How Cloud Computing Is Revolutionizing the IT Solutions Industry in 2023

litechsol on March 13, 2023

The Internet has transformed the world in obvious ways. You only have to look at someone using their phone to see that. Eyes down, a quick giggle or two, then calling home and asking whether to pick up Chinese or Mexican food for dinner. Finally, using the same device to Google the local food pick-up spots. In a productive way, the Internet has made high-performance cyborgs of us all.

But what you might not have noticed is the invisible revolution that’s been taking place behind the screen: cloud computing. Imagine if you had sold steel during the railway boom of the 1800s. That’s what cloud computing is to the Internet: laying the groundwork that makes the digital world possible. The way we save our data and store our files affects everything around us. That may be why the cloud computing market worldwide might hit $1 trillion by 2028. 

That’s still a long way off. What revolutions are happening in the meantime? Let’s look at how cloud computing figures into the IT solutions industry in 2023. Where is it going? What innovations will have the biggest impact? And how will cloud computing surprise and delight us in ways we never could have imagined before?  

Callout 1: Cloud technology concept- quote from text about cloud computing

The State of Cloud Computing 2023

If the rail boom of the 1800s defined a century, then Google “revolution of cloud computing” and you’ll see something similar is happening right around us. 

First, let’s get up to speed. We all know cloud computing has made saving files much easier. Save a file to the cloud, access it somewhere else, and voila—you never have to worry about data backup. 

But for many of us, that’s where our knowledge ends. Let’s consider all the other ways cloud computing has had a bottom-line impact across every industry:

  • Reducing costs. File storage and additional security can cost a lot of server time. If you host your own servers, that provides some advantages, like control. But it costs a lot on the bottom line. Security, electricity, and storage can all run up quickly if you store all of your information locally. And if you don’t need to hire an MSP or additional IT technicians and security personnel to oversee your file storage, that adds up to tremendous savings on payroll.
  • Increased efficiency. There’s a reason it’s called “cloud” computing, after all. It seems like your important files are saved on some invisible “cloud.” That highlights the efficiency of cloud computing. You can outsource your file storage and security to a third-party location. This untangles your own systems, increasing your efficiency. Imagine, for example, that you didn’t need to use desks—you could just borrow a work surface whenever you needed it. That’s the kind of bottom-line efficiency you get out of cloud computing.
  • Flexibility. Switch devices? Sure. Worry about backing up your own files? Yeah, if you want to. But cloud computing’s remote security has added flexibility to our lives. We trust third-party servers to store our information. This takes a load off our minds, freeing us to focus on productive work.

That brings us to where we are now. But no matter how many “cloud computing industrial revolution” articles you might read, it still leaves one question unanswered:

Where is cloud computing going to take the IT solutions industry?  

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Cloud Computing and the IT Solutions Industry 2023

IT Solutions and cloud computing can have a love-hate relationship. Of course cloud computing is a boon to IT Solutions providers like MSPs. They often use it themselves for the reasons we just listed. But whenever an IT technician searches for “cloud computing revolution” online, it’s not always with curiosity in mind. They might be a bit suspicious of how much cloud computing is going to eat into their business.

We described it as a love-hate relationship for a reason. Let’s consider all of the factors at play in 2023:

What companies can outsource, they likely have outsourced already

After all, cloud computing is nothing new. It’s been a major portion of Microsoft’s income for a while. Even just this past quarter, headlines read: “Microsoft Cloud strength drives second quarter results.” Microsoft’s customers have already moved much of their systems and files to cloud solutions. 

That includes file storage, yes. But it also includes solutions like Salesforce. Entire online shops run on solutions like Shopify.

This has eased the lives of IT technicians. After all, if there’s less IT for them to manage, then their lives are necessarily going to get easier. But companies also use cloud computing to outsource some of their IT work. This means fewer IT technicians being hired—there’s less to think about. 

That isn’t the only challenge, however, because IT support specialists are still necessary. They may simply be necessary to handle the more difficult tasks—the ones that aren’t so easy to outsource to cloud solutions.

“Now that the simpler projects have been established on the cloud and the companies will be shifting,” writes Analytics Insight, “the more complex applications to the cloud in the hope of even better workplace efficiency.”

Cloud computing makes complex tasks simpler

When there are cloud-based solutions that only cost a fraction of the price of hiring a new team, most companies choose the former. Why wouldn’t they? Even at large-scale enterprise costs, many software solutions cost a fraction of what it would take to build out new solutions with human capital.

This means more companies are utilizing sophisticated information technology. After all, the solutions are easier to use than ever. If the average entrepreneur can figure out a complicated CRM (customer relationship management) software offering, it makes previously-complex tasks simpler. This provides more opportunities for businesses to scale. The simpler it is to onboard new employees and new systems, after all, the easier it is to replicate those systems as a company grows.  

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Where Cloud Computing Takes Us Beyond 2023

Where will cloud computing take us? It can go in all sorts of directions. 

Forbes calls these “as yet undetermined opportunities.” 

In NYC, for example, Forbes’ note on transportation is especially pertinent. “The Cloud’s infrastructure could enable the installation of a virtual computer in each car that would enable the development of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), where cars brake before they hit something,” writes Forbes. The minute ADAS becomes reliable enough to roll out safely, driverless cars are the next step.

Goodbye to Uber, taxi companies, and half the services in NYC and other metropolitan areas.

For the IT Solutions industry, this means information technology will become more important than ever, not less important. Yes, cloud computing could enable a veritable revolution in the way vehicles interact with the world. That’s bad news for taxi and truck drivers. But when a machine breaks down, it’s the IT professionals who have to step in.

This could also herald a revolution in ecommerce, as driverless trucks make it possible to host entire package-delivering fleets on the road, without having to scale up the amount of drivers you hire. Delivery fees could plummet, further providing incentives for customers to shop online. Once again, companies will be at the mercy of IT Solutions. They can’t afford to miss a delivery, after all.  

