IT Technologies to Help Your Business Grow
Technologies Hold The Key To Growing Your Business
After a roller coaster of a ride in 2020 and into 2021, businesses just like yours are looking to the future. Their eyes aren’t just on recovery. Many businesses are eager to make up for lost time, and they want to bring new customers into the fold.
There are countless growth strategies out there, but one area offers a lot of options you can dial into your specific business needs: technology. Under the umbrella of tech, you have plenty to choose from. It really comes down to finding the right IT solutions that fit the current or future needs of your business.
This month, we’ll dive into two ways you can utilize various technologies to grow your business. Let’s get started.
Cloud Computing and Automation
Implementing proper cloud solutions can go a long way in strengthening business operations and setting yourself up for future growth. Implementing the cloud prevents you from needing to invest in expensive hardware and maintaining it over time.
Working with a managed service provider offers significant benefits as well. Instead of hiring a full-time resource to monitor and maintain your infrastructure, you can focus on larger initiatives and have your provider focus on the day-to-day maintenance.
The cloud offers unmatched scalability. You pay for the services you need and you have the ability to scale up and down as your business grows.
Investing In IT Security
Many businesses went through huge changes last year. One common change was the shift to remote or hybrid work models. In the process, these businesses had to figure out a lot of things on the fly, from how to get their employees up and running to making sure their data was secure.
Unfortunately, many businesses, particularly small and medium-size businesses, struggled to balance getting their employees up and running and staying secure, due to a lack of resources, support or know-how. They ended up having to focus on one or the other – data security often got left in the dust. And in the mix of it all, growth completely fell off their radar.
Many businesses still lag behind when it comes to their IT needs. Not investing in network security, and an overall IT security strategy, has the potential to hold your business back and prevent the growth you’re looking for. Not only is your data at risk from both internal (hardware failure, data loss, etc.) and external (data breaches, cybercriminals, etc.), but there are also other issues to be aware of.
Here are a few questions to consider:
• Do your employees have strong endpoint security? (Are their devices and network connections secure?)
• Are they trained in IT security protocols? (Do you have protocols in place?)
• Are your network and IT needs scalable? (Do they allow for growth or are they static?)
These questions are a starting point. If you aren’t happy with the answers, it’s time to fill the gaps and give your business the advantage it needs for the future.
Security Solutions to Consider
Next Generation Endpoint Protection
Next generation endpoint analysis uses predictive analysis to block web applications, unwanted apps and malicious codes from ever touching your endpoints. This security feature also uses deep packet inspection (DPI). Implementing deep packet inspection is highly beneficial because it goes beyond analyzing the packet header and examines all the data within the packet.
Security Awareness Training
Building a human firewall through security awareness training can be the difference between a well-meaning employee downloading malware and an educated employee being able to identify clever attacks. This training will educate your employees through interactive models, simulated phishing attacks and threats and weakness reporting.
Email Defense
Email defense and security solutions use cloud-based tools to create a source of email protection that integrates with a variety of email platforms including Exchange, Office365, and Gmail.
DNS Content Filtering
Organizations can implement a comprehensive and customizable internet blocker than can be configured to deny users access to a variety of websites that could threaten your organization’s security.
Dark Web Monitoring
Implementing a dark web monitoring service will help your organization to continue to search, monitor and report on both domain and personal credentials that are at risk on the dark web.
Getting Started
If technology still eludes you, you want to jump into the cloud or automate parts of your business, or you need to boost your data security, your best next step is to partner with a managed services provider (MSP) or a firm that specializes in IT solutions. You never have to do any of these things on your own – especially if you have questions or aren’t sure how to get started. This is the kind of partnership that can put your business on the path to hitting your growth goals and set you up for tech success!
