5 common social engineering scams
Social engineering scams have been going on for years and yet, we continue to fall for them every single day. This is due to the overwhelming lack of cybersecurity training available to the employees of organizations big and small. In an effort to spread awareness of this tactic and fight back, here is a quick overview of common social engineering scams. Managed service providers (MSPs) have an opportunity to educate their small and medium business clients to learn to identify these attacks, making avoiding threats like ransomware much easier. Phishing Phishing is a leading form of social engineering attack that is typically delivered in the form of an email, chat, web ad or website that has been designed to impersonate a real system, person, or organization. Phishing messages are crafted to deliver a sense of urgency or fear with the end goal of capturing an end user’s sensitive data. A phishing message might come from a bank, the government or a major corporation. The call to actions vary. Some ask the end user to “verify” their login information of an account and include a mocked-up login page complete with logos and branding to look legitimate. Some claim the end user is the “winner” of a grand prize or lottery and request access to a bank account in which to deliver the winnings. Some ask for charitable donations (and provide wiring instructions) after a natural disaster or tragedy. A successful attack often culminates in access to systems and lost data. Organizations of all sizes should consider backing up business-critical data with a business continuity and disaster recovery solution to recover from such situations. Baiting Baiting, similar to phishing, involves offering something enticing to an end user, in exchange for login information or private data. The “bait” comes in many forms, both digital, such as a music or movie download on a peer-to-peer site, and physical, such as a corporate branded flash drive labeled “Executive Salary Summary Q3” that is left out on a desk for an end user to find. Once the bait is downloaded or used, malicious software is delivered directly into the end users system and the hacker is able to get to work. Quid Pro Quo Similar to baiting, quid pro quo involves a hacker requesting the exchange of critical data or login credentials in exchange for a service. For example, an end user might receive a phone call from the hacker who, posed as a technology expert, offers free IT assistance or technology improvements in exchange for login credentials. Another common example is a hacker, posing as a researcher, asks for access to the company’s network as part of an experiment in exchange for $100. If an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is quid pro quo. Piggybacking Piggybacking, also called tailgating, is when an unauthorized person physically follows an authorized person into a restricted corporate area or system. One tried-and-true method of piggybacking is when a hacker calls out to an employee to hold a door open for them as they’ve forgotten their ID card. Another method involves a person asking an employee to “borrow” his or her laptop for a few minutes, during which the criminal is able to quickly install malicious software. Pretexting Pretexting, the human equivalent of phishing, is when a hacker creates a false sense of trust between themselves and the end user by impersonating a co-worker or a figure of authority well known to an end user in order to gain access to login information. An example of this type of scam is an email to an employee from what appears to be the head of IT support or a chat message from an investigator who claims to be performing a corporate audit. Pretexting is highly effective as it reduces human defenses to phishing by creating the expectation that something is legitimate and safe to interact with. Pretexting emails are particularly successful in gaining access to passwords and business data as impersonators can seem legitimate, so it’s important to have a third-party backup provider. For all employees to be aware of the various forms of social engineering is essential for ensuring corporate cybersecurity. If users know the main characteristics of these attacks, it’s much more likely they can avoid falling for them. Aside from education and awareness, there are other ways to reduce the risk of being hacked. Employees should be instructed not to open emails or click links from unknown sources. Computers should never be shared with anyone, even for a moment. By default, all company desktops, laptops, and mobile devices should automatically lock when left idle for longer than five minutes (or less). Lastly, ensure your business is prepared to quickly recover from this kind of attack in case an employee does fall victim to one of these schemes. Humans are humans after all. By leveraging a solid backup and recovery solution, everyone can rest easy. Source: Datto.com, Courtney Heinbach
Humans & cybersecurity practices
