Effects of Internet Issues On Small Businesses
June 6th, 2010
Century IT blog
Online Data Backup
October 15th, 2009
90% of businesses that found themselves without data for 10 days or more filed for bankruptcy inside 2 years*
Many businesses know that without the ‘Company Data’ there is no business, but many still take the risk and don’t check their backups daily or perform any test data restores.
Businesses that experience data loss soon find themselves with an interruption to their business whilst data recovery methods are explored. The risk is never worth the cost, lost ‘company data’ simply can’t be replaced
What can be done?
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Ensure your computer network is Proactively Monitored
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Get your I.T Support Company to test your backups regulary
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Take a secondary backup using an Online Data Vault
Proactive monitoring can help prevent interruption to business by identifying problems before they affect your business, for example flagging alerts for failed backups.
Testing backups on a regular basis can help ensure that data can indeed by restored from supposedly good backups.
Taking secondary backups helps reduce the risk of data loss should a failure occur, there is an old adage that you can’t have too many backups!
Making backups to an Online Data Vault using a fully encrypted Internet connection to a secure location has many advantages :-
20,000 Laptops are lost or stolen every year
- Your data is guaranteed safe and secure
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It’s quick and easy to set up
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It’s affordable and reduces costs
- Being fully automated it eliminates human error
- Restoring data is quick and easy
- Scalable solutions for all sizes of business
Having a secondary system of backups to restore from in the event of a disaster situation gives business owners peace of mind that their business critical data is always safe and available.
How Does Online Data Backup Work?
1) Any online data backup solution assumes you have an internet connection and that you have at least ADSL, DSL or Cable.
2) You normally install some specialist backup software on the machine that hold the data you want to backup
3) You choose what types of data you can backup
4) You schedule the Online Data Backup software to backup at a time which is convienient to you
5) A backup of your selected data is made to the Online Data Backup Provider
What Should I Look for When Choosing an Online Backup Solution?
1) Transferring your data across the Internet is normally not secure, you need to make sure that the Online Data Backup Provider uses secure encryption technologies to secure you data as it travels over the internet to stop unauthorised interception.
2) An important consideration is also where will your data be stored, Online Data Backup providers would normally hold your data in a data centre, it would be in your best interest to find out if your data is being held within a U.K data centre or one in another country.
3) Find out if your data is stored at the data centre in an encrypted format and who else has access to your data.
4) What about in the event of a complete restore being needed? Downloading everything via your Internet connection will be compartively much slower than by your local tape backup. Does your Online Data Backup provider offer a Disaster Recovery Option? Can they deliver your data to you for restore, quickly?
5) Besides being able to back your files and folders, does your Online Data Backup provider provide the software to backup your Exchange email or SQL databases?
Summary
In summary, additional to the local data backups you would normally make as part of your I.T maintenance procedures, having a secondary backup of business critical data using an Online Data Backup provider is a sound choice.
Using an Online Backup Data Vault will help reduce the risk of data loss, it can be especially beneficial in any business continuity plan.
Dont Risk IT
Dont Risk IT
Talk to us to find out how you can ensure your business critical data is also backed up to an Online Data Vault and we will offer you a Free 30 Day Trial. (Contact Us)
Remember 90% of businesses that found themselves without data for 10 days or more filed for bankruptcy inside 2 years!
Century IT Services – Getting IT Right
Providing Computer Support & Network Support to businesses in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Wiltshire, Sussex & Berkshire
* Source – London Chamber of Trade & Commerce
If your computer system failed, which application could you do without for a few days?
June 1st, 2009
If your computer system failed, which application could you do without for a few days?
Nearly every business has a computer network of some description and I wondered what priorities people put on their computer systems. Quite a few companies leave their I.T support to chance and only respond to a computer problem once it has stopped their business.
You can’t run your company without computers. Have you ever had your server go down, your email lock up or your backup fail? then you know how quickly an IT problem can impact on your overall business performance.
Recently I ran a poll on LinkedIn and asked the question:-
If your computer system failed, which application could you NOT do without for a few days?
Interestingly, nobody thought an accounting system was a business critical application and said they could probably do without an accounting system for a few days. It was very strange that no respondents seemed to think an accounting system was business critical application.
Email and Internet were the primary business applications for many companies, with the majority saying they simply could not do without email for a few days, closely followed by Internet.
I would suggest that you need IT support to keep your company running so downtime is minimised, productivty is not affected a situation where you lose revenue is averted
I would like to get some more respondents to this survey, so if you can spare me a minute of your time, please can you add your opinion to my results.
(http://polls.linkedin.com/p/38409/tvfdl)
Century IT Services – Getting IT Right
Providing Computer Support & Network Support to businesses in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Wiltshire, Sussex & Berkshire
Computer Network Security
May 13th, 2009
Hampshire & Isle Wight Partners In Business
With an economic downturn history tells us there is an increase in crime. As well as the traditional notions of crime, this year has been cited for an explosion of cyber crime and online identity fraud. Were you aware that the majority of I.T security breaches come from within? Protecting your company by ensuring your computers are secure from internal as well as external threats should be your priority.
“Around 830,000 businesses in the UK suffered an online/computer related security incident in 2007/08″
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Would you know if a disgruntled employee copied confidential data to a memory stick, or uploaded it to a web site? Do you know if emails are being sent containing confidential company information?
When considering the subject of computer network security a holistic approach should be taken. Properly installed and supported computer networks should have layered security; starting at the perimeter of the network, and ending with robust security policies on the user’s computers.
