailor the specifics of these plans and precautions to your unique business, speak with a NetWize technician today.

Your IT team can use the added support of an MSP

It’s hard to predict a business’s future IT needs when things are just getting started. More often than not, it’s more important to get the company off the ground before investing in the technology you may or may not later need. But when things go well, there inevitably comes a point when resources — human and technical — fall short of needs.

Investing in a small, in-house IT team can maneuver a company through early growth spurts, but if things are going well, supplementing your in-house team with external support from a professional managed IT services provider (MSP) is the most flexible and affordable way to scale up your business’s capacity quickly.

How can an MSP support your in-house staff?

Just as some things are better handled by your in-house team, others are better delegated to an outside team. Cybersecurity management, in particular, is well worth outsourcing. The technicians that staff regional MSPs usually have many years of experience watching cybersecurity threats evolve, and keeping up with the latest security systems and tools is their full-time job. This frees up in-house staff to focus on business-critical and higher value-added tasks.

In general, complementing your in-house team with support from an MSP offers your company access to a broader range of technical skills and knowledge than you’d get from internal staff alone, and without the HR costs.

Below is a list of some of the top benefits of hiring an MSP to support your internal staff.

Specialized knowledge

Internal IT team members usually must be versed in a broad range of technological quick-fixes and workarounds, which is great — so long as that breadth of knowledge doesn’t come at the cost of its depth.

MSPs hire specialists in every field to round out their teams. If cybersecurity is your primary concern, an MSP won’t send you a generalist — you’ll get a highly trained security specialist, with certifications recognized not just in Utah or the United States, but around the world (don’t worry, they can still fix the printer, too).

The same goes for compliance. Are you in a highly regulated field, like legal or financial services or healthcare provision? MSPs keep up with the latest local, state, and national requirements for the industries they serve, and they know how to leverage the most current and cost-effective technology to keep you compliant.

Special projects and business growth

Big migrations to the cloud or from Exchange to Office 365 can often overburden a smaller staff already running the day-to-day aspects of an IT department. The risk is that the migration or any other large, non-routine project bottlenecks productivity and causes a backlog of service requests.

The same is true if your company needs in-depth security testing and assessment, a network redesign, and/or upgrade, or virtualization of any kind. By outsourcing major projects, you can meet your technology initiatives while maintaining business operations.

Employee morale

Dealing with the same end-user issues every day can become repetitive and, quite frankly, frustrating for your internal staff after a while — not least when there are larger, strategic IT issues to be attended to. It can slow down their progress with other goals.

And maybe, the rest of the office can sense it too. No one wants to interrupt the IT department when they’re in the middle of an involved project.

An MSP can set up a system that relays issues directly to an outside party when they come up so your in-house team can stay on track while end users still get rapid resolutions to their issues.

Clearly, these are only some of the many ways an MSP can support your in-house team. To talk specifics about how NetWize can help, call today.

8 Ways to boost your network’s security

Every business network handles a range of sensitive data from financial records to intellectual property to personally identifiable information. To protect your organization from the rising tide of cyberthreats, it’s imperative that you take every reasonable step to ensure nothing bad gets in and no confidential records leave through unsecured channels.

#1. Manage risk

There will always be risks, no matter how robust your network security. One of the main jobs of any network security team is to bring this risk down to an acceptable level, one that may be managed and mitigated without getting in the way of innovation and productivity. Administrators must keep full visibility into their digital assets with a centralized web-enabled platform.

#2. Layer your security

If your network infrastructure has a single point of failure, then it’s just a matter of time before it falls victim to a breach. In much the same way that medieval castles had moats, walls and guards to protect them, your network also needs multiple layers of security. This includes an enforced security policy, firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention, and endpoint protection.

#3. Tighten up access controls

Many data breaches occur at the hands of mismanaged access controls. While your apps and data need to be consistently accessible to those who use them for work, it’s always a good idea to follow the principle of least privilege. In other words, nobody should have access to anything they don’t absolutely need to do their jobs. Enabling multifactor authentication, whereby login access is secured with passwords and another authentication method (e.g. temporary security codes sent to the user’s phone), is also a must.

