Computer Down? You Need it Now. Now What?

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Ever met someone who responds to computer downtime with applause or relief? Neither have we. When a computer goes down, the individual inevitably needs it fixed fast. Yet, depending on your repair model, it could take longer than you hope. This article compares break-fix to managed services.

The break-fix model is a short-term one. Maybe you have someone you turn to on a consistent basis, but you may still have to wait. If you’re calling for help when it’s needed (and let’s hope it’s not that often), that IT repair guy might not be available. If they’re backed up, you’re going to be waiting.

If you don’t have someone you’ve used before, you’ll need to ask around. Look at reviews to find someone with expertise with your apps, services, or network. Then, you’ll probably need to make many calls until you find someone who can come out now.

But does their immediate availability mean they’re reliable? Bringing in external IT support means trusting someone else with your computer, which often entails letting them know your passwords. A business has good reason to be wary of giving that kind of access to someone they are hiring on a one-off basis.

On the other hand, the managed services model is a long-term one. When you work with a managed service provider (MSP), they get to know your setup and business needs. Yes, in the event of computer downtime their focus is on getting you up and running now, but they will pursue approaches that fit your specific overall objectives.

Why MSPs Make More Sense

In fact, your computer may not have suffered the downtime in the first place. After all, the MSP’s focus is on avoiding any technology disruptions. One of their jobs is to proactively monitor your systems. They want to help identify any issues before they happen.

If something does go wrong, your business has the peace of mind of knowing:

  • You are a priority customer as part of your contract with the MSP.
  • They can remotely access your systems to get started ASAP.
  • You don’t have to pay a premium for rush services. You’re covered by a fixed monthly fee (offering financial predictability, too).

The MSP will also have the advantage of already knowing your business systems and what you need them to do. As a trusted advisor, already supporting your tech, they can find the problem more quickly. They don’t have to learn your IT setup from scratch; they may even have set it up in the first place!

Your MSP partner will take precautionary measures when they know you’re coming up on a busy season. Knowing your tech needs to perform at its peak, they can test systems to ensure resilience. Alternatively, they’ll know when your business slows down, so they can schedule any time-consuming updates or system upgrades more conveniently.

Taking the Long-Term Approach with an MSP

Working with an MSP has benefits beyond dealing with downtime issues, too. When you partner with a reputable MSP, you’re gaining an IT partner invested in your business success.

A break-fix consultant is focused only on what’s gone wrong. The MSP can offer valuable input to improve your productivity and streamline processes. We can also help find budget efficiencies.

Don’t wait for a downtime disaster to seek out someone to get you back in business. Instead, partner with an MSP to avoid those problems in the first place. Enjoy many other benefits, too. Contact us today at (515)422-1995!

6 Top Tech Small Business New Year Resolutions

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As the new year approaches (already?), it is a good time to take stock and plan some small business resolutions. Join the millions around the world determined to make the best of January’s fresh start. Try these suggestions for top IT resolutions to better your business.

#1 Embrace digital transformation

The business world is going digital. Ideally, you’ve already made the move to some extent, but always be looking for new ways to streamline your business processes.

You might embrace document scanning to move all your paperwork online. It’s easy to search digital documents for keywords. That saves time spent looking for the right piece of information, plus, you’ll do away with file cabinets and bankers’ boxes of paper.

Find more cost savings and business efficiencies migrating to cloud computing. The big benefit? Every user can access the same applications as colleagues or peers online. Plus, the software doesn’t need installation on every individual’s device. Meanwhile, IT can manage upgrades and security patching on the cloud-based server.

During COVID-19 you probably added more business collaboration tools to support remote work. These continue to advance and evolve, so don’t get complacent with existing solutions.

#2 Improve cybersecurity

Presumably, you are securing your business against cyberthreats year-round. Still, the start of the new year is a good time to ensure that you are following best practices such as:

  • upgrading all software and hardware and keeping security patches up to date;
  • setting up several data backups in case of a breach or disaster;
  • testing your technology for any vulnerabilities hackers might leverage;
  • planning for business continuity and disaster recovery;
  • educating employees about cyberthreats and encouraging a culture of cybersafety.

