Security Measures You Need to Take When Using Remote Desktop

It seems there’s not a day that goes by that cybersecurity isn’t being threatened by the likes of criminals and other ill-intentioned folks. At such a pivotal moment, millions of workers everywhere are transitioning to remote work, many for the first time. Businesses worldwide are trying to develop solutions that are as affordable as possible while still generating the amount of work necessary to keep operations growing.

With so many new connections coming online, cybersecurity measures need to be as robust as ever. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Remote Desktop Protocol, or RDP, usage has dramatically increased. Curtis Dukes, CIS Executive Vice President & General Manager, Security Best Practices, said, “Remote environments have always been a desired target for attackers to conduct a cyber-attack, and COVID-19 has increased that attack surface.”

Minimizing RDP Vulnerabilities

The Center for Internet Security lists seven best practices that can help bolster security efforts and can be implemented for relatively lost costs.

1. Place RDP-enabled systems behind a Remote Desktop Gateway (RDG) or virtual private network (VPN)

This shuts off access to the remote desktop environment through a second (and sometimes third) layer of protection. Consider implementing 2FA in conjunction with the RDG or VPN for an even more secure barrier to entry.

2. Update and patch software that uses RDP

This will ensure that any vulnerabilities are successfully patched. Your IT team should be able to handle mass updating, and if not, make sure that when an update is posted, it’s communicated to employees how important it is to update.

3. Limit access to RDP by internet protocol (IP) and port

Port 3389, anyone? Feeding off of point number one, you never want to have access to your remote desktop environment available to the outside world.

4. Use complex, unique passwords for RDP-enabled accounts

Using longer and more complicated passwords is always harder for criminals to guess or attempt to brute force. Additionally, require that all passwords are changed fairly often. It’s also common practice that passwords cannot contain whole words. While remembering or writing down long passwords can be a pain for employees, the safety of the company’s data is much more painful to recover, guaranteed.

5. Implement a session lockout for RDP-enabled accounts

Session lockouts help prevent brute force attacks by disabling access after a certain number of failed login attempts. Be sure that access can only be restored by the IT team. When this event occurs, it’s a good idea to have them check the logs to see if an unknown IP was trying to gain access.

6. Disconnect idle RDP sessions

If a machine is infected, the criminal may not be so brazen as to immediately start attempting to attack or break-in. A compromised system can be surveilled until the right moment for cybercriminals to launch an attack. Disconnect idle sessions after a specific duration of time that requires the user to log in again.

7. Secure Remote Desktop Session Host

By utilizing the RD Connection Broker, companies can further protect the host from direct cyberattacks, whether they’ve penetrated security parameters through guest machines or other network interfaces.

Other Remote Desktop Security Measures

Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

2FA creates an extra layer of security for online accounts beyond a standard username and password. You may already be familiar with 2FA in many daily-use applications, such as banking logins, gaming logins, and e-mail verification. This extra barrier to entry can help prevent unauthorized access to system critical functions and data should a cybercriminal infiltrate one of the many remote devices that will log in to your company’s infrastructure.

Remote Device Management

Assuming employees log in on company-provided computers, it’s a great idea to closely monitor what sort of activity is handled on these machines. Strict rules around the types of work that can be completed on these machines should be enforced. It only takes one of these computers to get compromised to bring down your entire work system.

Employee Training

The most significant to cyberattacks and digital theft would be proper employee training that’s both reoccurring and tested. Conduct weekly safety meetings that help reinforce the importance of protecting company IT assets. Remind them that passwords will be changed every certain number of days and give them tools to help identify when an attack may be occurring.

Bolstering Your Remote Desktop Experience

Security is always important. Besides the tips on this list, be sure that any time a hardware change is completed, IT teams take the time to properly reconfigure it. There’s a story about a company that performed a firewall change; after the hardware was swapped out, the IT technician forgot to check a single box that was responsible for blocking remote desktop access through an external IP address. This one small oversight allowed a malicious payload to be injected through a local admin account, causing costly ramifications and locking their IT systems up for several days before they could be fixed.

With that in mind — always be safe, and contact us if you need any help with remote desktop security.

Getting Your Remote Workers Setup on Remote Desktop

Remote work is still becoming the norm all across the world. The global health crisis from the last few years has shown that most weren’t ready for the transition. Some organizations faired better. Across the world, many schools struggled as they were forced to quickly come up with remote learning capabilities for students.

