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How Can These Strategic IT Consulting Services Benefit Your Business?

May 1, 2019 by securewebsite

In the age of digital revolution, businesses are increasingly reliant upon their IT infrastructure. After all, the use of technology to manage routine operations has become necessary, especially if businesses want keep up with their competitors.

The entire business landscape is evolving with the help of technological business solutions. It is, therefore, so important to ensure the optimal health of your IT infrastructure. This is where strategic IT consulting services can come into play.

The Need for IT Consulting Services

IT Consulting Services brings unparalleled expertise your infrastructure. The right consultants will maintain the smooth functioning of your infrastructure while making certain your business stays relevant with the latest technologies.

Hiring IT consulting services gives businesses an advantage. The cost of hiring an entire IT department is eliminated and they are partnered with a team of experts with decades of field experience.

Oram Corporate Advisors has a combined 30 years of experience in providing strategic IT Consulting to small and mid-sized business. Looking for consultancies in Boston? Call us 1-617-933-5060 or fill this form to contact us today!

Top 4 IT Consulting Services

There are many ways an IT consultancy can help your business. Here are the top 4 of services they offer.

IT Asset Management

Let’s start with the basics. IT Asset Management is one of the most important services you should seek for your business. The team will keep track of every component of your IT infrastructure while ensuring its functionality, proper use, and security.

IT Support Services

IT Support Services include 24/7 customer support, onsite hardware installation, user training, troubleshooting, problem management, and much more.

Hiring IT support services ensures that the IT infrastructure of your business is flawless, allowing you to focus on more important parts of your business such as product and service development.

Network Support

It doesn’t matter whether you are a small business or a large scale enterprise. What matters is that you have a secure network system that works well across all departments. IT consulting services include network support which covers WAN/LAN/VPN design and implementation, email continuity, and data backup and recovery.

Network support ensures that your business’s firewall is protected against any possible data breaches and intruders.

Server Support and Website Services

From making sure that your website functions smoothly with hosting, graphic design, and DNS Setup to ensuring 24/7 server support, SQL Management, and server maintenance, IT consulting services cover it all.

Hire strategic IT Consulting services to ensure the smooth functioning of your website and servers.

Conclusion

A decision to hire an experienced IT consulting company is a decision for security, efficiency, and peace of mind. Make sure that you choose a reputed consulting company for your business. Looking for consultancies in Boston? Call us at 1-617-933-5060 or fill this form to contact us today!

Why Is IT Asset Management So Critical For Your Business?

May 1, 2019 by securewebsite

The business landscape has become quite competitive. Many prominent industries are already saturated, with new businesses still opening every day! This situation has put businesses in a tough position. They now have to maintain a great client experience while also staying ahead of their competitors.

This calls for unique solutions to ensure that your business operations run efficiently and smoothly. One such business solution is IT Asset Management. We are one of the leading IT Consulting Firms in Boston, MA, and we often get positive responses from our customers regarding the benefits of IT Asset Management.

Before moving on to the benefits, here is a brief overview of IT Asset Management.

What Is IT Asset Management?

IT Asset Management is exactly how it sounds. It consists of managing the IT assets (software and hardware) of your business. This includes keeping a track of your location, health, usage status, and all other aspects related to your company’s IT infrastructure.

Asset Management is carried out with the help of a software that helps businesses to monitor and manage their computer systems, software, hardware, and more, and in an effective manner. The upcoming section discusses the top few benefits of using IT Asset Management for your business.

Top Ways IT Asset Management Can Benefit Your Business

Enhanced Security Parameters

Do you have alerts in place to inform you of possible data breaches?

By using IT Asset Management, you can keep track of every aspect of your business’s IT infrastructure. This feature comes in very handy especially if you have branches in different cities. Asset Management can also ensure that the IT infrastructure of your business is immune to breaches and theft. By using reputed Asset Management software, you will enhance the security parameters of your business so you can detect even the most minute activity such as unauthorized use of your software.

Efficient Resource Utilization

Are you using the IT infrastructure of your business efficiently?

