Embracing Automation: How Small Businesses Can Benefit from Workflow Improvements

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If you’re a small business owner, you know that time is money. That’s where business automation comes in. With the help of automation tools and software, you can streamline repetitive tasks, increase efficiency, and free up more time to focus on growing your business.  But it’s not always that easy to make the leap to automation. What processes make the most sense to automate? What about the initial investment, and concerns from employees about potential displacement? To ensure a smooth transition, let’s look at best practices at how to maximize the benefits of automation while minimizing any negative impact on your workforce.

Introduction to Automation for Small Businesses

Definition and types of automation technologies

There are many types of automation that can benefit small businesses, from simple email automation to automated network monitoring. Email automation tools, for example, allow you to create targeted email campaigns that are triggered by specific actions or behaviors, like signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase. Network monitoring automation tools automatically detect and alert IT staff to any issues or anomalies.

The growing importance of automation in today’s business landscape

As businesses of all sizes look to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and stay competitive, automation provides a valuable solution—especially IT automation. A study by Techaisle found that 71% of small businesses are currently using IT automation to some extent, with 64% of those businesses reporting significant benefits from automation.

Advantages of Automation for Small Businesses

Improved efficiency and productivity

Automation can help small businesses to streamline their processes and workflows, reducing the time and effort required to complete routine tasks. According to a recent study by Salesforce, small businesses that have implemented automation have seen an average of 43% increase in productivity.

Cost savings through reduced labor and operational expenses

Small businesses can reduce their labor costs by automating routine tasks and freeing employees to tackle more complex, rewarding work. For example, remote monitoring network tools can help automate routine maintenance tasks such as software updates and security patching, giving IT staff time for more strategic and value-added work.

Enhanced accuracy and reduced human error

By automating routine tasks, small businesses can reduce the risk of errors and improve accuracy.

The Techaisle study also found that small businesses that implemented IT automation solutions saw an average of 26% reduction in IT-related issues and a 19% reduction in IT-related downtime. For small businesses that may have limited resources and staff, reducing the risk of errors can be critical to the success of the business.

Increased competitiveness and scalability

Automation can help small businesses to stay competitive by reducing costs, improving efficiency, and enhancing the customer experience. As indicated by Accenture’s research, 80% of businesses that have implemented automation report increased competitiveness, with 70% reporting increased scalability.

Addressing Common Concerns and Challenges

Balancing initial implementation costs with long-term benefits

While automation can bring significant cost savings and other benefits over time, the initial investment can be a significant hurdle for small businesses. Still, it’s important to keep in mind the benefits of automation can often outweigh the costs in the long run. In fact, a study by McKinsey found that companies that invest in automation can see a return on investment of up to 30% within the first year.

Managing potential job displacement and workforce re-skilling

Another common concern for small businesses when it comes to automation is the potential for job displacement and the need to retrain employees. However, automation can also create new jobs and opportunities, particularly in areas such as IT and data analysis.

Overcoming resistance to change within the organization

Implementing automation can be a significant change for any organization, and it’s not uncommon for employees to be resistant to change. However, it’s important for small businesses to address this resistance head-on and work to communicate the benefits of automation to their employees. This can help to build support and buy-in for the change. By taking a thoughtful and strategic approach to change management, small businesses can overcome resistance to change and successfully implement automation.

Best Practices for Successful Automation Implementation

Assessing business needs and selecting the right automation solutions

The first step to successful automation implementation is to assess your business needs and identify the areas where automation can have the biggest impact. It’s important to consider factors such as ease of implementation, scalability, and cost when selecting automation solutions.

Integrating automation technologies with existing systems and workflows

Successful automation implementation requires integration with existing systems and workflows. This can help to ensure that automation solutions work seamlessly with your current technology stack and business processes. It’s important to work closely with your automation vendor or IT team to ensure that automation solutions are properly integrated and configured.

Fostering a culture of continuous learning and adaptation

Automation implementation isn’t a one-time event, but rather a continuous process of learning and adaptation. It’s important to foster a culture of continuous learning and encourage employees to stay up-to-date with the latest automation technologies and best practices. This can help to ensure that your business is able to take advantage of new opportunities and technologies as they arise.

Measuring and monitoring the impact of automation on business performance

To ensure the success of your automation initiatives, it’s important to establish clear goals and KPIs upfront, and regularly review progress.  Continually evaluating automation’s impact on business performance can help you you to identify areas where further optimization may be needed and make data-driven decisions about your automation investments.