Companies, however, presented a different bag of mixed experiences. On the one hand, some companies were already engaged in remote work, so their transition was more straightforward, with many not needing to change anything about their routines at all. Others needed to adapt to completely new strategies to keep their businesses afloat.

Some employees really enjoyed the remote work lifestyle. A survey by Owl labs revealed that 23% of participants would take a 10% pay cut to permanently work from home. Mercer surveyed 800 employers with 94% of them stating that productivity was the same or better with their remote workforce

One thing seems to be clear — remote work isn’t going away. In order to be prepared, your should first start looking at how a transition to a remote workforce would look, starting with accessing work computers from home.

How Does Remote Desktop Work?

Remote desktop is a way for computers to be accessed and controlled by users in a different location. This is accomplished by a software application that allows for outside connections to “dial in” and assume control of that computer. You may have experienced a form of remote desktop control from your IT department to diagnose a computer issue.

Remote Desktop Scenarios

There are many reasons why a company might want to initiate a remote desktop solution in their business. In recent times, we’ve had a pandemic. It’s not uncommon, though, for companies to hire employees who may be located outside of their country or who may not have the means to move or where being present in person wouldn’t add any significant advantage versus working remotely.

Determining Methods of Remote Desktop

For smaller companies, it may not make sense to take all employees remote. In those cases, there are software applications such as LogMeIn and Team Viewer that can aid as an easy method for a small userbase. However, these solutions typically require computers to be left on at all times in order for a remote user to gain access. For company-wide remote work, more robust server-side solutions can be prepared that don’t require the power consumption of hundreds or even thousands of computers. This also helps provide an easier set of parameters for IT teams to manage without having two or more computers per user.

Integrating Different Operating Systems

A big challenge that companies may face is working with different employee-owned computers. For most businesses, a Windows-based machine is typically used due to its wide compatibility with most software applications. If an employee is on another operating system such as macOS or some sort of Linux distribution, it’s still possible to allow them the same levels of access as their Windows counterparts. Through the advancement of technology, it’s now possible for companies to have all of their functionary systems completely accessible from a web browser.

Your IT team can help you choose the best solution depending on your unique circumstances. If you don’t currently have a dedicated IT team, we can help you choose the best course of action to make your remote transition a success.

Common Problems With Remote Desktop

1. Employee Internet Access

Across America, the internet isn’t created equally. It’s a good idea to make sure that your staff is able to access your company at suitable speeds. If an employee doesn’t have a suitable home internet connection, you’ll need to decide if you’ll need to invest in mobile hotspots or help contribute money towards upgrading their home workspace.

2. Company File Access

Employees will need secure and reliable access to all of the information they’re able to access at the office. You may need to grant employees access to the company VPN in order to aid them in their remote transition. A managed cloud solution could help alleviate these problems by providing a centralized location for all work to be completed.

3. Hardware Distribution

Determining how employees will access the company network can be a challenge. As we mentioned before, it’s possible to provide remote access directly through a standard web browser. The challenge, then, becomes what hardware they’ll use. Most companies will provide computers for their employees, but the costs of procuring, shipping, and deploying computer systems may make this cost-prohibitive for some.

Get Help With Your Remote Desktop Transition

Going remote can be a daunting task. If you’re considering moving to a distributed workforce, check out our guide on determining if your current IT infrastructure is ready to handle remote workers.

At Network Coverage, we specialize in helping businesses go remote in the least disruptive way possible. Give us a call or send us a message to begin your remote transition today.

Network Capacity Planning & Performance Analysis

When we think about network capacity, it can be difficult to predict what our businesses will need truly. Anything on our network will utilize some of the available capacity. Capacity, then, is a finite resource that can expand or contract based on current usage.

Think of it like this: Your entire network — meaning your internet-connected business system and all of its inner workings like hardware and software — can only handle so much at one time. The number of simultaneous operations that a network can handle would indicate its capacity. Every business will have a different capacity requirement depending on the work being done. For example, a big-box retailer will need a relatively high network capacity compared to a chain of gas stations due to the total number of connected devices on the premises.

To get the most significant performance gains for your businesses, your IT team will need to carefully consider both current and future use case scenarios to prevent the potential for system failure.

What Is Network Capacity Planning?

Network capacity planning is the allocation and deployment of network-based new and current resources that aid in preventing network system failures due to usage. Routers, firewalls, and switches make op the average business network. Determining what types of traffic flow through the network and what amount can help provide an evidence-based prediction of total server usage needs.