Look around in your workspace. You’ll probably find that you have more computer equipment than you need. Mice, keyboards, CPUs, operating systems, software, and monitors are probably lying around unused. Perhaps they are broken or expired, or the result of a surplus. IT Asset Management helps you to ensure efficient resource utilization in your business, saving you money in the long run.

Better Management

What to choose – Asset Management or Product/Service Development?

With a reliable system (software) in place for IT Asset Management of your business, management can focus on more important operations such as customer service, quality assurance, and product development. IT Asset Management ensures that a company’s entire inventory is utilized efficiently.

Summing It Up

IT Asset Management is one of the most beneficial solutions you can use for your business. Your business needs the help of IT consulting services to make sure that you make the most of your IT Asset Management.

IT consulting services include systems evaluation, IT Service management, software management, and much more.
Oram Corporate Advisors has over 14 years of experience in offering high-quality IT consulting services. Looking for tech support consultant in Boston, MA? Call 1-617-933-5060 or fill in this form to contact us today!

The Week in Breach: Chipotle

April 26, 2019 by securewebsite

Chipotle: American chain of fast casual restaurants

Risk to Small Business: Severe: Several individuals took to Twitter and Reddit to report that their Chipotle accounts were being used to place unauthorized orders at locations across the country. However, many of the customers maintain that their passwords were unique to Chipotle, which could rule out the possibility of a credential stuffing attack and shift the blame directly on Chipotle. In response, Chipotle officials stated that they don’t believe their network was breached or that personal data was revealed to outside entities. This is the company’s second data security incident in two years, and they have yet to roll out two-factor authentication for their customers.

Individual Risk: Moderate: In credential stuffing attacks, hackers leverage personal information retrieved from past data breaches to breach new accounts. Chipotle account holders should enlist in identity monitoring solutions and reset their passwords to protect their information going forward.

Customers Impacted: To be determined

How it Could Affect Your Business: Being able to rule out a credential stuffing attack is crucial to identifying the source of a breach. Without the help of an MSP or an MSSP that offers Dark Web monitoring solutions, it becomes incredibly difficult to track how compromised data is being leveraged by hackers. When developing digital platforms, companies of all sizes need to plan to protect their customer data by taking every precaution to ensure that their information is never compromised.

In Other News:

A new study reveals data exposure from hotel reservations

Symantec’s recent report on the security vulnerabilities of hotel websites found that the majority of them are leaking customer data.

The study was exhaustive, including 1,500 hotels in 54 countries and covering the gauntlet of lost-cost and high-end hotels. However, no single panacea was presented as a solution for the issue. Instead, different companies faced unique vulnerabilities to their systems and processes.

For instance, most hotels send guests a link to manage their reservation, but some hotels fail to encrypt this data, making it easily accessible to hackers and others accessing this information. At the same time, hotels collaborating with discount sites and advertisers are making guest data available to these third-party partners, elongating the exposure.

Moreover, the company found that hotels are uniquely susceptible to brute force attacks, a unique vulnerability that could allow bad actors to target specific individuals including CEOs, celebrities, or conference attendees.

Coming on the heels of the Marriott breach that revealed the information of 500 million guests, this report is a reminder to the industry that they need to be particularly aware of their security vulnerabilities and to take steps to protect customer information. Software solutions like BullPhish ID can mitigate many of these issues at the root source by helping you gain a thorough understanding of your company’s unique cybersecurity needs.

Scam of the Week: Watch out for Fake Emails from HR

April 25, 2019 by securewebsite

The bad guys know how easy it is to trick you with emails that spoof–or appear to come from–your Human Resources team. These attacks are everywhere right now. The emails are often centered around topics such as “new” or “changed” policies, employee benefits, employee handbooks, payroll, and W-2 information.

Whenever you receive an email from your HR team, you may feel compelled to open the email and address it right away. The sense of authority that comes with HR emails is how the bad guys trick you. They’re counting on you falling victim to this sense of authority so you end up clicking before you think.

