Disaster Recovery as a Service

Disaster Recovery as a Service

Using technology to strategically protect your business from data loss.

At We Define IT, we always attempt to prioritize security. We offer solutions to build comprehensive strategies for organizational physical security, network security, and cybersecurity with one singular focus: to protect assets. In most cases, the asset we are focused on is your business’ data. Failure to protect your data can have several devastating results for your business.

Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS), is a platform that takes the guesswork out of disaster recovery. We take data protection to the next level by applying risk management best practices to come up with a workable strategy that will combine some of the best hardware, software, and technical proficiency in one completely managed service.

Build Continuity

Disaster recovery is an essential part of a wider business continuity strategy.

Business continuity is a detailed process that’s success is largely dictated by how prepared a business is for negative situations. At We Define IT, we ensure that your disaster recovery platform is well structured with seamless orchestration using some of today’s most advanced tools. Our team of knowledgeable technicians understand that production failures can come from many different parts of your business. As a result, our DRaaS platform dedicates attention to limiting downtime, no matter where it comes from.

DRaaS isn’t a replacement for, but a resource of, your company’s business continuity platform. For this reason, the aim is to coordinate action and ensure that all the digital resources - including onsite and cloud-hosted assets - are redundant, available, and are at the ready for restoration in a manner commensurate with your organization’s needs. Weighing organizational risk for disaster, whether it be...

• Natural disaster
• Failure in your organizational processes
• Cyberattack
• Result of human failure

…plays a crucial part in designing and maintaining a comprehensive disaster recovery strategy.

Actively Accounting for Risk

Weighting specific risk helps build a custom DR platform for your business.

Ensuring that your business can recover from any disaster that strikes is the name of the game for any successful disaster recovery strategy. That means establishing a DR policy where downtime is kept to a minimum. In order to do that, our technicians work to build system redundancy, while also identifying where your business is most susceptible to monetary and productivity loss. This lets us significantly reduce your RTO and RPO metrics. Depending on the disaster, having DRaaS from We Define IT in place could be the difference between being in business and closing up shop forever.

DRaaS from We Define IT

Our Custom DRaaS will literally save your business.

Once our technicians have ascertained exactly how to best build the disaster recovery platform your business needs, we will launch a scaled down version of your current environment that is constantly managed, maintained, and tested to ensure that it is ready for any situation that is thrown your business’ way. This provides the best opportunity to get back to business as usual.

Since most businesses today need to meet security and compliance standards, we build out your disaster recovery platform to meet every standard that your day-to-day business needs to meet. We also offer end-to-end transparency of your recovery infrastructure so that any intricacies your business has are taken into consideration.

You need to protect your business from the threat of extended downtime, no matter the cause. Complete the form or call us today at 888-234-WDIT (9348) to talk to one of our DR experts and get started protecting your business’ most crucial assets today!

A Look at Business Computing Costs: Cloud vs. On Premise

Profitability is less the measure of being able to turn a profit, and more the measure of how much profit you can make. For the successful small business, the integration of technology can dictate what kind of annual margins you are looking at. For the new company, however, it can be something even more critical: the difference between setting a course for success, or wallowing in failure. Today we analyze the cost difference between hosting your IT in-house, or choosing to host it in the cloud.

For this experiment, we’re going to assume that we are starting from scratch. The optimism and cautious excitement that goes into starting a new business endeavor is palpable. Let's assume for our purposes that you’ve determined that you need to support the following applications: 

• Email

• Voice over Internet Protocol

• Line of business applications

• Productivity applications

• HR and operations software

• Storage (enough to support above)

• File sharing

• Backup

It’s not hard to ascertain the surface costs of implementing these technologies, but when trying to figure out the total cost of ownership, it may be a little more difficult. Objective comparison of the two platforms has to begin at their core needs. On one hand, In-house computing comes with several, including power, maintenance, management, and redundancy (and the management and maintenance of that platform), while cloud computing may need enhanced bandwidth and redundancy to work for a business. These costs have to be figured in when trying to plan your next steps.

Then there is the question of who is going to use your data, and what kind of protections need to be put in place as a result of that qualification. What compliance regulations does your organization have to meet? How many users does the network and infrastructure have to support? What software do you need to run? There are literally dozens of questions you have to ask before making any definitive decisions about what kind of hardware you are going to need, let alone what kind of hardware solutions you plan on using.

