If you’re an MSP for whom “cloud” has become a dirty word—raise your hand. Following your metamorphosis from channel companies into MSPs you might have wanted to resist the rush toward cloud services, and the reselling efforts that cloud adoption would entail. But in reality, that could be a dangerous path—especially if your customers perceive you to just be an …
Dell Report Reveals Iranian Hackers Used LinkedIn to Spy
How often have you gotten a social media connection request from a person you didn’t know well, or perhaps even at all? Did you reject it immediately, accept, or do a little research first? Many people skim the profiles of potential connections to determine the validity of an unknown request—that is, the perceived validity. What if those seemingly random requesters …
How Big Data Use in Healthcare Prevents Scams and Fraud
The term “big data” is no longer just the latest business catchphrase. Today’s technology gives us the ability to capture, store, and analyze enormous quantities of data, amounts that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. Access to this data has provided myriad business insights in areas such as planning, operational efficiency, and marketing and communication. Now though, …
Hybrid Cloud Means Hybrid Security Measures
I recently walked you through a check-list, on what CIOs need to know about hybrid cloud—the IT sweet spot that marries in-house and cloud-based infrastructure—and what it could mean to their organizations. With all its versatility and promise, there is no doubt that hybrid clouds are the future for many at the enterprise level. But, with all that versatility and …
Looking at Hybrid Cloud and Security? Welcome to the Matrix
As a strategist, I’ve really enjoyed working on this hybrid cloud series. I love how hybrid cloud acts as an extension of what most organizations already have—providing an extremely effective additional tier to on-site physical storage infrastructure. It’s a highly scalable option for businesses that don’t need to keep all their data physically in-house. And I know that if you’re …
The Enterprise and Hybrid Cloud: What CIOs Need to Know
When it comes to the enterprise and the hybrid cloud, and what CIOs need to know about that, let’s start here: Nine out of 10 IT decision makers say embracing the hybrid cloud for their business is necessary for building a future-ready enterprise. Odds are that those same nine out of 10 CIOs are still struggling to agree on exactly …
How to Assess Your Cloud Migration Opportunities
Cloud computing is on just about every IT pro or business owner’s mind, and assessing your cloud migration opportunities is a fundamental first step. Cloud technology is exciting because it’s the great equalizer—not just something for the big business players; cloud has potential benefits for businesses of all sizes and at all stages of the business cycle. But jumping into …
CIOs Wrestling With Shadow IT: Cloud Maturity Assessments are Key
Without question, CIOs of organizations of all sizes have their hands full when it comes to dealing with Shadow IT. The way to keep your sanity (and your organization) secure is with regular cloud maturity assessments. How did we get there? Well, back in the days before anyone had heard much about cloud services, the role of the CIO and …
10 questions to ask to ensure your cloud services provider is HIPAA compliant
More companies are looking to the cloud for business and data storage solutions, especially those in the healthcare space. If your business must be HIPAA compliant, these 10 questions to ensure HIPAA compliance might save you some major headaches down the road. HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, is one way that security and privacy is regulated. It was …
Five IT Security Claims You Can Quit Believing
According to the latest annual PwC survey of the Global State of Information Security, the number of cyber security incidents detected is rising sharply, while the amount spent on security has been falling. Given the extremely high cost of a cyberattack to a businesses’ reputation and day-to-day operations, it’s a bit of an understatement to say this might be considered …