Embracing Automation as a Catalyst for Growth

The future of small businesses in an increasingly automated world

The future of small businesses is increasingly tied to automation as technology continues to evolve. As reported by Deloitte, 64% of small businesses are already using some form of automation technology. This trend is expected to continue as automation can help small businesses reduce costs, increase efficiency, and improve customer experiences.

Seizing opportunities and staying ahead of the curve through continuous innovation and improvement

According to research by Gartner, nearly 40% of business automation initiatives are handled by the IT department. Small businesses with limited IT resources can benefit greatly from partnering with a managed service provider (MSP) for automation solutions.

For more than a decade, SYMBITS has provided expertise and support to small businesses, helping them implement and automate technologies. We can help your small business identify the right automation technologies for their specific needs, and provide ongoing maintenance and support to ensure that the automation technologies continue to work effectively. Find out how we can work with your organization—whether it’s supporting your existing IT department, or designing and implementing a completed outsourced automation solution. Get in touch with Geovani Aday, COO of SYMBITS at [email protected]

Adapting to the Cloud: Overcoming Obstacles for Small Businesses

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Cloud computing has been a game-changer for businesses, helping them save time and money, while fueling innovation, and enhancing remote work collaboration and productivity. With easily accessible data, automatic syncing, and easy backups, cloud-based solutions offer tremendous advantages, especially for small businesses. While operating on the cloud is the new normal, it’s not without challenges and risks. Here are some of the common challenges, and practical advice to overcoming these hurdles.

1. Security concerns

Data security in the cloud is the top concern for most small businesses. With data stored on remote services, and threats continuing to evolve, there’s potential for unauthorized access, data breaches, and the regulatory and legal consequences of failure to protect data.

The key to maximizing security is choose a provider that prioritizes security and has a strong track record in protecting customer data. Ensure your provider understands the compliance requirements of your industry, and all relevant data protection regulations. Ask who can see your information, and what measures the provider uses to ensure to protect and encrypt your data. The goal is always prevent a data breach before it happens, but there also needs to be a proactive plan in place on what to do to mitigate any damage in the event of a malicious attack. Together with your provider, regularly review and update your security policies and practices to address evolving threats.

2. Integration with existing systems

Once you make the decision to switch to the cloud services, the challenge can be figuring out what systems you have place can still be used once the transition is complete. Integrating cloud services with existing systems—especially legacy or bespoke systems—can be complex, especially for small businesses with limited IT resources. Data migration, even for a small business, can cause disruption to daily operations.

The solution is to work with a provider who can walk you through the process of selecting the right cloud services to integrate with your existing software and system, and then manage the integration and migration tasks. Often there are industry-specific systems or compliance-specific systems to consider, which is why a planned, phased migration to the cloud makes the most business sense, to allow for adequate testing and minimizing potential disruptions.

3. Concerns about start-up costs

While cloud computing can lead to cost savings in the long term, small businesses may be concerned about the initial investment required to implement cloud solutions. Businesses moving to the cloud grow their investments in servers, storage, and other cloud-based services ranging from billing and monitoring to security. Without proper guidance, small businesses can also find themselves with unused cloud services and cloud services that are difficult to forecast, causing them to go over budget.

To manage and control cloud costs, it’s essential to find a cloud servicer provider that offers a pricing model that both meets your company’s requirements and aligns with your budget. Ask about scalable solutions that allow you to pay only for the resources you use, ensuring you’re not overspending on unnecessary features. Also, be sure to continuously monitor and optimize your cloud resource usage to minimize costs.

How to choose the right cloud services provider

Choosing the right partner to implement cloud computing solutions is vital. Adopting cloud-based solutions can provide significant benefits for small businesses, but overcoming common challenges is crucial for a successful transition. That’s why you should look for a cloud services provider who understands the unique needs of small businesses, and can help you address data security concerns, ensure seamless integration with existing systems and manage costs. For more than a decade, SYMBITS has provided flexible IT solutions to small businesses. Our cloud-based services help small businesses harness the power of the cloud and reap the rewards of a more flexible, scalable, and efficient IT infrastructure. Find out what cloud computing can do for your business. Get in touch with Geovani Aday, COO of SYMBITS at [email protected]

The Cybersecurity Dilemma: Protecting Small Business Data in a Digital World

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Many small businesses think cybersecurity attacks won’t happen to them—that hackers only go after large corporations. The reality is that smaller companies are are vulnerable to cyberattacks—over 40% of cyberattacks target small businesses—and the threats are rising. Small businesses typically don’t have the staff to dedicate to IT security, and with generally weaker cybersecurity measures, these are the companies that are most likely to be unprepared for the huge financial and reputational impact of a cyberattack. In this article, we’ll explore the most common cybersecurity threats that small businesses face, the impact of a data breach, and the best practices for improving cybersecurity measures and how to create a culture of security awareness among employees.

