The Inimitable Have Tex Blog

In the year since we started deploying cloud services to our customers a lot has changed. Here are some of the highlights:

- Mobile Access. When we started most access to cloud services was from a PC or notebook. Now access is frequently from a tablet or smartphone, so we’ve been spending a lot of time looking at viewers and editing tools that work on those platforms. iFiles for the iPad and iPhone is a great tool. If you need to edit, then QuickOffice works well.

- Data Security. So many sites have been hacked that people are much more concerned about security. We insist on secure access only, and deploy two factor security for those of our customers who wish it on Google Apps.

- Backup. We’ve focused on cloud backup, with local copies. Encryption in transit and at rest are important too. Egnyte is a great partner in this respect delivering all of that, plus mobile file access.

- Touch once, see everywhere. People won’t put up with doing things twice or more. A combination of IMAP and CalDAV let people manage mail and calendars once and be done. Send it from your phone and it’s in your Outlook sent folder. Set an appointment on your iPad browser, and it’s on your Android phone moments later.

- Cloud files, need to edit on your iPad and access later from your PC, that’s OK. Just need a little creativity to set up and it works fine.

- Business Apps. There are so many to choose from. Simple invoicing, accounting, CRM, industry vertical apps, you name them, they are out there. We often help our customers pick the apps that are right for them, then wean them off having us do all the setup!

So if you’re at the beach this summer and a little bored, check out some cloud apps from your iPad. I know I will, I burn easily so any excuse to stay out of the sun!

1.     Back it up on-site. An on-site backup lets you quickly get back to business after hardware failure or virus damage. Ideally you need to take a snapshot, or image, of your hard drive, so you don’t have to locate all your software CDs and DVDs, or re-download all your programs, and re-establish all your settings and passwords.

2.     Back up offsite. Vital when you can’t get into your office, because of fire, flood or other emergency that destroys your computers. There are many ways to do this, but online backup services are best. These backups are data only. If you have to replace the hardware, you don’t need image backups, as you need to load all the programs on new equipment. Have an IT pro set up these backups, so you don’t miss important databases or email.

3.     Secure your offices. While this seems obvious, people have been put out of business when thieves have stolen, or vandals have destroyed, their computers and backup hard drives.

4.     Vet your employees carefully. Data theft and sabotage is most often caused by dishonest or disgruntled employees. Running background checks and periodic audits can minimize the risk of such losses. Never grant your employees more access rights than they need to do their jobs, change passwords frequently, use strong passwords.

5.     Manage social media use. Social media can be used to promote your business.  Moderate employee use enhances morale. Excessive use kills productivity, and can expose corporate data in ways that are hard to detect and prevent.

6.     Protect your network with a state of the art hardware firewall. Current hardware firewalls stop viruses and spyware in their tracks, and help you uncover patterns of data access from within and from outside your network that you may not be aware of. Make sure the firewall is professionally monitored and maintained. If it’s been compromised, or its virus protection is allowed to expire, it’s a lot less useful.

7.     Protect your PCs and servers with full spectrum antivirus, antispyware, spam filtering and phishing protection. Make sure it’s kept up to date.

8.     Keep your operating systems and software patched up to date. Software vendors constantly release updates to close security loopholes.  Properly patched systems are much less vulnerable to attack.

9.     Set rules for optical drive and flash drive use. As WikiLeaks has shown, employees can take huge amounts of data on flash drives or CDs/DVDs. Disable USB ports, or use read-only optical drives on most PCs. Disable autorun to prevent malware from getting on your PCs from infected optical or flash media.

10.  Manage data access on mobile devices. In addition to the risk of stolen laptops, we can add netbooks, tablets and smartphones to the list of powerful devices with lots of storage. These devices do wonders for productivity, but are a treasure trove of data for for thieves and competitors.

Be prepared to seek professional help. Most small business owners don’t understand or know how to fix all the risks they face. Even IT pros are constantly vigilant keeping up with the latest risks. Friends, and relatives make their best efforts but lack the depth of expertise to deal with rapidly changing threats. If you think IT help is expensive, try handling a data loss or breach of data security.