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The Cloud Computing Revolution for IT Services and MSPs

Though cloud computing might have made software more accessible to the masses, it’s also going to expand how many businesses rely on software. Many are looking at cloud computing as the 4th industrial revolution. At LI Tech Solutions, it’s our job to anticipate these changes—and make preparations for what that means for our clients. In the world of IT Services, the skill of knowing how to repair and maintain programs is going to be vital—in 2023 and beyond.

Digital Transformation: What It Is and How It Helps Your Business

litechsol on April 25, 2022

Technology continues to evolve and more companies than ever before are pursuing digital transformation. They’re using new tools and processes to take full advantage of the modern technologies and systems available to organizations of all sizes.

But what exactly is digital transformation, and how can it help your business thrive in today’s market? LI Tech Solutions answers both of these questions and more in detail.

Digital Transformation Explained

Digital transformation means something different to every organization. But overall, it involves transitioning your company’s current tech stack to a modern tech stack, as well as leaning further into modern digital technology use.

For example, a company might practice digital transformation by taking advantage of cloud technology and data storage. Using these tools, the company then enables most of its employee base to work remotely.

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It can include adjustments or alterations to processes and procedures, using new tools instead of old ones, and changing company culture to adapt to modern digital technology.

The Four Areas of Digital Transformation

Broadly speaking, there are four primary areas of digital transformation. Your organization may see changes in all of these areas or just some of them.

Collaboration Transformation

Digital collaboration transformation occurs as you use collaboration and project management platforms ranging from Microsoft Teams to Microsoft 365 and more. Even communication platforms like Slack can help you enact a shift toward digital collaboration transformation.

Think of this element of transformation as shifting the way your team members collaborate and do work together, even when not in the same office environment.

Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Transformation

Digital transformation also affects disaster recovery and business continuity. Cloud security, new antivirus software, and adaptable IT infrastructure are all some of the rewards that come from pursuing digital transformation.

Digital transformation processes enable organizations to be flexible, adaptable, and more secure. Furthermore, organizations can be more responsive and ensure that employees maintain productivity even in the event of a data crash, website failure, or security breach.

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Cybersecurity Transformation

Speaking of security, digital transformations impact cybersecurity massively. As your business goes increasingly digital, cybersecurity solutions such as digital hygiene processes, cloud security, and managed security services all become more important.

This is just one of the many reasons why managed IT services providers such as LI Tech Solutions are valuable to modern organizations. Managed service providers can take care of your cybersecurity needs without massively ballooning your company budget or resource requirements.

Cloud Transformation

Lastly, digital transformation heavily impacts company cloud usage. Cloud computing can accelerate digital transformation and help your business automate more processes than ever, freeing up additional manpower and leading to greater productivity.

Furthermore, cloud technologies enable you to upgrade your IT systems, streamline employee management and hiring practices, and enjoy greater digital security. 

Each of these areas is important and should be pursued by your company at the earliest opportunity.

How Does Digital Transformation Help Your Business?

What about specific benefits that digital transformation brings to your company? There are six major advantages that you might see after transforming your company digitally in the above four areas.

Improved Resource Management

Firstly, your company could see improved resource management. As you leverage cloud technologies and other digital transformation tools, your data and important company files will be more secure and organized.

Your company will be better able to integrate applications and databases into centralized repositories. These repositories, in turn, will enable faster data access and management even from employees around the world.

Better Data Collection and Analytics

Furthermore, transforming digitally will allow your company to collect more data and analyze it with more accuracy.  You can create systems to gather the right data, not just any data, and incorporate it into your business intelligence efforts at high levels.

Using automation tools, new data storage techniques, and other practices, you’ll understand your target audience better, track important KPIs more efficiently, and see other benefits.

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Better Customer Experience

Even better, digital transformation allows your company to provide a better customer experience across the board. Tools such as chatbots, for example, enable faster customer service response times for your website visitors.

New digital tools also enable you to customize the customer experiences you provide to site visitors. Better customer experiences mean more profits for you in the long run. 

Digitization of Culture

Your company’s culture will change for the better. For example, remote work tools and a digital-first workplace both allow your company employees to work anywhere around the world without compromising security or productivity.

In turn, this may enable you to broaden your candidate search for top team members and make your company a more attractive place to work. 

More Productivity and Profits

Digital transformation should lead your company to more productivity and profits, as well. As employees do great work from around the world and take advantage of streamlining tools, they’ll get more work done in the same amount of time plus spend less time on rote, monotonous tasks best left to automation technology.

More productivity, of course, oftentimes leads to more profits both in the short and long term.

Increased Agility

Lastly, your company will benefit from boosted agility as it digitally transforms. You can improve your speed-to-market for new products, plus adopt continuous improvement or CI strategies.

The result? More innovation and adaptation to adjust to evolving market and customer demands.

Callout 4: How Digital transformation helps your business - 6 benefits listed

Summary

All in all, digital transformation is a net benefit for all organizations, including your own. You can accelerate this transformation for your company by taking advantage of managed services providers like LI Tech Solutions.

As a trusted IT managed service provider in Long Island, New York, we’re well-equipped and ready to assist with your digital transformation efforts from start to finish. Whether you need managed security, cloud server administration, upgrades, or something else entirely, we can help.

Contact us today for more information and further details on how we can help your business transform.

5 Ways MSPs Can Support Hybrid Workplaces

litechsol on April 11, 2022

The hybrid workplace isn’t going away. The hybridization of many industries was already a growing trend prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the pandemic solidified that trend into a full-blown economic revolution.

In many industries ranging from tech to finance and more, hybrid workplaces allow employees to work remotely some of the time and in the office the rest of the time. The benefits are numerous, ranging from increased worker flexibility to reduced resource consumption and more.

However, hybrid workplaces can be even more beneficial for your organization when you employ managed services providers like LI Tech Solutions. Let’s take a look at five key ways that MSPs can support hybrid workplaces just like yours.  

Callout 1: Hybrid employee working at home on laptop - Hybrid workplace definition quote from text

Cloud Infrastructure and Support

For starters, managed service providers can offer excellent cloud infrastructure and ongoing support. Cloud infrastructure, software, and other services are most important for hybrid workplaces.

