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- Cybersecurity Threats Haunting Businesses in 2024
- Microsegmentation: Protecting Data from Cyber Threats
- Retail shoplifting and loss prevention: How to protect your business
- Generative AI Cost Optimization Strategies
- Why Do I Need to Protect My Cloud?
- 10 Reasons for Engaging Outside Experts to Manage Your Cybersecurity
- Why Hiring a 3rd Party MSP Expert Makes Sense and – and Cents (MANY cents!)
- Brand and Network Considerations When Adopting AI Corporately
- Integrating XDR, SIEM, and SOAR
- 3-2-1 –Go? Not so quick, this time.
- 5 Things a CISO Shoud Know
- 10-Step Patch Management Checklist
- Penetration Testing vs. Breach Attack Simulation
- Current big cyber breaches and impact on businesses
- Smart Infrastructure Gets Lit Up!
- Securing Industrial IoT: The Missing Puzzle Piece
- 7 Common Cybersecurity Mistakes Made by SMBs
- The Future of Physical Security: Cloud-Based Systems
- Autonomous and Sensor Technology Use Surging
- 2024 Facilities Trends Will Require Facilities and IT Teams to Work in Tandem
- NGFW vs. WAF. What’s the Right Firewall for You?
- Chris Hadfield’s Words To Live By
- Industrial Revolution 4.0 + IIoT
- Digital Fluency Drives Innovation
- Your Cloud Needs Protecting, Too
- Your building alarm systems could become obsolete. In 2024!
- Zero Trust 2.0: Zero Trust Data Resilience (ZTDR)
- We just got, or got used to, Wi-Fi 6. What is Wi-Fi 7?
- What Does the Board Need to Know? Business Metrics that CISOs Should Share – 4th and Last in a Four-Part Series
- Why 2024 is the Year for AI Networking
- International Women’s Day is Tomorrow – Great Time to Think About…
- Data-Centric Security Step One: Classifying Your Data
- The Network – Unsung Hero of Super Bowl LVIII
- What Does the Board Need to Know? Business Metrics that CISOs Should Share – Third in a Four-Part Series
- Boosting IT Team Performance by Fostering Intuition, Curiosity and Creativity
- Breach Remediation Costs Can Wipeout Bottom Line and Business
- Hoodied Hackers Now Favour Hugo Boss
- What Do You Need to Tell the Board? Business Metrics that CISOs Should Share – Second in a Four-Part Series
- How to Get People to Re-Engage After the Holidays
- What Does the Board Need to Know? Business Metrics that CISOs Should Share – First in a Four-Part Series
- Android Devices MUST be Updated + IT Departments Being Cut as Privilege Escalation Escalates
- Today’s Common Cloud Migration and Management Concerns
- Protect Your Healthcare Network from Cyberattack – Lives are at Stake
- Happy Halloween: Black Cats Lead to Boo….Hoo.
- Insurance Underwriters are Protecting Their Flanks
- Insurance Companies Cracking Down as Cybercriminals Become Better Business Builders
- Scary Cyberattacks Stats
- Parents, Profs and IT Professionals Perceive Back-to-School Through Different Lens
- Zscaler’s new IDTR and other tools that leverage generative AI
- Vanquish Vaping, Vandalism and Villainy
- Fabric for Fast-Paced Environments
- Changes to Cyber Insurance Requirements – What you Need to Know
- Cybersecurity Readiness – Newly Released Report
- Passwords Leaked…Again
- 10-Step Patch Management Checklist
- Remote – Again – For Now… and Still Maintaining Engagement
- Protecting Pocketbooks, Passwords and Property from Pilfering
- Raspberry Robin: Highly Evasive Worm Spreads over External Disks
- Cisco Introduces Responsible AI – Enhancing Technology, Transparency and Customer Trust
- Managing Customer Trust in Uncertain Supply Chain Conditions
- Hope on the Horizon
- Toys of Tomorrow… What will spark your imagination? Fuel your imagination?
- Protecting Purses and Digital Wallets
- The Password that Felled the Kingdom + MFA vs 2FA
- The MOE’s RA 3.0 and Zscaler
- 7 Critical Reasons for MS Office 365 Backup
- Penetration Testing Important, but…
- Social Engineering and Poor Patching Responsible for Over 90% of Cybersecurity Problems
- Breach Incidence and Costs On the Rise Again + 5 Ways to Reduce Your Risk
- Cybersecurity Insurance Policies Require Security Audits and Pen Testing
- Wireless strategies for business continuity gain importance as enterprise expand IoT, cloud, and other technologies
- How Cybercrooks are Targeting YOU
- Enabling Digital Transformation with Cisco SD-WAN
- WFH Post Pandemic – What It Will Look Like. What You’ll Need.