Based on a comprehensive survey of 5,000 IT managers across 26 countries, Cybersecurity: The Human Challenge provides brand new insights into the state of cybersecurity skills and resources across the globe. It reveals the realities facing IT teams when it comes to the human-led delivery of cybersecurity, and explores how organizations are responding to the skills challenges they face. The study also exposes unique insights into the relationship between an organization falling victim to ransomware and their day-to-day cybersecurity practices. Key findings IT teams are showing progress in many battles IT teams are on top of patching. Three-quarters of IT teams apply patches to desktops, servers, applications, and internet-facing assets within a week of release. Servers and internet-facing assets are patched most quickly, with 39% of respondents patching them within 24 hours. Prevention is prioritized. On average, IT teams dedicate nearly half their time (45%) to prevention. After that, 30% of time is spent on detection and the remaining 25% is spent on response. IT managers are keeping up to date with cybersecurity. The majority (72%) say that they and their teams are up to date with or ahead of cybersecurity threats. Just 11% think they are significantly behind. Improving cybersecurity requires people – who are in short supply There is an urgent need for human-led threat hunting. Forty-eight percent of respondents have already incorporated human-led threat hunts in their security procedures and a further 48% plan to implement them within a year. The cybersecurity skills shortage is directly implementing protection. Over a quarter (27%) of managers said their ability to find and retain skilled IT security professionals is the single biggest challenge to their ability to deliver IT security, while 54% say it is a major challenge. Organizations are changing the ways they deliver security Improving operational efficiency is a key priority. Four in ten (39%) respondents said that improving operational efficiency and scalability is one of their biggest priorities for the IT team this year. Outsourcing IT security is rising fast. Currently, 65% outsource some or all of their IT security efforts. This is set to rise to 72% by 2022. The percentage of organizations that exclusively uses in-house staffing will drop from 34% to 26%. Ransomware victims display different behaviors and attitudes than those who haven’t been hit Ransomware victims are more exposed to infection from third parties. Twenty-nine percent of organizations hit by ransomware in the last year allow five or more suppliers to connect directly to their network – compared to just 13% for those that weren’t hit. Ransomware damages professional confidence. IT managers whose organizations were hit by ransomware are nearly three times as likely to feel “significantly behind” on cyberthreats than those that weren’t (17% vs. 6%). Being hit accelerates implementation of human-led threat hunting. Forty-three percent of ransomware victims plan to implement human-led hunting within six months, compared to 33% for those that didn’t suffer an attack. Victims have learned the importance of skilled security professionals. More than one-third (35%) of ransomware victims said recruiting and retaining skilled IT security professionals is their single biggest challenge when it comes to cybersecurity, compared to just 19% who hadn’t been hit. Download the full PDF report for more findings, including results for each of the 26 countries surveyed. About the survey Sophos commissioned specialist research house Vanson Bourne to survey 5,000 IT managers during January and February 2020. Sophos had no role in the selection of respondents and all responses were provided anonymously. Respondents came from 26 countries across six continents: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, the Philippines, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, UAE, the UK, and the US. Fifty percent of respondents were from organizations of between 100 and 1,000 employees, and 50% were from organizations of between 1,001 and 5,000 employees. Respondents came from a range of sectors, both public and private. Source: Sophos.com, Sally Adam
Keep your data safe from phishing attacks!
Cybercrime is on the rise, and hackers are using any opportunity to take advantage of an unknowing victim to gain access to personal information for financial gain. One commonly used tactic is phishing. Phishing messages are crafted to deliver a sense of urgency or fear with the end goal of capturing a person’s sensitive data and can result in wire transfer fraud, credential phishing, malware attachments, and URLs leading to malware spraying websites. Phishing scams are getting more sophisticated on a daily basis, thus harder to detect and avoid. Here are five different types of phishing attacks to avoid: 1. Spear Phishing Attackers pass themselves off as someone the target knows well or an organization that they’re familiar with to gain access to compromising information (e.g., credentials or financial information), which is used to exploit the victim. 2. Whaling Whaling is a form of spear phishing with a focus on a high-value target, typically a senior employee within an organization, to boost credibility. This approach also targets other high-level employees within an organization as the potential victims and includes an attempt to gain access to company platforms or financial information. 3. Mass Campaigns Mass phishing campaigns cast a wider net. Emails are sent to the masses from a knock-off corporate entity insisting a password needs to be updated or credit card information is outdated. 