Common Cybersecurity Threats Targeting Small Businesses

Phishing Attacks: Social engineering attacks, such as phishing, spam, and email malware, are most commonly aimed at businesses with fewer than 250 employees. In fact, small businesses receive the highest rate of targeted emails: one in 323. Phishing is a type of scam which a hacker tricks a user into clicking on a link or opening an attachment, revealing sensitive information or unwittingly installing malware on company systems.

Ransomware: This type of malware encrypts a victim’s file so they can’t access their information, effectively holding their data for ransom. The hacker demands payment for the decryption key, downing service for days until the ransom is paid. The downtime and financial losses can cripple small business.

Malware and Viruses: At 18%, malware—software designed to infiltrate, damage or steal data—is the most common type of attack targeting small businesses. A study by Verizon found that that for the median small business, 94% of detected malware was through email.

Insider Threats: There three major employee-related sources for insider threats that compromise data security: employee negligence that accidentally deletes information; malicious employee or former employee with intent to harm the organization; and attackers who have stolen user credentials.

Potential Consequences of a Data Breach

Financial Loss: Direct costs associated with a breach, such as ransom payments, system recovery, and potential fines or lawsuits.

Reputation Damage: Loss of customer trust and credibility, which can lead to a decline in business.

Intellectual Property Theft: Theft of sensitive information, trade secrets, or proprietary data that can give competitors an unfair advantage.

Legal and Regulatory Compliance: Data breaches may lead to non-compliance with data protection laws, resulting in fines and penalties.

Tips and Best Practices for Improving Cybersecurity Measures

Regularly Update Software: Keep your operating systems, applications and firmware up to date with the latest versions, as these updates come with security patches to correct vulnerabilities.

Implement Strong Password Policies: Require the use of strong, unique passwords and enable multi-factor authentication for added security. For an additional layer of security, there is email encryption, which essentially disguising the information in your emails so that no one outside the organization can read its contents.

Conduct Regular Security Assessments: Identify vulnerabilities in your systems and networks, and take corrective action to reduce risks. It’s best to hire a third-party provider with cybersecurity experts who can perform penetrative testing to attempt to breach the system—revealing flaws that can be fixed.

Implement Backup and Recovery Plans: Keep your backups offline and regularly test your backup configuration to make sure it’s working and disconnected from any business network. Ensure your incident response plan includes steps for recovering business operations and a strategy for business continuity while your system recovers. And be sure to test this plan in a non-emergency situation so that you know your bases are covered.

Educate and Train Employees: Over half of security breaches are due to human error, such as opening an email that launches malware or revealing sensitive company information through a phishing attempt. Provide ongoing cybersecurity training to all employees, emphasizing the importance of security awareness and best practices.

Creating a Culture of Security Awareness Among Employees

Make Cybersecurity a Priority: Establish a top-down approach, with management actively promoting cybersecurity best practices.

Communicate Expectations: Clearly communicate security policies and procedures, ensuring employees understand their roles and responsibilities.

Foster a Security-Minded Workforce: Encourage employees to report suspicious activity and reward those who proactively contribute to the organization’s security.

Conduct Regular Training and Awareness Programs: Keep employees informed about the latest threats and provide them with the necessary tools to recognize and respond to them effectively.

Protecting small business data in a digital world is an ongoing challenge. A managed service provider (MSP) with extensive experience in cybersecurity can help small businesses minimize their risks and create a culture of security awareness among employees. For more than a decade, SYMBITS has provided flexible cybersecurity solutions to small businesses. We monitor and manage systems, handle upgrades, system changes, and safeguard valuable data. Find out how we can work with your organization—whether it’s supporting your existing IT department, or designing and implementing a completed outsourced cybersecurity solution. Get in touch with Geovani Aday, COO of SYMBITS at [email protected]

 

i https://smallbiztrends.com/2016/04/cyber-attacks-target-small-business.html

ii https://www.broadcom.com/support/security-center

iii https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/trends/insights-april-2022/

iv https://enterprise.verizon.com/resources/reports/dbir/2019/results-and-analysis/

v https://www.ekransystem.com/en/blog/real-life-examples-insider-threat-caused-breaches

Managed Services Provider vs. In-House IT: How to Choose?