Current Hardware

We also need to look at what our current network infrastructure looks like and how many devices are accessing the network at any given time. Older hardware may need to be upgraded if our current usage is creating massive latency or network crashes. It’s also a good idea to check where the problems are occurring. Sometimes, older hardware may not have the capabilities of newer ‘smart’ technologies that better allocate and reallocate system resources, especially during times of increased traffic.

Bandwidth

Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data that can simultaneously travel over a network. While network speed is how fast our network can send and receive information, bandwidth is how much information can be sent and received at any given time. For example, a video production house might require a lot of bandwidth since video files are typically large and are usually worked on from multiple computers at once. Consider the type of information being sent and received — sometimes, the added cost of increased bandwidth may not be required. Likewise, you don’t want to shortchange your network to avoid increased spending if the end result leads to a decrease in productivity or the ability to generate future revenue.

CPU and Memory Management

CPU and memory management refers to your business’s servers instead of individual computers or workstations. High-end CPUs typically perform better in almost every aspect but quickly increase overall hardware costs. And depending on your business uses, you may not currently need the extra horsepower that more powerful CPUs provide. The same goes for memory — newer mainframes can support more than 40 terabytes. But just as with CPUs, you should consider your current uses before sinking lots of money here. Companies working in machine learning and AI may benefit from such large amounts of memory, but for most businesses, their needs are probably lower.

For CPU and memory purchasing, a good rule of thumb is overestimating your usage by about 20%. You’ll be covered should your usage increase. The best way to truly understand your total network capacity is by conducting a performance analysis.

Network Capacity Performance Analysis

We can perform network stress tests that simulate traffic to identify any shortcomings or points of concern through network monitoring software. This is typically done with the end-user, your employees, in mind. Jitter, throughput, and packet loss measurement are just a few things monitoring software can analyze to pinpoint a problem.

You’ll also want to measure latency. Performing a test of your network’s round trip delay determines how quickly data is sent out and received before sending more. A bad score in this area can affect total network performance but significantly hinder communication applications and VoIP.

By performing these detailed networking tests, we can better understand our network shortcomings to create more productive experiences for those who use the network most.

Why Network Analysis is Important

Ultimately, we want to help mitigate networking issues before reaching our users. This statement holds for all businesses, whether in an office setting or as an end-user for cloud-based applications. A bad user experience can quickly lead to lost revenue, so detecting them as early and as often as possible is best.

With the increased adoption of cloud technology, many users are ditching the once-ubiquitous centralized internet gateway for more decentralized options; it’s essential to make sure we’re monitoring every network touchpoint to understand network performance at every step.

Moving IT Infrastructure to Your New Office Location

When a business is moving to a new location, getting the IT systems up and running is likely at the top of the priority list. And for good reason, too — your IT solution ultimately affects every touchpoint of your business. Communication relies on company servers, products can’t be managed without a constant internet connection, and that new social campaign the marketing department has been working on needs to be passed during a manager video call. Suffice it to say, getting the current system functionally transferred to the new location is important.

What’s the best way to go about getting the system moved over? Is it really possible to transfer an entire company’s IT structure without causing business operations to cease? Before we get started, we need to do a bit of strategic thinking.

Scouting the New Location

If Benjamin Franklin were in IT, his famous adage may have been, “If you fail to plan, your plan to have your entire company’s IT infrastructure is gonna go kaput.” And he wouldn’t be wrong.

Before we even think about the physical move, we need to get a lay of the land. Assuming we’re moving into a larger space, we need to figure out the similarities between both locations. Typically, this would be done before agreeing to purchase or lease — either way, we need to know exactly what we’re working with. This is the time to bring a few of your most senior IT technicians to scout the new location. You’ll want to give them as much time as needed to fully assess how easy of a transition it’ll be when bringing the IT system over.

Some questions to ask would be:

• What type of cabling is in place and what will need to be added?
• Is there adequate space for a server room and is it climate-controlled?
• How many workstations will be gained/lost during the move?
• What equipment can be brought over now and what needs to be transitioned at a later time?

In the end, you should have an in-depth understanding of what it’ll take to make the move along with an acceptable timeline for completion. This will be the blueprint for your move — make sure that everyone is on the same page.

Counting Inventory and Cleaning House

Now that we know what we’re getting ourselves into, we’ll start the transition process by getting a total count of all currently utilized IT assets. This will include servers, removable cable runs, networking equipment, and anything else that your IT team deems necessary for day-to-day operations that are moving with your business.

