NexusTek Takes Cyber Security Seriously

READ TIME: 2 MIN

May 29, 2019

NexusTek Takes Cyber Security Seriously

Hackers definitely have a bad rap, and some would say deservedly so. Society has been informed by the somewhat sensational media coverage of cybercrime and the “bad actors” who seek to illegally access networks, steal data, and wreak havoc on businesses large and small.

The truth is that while there are plenty of criminals with top-notch hacking and coding skills, but there is also a growing community of Certified Ethical Hackers. These cyber savvy individuals use their technology superpowers for good and we are so lucky they do!

At NexusTek, one of the ways we take a proactive approach to cyber security for our clients is by recruiting people who are trained to “think like the bad guys.” Our own in-house systems administrator, Ron Ratliff, moonlights as a Certified Ethical Hacker. By partnering with NexusTek, our projects team helps businesses expose flaws in their networks and assists in remediating the gaps or weaknesses.

Qualities of an Ethical Hacker

Ethical Hackers, like Ron, typically enjoy the creative challenge of overcoming limitations. Like the typical persona of a hacker for organized crime, ethical hackers possess a strong curiosity to explore and learn the innerworkings of the internet, and they have the skills to identify flaws and vulnerabilities within connected systems. These good guys share information, and despite popular belief, often work together to help each other.

Finding the Flaws

You’ve heard the saying, “There’s more than one way to crack an egg?” Well, the same theory holds true for hacking in that there is more than one way to infiltrate a system.

Although Ransomware victims would not like to hear this but hacking activities have direct benefits within our digital landscape. Every noteworthy cybersecurity incident is accompanied by a huge wave of awareness. That awareness creates good things to happen when flaws in systems get repaired and security concerns strengthen both teams and policies. This is also true for the ethical hacking community. As they discover new vulnerabilities, they use this knowledge to fix weaknesses and flaws in the web, before they are exploited maliciously.

24 x 7 Protection

Since there is no hope that cybercriminals will suddenly realize the error of their ways, there are deterrents like our cyber security team at NexusTek who work around the clock to help protect businesses from this growing threat.

Interested in learning more about NexusTek’s cyber security services?

Click here to register for our FREE “Ask Me Anything” Webinar with Ron our Ethical Hacker!

Or, contact us here to schedule a free one-on-one consultation to discuss your IT and security needs today.

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3-2-1 Backup!

READ TIME: 3 MIN

May 28, 2019

3-2-1 Backup!

There’s no doubt that viruses and malware can do significant damage to your systems and your business. Therefore, every company should have a solid backup and recovery strategy.

While organizations have readily spent thousands of dollars for the best security programs and tools to lock down infrastructure, many have yet to make the same commitment to their data management solutions. In addition, antiquated technology (tape drives) may still be used that may cause downtime to be lengthened if recovery from backups is necessary. With these solutions being a critical component of an organization’s recovery strategy (and necessary in getting systems up and running with minimal disruption and impact to business continuity), surprisingly, data backup continues to be overlooked.

Let’s illustrate this using the “3-2-1 Principle.” The 3-2-1 Principle works for any virtual environment; regardless of the hypervisor you are running (VMware, Hyper-V, etc.). The 3-2-1 backup rule is a revered and time-honored backup strategy recommended by Carnegie Mellon in a US-CERT (United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team) paper.[1] The 3-2-1 rule became a popular concept thanks to Peter Krogh, a well-known photographer who wrote that there are two groups of people: those who have already had a storage failure and those who will have one in the future. But, for our purposes, let’s modernize this principle to work for present day businesses.

Here is the 3-2-1 backup rule in its simplest form:

Have at least three (3) copies of your data.
Store the copies on two (2) different types of media.
Keep one (1) backup copy offsite.

3 – Have at least three copies of your data.

At least. You should have the original files along with two copies of those files. Use 2 different storage options to back up your data. In our modern age of technology, utilizing cloud technology presents the best option. Using replication in conjunction with an MSP that can manage and monitor your systems, reduces downtime to minutes versus days.

2 – Store the copies on two different media.