#3 Encourage workforce engagement

Keeping your IT current is one great way to improve employee morale. With the best tools available, your workforce can enjoy greater productivity. Don’t lose people during a staffing shortage due to frustrations with the tech they use every day at work. Offering online learning also encourages workforce engagement, as people feel more respected.

Retention isn’t the only advantage. Attract new employees with the tools to support flexible work hours. Using technology to simplify onboarding can make a great first impression on new hires, too.

#4 Enhance customer service

There are many ways IT can support enhanced customer satisfaction. For one, converting phones to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) can ensure every call gets answered. You’ll also empower customers to reach the right people when they need to.

Adding an online scheduler expedites booking and avoids doubling up on appointments. Microsoft Scheduler allows people to book on a calendar of your available time slots, meaning there’s no back and forth. Online schedulers can also send follow-up and reminder emails.

#5 Explore automation

Sure, this is a component of digital transformation, but it’s cool enough to get its own resolution. Try enterprise content management software to automate workflow. Your team can more easily capture information and access documents while more quickly delivering content when and where it’s needed.

Leverage process automation to identify and address bottlenecks within and across departments. Your software’s bot can warn you if a task is stuck, or it can do things such as sending an invoice straight away or notifying someone when information is missing.

#6 Work with an MSP

One resolution we recommend for every small and midsized business? Resolve to partner with a managed service provider. For a consistent, monthly fee you gain IT experts on call. We can monitor your network, manage hardware and software, and consult on the best tech.

The break-fix model is costly in the long run. Select an MSP with expertise in your industry to free up resources to drive the business bottom line. Contact us at (515)422-1995 for more information!

To Delete or Archive Email, That Is the Question

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An email inbox can get overwhelming. It’s estimated we send 306 billion emails daily; not you personally, of course, although it may feel that way. So, you have to come up with strategies to corral the communications, one of which is deciding whether to delete or archive an email. This primer will help.

First, let’s consider the drawbacks to having all those emails sitting in your inbox. You may think it doesn’t matter, as you work only at the top of the screen with the newest communications. Yet those old emails are more than clutter. If it’s locally hosted, they can also slow down your email platform, and, if it’s remote and you’re paying for storage, they can be costly, too.

You have alternatives: deleting the emails or archiving them.

Deletion v Archiving – The differences

You should already know what it means to delete an email. You click on the little trash can icon and the email disappears from your inbox. Yet, for at least a certain time frame, you can still find it in your trash bin. If you realize you need to recover that email, you can, but deleting that email marks it for removal from existence entirely.

Unless you’re a double-deleter. If your business imposes mailbox size limits, you may be in the habit of going to the trash and deleting emails there, too. After all, when you delete an email from your inbox and it moves to trash, it continues to take up space.

Another option is to archive the email message. This also takes it out of your inbox but puts it on a different path. The email is indexed and put in a protected storage area for you to access in the future. The indexing preserves the information in a smarter, more searchable way.

Meanwhile, you’re able to revisit those emails using the mail archive’s search function. This allows you to search body content, sender or recipient, and attachments, and it’s all done quickly.

Email archiving can help shorten audit response, keep information for litigation, preserve intellectual property, and help with business continuity. You can also use archiving to check employee communications aren’t violating any policies.

Special Considerations

Your business could be in an industry where it needs to keep records for compliance and regulation reasons. In that case, you won’t want to delete emails until you know it is acceptable to do so. You’re going to need to archive instead. In the U.S., five Wall Street brokerages had to pay $8.25 million in fines after deleting customer transaction emails.

Still, you don’t want to get into the habit of archiving everything “just in case.” Honestly, how often do you need to revisit that funny meme from Sally in accounting? And you can’t take advantage of a discount offer from a pet store once it has expired. Deleting makes sense!

