SMG Business Solutions Ltd Blog

In order to function properly, the modern business needs data. With the predictions of serious cyberattacks, like ransomware, that have been made for the coming year there is no business that can neglect its data protections. Here, we’ll discuss what these predictions are, and what you need to do to prepare.

A great many businesses nowadays have discovered the benefits of using the solutions available through improvements to the technology that has been around for decades - just not in its current form. One prime example is the use of Voice over Internet Protocol to fulfill a business’ telephony needs. By its nature, VoIP offers a variety of useful features - which we’ll review in part here.

2020 is just a week old, and as a technology company, we are proud to promote the use of technology. To celebrate 2020, we thought it would be interesting to take a look at just how far technology has come in the past 50 years. 

Microsoft is just days away from retiring not just one, but two of its most popular operating systems. The software giant has made a point to run a major campaign warning people who are still using Windows 7 that they are going to lose support after the January 14, 2020 deadline; but, as of this writing, there are still over a quarter of desktop users running the software. With the deadline looming, we thought we’d look at what this means for users and go through some of the options they have.

Cybercriminals aren’t exactly holding back when it comes to attacking businesses, which means that businesses can’t rest on their haunches as the new year rolls in. Let’s take a few moments to look toward the near future, and the issues that cybersecurity professionals are warning us about.

We are classified as a managed service provider, which is only helpful if someone knows what managed services are. That’s why we’re taking a few minutes to review what it is that managed services are, and what a managed service provider does.

Depending on the company, the Internet connection is perhaps the most important part of its IT infrastructure, especially if it has remote workers or multiple offices connected by a Wide Area Network (WAN). Other technologies such as VoIP, screen-sharing, and webinars also benefit from optimized bandwidth. Today, we’ll talk about bandwidth, what your company’s needs are, and how to get the Internet service that is right for you. 

Professional services have a reputation for being the important kind of work that has to be learned through experience. However, that reputation doesn’t usually cover these businesses using very much technology, because for a very long time, professional services didn’t.

Statistically speaking, there’s a pretty good chance that you use Microsoft Office 365 in your business, which means you can use OneDrive, Microsoft’s contribution to cloud-based storage and collaboration. If this is how your users work productively, they are probably already familiar with how they can share these documents - but what if there are some things you don’t want freely shared around? Today, we’re going over how you can restrict OneDrive sharing capabilities.

Your business relies on its servers in order to function - which makes it incredibly important that these servers are sufficiently protected. There are a few practices that you can put into place that will help you to secure your server room. Let’s work our way from the inside out as we review them.

Here’s a horror story about an entrepreneur who, at a glance, was following many data backup best practices. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, things didn’t go so well when a crucial task was missed.

I wanted to share a few stories we’ve gathered about times when a person or business has lost data. First, thank you to everyone who shared these stories with us and allowed us to publish them on our blog, and… we’re glad you made it through. The first one is a story about someone who learned their lesson the hard way.

Common opinion more or less states that passwords aren’t so much “necessary,” as they are a “necessary evil.” The best practices that are recommended to maintain the efficacy of passwords today can certainly feel excessive - which tempts many users into ignoring these practices, to the detriment of their security. Fortunately, many large companies - like Google - are trying to make passwords easier to manage.

If you have a bank account or a credit card, chances are you’ve been made aware of a hack or a data breach. Big organizations are more frequently being breached, forcing them to run damage control for the often millions of customers affected. News coverage often bashes these big organizations, but what about smaller ones? The truth is, smaller businesses are breached just as often, with the consequences being just as severe. 

Business success relies entirely on communication. Think about it, a product or a service is entirely useless if there is no way to share or request information. Whether the communication is internal or external, the method upon which your business relies should be simple yet effective. Today, we will analyze the different methods your business can utilize. 

Information technology has a critical role in any business. The key part of an outstanding IT system, is the technology itself. Businesses greatly benefit from IT support that procures the latest and greatest technological developments. So, is your IT provider delivering the best value possible?

It’s true that managed IT service do a lot to make technology accessible to small and medium-sized organizations that wouldn’t typically look immediately to technology to fix parts of their business. One of the innovations that modern business has made is that they prioritize a smarter approach. Apart from data storage and database management, modern businesses are using the data their marketing, sales, fulfillment/distribution, and support departments take in to see exactly how their business is actually functioning and make sound business decisions as a result. Today, we’ll take a look at how the managed IT service provider can help a business with its data management.

When a person reaches out to you for your business acumen, you help them because you know more than they do. Why else would they ask? The best thing you can do for your business is to use technology effectively. The only way you’ll know you are doing that is if you see the increased productivity, efficiency, and profitability often cited as reasons to invest in technology. In part three of our series about managed IT services value, we will take a look at the role of consulting, and how it brings big benefits in many different aspects of your business.

For the business that relies on their IT, malfunctioning systems can be costly, both in terms of maintenance and the loss of productivity from downtime. When your business chooses to outsource its IT support it gains access to several services designed to keep downtime to a minimum and keep your technology working for you. In part two of our five-part series on the benefits of managed services, we describe the value of our 24/7 help desk and other forms of IT support.

Anyone that uses a computer knows just how frustrating it is when that computer doesn’t function as intended. For a business, it negatively affects profitability. If you don’t have the support structure in place to mitigate your technology problems, you could be spending a whole lot of money on nothing. In part one of our five-part series on managed IT services, we talk about how being proactive keeps your technology, and your business, working fluidly.