The 3-2-1 rule suggests that you keep copies of your data on at least two different storage types. For small and midsized businesses where internal hard disk drives AND removable storage media (tapes, external hard drives, USB drives, SD-cards, CDs, DVDs, or even floppy disks) used to be the norm, Cloud storage has taken over as a safe, highly-efficient and cost-effective option for quick uptime in an emergency event. Having a high availability device on-site that is in turn replicated to the cloud is often the current standard for current small and medium businesses.

1 – Keep one backup copy offsite.

Offsite storage can save your business if something like a fire or flood happens. Specifically, if your business is an SMB with no remote or branch offices, storing your backups to the Cloud is a best practice today by IT industry standards. But, more importantly, if a disaster (natural peril, cyber-attack, etc…) occurs that brings your infrastructure to a halt, today’s technology can have you spin up servers in the cloud, so your staff can continue working without pause.

Replication and the Cloud

Replication to multiple locations ensures that there is no single point of failure and that your data is safe from disasters such as fires and floods. Replication tools have come a long way from just 5 years ago. Data replication duplicates data between remote servers or storage platforms across a wide area network (WAN). Advances in this technology have made this practice mainstream in the IT industry. An MSP utilizing top resources in IT talent and partner relationships make all the difference in cost/benefit and security.

If you have been putting off that backup plan, or your backup plan has not been tested in the last 6 months or more, NexusTek’s backup experts can evaluate your current backup state and offer professional recommendations to protect your business. As well, ask our IT experts about (DRaaS) Disaster Recovery as a Service.

[1] https://www.us-cert.gov/sites/default/files/publications/data_backup_options.pdf

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Why Top IT Managed Services Companies Recommend Multiple IT Assessments

READ TIME: 4 MIN

May 24, 2019

Why Top IT Managed Services Companies Recommend Multiple IT Assessments

The complexities of business technology continue to expand. When you think about it, we’ve come a long way from just 15 years ago when your one-man IT department handled everything “tech” for your business. Today, trained professionals that continue earning IT credentials are at the top of the IT food chain and they work for an MSP because of the resources available that allow them to advance in the industry.

It’s kind of like your driver’s license test. The roads would be a dangerous place if all you had to do is prove you can see. Instead, we feel much safer knowing that drivers on the road went through rounds of different assessments. Starting with a required minimum number of hours driving with an instructor, to the written test and road course – multiple assessments gather more accurate data for better decision-making.

It’s for this very reason that small businesses rely on multiple IT assessments throughout the year. While one assessment may identify vulnerabilities in your Office 365 tenant, another generates evidence based on your employees’ behavior.

Here are three scenarios where each respective IT assessment will reveal the gaps in your systems that hackers are targeting.

Scenario I: Office 365 Migration

You’re planning a migration to Office 365 and want to make sure you’ve planned out your security policies and procedures correctly.

NexusTek’s Microsoft 365 Security Assessment identifies the most critical controls that should be applied in your environment. Once the report is delivered, our engineers will analyze and provide you with guidance on prioritizing and implementing a remediation plan in a phased manner to minimize any disruption to your employees.

Our end-to-end approach to the assessment process includes set up and deployment, a detailed review of the assessment, recommendations on next steps, and an overview of the best practices to successfully implement Office 365 security features.

Scenario II: Who or What Is Causing Productivity Issues?

Your employees keep complaining about their workstations running slow or constantly getting viruses. You’re not sure if the problem is your firewall or their behavior.

One of the easiest way’s hackers try to compromise your network is through the use of phishing and spear phishing, a socially-engineered attack designed to trick users into clicking malicious links or unwittingly giving up their credentials. Often, their email will contain a link that redirects users to a fake login in page where they will enter their credentials. An attacker will use these credentials to gain access to critical applications, leading to a data breach.

NexusTek deploys a Phishing Test as a tool to train employees who might click on those suspicious links. Once the test is deployed and results are complete, our team will send you a customized report on with details of employee behaviors. By identifying your most vulnerable users, we can implement granular user and device-based policies like two-factor authentication, user access limitations to critical systems and more.