Another strategy to avoid having to answer the archive-or-delete question in the first place? Unsubscribe. It takes a moment to click on “unsubscribe” at the top or bottom of an email from a mailing list. This action saves you from having to make yet one more choice in your day.

Need help wrangling your email inbox? Our IT experts can help. We can set up an email management system to help make the decisions about archiving or deletion. Contact us today at (515)422-1995!

Prepare Your IT for the Holiday Season

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We all know about the Grinch who ruins Christmas for Whoville. Don’t cast IT as the Grinch of this holiday season. Prepare your technology and systems to reduce downtime risk. You’ll avoid disrupting your customers’ holiday season or employees’ seasonal fun.

Update and upgrade IT

Expecting an uptick in online shopping for the holidays? Apply system updates ahead of time. You’ll want to complete any hardware or software upgrades early to avoid unplanned downtime.

Test your technology infrastructure to ensure that it can handle more traffic. Review system integrations to make sure front- and back-ends can communicate smoothly. Identify any issues or bottlenecks in advance to be able to upgrade or update any IT that needs help.

One in three customers will leave a beloved brand after one negative experience, per PwC. You don’t want to risk a downed website or other IT challenges. Even a few hours of disruption can be costly. In 2019, American retailer J. Crew lost an estimated $775,000 in online revenues over only five hours.

If you do need major IT upgrades or system changes, postpone them until after the holidays. Don’t mess with what works right now if you don’t have to do so.

Safeguard business data

The holiday season means employees will be distracted by festivities or out of the office, yet the cyber bad guys don’t take breaks. In fact, they ramp up for the holiday season. In 2020, the greatest number of daily DDoS attacks in Q4 were on December 31, when 1,349 attacks were recorded globally. So, take cybersecurity action.

Make sure you are protecting systems, detecting threats, and defending against attacks. A security assessment can help determine what you are doing well and could be doing better. This can be internal or done by an external party (with greater objectivity). If you face compliance or regulatory concerns, try an external IT audit.

Test backup and recovery

Ensure IT resiliency by testing your backup and reviewing your business recovery plans.

We recommend data backups in three places as best practice. Back up to a local, on-site computer, to a remote device that requires separate access, and to the cloud, giving you access anywhere, regardless of office conditions.

Test your backup to:

  • confirm data accuracy;
  • ensure you can effectively access and use the data;
  • gauge the time it takes to perform a backup;
  • identify and address any issues that arise during recovery.

According to the Ponemon Institute, business continuity management policies can nearly halve the mean time to recover and improve cost savings by 50%. That’s more money to spend on the staff holiday get-together! So, call a meeting of your business continuity planning team. Discuss any changes that might be needed and make sure everyone knows their roles. If someone is going on vacation, get someone else up to speed on their responsibilities.

‘Tis the season for IT

Every season you’re going to need IT, yet the holidays see your customers and employees wanting to get things done and get back to family and friends. Keep your technology in tip top shape, and you’ll have a happier holiday season.

Need help maintaining and securing your IT or looking for data backup and business continuity? Give us a jingle at (515)422-1995!

How to Expedite Your IT Support Request

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When your technology isn’t working, you want a fix right now. Whether it’s an inability to connect to your network or to open an important presentation file, you’re quickly frustrated by the need to file an IT support request. You can’t wait! We get it, so allow us to share some tips to help you get faster IT support.

Whether you’re working with an internal IT help desk or are supported by your managed services provider, you probably start out by filling out a support ticket. You might be able to call in directly or email, but your IT gurus are still going to need certain information from you to get started.

The more you can put on the help ticket, the more efficiently we can help solve your issues. The following highlights some of the critical info we need from you.

Extent of Issue

Outline the impact of the tech issue. Is that printer crisis you’re writing about happening only on the personal printer of one individual who doesn’t print often? Or is the entire floor using that printer and looking to print year-end reports today?

It helps to know who is affected, those individuals’ roles, and the scope of the problem. This can help IT to weigh your needs against those of others in the company for urgency.

