Customer-Vendor Alignment, IT Governance & Data Security

In July 2010, Microsoft transitioned from providing mainstream support for Windows Server 2003 to releasing critical patches only. July 14, 2015 marks another transition, this time the end of Microsoft support for Windows Server 2003/R2.

While this date may seem distant, now is the time to understand that the end of support and the end of life of Windows Server 2003 means that your business needs to ensure that it has a plan to migrate the applications and workloads currently relying on Windows Server 2003 onto Windows Server 2012 R2 or Microsoft Azure.

Just to be clear, End-of-Support for Windows Server 2003 means:
NO UPDATES Will be developed or released after the end of supportNO COMPLIANCE (HIPAA, PCI, SOX, etc.) which speaks for itselfNO SAFE HAVEN as both physical & virtualized environments affected
If you're still using Windows Server 2003, you to start your planning to migrate off of Windows Server 2003 and onto a platform that will provide you the security and reliability that you’ve experienced over the last decade with Windows Server 2003, with the added value of the features now included in Windows Server 2012 R2, as well as the hybrid opportunities available to you with Microsoft Azure.

Delaying will only create additional expenses, and ‘rigging’ your environments to detect intrusion, inclusion of more advanced firewalls, network segmentation, and so on, to simply isolate Windows Server 2003 servers will only result in a datacenter that costs more, and is still out of compliance, and out of date. Not to mention the maintenance costs for aging hardware… you’re just delaying your opportunity to transform.

If You Plan To Stay With Microsoft What Should You Do Now? We'll discuss that in this series.

4 Essential Pieces to Any Small Business BYOD Strategy

Believe it or not, once upon a time, kids at the bus stop didn’t have cell phones and the mobile device strategy of many businesses was typically you’ll take what you’re given, refrain from using it for any personal use, and the data may be scrubbed clean whenever we please.

We’ve come a long way. Today, businesses really have no choice but to let employees use personal devices for work purposes. Blurred lines now make it difficult to differentiate between what is professional and what is personal. A company or organization may partially pay for an employee’s tablet computer or smartphone, but that same device is used to upload photos to Facebook or download torrents of this season of Game of Thrones.

Naturally, security and privacy issues are a concern since these devices synch to the company network. Larger corporations may be able to hire IT support or produce sophisticated BYOD guidelines for employees to adhere to but smaller businesses have limited resources.

A Smarter Approach to Mobile Device Management

More people today use personal mobile devices like smartphones and tablets for business purposes. Such devices, coupled with greater Wi-Fi accessibility and cloud services, have empowered us with the ability to access data and do business from practically anywhere at anytime.

Needless to say, many small-to-medium sized business owners have embraced the BYOD (Bring-Your-Own-Device) revolution. The benefits are obvious; increased employee productivity, enhanced services to customers/clients, and better overall customer and employee satisfaction.

But what about the potential consequences associated with this mobility revolution? Are small business owners doing enough preemptive planning to address potential risks that could arise with the use of BYOD devices?

3 Things to Consider Before Jumping Into BYOD

You’ve read it time and time again. “Bring Your Own Device” isn’t a trend, it’s the future. Workplaces where companies let workers use their own devices for work purposes are the new normal. BYOD attracts new hires and lifts employee morale and productivity. But this doesn’t mean a small business owner should recklessly jump right into BYOD just because everyone else is doing it. Data and network security concerns have to be thought out, defined, and addressed in a comprehensive BYOD policy. Here are three things to consider.

Remember… Always Practice Safe BYOD

No matter what blog or magazine read these days, it seems like everyone is talking about today’s increasingly mobile workforce and the BYOD (Bring-Your-Own-Device) movement.

We live in an exciting time when work can be done at any time from any place. Employees love the fact that they can get work done on their iPad as they sit poolside sipping a Pina Colada. Businesses love the cost savings along with the happier and more productive employees they’re noticing. Meanwhile, customers and clients take note that their emails are commonly answered outside traditional work hours with a “Sent from my iPhone” tagline at the bottom.