4. Ambulance Chasing Phishing Attackers use a current crisis to drive urgency for victims to take action that will lead to compromising data or information. For example, targets may receive a fraudulent email encouraging them to donate to relief funds for recent natural disasters or the COVID-19 global pandemic. 5. Pretexting Pretexting involves an attacker doing something via a non-email channel (e.g., voicemail) to set an expectation that they’ll be sending something seemingly legitimate in the near future only to send an email that contains malicious links. What to do if you think you’ve received a phishing email? First, to help identify it as a phishing email, check to see if the signed-by field was generated by a DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) or a service. For example, if you received an email from name@datto.com, you would see a DKIM in the signature that looks like this: datto-com.20150623.gappssmtp.com. This is how all emails through a domain are processed. Emails shared through a service (e.g., Drive, Calendar, Dropbox, Box, etc.) do not have a DKIM. Instead, you would see the signature of the provided service (i.e., signed-by dropbox.com). If you receive a file, and it is not signed by google.com, gmail.com, dropbox.com, it is likely phishing – delete it immediately. It’s important to remain vigilant and proceed with caution in these circumstances. Source: https://www.datto.com/resources/phishing-attacks-how-to-recognize-them-and-keep-business-data-safe
A smooth transition into going paperless
There are advantages to going department by department when you implement a document management system. Think of starting small as your “sandbox,” a development term for experimentation that confirms the direction you should be taking. Working through your first implementation project provides valuable information about priorities and processes that you can bring to your next one. Too much change at one time may initially overwhelm users. This is especially true if one person deals with multiple processes across departments. Your goals for the implementation give you an endpoint to reach for, but it can be more effective to take smaller, manageable steps toward that goal. Zero in on one department and go forward from there For most organizations, the accounting department offers a significant opportunity for savings of time and resources. Accounting still tends to be paper-centric. For example, processing incoming invoices is often done manually. This presents significant ROI potential because when you use document management to become more efficient at sending and collecting on invoices, it enables you to get paid more quickly. This results in improved cash flow. Automating these processes saves time as well and allows you to grow your business without adding staff. Document management ultimately works best when multiple departments are connected. Even when you start in one department, it’s important to create a plan to assess which other departments you will automate in the next project phase. Then you can develop a staggered implementation timeline for each department to “go live” while automating the next department is already underway. Find out why three DocuWare customers who implemented the solution in their accounting departments used the experience as a stepping stone for expanding the use of their document management systems. Please note that these are not our clients, but they use one of the document management systems that we use. Propel Schools bring high-performance educational options to their students Propel Schools operates 13 charter schools located in and around Pittsburgh. Today, Propel’s invoice approval workflow is fully automated. Staff at each school scans their documents into DocuWare. The Accounting Department accesses the documents online and performs a 3-way match. Then they quickly route the invoice out for approval. Automations save time in other ways as well. Accounting staff no longer call individual schools to track down invoices that were “lost” in someone’s in-basket. Efficiency is further improved because everyone involved in the workflow can view supporting documents online. In the past, all documentation was stored in physical files that were only accessible in the central business office. Propel’s new invoice approval process is transparent, so staff can easily determine which invoices are outstanding and track their status. With DocuWare in place, invoices never need to be recopied and resent; a quick email reminder is all it takes to move the process along. Approval time has dropped from up to two weeks to just a few days. “DocuWare is helping our business office run much smoother,” Business Manager Darryl Robinson says. “I love this program because it provides my staff with quick, easy access to the information we need and that makes our department look good,” The new electronic invoice approval workflow was so successful that Propel is planning to expand DocuWare to manage student and HR records. Document management is essential at Corestruc Corestruc is the flagship company of a conglomerate that includes eleven individual companies and 250 employees. All are active in the concrete, real estate and agricultural industries in South Africa and neighboring countries. Corestruc designs and manufactures pre-cast concrete structures that are used in public infrastructure and the private construction sector. A digital document management system helps coordinate all these corporate threads from