Category: Utah IT Company

Corporate ITInternetIT SecurityManaged ITTechnologyUtah IT Company
How to Implement Proactive Measures to Avoid a CrowdStrike Crisis

Data isn’t just valuable in the modern business landscape—it’s indispensable. Every aspect of your operations, from client records to financial details, hinges on the integrity and availability of your data. As threats like cyber-attacks, accidental deletions, and hardware failures loom, protecting this vital asset becomes a top priority.

This month, we delve into why regular backups and expert IT management are crucial to maintaining business continuity, with a particular focus on a recent high-profile incident and how our backup solutions can make a difference.

The Imperative of Reliable Backups

Consider the impact of a server crash on your operations. Without reliable backups, you face the grim possibility of losing all your data—years of work, critical records, and customer information could be gone in an instant. Such a loss can paralyze your business, strain your finances, and erode customer trust.

Backups are not a mere precaution; they are a critical necessity. They allow you to recover from unforeseen disasters and minimize downtime. However, backups alone aren’t enough. They need to be managed, tested, and verified to ensure they function precisely when needed.

A Recent Incident: The CrowdStrike and Microsoft Update Crisis

To highlight the importance of comprehensive backup solutions, let’s look at a recent incident involving CrowdStrike and a problematic Microsoft update. An update rolled out by Microsoft unexpectedly caused hundreds of millions of systems to fail to boot, creating a widespread crisis.

This scenario underscores the need for robust backup solutions. With our image-based backups, we have a complete snapshot of your system at any point in time. If your system encounters a similar issue, where a critical update or malfunction prevents it from booting, we can quickly restore your system using these images. Whether the issue is a software glitch or hardware failure, we can deploy the image to a new or existing system, allowing you to return to a fully operational state swiftly.

The Critical Role of IT Professionals

In addition to having reliable backups, having a skilled IT professional on your team is indispensable. A seasoned IT expert doesn’t just set up and maintain backups—they manage and monitor your entire IT infrastructure. They ensure backups are current, secure, and easily accessible while anticipating and mitigating potential issues before they escalate.

IT professionals also offer strategic advice to optimize your technology resources, keeping you ahead with the latest cybersecurity measures and data management strategies. Their proactive approach not only saves you time and money but also alleviates the stress associated with IT disruptions.

Conclusion

In today’s digital world, protecting your data and having expert IT support are not optional—they are essential to your business’s survival and success. Investing in robust backups and skilled IT management safeguards your operations, allowing you to confidently navigate any IT challenge.

Business ProductivityCorporate ITDigitalInternetIT for the Medical IndustryIT SecurityManaged ITTechnologyUtah IT Company
Do You Need a Disaster Recovery Plan?

If you suddenly lost access to documents and applications pertinent to your daily work life, how would you cope? Would you know where to go, or who to look to for help? Whether the loss occurs because of a natural disaster, hardware failure, human error, or cyber-crimes, a Disaster Recovery Plan (DR) is essential for businesses of all sizes!


A *2023 survey found that only 54% of businesses had an established company-wide disaster recovery plan in place. That is barely more than half of all businesses. Aside from having the plan in place, it’s also important to regularly review and test your plan to ensure your team knows how to execute the strategy. Ponemon Institute estimates the average cost of downtime at a staggering $9,000 per minute or $500,000 per hour. Being able to restore systems and operations quickly is imperative to recovery from a disaster. Those averages might look high for your small business, but the fact is downtime is expensive. It’s not just the direct financial losses but also the expense of lost productivity, missed opportunities, customer dissatisfaction, and long-term reputational damage.

Though most owners believe they are unlikely to suffer a cyber-attack, small businesses suffer 43% of all data breaches. Do you currently have strategies in place to protect your data? A solid DR plan is crucial as it aims to minimize downtime and data loss, enabling a company to swiftly return to normal operations following a catastrophic event. This guide breaks down the various elements of a disaster recovery plan, highlighting their significance and demonstrating real-world scenarios where such planning proves invaluable.

Understanding Disaster Recovery

At its core, disaster recovery involves preparing for and recovering from events that can significantly disrupt business operations. These events range from natural disasters like earthquakes to man-made challenges such as cyber-attacks. A well-structured DR plan addresses these threats by outlining steps to resume critical operations swiftly and securely.

Key Components of a Disaster Recovery Plan
Risk Assessment and Business Impact Analysis (BIA): This involves understanding a business’s specific risks and potential impact on operations. It helps prioritize the recovery of critical systems and data.