Scenario III: New Software, New Problems

You’re getting ready to deploy a new software, but not sure if the new system will create new vulnerabilities in your security. A penetration test (pen test) is a simulated cyberattack against your IT system. The goal is to find vulnerabilities before the bad guys do, so that NexusTek’s experts can remediate and patch accordingly.

However, like the other assessments we’ve discussed, a pen test isn’t a one-and-done project. Your business’s network is dynamic, and as time goes on, and new admins make changes, these updates need to be tested and retested.

A pen test has the potential to provide vital insights and reveal gaps in your existing cyber security strategy. Depending on your industry and compliance requirements, a pen test may even be mandatory.

No two security tests are created equal. You want an IT partner who understands the ins-and-outs of your business. We design our pen tests around your business based on your company size, the maturity of your IT environment, compliance requirements, and more.

At NexusTek, we partner with companies to deploy the best IT assessments that are tried and true industry standards. With our comprehensive assessment portfolio – from Office 365 and cyber security to cloud and unified communications – it’s possible to collect data across every department.

Multiple IT assessments are easy to implement. NexusTek’s technology experts manage the experience, then guide you through the results one-on-one to address any questions or concerns you may have.

In the end, you’ll gain a more complete understanding of the technology that powers your business –and that’s powerful intelligence you can use right away!

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Beyond Rankings – The Value of the MSP 501 Community

READ TIME: 1 MIN

May 8, 2019

Beyond Rankings – The Value of the MSP 501 Community

In a recent interview with Channel Futures, Chief Revenue Officer, Mike Hamuka explains the significance of NexusTek’s climbing the MSP 501 rankings for three straight years, and what it means to be honored as the 2018 MSP of the Year. In addition to the recognition that comes from being named the world’s top managed services provider, Mike explains that the real value is seeing our strategy and execution validated each year.

With 2019 National Small Business Week upon us, this article is a timely reminder of how NexusTek offers scalable, affordable end-to-end IT management to thousands of businesses from coast to coast. Read more here…

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Data Security Using Collaboration Technology Starts Here

READ TIME: 3 MIN

April 29, 2019

Data Security Using Collaboration Technology Starts Here

Our Product Management Team is tasked with instituting positive change and promoting efficiency across the organization and for NexusTek’s customer base. This can include the development of new products, to innovating how we deliver services to enable NexusTek’s staff to share information easily and reach higher levels of performance in their respective roles.

Collaboration across our organization is instrumental to the success of the Product Management Team and is a key factor in building a customer-centric culture. With offices in seven cities, it’s rare for all team members to be in the same room. This is where leveraging secure collaborative technology is key.

For a visual of how the integrated applications work for the Product Management team, below is a diagram representing our communication loops:

Outlook for email is still a primary tool used across these loops. However, you’ll see that the Office 365 Suite and especially Microsoft Teams, a component within Office 365, is taking over the typical email channels. Microsoft is investing heavily in Teams, due to the increased adoption of the many communication elements and collaborative features of the Office 365 Suite.

How can we validate the protection of our data?

The data we create in Outlook, Teams, Skype, OneNote, SharePoint, other cloud platforms, on our computers and our file servers is critical to our business as a managed IT services provider and increasingly for our customers.

For the SMB market, we need to ensure data security. This is why we are currently offering a bite-sized Microsoft 365 Security Assessment that includes a security score report for customers coupled with an actionable plan for remediation of issues uncovered in the assessment.

It is a valuable return for your investment of $495. Request your Microsoft 365 Security Assessment from a qualified NexusTek engineer today!

Visibility into Possible Security Gaps in Your Environment

Many clients who have opted to invest in this security assessment, have also made the decision to follow through with engineer remediation report based on the results. Specifically, companies with compliance requirements have found that having a NexusTek engineer analyze the findings and follow up with an action report, proved to streamline decision-making where securing gaps in their environment were a concerned.

Just one example of a common security audit remediation project would be adding email security with Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection that includes planning, configuration and testing.

Get visibility to your environment and close the security gaps that is putting your business at risk.