Once you’ve ironed out the particulars, you will then have to make the big choice. Do you want to buy physical hardware, cloud-based hardware, or some combination of both? Let’s analyze all three options:

In-House Computing

The first thing you have to be cognizant of is that once you decide that your organization needs in-house server infrastructure, you have to know that it is going to cost you a pretty penny. In order to support a full-scale communications solution, all the applications your business uses to do business, email, and backup you are looking at a seriously hefty price tag. Not only are you looking at a few thousand dollars per server, costs that are incurred in configuring the servers, warranties, and maintenance to that server could push the cost into untenable territory, especially if there isn’t a good deal of upfront capital available.

Beyond all that there are HVAC and security costs that need to addressed the first time around. The biggest expense, by far, is the cost of management. If you outsource your IT services management to a company like We Define IT, you may be able to mitigate some of the recurring costs and get expert management, but ultimately the facts point to on-premise hardware rollouts costing a substantial amount more than utilizing cloud, especially with today’s IaaS costs.

Implementing an in-house server room does provide you with some pretty stark benefits, however. They include complete management over the systems within, the resulting comprehensive data security, and access to data without an Internet connection. It also front-loads the costs associated with the environment, so if the big capital expenses don’t cut into your operational budget considerations, you will be paying less per month. The infrastructure costs (which are fixed costs) and the management and maintenance of it, and operational costs (that are very often variable), all have to be taken into consideration, as does your organization’s regulatory compliance needs.

Cloud Computing

For the start-up that doesn’t have any overreaching data compliance issues, utilizing cloud computing is a no-brainer. Not only are there limited set up costs, there are so many different service-based computing plans that it is now possible to strictly use the cloud for all of your organization's central computing.

For the established company, it may be a little more difficult, so before we go “all hail the cloud!” on you, we have to admit that there are plenty of considerations you have to make if you were to go ahead with a completely virtualized computing infrastructure for your business. Here are a few:

• Migration Time and Cost: Getting started with cloud computing may not come with the enormous capital costs that an inhouse server would, but there is cost, especially if you are migrating data. For an established business to move from physical servers to cloud infrastructure there is a substantial investment. It takes a lot of bandwidth and time to move all if an organization’s data over, and in doing so, you will likely incur a fair amount of cost.

• Dependability and What Uptime Really Means: Cloud providers like to measure their effectiveness in uptime; and, in doing so, don’t properly represent what customers want from their cloud provider. Businesses need ubiquitous access to data and applications stored on a cloud construct, and sometimes that can be a problem. The VM running the server may be up, but if there isn’t access to critical information and applications, a business deals with their own downtime, which is a major problem.

• Problems Estimating Costs: The cloud’s cost to a business seems simple enough, but a lot of business owners do a poor job of estimating the true cost of the service. With cloud computing pricing costing businesses so many cents-per-service-unit, they often fail to multiply this cost over months and years. By moving the least utilized applications over first, a company can save more money than just moving it all over at once.

• Trusting Your Architect: Well before cloud implementation, a company would have a cloud architect make them a map (of sorts) so that decision makers can see how the data flows. A problem arises when you’ve trusted the plan and mid-implementation, the migration team wants to change everything. To avoid a complete cloud migration failure, your best bet is to consult with the architect to make certain that everything goes to plan.

• Cloud security: For companies that migrate over to the cloud, they will have to know beforehand that all of the solutions they had deployed to protect their systems from threats are probably not going to be deployed by the cloud provider. As a result, it may initially feel as if the cloud construct is lacking security. Hiring a third-party to test your security will go a long way toward alleviating (or reaffirming) the concerns you may have about your cloud’s security.

As costs go, it’s pretty evident after considering all the factors, that deploying new infrastructure is always going to be costly. An organization can save money by moving to the cloud as long as the migration is done properly and meets all the file sharing, data security, and deployment needs that an organization has. In fact, most organizations have some sort of cloud project on the books for this very reason. The benefits outweigh the detriments for a lot of what companies do.

The Hybrid Approach

Nowadays, the Hybrid Cloud approach is becoming more popular. As data regulations increase and legacy software is still mightily functional, the best option is often to deploy both a cloud platform and keep an on premise server. Essentially, finding ways for the two to work in unison is called a hybrid cloud. While this seems like a match for nearly every business, it comes with a great deal of design and implementation headaches, and can cause significant cost overruns.