Why? Because through the cloud, organization employees can access the same resources, use the same software, and use all the same files whether they work from home or at the office. Cloud access means that all employees can work together no matter where their computers or end terminals happen to be.

Of course, it takes a dedicated IT team to manage cloud infrastructure and offer 24/7 support. That’s where a managed services provider comes in.

MSPs can help your cloud infrastructure work for your company by:

  • Ensuring that software updates happen consistently and regularly
  • Monitoring the cloud for potential glitches or cyberattacks
  • Helping team members learn how to access the cloud or how to download the appropriate software to their devices
  • And much more

On top of all that, managed services providers can ensure that your cloud resources scale with your organization. Therefore, if you want to stick with a hybrid workplace over the next few years, your cloud infrastructure can grow with your company. An MSP can make that future a reality more easily than ever.  

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Security Updates, Monitoring, and Training

Perhaps more importantly, managed services providers can offer regular security updates for important antivirus and anti-malware measures. These include antivirus software like firewalls, phishing protection for company emails, and much more.

The cybersecurity landscape is always evolving, which means security updates must be implemented and installed as soon as they become available. But it can be tough to keep track of which programs or security software need updates. Your MSP can do all that for you, freeing up your people to work on other tasks.

In addition, MSPs like LI Tech offer 24/7 monitoring for your cloud infrastructure and company systems. This monitoring will ensure that you are alerted whenever there is a potential cyber breach and that cyber breaches will be much less likely to succeed.

In the event of a successful cyberattack, the monitoring from a managed services provider will help you prevent it from occurring in the future.

Of course, many cybersecurity breaches occur because of employee mistakes. To that end, MSPs such as LI Tech Solutions offer security training for your employees. These training seminars can teach the basics of good digital hygiene, like how to build strong passwords and how not to log workplace computers via vulnerable public networks.  

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Workforce Analytics

On top of all that, MSPs can provide crucial workforce analytics services for your growth and understanding. For example, MSPs can gather data about:

  • How your employees use their time
  • How your software benefits your company
  • How your data is stored and how it is retrieved
  • And much more

All of that data, once properly analyzed, can help you make better decisions for your company. Managed services providers can even help improve your data management and storage policies so they’re more efficient for your workers. This will improve productivity for your hybrid workforce.

Project Management Services and Software

Any manager or executive who oversees a hybrid workforce knows the difficulty of ensuring that all employees are on the same page. Project management becomes a little more difficult when employees work from different places, despite all the other benefits associated with allowing a hybrid workplace.

However, managed services providers can offer project management and organizational services, or connect you to project management software via the cloud. Either of these solutions will help your remote and in-office employees collaborate just as efficiently in a hybrid workplace as they would in a traditional office environment.

Project management services and software help ensure that:

  • Everyone knows what projects they should be working on
  • Project deadlines are met properly
  • Project reports are sent to appropriate leaders or supervisors when needed
  • Supervisors can reassign individuals or rebalance workloads as necessary
  • And more

All of those benefits will make your hybrid workforce just as good as it was before you made the transition.  MSPs support hybrid workplaces to help your organization’s productivity flow.

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Increased Organizational Productivity

Lastly, MSPs can support your hybrid workplace by improving organizational productivity across the board. In effect, MSPs take a lot of the busy work or manual tasks of cloud support and cybersecurity away from your team.

Instead, your employees can focus on the core aspect of your business that net you the most profits. Imagine what you could do if your IT personnel could focus on building a new website or online marketing instead of having to monitor security 24/7.

In addition, MSPs support hybrid workplaces by providing value by overseeing your cloud infrastructure. In this way, your workforce can take advantage of the technologies of the cloud without having to continually update it and monitor it for stability.

Bottom line: by hiring an MSP, your hybrid workplace will enjoy greater operational flexibility. Your employees, meanwhile, can be reassigned to other elements of your business depending on what you need.

Summary

Ultimately, managed services providers are valuable for any companies that use hybrid workplaces. If you’ve decided to allow your workforce the flexibility and other benefits of hybridization, consider hiring an MSP for even greater improvements.

As a well-known managed IT services provider in Long Island, we’re well-equipped and ready to assist your hybrid workplace starting today. Contact us for more information!

Best Practices for Securing a Cloud Environment

litechsol on March 17, 2022

Modern enterprises want to take advantage of the unique benefits and conveniences offered by the cloud. However, you need to know how to secure a cloud environment for your company if you want to store and retrieve your data safely in the future.

Not sure where to start? Let’s break down some of the best practices for securing a cloud environment. Many of these practices are already leveraged by managed tech services such as LI Tech Solutions. But you can also implement these practices yourself.

Implement Encryption at All Endpoints

For starters, any secure cloud system will have thorough encryption for all endpoints, including those for both users and corporate staff. Encryption scrambles important corporate or private data, preventing anyone who scoops the data from being able to read it without an encryption key.

This is crucial because, whenever you use cloud services, you send data back and forth between a network in the cloud. Encryption helps ensure that the data stays safe and secure even while using cloud services regularly.  

Callout 1: Blue digital data security - Encryption helps ensure data stays safe and secure in a secure cloud environment

Secure User Endpoints

Similarly, companies need to secure user endpoints, such as mobile phones, desktops and laptops, and any other user devices. Endpoint security can range from antivirus software to fingerprint scanners and more.

Regardless, boosting endpoint security is vital since it reduces the likelihood of cyber breaches via employee computers. These are some of the easiest means for cybercriminals to get access to company data, so organizations need to make it tougher for them.

Choose the Right Provider

Of course, picking the right cloud services provider is also key to enjoying a secure cloud environment. Different providers will emphasize different security techniques or bring different technologies to the table.

For example, LI Tech Solutions has a detailed list of security best practices for cloud environments, such as two-factor authentication processes and cloud security awareness training. That’s one reason why LI Tech Solutions is the go-to choice for Long Island managed services.  