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9 Reasons to Prioritize Your MultiValue Upgrade

READ TIME: 2 MIN

April 29, 2019

9 Reasons to Prioritize Your MultiValue Upgrade

At NexusTek, it’s our mission to ensure our customers get the most value out of our client support. We go about this by providing the most talented experts, best performing technology, and personal service.

Upgrading your MultiValue Application Platform should be a natural and expected part of any business that has employees and customers depending on the data in that system. Here are the top 9 reasons you will want to schedule that upgrade:

Avoid Security Vulnerabilities: Stay current with the latest security features that are supported within the latest versions of your MultiValue Application Platform. Instances of data security breaches are reaching new heights and upgrades are important to secure your critical business data from unauthorized access and malicious attacks. Enabling encryption for the safe transfer of data will be affected without these important upgrades.

Ease of Future Upgrades: Ease of upgrading is increased the closer you are to the latest version of your MultiValue Application Platform. Taking a proactive stance toward upgrading will allow for simpler and faster implementation going forward.

3rd Party Product Compatibly Issues: Users that stay current with the latest version of their MultiValue Application Platform are less likely to encounter compatibility issues from 3rd party product updates.

Best Support Knowledge with New Version: Our support team is highly trained on the tools to address the most common issues our customers have experienced. As time goes on, the availability of “experts” to help you with your old, patched MultiValue Application Platform diminishes.

Need Features Only Available with a New Version or your MultiValue Application Platform: Upgrades include new or enhanced features, better compatibility with different devices and/or applications and improved overall stability (maturity = more integration points) of your application.

Enhanced Performance: With each new MultiValue Application Platform version there are enhancements that provide improved performance of your MultiValue application. If you’re still running on a 32-bit version of your MultiValue Application Platform it is time to upgrade to take advantage of the 64-bit performance of newer versions. Enhanced performance = Enhanced productivity.

Preparing for an IT Audit: A compliance reporting feature that’s necessary to be “in compliance” with the latest standards may only exist in a later version of your MultiValue Application Platform.

Hardware/OS Software: A new OS version requires an upgrade to your MultiValue Application Platform that is certified for the latest OS release.

Avoid Functionality and Support Issues Due to “End of Life”: When a product lifecycle approaches “end of life” it is important to keep your systems operational by following through with the upgrade recommendations. For example, with Rocket Software’s older MultiValue Application Platforms new or additional licenses are no longer available.

In a world where many software updates are “pushed” regularly to your smartphone, browser, cable box – it seems counterintuitive that some of the most important enterprise software in the world is “pulled” for updates. Worse yet, it’s not pulled very often. Don’t fall victim to complacency!

Now that you know the reasons to upgrade, are you ready for the latest version of your D3 MultiValue Application Platform?

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Is It Time For A Unified Communications Health Check?

READ TIME: 3 MIN

April 29, 2019

Is It Time For A Unified Communications Health Check?

The health of your business communications solution is as important as the condition of your servers, workstations and connected devices – so let’s make sure your phone system is running at peak performance.

NexusTek’s Unified Communications customized solutions deliver a comprehensive business communication system that includes advanced phone features, automated attendant, unified messaging, call accounting and reporting, etc. The unique, purpose-built architecture provides a highly-reliable, unified communications solution with plug-and-play ease.

Unified Communications systems that are NOT working properly can affect your business in many ways:

Poor customer experience: Your reputation depends on how easily and quickly you can help your loyal customers. If your customers looking for services or support are misrouted to someone who is not prepared for the call, their experience will be frustrating.

Missed sales opportunities: Your bottom line depends on new sales opportunities. If the communication system is not tested for correct routing of sales calls, you do not know if business opportunities are falling through the cracks.

Vendors or partners lack of confidence: For some small businesses, your vendors and partners are the lifeline to your business. If vendors or partners cannot seem to get through to the right person or experience dropped calls, they will lose faith in you as a viable business partner.

Advertising spend/losses: Your advertising dollars are not resulting in revenue because your phone system is not set up properly. Google ads specifically depend on the correct routing of new customers to sales specialists. Don’t let those callers fall into the blackhole of poor communications.

Staff frustration: Your internal communications is as important as your business’ bottom line. Often businesses are so focused on delivering services to customers that the efficiency of internal communications is overlooked. If your people cannot communicate easily, your business will suffer on many levels.