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When it comes to IT services — from end-user support and cybersecurity to new installations and cloud services — which is better: Hiring an outside managed services provider (MSP) or employing an in-house IT specialist or team? Especially as the systems needed to run day-to-day operations get more complex, an MSP can be just what your business needs to provide solutions to meet your specific IT needs.

 

Leverage an entire team of experts.

With a managed service provider you get an entire team with expertise in all areas of IT, with diverse skill sets—often for less than what a mid-level tech would cost.  Creating this with in-house support would require multiple technicians specialized in different areas, many of which will just not be fully utilized. Partnering with a trusted MSP can also lower costs, since you only pay for services provided, rather than paying a yearly salary for a highly qualified IT professional.

 

Broader knowledge base

MSPs have collective knowledge from their teams of engineers and experiences with other client’s systems that create a vast knowledge base that benefits all clients. And MSPs are constantly learning, training, and expanding their knowledge—businesses will be assured they’re getting experts who are up-to-date on the latest, most advanced IT practices.

 

Tried and true systems

MSPs use state-of-the-art systems that are usually not cost-effective for internal IT departments. Managed service providers also take on the task of testing and validating new systems so when we present an IT solution to a client, we know it works. By the time we make a system recommendation, most of the challenges and issues have been resolved, and this greatly reduces the risks that normally come with a new deployment. This eliminates the need—and expense—of purchasing and installing different backup or monitoring systems. Also, with an MSP partner, you can try a system for a month or two, and if it’s not exactly what you need, we can provide you with something more suitable for your business needs.

 

MSPs keep their eyes on your business first, IT second.

MSP leaders think business before they think IT. It’s difficult for internal IT departments to do this, especially with limited resources, often dedicated to resolving IT issues. Most internal IT staff are focused on the help desk or break/fix operations, not on business development strategies. Managed service providers propose solutions that have a direct positive impact on the business.

 

Keep it simple

A good MSP will have the ability to understand your unique business processes and help identify the correct technology solution and be able to “translate” IT terms in an easy-to-understand manner. And because managed service providers often have clients across broad industries, it’s likely they have direct experience working on a business just like yours.

 

A partner that can help grow your business

Often time companies don’t fully understand which IT solutions can streamline their business, increase productivity or efficiency. The best MSP is not the one who can present a set of solutions in the first meeting but the one who comes back three months into the relationship and proposes changes and systems tailored to specific business needs and processes. And an MSP offers scalability—as your business grows, you can scale up to higher levels of service, without having to add more in-house IT staff.

 

You can have the best of both worlds.

Having an in-house IT department doesn’t mean it’s not smart to also partner with a managed service provider. An MSP can supplement your in-house staff—filling in the gaps to give your IT team time to focus on handling day-to-day responsibilities. Or an MSP can take on a major technology initiative, such as network redesigns, security assessments and validation, and major data center work. I

 

If you’re interested in finding out how an MSP can work with you to help grow your business, get in touch with Kenny Rabouin, Client Relationship Manager for SYMBITS, which provides innovative, flexible IT solutions for businesses, retailers, and manufacturers. You can reach Kenny at [email protected].

Are Your Files Really Safe in the Cloud?

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Cloud storage is great, but it’s not foolproof. For personal data—what you mostly consider of minor importance—cloud storage is probably fine. But business data—including critical emails and documents—anything you think of as essential to your business, you’ll want to seriously think about the need for cloud-to-cloud backup.

Evaluate your current storage and backup

First, you need to understand what you have stored in the cloud, and what backup, if any, you already have in place. Many major providers, such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, have backup solutions, but these are often not included with the standard subscription but are an additional fee. It’s also important to understand whether these are backups or archives. The purpose of backups is for recovery—to protect current and revision data. Archives are for preserving historical data, and to enable compliance with legal and business data retention policies, as well as supporting eDiscovery.

