Eliminating Business Technology Disruptions: A Guide for Dallas Businesses

Due to its unique position as home to a host of national and multinational businesses, Dallas has always been a point of interest for cybersecurity. It came as a surprise to no one when in 2017, professional services firm Ernst & Young announced their $10 million cybersecurity center project in Dallas to drive business technology education and protection against cyber threats.

Indeed, cyber threats and unreliable technology can be significant obstacles to growth for Dallas businesses. When you can’t rely on your IT operations, your company suffers from costly disruptions. Because almost every firm relies on technology to manage everyday activities, tech bugs and mishaps can have expensive consequences. Here are some of the biggest tech problems that can disrupt your business: 

Cyber Attacks

The FBI reports 4,000 new cyber attacks every day. With such frequent attacks targeting businesses of all sizes, companies can’t afford to ignore cybersecurity and carry on without the support of an expert. The cyber crime epidemic shows no sign of slowing down. Cyber attacks are becoming more frequent and can lead to severe disruptions that can take your business down, regardless of its size.

Phishing attacks, ransomware attacks, and cryptojacking are some of the biggest cyber attack trends for 2020. While phishing is nothing new, there’s no doubt that hackers have become increasingly adept at mimicking reputable sources and luring employees into clicking malicious links.

Ransomware technologies also cost billions every year and deploy advanced tools to withhold access to a full organization’s database while asking for a ransom, affecting not only the business’s budget, but also its reputation. Cryptojacking, on the other hand, is the process of hijacking computers’ processing power to mine for cryptocurrency, leading to performance issues and system downtime.

Companies need to focus on building stronger defenses against hackers, getting proactive cybersecurity and Managed IT Services, and constantly monitoring systems. 

Ill-fitting Technology

When you rely on IT solutions for your business operations, you need to ensure your technology aligns with your company’s needs and priorities. Failure to use technology that closely fits your business’s needs can not only slow you down but also affect your business’s growth.

Businesses can’t rely on a one-size-fits-all approach any longer. Because there are dedicated tools that address the specific challenges of your industry, you can’t afford to waste your resources with an IT architecture that doesn’t support your business.

A dedicated IT service manager can help your company to invest in the right tools and design an IT network that is compatible with the business technology you need.

Downtime

According to Gartner’s analysis, one minute of downtime costs, $5,600 on average, meaning an hour of IT outage can cost upwards of $300,000. Of course, the cost of downtime will depend largely on the size and structure of your businesses, but even scaled down for smaller businesses, the financial damage is significant. In short, system failures can lead to expensive downtime situations that leave your business unable to cope with everyday processes.

Unfortunately, data outages can be frequent occurrences. For companies, unreliable business technology means you have to put your operations on hold until the issue can be fixed. Therefore, you need a backup solution to manage operations during an IT outage. A Managed Service Provider can offer proactive monitoring against IT failures.

Data Loss

Without a solid backup plan, you are at risk of losing valuable data in the case of a power shortage or accidental deletion. With data breaches costing an average of $148 per lost record (meaning the average data breach costs a painful $3.86 million), your business needs secure backup and recovery strategies in place to protect you against data loss.

Spam

Did you know that nearly 55% of all emails are spam? Spam is typically used to send damaging malware attacks, which can cause downtime. But unmanaged spam can also disrupt your business by wasting your team’s time, as it can clutter your mailbox with junk mails. And the built-in filtering system in your corporate mail solution isn’t always sufficient. You need proactive business technology that can not only monitor spam but also learn to identify new spam attacks. 

Employee Misuse

Cybersecurity tools and dedicated experts can only do so much to protect your business’s technology. Without appropriate cybersecurity training, your employees are vulnerable to threats and can accidentally cause security breaches. By combining filtering systems with dedicated personnel training, you can help your employees learn to spot threats before it’s too late.

In order to eliminate technological disruptions, companies must invest in proactive cybersecurity strategies that combine 24/7 monitoring, advanced tech tools, and comprehensive team training. You can’t afford to take chances on your business’s productivity or cybersecurity.