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Define Usage Policies for the Cloud

But corporate executives can also take security into their own hands. For example, you can write a detailed list of usage policies for all members of your organization. These usage policies will break down:

  • Who is allowed access to the cloud environment
  • When cloud access is permitted
  • What data is allowed to be transferred between your network and the cloud
  • And so on

Defining usage policies is important since it prevents employees from making simple mistakes or from breaching security protocols unknowingly. Once your policies are defined, you can teach employees the right way to use your cloud network or fire employees who fail to abide by security standards.

Digital Hygiene 

Employee knowledge is further highlighted with digital hygiene. Digital hygiene includes:

  • Knowing how to create strong passwords
  • Knowing not to leave security badges or other corporate security tools lying around
  • How to use a VPN in some cases
  • When not to connect a work computer or terminal to a public network (like a coffee house Wi-Fi network)

Corporate executives should regularly hold digital hygiene seminars to make sure their employees are always kept abreast of updated digital hygiene protocols. Practicing digital hygiene is important for everyone in your company, so make sure that you know how to practice it as well!

Set Data Control and Access Policies

Business executives should also maintain strict control of data transfer and access privileges between the company network and the cloud servers. Specifically, you should write down a set of data control and access policies for your entire corporation/team.

These policies will:

  • List who’s allowed to access critical or sensitive data, especially data for customers
  • Define who’s allowed to transfer data between the company network and the cloud

In general, it’s wise to only give these privileges to certain trusted individuals. That way, there are fewer opportunities for malicious actors to get access to sensitive company data.  

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Malware Protection

Naturally, malware protection for your company servers and your cloud access points is just as important as it is for everyday computing or Internet surfing. Anti-malware software and tools are very important, especially because malware viruses are constantly updating and evolving.

Luckily, many managed service providers already include malware protection by default. But even if you don’t have a managed service provider, you should implement malware protection for your cloud services ASAP. 

Enable Security Logs

Security logs are important tools to help you determine what the security vulnerability was after a breach or security malfunction. Security logs:

  • May help you catch who breached your servers or sensitive data
  • Can be very important during audits or security tests

In some cases, security logs may even help you update or upgrade your security measures before a major attack occurs. Make sure your IT security team or managed services provider has security logs enabled from the start.

Implement Regular Audits/Security Checks

Speaking of audits and tests, your organization should run regular security checks and audits to:

  • Anticipate and check for potential vulnerabilities
  • Ensure that obvious entrances to your network are sealed up
  • Make sure that security software or detection tools are working as advertised

All of this can help prevent an attack from occurring in the first place, which is always cheaper than recovering from a cyber-attack after the fact.  

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Update Defenses Regularly

Lastly, anyone using a cloud environment should update their antivirus and other defenses regularly. Updates are important because they include fixes for newly discovered vulnerabilities and because they prevent malicious actors from exploiting security gaps.

If you have a managed services team running your cloud services, they should include software and network updates as part of their packages.

Contact LI Tech Solutions Today

Of course, you can make things easy for your organization by contacting LI Tech Solutions today. As experts in cloud infrastructure and managed services, we’re well equipped and ready to provide your organization with reliable access to a secure cloud environment for all of your data storage needs.

Why wait? Contact LI Tech Solutions today!

6 Major Tools for Enterprise Data Protection

litechsol on February 24, 2022

For the modern enterprise, data protection is of the utmost importance. Keeping your company’s data safe isn’t just important for your operations and the security of your customers.  It’s also necessary so you can adhere to new regulations and guidelines like the GDPR.

However, cyber threats are also evolving at a breakneck pace. It can be difficult to know what tools you should prioritize or what services you should employ to maximize enterprise data protection.

Today, let’s break down six important tools you should use for protecting your company’s critical data. 

Ransomware Protection

First, ransomware must remain at the top of your cybersecurity team’s awareness. Ransomware threats are constantly evolving and viruses or malware can enter your company’s systems in a variety of ways, such as:

  • Phishing emails
  • Viruses from sketchy websites
  • Bad digital hygiene from employees
  • And more

Ransomware viruses often take or delete critical data, then hold copies hostage to extract a ransom from your company. Don’t let this happen to you. Instead, your business should invest in quality ransomware protection, such as ongoing digital hygiene seminars, antivirus software, firewalls, and managed security services.  

Callout 1: Data protection privacy concept - Ransomware threats can enter your company's system in variety of ways - 3 bullet points

As a bonus, defending yourself against ransomware may prevent you from having to pay excessive fines or fees for losing control of valuable customer data or personal information. 

On-Premises and Cloud Backup Architecture

Even the most robust digital systems will sometimes collapse or fail, whether it’s from resource overdrawing or power grid issues. When that happens, your critical data has to be backed up in more ways than one.

By backing up important data, you can bring your website or servers back online almost instantaneously once things are fixed. More importantly, you can restore the most recent version of your site or IT infrastructure using backed-up data.

That backed-up data is also important for your customers. If a customer needs to access important data, you’ll have it ready for them since it will be backed up and restored to its usual location on your company’s servers or IT architecture.

You should invest in both on-premises and cloud backup architecture for the best results.  On-premises backup architecture gives you direct control over data backups, but cloud backup architecture:

  • Often comes with additional security
  • Is not subject to the same collapse conditions as your on-premises architecture
  • Can be overseen and controlled by a managed services provider like LI Tech

With both backup systems enabled, your company will rarely if ever, lose any critical data, even in the event of a major crash or system collapse.  

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Ongoing, Continuous Critical Data Protection

Your most important data shouldn’t just be backed up once a week or even once per day. It should instead be backed up in near real-time. This enables you to restore any critical data, whether for your company or your customers, at practically any point in time.

Continuous data protection does just this. It always backs up critical files almost instantaneously, so the most recent version of data is always stored somewhere else, typically in the cloud or off-site.

As you employ continuous data protection, you’ll also find that your IT infrastructure is further fortified against other cyber threats, like ransomware attacks. There’s no reason not to use continuous data protection in this day and age if you have any critical files for your business or customers.