Cloud data protection issues

There are, of course, limits to these provider backups; that’s why it’s not advisable to use a single solution for your business backups. Accidental deletion of emails and documents by users is the most common source of data loss. But there are other ways that data can be compromised, including errors that can result in data being lost or overwritten, as well as a hacked email that can result in files being deleted or corrupted. That’s why more customers, especially those using Office 365, should consider third-party solution backups. These solutions provide an additional layer of protection, much longer retention periods, and more comprehensive recovery options—and they are specifically designed to integrate with their system cloud provider.

Your data can be threatened, even in the cloud

We recently had a client that clicked on an email attachment that looked legit, and once the user entered their email and password, the hacker had all the information needed to redirect all incoming mail to the deleted folder; had we not had a cloud-to-cloud backup in place, that user would have permanently lost days of email and documents. In this case, the third-party solution sent all incoming emails to the cloud-to-cloud backup, so regardless of whether the email ever reached the inbox, we had a copy.  Hackers continue to get more sophisticated, looking to exploit people’s trust, and creating havoc—so that without a backup of your backup, data is corrupted, damaged, or just gone, with no way of recovery.

Stop data loss before it happens

With more people working remotely, there are more people using Teams, Exchange, Sharepoint, and OneDrive. While this is a great solution to allow businesses to run better and allows each user to access all products with a single username and password, that means there’s also increased vulnerability—both for the company and its clients. Businesses that keep a cloud-to-cloud backup can sleep easier knowing they are protected in the event of accidental deletion or malicious acts.

To learn more about the benefits of third-party cloud-to-cloud backup solutions, watch our video.

If you’re interested in third-party cloud-to-cloud backup solutions, get in touch with Geovani Aday, COO of Symbits, which provides innovative, flexible IT solutions for businesses, retailers, and manufacturers. You can reach Geo at [email protected].

The Advantages of an IT Partner on Retail Operations

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The Advantages of an IT Partner on Retail Operations

The retail landscape is more challenging than ever, with increasing pressure to generate revenue and control costs, while balancing the growing reliance on technology by both retailers and their customers. IT support has become indispensable for retailers—from POS to digital displays to guest WiFi, technology is integrated into every facet of retail operations. But beyond the technical aspect, the decision to find an IT partner to manage their IT responsibilities frees retailers to place a greater focus on other areas. Here are just a few of the ways that managed IT can advance business for retailers:

Free up internal resources for other projects

Looking to open additional stores? Searching for new locations? With tech concerns off the table, you’re free to devote time to expansion efforts. And, with an IT partner in place, you can work with them on new store set-up, to ensure that all your hardware and software is secure and PCI compliant.

Better protection of digital assets

Cybersecurity has become one of retail’s biggest concerns, and it’s more important than ever to protect customer information and business data. This is one area that’s definitely better handled by professionals, who can develop customized solutions to protect against viruses, ensure that all security patches are up-to-date, and even monitor the Dark Web for identity theft. With all these safeguards in place, your odds of cybercrime are reduced, and in the event there is a malicious attack, you’ve got technology professionals who have already have backup solutions in place to keep your business files safe and retrievable.

Improved productivity

When your network is down, your POS is running slowly, or you’re experiencing any other unexpected tech problem, your retail store is losing money, And any one of these issues can lead to company downtime, resulting in productivity and financial losses that can quickly spiral out of control. Another benefit of outsourcing your IT responsibilities is that, especially with remote monitoring software in place, most issues are caught before you even realize it, and when there is a software glitch, you have a help desk already on-call, ensuring that downtime is minimized.

Better control over operating costs

With an IT partner, you’re not constantly upgrading systems or paying for unexpected technology repairs. You’ll have a fixed cost associated with IT, so there’s no guesswork as to that budget line item. Plus, you’ll have IT professionals who understand what systems, hardware and software are best for your future change and growth, so you can plan and budget accordingly.

There are many compelling reasons to outsource IT, but for retailers it’s important to find a company who understands the unique challenges of IT in a retail environment. Look for an IT partner who understands your customers and the technologies used to serve them, and who has support staff with experience in the retail sector. Ultimately you want an IT partner that can not only support your existing store, but also support your future strategies for growth and expansion, with new technologies that can deliver a competitive edge.

For information about SYMBITS, and its specialized IT solutions for retailers, visit symbits.com or call

866-422-0511.

Risky Behavior: How does your state rank in “cyber hygiene”?