  • Data Backup Strategies: Robust data backup strategies ensure that critical data is regularly backed up to secure, offsite locations, allowing for the restoration of lost data.
  • Recovery Solutions: DR plans must detail the solutions for restoring IT systems, applications, and data, including both on-site and cloud-based options.
  • Communication Plan: A clear plan for notifying employees, customers, and stakeholders during a disaster is vital for maintaining transparency and minimizing panic.
  • Regular Testing and Updates: Regular testing and updates ensure that the plan evolves with the business and remains effective over time.

The Importance of Each Component

Each component of a DR plan plays a critical role in safeguarding business operations. For example, the BIA guides resource allocation during and after a disaster, while data backup strategies prevent catastrophic data loss. Recovery solutions bring data back into action, and the communication plan maintains trust and order. Regular testing guarantees that the plan will work as intended when needed.

Real-World Applications

Consider a business that experiences a severe data breach. With a comprehensive DR plan in place, the company can quickly identify the breach’s extent, revert to recent data backups, and effectively manage customer expectations and regulatory requirements. Regularly tested recovery procedures ensure a swift return to operation, minimizing downtime and financial loss.

The Value of Preparedness

In today’s digital age, disasters are inevitable. The examples above underscore the value of a DR plan, providing a blueprint for action that can mean the difference between a setback and a complete shutdown. Investing in a thorough disaster recovery plan is critical for responsible business management, ensuring resilience, and maintaining trust.

Avoid becoming another cautionary tale of poor planning. Please give us a call. We would be happy to help you implement your disaster recovery plan or review your current plan!

*Statistics are taken from the article “Disaster Recovery Statistics Every Business Should Know.” At https://phoenixnap.com

 

Managed ITTechnologyUtah IT Company
Reliable IT: The Key to Sustained Business Success

Businesses of all sizes rely heavily on technology for streamlining operations, enhancing productivity, and driving growth. Managing IT infrastructure efficiently while staying within budget constraints can be daunting, especially for small businesses. That’s where TEK Utah shines as Utah’s premier managed IT service provider! For the past 20 years, we have offered unparalleled support to small businesses at a fraction of the cost of maintaining a full-time IT employee. By honoring our core values of reliability, responsiveness, accountability, decisiveness, and integrity, we aim to deliver exceptional IT services tailored to each client’s needs.

Living our Values is What Sets us Apart

Our distinctiveness in managed IT services arises from our steadfast commitment to regularly reviewing and embodying our core values. This introspection sets us apart, ensuring our actions align with our principles. Reliability is pivotal among these values because a reliable IT setup is vital for a smooth customer experience.  To support this commitment, we actively seek feedback from our clients, valuing their perspectives as a compass for improvement. By prioritizing reliability and actively engaging with client insights, we not only meet but exceed expectations, fostering a technological environment where our clients can trust in a consistently superior experience.

To ensure the delivery of top-tier service, we are implementing a new support request system. This system will:

  1. Make it easier for clients to submit support requests.
  2. Offer clear communication and documentation for all service requests.
  3. Allow the Client to view the status of the request.
  4. Allow the client to participate in a post-service survey to ensure we exceed expectations.
  5. Provide real-time reports to create greater security, improve performance, and insights to grow your business.

This system will equip clients with the tools to facilitate clear communication of their requests and enable the consolidation of related inquiries, ensuring transparency and prompt responses.

Why Reliability Reduces Costly Risks

Having a managed IT service provider dedicated to reliability is crucial. Businesses rely heavily on their IT infrastructure to maintain operations, support critical functions, and safeguard valuable data. Any disruption or downtime can lead to significant financial losses, tarnished reputations, and lost opportunities. A managed IT service provider like TEK Utah, with an unwavering focus on reliability, offers peace of mind to clients by ensuring that their systems are consistently up and running, minimizing the risk of costly disruptions. By trusting us with their IT needs, clients can focus on their core business objectives, knowing that their technology is in capable hands. A dedicated commitment to reliability isn’t just a luxury—it’s necessary for businesses striving for sustained success in today’s digital age.

How to Leverage Managed IT and Elevate Reliability Today!

As a client:

We’d welcome your feedback on how we’re supporting you through all our values by completing our customer satisfaction survey. Go here!

If you’re ready for your executive technology review, where we’ll perform an audit and provide custom reports and strategies to reduce your bottom line and increase performance, contact us directly. If you’re unsure if you’re eligible for a review, reach out, and we’ll share the options available.

In the meantime, stay tuned for updates on using our enhanced support services and elevate the benefits of reliability in your business!

