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Five Things Great Lakes Computer is Thankful For

Happy Thanksgiving from your friends at Great Lakes Computer!

Managed Services ThanksgivingWe would like to share with you five things we here at GRLakes are grateful for this year:

1.  Our Blog Subscribers!  Without you, we would be writing this wonderful content that nobody would read.  And while we all know blogs are great for SEO, ours is filled with useful information to keep SMB’s aware of the latest in technology news that matters to them, and to introduce new products and services from our outstanding partners…so of course…

2.  Our Partners!  We are very grateful for our new partnerships this year with outstanding, award winning providers, enabling us to bring new products in data protection and network performance to our clients. Speaking of which…

3.  Our Clients!  Of course we are thankful for our clients.  Without our clients, who not only provide that much needed Revenue to thrive, we would not be pushed to constantly innovate and problem solve to meet the challenges of IT Support and Managed IT Services. In much the same way…

4.  Our Prospects! Again, without your unique Computer Network Support challenges, we would not have the product offering we have in our Managed Print Program, Computer and Printer Repair Programs, and Managed Services offering.  You constantly keep our IT, Product Development, Help Desk, Sales, Marketing, and Management Staff on our toes… which brings us to…

5.  Our Employees!  Great Lakes Computer is so blessed to have such a fantastic group of indiviuals who bring their talents together to work remarkably as a team, delivering exceptional noteworthy performance year after year.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Learn more about the author Bob Martin

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Data Protection is Really All About Data Recovery

Managed IT Services Providing True Data Protection

Cloud BackupThis article is shared with you from Asigra, written by Ashar Baig with Asigra.  Great Lakes Computer is a proud partner and provider of Asigra Agentless Cloud Backup.  We strongly support their message:  What good is a Data Backup Solution if I can’t get to my data in the case of an actual emergency?

Enterprises and vendors alike often focus so much on data backup that sometimes they forget about the reason that they backup the data. Customer’s focus should be on data Recovery not data backup.

All vendor solutions in the marketplace backup customer data but it requires real data stewardship to ensure that the data can be restored when needed. Over our 24-year history, Asigra has developed best practices around data stewardship to ensure data restorability if the customer looses a file, disk, machine or the entire facility.

The data has to be conditioned constantly to ensure restorability. The following factors can cause data corruption:

    1. Disc malfunction
    2. Disc controller malfunction
    3. Bad sectors on the disc
    4. Filesystem corruption

Access to metadata is not sufficient because bad sector on a disc can render metadata unreadable.

Following data integrity and consistency check functionality is embedded in Asigra software to ensure, data restorability:

    1. Ensuring data consistency – this process ensures that all the data components have been collected sequentially by the DS-Client (the data collector at the enterprise customer’s premises) before sending the data to the DS-System.
    2. Ensuring all data has arrived offsite before storage – Asigra’s DS-System (the online data repository) writes all the data being backed up offsite to a temporary location, checks and ensures that all the data has arrived before storing it.
    3. Restore validation – this is an actual restore simulation that conducts an actual data restore to a temporary location to ensure data restorability. Think of it as the data restore dry run to prepare for the actual disaster.
    4. Autonomic healing – this automated process runs on the DS-System in the background, scans the entire storage to ensure data integrity. Since the data at the DS-System is encrypted, the “Autonomic Healing“ process checks links between the data blocks, compares digital signatures between different components for inconsistencies. When corrupted data is uncovered, it is marked as corrupted and a notification is sent to the DS-Client to resend the portion of that data that was marked corrupted. This ensures that the data is always recoverable in case of a disaster.
    5. Backing up the DS-Client database to the DS-System – this ensures that if the DS-Client is lost it can easily be rebuilt with the appropriate backup structure.

When you’re shopping for a backup solution, please inquire from your vendor to ensure that the functionality they provide will restore your data, not just during a Disaster Recovery (DR) drill but in the event of an actual disaster (accidently deleted file, damaged hard drive, machine loss or lost site).

