LSeven Solutions Blog

New technology paves the way for businesses to leverage their resources in exciting ways. Of course, it’s impossible to take advantage of these benefits if you don’t even know these new technologies exist. Therefore, to help you achieve an edge over your competition, consider how these four new technologies can enhance your business model.

A small business is just as susceptible to the many problems that face large enterprises, and the dangers only multiply with the more technology you implement in the office. The larger your network gets, the more difficult data distribution and storage becomes. The more employees you work with, the more devices that will appear in the office. The more data you work with, the more likely you are to get hacked. These are all very real risks. What are you doing to protect your company from these threats?

Let’s say that you receive an email from a software vendor, say, Microsoft. When you are contacted by a major company like this, do you automatically assume that it’s secure, or are you skeptical that it’s a scam? Ordinarily, it might not seem like a big issue, but all it takes is one click on an infected attachment or malicious link to infect your business’s infrastructure.

What would you do if your business were suddenly struck by something which threatened its very existence? Do you have a plan to make sure that your business survives well past the expiration date assigned by natural disasters, hardware failure, user error, or hacking attacks? One of the most important parts of running a business is managing risk, and implementing a business continuity plan is a great way to focus on the preservation of your organization.

Many businesses are searching for ways to go green. Most of the ones that do are trying to cut out their reliance on paper and printing. This is strategic thinking, of course, since the cost of printer toner has skyrocketed over the years. Today the most affordable printer ink on the market still comes in at an astounding $13 per ounce; or, slightly more than Dom Perignon. This is why businesses that are looking to cut costs, as well as embrace environmentally-friendly initiatives, are going paperless.

The Internet of Things may have just entered social consciousness, but people have been trying to add Internet functionality to devices for quite some time. One instance of this is the development and manufacture of smart car technology. In the same way as our services are designed to proactively monitor and maintain your business’ network, a smart car has been developed largely as an completely connected automobile that allows car owners to worry less about their car and to get the most out of their investment and driving experiences.

You know better than anyone that managing your business isn’t something to be taken lightly. Keeping your technology in proper working order is just the icing on the proverbial cake, making the task of managing your business even more difficult. If you’re using normal break-fix IT services, this might be the case. Alternatively, managed IT services aren’t designed to burden you.

Not all companies are prepared to deal with the costs associated with downtime. Any situation in which your organization cannot access important information or can’t operate with efficiency is something which needs to be prepared for; otherwise, you risk more than you know. We want to help protect your business when it needs it most.

No one said business was going to be easy. One of the most frustrating aspects can be employee complacency. In fact, with the advent of the Internet and with more jobs trending toward service, you are finding that people are constantly looking outside their current organization for professional development. With employee turnover costing businesses everywhere substantial capital, retaining your proficient employees must be a priority.

It’s National Clean Out Your Computer Day! To kick off this important day, we’d like to remind business owners that this is a valuable opportunity to make sure that you’re taking good care of one of your greatest assets: your company’s technology. Let’s go over some of the best ways that you can optimize the performance of your office computers.

Have you ever tried to teach a kid how to do something? Chances are that if it’s not super fun and engaging, kids will probably ignore what you’re saying. While it might be difficult to emphasize the importance of a quality career choice to kids, you can get them moving in the right direction by teaching them valuable technology skills like programing and robotics. Thankfully, with educational apps and tools, this is much easier to accomplish than, say, ten years ago.

If you’re fortunate enough to have children in your life that you think would make a great technological wiz, try introducing them to these educational tools. After all, major figures in the tech industry were presumably kids at one point, so why not foster a natural love of technology and turn it into something great?

Littlebits
It’s safe to say that one of the dreams of any kid is to have their own robot. There are plenty of kits out there that can help them make their very own. Littlebits helps kids create a myriad of devices. These could include security devices, Internet-connected Cloudbit devices, and plenty of other projects to keep them busy while helping them learn. By examining how their actions affect the world around them, children will be able to appreciate the wonders of technology right from the get-go.

