Making Technology Work For You

How to Prepare Your Business Before a Hurricane
June 1, 2022

It's hurricane season, and although it may seem like bad news for business owners, you can make the most of this time by preparing your business for disaster. Being ready to weather a storm could mean the difference between being out of commission for weeks or months and getting back up and running in a day or two.


So if you want to be ready when the next hurricane hits, here are some things you can do to prepare:


Check your insurance coverage

If your business is located in an area that's at risk of severe weather, it's important to make sure you're covered. Check with your insurance agent or broker about the following:


• Coverage for damage to your property, equipment and inventory

• What is the deductible?

• Exclusions from coverage such as flood damage or earthquakes



Gather important documents in one place

• Have a disaster plan. A good disaster plan should include three things:

• A backup plan for your business. If you have employees, make sure they have been trained on how to use the most important information in case of an emergency like a hurricane or fire. It's also important to have a backup plan for any equipment that might be needed to operate when the power is out, such as generators and computers with battery backups;

• A business continuity plan. This will allow your company to continue operating after disasters strike by having alternate work locations, employee training and more;

• An emergency plan that covers what you'll do if natural disasters threaten your area (such as evacuating), as well as man-made disasters like terrorist attacks or pandemics;



Consider storing documents in the cloud

To help ensure that you can recover your data in the event of a disaster, consider storing some or all of your documents with cloud storage services like ECS's Cloud Service, Citrix .


While these services are not as secure as using a networked server (or physical hard drive), they do provide additional benefits that make them well-suited for small businesses:

• They're easy to use and accessible from anywhere;

• They can be used to share files with co-workers and clients;

• The documents they store are automatically backed up by default, so if anything happens to your local computers or servers (e.g., catastrophic hardware failure), you'll still have access to all of your important information;



Backup files and servers

• If you have a business with multiple locations, you should use a cloud storage service that automatically backs up your data in real time and is accessible from anywhere.

• You should also use a file backup service for all of the files on your computer that aren’t part of the cloud—for example, if you want to access them from outside the office or print them at home.

• Backup servers are also useful because they provide an extra layer of protection against loss due to hardware failure. If one server fails, another can take over without losing any data or affecting your operations in any way.

• Network backups protect against problems with computers connecting to each other—such as when there's too much traffic on the network and it slows down everything else—or problems with individual computers accessing information from other computers on the network (like when someone deletes important files). Data backups keep track of where all your critical information resides so that if one piece is damaged or lost, it can be replaced easily with another copy stored somewhere else (e.g., at home). Hardware backups ensure that no matter what happens to any given piece of equipment like laptops or desktops (extreme heat), none of your valuable information will go missing since hardware failures aren't recoverable! Software backups allow for changes made by users over time without requiring constant reprogramming; this means employees don't need special training just because their software needs updating every now and then."



Have a communications plan

You need to have a plan for communicating with your customers and partners, as well as the people who work for you. Having an established communication plan will help everyone stay calm and work together during the storm.

3 New Reasons Why ECS is the Right IT Company for You

By April Monroe • January 26, 2023
Uh oh, what happened? Are you experiencing a technology problem right now? Most of us tend to not look for help until something bad happens. We hope you aren’t experiencing any trouble at the moment but if you are, ECS is here to help. Here are 3 reasons why we are the right IT Company for you: Reason #1 With email scams always evolving, and scammers continuously learning and getting smarter and slicker, it is essential to make sure your inbox knows how to shield and combat these nasty bugs from making their way into the rest of your system. Our Email Spam and Virus Protection will do just that. Xcitium’s Secure Email Gateway TRUSTS NO ONE with unknown files and will always verify content. This allows uninterrupted use and bulletproof security. Reason #2 ECS uses an Advanced Endpoint protection. Once there has been a breach, it can spread like a disease. Unless it’s found and contained immediately. Advanced Endpoint protection will automatically contain ALL UNTRUSTED applications and processes in a secure environment. Applications that are deemed safe can continue to run as usual, while the malware is denied the entry needed to be successful. And lastly, Reason #3 is ECS’s Endpoint Manager. This proactive service monitors servers and PC’s performance, security statuses and provides an automated windows patch management service, keeping machines running their best. You’ll be able to View patches needed on devices, applications, and operating systems communicating with Endpoint Manager. You’ll be up to date with Protection against zero-day web threats, without hindering employee productivity, while keeping healthy endpoints. And you’ll have a dashboard of real-time data about the operating system, connection status and security posture of all devices enrolled to Endpoint Manager, allowing you to manage your entire network. With these new services, ECS is staying ahead of the game and keeping your business and its assets protected. It’s the smartest decision you will make in 2023. Give us a call today and let’s talk about your small business needs.

