FEATURED CONTENT
In the last decade the demands placed upon technology within businesses has grown exponentially. It is rare that you come across a company now that does not almost entirely rely on guaranteed, secure, access to its data.
The threats to this data from malware, viruses and criminals has also never been greater and is on the rise. This is in part down to the increase in the demand for data availability and the dependence on access to it as well as the diverse range of devices and ways to access this data. The attack surface has grown and provides new targets.
Add to this the rise in requirements for regulation, GDPR, PCi DSS, CES and CES Plus to name a few, also insurance companies who now want to minimise their liabilities in the event of a data breach or loss.
What has been generated is an awful lot of work in ensuring the data is available, secure, protected from threat and meets the tough security requirements of the modern digital world. A business can no longer work based on calling their IT support as and when they need them or, when something requires attention, this is simply not proactive enough to cater for the challenges above.
For a business to comply with regulation the entire scope of that regulation needs to be catered for, this will include policies on how the system is used, managed and monitored. Regular updates to operating systems and patch management to ensure security. Software and firmware updates to fix vulnerabilities and security problems on network devices such as switches, firewalls and WIFI access points to name a few. Secure backup on premises and in the cloud to ensure recoverability and disaster recovery capability. Regular consultation to ensure the business technology is developing in line with the business aspiration and need. The list goes on, but it is all very important.
While there are opportunities for automating some aspects of this work, in general it is very time consuming. The expectation now is that much of the work that requires reboots or resets is performed out of hours to avoid interruption to daily operations.
Technology support providers have had to flex and adapt to meet these challenges daily. The speed at which technology, specifically cloud technology, is changing is incredible with regular updates to functionality, security and software design on a weekly, if not daily basis. They must continuously learn.
A business needs to partner with a Managed Services Provider who can proactively deliver this monitoring, administration and maintenance around the clock. They must be an integral part of your business and your businesses aspirations and growth strategy to enable them to expertly guide you on your digital journey.
Managed Service Providers invest a lot of time, effort and money in learning, training and utilising systems and software to ensure all this happens for you.
Just because you don’t see it happening on the surface does not mean they are not working hard behind the scenes to protect your business and one of its most valuable commodities, your data.
Do not underestimate the amount of work they do.
