Remote Monitoring and Maintenance Keeps Your Business In Business
Depending on your business’ setup, you might have an in-house IT department that manages any of your technological assets, or you might have an outsourced vendor that you prefer to work with. Regardless, you know that as a business owner, you don’t have time to worry about managing IT–especially if you’re a small organization that has a limited budget and a limited workforce to do the work.
Internal IT departments may resolve an issue in a particular way, but that’s only if you can afford to hire an internal IT department. If you are like many other small businesses, you might find that outsourcing is a more viable approach to IT maintenance and management. There’s nothing to be ashamed of–outsourcing is great for a lot of reasons.
For an example, consider the difference between short-term spending and long-term spending. Short-term means that you get instant gratification in most cases, whereas long-term spending means that you’re investing in the future. In this instance, support costs are more effective when they have the long-term mindset. The reason for this is that you ultimately minimize any damage done to your systems, as well as any costs associated with those damages, by preventing them from happening in the first place. This is accomplished through a remote monitoring and management agent.
Remote monitoring and management, or RMM, allows managed service providers to handle most issues regarding your technology without an on-site visit. Using our agent, we can monitor your network’s resources to ensure that everything is flowing as efficiently as possible, as well as notice any security updates that need to take place before your weaknesses are taken advantage of by a hacker. We can even remotely deploy patches and security updates to each of your workstations, server units, and network devices to ensure that nobody can take advantage of your security discrepancies easily.
The main advantage of utilizing a RMM is that it requires little to no actual hands-on work from your in-house workforce. It’s handled exclusively by your outsourced managed service provider. In this way, it’s almost like an automated solution all on its own. We can handle most issues that your business runs into in such a way that you won’t even notice problems until they’re already resolved. This lets your business focus primarily on its own operations without being hindered by IT troubles, but more than anything else, it makes service accessible when it’s needed–not when it’s most convenient for an on-site visit.
While some issues might still need an on-site visit to resolve, we try to keep those to a minimum–not because we don’t want to travel to help you, but because your company benefits most from swift, prompt service. To learn more about Catalyst Technology Group’s remote monitoring and management solution, reach out to us at (317) 705-0333.
Unified Threat Management Keeps Your Network Safer
Network security is equally important for businesses of all sizes. Ensuring that your infrastructure remains firm is one of the most crucial tasks in managing a business. You don’t have to do it alone, though. There are enterprise-level tools available that can give small businesses the same security standards as larger organizations, and it all starts with a Unified Threat Management (UTM) solution.
A UTM takes four of the best enterprise-level tools and combines them into one great package. You’ll have a firewall, antivirus, spam blocker, and content filter in place to keep your business secure. You’ll quickly discover that this is the best way to handle network security.
Firewall
Your firewall is the first line of defense for your network, tracking any incoming or outgoing data to keep threats at bay. If you keep threats from entering your network in the first place, you’ll decrease the likelihood of your business suffering a data breach or other similar attack. Granted, even the best firewall can’t keep out all threats, which is why the rest of the UTM is particularly important.
Antivirus
You might notice that most desktops come with a consumer-grade free antivirus, but this isn’t ideal for business purposes. It will only provide a minimal defense at best. Meanwhile, an enterprise-level antivirus solution can scan your system to check for any known threats on your network, including viruses, malware, spyware, and so much more. This type of tool is often the only way to find some of the more scrupulous threats on your network, so it’s a critical tool for any business that wants to take network security seriously.
Spam Blocking
Spam can be both a waste of time and a threat to your organization’s security. A single employee downloading the wrong attachment or visiting a malicious website could become a major problem for your business. Data could be compromised in the fallout, which could damage your organization’s reputation and subject it to compliance fines. The most effective way to protect yourself from spam is a proactive solution that keeps suspicious messages out of your inbox in the first place. You can’t click on messages that aren’t there, right?
Content Filter
The Internet contains practically endless threats, and if you’re not careful, they can find their way onto your infrastructure via your employees’ browsing practices. There is malicious content on the web that can install malware or infect your computer with viruses. Furthermore, some websites might try to farm credentials from your employees, including personal or sensitive information. A web content filter can block these websites from being accessed on your network, allowing you to keep employees from accessing unsafe or wasteful online content. Plus, it can be implemented on a per-user basis.
Is your organization’s network lacking proper security measures? If so, Catalyst Technology Group can help. To learn more, reach out to us at (317) 705-0333.