Next, look at staff equipment. We want them working at the new location sooner rather than later. Mobile phones, laptops, and wifi hotspots should be tallied and considered for a mid-move transitory solution should the need arise.

Once all of the inventory is accounted for, it’s time to start planning for purchases. With supply chain shortages still running amuck into 2022, it’s best to begin any needed hardware acquisitions as early as possible. Check whether any equipment that needs to be purchased or upgraded can be installed prior to the move date. This could greatly impact how fast the transition will take. Ideally, the system could be fully operational from the new location on day one to minimize business impact.

While some hardware is being installed at the new location, consider getting rid of any outdated equipment that doesn’t need to be moved. This will help lighten the load come moving day and make setting up permanent equipment faster.

Transitory Cloud

We know you already know, but make sure to back up your data prior to the move.

While the wishful thinker in us said, “This will be easy. We’ll just get the new location, move a couple of cables, plug ’em up, and boom. IT infrastructure moved,” the reality is that we’re likely to have a few connectivity issues. There’s a lot involved in even smaller-scale IP solutions — DNS servers, static IPs, phone systems — not to mention physical building aspects like IoT devices and security systems. With that in mind, we highly advise deploying a temporary cloud-based solution that can handle at least 80%-90% of the business’s daily tasks. We should start with critical functions first and then work down a list of need-to-haves and nice-to-haves in that order.

For example, if standard telecommunications are currently being utilized, a cloud-based VoIP solution should be considered as a permanent upgrade. This can help to relieve the setup crews while allowing employees to work from the new location earlier without business disruptions.

The IT staff can also offload the most critical company files to a cloud server and issue temporary login access assuming you’ll return to your standard system upon arrival at the new location. This way, employees can either work from the second location or remotely from home if their presence at the new location could cause safety concerns due to ongoing construction.

Hire IT Consultants for An Easier Move

We really hope that this article provides some useful information about IT relocation. Unfortunately, our well-intentioned words only can’t assist in the relocation of IT infrastructure — but we can. Our team of relocation specialists can help make your move to a new location as painless as possible. From full network redesigns to uptime strategies, our consultants are standing by to help with any IT-related needs. Get in touch with us today to help ensure your office relocation goes off without a hitch.

IT Talent Shortages Leading to Increased Outsourcing Needs

As you’ve probably witnessed, the last year or two have been different, to put it mildly. With a global pandemic, a rise in remote workers, and an ever-growing amount of tech ‘boomers’ retiring — a return to normalcy doesn’t look like it’s coming soon to the IT sector. And while there’s no one sole reason for the shortage — rather, it’s a culmination of factors occurring simultaneously — the impact is making waves throughout the tech industry worldwide.

Is There A Shortage of Talent In the IT Industry?

Before we answer the overarching question, we first have to inspect a few of the biggest indirect culprits resulting in staffing shortages. Because while it’s true that there’s a shortage of IT talent, the reasons for that shortage are of more concern as they result from several factors. From current professionals aging out to companies offering fewer incentives for highly trained staff in different tech sectors, an ever-widening skill gap makes up a large portion, to be sure.

How We Got Here

Back in September, Gartner surveyed IT executives about new technology adoption. The results showed that the biggest problem IT firms faced was a shortage of qualified workers. One of the six tech sectors surveyed, IT automation, showed that only 20% of newly adopted tech continued ahead in the adoption cycle. The survey also revealed that implementation cost and security only affected 29% and 7% of new emerging technology, respectively. However, talent was again the biggest hurdle for companies to overcome — it was the reason 64% of new emerging technology wasn’t progressing as expected.

According to Gartner research VP Yinuo Geng, the problem isn’t just a talent shortage, but the problem is being amplified by an ongoing hiring boom. Geng stated, “The ongoing push toward remote work and the acceleration of hiring plans in 2021 has exacerbated IT talent scarcity, especially for sourcing skills that enable cloud and edge, automation and continuous delivery.”

Which Tech Sectors Does This Affect?

This problem of talent scarcity isn’t really about a shortage of people, but rather a shortage of ‘the right’ people for the constant technological growth we’re currently experiencing — a technology explosion if you will. In the aforementioned survey, Gartner asked IT executives about:

• Compute infrastructure and platform services
• Network
• Security
• Digital Workplace
• IT Automation
• Storage & Database

Since most IT-related job hiring is falling within these six categories, companies are investing heavily amongst them all with 58% of those surveyed stating they’d be increasing investments in emerging technology in 2021. In 2020, that was only 29%. Gartner also said that many of these shortcomings were made visible by the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes beefing up systems resilience and implementing larger thresholds in critical infrastructure.