#4. Implement endpoint controls

No matter how robust your overall network security, a single vulnerable endpoint can bring it all crashing down. Endpoints refer to any device connected to the network, including mobile phones and employee-owned devices. Administrators must track every endpoint on the network and grant and revoke access rights as needed. They also need anti-malware software to scan for and remove any harmful programs lying dormant within company devices.

#5. Migrate to the cloud

Looking after hundreds or even thousands of endpoints is hard work, especially when sensitive data potentially resides on every device connected to the network. For this reason, it’s best to avoid storing confidential data on any devices other than a centralized server or, better still, in the cloud where it can be managed and secured as a single connected environment.

#6. Prepare for the worst

You always need to prepare for the worst-case scenario, no matter how thorough your network security protocols might be. New threats come and go, and it’s impossible to protect against every eventuality. That’s why a backup and disaster recovery plan is an integral part of your wider security and compliance strategy.

#7. Train your team

Most data leaks and breaches occur because of human error. This isn’t helped by the fact that many of us have developed poor security habits. Every member of your team is a potential target, which is why security is everyone’s responsibility. An ongoing training program with a top-down approach will create a culture of accountability and security.

#8. Deploy patch management

Software developers regularly release security updates for any products they still support. You should never defer these updates, since doing so may leave the system, and consequently the entire network, vulnerable. If any software or hardware device is nearing the end of its support life cycle, you should retire it as soon as possible.

NetWize helps businesses drive real results and reduce risk with modern technology solutions you can depend on. Call us today to deploy a robust cybersecurity framework that keeps the bad guys at bay.

Why you need a backup and disaster recovery plan

Your company relies on its documents and applications to keep customers happy and to stay in business. Imagine what would happen if you suddenly lost access to all of it. If you’re lucky, your business may be able to come out unscathed, but the reality is many businesses affected by a major disaster close their doors for good.

To mitigate the financial losses caused by unforeseen events, many companies take out cyber insurance policies. However, no insurance policy is going to help you recover from reputational damage or retrieve the critical data you’ve lost. That’s why you also need a documented backup and disaster recovery plan.

#1. Natural disasters

Storms, floods, and fires can all cause irreparable damage to your digital assets by destroying hardware and backup media alike. Unlike many other incidents, a natural disaster might also render your primary workplace inoperable. That’s why backup and disaster recovery planning isn’t just about data; it also needs to incorporate people and processes.

With cloud backups, employees should be able to resume working from home or from a secondary location using their own devices with little-to-no disruption.

#2. Human errors

Many disasters start with human error, whether that’s succumbing to a phishing scam, accidentally deleting an important document, or even failing to turn a computer off properly. Just flipping the wrong switch can lead to a significant loss that could easily have been avoided.

Training programs can help reduce human error and, most importantly, susceptibility to cyberattacks. You can also mitigate employee-induced disasters by tightening access controls and automating your backup routines.

#3. Cyberattacks

Cyberattacks can strike at any time, and small businesses are a favorite target among hackers. Data breaches are especially severe since they can cause serious damage to your reputation, which is one of the most valuable things any business has. Another common threat is ransomware, which can render your data as good as lost.

Every business must take a multilayered approach to protecting its digital assets, and backup and disaster recovery is one of those layers. If data is lost or stolen to a cyberattack, disaster recovery is often your last line of defense.

#4. Hardware failures

Hardware failures can lead to extended periods of downtime. While most hardware can either be fixed or replaced fairly quickly, any accompanying data loss is a lot harder to mitigate if you don’t have a recent backup. Often far worse than losing the value of the hardware is losing the data stored on it.

Businesses can better protect their data by reducing their reliance on hardware. With cloud technology, they can build a software-defined computing architecture that’s kept safe across multiple locations, with redundant systems kicking in whenever the primary fails.