their headquarters in Polokwane, located northeast of Johannesburg. Corestruc is benefiting from digitization, especially on the cost side. DocuWare not only significantly reduces processing times, but also improves the flow of information between administration and subsidiaries. As a result, only a fraction of the time is now spent between receipt of invoice and payment. Based on their positive experience, the company plans to use DocuWare in human resources as well. Shelter Products Automates Accounts Payable to Streamline Processes Headquartered in Milwaukie, Oregon, Shelter Products is a distributor of lumber, plywood and other building materials. With sales offices in six states, the company supplies premier building contractors across the country, specializing in just-in-time shipments for projects including multi-family housing, assisted living, hotels and motels. Installing DocuWare solved several industry-specific challenges. “In the construction business, our customers get a draw from their bank loans once a month,” IT director Colin McDonell explains. “Quick turn-around of invoices is critical. If we miss a cut-off by one day, we’re not getting paid for an additional 30 days.” The company has only a few days to take advantage of early payment discounts, and often missed that window due to lost or incorrectly routed paperwork. “We recently put in an automated invoice approval process that replaced the need for sign off on paper. Because we process 2,400 invoices a month, it was a pinch point,” McDonell says. Now invoices are approved within three hours, rather than possibly sitting on someone’s desk for a day or two. “DocuWare’s Workflow Manager has been transformational in the Shelter Products business. While not part of our initial evaluation, it has quickly become the key piece of the puzzle. After Accounts Payable, rolling it out to the Credit and Legal departments is the next step.” 4 Tips for department-by-department implementations Invite future users to your first training sessions: Once you’ve introduced the solution in one department, invite representatives from other departments to sit in on training. They’ll get first-hand experience with the solution. This will get them excited about how document management can positively impact their work lives. Hold a review and optimization workshop and invite business leaders from other departments to attend: Bring your existing users together to talk about what works and doesn’t, and how to apply these successes and challenges in the future. This workshop also serves as a showcase for other departments.
Facts about Cloud Security and How You Can Protect Against Data Loss
As cybercriminals continue to take advantage of the public cloud in their attacks, Sophos commissioned an independent survey of 3,521 IT managers across 26 countries* to reveal the reality of cloud security in 2020. The 2020 cloud security reality The survey provides fresh new insight into the cybersecurity experiences of organizations using the public cloud, including: Almost three-quarters of organizations hosting data or workloads in the public cloud experienced a security incident in the last year. Seventy percent of organizations reported they were hit by malware, ransomware, data theft, account compromise attempts, or cryptojacking in the last year. Data loss/leakage is the number one concern for organizations. Data loss and leakage topped our list as the biggest security concern, with 44% of organizations seeing data loss as one of their top three focus areas. Ninety-six percent of organizations are concerned about their current level of cloud security. Data loss, detection and response, and multi-cloud management top the list of the biggest concerns among organizations. Multi-cloud organizations reported more security incidents in the last 12 months. Seventy-three percent of the organizations surveyed were using two or more public cloud providers and reported more security incidents as those using a single platform. European organizations may have the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to thank for the lowest attack rates of all regions. The GDPR guidelines’ focus on data protection, and well-publicized ransomware attacks have likely led to these lucrative targets becoming harder for cybercriminals to compromise in Europe. Only one in four organizations see lack of staff expertise as a top concern despite the number of cyberattacks reported in the survey. When it comes to hardening security postures in the cloud, the skills needed to create good designs, develop clear use cases, and leverage third-party services for platform tools are crucial but underappreciated. Two-thirds of organizations leave back doors open to attackers. Security gaps in misconfigurations were exploited in 66% of attacks, while 33% of attacks used stolen credentials to get into cloud provider accounts. For the details behind these headlines, and to see how your country stacks up, read The State of Cloud Security 2020 report. Secure the cloud with Sophos However you’re using the public cloud, Sophos can help you keep it secure. Secure all your cloud resources. Get a complete inventory of multi-cloud environments (virtual machines, storage, containers, IAM Users etc.). Reveal insecure deployments, suspicious access, and sudden spikes in cloud spend. Learn more Secure your cloud workloads. Protect virtual machines, the virtual desktops running on those machines from the latest threats, including ransomware, fileless attacks, and server-specific malware. Learn more Protect the network edge. Secure inbound and outbound traffic to your virtual network, virtual desktop environments, and provides secure remote access to private applications running in the cloud. Learn more Protecting your data starts here We work with only the best, enterprise level cloud vendors to ensure your data is always secure and always available. Contact us to find out more. Source: Sophos.com, Rajan Sanhotra