In order to design and deploy an effective hybrid cloud, you first have to know what the potential pitfalls can be. Two include:

• Utilization uncertainty: When moving part of an organization’s data and infrastructure to the cloud, there should be a baseline of utilization that is acceptable. If you overplanned for cloud utilization, you could be looking a pretty hefty bill in the face for computing resources your organization will never use.

• Development costs: The two computing constructs often won’t “play nice” and as a result you may be looking at substantial development costs during the integration. These costs are variable and are difficult to plan for, so like everything else IT, plan to spend more than you will and you won’t be left disappointed.

 To solve the challenges that come with significant hybrid cloud costs, many organizations will abandon the idea, but really it’s about simplifying the whole process. New strategies, practices, and products are being formed that will simplify the hybrid cloud process, while allowing an organization to get the most out of their IT infrastructure. It won’t be long before there will be hybrid cloud services that will marry the two ends into one secure and dynamic IT infrastructure. Until then, however, controlling your computing costs, no matter the platform, will take careful consideration and thoughtful planning.

 At We Define IT, we have years of experience designing, implementing, managing, and supporting powerful IT infrastructures for businesses of all sizes. To learn more about cloud computing, including hybrid cloud implementations, reach out to us today.

Marketing - Knowing, and Planning For, Your Organization’s Compliance Burden

This article contains both the letter and the social media needed. To get the link to include in the letter and social media posts, you will need to go to Components > Easyblog > Posts > and make sure the blog: Knowing, and Planning For, Your Organization’s Compliance Burden is published. It will appear in the Miscellaneous Category on the front end of your website. 

===Letter===

[ADDRESS BLOCK]

DAY, MONTH, YEAR

Dear [CONTACTNAME],

Understanding the numerous regulations your business must comply with can be an arduous and expensive task for small-business owners. The average small-business owner is estimated to spend at least $12,000 every year on average dealing with regulations, not to mention the dozens of hours spent ensuring that your company meets the standards of those regulations. Educating yourself on what your company needs to do in order to comply is necessary in today’s society to ensure compliance - or noncompliance - costs don’t sink your business.

We at We Define IT want to help ease some of the burden that these regulations put on your company. To help, I would like to point you to a blog article on our website that discusses the issue of compliance in detail. We care about your company, and want to make sure that you don’t have to shoulder this burden alone.

You can read that article here: LINK

I’m available to answer any questions you may have about controlling your compliance situation. I can be reached at 888-234-WDIT (9348) - EXT, so please don’t hesitate to give me a call so we can chat about your company’s compliance burden and what We Define IT can do to help.

Sincerely,

CONTACT NAME

POSITION

COMPANY

===Social Media===

Facebook: In today’s data-driven world, it’s more important than ever to ensure that your information systems are secured. However, regulations that involve protecting sensitive information are expensive for SMBs: LINK

Facebook: The average small-business owner is spending at least $12,000 every year dealing with regulations. Are you prepared to handle the cost of compliance? LINK

Twitter: The cost of compliance will hurt your business if you’re not prepared for it. Can your business afford to comply? LINK

Twitter: Regulations are costly for small-businesses. Make sure your organization is prepared to handle the cost: LINK

LinkedIn: The average small business pays more for their regulatory compliance programs than larger businesses in the same market do. That’s why it’s important to plan ahead: LINK

LinkedIn: Ensuring that your small business is compliant with all applicable regulations is a complicated and expensive (but necessary) process: LINK

Is Data a Commodity? Maybe Not, but It Is an Asset

The late American author Kurt Vonnegut once wrote, “New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become.” Written in the 20th century, it has been put in practice by 21st century businesses. As the Internet has grown, the amount of companies expanded, and the amount of data that those companies collect has grown exponentially, especially now that there is a market for such data.

Today, many of the largest and most lucrative companies in the world, Google, Apple, AT&T, Amazon, Verizon, Facebook and Microsoft are all, more than manufacturers of computer-based goods and services, data brokers. These data brokers create services that they then sell to advertisers that allow them to target you based on the information these companies have of you, which can accurately tell how and what to sell you.