#5. Compliance

Businesses need to comply with a growing number of regulations, many of which include strict availability standards. In other words, if you lose your data to a disaster, you could also end up paying a fine if you haven’t made every reasonable step to protect it. For example, HIPAA gives organizations five days to respond to requests for information, while SOX requires CEOs to report financial results each quarter and year-end. To ensure your data stays available through any eventuality, a robust backup and disaster recovery plan is, indirectly at least, a compliance necessity.

NetWize prepares companies for catastrophe with a comprehensive data backup and disaster recovery plan. We’ll help you implement the solutions and even maintain your backups, so you always have access to your most critical assets. Call us today to ensure your business can survive the worst.

Making IT Budgets Strategic

I believe we’d agree the business landscape has changed. The evolution of border-less interactions, secure, remote workers and client driven security and compliance puts immense pressure on the executive staff to identify and execute against their goals. The achievement of those business goals relate proportionately to the executive’s understanding of their organization’s current technology capabilities, business strategy and the overall competitive landscape.

Often times this becomes a three-legged stool. If the organization’s strategy is to grow (organically or through acquisition), there must be a very high understanding of how they define their competitive landscape. Once that has been identified, the executives map their business model (strategy, infrastructure, execution) to delivering against that stated goal. Interestingly, most organizations overlook the relationship between the technology they use internally to secure their organization and its’ responsibility to supporting those future objectives.

The ability of the CIO to deliver technology against the businesses’ objectives has never been higher due to the emergence of cloud and next-gen technologies, IoT and edge devices, business insights and technical analytics. Through these technologies, CIO’s are able to collect data, both technical and competitive, thus providing the organization with multiple internal and external, actionable scenarios. One scenario might be: an agile infrastructure provides a reallocation of costs from a CapEx to an OpEx model thereby potentially freeing up additional funds to invest in growth strategies. The CIO maps the internal investment (CapEx to OpEx strategy and execution) to the external investment (newly available funds allocated to acquiring additional, outside resources) to achieve the objective. In order to achieve this symbiotic relationship between IT and Business strategies, a redefining of traditional IT budgets is required.

IT budgets have been the bane of most organizations. They are generally viewed as only a cost center and therefore one of the first items to be pressured during the budgeting cycle. Year-over-year flat, support-based IT budgets aren’t satisfactory in times of evolution. Since traditional budgets have focused almost exclusively on maintenance, refresh, support of the current infrastructure along with FTE’s to deliver, there isn’t much room for the delivery of value towards achieving business goals or business unit strategies. The national average for IT budget spend as a percentage of revenue is between 3-4% (Deloitte, IDC, Gartner research), and yet most organizations will admit IT is underfunded as an internal organization. What if the funding categories of an IT budget were defined to better align with the organization’s business strategies?

From an IT perspective, there are three distinct activities that occur within an organization: support of the current infrastructure, design and implementation of solutions that support incremental business changes and delivering on business innovation. If IT budgets evolved to include a percent allocation of the above items against the overall budget, then the CIO has effectively addressed how to optimize current operations, deliver insights to business units and prepare for the execution of business strategies.

An example of this could be: Organization Revenue: $25 M, IT Budget: 3.5% ($875k). Through annual strategic business planning sessions, the short- and long-term goals of the organization are identified, and the CIO determines the allocation of the IT budget to be:

57%: Support of Current Infrastructure ($498,750)
26%: Incremental Business Change ($227,500)
17%: Business Innovation ($148,750)

In this example, the CIO is presenting to the executive staff an understanding of the goals and how the investments will support the objectives. The internal “support” investment ensures the organization is utilizing the tools and infrastructure to secure it’s current and future operations. “Incremental Business Change and Business Innovations” investments attempt to clearly align tactical enhancements to the organization (departmental and company-wide) to achieve those strategy-based goals. Too many times the lack of foresight and planning leads to an inability to define an IT Budget as strategic but is extremely important given the change and speed of the market.

Hopefully, clarity has been brought to defining the business value of the CIO as they are driving the convergence of Business and IT strategies / objectives. This powerful, business aware CIO is now helping to delineate the “what the organization wants to achieve”, and “how those investments” will drive the execution. When an organization appreciates the value of documenting a 3-5 year plan, their IT budgets become strategic and a huge competitive advantage.