- Leaders to looking to the IoT to improve efficiency and resiliency
- Cyber Security Vernacular – Well, some of it, for now
- Why You Need Disaster Recovery, NOT Just Back-Ups
- 10 Reasons Why Having an Expert Manage Your Cybersecurity Makes Sense and Saves Dollars
- Converting CapEx IT Investments into Manageable OpEx
- The Hybrid Workplace – Planning the Next Phase
- Cisco Cloud Calling: Empowering Customers to Thrive with Hybrid Work
- When You Can’t Access the Cloud
- How to Keep On Keeping On
- New Cisco Research Reveals Collaboration, Cloud and Security are IT’s Top Challenges
- Threats from Within on the Rise
- Cloud Covered? If Not, Take Cover!
- Zero Trust and Forrester Wave Report
- Password Based Cyber Attack: Like Leaving Keys Under Doormats
- So, What’s Up With Sensors?
- Sensors and Systems Create a Digital “Last Mile” and Help Skyrocketing Costs
- Scanners Provide Peace of Mind for Returning Students and Workers
- Sensors Improve Operations and Bottom Line… Easily and Cost-Affordably.
- Cisco Meraki Looks at 2021
- 2020 Holiday Shopping: Cybersecurity and Other Tips to Safeguard Wallets and Systems
- How to make the most of the technology you have
- Personnel, Planet and Business Progress: More Interdependent Than Ever Before
- Sure… you can get them all in the boat – but can you get them to work well together?
- Pushing the Zero Trust Envelope – Cisco is Named a Leader in the 2020 Forrester Zero Trust Wave
- Cloud Data Must be Protected, Too!
- Don’t Let Anyone Get the Dirt on You – Make It Instead!
- How IoT Devices Can Help You and Your business
- WebEx – A World of Possibility
- Creating Your Breach Response Plan Now Will Save You Thousands Down The Road
- Been hacked? Here’s what you must do next.
- The Need for Pen Testing is At an All-Time High
- 5 Ways an IT Reseller Improves Your Performance and Peace-of-Mind
- 5G and Wi-Fi 6: Faster, more flexible, and future ready. Are you?
- Network and Data Security for Returning and Remote Workers + Disaster Recovery Symposium
- Collaboration and Cisco WebEx: Protecting Your Data
- Thursday’s Virtual Conference Tackles Today’s Supply Chain Trials and Tribulations
- 10 Tips to Reduce Cloud Storage Risk
- COVID-19 Crisis Fuelling IT Spending
- Supply Chain/Logistics Experts Share Their Expertise
- Cisco Breach Defence Overview
- Announcing Our New Website and Blog
No one needs to tell you that being an IT professional today means working in a truly challenging environment. Businesses are evolving as technology changes – and that evolution is happening at warp speed. To help your company grow, you are tasked with making sure all systems are go, all the time, while anticipating the needs of tomorrow.
In the midst of this, you also need to ensure all employees can work remotely, with the same network experience they get in the office, at any time of the day, from just about anywhere. Other stakeholders, potentially working remotely, too, also need to connect seamlessly. Systems are taxed, network security concerns abound, and the IT specialist is expected to make a work. And work well.
One of the hardest parts of IT professional’s job: Ensuring you have the right hardware and software solutions in place, making the right buying decisions for your organization, while working with budgets that do not expand as quickly as demand.
Working with an experienced IT reseller can make your life easier. Here’s how:
1.Expert advice – Yes, Virginia, you can get a free lunch
Good IT firms, including ours, stay on top of industry trends, evolving business needs and the ever-changing technologies that help you do your job. We have resources dedicated to evaluating emerging technologies, and determining which ones are viable and have the potential to help different types of clients. We also spend hours getting certified on all major manufacturers’ products and software solutions – and benefit from all of their research, too.
What does this mean for you?
Getting the best possible solution for your situation, no matter what the problem or challenge.
IT managers have told us they can get tunnel vision when looking for new technologies. They can get so focused on the specific tree, that they temporary lose sight of the forest.
