Office 365 Migration Planning
Choosing to leverage the cloud and move to Office 365 Exchange for small businesses can be one of the best decisions your organization ever makes. Office 365 is so much more than email. It is freedom. It is reliability of service. It is the freedom to move between platforms. And most of all it is full exchange! Many prospective new Office 365 users are simply not aware that with the service comes a leveraged piece of Microsoft's .cloud datacenter. And full exchange configurability via powershell. That virtualized server in Microsoft's cloud is dedicated to your organization. So there are no cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all levels of service across your organization. No, you receive the freedom to choose who sees what, whther you want a public calendar shared between employees, whether you want to use conference rooms, distribution groups, security groups, shared mailboxes, and the list goes on. And for the price, this kind of power really does come on the cheap. Take advantage of these services! A big pitfall I see with choosing how to approach Office 365 is this: Many SMBs opt to go through a third party reseller of Office 365 cloud services. Some of these providers severely scale down the functionality of the service. I have seen Office 365 resold in a form that resembles a POP email account. There was no configurability, there was no freedom, no shared calendars, distribution groups, etc. The only benefit I saw to the user was the ability to sync contacts between Outlook and the mobile device. And to make matters worse, the service ran far and above the base price of Office 365 when purchased directly from Microsoft. The provider will remain nameless. Choosing the right VAR to manage your migration is critical. You want an organization with experience, professionalism, and attention to detail. I say this – if your provider can't make the switch happen between the time you shut your doors on Friday, and the time you open them Monday, move along. Make sure your VAR provides you with a timeline for your transition – a plan of action. Last of all, make sure your VAR is planning on sticking around for the long-haul. Moving to exchange means that there will be questions. You will need a resource to assist you in configuring the new service day to day. Office 365, like any exchange product is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It needs to be mended and tailored to the needs of the organization. This process takes time; and unless you are technically savvy, you will want someone on your side who is familiar with powershell script configuration of exchange. Feel out a prospective VAR. Make sure they are the right fit for oyour organization. Align your business goals with theirs. TRA Consulting is in the business of helping our clients make money, not the business of disrupting business. Contact us today about planning your migration to the cloud with Microsoft Office 365! TRA
Gearing Up For CompTIA Breakaway
What a month it has been! We are tying up a lot of loose ends these last two weeks of July in preparation for our first tech conference of the year – CompTIA Breakaway, Las Vegas. Last year we managed to make it to HDI and Breakaway. This year has been so busy, that there has been hardly a day to spare. But there really isn't an excuse to miss conferences like these – I can't think of a better way to stay on top of emerging trends in my field and have fun doing it! I will have to write back next month about the contacts I make and the impressions I have of the conference. The most challenging, yet rewarding task I have in my work is that of staying relevant. The field changes so rapidly – the tools and methods we use to manage information, technology, and deliver service. The opportunities we get to receive in-depth lectures on emerging threats and trends; as well as mix and mingle with our fellow techs and service providers are invaluable. I hope to see some of you out there this year! TRA
The Right IT Person For The Job
If you are like the average SMB, you may be wondering whether you are going about IT the right way: Whether you are getting a good return on your investment Whether you are prepared for the future of IT Whether you are leveraging technology to manage information efficiently According to the CNET blog article, "IT guys don't know enough, bosses say", written by Chris Matyszczyk, (http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-57396637-71/it-guys-dont-know-enough-bosses-say/); there is either a serious lack of IT skills in the SMB, or there is a serious misconsception by SMB leadership that a skills gap exists. I have the opportunity to work for a wide array of organizations. I have seen every stage of development of the SMB from 1 employee to 250 employees. I have encountered a wide variation of management styles, work environments, and personalities in my travels. One thing that most SMBs lack is an alignment of the goals of the Organization as a whole with the goals of the IT Department, whether insourced or outsourced. I argue that the real problem in the organization today is the ways SMBs look at IT. IT is an afterthought for most organizations. For most SMBs, the IT help is reactive at best. The only time a user becomes aware that IT exists is when something breaks. And this is the root of the problem. IT, at it's best, should be looked at as another tool to be used to increase performance and sales, which translates into revenue. When IT is aligned to the goals of the organization via Managed IT Services, Proactive Support, Lifecycle Hardware Support, Optimization, and Redundancy; the organization is freed to perform at it's best, unhindered by performance issues, data loss, and inefficiency. Just as important as redeveloping and rethinking your organization's IT support structure, is finding the right type of assistance at the right price. Outsourcing IT to a managed IT provider like TRA Consulting, Inc., can keep costs down, while giving your organization the type of around-the-clock IT support that would cost 4 times the price of insourcing. Another great benefit of outsourcing is leveraging the experience of an organization that is actively engaged in providing support to other organizations, and the breadth of knowledge that experience brings to the table. TRA