“Often reliable computer networks are not the largest, or ones that have had the most money spent on them, it’s just they were properly planned and considered” |
Improving your computer systems can increase productivity. These increases can be made in several ways; by making your computers more secure, by allowing remote access for workers away from the office, and also computerising manual processes to save you time. These changes will make your systems slicker, high tech and more importantly secure.
Century IT Services offer a range of support options to suit different types of business and budgets. We are particularly skilled in fault finding on some of the most troublesome computer networks.
Useful Links
Hampshire & Isle Wight Partners In Business Publication
Century IT Services – Getting IT Right
Century IT Services – Getting IT Right
Providing Computer Support & Network Support to businesses in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Wiltshire, Sussex & Berkshire
Business Continuity
April 9th, 2009
Swine flu is the current biological disaster which is threatening to become a worldwide problem, before that I seem to remember it was bird flu, blue tongue or foot & mouth disease.
For many businesses, in the least it will probably mean workers not turning up for work or the government enforcing quarantine or restricted travel arrangements. Complying with any rules will obviously be everyone’s duty and moral responsibility, but after that where does this leave British businesses and the U.K economy?
Short term we could be just talking about losing trade & business, perhaps an accountable financial loss. Longer term, the question has to be how long can British businesses survive without service or sales especially in the current global economy.
Large or corporate companies who have embraced globalization probably have a tried & tested business continuity plan, but what about the millions of small & medium sized businesses? What business continuity options are open to them? Every business is different, each having different priorities and concerns.
Many businesses nowadays are heavily reliant on information technology, even though IT can be a large part of the business continuity subject, business continuity is not just about the topic of information technology, it should cover a vast range of issues for example:-
- Do you have all your employee contact details & next of kin?
- Do you have your customer, supplier or banking details to hand?
- Can your employees do anything productive working from their homes?
- What essential business functions must continue in any emergency?
- How will you communicate the plan to everyone involved?
There are many questions to consider, some will probably require much debate among your key staff. Many small and medium sized business simply do not have a business continuity plan or have considered what if scenarios. In the current competitive world out performing your competitors is often key to survival.
Century IT Services can help you address the IT issues. We can advise on computer systems and infrastructure to enable remote users to access business critical applications and help your company continue trading. We can also advise on how remote users can use VoIP technology telephones to communicate with each other, the office, your customers & suppliers.
Being a remote user or home worker need not mean being disconnected from your business, colleagues, clients or suppliers. Being in a situation where you have to force your employees to work from a remote location or their homes doesn’t mean that business should stop.
Careful planning could see your business continue trading in some of the most difficult times. If you don’t see this opportunity, the risk is your competitors will and seize the moment and leave your business behind.
Should you wish to have a confidential & without obligation discussion of your needs, contact the writer, Paul Marsh, Century IT Services
Tel. 023 80 070101
Useful Links
Hampshire County Council – Hants Web Business & Economy
Century IT Services – Getting IT Right
Providing Computer Support & Network Support to businesses in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Wiltshire, Sussex & Berkshire
Secure your data or lose it!
August 7th, 2008
Have you considered the implications to your business if one of your employees lost their laptop or PDA device or had it stolen from their car?
- Do your employees routinely have company data on their portable computers?
- Is it backed up or are there copies on your server?
- If lost, can the data be retrieved by someone else?
- Is the data of a sensitive nature? i.e. financial or personal identifying details?
- Would it be a problem if your company data suddenly became public?
- Could your company recover from adverse publicity surrounding the loss of personal data?
- Could your company continue trading after this?
Don’t rely on Windows passwords alone to secure your laptops and think this is sufficient, any computer techie worth his salt could crack a windows password in a few minutes with an amateur cracker taking only slightly longer.
To protect your company against loss of a laptop, you should be ensuring that each laptop or mobile computer is adequately encrypted. This means that there is a mechanism in place which will encrypt the computer hard disk making it very difficult for the computer to be accessed by someone else.
A good encryption system can encrypt the whole drive, not just specific folders or files, it would also automatically encrypt new files as they are added to the laptop rather some manual or user operated method. This will ensure that the hard disk cannot be removed and put into another computer system and then accessed.
If your laptops and portable computers are not properly secured, it is in your best interest ensure it is done as soon as possible.
Give us a call today on 02380 070 101 for a full, confidential and without-obligation discussion of your needs.
Century IT Services – Getting IT Right
Providing Computer Support & Network Support to businesses in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Wiltshire, Sussex & Berkshire
Microsoft Academic Licensing
June 4th, 2008
Microsoft offer licence discounts for Desktop Operating Systems, Desktop Applications, Server Operating Systems and Server Applications to Schools, Registered Charities, Public Libraries, Public Museums and other Educational Institutions.
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Academic Select
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Academic Open
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School Agreement 3.5
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Campus Agreement 3.5
Besides recieving a worthwhile discount on your Academic Licensing needs, licencing programmes can be used to support faculty and staff with access to products for their personal use (HUP) or work-related use (Work at Home).
The licences are flexible and you can be licenced to run any version including upgrades and downgrades including Office Enterprise, Windows Vista Enterprise upgrade, CoreCAL, FrontPage, Project, Encarta, Visio, Visual Studio, Publisher and CALs/SALs.
Are you a School, Registered Charity, Public Library, Public Museum or other Educational institution and would like to know if you can make a saving on your Microsoft licensing whilst maintaining a flexible licence agreement?