Resilience made up 63% of emerging cloud technology investments with a key focus on software tools for enterprise resource planning (ERP) and multi-cloud configurations. Gartner also concluded in their findings that 64% of survey participants plan to increase investment allotments within the security sector, more than double the 31% in 2020.

The Increase in Outsourcing

So we’ve got an increasing amount of new technology without enough skills crossing over to meet this extraordinary labor demand — in comes outsourcing.

For years, the US has been shipping many industries to lower-cost countries like India, Mexico, and China. And while the tech sector’s unemployment rate seemingly never rises above 3% — even during a pandemic where millions of Americans were laid off — there are just not enough employees to feed the hiring frenzy.

According to CSET, “Two-thirds of graduate students in AI-related programs are international students, and the number of domestic graduate students in these programs has not increased since 1990.” And with Silicon Valley practically relying on qualified candidates, which are overwhelmingly international or foreign-born, the positions that need filling are outsourced.

There’s a bit of a silver lining in all of this, although, for the average IT worker, it needs to be viewed from rose-tinted glasses. In the United Kingdom, the London School of Economics says there’s a burst of productivity resulting from outsourcing. With all of the money saved on expensive labor, companies are able to take those proceeds and reinvest them back into newer jobs.

This doesn’t really solve the problem for those who are having their jobs seemingly taken from them. And while the term, “It comes with the territory,” can seem a bit harsh, the reality is that this technology drives the world, and money sets the GPS.

The Future of IT Jobs

It’s unclear if the majority of tech jobs will ever return to being solely US-based or if we will continue to see more and more jobs being outsourced. With companies revamping their infrastructure to accommodate a predominantly remote workforce, we expect that trend won’t change for the foreseeable future.

Benefits of Hiring a Top IT Company

Navigating the modern business world can be difficult, especially without experience in tech. Like it or not, technology is a critical part of running a business in today’s world no matter what you do. Unfortunately, many businesses fall short due to a lack of IT consulting.

Having somebody to help you navigate the technology of today’s business world is important. From cloud computing to business networks, there are a lot of things you can utilize to grow your business. If your business could use a boost in the tech department, here’s why you need to hire a top IT company.

Savings

Hiring a company to assist with business operations may seem like a costly venture, but you can actually hire an IT company and save your business money. There are several reasons an IT consulting company can help your business save money.

Though hiring an IT consulting company is an expenditure, your company also gets the benefit of having a more stable infrastructure. This means less downtime, which in turn can save money that would have been spent recovering from said downtime. Plus, flexible payment options such as paying per project or per hour mean you have options when it comes to hiring IT consulting.

Increased Availability

The internet never stops, especially when it comes to cyber threats. A cyber attack can happen at any hour of the day, so having an IT consulting service that’s always available means you can do a better job of securing your business online.

IT consulting companies can also help secure your business by providing monitoring services that can help prevent cyberattacks and downtime. When you consider how much productive work time you can use due to IT problems, hiring a company that can sort your IT out seems like a no-brainer.

Professional Training & Expertise

One of the biggest benefits IT company outsourcing offers is the fact that you get better-trained and more experienced employees. Just because you have an employee who’s good with computers doesn’t mean they have the knowledge and tools to be responsible for your important business operations.

An IT consulting company can help train your employees to better understand the technology they’re using and when they’re facing a cyber threat. While this little bit of training won’t make your employees IT experts, it will give them a solid foundation that will help protect your business from cyber threats and other IT problems.

The fact that hiring an IT consulting company means you’re actually hiring several experts is another benefit. The collective knowledge of this team of experts is always going to be better than your single in-house IT employee or team. Here are some of the things an IT consulting service can offer:

• Experienced IT professionals who work in several different fields
• Up-to-date knowledge about IT and how it affects various industries

Focusing on Your Business

As a business owner, it can be difficult to find time to focus on the big picture of your business. This problem is made even worse when you have a significant amount of downtime due to an IT problem, which means you have to spend more time trying to make up for the time you lost.

When you can trust a talented IT consulting company to prevent downtime and other IT problems, you have more time to spend on more important business operations. This also saves you money in a sense, since you don’t have to spend your valuable time working out a minor IT problem instead of dealing with other important business operations.