Since nearly everyone has a near-ubiquitously-connected experience there is a lot of data collected, bought, and sold every year and it’s big business. Facebook, a company whose main revenue stream is from selling advertising, made a net profit of nearly $16 billion in 2017. This tells us that if you have people’s data, you have people’s hopes, fears, and dreams, which means you can pretty easily get someone to pay you for access to that information.

For small businesses it’s much less lucrative. In fact, all the data your organization needs to keep, is probably necessary to simply do business, not to sell to advertisers. Facebook voluntarily gets a lot of personal information from every one of their users, as where the typical small business often has to strategize to just get a name and a phone number. The information that is sensitive (mostly customer information that you collect) has a lot of value to the people looking to steal it. So while you aren’t making billions of dollars selling consumer profiles, it is still a mightily important part of doing business, and needs to be secured.

Is Data a Commodity?
Technically speaking, it isn’t. Since a commodity’s value is based namely on its scarcity and the amount of capital that needs to be put up to create it, in both resources and labor, the data that is being purchased isn’t really a commodity. In lieu of the dissolution of the U.S. Net Neutrality laws, this has created the argument in the U.S. that since now it’s up to the telecommunication companies how they want to manage (or more accurately bill) data consumption, that they would throttle and tier service, something that isn’t possible with a true commodity, where there are laws prohibiting those types of practices.

On the other hand, Internet access is something that a majority of the commerce requires, and delivering data is in itself an expensive endeavor (infrastructure spending, development, utility costs, etc.) so telecoms, who are seeing their would-be profits syphoned by over-the-top content providers, and publicly demonized as a result of a very public lobbying effort to gain control of the ability to implement some sort of prioritization strategy, have to find a strategy to sustain their ability to get a workable return on their investments.

Securing Your Organization’s Data
Regardless of what your view of data is, it’s an important resource for your organization, and as mentioned above, it needs to be secured. For one of your company’s most important resources, data can be lost relatively easily, so there needs to be a concerted effort to keep your network and infrastructure free from the threats that could put your data at risk. At We Define IT, that’s what we do. We ensure organizations like yours get the professional IT expertise you need to work efficiently, effectively, and securely in what is the most turbulent time in computing history. With the litany of threats your business faces everyday, you need experts that have your back. We offer:

• Backup and disaster recovery: With a comprehensive backup and disaster recovery system in place, all of your organization’s data is safe, redundant, and able to be restored on demand.
• Proactive monitoring and management: By keeping a dedicated eye on your network and infrastructure, our technicians can be proactive.
• Patch management: By keeping all of your organization’s software up to date with the latest threat definitions, you can ensure that your software isn’t going to be a problem.
• Access control and threat detection: By having full control over who can access what, and a complete view of the entire network, we can keep people who aren’t supposed to see certain information from accessing it.
• Training: Most times, your own staff is responsible for data breaches and malware. We can train you all on what to look for to ensure that you are doing your best to keep your network and infrastructure free from threats.
• Around the clock support: If three out of every four businesses deal with phishing emails, and over 95 percent of all phishing emails deliver ransomware, chances are that if a mistake were to be made, you will need immediate IT support. Our support and help desk can remediate a lot of your security issues to keep downtime to a minimum.

With data such a major part of doing business today, ensuring you have the right solutions and support in place to be confident that any situation you face will be managed before it becomes a problem is in itself a benefit. Call We Define IT at 888-234-WDIT (9348) for more information.

IT for Dental Offices

Customized Technology Solutions for the Modern Dental Practice

Dental practices have very specific technology needs, but don’t often hire a dedicated IT professional to oversee their network and infrastructure. This can create a litany of costly issues that result in damage to your practice’s reputation, data loss, or top-to-bottom organizational inefficiency.

New York City dental practices that understand the value that technology has on their organization’s success will want to choose a thorough and cost-effective solution that keeps their IT up and running, helps them protect their data, and cares about their business.

Look no further than the IT experts at We Define IT.

We’re proud to provide managed IT services, hardware support, and cybersecurity services with the aim of helping businesses, like your practice, get the comprehensive and proactive IT management they need to avoid troubling technology issues, maintain HIPAA compliance, and serve your customers effectively.

