Waikato Business News September/October 2017

6 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS September/October 2017
IT BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
What is a modern workplace?
The modern workplace is the intersection
of people, business and technology. How
you take advantage of the latest advances
in technology is an ever-increasing
consideration.
Today businesses are
enabling their teams to
enter data securely from
almost any location or device
as well as view information in
simplified visual ways, in real
time.
After more than two decades
of working with businesses
and helping them improve
productivity we have
found it’s common to unravel
poor or redundant technology
and to eliminate double entry
by putting in new and more effective
integrated solutions. It
is recommended you start by
analysing your total solution
for all aspects of your business
that need computerised
systems as opposed to starting
with individual siloed systems.
Think big picture first!
There are a few solution
providers that spring to mind
such as Google and Microsoft
that provide systems that
help businesses across a wide
range of their business needs.
We have found that when you
factor integration of software,
security of company data and
application familiarity into the
equation, the Microsoft Office
365 products provide a great
solution for many businesses.
Microsoft Office 365,
what’s under the hood? Their
business premium offering
provides you a base collaborative
Email, Calendar and Contacts;
skype for business which
adds ability for webinars and
sharing content; SharePoint
which ticks all the boxes as far
as secure document management
and team collaboration;
OneDrive for file storage and
the Microsoft Office suite of
products - Outlook, Word, Excel
and PowerPoint.
But what you may not
know is that you also get
Teams which is an application
that brings together in one
place team communication,
documents, screen sharing and
project and team planning.
Other products bundled with
your subscription are tools
handlings bookings, fuel and
mileage tracking and Outlook
Contact Manager which is
built into Outlook and is a basic
CRM; Power Apps which
enables you to build simple
mobile and tablet customized
solutions yourself and Flow
which enables you to trigger
workflows between software
solutions. These tools are integrated,
secure and ready to add
productivity to your team.
One of the hidden gems in
the suite of products is Power
BI which enables you to quickly
and visually display large
amounts of complex data. You
don’t need to be a software
programmer to use it!
If you want mobile, secure,
and integrated solutions, you
won’t go wrong with Microsoft
Office 365. Talk to an IT
advisor to understand how Office
365 can help improve productivity
in your organisation.
Three basic tips for Cyber security
Continually evolving cyber
security threats are
a nightmare for business
owners.
Ransomware
Lately one form of cyber-threat
known as ransomware creates
havoc with businesses and organisations
world-wide.
Ransomware works by encrypting
your files. A ransom
is then demanded to get the
decryption key. Unfortunately,
some cyber criminals don’t
honour this. They just take
your money.
Ransomware generally arrives
in email as an attachment
or link to a malicious or compromised
website. Software
downloads, websites and advertising
delivered online may
also aid in delivery.
What can you do?
1 Staff education is the best
defence.
In every case our office has
seen, the ransomware package
was detonated by a human.
- Three years ago, (the olden
days), the rule was, don’t
open an email or attachment
from someone you
don’t know. That rule still
applies, however malware
is often “redistributed” to
everybody in the victim’s
address book, so it’s not
just the unknown.
- Think about that attachment
or link. Were you
expecting an invoice from
your mother? Where did
the police get your email
address for that traffic ticket?
- Any doubts, contact the
sender and ask for confirmation.
Better safe than
sorry.
2 Backup or Pay up.
- Backup your data often.
Not to a shared drive, as
most ransomware spreads
to every “share” it can find.
Unfortunate if that is your
backup. Unless you want
to risk paying the ransom,
recovering from backup is
your only option.
- Test backups often.
3 Secure your devices.
- All devices in your network
must have up to date business
grade Anti-Virus.
- Apply operating system and
application patches. Microsoft
and others regularly
release patches etc. to fix
vulnerabilities.
- “Automatic” updates don’t
always work. Have a regime
to check this.
- Use the latest operating systems.
Windows 7 is good;
however, Windows 10 is
inherently more secure.
- Restrict administrative
privileges. Log in as administrator
to perform administrative
functions only. Allocate
standard user rights
for everyday logins. This
lowers the risk of “accidentally”
installing malware.
CYBERCRIME
HOW DO YOU KNOW
IF YOU’RE A SITTING
DUCK?
DON’T BE THEIR
NEXT VICTIM
FREE REPORT -
7 URGENT SECURITY
MEASURES YOUR
BUSINESS SHOULD
HAVE IN PLACE NOW
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