Not a client yet:

If you’re curious about the benefits TEK Utah can provide for your business, we’ve got you covered! Take advantage of our complimentary consultation, where we’ll review the results of our custom assessment and provide at least one strategy to enhance your IT goals. Get access here!

 

 

AI TechnologyBusiness ProductivityCorporate ITIT SecuritySoftwareTechnologyUtah IT Company
Why Regular IT Reviews are Critical for Your Business Growth and Management

In today’s business landscape, the role of technology is crucial. Ensuring your IT system operations are seamless is paramount for business success. Regular executive technology review meetings play a key role in detecting and addressing potential issues and fortifying a company’s foundation for future growth. There are five main areas of focus in TEK Utah’s technology review, identifying and addressing risks, evaluating hardware and software efficiencies, investing in employee security training, streamlining operations, and planning for future growth. Proactively responding to items revealed in our review meeting will save a business time, money, resources, and potentially a company’s reputation.

Identifying and Addressing Risks

A primary goal of regular IT review meetings is to assess and improve data management and security protocols. In an era where cyber threats are prevalent, safeguarding sensitive information is essential. IT reviews provide a platform to examine existing security measures, identify vulnerabilities, and implement solutions. Proactively addressing potential risks helps companies avoid data breaches, protecting their assets and reputation.

Sometimes IT security can be as simple as setting stronger passwords. Recently, a local business encountered a security breach within its email system. An unauthorized individual gained access to the administrator account, primarily due to the absence of multifactor authentication and the use of overly simple passwords. The intruder then created a new user account to impersonate the business owner, attempting to defraud the company financially. The breach was only discovered when a vigilant vendor flagged a suspicious email.

A routine check-up would have helped prevent this security incident. Regular IT reviews are the perfect time to assess security measures and identify potential weaknesses that could lead to substantial financial losses. Outside of regular reviews we offer cyber security products to help ensure your systems are secure. Check out this video where we address three key solutions for your business’s security needs.

Evaluating Hardware and Software Infrastructure

Outdated hardware and software can hinder productivity and expose a company to security risks. Regular IT reviews allow decision-makers to evaluate the current technological landscape, identifying areas that require upgrades or replacements. Investing in the latest hardware and software solutions optimizes performance, reduces downtime, and enhances efficiency.

Not long ago a client suffered severe data loss due to a failed hard drive. The user was not backing up their data externally, and unfortunately, crucial information was lost and unable to be recovered. While this incident did not permanently cripple the business, it highlighted a critical oversight. This issue could have easily been avoided had the user been regularly backing up their data. It’s easy to overlook backend systems because they are not meant to be in the foreground. However, a routine IT review is the perfect time to look in the background at all the systems that we take for granted and make changes where necessary.

Investing in Employee Training

The strength of a company often lies in its employees, but human error can be a vulnerability. “A joint study by Stanford University Professor Jeff Hancock and security firm Tessian found that a whopping 88 percent of data breach incidents are caused by employee mistakes” (https://securitytoday.com/articles/2022/07/30/just-why-are-so-many-cyber-breaches-due-to-human-error). It doesn’t matter how robust your security measures are if your employees are opening the door for attackers. Regular IT review meetings offer an opportunity to assess employee skill sets and identify areas for additional training. Investing in ongoing training programs ensures that staff members are well-equipped to navigate the evolving technological landscape, reducing the likelihood of errors and enhancing overall IT system effectiveness.

Streamlining Operations and Reducing Inefficiencies

Efficiency is crucial for success in any business. Regular reviews enable executives to scrutinize IT processes, identify bottlenecks, and streamline operations. By eliminating inefficiencies, companies can save time and resources, redirecting them towards more strategic endeavors that contribute to overall growth. Whether your business is ready or not, AI is fast becoming the key to increased productivity, and if your business is not equipped, you’ll be leaving profits on the table. But you’re in luck we recently added AI training to our list of services. This training is completely customizable and may be just what your company needs to update and enhance your processes. Read our blog article to Unlock your Business success through AI.

Planning for Future Growth

Businesses are dynamic entities, and their IT infrastructure must align with future growth plans. Regular IT review meetings provide a strategic forum to discuss and plan for future technological requirements. Whether it’s scaling up existing systems, implementing new technologies, or expanding digital capabilities, a proactive approach ensures that IT infrastructure evolves in tandem with the company’s broader objectives.

How can you save time, money, and resources?