Like anything related to business technology, there are naysayers who are quick to warn that a more mobile and dispersed workforce also means increased security risks.

Do they have a point? I'll cover that today!

Why SMBs Must Proactively Address the Threat of Mobile Hacks

More cyber criminals are targeting small-to-medium sized businesses.  One reason for this is too many workplaces have insufficient bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies in place.  Some have none at all. Although firms are generally more knowledgeable about network security risks than in years past, they still woefully underestimate the security vulnerabilities linked to mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

This is a real cause for concern since data breaches have the ability to put many already financially challenged SMBs out of business.

If customer/client data has been breached, there could be potential litigation costs, and naturally, lost goodwill and an irreparable hit to brand or company reputation. In part 2, we will discuss why this is a must!

Part 1: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly of Mobility and BYOD

There are a lot of advantages to mobility in today’s workforce, but the Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) movement has also brought its share of headaches as well.

We live in a society where everyone must have the newest technology. We are inundated with ads reminding us that the smartphone or tablet we just bought a year ago is laughably outdated and inferior to the upgrade that just hit the market.

People who have just bought the latest technology don’t want to have to set it aside to use a separate company-issued device. As a result, businesses are beginning to grant these employee-owned devices access to their file and email servers, databases, and applications.

While this brings certain competitive advantages to employers, it naturally carries many risks, too.

The number of mobile devices in healthcare facilities is increasing rapidly, as is the diversity of mobile platforms, operating systems (OSes) and communication methods that need to be supported by these organizations. In fact, in remarks made at George Washington University Hospital in Washington D.C., FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said that healthcare is being “transformed” by broadband, and called out wireless and mobile in particular.

For its part in this transformation, Genachowski said,

The FCC is pursuing a health strategy with three key components: promoting connectivity; fostering fast-paced innovation of wireless networks, medical devices and mobile apps; encouraging greater adoption of life-saving health technology; and ensuring that spectrum is optimally allocated and managed.”

So on the outside, infrastructure and promotion is progressing, but what does mobility in healthcare look like from the inside?

A recent poll of managed Healthcare providers by the Aberdeen Group found three clear expectations for mobile healthcare technology: stem the rising costs of healthcare processes, improve staff productivity, and decrease the entry erroneous data.

To understand where mobility is headed though, it would first help to remember the mistakes of the past.

The rapid proliferation of mobile devices entering the workplace feels like divine intervention to many IT leaders. It’s as if a voice boomed down from the mountain ordering all of the employees you support to procure as many devices as possible and connect them to corporate services en masse. Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) was born and employees followed with fervor.

There’s no sense pretending it isn’t happening or saying, “We don’t let our employees do that.” The truth is, they’re doing it already and will continue to burrow noncompliant devices into your network with or without your permission. Forrester’s study of US information workers revealed that 37% are doing something with technology before formal permissions or policies are instituted. Further, a Gartner CIO survey determined that 80% of employees will be eligible to use their own equipment with employee data on board by 2016.

This raises the inevitable question: how will you support workforce desire to use personal apps and devices while allowing them to be productive in a secure environment that protects corporate data? I hope these "Ten Commandments of BYOD" show you how to create a peaceful, secure, and productive mobile environment.

What happens on Main Street stays on Main Street... When hackers breach the security of corporations it makes headlines, yet there is rarely a mention when cybercrime hits small to medium sized businesses (SMBs). Very few people are even aware that today’s cybercriminals are targeting SMBs, not just super-sized global businesses"

According to Verizon’s 2013 Data Breach Investigations Report, 71% of the data breaches investigated by the company’s forensic analysis unit targeted small businesses with fewer than 100 employees. Of that group, businesses with less than 10 employees were the most frequently attacked.

Tune in to listen to hightly sought after speaker Manuel W. Lloyd discusses why cybercriminals are zeroing in on Small Businesss that thinkk they are too small to worry about. You'll be surprised at which SMBs are at greater risk even compared to larger companies like Sony, Home Depot, Target, and others.