Data Encryption

Another aspect of continuous enterprise data protection means employing end-to-end data encryption for all workplace devices, plus any cloud server access points. End-to-end data encryption means securing files or workstations at both ends of access, not just employee terminals, for example.

End-to-end data encryption is also useful if some or all of your workforce does work remotely. Ransomware or other cyber threats are oftentimes picked up at vulnerable public access points, such as coffee shop servers or unsecured work laptops.

End-to-end data encryption ensures that these potential vulnerabilities won’t negatively affect your enterprise or result in data theft.  

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Self-Directed Healing

It’s also important to lean into self-directed healing or self-healing IT infrastructure. Machine learning and data analytics innovations now allow systems or IT infrastructure to heal themselves by:

  • Managing their resources more effectively, especially to prevent server or infrastructure crashes
  • Resolving datacenter limitations
  • Ensuring operational consistency
  • Balancing performance levels throughout computer infrastructure
  • And more

In short, self-directed healing is a novel way for your enterprise’s data to remain secure and safe. Your IT infrastructure will monitor itself for any potential problems and send a warning if there’s a catastrophic issue coming ahead.

Managed service providers often employ self-directed healing protocols to enterprise IT infrastructure. That’s just another benefit of hiring a managed service provider for your organization.

Managed Resource Scaling

Lastly, all enterprises should leverage managed resource scaling like never before. This is especially important for small businesses that hope for rapid growth in the future.

Even with the best planning, spikes in usage can sometimes cause catastrophic and cascading failures in IT infrastructure, leading to server outages, website wipes, and lost data.

Managed services providers can employ resource scaling to ensure your enterprise always has the server resources it needs no matter how much traffic or attention it gets. This can also protect against certain types of cyber threats, like DDoS attacks.

But even beyond protecting your organization’s data, resource scaling is cost-efficient and allows your enterprise to better predict ongoing server resource costs. This, in turn, may help you budget more effectively in the future.  

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Conclusion

At the end of the day, the most important data protection solutions are all available from managed service providers like LI Tech. As the ideal managed IT services provider for Long Island businesses, LI Tech is well equipped and ready to help your enterprise protect its data in more ways than one.

With our managed services and cloud operations, your data will be secured from attacks, backed up multiple times and insulated against crashes, and more. Contact us today to learn more or to set up a consultation – we’ll find the perfect solution for your company’s unique needs.

Top 4 Tech Trend Predictions for 2022

litechsol on February 14, 2022

Over the last few decades, technology has been a driving force in business transformation and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. The fact that direct digital transformation investments are projected to total $7 trillion between 2020 and 2023 demonstrates this.1 If you want your firm to succeed, you must have the appropriate technologies to help you keep up with the changing business world. Let’s take a look at the tech trend predictions for 2022.

In the present scenario, your technology must enable you to overcome three recent pandemic-induced issues:

  • Supply chain disruptions

In 2021, supply chain interruptions cost businesses throughout the world an average of $184 million.2

  • The great resignation

In September 2021, 4.4 million people resigned from their jobs in the United States alone, setting a new record.3

  • A rise in ransomware attacks

Ransomware affected 68.5% of businesses in 2021.4

Businesses must keep up with the demands of the evolving technology landscape if they wish to achieve their goals and remain competitive despite the changes brought about by the pandemic.

Track the latest technological trends to know if you are moving in the right direction. Having a managed service provider (MSP) on your side allows your business to stay up to date without you having to do much heavy lifting.

 

Top 4 tech trend predictions for 20225

  1. Third-party risks will increase

In 2022, third parties will be involved in 60% of security incidents. This means that firms that fail to invest in the risk management trifecta of people, processes, and technology may face cyberattacks.

Proactive businesses will include risk assessment, supply chain mapping, real-time risk intelligence, and business continuity management in their IT stack (rather than a single application like Excel).

  1. One-third of companies will fail at implementing “work from anywhere”

To successfully and securely empower remote workers, organizations need to deliver:

  • A precisely designed digital workplace that allows for seamless working from anywhere
  • A leadership team capable of leading a virtual team
  • An organization with high levels of digital literacy across all departments
  • A thorough mastery of work-from-anywhere concepts

However, a third of the companies still lag in these areas.

  1. Cloud-native takes center stage in enterprise cloud

Cloud customers will change their business strategy to be completely cloud-native rather than using the cloud for only a portion of their portfolio.

Also, cloud-native adoption is predicted to reach 50% of enterprise organizations by 2022, spanning all major technology domains such as big data, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things.

  1. Tech execs leap from digital to human-centered technology transformations

In 2022, technology executives will concentrate on fixing long-term problems. The best will embrace a customer-centric approach to technology, allowing their organization to quickly reconfigure business structures and capabilities to meet future customer and employee needs with adaptability, innovation, and resilience.

 

Collaborate for success

If you are in NYC or Long Island and want to get your technology infrastructure ready for a successful year, you’ll need the help of a dependable managed service provider (MSP).  Feel free to contact us to set up a free consultation. Our expertise and skillsets may be precisely what your company needs to help remote workers thrive.

 

Sources:

  1. Statista (worldwide-digital-transformation-market-size)
  2. Statista (cost-supply-chain-disruption-country)
  3. Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, 2021
  4. Statista (businesses-ransomware-attack-rate)
  5. Predictions 2022, Forrester

IT Cloud Services for New York City Businesses

litechsol on January 31, 2022

Space is at a premium in New York City, and your business may not have the space (or the budget) to run its servers and digital architecture. This is doubly true if your business is relatively new and you want to scale quickly and flexibly with your growing customer base. The solution? IT cloud services are designed specifically for New York City businesses just like yours.

Fortunately, LI TECH Solutions can provide the right cloud services for your organization based on your budget, infrastructure needs, and other factors. Let’s take a look at our IT cloud services for your New York City business now.  

Callout 1: Cloud technology - Infrastructure as a Service - description from text

Cloud Infrastructure as a Service

Cloud infrastructure as a service or IaaS is one of the most important cloud service models for modern companies. Also called cloud infrastructure services, IaaS offers essentially serverless computing by providing computer infrastructure to end-users or clients across the Internet.