Helpful Tips about Disaster Recovery
The Truth About Disasters They can happen to any business at any time and the downtime they cause is truly catastrophic, many of which never recover. The strength to avert disasters and effectively handle the ones that occur starts with knowledge. Downtime is Common 90% of companies experience some form of downtime, which may result in loss of data, security, productivity, and revenue. (Down) Time is Money An hour of downtime costs $8,000 for a small company, $74,000 for a medium company, and $700,000 for a large enterprise. Planning Ahead The most powerful and flexible disaster recovery plan is local virtualization for SMBs and enterprises with physical or virtual servers. Disastrous Situations Disasters that cause downtime may be a result of hardware failure, human error, software failure, or natural disaster. Recovery is Painful The average time it takes a business to recover from disaster is 18.5 hours, but 43% of companies never totally recover. What could happen? Disasters of all kinds cause downtime that is damaging to a business. Disaster planning must encompass disasters of all types and sizes: fires, floods, fraud, ransomware, cyber-attacks, power or IT system failure, human error, acts of terror, and other unthinkable scenarios. While the type of disaster varies, the impact is typical: data and operational downtime that is truly disastrous. The devastating effect of downtime caused by disaster include irreparable damage to data, reputation, customer relationships, income, and business vitality. The best offense is a good defense; you must protect your business by understanding your vulnerabilities, safeguarding against the risks, and preparing for the worst possible business disruption with a plan for business continuity and disaster recovery that will shield your data, protect your business, and keep your systems available and reliable no matter what happens. Solutions They can happen to any business at any time and the downtime they cause is truly catastrophic, many of which never recover. The strength to avert disasters and effectively handle the ones that occur starts with knowledge. Datto SIRIS Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) for local, virtual and cloud environments, within a single platform. SIRIS is the leading BCDR platform for businesses. Datto ALTO Datto ALTO is the only continuity solution designed specifically for small business. Using image-based backup and a hybrid cloud model, ALTO delivers enterprise-grade functionality at a small business price. Datto NAS Data backup, recovery and business continuity for local, virtual, and Cloud environments, within a single platform. Keep every file safe and accessible with Datto NAS. How can I protect my business? Your disaster recovery plan must ensure that your entire business infrastructure can be recovered within seconds. You need a holistic, integrated disaster recovery plan that is reliable, simple, and quick. DRaaS offers a disaster recovery plan that is visible, scalable, and affordable. Business-critical data, systems, desktops, servers, and the entire infrastructure must be protected and recoverable. With secure local virtualization solutions, if disaster strikes, your entire infrastructure (physical or virtual) is virtualized instantly, empowering you to continue your business operations without losing any data, incurring any damage, or experiencing any downtime. Get DRaaS With Datto Datto SIRIS Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) for local, virtual and cloud environments, within a single platform. SIRIS is the leading BCDR platform for businesses. Explore Datto SIRIS Datto ALTO Datto ALTO is the only continuity solution designed specifically for small business. Using image-based backup and a hybrid cloud model, ALTO delivers enterprise-grade functionality at a small business price. Explore Datto ALTO Datto NAS Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) for local, virtual and cloud environments, within a single platform. SIRIS is the leading BCDR platform for businesses. Explore Datto NAS Need help learning about preparing for a disaster? Give us a call and we’ll examine your existing systems and see what will work best for you. Lakeland office: (863) 686-3167 | Tampa office: (813) 289-8805 Source: Datto.com
5 Benefits of Using a Managed Services Provider