Outsourced and Proactive

Our remote monitoring and management platform helps avoid problems

Any company that consistently uses technology, but only manages it after something breaks, is not only going to battle efficiency issues, but is likely going to end up paying more for the service they get. As modern dental practices make the shift to newer technologies, keeping them running effectively without downtime is important. Our technicians are well versed in the design, implementation, and support of the modern dental office’s technology. We offer the following services aimed to make managing your practice’s technology easier:

• HIPAA compliance consulting
• Help Desk
• IT consulting
• IT procurement
• Proactive monitoring
• And more

IT services with We Define IT allow you to focus on your patients, not its technology.

HIPAA Compliance and Data Security

Knowledgeable IT professions to counsel you on how to secure ePHI.

Navigating a regulated industry can be complicated. Our consultants are compliance specialists that understand how the HIPAA and HITECH laws protect patient electronic personal health information (ePHI), and the effect that it has on your practice’s IT. Data storage options need to meet HIPAA mandates, sure, but we go even further. By understanding that data security has to be a priority for any dental practice--not only to remain compliant, but for the practice’s operational integrity--has led us to utilize and test several solutions for use inside a medical or dental practice.

Our consultants will set you up with the right data security system for your practice’s needs, while also using our vast knowledge of information systems to reinforce your network and infrastructure with the tools it needs to ensure that all of the data is accessible and secured properly. Best yet, we stay engaged. Each quarter, we will assess your data storage system and propose any changes we think are prudent to keep your patient’s personal, medical, and financial data from being compromised.

The Modern Practice

Are you ready to move your practice forward?

In order to best serve our clients, we keep our finger on the pulse of business technology, and there are several innovative solutions that modern dental practices can use to improve organizational efficiency and patient satisfaction.

Producing healthy smiles is the whole point.

If you’re a dentist, you obviously know the drill. Call We Define IT today at 888-234-WDIT (9348) .

Computer Security Day

National Computer Security Day falls on November 30th each year. An observance that was first started in 1988, Computer Security Day serves as a reminder to organizations and users around the world that their devices contain no shortage of valuable information, and therefore need to be protected. As such, we’ll go over a few best practices that will help you to lock down your devices, preserving your business and personal data.

Why Your Computers Need to Be Secured

Simply put, they’re too important not to be. Think about how much of your day-to-day is maintained via computer or mobile device, whether personally or professionally. How much of this data could be abused if it were to fall into the wrong hands?

The fact of the matter is that this need for security was seen four years before the first glimpses of a smartphone's capabilities were seen in the IBM Simon Personal Communicator. Even then, computers had become relatively common, which meant that there was plenty of data up for grabs already. 

Impact and Importance

Now, some thirty-one years later, the importance of computer security has only been proven further. Data breaches have become some of the biggest threats to businesses and their continuity, the average data breach costing a U.S. business $7.35 million, each breached record costing the business $225.

This is, of course, before calculating the impact of other factors, like lost clientele and the damage done to a business’ reputation.

Clearly, if you aren’t sure that your workstations and other devices are as secure as they should be, you need to remedy that. In the spirit of Computer Security Day, we’ve assembled a few key practices that will help you to do so.

How to Secure Your Computing Devices

There are quite a few ways to make sure that you aren’t leaving your devices vulnerable to threats.

Password Practices

Do you know why you’ll always find something referring to passwords in advice like this? They work pretty well, as long as they’re handled correctly. As passwords are a major part of your cybersecurity, you need to make sure that yours meet a few standards:

• Don’t reuse your passwords. Each online account you have should be secured by a unique password - that way, if one of your accounts is breached, the attacker can’t easily get into your other ones as well.
• Make sure your passwords are strong enough. While it may be easy to use some personal detail as your password, it’s just as easy for a hacker to piece that kind of thing together. Make sure that your passwords are sufficiently complex, utilizing case-sensitivity, length requirements, and various alphanumeric characters and symbols.
• Keep your passwords secret. Yes, that one may seem obvious, but you’d be amazed how many people will secure something with a password, only to write it on a sticky note and attach it to the secured device. If remembering your passwords is an issue, you might consider leveraging a password management tool.

Maintenance

There are plenty of activities that you can incorporate into your internal procedures that will help to make your computer more secure. For example:

• Update your solutions. The software solutions you use may be a resource, but they can also be a means for an attack to sneak in through an unresolved vulnerability. Updating your software and applying patches will help to reduce your risk through these means.
• Inventory your devices. An unaccounted-for device can very quickly create a serious issue. By keeping an up-to-date inventory, you can better keep track of where these devices are.
• Keep a backup. Sometimes, your security may just not be enough. These circumstances make it necessary for businesses to keep a backup that meets all applicable best practices; redundant, off-site, and up-to-date.