A Chat With the Owner

By April Monroe • December 13, 2022
Ever wondered if your small business needed an IT Company’s services? While they all have access to the same information, not all IT companies are equal. Knowledge coupled with lots of experience make the difference. A difference you will find with Efficient Computer Service. With more than 25 years of accumulated knowledge and experience, we thought it would be a great time to ask John Potts, owner of ECS some important questions that we knew any business owner looking for an IT service, or just wondering if they need one, would ask. Here’s how it went… What do you believe makes ECS unique to other IT companies? We pride ourselves on personalized prompt service, and we are always concise of costs when providing valued services needed. If I call with a problem, what are your typical response times? Usually we will respond within 1 hour or less to every support request. Can you explain the cloud? What is it, where is it, and how do we access it? The “Cloud” is a generic term, referring to any service that is hosted on the internet as opposed to onsite. Our Virtual Cloud Servers and Desktops are physically hosted on multiple enterprise class servers in a Tier III Secure Data Center in Boston. The Virtual Cloud Desktops are accessed using a Secure internet connection managed by a Citrix software application on a local PC or laptop. What’s the difference, other than the obvious, between cloud-based solutions versus on-site? An on-site, sometimes referred to as on-premises entails a costly capitol expenditure for Server(s), battery backup devices, software licensing, data backup and regular maintenance. Many companies also pay for a server monitoring service. For Cloud based solutions, there is a huge savings because there is no hardware to purchase, maintain, backup and replace. There are no software licenses to purchase. Everything needed is included on a flat rate cost. Also, with the Cloud Servers and desktops enhanced security is and reliability is unmatched. Finally, it is easy to support a remote work force and multiple office locations. If a business asks you which solutions would be the best fit for them, how do you come to your decision or recommendation? Great question. We do an extensive evaluation of all hardware, software, and business practices to learn the state of the current IT platform and the IT needs for each company. We learn what works well and what areas need to be improved. The we make our recommendations based on the findings and the deployment plan of needed changes based on budgets and availability to ensure the least impact to downtime if any. Our goals for every business customer are to ensure their data is secure and their systems are efficient, reliable & affordable, and finally that they are a good fit to meet the individual company technology needs. Can I just train one of my employees to be our IT person? ECS has many decades of technology knowledge & experience we offer. This level of knowledge & experience takes years to learn. However, we can train an employee to do some tasks and to leverage our experience as needed. How often should my employees really be changing their passwords? In today’s world of threats, we recommend passwords be changed at least every 90 days as a general rule. I work from my phone a lot. If I answer emails from my phone’s email app, will they be as safe as using my desktop or laptop? A phone app is just as secure a desktop or laptop. However, this depends on the type of email being used. For example, if a company uses GMAIL or HOTMAIL or any free email service, the mail is not secure on any device. If they use a hosted MS Exchange email the connection to the mail server is always secure. What is a realistic budget a small business should have per year for IT Services? This varies greatly and is driven by business industry that has compliance requirements (i.e.: Medical or Financial) and the complexity of the technology needed. Some small businesses require larger IT budgets than their larger counterparts. Our experience in general industry shows a company with 10 computers would require an annual budget of at least $7,000 to $10,000. And there we have it. Small businesses should have, at the very minimum, a designated person to learn and be trained in IT related components to the business, but that will not guarantee the safety and longevity of your investments and data. Doing nothing is much more costly than the above-mentioned budget. Repairing, replacing, and then adding IT Services and security will run your business twice those numbers, easily. In this case, it is definitely better safe than sorry. With the costs of literally everything continuing to climb, you can’t afford NOT to protect your business. We understand the expense is not cheap, and there are ways to spread things out. ECS is experienced and personable and would love to help you figure out the best route for your small business. Give us a call and let’s create a gameplan.
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