Choosing a business resilience service provider Posted on December 22, 2016 by Tim Burke In my last post, I described key capabilities needed to achieve the IT resilience that’s become so critical to sustaining business resilience in an always-on world. Getting those capabilities to work for your business takes more than a pro–vider with appropriate IT service/product offerings. You’ll also need a provider with considerable depth of business experience and understanding as well as a vendor–neutral willingness to customize and integrate available technologies. It’s this combination of technology, business, and integration acumen that puts IT resilience – and business resilience – within your reach. Continue reading →
Of IT resilience and business recovery: From days to hours to minutes to seconds with 6 capabilities Posted on December 6, 2016 by Tim Burke As I’ve noted, IT resilience requires designing for the continuous availability of all business processes, workflows, technologies, and policies needed for always-on operations. To do this, you need outwardly-focused, cloud-conscious backup and business recovery solutions able to provide continuous data protection and end-to-end recovery automation regardless of what’s in your IT environment or how/where it changes. Continue reading →
Consider This about Unified Communications Posted on November 10, 2016 by Tim Burke Bringing integration and efficiency to your organization’s communications technologies? I recommend you keep these matters front-of-mind: Your budget, your legacy. Older communications installations may not do well in Unified Communications (UC) architectures — so do you attempt to bring along what you already have or replace it? This decision impacts your network. If you haven’t been keeping up with users’ demands for connectivity, a successful UC deployment may require more capacity than you currently possess. Continue reading →
Uh oh, downtime! Posted on November 10, 2016 by Tim Burke The impacts of downtime on a business can be devastating, as this cringe–inducing chart reveals: Downtime impacts Source: 3 Steps to IT Resilience, Forrester Continue reading →
Staying secure in a dangerous age: Overcoming cybersecurity complexity – with cloud and managed security services Posted on October 20, 2016 by Tim Burke The last time I posted, I described several cybersecurity solutions which are moving beyond the reactive, siloed offerings that continue to be necessary, but are no longer sufficient to protect our enterprises. These solutions can seem daunting. The complexity of it all often overwhelms. This is partly due to what’s happening to our information infrastructures, which are also becoming more complex as they go hybrid. They are, essentially, boundless as they accommodate internet communication. Meanwhile, today’s in–house data centers are increasingly virtualized and typically combine a variety of cloud and managed services. Continue reading →
Staying secure in a dangerous age:Beyond reactive cybersecurity solutions Posted on October 6, 2016 by Tim Burke In my recent posts, I’ve focused on some of the top security threats faced by anyone trying to keep their business data and systems safe. Besides app attacks, web attacks, social engineering exploits, and ransomware, there’s plenty more to be concerned about – the challenges of trusting devices and sensors that are part of the Internet of Things (IoT), breaches that steal huge swaths of “big data,” and the frightening vulnerabilities of industrial control systems. Continue reading →
Staying secure in a dangerous age: How to face down ransomware Posted on September 22, 2016 by Tim Burke In my last post, I focused on several key types of cyber threat most likely to challenge your business right now. This time, I’m drilling down — to ransomware and what you can do to protect your enterprise from it. Why ransomware prevention? Because security experts regard ransomware as today’s most serious cyber threat, having increased 35% in just a year to an average of nearly 1,000 per day in 2015. Continue reading →
Staying secure in a dangerous age: Know the threats you face Posted on September 8, 2016 by Tim Burke Fasten your seatbelt. I’m driving into the realm of digital security, which can turn into a rather hairy ride. Despite its challenges, digital security deployment is what stops the hackers, malicious actors, and spies from stealing everything. So let me begin by telling you to stay vigilant, because as the use of digital technologies becomes more pervasive, so do the attempts to exploit it for nefarious purposes. Continue reading →
8 best practices for going hybrid cloud Posted on August 25, 2016 by Tim Burke Public cloud apps and services are great for shifting your non-differentiated business functions and infrastructure from expensive on-premise environments to low-cost off-site facilities managed by specialists you have no hope of keeping on staff. Yet, if you’re facing shadow IT issues, demands to improve security and compliance, or the realization that you must prepare for a future in which success depends on your ability to differentiate your business, then you need something more than public cloud subscriptions. Continue reading →
Hybrid Cloud: Playing offense with technology innovation Posted on August 11, 2016 by Tim Burke As I’ve clarified in recent posts, cloud services generally provide the most resource-efficient way to satisfy your organization’s IT requirements — and usually are most effectively deployed via a hybrid cloud combining selected public cloud subscriptions with customized private cloud capabilities. The arguments for hybrid clouds that you hear most often are, basically, defensive, powering the customizations that legacy environments depend on, protecting sensitive data, and boosting compliance. Continue reading →