Arduino/Genuino
If you have something more advanced in mind, you might be able to try out Arduino, as well as its sister brand Genuino. These open-source electronics platforms allow kids to build programs to light up LEDs, start motors, and plenty of other mechanical motions. In a way, it can be considered a sort of introduction to technologies like Raspberry Pi.

For a more intensive experience, there are other websites out there that can help kids learn more about technology. One example is Make Magazine, which allows kids to build Internet of Things projects and share them online with others.

Minecraft Education Edition
You’d be hard-pressed to find a kid who has never played the video game Minecraft. In fact, Minecraft is already being used to teach through its Education Edition, leveraging the popularity of the game to help kids learn more about programming. The kids will be capable of learning through various lessons, such as creating boolean logic gates and urban planning. In fact, you’d be surprised by how many schools have already tied Minecraft into their lessons and social development platforms.

What are some other ways that you can think of that can help kids appreciate and learn about modern technology? Let us know in the comments.

Budgeting accurately for your long-term IT needs requires an intimate knowledge about technology and IT trends. Compared to other department budgets that are easy to compile by making a few simple adjustments to the previous year’s numbers, your IT budget must take into account the depreciation of your IT equipment for replacement purposes, as well as the cost of procuring the new, cutting-edge solutions that are shaping your industry. Do you have the technical knowledge to come up with an accurate IT budget? If you don’t, you’ll want to employ the services of an IT consultant.

One of the most high-profile hacking attacks in the United States struck last year when the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was breached. 464,000 Social Security numbers were swiped; enough to file 101,000 tax returns using false personal identification numbers. Every organization can learn how to better protect themselves during tax return season, especially since you have so much on the line every year.

For the modern business it’s important to have software that is both simple to use and powerful enough to meet your needs. Nowadays, there are cloud-based platforms that come with storage, communication options, and many of the enterprise-level productivity applications that drive your organization’s productivity. Two of these, Microsoft’s Office 365 and Google’s G-Suite bring substantial value and flexibility to the table where there was once only expense.

Whether you are looking to prevent theft, curb employee time-wasting, or get a handle on workplace efficiency, security cameras are a solution that prevents and protects you from a wide variety of issues.

You might use the Internet and connected technology for most parts of your life, but do you understand the finer details of how these devices work? How do they receive information that is stored so far away, perhaps on the other side of the planet? This is done via a web server, and it’s a fascinating piece of technology!

The online business environment is a dangerous place, especially with threats such as viruses, malware, and worse, all hiding in plain sight. Organizations need to take advantage of comprehensive security solutions that can cover all modes of attack, but finding an affordable enterprise-level solution can be challenging for SMBs. Thankfully, a Unified Threat Management (UTM) solution provides comprehensive coverage that today’s businesses need.

To help you out, we’ll discuss the four key UTM features in detail, including how each part contributes to your overall network security.

Firewalls
You can think of a firewall like a bouncer for your network. A firewall is essential for every user to have, especially those handling corporate data. Firewalls analyze the data flowing into and out of a network. This helps to ensure that only data that’s safe enters your organization’s IT infrastructure, while keeping threats locked out and promptly eliminated so as not to spread across your network.

Antivirus
In comparison to the firewall, antivirus solutions focus on eliminating threats that have already made their way into your network infrastructure. With the proper threat definitions, antivirus can detect and eliminate most known variants of threats, such as viruses, malware, spyware, and more.

Content Filtering
Content filtering is another preventative measure that focuses on keeping threats from entering your infrastructure. Content filtering looks at which sites your employees are accessing in order to determine whether or not dangerous content is being accessed. This includes sites that host malware or other malicious code on their web pages. Furthermore, content filtering can be used to limit user access to specific sites, which is exceptionally useful for problem employees who can’t stop browsing social media or watching pornography in the workplace.