Learn More About Our Agentless Data Backup & Recovery

Learn more about the author Bob Martin

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With Great (Data) Power Comes Great (Data Protection) Responsibility

Data growth means companies need to increase their data backup and recovery plans

Data BackupIn a recently published blog post by Asigra, “Enterprise Backup Challenges Lie Ahead  are you Prepared?” a new infographic takes a look at ever increasing trends in data growth within enterprises and the corresponding impact this growth is having on data backup and recovery costs. The post goes on to say…

“In fact, there is overwhelming evidence that companies are well aware that their costs are about to rise in the near future with a small demographic believing they will actually decrease. This of course brings up the issue of preparedness within your own IT environment. Are you able to handle the challenges and burdens of rapid data growth?

Luckily, the patent-pending Asigra Recovery License Model® (RLM) is a proactive approach to mitigate many of the concerns and pressures felt by IT managers when it comes to handling costs. Take a look at the infographic below to find out exactly how many companies are in favour of a new performance-based approach to backup and recovery licensing.

In May-June 2013, Asigra conducted a primary research study with Winning Research across North American CIOs and IT Executives with greater than 100 employees and more than 10TB of total backup capacity. The results showed that the companies participating in the study would switch to the Asigra Recovery License Model® and would be willing to recommend the model to others. To find out what else they thought of the performance-based pricing model, check out the infographic below for further insights:

Which Backup Option is Right for You?

Download Asigra’s Whitepaper “Which Backup Option is best.” This guide is designed to help business professionals assess their options for adopting or upgrading a backup and recovery system with a Managed IT Services Company. While it may seem obvious why you should protect your data with backups, a professional approach to planning a defense requires that every conceivable threat is recognized and ad- dressed by the solution you finally select.

Learn More About Which Backup Option Is Best For You

Learn more about the author Bob Martin

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POS System Options and Repair Services Reviewed

Getting the right point of sale system for your business

POS repairThere are many reliable points of sale (POS) business software packages available and these enable companies to add useful devices to their sales desks.  It may be card readers, barcode scanners, invoice printers or computerized cash draws.  Often, POS equipment comes pre-programmed with accounting capabilities, helping to monitor cash flow and assisting with stocktaking tasks.  Good point of sale equipment provides a solution to each area of your business’ financial product, saving you time and effort on dealing with issues separately.

Before committing to a purchase, check out the individual features of a POS system.  Look around to see whether or not you enjoy the interface, and decide if the general feel of the software is user friendly.

Next, look at how sales information has to be entered.  Most systems will allow their user to conduct searches by entering codes manually or using a barcode scanner.  Some will also look for items based on a partial code, description or product code.

Most modern businesses have to change their pricing structures regularly to keep up with market forces and deal with competition.  Your point of sale system can assess percentages, compute a profit margin, and set up a number of prices for a single item if they are part of a multi-buy offer.

Finally, one of the key aspects of running a successful business is security.  This equipment will help you regulate your financial transactions and provide receipts for hardcopy records.  Moreover, by using a single integrated system, you’ll always have an audit trail to trace inconsistencies.

If you are looking for the ideal POS equipment for your enterprise, you’ll need to consider your requirements carefully.  Some packages can be customized to suit a client, but there are many available that deal with industry specific needs, be it hospitality, retail or manufacturing.

BackUp for your POS Systems

Regardless of the system, it is wise to have backup POS equipment in place should yours need servicing at any point.  Having a repair service that offers Depot Repair Services, which provides a backup system while yours is being repaired, is a better option.

Learn more about Great Lakes POS Systems Depot Repair

Learn more about the author Bob Martin

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Why Law Firms Need an IT Policy for Data Security

Young Employees impact IT Support Policies at Law Firms

Law Firm IT SupportA recent article on Legal Loudspeaker discusses why young employees at law firms are posing problems in data security due to their internet and computer usage.  The article in its entirety can be found here.  However, we believe some of the points are worth noting for our avid legal readers who may unknowingly face these issues in their firms:

According to a recent Cisco survey, seven out of ten (70%) young employees break their companies’ IT policies regularly. This is dangerous for your law practice for a multitude of reasons. Below are the Cisco stats; each will come with subsequent analysis so you know what this means for your law firm. The most common reasons for breaking IT rules are:

33% don’t think they are doing anything wrong

This is dangerous for any law firm. It’s like playing poker with my Grandma. She has no clue what’s going on and ends up going ‘all in’ with a pair of threes. The rest of us, who know how to play the game (we’re certainly not professionals), get thrown off and she takes the pot. Essentially, her lack of knowledge of the rules and etiquette makes her a dangerous person at the table because you never know what you’re going to get. This extends to your young rule breakers, who don’t understand business and certainly don’t know how your firm gets money to pay them every month.   