The practical significance of regular IT review meetings is undeniable. By addressing critical areas such as data management, security, hardware and software improvements, employee training, and operational inefficiencies, these meetings contribute to significant savings in time, money, and resources. Moreover, they act as a shield for a company’s reputation, preventing potential setbacks caused by data breaches or technological failures.

In the fast-paced world of business, staying ahead requires a vigilant eye on the technological pulse. Executive IT review meetings serve as a practical measure and empower companies to thrive in an ever-evolving digital landscape. Prevention is key, and in the realm of IT, it translates to sustained success and growth.

Click here to schedule your executive technology review meeting.

Not a client yet? Click to schedule your free assessment and consultation!

 

Business ProductivityDigitalInternetIT SecurityUtah IT Company
Beware the Ghosts and Ghouls Haunting your Digital Space

It’s that time of year when the air is thick with spooky tales and ghostly whispers. But in this digital age spookiness isn’t confined to lurkers and hauntings; it extends to the virtual realm. Just as you wouldn’t go wandering alone in a haunted forest without a flashlight, don’t navigate the digital realm unprepared. In this Halloween-themed guide, we’ll arm you with the knowledge and tools to ward off the menacing malware and other online threats, ensuring your online experience remains as delightful as a bag full of treats.

**1. ** Ghosts in the Machine: Protecting Your Digital Haunt
Ghosts in the form of malware, viruses, and spyware can haunt your system, slowing it down and compromising your personal information. To keep them at bay, invest in reliable antivirus software. Treat your computer to regular scans to ensure no lurking spirits are waiting to cause mischief.

**2. ** Spells and Charms: Install a Robust Firewall
A firewall acts as a protective charm, keeping out malicious entities from your digital realm. Ensure your operating system’s firewall is activated and consider installing additional firewall software for extra protection. Just like magical barriers shield Hogwarts from dark forces, your firewall will shield your computer from online threats.

**3. ** Update Your Spells: Ensure your Software is Current
Developers release software updates to patch vulnerabilities in their systems. Regularly updating your operating system, antivirus software, and applications will ensure you have the latest security spells protecting your digital realm.

**4. ** Goblins in Disguise: Watch Out for Spamware
Spamware, the mischievous goblins of the internet, can infiltrate your system through seemingly harmless downloads or attachments. Avoid downloading files from dubious sources and always verify the authenticity of software before installation. Just as you wouldn’t accept candy from a stranger, don’t accept files from unfamiliar websites.

**5. ** The Magic Potion: Use Strong, Unique Passwords
A strong, unique password is your best defense against hackers. Create passwords that are a potent mix of letters, numbers, and special characters. Avoid using easily guessable information like birthdays or pet names. For an extra layer of protection, consider using a password manager – your very own magic potion to keep your accounts secure.

**6. ** Back Up Your Broomstick: Safely Store Your Data
Just as you keep a spare broomstick in case the first one breaks, regularly back up your important files. Ransomware can be a wicked curse, but having your files backed up ensures you won’t fall victim to it. Use external hard drives or cloud services for secure storage.

**7. ** Stay Wary of Social Media Ghosts: Check Your Privacy Settings
Ghosts of the digital world can haunt you on social media if your privacy settings are not secure. Regularly review your privacy settings on social platforms to control who can see your information and posts. Be mindful of the information you share, keeping personal details hidden from prying eyes.

In the spirit of Halloween, let’s approach our digital lives with the same caution we use to navigate haunted houses and spooky forests. By following these simple guidelines, you can keep your computer safe from the digital spooks lurking in the shadows of the internet. Stay vigilant, update your knowledge, and enjoy the online world without the fear of malicious threats. Don’t know where to start or need help finding the right tools? Reach out to us at TEK Utah, we will be happy to help keep your digital adventures spook-free!

 

Utah IT Company
Hiring a Reputable Computer Technician

Outside of wanting to have your computer needs handled, how do you know what to look for in a reputable company or information technology professional? When it comes down to it, IT is a huge part of everything in society right now. From the government level down to the school system, there are a number of needs to be fulfilled within the realm of computer science and hiring a reputable computer technician is extremely important. 

More…

Utah IT Company
How to Choose the Right Utah IT Company

Numerous things can happen in a day—cybersecurity attacks, network outages, hardware failure, and failed data backups. IT incidents are very expensive. You have to consider downtime and what that costs your business. For some businesses, even a couple hours of downtime can cost them thousands in sales! This is exactly why you can’t rely on your brother’s nephew anymore. Your business is growing, and you need the right Utah IT company to keep your business moving forward. Your choice for a Utah IT company should have the capabilities to monitor your network security 24/7, assist with data backups, and help with project management. 

More…