Spam Blocking
Again, this is another preventative measure that keeps threats out of your email inboxes. For hackers, email is the preferred mode for a variety of attacks. Malware and viruses, and in particular ransomware, are all spread via infected email attachments or malicious links found within the body of the message. Spam blocking solutions keep these messages from hitting your inbox in the first place, practically eliminating the risk of user error.

Considering how a UTM takes advantage of these four solutions by consolidating them into one convenient package, it is without a doubt the best way to protect your organization from the threats found on the Internet. The end result for businesses is a much more secure network that’s suitable for getting work done.

Of course, due to the fact that no one solution can fully cover the security needs of every organization, you’ll first want to have IT professionals assess your network’s needs before implementing a solution like UTM. L7 Solutions can do this for you and equip your network with the right-sized UTM model, or even point you toward a different security solution altogether. For help selecting and implementing a security solution that hits the mark, contact L7 Solutions today at (954) 573-1300.

Your business relies on technology to keep operations moving, but your technology relies on you to stay functional. While many small businesses will choose to forsake an in-house IT department in favor of a self-service model, this is a costly maintenance practice that could put your IT in jeopardy. Instead, your organization should invest in our managed IT services, which have the possibility to show your business an entirely new way of managing technology assets.

Instead of taking a break-fix approach to IT, managed technology services take preventative measures to keep problems from escalating into major disasters. Here are three ways that managed IT services can help your business.

Cost Savings
One of the biggest ways you can save on your IT is by implementing managed services. Due to the way managed services work, you get a service for a monthly fee. Now, compare this to the usual way of managing technology. When your technology breaks, instead of reaching out to a company that can diagnose and fix your problems for a steep cost, a managed service provider can administer the care needed as per your service level agreement.

Furthermore, the majority of problems can be prevented through careful maintenance and management, which is something that a break-fix IT provider won’t tell you. After all, they profit from your technology consistently breaking down. Managed IT providers want to save your business money through preventative maintenance. This means minimal hardware replacements, as you’ll only need to replace technology that’s in danger of an imminent failure.

Less Wasted Time
Chances are that you don’t have an internal IT department, and even if you do, it’s probably buried in work that nobody has time to get to. When there’s too much work that needs to get done, it’s easy to accidentally cut corners in order to guarantee that something of critical importance doesn’t go unanswered. One of the most frequent cut corners could include the administration of patches and security updates, which are crucial if you want to keep your business safe from online threats.

Managed IT services give your administration or internal IT department a break from constant technology maintenance. Instead, the responsibility is outsourced to an MSP whose sole responsibility is the upkeep of your technology solutions. This lets you stay focused on operations without worrying about your technology.

Peace of Mind
We mentioned that some companies leave the management of technology up to their employees, but we failed to mention how dangerous this can be. When you have untrained employees working with complex machines like workstations or servers, the chances of user error skyrocket. This can lead to downtime and other problems that could hinder the productivity of your organization.

The biggest benefit of managed IT services is that you know for sure that your technology is being handled by professional, proven technicians. This virtually eliminates the possibility of user error stemming from large technology revamps or maintenance projects. When a project is done right the first time, everyone benefits--especially your bottom line.

If your business wants to cut down on the amount of expenses and save on capital costs, managed services are the way to go. L7 Solutions can provide a number of managed services designed specifically for your business. To learn more, give us a call at (954) 573-1300.

Social media is a phenomenon that has invaded the business world in more ways than one. While it might be a great way to endorse your brand and communicate with your local prospects, it can be a huge distraction for your in-house workers. A new study by communications agency, We Are Flint, claims that 84 percent of adults in the UK use social media, and two-thirds of them use it every day--be it at the office or at home.

Now that mobile devices have taken over the workplace, you need to consider the security of your business’s data more than ever before. You need to think about which devices access certain data, as well as what they do with that data. In particular, you need to make sure that only your employees can access corporate information, and there are several ways to do so.