More specifically, IaaS can provide your organization with storage, network, servers, and virtualization services. Because of this, your company doesn’t have to maintain its own on-premises data center, nor do you need to worry about updating or maintaining components.

Cloud IaaS gives you the base computing tools you need to run software platforms or programs, ranging from programming kits to web applications and more.

In many cases, IaaS is used in conjunction with both cloud platforms as a service and cloud software as a service if you need a whole host of managed cloud services for your enterprise.

Like all managed cloud services, IaaS allows your team to focus primarily on what you do best: making your products and services for your target customers.  

Callout 2: Scalable cloud hosting quote from text

Scalable Cloud Architecture and Hosting

Many of the best-managed cloud services providers can offer integration and hosting. Full integration of your existing software or data means you don’t have to waste valuable time updating your systems and can instead benefit from cloud resources right off the bat.

Furthermore, organizations like LI TECH Solutions offer scalable and predictable hosting for your organization. This is cost-effective (since you don’t pay for resources you don’t use) and very flexible and convenient for your users.

Imagine that you need additional hosting space on only a few days of the week to handle increased traffic from your customers. With scalable cloud hosting from LI TECH Solutions, you can get just that without having to waste money on additional server space you don’t use throughout the rest of the week.

Cloud Platform as a Service

Platform as a service or PaaS offers cloud-streamed hardware and application software platforms when necessary. As with other cloud services, the hardware or application software platforms are both managed by your third-party service provider, such as LI TECH Solutions.

Meanwhile, your people can handle the full application and any of its data. Cloud PaaS is the choice of particularly good service for developers, programmers, and other tech-heavy companies.  

Callout 3: Cloud technology infrastructure - PaaS offers hardware/application software

In a nutshell, cloud PaaS gives your people the platform they need to develop, run, and eventually even manage their apps without having to build and maintain any additional infrastructure. This includes all the same benefits and conveniences as other cloud services.

  • You don’t have to update the platform or its software
  • You don’t need to worry about any other tech maintenance concerns
  • Platform security is handled entirely by your third-party cloud provider, which ensures your organization is kept up-to-date about modern cyber threats

Cloud Data Backups

LI TECH Solutions take things one step further with PaaS and other managed cloud services: we provide cloud data backups for your servers, workstations, or even individual devices.

Data backups are more important than ever in this day and age. Cyber threats are constantly evolving and tech and finance organizations have to keep their users’ personal data safe, especially if they do international business.

Legislation such as the GDPR and other laws impose harsh fines and penalties if your data isn’t kept properly secure.

With cloud backup architecture ready to go, you won’t need to worry about valuable data being lost because of a crash or hack. If your site or servers ever go down, you can simply reboot to a recent version of the same information and continue with business as normal.

Additionally, LI TECH Solutions offers end-to-end data encryption for all your devices and cloud services. Since we take care of regular updates and maintenance, we also handle ongoing digital security.  

Callout 4: Cloud technology database - LI Tech Solutions provides cloud data backup

Cloud Software as a Service

Cloud software as a service or SaaS is another important managed cloud service. It delivers web applications or software straight to your team without you needing to download and install the software packages manually.

Instead, your team can access any chosen web apps or software solutions straight through their web browsers. This means we handle:

  • General software maintenance
  • Software updates
  • Bug fixes
  • And more

In this way, your team just has to worry about using the apps to their best extent. SaaS from LI TECH can completely eliminate the need for each member of your team to have a version of the app installed on their computers, as well.

Because of this, SaaS facilitates remote work more efficiently and conveniently than any other solution. Entire groups of workers in your enterprise can use the same application through a browser without having to go through the hassle of buying and/or downloading the software beforehand.

How LI Tech Serves New York City Organizations

Ultimately, LI TECH Solutions is the go-to choice for managed cloud services for all New York City enterprises. Why?

Because we offer each of the above cloud services and more. We go above and beyond and offer a variety of cloud setups depending on your unique needs and budget, including:

  • Private clouds
  • Public clouds
  • Hybrid clouds
  • Multi-clouds

Whether you need full-scale cloud infrastructure support, platforms for your web developers to get to work quickly, or specific applications to share between your organization’s members, we can help. LI TECH Solutions offers managed cloud services no matter what you need. Contact us today and let’s get started.

4 Reasons to Refresh Your Technology Infrastructure in 2022

litechsol on December 28, 2021

After the ups and downs of the last year and a half, the business world is making its way into 2022 with renewed optimism. Business executives are contemplating strategies to start the year with a strong quarter by adapting to the new normal. Do you have the best technology infrastructure to help you kick off the new year with a bang? If not, it’s time to consider a technology refresh.

Every company wants to grow, but if you treat your technological infrastructure as an afterthought, you may be severely limiting your company’s potential.

Remember that your IT infrastructure is a critical component of your business. An up-to-date and high-quality IT infrastructure is an asset that enables you to do business without falling prey to cyber threats and helps you achieve your goals.

A technology refresh enables a company to analyze the current state of its IT infrastructure and weigh the merits of trying something better. For a company’s long-term success, it’s best to review the present IT infrastructure — hardware, software, and other technology solutions — and determine what additional solutions are available that would better suit its needs.

Reasons Worth Considering Before Refreshing Your IT Infrastructure

The following are the top four reasons to refresh your technology infrastructure:

 

Increased Security

The threat landscape is constantly evolving. We know this because of the projected increase in the cybersecurity market size from around 217 billion in 2021 to about 240 billion in 2022.1 If you want to keep cybercriminals out of your business, you must understand where your technology and security measures fall short, leaving you vulnerable.

Some of the threats that small and midsized business (SMBs) IT infrastructure must defend against are:

 

Assurance That You’re Meeting Compliance Requirements

Regardless of your industry, you’re probably subject to compliance regulations that your company must follow. If you use outdated technology that no longer receives software patches and is no longer supported, you may jeopardize your compliance status. Finding these gaps in your infrastructure as early as possible allows you to close them, thereby avoiding reputational damage and getting into hot water with regulators.