Education

Finally, we have to address one of the biggest risks to any organization: its users. Fortunately, there are ways to help cut back on the security risks that your employees are generating.

• Update security policy documentation. Your business should have its security policies spelled out and accessible to your employees. If it has been a while since it has been refreshed, give it a once-over. Remember, this document should dictate the conduct of your employees as they use their solutions.
• Hold security trainings. A written resource is one thing, and a practical session is another. Not only will this help impress the importance of security to your employees, you can identify areas of confusion among your staff and focus further efforts to resolving this confusion.
• Encourage security awareness. There are various threats to a business’ data security, whether an employee has their device in the office or out and about. Reminding your employees of the potential issues that mishandling their equipment can lead to should assist your computer security.

Final Thoughts

This is just the tip of the computer security iceberg. There are far more considerations to make and solutions to implement to truly protect your assets. Remember, while you’re mulling over the practices we’ve outlined above, We Define IT is here to be a resource as well. Reach out to us by calling 888-234-WDIT (9348) for a security consultation.

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity Protection for New York City Businesses

No Business is Exempt; It’s Time to Take IT Security Seriously

Is Your Data Safe?

Consider how much of your business operations rely on computers - you store your business and customer data digitally, including financial accounts, personal information, and other specifics. Unfortunately, while this data is clearly invaluable to your business, do you know who else would find your data valuable?

Cybercriminals, that’s who.

Cybersecurity is the approach that businesses take to ensure that their data is protected against theft, breaches, or other threats by cybercriminals and user error, leveraging a variety of solutions and practices to accomplish this goal.

What Does This Mean for Your Business?

How would you respond if a business you entrusted your data to had betrayed that trust and neglected to protect it? Probably not well, and the same goes for everyone whose data you possess. They would feel the same way if you failed to protect their data. Allowing a cybersecurity incident to happen, either through neglect, negligence, or naiveté, will only bring you trouble. For instance, you will likely have to deal with:

• Upset clients and customers
• Time lost notifying those affected 
• Regulatory backlash
• Severe reputation damage
• Financial repercussions and reparations
• Bad press
• Litigation

Obviously, none of these outcomes are good, and should be avoided.

Let’s Protect Your Business

We Can Help You Meet and Exceed Industry Compliances and Protect Your Business, Staff, and Customers

These days, just having antivirus and a firewall aren’t enough to protect you from the majority of cyberattacks. That’s why we offer fully managed, always-on, enterprise-level IT security solutions to keep your business safe.

• 24/7 Network Security
• Unified Threat Management
• Content Filtering
• Spam Protection
• Mobile Device Management
• Email Encryption
• Access Control and Password Policies
• Industry Compliances (HIPAA, HITECH, SOX, PCI-DSS, etc.)
• Penetration Testing
• Software Updates
• Staff Training

For help with any of these considerations, We Define IT is here for you. Reach out to us to have a conversation about how your cybersecurity should take shape by calling 888-234-WDIT (9348) , or filling out the form on this page.

Microsoft 365 Business for the Non-Profit

Microsoft 365 Business for the Non-Profit

Accomplish your mission with the support of reliable tools.

Non-profit organizations are a different breed, but still a business.

While many may only see what makes a non-profit different on the outside, all of the most important concerns that any business would face also impact the nonprofit.

Just consider their cybersecurity. Most nonprofits are small-to-medium-sized organizations, so they are in the same boat as any other SMB… the biggest difference being that the nonprofit has a smaller budget to invest into their security, on top of their other necessary investments.

That’s why we recommend Microsoft 365 to these organizations. Microsoft 365 is fully loaded with the tools and solutions needed for the non-profit’s success, and We Define IT is here to help you make the most of it.

Microsoft 365 for Business, for Non-Profits

What Are the Benefits?