Technology continues to play an increasingly important role within businesses of all sizes. However, the important role that technology plays within your business means that you will also have to dedicate more time and resources to keep your IT infrastructure running smoothly. Thankfully, there is an affordable solution that allows you to focus on your core business without having to worry about monitoring and maintaining your IT infrastructure – managed IT services. With managed IT services, your managed service provider is responsible for monitoring, maintaining, and updating your IT infrastructure, leaving you to focus on growing your business. Below, we’ll take a look at the top five benefits of using a managed services provider. 1) Eliminate Downtime Having part of your IT infrastructure malfunction can bring your entire business to a halt. With a managed services provider, your IT infrastructure is constantly monitored for issues and repaired the moment an issue arises, helping you eliminate costly downtime. 2) More Cost-Effective Having a managed services provider is a much more affordable solution than hiring one or more employees to maintain your IT infrastructure. This makes using a managed services provider an especially attractive choice for small to medium sized businesses which may not be able to justify hiring a full staff of IT professionals. 3) Stay Up-to-Date with the Latest Technology Having a managed services provider means that your business will always be up-to-date with the latest software solutions. Technology changes rapidly and keeping up can sometimes be difficult. With a managed services provider, you can rest assured that you and your employees always have access to the latest and greatest technology available. 4) Increased Security At one time, cybersecurity was mainly a concern for large corporations. Today, though, cyber-criminals are targeting small and large businesses alike, making security an important concern for businesses of all sizes. With a managed services provider, though, you can count on your data being secured with the best security software and protocols at all times. 5) Improved Relationships with Your Customers Issues with your IT infrastructure can make it difficult for you to offer high-quality service to your customers, which can damage your brand image. By preventing most issues before they ever arise and quickly fixing the ones that do, a managed services provider can ensure that your customers always have a positive, hassle-free experience when visiting your website, working with your employees, and more. Conclusion Using an MSP is an incredibly beneficial option for businesses that want to drastically improve the quality and effectiveness of their IT solutions. If you would like to learn more about how we at Boring Business Systems can provide your business with top-quality managed IT services in Tampa as well as IT Support in Lakeland. Contact us today for a professional evaluation of your company’s technology needs.
VoIP Phone Systems
WHAT IS VOIP? VOIP is an acronym for Voice Over Internet Protocol, or in more common terms phone service over the Internet. If you have an Internet connection, you can get phone service delivered through your computer instead of from your local phone company. With VoIP service, your phone calls travel over the internet as data, just as e-mail does. This type of service can dramatically lower your telecommunications costs while increasing your productivity. It also provides useful features and capabilities that conventional phone technology can’t offer. For example, you can: Screen Calls Create “on hold” music Use phone system remotely Receive voicemail and faxes through your e-mail Retrieve phone numbers through a virtual database Transfer phone calls through drag and drop software, including to external phone numbers Voice over Internet Protocol technology can increase the overall productivity of an organization by allowing their employees to multi-task without interruption. It also allows the organization to allocate funds usually spent on traditional phone bills to other aspects of the business. VoIP allows users to attach documents, conduct virtual meetings, and share data via video conferencing. VoIP technology has also enhanced voice clarity to make it indistinguishable from traditional telephony. Recent improvements in VoIP technology has made it more appealing to businesses and corporations who do not want to deal with previous bugs. From the Desk of the CIO Running a small business can be problematic, and smart business owners are always looking for ways to improve services while cutting costs. Many small businesses today are making the switch over to VoIP business phone systems. There are plenty of benefits to using such a service, but a lot of small business owners are overlooking some of the most valuable features. Beyond options like voicemail, call waiting, toll-free numbers, call forwarding, and remote operation, you’ll find a host of other features that can help your small business. The most attractive feature of VoIP is its cost-saving potential. The cost of using a VoIP telephone is much cheaper than using a conventional phone. Making long distance phone calls are also cheaper when using a VoIP provider. It also enables the user to integrate software programs, such as e-mail, e-fax and remote conferencing over the Internet via the telephone. In other words, a VoIP user can speak to somebody over the phone while accessing other applications, including the Internet simultaneously. No matter the size of your business, VoIP is a surprisingly flexible, affordable technology and we would be happy to talk to you about how we can help you set it up. – Chris Hart CIO Boring Business Systems If you’re ready to cut phone lines, and costs, contact a Boring representative today!