A few key benefits of a Business Communications Health Check:

Identify gaps in your communication process that may be causing inefficiencies or hurting your business
Receive a comprehensive report of the assessment
Optimize or implement a unified communications solution that closely aligns with the needs of not only your management team, but all employees.

NexusTek’s Unified Communications Health Check focuses on the following key areas:

LAN and WAN topology
Network Equipment
Capacity and growth planning
PBX infrastructure
High availability, Failover, Backup and restoration
Emergency operations and E911
Feature and functionality adoption

Organizations are continuously challenged to keep up with technological innovations that deliver investment-worthy solutions for their business needs. Don’t take for granted that your phone system is “fine” because you can make and receive a call.

In the digital world, small and mid-sized businesses focused on competitive advantage and growth benefit from a properly implemented Unified Communications System.

Give us a call at 870-470-0401 or click here to submit your request for a Unified Communications Health Check today.

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SMB’s Leverage Cost/Benefit of Office 365 with an MSP Partnership

READ TIME: 4 MIN

April 23, 2019

SMB’s Leverage Cost/Benefit of Office 365 with an MSP Partnership

The Microsoft Office 365 Suite are among the pre-eminent productivity tools in existence. Nearly everyone uses Microsoft Word in some form, and 56% of companies have adopted Office 365 online since the platform made its transition to the Cloud.

Since becoming the default word processing and productivity platform, the team at Microsoft has striven mightily to make Office 365 user-friendly – both for the end users and for the administrators who have to set it up. As such, you might be wondering why you would need the expertise of an MSP when it comes to Office 365. Isn’t it simple enough for an organization to manage on its own?

Now, take a moment to ask yourself the following questions:

Am I using the features of Office 365 to their fullest and/or getting what I’m paying for?
How much time do my IT administrators and business leaders spend wrangling Office 365?
How do I keep track of my employees’ output in Office 365, especially when it comes to complicated projects?
Am I using the security features of Office 365 at the most optimal level?
Am I signed up for the right licenses or am I paying too much?

Working with a managed IT services provider (MSP) on Office 365 can help you save time, increase your productivity, and maximize ROI (return on investment) when it comes to the most widely-used business productivity platform.

More than just a word processor

Many people think of Microsoft Word when they think of Office 365, but Office is a lot more than a word processor. It is a database management, document sharing, employee collaboration, and videoconferencing platform – to name just a few of its features. You pay for these features whether you use them or not – and if you’re not utilizing all that Office has to offer, you’re more than likely paying for other applications that can do the same thing.

Here’s one example: File Sharing – when it comes to sharing files, many companies use third-party tools like Dropbox – according to figures from the company, 56% of the Fortune 500 [1]are paying for Dropbox. But if those companies also pay for Office 365, then they’re already paying for SharePoint – a much more fully-featured file-sharing solution. If you use Dropbox instead of Sharepoint, a videoconferencing solution other than Skype, or a database management solution other than Access – all while paying for Office 365 – then you may be wasting money.

This is where an MSP can help.

Increase IT productivity while lowering costs

One of the reasons that you may be using Dropbox instead of Sharepoint is that Dropbox is a consumer-grade app designed to be installed and run without any administrative skills. SharePoint, on the other hand, is a robust software with capabilities that are almost limitless.

This is where it helps to have an MSP partner. An MSP partner can help you by focusing entirely on Office 365 administration. This means three things:

Your core IT department will have more time to focus on innovation, as opposed to spending time maintaining the Office 365 implementation.
The MSP partner will configure aspects of your Office 365 suite to maximize your organization’s adoption and productivity.
As a result, you will be able to get rid of the redundant applications and save money.

Save yourself from potential downtime

Have you ever known the stress of losing a day’s worth of work (or a month) because of a hiccup in your word processor?

Data backup is a very real need for companies of every size. Yes, data loss still exists even in an era of cloud storage. Data centers still have power outages, ransomware actively goes after and destroys data in a backup environment, and people sometimes just click the wrong button.

