MicroTech Systems IT Service Blog

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most SMBs have had to adopt a remote working arrangement. This has been successful for most SMBs so far, to the surprise of many. Most SMBs thus intend to maintain this model even after the pandemic is over. But, due to lockdown measures imposed by governments, most remote workers are struggling to work with children in the house that need to get on their Google Meet. Employers need to be understanding because workers have more than work to attend to. This means that sometimes during work, employees will need to attend to other responsibilities like helping their teen sign into Zoom for class. Yet, this model has allowed SMBs to cut costs of huge office space to accommodate employees. In this article, we look at IT solutions that will ease SMB transition to remote work model in the long term.

Small business owners often find that the Internet is the most powerful tool that they can take advantage of. In fact, it's even possible to run an entire company from the convenience of your smartphone.

When everyone was working in the office behind firewalls, your greatest IT risks were most likely employees clicking on suspicious links and the occasional coffee spill.

Beware. Email fraudsters are getting smarter and more aggressive. Nowadays, these cybercriminals can take over your email account and, by extent, your business. Your clients, your money, and trade secrets will all be at their mercy. Here is how it goes down.

The future of work begins here. Remote work, all signs show, will be a big thing in the post-pandemic world. Companies have found ways to make it successful at this point, and many would like to carry forward the benefits and costs savings into the future. If you plan to blend on-site and remote work environments for the long haul, here is the guide to getting started.

Small business owners these days are keenly aware of the need for digital transformation to give them a competitive edge. You can no longer get away with using outdated programs installed on your server, or email applications that aren’t secure. The risks to companies of every size demand you use the latest technology, regardless of whether it’s practical for you financially. Thankfully, programs like Microsoft’s 365 (previously referred to as Microsoft O365) can give you a variety of hosted exchange options that enable you to keep your software up-to-date, access all the capabilities you need, and do it all at an affordable price. What’s more, you don’t need a complicated “tech stack” to do it with, because software-as-a-service (SaaS) often comes in the form of a bundle that lowers the cost and knowledge barriers.

Small businesses are just as vulnerable to cyber and network attacks as large corporations since the main concern of hackers is to steal confidential financial information. Once they've seized the data they can use it themselves to compromise accounts or sell it to other criminals on the dark web. Here are realistic ways your SMB can fight attackers, using multi-factor authentication strategies.

For hackers, American small business culture represents a target-rich environment. Small businesses don’t often possess robust institutions designed to deter attackers. They might not use commercial grade antivirus, and they most likely don’t use tools such as strong passwords or two-factor authentication. They almost certainly don’t employ firewalls, IDS/IPS, or SIEM tools, and all but the largest and most well-resourced SMBs don’t employ a full-time employee to monitor these tools. Many of the decision-makers at these companies don’t see the need for robust security measures.

It is not a matter of if you will be attacked, but when you will suffer a cyber attack, and if you will be able to prevent it and/or recover from it.