The Boring Way- Our Company Culture
When Boring Business Systems was founded in 1924, we knew that we had to be more than just another business to give our customers the support they needed. So we became a family, which would support the families that make up other businesses. We are passionate about offering solutions to our clients which help them run productively and efficiently, just like we do. This passion starts from within the Boring family. We have a strong culture that helps all Boring associates to strive for excellence, find opportunities to make work fun and leave a positive impression on all the people we encounter. There are 27 fundamentals that act as the foundation for our unique culture: Do the right thing, always. Demonstrate an unwavering commitment to do the right thing in every action you take, and in every decision you make, even when no one is looking. Think team first. Be there for one another, and provide rigorous support, including honest and direct feedback. Assume positive intent. Work from the assumption that people are good, fair and honest, and that the intent behind their actions is positive. Practice blameless problem-solving. Focus your attention on developing solutions, rather than pointing fingers or dwelling on problems. Honor commitments. Do what you say you’re going to do when you say you’re going to do it. Deliver legendary customer service. Do the little things, as well as the big things, that create extraordinary experiences for our customers. Listen generously. Give people your undivided attention, without interrupting. Be present and engaging. Speak straight. Speak honestly in a way that moves the action forward. Make quality personal. Take pride in the quality of everything you touch and everything you do. Take ownership. Take personal responsibility for making good things happen. “Bring it” every day. Approach every day with focus, energy, urgency, and enthusiasm. Celebrate success. Regularly give meaningful acknowledgment and appreciation. Go the extra mile. Be willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done… plus some. Follow-up everything. Follow up on every action and take responsibility to see that it gets completed. Be a fanatic about response time. Respond to questions and concerns quickly. Practice the “human touch.” Treat people as individuals and show them you care. Treasure, protect and promote our reputation. Consider how your actions affect our collective reputation and act in a way that brings honor to us all. Be clear with expectations. Create clarity and avoid misunderstandings by discussing expectations. Embrace change. Nothing stays the same. Be excited by change, and be energized by both the challenges and the possibilities it creates. When in doubt, communicate personally. When delivering difficult or complex messages, speak “live” rather than hiding behind email and voicemail. Deliver results. Set high goals, use measurements to track your progress and hold yourself accountable for achieving results. Pay attention to details. The goal is to get things right, not simply to get them done. Think and act like an owner. Ask yourself, “What would I do if this were my company? Will this help the company to succeed?” Be relentless about continuous improvement. Constantly evaluate every aspect of your job to find ways to improve. Make a difference. Be an active part of your community by getting involved and participating. Always remember we are family. While we may disagree, and even argue from time to time, we genuinely care for each other. Keep things fun. While our passion for excellence is real, remember that the world has bigger problems than our daily challenges at work.. Laugh a little! At Boring, we actively practice these fundamentals to assure that our culture remains vibrant, our team remains close and the companies we work with remain satisfied. Boring Business Systems is a Managed Services Provider in Lakeland. We provide IT Support and Managed IT services to Tampa, Lakeland, and the surrounding areas. For more information about our services and how we can help your business, please contact us.
Should your business utilize Managed Network Services?
Every day businesses are turning to Managed Network Services to free up their own staff and gain insight from IT experts. The purpose of Managed Network Services is to proactively monitor a company’s network (Internet connections, security, etc.) and repair any network issues that may arise. Outsourcing Managed Network Services saves you valuable IT time, as network engineers rapidly assess the situation before the company may know that there is a problem. Here are five reasons why many companies choose to outsource their IT monitoring: 1. Merge information from multiple locations If you have multiple locations for your business, then you know the challenge of keeping everyone connected, your systems up and running, and information flowing smoothly. Network engineers will monitor your systems and handle the needs of your remote locations. 2. Allow your staff to focus on more important matters You may not have the time, tools, or manpower in place to effectively monitor your company’s IT network. When it’s time to focus all of your energy on growing your business and effectively serving your own customers, the last thing you want is to waste valuable IT time troubleshooting and monitoring company networks between remote locations. 3. Have access to the performance of your critical network components Utilizing Managed Network Services doesn’t mean that you lose control of or access to your performance reports and tracking. On the contrary, it allows you to be fully updated and alerted at all times without having to identify and troubleshoot issues yourself. 4. Keep your network monitored and managed at all hours Oftentimes abuse happens in the middle of the night, so having 24-hour monitoring in place is critical for your business’ security and success. On top of simply monitoring your systems, it is important that the engineers be trained in responding to alerts and knowing how to fix the issues. 5. Minimize operating costs by outsourcing You’ll notice the financial burden of staffing and overseeing your own IT Department taken off your shoulders when you trust a specialized Managed Network Services provider. Put your time, energy, and financial resources into nurturing your business, and let the tech experts handle your growing network and infrastructure.