Network Security For The SMB
I want to take some time to discuss the importance and affordability of securing your company's network and data. Most SMBs I come accross are not doing enough to protect themselves against the myriad dangers threatening their organization. Criminals are casting an ever-widening net on electronic targets; and now, more than ever, it is becoming essential that you perform some due dilligence as the operator of a small organization. Some basic stats on 2011, according to Verizon's 2012 Data Breach Investigations Report: 2011 saw (according to Verizon): 850 Data Breaches Financial Sectors suffered the most incidents Financial gain appears to be the main motivation Increase in data breaches originating from external threats increased from about 80% to 92% Desktops, laptops, and point-of-sale terminals made the bulk of compromised end-user devices 60% of incidents were detected months or years after the fact The majority of incidents had a point of origin in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Most data breaches are avoidable If you are like most organizations, you most likely do not only store data critical to the operation of your own business; but also store personal and business data belonging to other organizations and your consumers. Credit card numbers, social security numbers, accounts and passwords, confidential correspondence, and medical records. If your organization is in the financial, medical, or legal sectors, you have the added responsibility of safeguarding this information in accordance with local, state, and federal laws. Your number one priority as the IT decision maker of an organization should be limiting the vectors of attack a would-be attacker could use to compromise your systems. In collaboration with your outsourced IT department, it is encouraged that you consider implementing at least a basic level of security which should include: Regularly updated antivirus from a reputable vendor The most updated antivirus engine from the vendor you use Firewall (server-based or network appliance) to close all unnecessary ports Spam Filtering Complicated, unique passwords; changed on a regular basis Preventative, regular sweeps for malware Regularly updated antivirus on File Servers Secured network appliances Proper configuration and physical location of network appliances Physical security of network appliances, servers, workstations Additionally, users should be mandated to: Securely dispose of PCs and Media Utilize agreed upon password complexity Follow a separation of Duties Attend some sort of user education and awareness training; whether it be via newsletter, or in a training seminar Report on suspicious activity With the proper policies and procedures in place, your organization will be better prepared to performe due care and due dilligence in protecting your data and your customer's data. Considering how much benefit your organization derives from computing, the cost of implementing the most basic forms of security is relatively low. Contact your IT provider to discuss your preparedness for a data breach. TRA
Can My Organization Afford In-House IT?
If your company is just struggling to get off the ground, probably not. As valuable as a well-trained staff of IT professionals can be for an SMB, an in-house IT shop may not be in the cards – or the budget. Let's explore the development of an IT infrastructure as it relates to the maturation of the company, so that you, the Tech Decision Maker for your organization, can be better prepared to make the early leaps in IT you must make in order to move your company forward. We can't talk about outsourcing versus insourcing without first discussing a maturity model for IT. Most companies follow four stages of IT maturity as they develop. These four stages are: Reactive – The first stage of the maturity model. Also known as the "Break-Fix" model, aptly named because "if something breaks, we need to fix it…yesterday" Proactive – The second stage of the maturity model involves some sort of managed-IT. In this phase, resources are spent preventing issues and creating redundancies to prevent down-time Customer-Centric – The third stage of the maturity model involves the creation of multiple-levels of support. Usually a call-center AND desktop support staff Business-Centric – The final stage of the maturity model involves the aligning of the IT Department's business goals with the goals of the organization as a whole Many SMBs remain in the first stage of the maturity model for far too long. This may be the result of the mindset of the organization as a whole; but more than likely, it happens because IT is more of an afterthought in the early years of the SMB. It is the most disruptive (to workflow) and the most resource-intensive (ratio of IT dollars to organizational budget) stage of maturity. When kept going for too long, it can cause unneeded stress to the organization as well as a bad case of indigestion to the IT person in charge of putting out fires. Reactive IT is resource-intensive, yes; but in the formative years of the SMB, there can sometimes be no choice but to do business this way. As your company develops, you should begin to think about ways to prevent fires from popping up. A good way to do this without the expense of hiring an IT professional in-house is considering a manged-IT contract with an organization that will guarantee response times and some