Simplified Management
Microsoft 365 Business offers you centralized controls over your organization’s technology settings to make sure that your staff has easy, but secure, access to the devices they use. All the applications and updates they’ll need can be pushed to the device, allowing them to focus on the task at hand and accomplish more with their time. That way, your time isn’t spent tracking down each person and making sure they are following best practice with the technology they use. Adding new team members is simple, as a new user in a security group is automatically beholden to that group’s set policies… speaking of which:

Improved Security
Any business has to seriously consider its security precautions, which Microsoft 365 can make much easier for the non-profit. You have the ability to set and push security policies to registered devices, with automatic security updates coming directly from Microsoft. Furthermore, you have the ability to remove any of your business’ data from a user’s device, with no impact to the user’s personal files.

Collaboration and Productivity
Microsoft 365 was built around the idea of better collaboration, so it only makes sense that your users will have a variety of tools at their disposal as they make progress on your organization’s goals. Productivity is no issue from anywhere, with the ability to accomplish more while offline, with everything pushed when connectivity is restored. With plenty of communication tools at their disposal, and access to all the information they need, your team can be confident that they can meet and overcome any challenge.

Microsoft is even investing its energies into making the tools built into Microsoft 365 even better for the non-profit organization, with Team Templates dedicated specifically to their needs.

Find out more about what We Define IT can do for your team and mission by reaching out to us today!

Section 179 Tax Deduction

Don’t Put off Purchasing Needed Equipment for Your Business!

Use the Section 179 Deduction and Get Your Network Audit Scheduled NOW!

As 2018 winds down, it’s time to think: what can you do to make sure that your business’ productivity and security isn’t hindered due to outdated technology?

You may have some ideas in mind. But, like many small businesses in New York City, you may decide to put a lot of it off due to the high costs of new equipment. We Define IT is here to tell you that you don’t have to wait if you take advantage of the Section 179 Deduction.

Section 179 of the IRS tax code allows businesses to deduct the FULL PRICE of qualifying software and/or equipment purchased and put into service during that tax year.

Stop putting off your business’ technology upgrades. Schedule your Network Audit today and we’ll help determine what your possible expenditures may be!

IT for Insurance Companies

It’s Time to Take Advantage of an IT Services Platform Designed Specifically for Insurers

Insurers are under more pressure than ever to respond quickly and provide more value, and they need to do it while operating under a litany of constantly shifting regulations. To function effectively, insurers can’t afford downtime or operational hiccups caused by malfunctioning technology.

We have developed an IT services platform specifically for the needs of independent insurance agencies. Our team of business IT experts brings with them the technical skill to manage every part of an insurer’s technology needs, including ensuring compliance with all regulatory demands. Being able to rely on your IT management service to deliver the results you expect to keep your business running smoothly, provides the peace of mind to focus on your clients, not on technology problems.

We Define IT Eliminates Risk

Our Managed IT Services Take the Risk Out of IT

To minimize the complexity of our offering, we’ve included nearly everything an insurance company needs to effectively manage and maintain their operational stability. Our offering is catered to insurers, brokers, and risk managers, and fueled by our certified and experienced IT professionals. We can help your firm find the technology it needs, implement it, and actively support it.  

Here is what you can expect from us:

• Monitoring and Proactive Maintenance - Our technicians constantly monitor your network and infrastructure to catch issues before they become operational problems.
• Data Backup and Disaster Recovery - Your data is the lifeblood of your business. We work to back up your data and establish continuity procedures to sufficiently manage situational risk.
• Boosting Cybersecurity - Insurers hold a lot of very sensitive information and need to do everything they can to protect it. Our consultants understand the security and regulatory demands of the industry and can assist in mitigating the myriad of threats targeting insurers. 
• Around the Clock Support - We pride ourselves on being available for our clients. That’s why we have around-the clock remote support that can help fix most of the technical issues an insurer could experience. 
• Professional Consulting and Procurement - Our experienced IT technicians have the knowledge to help insurers put the technology in place to improve their ability to serve their clients.
• Predictable Costs - A major problem with traditional technology support, you run into hidden costs. With our help, you will get a predictable figure taking the guesswork out of it. 

Stay Complaint

Reliability Eliminates Compliance Concerns

For Insurers, staying compliant is one of the most crucial aspects of using technology. Our team eases both the compliance workload and helps mitigate risk through our adherence to best practices and our knowledge of industry regulations. By helping insurers find the tools to help make meeting compliance regulations easier and supplying our brand of powerful IT services, any insurance firm will effectively eliminate risk and experience a more consistent operational approach.

If your firm would like more information about our brand of comprehensive managed services, call us today at 888-234-WDIT (9348) .