If you receive a suspicious email appearing to come from your HR team, or an HR-related service, always remember the following:

Do not click on any links or download any attachments before picking up the phone and speaking with someone who can confirm the request is valid.
Log in to the HR-related service account through your browser (not through links in the email) to check the validity of the information in the email.

Stop, Look, and Think. Don’t be fooled.

Bring Your Own Device vs. Enterprise Devices

April 20, 2019 by securewebsite

Why Businesses Should Make the Investment for Employees

Mobility has become a major asset for modern businesses. It gives companies an edge when employees can work from anywhere with remote access on any device ranging from a cell phone, tablet, smartwatch, or laptop. Mobile technology has enabled unsurpassed flexibility in the workplace the likes of which the world has never seen before.

But as Spiderman’s Uncle Ben said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” When it comes to mobile devices, many business leaders wonder which is better: Allowing employees to bring their own devices to work or dropping the money to provide enterprise devices to all employees.

The Advancement of Technology

The development of the smartphone has shifted the way people communicate on a daily basis. In a recent survey conducted by Zinwave, “Over 85 percent of respondents, which included more than 1,000 office workers within the United States, utilize their cell phones on a weekly basis, at a minimum, for external communications, and usage was only slightly lower for internal communications.”

Not only do modern workers use their phones for voice capabilities (i.e. phone calls), but they use email through their phones as a prime form of communication. The aforementioned Zinwave study found email was the preferred means of external and internal communication for people while they are at work.

The ability to access the internet, company information, and messaging services (text) has made smartphones and tablets a necessity when it comes to productivity in modern business. “For example, 65 percent of industrial and 62 percent of healthcare workers utilize work-related data daily for a variety of applications,” according to Zinwave.

Technology has removed boundaries, improved flexibility, and enhanced communications with lower overhead costs. It can be tailored to the user experience and specific needs of any business. Mobile technology has even allowed organizations to increase their revenue potential.

“In our information-rich society, there are two critical types of interactions that must be fostered: employee empowerment and customer engagement,” according to the blog “6 Ways Mobility Can Transform the Workplace” by iOffice. “For many, mobility has become the backbone of their interactive strategy.”

The BYOD Market

According to an online article at GlobeNewswire, the U.S. BYOD market size was $30 billion in 2014 and is expected to grow 15 percent by 2022.

“Declining hardware prices, increasing mobile user workforce, and high smartphone penetration are the factors responsible for increasing BYOD market share across the region,” according to the article, which sourced BYOD research by Global Market Insights. “Increasing personal technology along with IT consumerization is also expected to boost the industry.”

While the popularity and benefits of mobile devices speak for themselves, business leaders must consider whether to allow BYOD or provide the devices for employees. Traditionally, BYOD was a highly accepted practice. Recently, there has been a move to corporate owned, personally enabled devices (COPE), the practice of organizations providing employees with mobile devices due to concerns over security, IT compatibility, and legal issues over user privacy versus company control.

At ORAM Corporate Advisors, our recommendation for mobile device management is that every employee should have a corporate-owned device. With an enterprise device, you can manage all of the security, firmware upgrades, software applications, and tracking your employees require to do their job. Additionally, COPE offers many other benefits.

Providing Mobile Devices

When your business owns the line of service for its devices, it has more control. You get to select the devices you prefer your employees to use rather than paying for and having the headache of supporting all device types. Additionally, you get to keep your devices up to date so you aren’t forced to make your network support older devices.

Protecting Your Assets

A study from Wall Street Journal Custom Studios commissioned by Symantec, showed “79 percent of employees admit to engaging in risky behaviors- intentionally or unintentionally- that place corporate data at risk” and “48 percent of employees don’t think about security risks when transferring files or sharing documents over cloud-based services.”

With corporate devices, you’re protecting your business assets. If your business owns the devices employees use, you’re able to wipe them in case they are stolen or lost somehow. This can be done remotely and quickly for theft or loss to prevent personally identifiable information (PII), trade secrets, or other secret data from falling into the wrong hands.