sort of service level agreement in return for a set monthly fee. In theory, managed IT contractors work to prevent IT issues before they appear. Usually, the SLA will involve: Some sort of monthly maitenance Coverage for labor to repair existing systems Alerting agents installed on workstations and/or servers in order to monitor network health Guaranteed hours per month onsite and remote In practice, managed IT contracts are very effective in three ways: Many issues are repaired before they are noticeable. It is in the best interest of the provider to keep your systems operating in excellent condition remotely than having to spend time sending techs onsite. You have guaranteed levels of service. This means that you don't see dollars slipping through your fingers as a tech works away on a system on your premises. The organization is better able to budget for the monthly cost of IT. There are very few surprises. Reactive versus Proactive. At a point in the organization's maturity, proactive IT actually becomes cheaper than reactive; and it happens sooner than most organizations think. Back to in-house IT. If your organization has an IT budget of less than $80k/year, you may want to consider outsourcing your IT. In most cases, it can actually be done cheaper and more effectively from the outside. Suggestion of the day: DO NOT outsource your company's IT to the Geek Squad, if you can help it. We will leave the talk about Customer-Centric and Business-Centric IT for another discussion on another day. TRA
Simplified Cloud for the Layman
I heard a great definition for three types of cloud at a Symantec conference late last year. Public Cloud – Resources you utilize via the internet which you do not own Private Cloud – Resources you utilize via the internet which you do own Hybrid Cloud – A mixture of the previous two clouds The average user does not realize it, but although this buzzword is rather new, cloud technology has been in use for more than two decades. In the days of dial-up modems and DOS, we leveraged the power of systems we did not have a direct connection to via the internet in order to get stuff done. Early internet users were posting to bulletin boards, leasing processing time on mainframes, and searching library records. Although connection speeds have increased, as well as the variety of resources out there we have to pull data from, the average user utilizes resources for which the backbone was laid years ago. As a teenager in the nineties, I can remember how fast AOL, Compuserver, Prodigy, and some lesser-known ISPs were rapidly gaining acceptance in mainstream life. This was quickly followed by the rapid growth of free email services such as Hotmail, Rocketmail, Yahoo; and search engines such as Infoseek, Yahoo, Lycos, and the like. The landscape has changed rapidly over the years. The smaller dogs have either gone out of business or been swallowed up by the big dogs. Today, the big players are Microsoft, Google, AOL, Facebook, Dell, and HP. But the game remains the same. Home users and business pros alike need to be able to leverage emerging technologies in order to make their lives and work easier and more efficient. The bottom line in all of this is this: Don't get overwhelmed by the cloud. Pundits and Experts LOVE to confuse people with their brilliance. The truth is cloud is not new, is not going anywhere, and is a really simple concept. It is STUFF on the internet that you either own, or do not own. Period. Please read "A Passion For Research" blog article on Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies 2012 [Cloud Adoption by Business]: http://softwarestrategiesblog.com/2011/07/27/gartner-releases-their-hype-cycle-for-cloud-computing-2011/ TRA
SMBs and leveraging the cloud
Cloud computing is a buzzword that has gotten so watered down in overuse that it has become almost meaningless in the public discourse, so I will have to follow this article up with an article addressing different types of "clouds". Technology is notoriously fast-moving. Blink and you get left in the dust. SMBs know this and have had to rapidly adapt in an environment that pits them against much larger organizations with limitless resources. This unforgiving environment is the internet, and the great equalizer is who is leveraging tools better to get their message out to the public. The last few years has seen an entry-point into cloud computing at a price that an SMB can finally buy in to. A convergence of various technologies has allowed this to happen; making technologies once thought to be strictly in the domain of Fortune 500 companies, available to the average SMB. Because of their smaller size, smaller companies may be better poised to leverage emerging technologies and rapidly adapt them to their workflow. Rather than watered-down SMB versions of the products the big boys use, smaller organizations are leveraging the same servers that their larger competition are using in order to drive down startup costs. How are they doing this? The answer is simple – renting from a private cloud. Take, for example, the price of an exchange server. For an SMB, this used to involve investment in hardware, software, and licensing to the tune of thousands – even tens of thousands – of dollars. The price of Microsoft Office 365 varies depending on the reseller you purchase it from. At the time of this writing, a standard P1 25GB exchange account can be purchased directly from Microsoft for $6/user/month. This pricepoint, minus the need to invest in costly equipment and servers once needed to host an exchange server, gives the average SMB the rapid scalability and elasticity that once was the domain of the big boys. The major benefit of cloud computing for the SMB should be obvious – it keeps the SMB out of the IT infrastructure business, freeing it to focus on what matters most – meeting the bottom line and servicing customers. TRA