Urgency

If one person is reporting a security breach and another is reporting a buzzing noise from their desktop, the response may be triaged. The IT support desk is going to weigh criticality:

  • What will be the impact of downtime while waiting for a fix?
  • Are company customers affected by the issue?
  • Is the entire company unable to work?

Detailed Description

The better you can describe what is happening, the more likely you are to enjoy timely and efficient support. Always provide, if possible:

  • the location of the affected technology;
  • the name of the affected workstation;
  • the name of the engineer who recently helped (if this has happened before);
  • when the error occurred;
  • what you expected to happen;
  • what, if anything, you did in an attempt to fix the problem.

There are a few common troubleshooting steps you may want to try before submitting an IT help request. These include:

  • asking around to see if anyone else is affected;
  • searching online to see if someone else has encountered and shared a resolution to the issue;
  • quitting and restarting the application;
  • rebooting your device.

Error Messages

If there is an error message associated with your issue, please share it with the IT team. Taking a screenshot of the message on your computer and sending it to us can help your tech experts more efficiently figure out what’s up. The best thing would be, where possible, to take a screencast of the process causing the problem.

Contact Information

Share the quickest way for the service desk to reach you. If you’re going to be in a meeting all day, maybe share a number where you can be texted with questions. If you’re traveling, provide your cell phone number instead of letting an IT support callback languish on your office voicemail.

IT Support You Can Count On

Please don’t let your sense of urgency detract from the need for this essential information. You may be frustrated and stressed, but you can help us help you by taking the time to give us all the information needed to troubleshoot effectively.

Cut downtime and get back on track faster with these tips for expediting IT support. Our tech team is always here to help your business be at its most efficient and productive. Contact us today at (515)422-1995.

What an MSP Does and Doesn’t Do

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Managed service providers (MSPs) pride themselves on high levels of support. Yet, there are some things we can do and others we can’t. Laundry and grocery shopping come to mind for the latter. But, more seriously, this article will explain what an MSP does and doesn’t do.

Your business faces many challenges today. You’re managing budget and employees while complying with government regulations and industry standards. Meanwhile, technology is changing the work environment, customer expectations, and market demands.

An MSP learns about your existing business technology and processes, as well as your objectives. This helps them suggest current, reliable, and secure technology solutions. Typically, you’ll engage an MSP for a consistent monthly fee. In return, you get up-to-date IT and the freedom to focus on the parts of your business you’re passionate about. You may even involve your strategic planning to streamline operations.

What an MSP Does

Let’s begin with what an MSP does do. As external IT help for your business, an MSP can:

  • support your technology in a break-fix situation;
  • help your IT infrastructure run better;
  • provide server monitoring and IT maintenance;
  • manage and meet your evolving technology needs;
  • reduce your business costs by reducing hardware and software infrastructure costs;
  • increase operational efficiency;
  • secure your systems, back up your data, and plan for disaster recovery;
  • support your users and their IT needs;
  • match your business with the right technology for the task;
  • develop strategy for your smooth cloud migration;
  • enable you to avoid recruiting and retaining your own large in-house IT team.

Sounds great, right? Before you sign the dotted line, however, keep reading to be sure that you understand what this service provider can’t do.

What an MSP Doesn’t Do

These IT professionals fix problems and help optimize your business technology. Still, they can’t do everything. Your MSP also can’t immediately fix every problem. While an MSP will understand the urgency, not every technology solution is a simple one.

You also can’t expect to never have a tech problem ever again. Yes, an MSP’s job is to monitor your hardware and software to keep it updated and secure, but they can’t prevent every issue. For instance, if an employee finds an infected thumb drive and plugs it into a business desktop, all the MSP can do is act to fix the issue.

Also, the tech team at your MSP cannot magically intuit what’s wrong with your IT infrastructure. The more information you can provide from the outset, the more focused their efforts are. When filling out a service or support ticket it helps to share:

  • who is affected;
  • the extent of the issue;
  • the urgency of the matter;
  • what you tried to do to fix it;
  • any error messages are seen.