Never take compliance lightly since failure to comply can result in:

  • Hefty penalties
  • Uninvited audits
  • Criminal charges
  • Denial of insurance claims
  • Forced closure or even imprisonment

Reliable Backup

If you don’t have a backup solution, you should find one that will work for your business because you could lose all your critical data in the blink of an eye. If you currently have a backup solution, you should check on it regularly to ensure that it is still functional. If it isn’t working, and your organization wants to access your backups, you’ll be in a tough spot.

In addition, some cyberattacks specifically target backups. As a result, it is critical to review and refresh your backup solution regularly.

 

Stay Competitive Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Other Emerging Technologies

According to Gartner, 33% of technology and service provider organizations intend to invest $1 million or more in AI over the next two years. AI and other emerging technologies are rapidly altering the landscape of every industry. If you want to stay ahead of your competitors, you must use the most up-to-date technology that is appropriate for your industry and goals. This could explain why around 60% of SMBs have invested in emerging technologies.2

 

Collaborate for Success with a Technology Infrastructure Refresh

A timely technology refresh could act as an energy boost for your company, enabling it to be more resilient. Begin your IT infrastructure refresh journey with a partner like us.

Knowing that the process is in expert hands gives you peace of mind and allows you to focus on building your business.  Get in touch with us today.

Sources:
  1. Statista
  2. Adobe Digital Trends Report

Article curated and used by permission.

Main Advantages of CaaS

litechsol on December 20, 2021

Regulatory compliance has always been vital, but it is even more important in the modern online economy. With legislation like the GDPR threatening organizations with major fines and penalties if they are found to be non-compliant with data security or other measures, guaranteeing compliance for security, data administration, and risk mitigation is incredibly important. This article takes a look at some of the main advantages of CaaS. 

It can cost organizations a lot of time and money to ensure full compliance 24/7 using in-house employees or tools. That’s why many businesses now turn to compliance as a service solutions, which outsource many of these duties to managed IT service providers like LITech Solutions. Let’s take a closer look. 

Callout 1- blurred background- Compliance as a Service Explained- quote from article

Compliance as a Service Explained

Compliance as a service or CaaS is a type of cloud service often packaged with broader IT-managed services. In a nutshell, CaaS is intended to help organizations meet any regulatory compliance mandates, including those pertaining to data security, international eCommerce restrictions and requirements, and more.

While the exact services will vary from provider to provider, compliance as a service offerings typically include duties like:

  • Change control
  • Data discovery
  • Database access control
  • Application management
  • Separation of duties
  • Annual risk assessments
  • Data masking
  • Incident response
  • Real-time data protection
  • Policy creation and enforcement for data security
  • Security vulnerability repair
  • Training of company personnel
  • Server configuration
  • And more

In most cases, compliance support services are used by organizations that primarily operate in industries with a lot of regulations, like finance, banking, healthcare, and more. The importance of CaaS has increased in recent years due to legislation like the GDPR and CPAA, both of which highlight how businesses must be responsible for data security at all times.

The increasing regulatory requirements, administrative overhead, man-hour costs, and the overall time that an organization must spend ensuring operational compliance place significant burdens on modern enterprises. By outsourcing compliance to managed service providers, businesses may benefit from several major advantages.  

Callout 2- Compliance graphic - Benefits of CaaS- 2 benefits listed with facts

Benefits of CaaS

Not sure whether CaaS is right for your organization? Let’s take a look at the detailed benefits of CaaS one by one.

Reduced Administrative Overhead

For starters, CaaS reduces administrative overhead for organizations by taking control of compliance standard assurance and benchmarks. Instead of a company’s administrative team being responsible for ensuring compliance for data security, for example, their CaaS provider will do it instead.

It frees up the administrative team (or any other team responsible) to accomplish other objectives. Such freedom could be fantastic for maximizing profitability, operational efficiency, and more.

Savings on Compliance Costs

Naturally, reducing administrative overhead and freeing up time to be spent on other tasks also saves on compliance costs. By reducing the compliance burden for an organization, that time and energy can be spent elsewhere or even saved.

No longer does an organization need to spend money on the salary of a dedicated compliance officer or manager. Instead, CaaS services are packaged with other managed services and purchased affordably. Depending on how much an organization needs to save on its budget, this could make the difference between a profitable or unprofitable business.

Reduced Workload for Compliance Updates

Compliance support services are cloud-based by their very nature. This, in turn, provides several technological advantages, especially in terms of reducing workload for upcoming compliance updates.

Imagine a new firewall patch that must be installed and triple-checked to ensure fidelity and compliance with the GDPR. The organization that uses CaaS doesn’t need to worry about this.

Instead, their managed services provider tackles the task. But even they don’t have too much to do, as their CaaS team ensures that the firewall update is already compliant with existing legislation or regulations.

In other words, CaaS improvements or updates are designed from the get-go to be compliant and secure. It is very different from an in-house solution or update, which may be designed with a different goal from the start and then need double-checking for compliance after the fact.  

Callout 2- Benefits of CaaS- 2 benefits listed with descriptions

Improved Configuration

Most compliance support services are incredibly configurable. As a result, a new business client doesn’t need to worry about developing unique or bespoke solutions for their hardware. The configurable CaaS solutions will already work with their existing IT infrastructure or platforms.

As a result, CaaS products and services are even more cost-effective and benefit from reduced long-term or lifetime maintenance. Even as regulations change and evolve, the CaaS provider will work to ensure that their services remain configurable and can easily integrate with existing technology.

Once more, the client receiving compliance support services doesn’t need to worry about much of this. The workload and costs are outsourced to the CaaS provider instead.

Automated System Updates – Guaranteed Compliance

Last but not least, compliance support services always come with automatic system updates as a result of cloud technology. Business owners or executives never need to worry about updating systems each time the industry’s regulations are changed, updated, or even entirely revised.