Additionally, not all data backup strategies are created equal. It’s one thing to have data backups in place. It’s another thing to have data backups restored within minutes or seconds of a disastrous event. It’s the difference between moving on with your day and losing hours of productivity (missing deadlines and damaging customer relationships in the process).

Working with an MSP can give you the quick backup and restore capabilities you need. You will be able to replicate your data offsite at any location and protect it against loss, accidental deletion, or malicious encryption. An experienced MSP partner records and documents all activities and configurations implemented to meet your compliance needs related to data storage.. Basically, working with an MSP on your backup strategy should remove the risk of data loss as an entire category of concern.

Ensure employee buy-in when you work with NexusTek

When you work with NexusTek, we configure your Office 365 to be user-friendly. With fast deployment, easy management, and simple access control, your IT employees will love using Office 365 mainly because it was designed for their productivity needs. In the meantime, your end-users will find that Office 365 solves huge problems in terms of version control, project management, and cloud access. When deployed correctly, Office 365 is better and easier to use than any other consumer-grade app.

If you feel like you’re spending too much time on Office 365 for too little return, there are ways to maximize your ROI. Contact NexusTek today and learn how we can make Office 365 even better and easier to use.

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Are You Prepared for Business Downtime?

READ TIME: 1 MIN

March 28, 2019

Are You Prepared for Business Downtime?

Downtime is something many business owners don’t even think about. A Gartner study found that 40 percent of organizations rated their ability to recover from disaster as “fair” or “poor” and that the cost of just one hour of downtime ranges from $8,000 for a small business to $700,000 for an enterprise.[1] This statistic is troubling enough but doesn’t include other factors like the damage downtime can cause to a company’s brand reputation, and the possible impact to customer revenue.

We’ve pulled together this infographic on business downtime. This visual concept includes the following:

Causes of downtime
Types of downtime
A formula for calculating your business downtime cost

Download the infographic here: Business Downtime Infographic

The fact is, downtime is more common than you may think. The IDC found that 71% of U.S. businesses in a recent survey experienced less than 10 hours of downtime per year.[2] Considering the average cost in even 1.5 hours of downtime (Business Downtime Infographic), it has become critical for CIOs and CEOs to routinely re-evaluate their application and site failover capabilities. If your Disaster Recovery plan is not tested quarterly, you run the risk of having a plan in place that will not work in the event of an outage. Another significant statistic in the IDC study confirms that companies small and large do not test their Disaster Recovery plans at all or they only test once a year. Of companies with under 100 employees, 35% have never tested their DR plans.
Protecting your business from unnecessary financial loss takes a proactive approach. Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) makes it easy to set your business up for success and not loss.

Give us a call at 877-470-0401 to set up a time to chat about your business downtime plan!

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Current ECM Trends: Business Process Automation

READ TIME: 1 MIN

March 28, 2019

Current ECM Trends: Business Process Automation

The most common trend in Enterprise Content Management (ECM) today is Business Process Automation (BPA). According to IT research firm Gartner, BPA is defined as “the use of advanced technologies to automate complex business processes and functions beyond conventional data manipulation and record keeping.”[1] One important element of BPA, and probably most commonly referred to by operations professionals is workflow. Workflow is the ability to automatically route, classify, and store documents from a variety of different sources.

NexusTek’s ECM team is tasked with configuring hundreds of custom workflows to fit the business process automation needs of any department in any industry. For example, you need to enter data for a new account, onboarding a client, or submitting an employee application. With a solid configuration using ECM best practices, the process starts with an electronic form containing all important information that is then is routed internally for processing and stored within a secure document repository.

Another exciting trend within the ECM space is the ability to capture software using AI (artificial intelligence).

Using this new technology, we can automatically identify line item detail from invoices, purchase orders, and other common business documents. Once these fields have been captured, they can be assigned to metadata templates, pushed into accounting software or ERP systems, and classified for simple and elegant document storage systems.

Simply put, if you have a manual process that is a headache, and you want to find a better and more efficient way to operate, then ECM is the answer. NexusTek’s team has over two decades of experience with document management and process automation, we are here to help!

[1] https://www.gartner.com/it-glossary/bpa-business-process-automation