Finally, the MSP should not be dictating policy or controlling how your business operates. Yes, these experts can offer input into how technology can help, and they can also weigh in on how proposed changes might impact your IT infrastructure, but you shouldn’t feel pressured by them to make decisions.

Partner with MSPs

Now you know what to expect of a partnership with your MSP. If a company is promising to do things on the doesn’t-do list, you might be in for terrible service.

Having a better picture of what an MSP does do, you can avoid unrealistic expectations. This can help you get the most from your investment in this IT partnership.

Questions about what we, as an MSP, can do for your particular business? Contact us today at (515)422-1995. We’d be happy to discuss it.

5 Ways to Build Small-Business Efficiency with Microsoft 365

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Business productivity needs to be more than a buzzphrase today. Without technology supporting communications and process productivity, remaining competitive is difficult. You’ll lack the agility and mobility needed to succeed. This article explores many ways a small business gains efficiency using Microsoft 365.

You may already be aware of the core functionalities of Microsoft 365. These include:

  • a business email address and shared calendaring services;
  • online storage offering a shared space for collaboration and large personal storage space for each user account;
  • productivity apps to collaborate on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations;
  • communication tools, including messaging and video conferencing;
  • security features, including two-factor authentication.

Having all these features in one solution is helpful. Not having to switch between different vendors’ apps can help your business:

  • save time;
  • simplify deployment;
  • cut tech support and IT management challenges;
  • budget consistently with one invoice for one solution.
  • Yet there are still more ways Microsoft 365 helps run a small business more efficiently.

#1 Automate Processes

Powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Microsoft 365 allows everyone to automate work processes. The solution allows users to quickly and securely automate the mundane and repetitive. All it takes is using low-code, drag-and-drop tools, or prebuilt connectors.

Processing forms with automation can be a real time-saver. For example, you might use Power Automate to detect text in PDFs, which would then cue certain actions. A business spending hours scanning paper to digital could save a lot of effort this way.

#2 Enable Online Booking

Another tool to help save time, Microsoft Bookings promises “a simpler way to organize schedules and manage appointments.” A hair salon, financial services office, or home services business could all benefit. Bookings integrate appointment settings with Microsoft 365 or Office 365 calendars.

Customers appreciate the ease of finding available time slots, and you avoid double-booking. You can also specify information needed upfront or assign certain staff to different bookings.

#3 Streamline Chat

Everyone is accessible with Microsoft Teams. The software allows users to chat, call, or jump on video calls, all from one place. Teams also keep documents, chat history, and meeting notes in one place.

With the Microsoft Teams instant messenger program it’s easier to:

  • keep people focused;
  • reduce email clutter;
  • make decisions faster;
  • communicate and collaborate wherever you are.

The Teams Chat option also helps bring people together, even if they’re working remotely. GIFs, stickers, and emojis can help share personalities.

#4 Use Online Whiteboard

Touted as a “collaborative digital canvas,” Microsoft 365’s Whiteboard helps small businesses collaborate and brainstorm, wherever people work.

You might enjoy:

  • using a digital pen or text objects to add content;
  • adding sticky notes to convey ideas and provide feedback;
  • selecting and moving objects to organize tasks or ideas on the whiteboard;
  • highlighting and annotating;
  • creating diagrams and process flows with shapes, lines, and text;
  • uploading images to improve engagement.

#5 Amp up Data Analytics

Any small business can grow more data-driven with Power BI. The Business Intelligence tool enables business owners to find and share meaningful insights. Hundreds of data visualizations, built-in AI capabilities, and prebuilt and custom connectors reduce analytical complexity. The Excel integration makes reporting smoother, too.

Making the Most of Microsoft 365

You can choose a cloud-based Microsoft 365 plan, or download and install the software on up to 15 devices per user… or both! You’ll soon see the benefits of doing your small business with the support of Microsoft 365.