22% feel they need access to unauthorized applications for their jobs

This is dangerous because a lot of the unauthorized applications they’re reaching for are usually media-driven; this means you’ll see use of Pandora, which slows down internet speeds for everyone, peer-to-peer programs like LimeWire which takes viruses and malware on a tour of your server room, and social media, which decreases work-productivity (the stuff that makes you money).

19% cite lack of enforcement

Just about anyone will tell you that if you make rules but don’t enforce them you haven’t made any rules. Imagine if one day you woke up and a new law had been passed: you must follow the speed limit but we will never penalize you if you don’t (no points, fines, etc.); who would travel at the speed limit?

18% cite a lack of time to think about the policies, 16% say policies are inconvenient, and 15% ‘forget’ to abide by these policies

Personally, these are ‘outs’ in my opinion. If you don’t have time to think about the rules, or if the rules are inconvenient, or if you simply forget to the follow the rules, there should still be penalties. These are excuses not defenses. If they don’t work in criminal court they shouldn’t work at your law firm.

61% say the responsibility for protecting information and devises falls on the IT service provider and not on individual employees

This is another excuse but a telling one nonetheless. Young employees don’t want to be bothered with the ramifications of their actions so they will blame your IT Guy or your Managed Services Provider (or MSP) for giving them the opportunity to commit the crime. Okay, well two can play by those rules.

The article goes on to detail steps law firms should take to prevent these issues (Read here).  While the entire article is worth your read, I feel the single most important step is communication of your policies on computer and internet usage.  And if you don’t have policies in place and written, do so immediatley.  And if you are not sure what those rules should be, feel free to contact Great Lakes Computer to have one of our IT consultants perform an evaluation of your network policies and procedures, and provide consultation on how to improve upon them.

Young employees are a great asset for law firms, as they bring fresh ideas and new perspectives, as well as endless vigor and energy.  But without written rules and being told what is expected, it is no fault of theirs if they are careless with their internet and newtwork usage.

Sign up for your Free Network Assessment

Learn more about the author Bob Martin

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If Your IT System Succumbs, Can you Afford the Ransomware?

Your IT Support must include robust data protection

Data ProtectionThe latest threat to your company’s online security is a form of malware known as ransomware, a particularly unpleasant virus that holds your files hostage, and charges you for their release.  Although we have come to appreciate the benefits of encryption, the Cryptolocker virus, as it is known, uses the same technique to take hold of a company’s data.  This bug invades your IT network and encrypts every target file it encounters; these may include your spreadsheets, photographs and documents.

Cryptolocker is usually delivered to your system using an email attachment and there are no early warning signs.  By the time you find out about the security breach, the malware has done its job and your data is beyond reach.  Some victims report a pop-up showing a countdown of anything between 72 and 100 hours, signaling the length of time they have before the hackers delete their files for good.

For any business, being prepared with a comprehensive data recovery service or online backup is vital.  Think of these as an insurance policy; they minimize your downtime, protect sensitive data and can help you recover from anything cyber criminals throw at you.  Companies that neglect to safeguard their digital assets are looking at making a hefty payout to a criminal gang, or a potentially catastrophic loss of data.

Like most IT threats, Cryptolocker may also be delivered to your network through malicious websites.  Your staff may visit these pages unwittingly and enable an attack.  The bug will find a vulnerable spot in your security provision and attempt to gain access.  Therefore, a well maintained antivirus and antimalware solution is essential for every business.  Without a robust security solution that is regularly updated, your data will always be vulnerable to what experts call “the weakest link:” human behavior.

Is your provider doing what you pay them to do?

It’s Time for a Network Assessment – Give Great Lakes Computer 30 minutes to run our agentless assessment of your network security and performance, and gain peace of mind that your network is safe, secure, and optimized, you won’t have to face so ransomware or other malicious malwares and viruses.

Sign up for your Free Network Assessment

Learn more about the author Bob Martin

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