business technology · Page 4 of 11

Backing Up Your Data: Analytics Help Manage Data Backup

Businesses amass huge amounts of data. It’s all important, but it’s not all of equal importance. Working documents are more important than cache files, and the ideal strategy for backing up your data recognizes that. If the disk drive fails, it’s the live documents that need to be up to the minute. Analytics help a business define a backup strategy with priorities that reflect its needs.

Backing up your data

Retrospective analytics show how backups have performed in the past. Is the process keeping up with the file system? If it’s steadily falling behind, then it’s necessary to change the backup strategy or add resources. If it’s keeping up overall, it still makes a difference which files get priority. If important files get delayed because large downloads are hogging the duty cycle, that makes recovery harder.

Predictive analytics can warn of future shortcomings based on current trends. Perhaps the current backup storage is enough and the process isn’t falling behind, but extrapolating current trends may show that will change soon. Knowing in advance lets the IT manager add storage, request a faster data connection, or make changes in the backup process before there’s a crisis.

Keeping a history makes it possible to tell a one-time spike from a developing problem. If backing up your data is falling behind because of a huge chunk of incoming data, and that situation isn’t expected to persist, that’s not a major problem. If it happens often, it’s time to act.

More backup copies are better, but again there are priorities and cost considerations. Analyzing the backup data can help to identify the data that needs an extra level of protection. If a smaller volume is available for a secondary backup, what sets of files can it hold without exceeding its capacity? Which ones are most important?

Backing up your data is smart. Smart backing up is even better. Knowing what’s happening allows smart backup strategies. Contact us to learn how we can make your backups safer and smarter.

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Office 365 for Business: 3 Reasons You’ll be So Happy You Switched

With all the advances in technology, many companies are working with outdated tech solutions even though there are great platforms available to them that offer more than the legacy tools they’ve used for years. Have you thought about Office 365 for business?

What they don’t realize is that, over time, support for these outdated systems will wane. Your organization will also lose its competitive edge. Lastly, your clients, partners and colleagues will expect you and your staff to be familiar with modern technology and to maintain similar levels of productivity when they deal with you.

Collaborate Better

Office 365’s featured project management tool, Planner, helps employees work together and stay organized. Professionals conference and collaborate in real time without having to refresh their screens to see edits or changes.

Office 365 also features the Yammer Enterprise Social Network, (ESN) app. Yammer configures with most other popular business platforms like SharePoint. Experts predict ESN’s will eventually be the main tools professionals use to search for talent, interact with colleagues and cut out the email clutter. Just like Facebook feeds keep you updated so will your ESN.

Save Money

Technology is expensive when you factor in the costs of buying hardware and software, updating, patches, maintenance and security. When you switch to Microsoft’s secure cloud, you reduce your maintenance costs. Your MSP and Microsoft work to maintain, update and secure your data and employee accounts as an integrated part of your package. Pay a monthly flat rate. Never pay for additional tech help again.

Plan for Your Business’ Growth

Scale your plan up or down whenever you want. Office 365 is affordable for businesses of every size. If your business grows, buy more OneDrive storage space and pay only for whatever additional services you need.

Contact us today at 4CornerIT. We help businesses just like yours migrate to the Microsoft Office 365 platform. It’s one of the easiest ways to finally manage and secure your company’s data properly.

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Computer Security: Don’t Use The Same Password For Multiple Accounts

For the sake of convenience, many people like reusing the same password across multiple accounts. The password that gives them access to their email may also be the same one they rely on for social media, online banking, work-related tasks, or recreational activities. That is not smart computer security.

What they sometimes don’t realize is that if any one of these accounts gets compromised in a data breach, hackers will have the ability to use the password for multiple personal accounts, inflicting a broader violation on privacy and security.

That’s why our computer security tip of the day is a warning against using the same password for multiple accounts.

Computer security tips you should know!

How does Yahoo help illustrate this important point?

Recently, Yahoo announced that a massive cyber attack compromised data from more than a billion accounts. (Yes, a billion.) The attack, which took place in 2013, is a record-breaker, and it’s alarming that a few years passed without public knowledge of such an extensive breach in security.

The attack didn’t affect all Yahoo users in the same way. It also isn’t clear at this point what information got exposed from which accounts. However, hackers were able to get at data that included names, birthdays, passwords, and security questions.

Anyone who hasn’t updated their Yahoo password, and who uses the same one for multiple sites, is especially at risk. A similar vulnerability can arise for any password security questions that get repeated across sites.

Be sure to review your accounts and update your passwords, as necessary, not only to make them more complex but also to correct for repetition. For additional advice on coming up with strong passwords and managing them effectively, don’t hesitate to contact us.

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Cloud Computing for Business: The Many Benefits of Using Cloud Servers

A cloud server refers to a virtual server that runs on a cloud computing environment. This explains why cloud servers are commonly called virtual dedicated servers (VDS). Undoubtedly, there is plenty of buzz about cloud computing for business. If you’re interested in using cloud servers, here is some information about the benefits.

Cloud Computing for Business

One of the main advantages of using cloud servers is that you are free to modify the server software to suit your needs. In fact, you can even modify the operating system kernel, which is not possible with many other virtualization solutions.

Cloud servers tend to be more secure and stable. If you encounter a software problem, it will likely be isolated to the cloud computing environment. You won’t be harmed by the cloud servers of other people. The opposite is also true. Cloud servers also possess the best stability to cost ratio.

You will find that cloud servers are economically efficient. You will spend less on cloud servers and receive more resources and speedier performance. Essentially, your site will run faster if you have a cloud server rather than a traditional server at a comparative price.

Another advantage of cloud servers is that they scale quite well. This makes cloud servers especially beneficial for individuals who have needs that increase or decrease significantly from time to time. If you need to upgrade the disk space, CPU, or memory of your cloud server, it will be easy and affordable to do so.

Undoubtedly, there are many benefits of using cloud servers. For more information about the benefits of using cloud servers, don’t hesitate to contact us.

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Choosing Cloud Services: Are You Ready To Make The Right Decisions?

An increasing number of businesses rely on cloud services for at least some of their computing needs. The Motley Fool recently compiled a thought-provoking list of cloud computing stats – among them an estimate that by 2019, we’ll see over twice as much spending on public cloud services than we did in 2015. Are you choosing cloud services for your business?

Given the plethora of services, one of the challenges you face is figuring out what cloud computing solutions work best for you and how to optimize them for your company. Another statistic from The Motley Fool article is a survey showing that 32% of respondents didn’t think their IT departments could deal with the increasing amount of work based in the cloud.

Choosing Cloud Services

We can help give you the confidence to make the right cloud computing decisions and work with the most helpful services to reach your business goals.

Finding Guidance for Cloud Computing Decisions

What are some of the considerations to make when deciding on cloud services for your company?

Choosing between public and private cloud options, and deciding on whether you’re best served with hybrid solutions that combine data stored in the cloud with data kept on local devices in on-site storage.
Figuring out which services are cost-effective for you, giving you a strong return on investment through enhanced productivity, greater efficiency, and a reduction in unnecessary spending (such as the purchase of a server you don’t need).
Choosing cloud computing solutions that offer both reliability and security. You want to ensure that your sensitive data is under powerful protection when it’s stored, under use, and transmitted. You also want to rely on thorough, easily retrieval data backups in case of an IT disaster; permanent data loss or lengthy downtime can destroy your business.

For more information about high-quality cloud services, please contact us. We have the experience and training to suggest and implement solutions that are best suited for your particular needs.