Need help deciding if Microsoft 365 is right for you? Or want to learn how to use its features more efficiently? Our IT experts are available to answer your questions. Contact us today at (515)422-1995.

How to Free Up IT Resources

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Business success comes from capitalizing on opportunities, except it is harder to do so if you are resource constrained. This article explores ways to free up IT resources to drive productivity and evolution.

Your business depends on information technology resources. The right software can help manage expanding workloads and improve collaboration. Enjoy reliable, secure access to innovate and grow your business with appropriate hardware.

Yet you are probably operating at the edge of your IT capabilities. IT teams get overwhelmed with routine and mundane tasks. At the same time, the shortage of skilled IT experts hinders any attempts to hire more staff.

The answer to this problem? Taking a fresh look at existing IT infrastructure and business processes. Doing things “the way we’ve always done” works well for family holidays, but getting stuck in a rut with IT can mean missing out on technology value add.

Steps to Take to Free up IT

Meet with managers and individual employees to review the way you’re doing things. Do they still need to be done that way? With artificial intelligence and machine learning, you might automate the routine, everyday tasks.

You might be able to drop the human element of a task entirely or at least find a way to optimize a decades-old process or manual procedure. For example, business collaboration software offers file sharing and editing convenience. There’s no longer a need to print things out or email documents around the office.

Check the app store for your office software to see what new innovations could lighten workload. To start, there are many time-management tools available to optimize employee work.

Your business could also be due a hardware update. The business desktops could be doing OK, yet you could be wasting time waiting for an older computer to load up an application, or losing valuable time to a slow server or underperforming network. It may be only a few minutes on a given day, but multiply that across the work week, over the year, and that lost productivity adds up.

The Value of IT Outsourcing

There are several ways you can outsource IT to free up your on-site resources. For one, you might look at your existing infrastructure. Do you need to have that hulking hardware taking up space in the work environment? With so many cloud services available, your business could outsource its infrastructure. This lets you reclaim valuable real estate and cut utility expenses, plus, you hand technology maintenance and management off to a skilled third party.

Instead of your IT team performing time-consuming daily backups, investigate cloud-based data backup. The automated alternative lets employees focus on adding business value instead.

Hiring a managed service provider (MSP) to take on IT tasks also frees up on-site IT resources. An external IT expert taking a new look at your infrastructure may find better solutions, or integrations that do more with your already established software and hardware.

Business IT should facilitate growth. Take the time to re-evaluate your technology needs. Intentionally allocate tech resources. With an MSP’s expert backup, you can reduce costs and streamline operations. Freeing up IT resources also allows your IT team to focus on better enabling your core business.

What Not to Do on a Work Computer

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Working from home has its advantages but can also blur the line between professional and personal time. Plus, employees may grow more relaxed about what they do on their work computer while remote. This article shares things employees should avoid doing on work computers, whether remote or in the office.

What to avoid doing when working remotely

Log in to an unprotected network

Working outside the office means you are more mobile. If you have a business laptop, you could decide to work one day in a coffee shop and the next in a public park. But in doing so, never connect to public Wi-Fi. This is an unencrypted network. Hackers can position themselves to compromise your computer.

If you absolutely must use a public network, add a layer of protection by using a virtual private network. This can help shield your browsing from anyone monitoring your online activity.

Save personal files

You spend so much time on the work computer, and you want to get a few personal things done during the day. You might even start saving personal files on the computer. Maybe you created a “my stuff” folder on the desktop.

This isn’t a good idea, because personal data could get automatically backed up to the cloud with the work files. Cloud backup is good practice for the business, but now you’re losing control of your personal information. Plus, if you leave the job, you lose access to that computer and those personal files.

Let family and friends surf the Web

Working from home changes the office environment. People want to look something up, or kids need to submit schoolwork online. And your work computer is right there! Why shouldn’t they use it?

This could expose proprietary business data or sensitive information. You may think “my 10-year-old won’t know what that spreadsheet says.” Yet, especially in a regulated industry, you could be compromising compliance.