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From password sharing to failing to back up data to not checking URLs before clicking through, there are risky behaviors that leave consumers more vulnerable to identity theft. And some states are worse that others, when it comes to cybersecurity, according to a new report by the Ponemon Institute that ranks each state based on “cyber hygiene.”

 

The report, “The Cyber Hygiene Index: Measuring the Riskiest States,” is based on a survey of 4,290 consumers across all 50 states. The Cyber Hygiene Index (CHI) attempts to measure consumers’ ability to protect themselves from various criminal attacks, especially in the online environment. The index provides a score ranging from +37 points (highest possible CHI) to -39 points (lowest possible CHI).

 

Turns out Florida comes out dead last, with a score of -6.29.  Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico Illinois round out the bottom five. New Hampshire ends up with a best score of 4.29, and together with Massachusetts, Utah, Rhode Island and Minnesota make up the top five.  But regardless of where they live, it turns out most people are just terrible at cybersecurity. Only backing up data had a positive response rate: 51% say that they back up their data. No other activity was claimed by even one-third of those responding and some, like “have a different password for each account” were chosen by as few as 9% of respondents nationwide. In fact, for individuals in the bottom half of respondents with the most risky behavior, nearly half (49 percent) shared passwords regularly, and only 7 percent update their operating system software on a monthly basis (for security patches and other updates).

 

Why does cyber hygiene matter? Because identify theft is a leading cause of financial fraud, and poor computer behavior and hygiene are leading sources of stolen identities. To help retailers identify compromised credentials, that can be used to exploit employees and customers, SYMBITS has added ID Agent’s Dark Web ID to its suite of monitoring services. Dark Web ID combines human and sophisticated Dark Web intelligence with search capabilities to identify, analyze and proactively monitor for compromised or stolen employee and customer data. By focusing on real threats, Dark Web automates security, fraud and incident response for retailers Dark Web ID can be added to SYMBITs around the clock monitoring services, designed to proactively prevent issues, complemented by 24//7/365 Help Desk, staffed by techs specialized in retail support. For more information about SYMBITS suite of automated monitoring offerings, plus its full spectrum of services for new store set-up and optimizing & managing existing stores, contact Geovani Aday, Chief Technology Officer305.704.3553 or [email protected].

What’s the True Cost of IT Downtime?

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For small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), when your IT goes down, it’s never good news. We don’t need to tell you that. But, how bad is it? As it turns out, downtime can be downright catastrophic. According to a 2016 survey by Gartner, a technology research and advisory firm, small businesses with 50 million or less in annual revenue put the price tag of an hour-long outage at $8,600. And if there’s data loss in addition to just downtime? Then the costs really add up. Gartner reports that a whopping 43% of SMBs shut their doors right after a major data loss. And 51% go out of business for good within two years.

You needn’t be an Amazon-type business that’s wholly online to feel the impact of data loss either. Just imagine that you didn’t have access to client records or sales contacts… the impact on your customers, and ultimately your reputation, has far reaching consequences. Even an hour of IT downtime can take up to three months for a business to recover, according to Nationwide Insurance. Customers are used to operating in a wireless, one-click world, and have little patience for anything less than immediacy. As a result, you’ll likely lose some customers, who may be hard to lure back, even when you’re fully operational again. And any new leads in the pipeline are lost, too. The odds are truly stacked against businesses that fail to plan for IT downtime and data loss. While it’s a cliché, it’s true: the best offense is a good defense, and that applies to your business continuity plan, too. You can avoid outages in the first place, with a managed IT support subscription that monitors your network for problems. With a remote monitoring connectivity agent in place, you’re protected again viruses and spyware, and know that all security patches are up to date, plus the added peace-of-mind of a help desk and IT onsite support if needed—it’s a much more cost-effective solution that trying to get back up and running with the help of a traditional IT support tech, who has an hourly rate that will rack up quickly.  The other critical piece of the puzzle is reliable backup and disaster recovery (BDR) solution to ensure that the data is both backed up and retrievable. While you can’t prevent all IT downtime, with these solutions in place, you can certainly prevent a lot of the headaches.

To find out more about business continuity and other technology solutions for SMBs, including a FREE trial of remote monitoring software, call 1-866-422-0511

 

 

 

 

Innovative IT Solutions From SYMBITS Promise Dependability

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MIAMI–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SYMBITS, a best-in-class IT service provider and part of The Revenue Optimization Companies (T-ROC), announces three innovative services designed to ensure rapid and safe growth for business owners when it comes to their digital and IT demands. Unparalleled recent catastrophic events have left businesses at a loss when it comes to backing up critical files or have even led to massive leaks of personal information.