Instead, the CaaS provider releases updates that are hand-tuned to be firmly compliant with new regulations. Furthermore, these updates will be released automatically, then seamlessly integrated into existing technologies or solutions. This also ensures that updates are ready to go at appropriate dates and are never delayed.  

Callout 4- Compliance interface- Automated System Updates-Guaranteed Compliance- 2 bullet points

Executives don’t have to spend valuable time and money overviewing these changes. Furthermore, they never have to spend time developing new solutions or frameworks reactively (i.e. as new regulations come about, leaving the company scrambling).

Main Advantages of CaaS Summary

Simply put, compliance as a service is the go-to solution for businesses that want to ensure they are never liable for major data breaches or compliance issues. As compliance becomes more important for international businesses, CaaS providers will continue to play vital roles in modern organizations.

That’s why LI Tech offers a wide range of managed services based on agile cloud technology. From full network auditing to security and risk mitigation to cloud integration and hosting the data and business intelligence and more, LI Tech offers the best managed IT services in Long Island. Contact us today for more information.

Top 5 Benefits of Cloud Computing for My Business

litechsol on November 29, 2021

How Businesses Benefit from Computing in the Cloud

The cloud computing revolution has just begun, but it’s already driven major changes in industries ranging from tech to finance to healthcare and more. This article covers five of the biggest benefits of cloud computing for your business.

Despite its widespread adoption, some companies still haven’t transitioned to cloud computing. Often this is because they don’t understand how they could be benefiting from this new way of storing, retrieving, and using data.

Still not sure how your business could benefit from cloud computing?  Find out the advantages of working with a cloud computing service today and the benefits it brings.

Callout 1- cloud computing concept with lock-Improved Security -

Improved Security

Perhaps the most important benefit overall is boosted security. This is especially crucial due to the modern legal requirements facing international companies (see below).

When a business leverages cloud computing, its data isn’t stored on-site or even on company servers in many cases. Instead, it’s stored on cloud servers hundreds or thousands of miles away.

This increases security because it makes physical tampering with data or data theft much less likely. For example, a business that uses cloud computing for data storage or processing isn’t at risk of a disgruntled employee using a stolen ID card to access and wipe company servers.

Furthermore, modern cloud computing providers leverage top-of-the-line security and encryption protocols to ensure that their networks are fully isolated, heavily secured, and include redundancy protocols. 

These benefits of cloud computing for your business result in greater overall security for businesses that rely on this technology.   

Callout 2- Legal Compliance - three bullet points on blurred background

Legal Compliance

As touched on above, the modern legal environment is evolving quite fast. Legislation like the GDPR and CCPA now require companies to keep customer data safe from identity thieves and other cybercriminals.

Companies’ abilities to do this are directly affected by their overall security. A low-security company may be the victim of one or more cyber breaches. This causes their customer data to leak onto the wider web.

This may lead to excessive fines, loss of customer trust, and other major fallout from a single bad firewall or unprotected password.

In contrast, cloud computing provides greater security to companies who use it. Those companies will be more compliant with consumer data laws and requirements.

This benefit is especially important if your business accepts transactions or customers from international sources. Even in the US, legislation like the CCPA could become commonplace across states, making increased security a requirement rather than an optional inclusion. 

Faster, Easier Setup/Updates

Cloud computing offers a major practical benefit for businesses: faster and easier updates or setups for computer systems.

Cloud service providers address automatic updates, maintenance, and setup needs for their servers, software, and other products. That’s less work that a company has to do and fewer hours you have to dedicate to these tasks.

On top of that, cloud computing providers are continually improving structure with software development and hardware upgrades. They do this to maintain a competitive edge against other cloud service providers. 

Callout 3- Four Cloud computing benefits on blurred background

But your business benefits from this competition. If you need to install new software or update your servers, your cloud service provider takes care of all of it for you. Your in-house IT team can focus on other aspects like local security or digital hygiene with your employees.

This benefit is present even if you use hybrid cloud setups, which include private and public clouds. These cloud setups provide on-demand services but are also much easier to update, especially regarding security patches and new software functions.

Robust Data Backups

Even the best servers may crash from time to time, and the second-worst thing after having your website crash is having all of your data wiped at the same time.

Cloud computing provides a convenient solution to this possibility: remote data backups that occur on a weekly or daily basis.  You won’t have to take care of these data backups because your cloud service provider will do it for you.

These data backups ensure that, even if your site does crash (either because of a glitch or because of a targeted attack), you’ll be able to get it back up and running more quickly than average. Furthermore, you won’t lose sensitive data to the ether.

Automatic backups are absolutely a necessity for any company that collects customer data for their marketing or other purposes. With cloud computing, you don’t need to worry about having physical backups on-site; remote backups will always be available around the world.  

Callout 4- female sitting on floor working on laptop at home- Remote Work Flexibility - with four facts

Remote Work Flexibility

Cloud computing may benefit your business because of how it lends itself to remote work and schedule flexibility.

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the workforce in more ways than one. But one of the largest shifts was a multi-industry trend toward remote work, particularly for white-collar professions.

This trend was so complete that many employees now request remote work flexibility, even if they can technically return to office environments.

With cloud computing, you’ll be able to give your employees this flexibility they demand without having to compromise on tasks or production quotas.

Cloud computing allows employees and administrators alike to access sensitive company data through encrypted channels anywhere in the world with an Internet connection.  Your employees can do just as much work at their homes or elsewhere as they could in your office.

While this improves the morale of your employees, it may also save on costs. Some companies are even transitioning out of large office complexes in favor of smaller or coworking spaces since no one uses the traditional spaces they pay for.

Wrap Up

In the end, cloud computing is simply too advantageous for businesses for you to ignore.

Fortunately, your business can start enjoying the benefits of cloud computing with providers like LI TECH.  We offer four different types of cloud computing services, ranging from private clouds to public clouds and more.

We provide a variety of cloud computing services and utilities to give your staff members ultimate flexibility, security, and productivity. Contact us today for more information.

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partner while letting you get back to managing your business

Contact us today for a free consultation and technology assessment.

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