If a device such as a smartphone is owned by the company, you can simply call the phone carrier and wipe the phone’s memory. You request this by stating, “I need access to X, Y, Z employee’s phone. Here are the records that we are authorized to do so.” If the phone is a BYOD that’s accessing the corporate information, your business doesn’t have that same ability. The employee owns access to the account and the functions of that device.

Easy Access & Support

The same is true of the ability to access data easily. This is important when every minute counts in business. Take a smartphone for example. If there are any files, emails, or different communications downloaded to a phone on a corporate account, you’re able to search and query that device on demand. This is an improvement over waiting for an employee to submit paperwork at the end of the month in their call log when you need information immediately.

In addition, employees who use COPE devices have support from your IT department. Employees’ personal devices may not be compatible with your business network which could cause functionality issues. With corporate-owned devices, employees can simply contact IT for assistance.

Regulatory Compliance

COPE devices allow a company to reduce their exposure to security risk as well as legal and human resource issues. With tighter control through COPE devices, your business can implement the security measures it needs to keep its data and network safe. Furthermore, litigation resulting from breaches, loss of data, and regulation non-compliance is reduced.

In a highly-regulated industry such as finance, your business will need to be able to report such instances of loss or theft against that device to regulatory agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission. This is especially important should your business be audited or examined by such an entity.

The Money Factor

You may be thinking that providing mobile devices such as phones, tablets, and laptops to your employees is not cost effective, but the fact is that it can be. First, consider that many organizations provide a stipend for employees who bring their own devices. That stipend in and of itself is a cost. If you’re going to have the cost regardless, you should have the control as well.

Group mobile plans are getting less expensive for businesses of all sizes and can be written off as a business expense on taxes at the end of each year. In addition, when it comes to tablets, laptops, and other mobile devices, organizations buy in bulk to get a better price which benefits both the business and the employee. Another option for reducing the cost is to set up a cost-sharing option for both the device and its use with your employees.

Finally, when it comes to keeping your business secure to avoid regulatory penalties for non-compliance, the potential for lost revenue, and easy access to data, the investment up front is worth the return. That sense of security is priceless for most business leaders who wish to avoid potential breaches, lost revenue, and issues that can be caused by disgruntled employees.

The Employee Factor

Consider your best salesperson. If they use their personal devices to access your business information such as sales logs, client contacts, and invoices, they have information that could potentially damage your business financially if they were to leave.

In addition, your salesperson likely gives your clients that personal mobile number so they can contact them if they need anything. If your salesperson were to leave the company, your clients would still call that salesperson who can then easily take your customers to their new company with them. This means a loss of revenue for your business.

Should an employee leave, your business gets to keep the phone number. This means their clients will still be contacting one of your employees at your business through the same phone number. This reduces the odds of lost revenue for your company.

Create Policy & Enforce It

Every business, especially those in highly-regulated industries, should create policies regarding BYOD. This is true regardless of whether you allow BYOD or employ COPE devices in your business. You need a very secure policy and the correct mobile device management in place. In addition, your policy should outline that only legitimate work will be conducted on these devices.

If you need assistance with BYOD or COPE devices, creating policy, or mobile device management, contact ORAM today at (617) 933-5060. Our IT and security experts are always here to help your business grow smart while reducing its risks

Scam of the Week: Watch out for Robocall Scams Saying your Social Security Number is Suspended

April 17, 2019 by securewebsite

Be on the lookout for a popular robocall scam that is tricking people into believing their Social Security number (SSN) has been suspended. The robocall tells you to call the number provided to speak with a government agent about the issue. Some of the robocalls even threaten to issue an arrest warrant if the victim doesn’t respond.

When you call the number back, you are actually speaking with a fake government agent. This scammer will try to trick you into giving up sensitive personal information like your SSN, birth date, and bank account number.

Always remember the following to stay safe from tricks like this:

Your Social Security number can never be suspended.
The Social Security Administration will never threaten to arrest anyone.
Do not share any type of personal information with anyone you don’t know over the phone.
If you get this type of call, hang up the phone immediately and report the call to the appropriate agency.

Stop, Look, and Think. Don’t be fooled.

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