A VAR will help you see the bigger picture more clearly. Usually, resellers will have addressed your challenge effectively many times before, with myriad companies and existing networks, using the best manufacturers for the job at hand. You benefit from this experience by getting multiple perspectives how to solve the current problem, taking into account other network and hardware concerns you may not have considered, if this is the first time you have encountered this particular situation.
Not only will you get multiple perspectives, you’ll get a solid recommendation on how to proceed – whether or not you end up purchasing from that reseller.
2.Ensures you “buy right” today, while laying the correct foundation for tomorrow
Many IT managers are reluctant to share future plans with “sales reps”, fearing they will be sold something they don’t need. With reputable resellers, the opposite is usually true.
By working openly with an expert third-party, not only will you get good advice on how to solve your current problem, you can ensure your purchase will be the right one for how your company plans to evolve.
Sometimes, knowing what’s on their horizon and on the manufacturer’s, we also recommend that clients delay purchases.
One of our account managers put it this way: “Imagine you’re adding a deck. You talk about the barbecues you’ll host, and how you will be entertaining your 300-pound cousin. Your contractor designs something that will easily support all your cousins when they’re horsing around. You’re so focused on the weight that you forget to tell him about the new gas barbecue you’d like to connect to the house.
Luckily, when checking the garage to see if it could be used for wood storage during construction, he sees the box. At that point, only a small adjustment is needed the only extra cost is the coupling. It’s like a good sales rep figuring out how the new solution fits the current situation.
But… You also neglected to say that you’re thinking of putting in a 1,000-pound hot tub four years down the road. If the contractor had known, the right deck would have been built – and key would’ve told you to hold off on planting the rosebushes. Because you did not say anything, most of that original deck will need to be replaced when the hot tub goes in, and your bushes will need to be moved.”
Worried about confidentiality? We have business and tech experts on staff who regularly deal with clients’ sensitive information and are bound to keep it confidential. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t stay in business long – and we’ve been helping clients for over 20 years.
When you share your longer-term business needs and vision with your outside tech partner, you can receive advice that will let you lay the foundation for your tomorrow, saving you money, time and effort down the road. It may also open the door to possibilities not yet imagined.
At very least, such discussions could prevent you from having to bring about keeping your cousin out of an improperly-supported hot tub!
3.Manufacturer Agnostic Advice
Working with a reseller who works as multiple manufacturers, ensures you get unbiased advice as well as the solution best-suited to your needs, perhaps combining products and services from multiple manufacturers.
If you only work with the manufacturer or its distributor, you will only be offered solutions that work with their products.
Also, a reseller what do its due diligence thoroughly, ensuring has a thorough understanding of all hardware, software and services you currently have in place. Thanks to the work it does with others manufacturers, resellers have a good understanding of how each complements the other, which is vital when introducing new applications and vital for large projects.
4.You will save money.
A good tech partner is always looking to improve efficiencies and save you money, whether that means repurposing existing equipment, finding ways to help you take advantage of manufacturers’ specials, or advising that you hold off on certain purchases.
Resellers can also take care of configuration installation, saving your department time and money when doing network and equipment upgrades and/or deploying new solutions.
You can also expand your IT department resource time by using a Managed Services Provider to take on some of the load – even if it’s just checking network security and performance levels 24/7, so that you can focus on your primary role.
Another with that resellers can help: By providing various financing options, you can sometimes switch funds between CapEx and OpEx budgets, making it possible to afford a purchase sooner than anticipated.
5. Managing the Manufacturer
If you are looking at multiple options, then you need to deal with multiple manufacturers. It can be very time-consuming even when making the top-level decisions, adding to an already full day.
When it gets down to the nitty-gritty details, going through multiple manufacturers’ catalogs, and ensuring you got all the component pieces needed, can be a daunting task.
A good reseller will assess your needs, condense the relevant information into digestible quantities and make recommendations.
We can also negotiate with the manufacturer(s) on your behalf – and they can become highly motivated when they know the reseller represents multiple brands.
Some people think they will get a better deal going directly to the manufacturer. This rarely happens. Also, in some cases, you cannot buy directly from the manufacturer, anyway.
At the end of the day, working with an experienced IT solutions provider such as Cloud Managed Networks will save you time money and energy – all resources in scarce supply these days.
Please contact us to learn how we can help you.