What to avoid doing when in the office

Stream personal entertainment

You have a break, or things are slow, so you decide to catch up on your favorite TV show at work. What’s the harm?

In fact, you could be making it more difficult for your colleagues to do their work. Streaming takes up bandwidth, and there is only a set amount available to your business. So, while you’re laughing at a sitcom, others are struggling. Colleagues could drop from video calls or wait longer to download important files.

Click on unrecognized links or download attachments from unknown parties

This one is well-known. It’s up there with not using simple access credentials such as “password” or “letmein.” Be wary of what links or attachments you click on or download. Cybercriminals constantly leverage human error to gain illicit access to business networks. Don’t be the weak link in your company’s security posture.

Also, avoid visiting non-work-related websites. You are more likely to visit a site that harbors malware if you are surfing the Web for personal use at work.

Download software without first asking IT

You might have a preferred way of doing things, but the business computers don’t have the software you’re familiar with. Deciding to download it to your own computer seems safe enough. It could be a well-known app or piece of software. It’s not like one of those shady downloads from the point above.

Yet downloading software to a work computer can cause problems for the IT team, as they don’t know what’s working on the systems. There could be upgrades or system updates you miss that create a vulnerability. You could also, again, risk noncompliance.

These six things should be avoided if you’re using a work computer. It doesn’t matter where you’re working, you still need to be thinking of cybersecurity and productivity for you and your colleagues.

Need help knowing what your employees are doing with work computers on- or off-site? A managed service provider can help. Learn more about remote monitoring and other helpful tools. Contact us today at (515)422-1995.

What You Need to Know about Security Testing

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You want to keep your IT in top shape. Your business technology supports both your productivity and profitability. You don’t want to be dealing with downtime. You also want to avoid running afoul of any industry regulations or standards. But how does a business gauge IT fitness? That’s where IT audits, security assessments and penetration testing come in.

First, understand that IT audits and security assessments are different things. Both are important to your business and its risk management practices. Yet they have distinct goals.

An IT audit evaluates if your business is meeting regulations or guidelines. A third party well versed in your industry’s technology best practices does the audit. It checks your technology processes, control systems, and data procedures and policies. All against standards established by government or industry associations.

Many industries need an external audit for certification. For example, merchants need to follow the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. A Report on Compliance (ROC) from an auditor details how cardholder data is protected.

The IT auditors have deep knowledge of the guidelines. They are going to dig into the finer points of your IT environment. Their audit identifies any shortcomings and gives you recommendations on how to improve. Failing to meet standards in the audit, though, can lead to compliance issues. That’s why security assessments are a good idea too.

The Value of Security Assessments

The security assessment can be done internally or with the help of an IT expert. Of course, where there are standards or regulations, there will be overlap. The security assessment determines what you are doing well and could be doing better.

This is a proactive step to identify and fix any deficiencies. Consistent security assessments provide benchmarks and prepare for the rigorous IT audit.

The assessment’s high-level look at security should follow any major business change. It can help determine if there are new risk factors.

Other Security Services for SMBs

You’ll also likely hear about vulnerability assessments and penetration testing. These are two more security services that are often confused. Like the two above, though, they have differences.

The vulnerability assessment is a component of a security assessment, but the difference is that a vulnerability scan is automated, and a security assessment has parts that require manual investigation.

A vulnerability assessment scans the business network for any security weaknesses. The best results let you know what vulnerabilities are the highest priority.

Penetration testing takes this to another level. Professionals experienced in circumventing security defenses do this testing. This testing attempts to exploit the vulnerability assessment’s weaknesses. This lets your business see where it is genuinely at risk of unauthorized network access.

Typically, the vulnerability assessment is done more often. The more involved penetration testing is more likely an annual event. The good thing about the latter is that you’ll also get a report with recommended remediations.

Get a broader and deeper understanding of your business technology. Any of these security services can help. Our IT experts can review your current setup. We’ll also recommend the best next steps to bolster your cyber security. Call us now at (515)422-1995.

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