“Savvy business owners realize the importance of securing their assets while having a dependable backup solution and providing reliable Wi-Fi access to staff and consumers”

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The three innovative solutions SYMBITS has introduced are pioneering IT services and guarantee reliable safety for business owners when it matters most. The solutions are:

M-Series is a monthly subscription service that completely protects your IT assets by not only monitoring their health but also keeping them secure, compliant and operating efficiently. Instant access to a team of specialized IT experts that monitor, maintain and manage all aspects of your business, means your business receives the reporting and support it needs to thrive. Three tiers of service are available, with monthly subscriptions starting at $14.99. To learn more about M-Series, visit https://www.symbitsm.com/.

Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) is the ultimate cloud-to-cloud backup you can’t afford to live without. With 70% of all lost data being due to deletion by end-users, BDR provides automated and on-demand backup capabilities from Barracuda Essentials powered by SYMBITS. Critical files can be trusted not only on the cloud with the customizable and flexible protection service. Free set-up and installation, a value of $250, is available. To learn more about BDR, visit www.symbits.com/cloudtocloud.

Managed Wi-Fi provides the speed to access at the price that fits your business. Small and medium-size businesses are guaranteed fast and reliable Wi-Fi service at an affordable price point that is designed to meet the needs of a growing business. In partnership with Ruckus, SYMBITS creates a network that easily handles the stress of multiple users streaming various video and other services. Uses can connect confidently, knowing a secure connection is minimizing exposure to malware, hackers and other cyber threats. To learn more about managed Wi-Fi, visit www.symbits.com/managedwifi.

“Savvy business owners realize the importance of securing their assets while having a dependable backup solution and providing reliable Wi-Fi access to staff and consumers,” says Brett Beveridge, founder and CEO of SYMBITS and The Revenue Optimization Companies. “Our work with small and medium-size businesses has given us the foresight to create customized services and programs that enable business owners to not only grow but to feel confident in the safety of their data and files.”

To learn more about SYMBITS, visit www.symbits.com.

About SYMBITS

SYMBITS is a managed IT provider with certified network engineers and leading-edge software applications. SYMBITS services include cloud solutions, proactive IT support, backup/disaster recovery, and business continuity. To learn more about SYMBITS, visit www.symbits.com.

About The Revenue Optimization Companies

The Revenue Optimization Companies (T-ROC) is home to four sales solutions companies that enable clients to fulfill all of their sales performance needs. The Retail Outsource (TRO): an in and out of store sales performance management company; Mobile Insight (MI): real-time field reporting and business intelligence; The Consumer Insight (TCI): full-service customer experience analysis; and SYMBITS: managed IT services. Working in synergy, these four companies form a complete ecosystem for running, managing, and maximizing the productivity of institutional efforts. To learn more about T-ROC and its subsidiaries, visit www.trocglobal.com.

When the Cloud isn’t Enough

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In the past few years, there’s been an explosion in cloud solutions available to SMBs. The cloud technology that had previously only been available to enterprise-level companies was now everywhere, and small- and medium-sized businesses seized the opportunity. And the thinking was, once on the cloud, a business was never going to go down. But the reality is that few cloud-based applications have the level of built-in disaster recovery that’s required to keep a business functional when you need it the most. All it takes a drive to fail, a file to get deleted, or a data center to go down to learn the limitations of the cloud.

For those savvy businesses that do realize the need for layered back-up protection, often the decision comes down to price. But it’s often not that simple, and rather than look at the decision solely from technology product perspective, make your choice based on business processes. Because often one product doesn’t protect all your data and all the infrastructure required to run your business.

When we work with SMBs, we ask plenty of questions about what files and applications are business-critical—where you house your data, how you use your applications, what’s the impact of having the data compromised. And we talk to all levels of employees to get the most complete picture of your business and technology use. Then we can develop a customized Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) solution—one that often includes multiple products and services from our trusted technology partners.

Don’t get me wrong. The cloud is great, and it’s been a boon for SMBS that don’t have the budget for enterprise-level backup. But taking a few extra steps to secure your data so that your business can be back on its feet after any sort of disaster? That’s priceless.