Having an in-house employee learn and handle IT for your company can also be a big ask. This added stress can lead to lower productivity levels in some employees. While in-house IT may seem like an affordable option, you’re almost always better off hiring a top IT company.

Better Data Management

“Big data” is an important term in the business world today, but most business owners don’t know how to properly utilize data. One of the benefits IT company outsourcing offers is the ability to tap into this big data to gain insights that can help you boost sales and improve customer relationships.

Minimize Downtime

Even if it didn’t cost you money, you wouldn’t want to deal with downtime due to IT problems as a business owner. The fact that downtime can cost your business a significant amount of money means it’s even more important to prevent it.

When you hire an IT consulting company, you don’t have to worry about downtime because you have continuous professional monitoring and a team of professionals who can fix any problems that may arise. By minimizing downtime, you can save your business money, improve your reputation with customers and spend more time focusing on core business operations and growing your business.

Running a business isn’t easy, especially if you don’t know a lot about tech. Fortunately, hiring a top IT company can get you the help you need at an affordable price. If you’re looking for a better way to handle IT for your business, hiring an IT consulting company like NetCov is a smart choice.

 

Trends in Business Intelligence (BI) & Data Analytics

There is no doubt that the world and businesses are being driven by a new level of technology and data. This includes everything from vast amounts of data collected on consumer practices to the data moving global supply chains. Understanding and implementing these data practices have become essential to modern business practice. It can be challenging for a business to know where to start, but observing trends can offer support.

The two governing trends in modern data use are represented by the terms business intelligence (BI) and data analytics. These two overarching data trends attract a large percentage of attention. They have become essential practices for organizations ranging from non-profits and SMEs to global enterprises.

Understanding how to get started or expand these data practices has become more complicated with significant growth in recent years. It has led to a great deal of interest in determining the overall trends in BI and data analytics. Identifying these trends can support a business in deciding where to focus its attention when implementing BI and data analytics into its operations.

This article examines a brief definition of terms and identifies the most popular trends in business intelligence and data analytics for 2021.

Business Intelligence vs. Data Analytics

These two concepts and practices overlap in many ways, making the trends in both areas worthwhile to examine in tandem. However, despite their many similarities and overlaps, there are some core differences between the two terms.

The most distinct difference between these two practices is their focus on the present and the future. Business intelligence has a focus on data that describes where a business currently stands. In contrast, data analytics primarily focuses on data that illumine the future of a business. In similar terms, BI attempts to be illustrative, while data analytics concern predictive modalities.

However, both BI and data analytics share plenty of core principles. Both practices emphasize the collection and analysis of data to provide insights. Each method also offers reports that provide data illustrations with perspective on how a business is performing.

What are the highlights of 2021 trends?

Business intelligence and data analytics fed off of one another to generate a significant boom in 2020. BI has contributed to making the analysis of data more accessible to a larger contingent of non-technical users. And data analytics are further contributing to the application of BI in decision-making for the future. Significant growth in the business intelligence industry is expected to continue into 2021.

We examine a few of the highlights in trends that are evident in both BI and data analytics.

2021 trends in business intelligence

Although the focus of this section is on trends in business intelligence, it can be understood that the overlaps between BI and data analytics continue to exist within these trends.

1. Increase in use of BI platforms

The collection of data and its presentation has grown significantly, which has led to a growing trend of platforms dedicated to BI practice. Businesses are going beyond the basics of Google Analytics to understand and illustrate their data. In its place, solutions dedicated to a comprehensive approach to BI are emerging. These centralized places for BI are being offered in free and paid formats. Businesses getting started with BI can ease their way into these specialized platforms to participate in the growing trend toward dedicated platforms for BI.

2. Automating Data

A significant trend in technology is impacting the development of BI and data analytics. The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is intended to impact all areas of life but data collection and assessment especially. As a result, the automation of data science tasks is quickly trending. This automation impacts the way data is produced, stored, and processed, and it is expected to continue proliferating.

3. Mobility of BI

As with much of mobile consumer technology, the mobility of BI is expected to be one of the top trends in 2021. BI has long emphasized the presentation of data through dashboards and charts. The growing popularity of these two utilities has influenced the development of mobile apps for BI tools, allowing dashboards to be presented on mobile devices.

2021 trends in data analytics

The extraordinary global circumstances of 2020 witnessed a massive shift to digital platforms—from remote work and school to consumer purchasing. These trends in virtual resources contributed to an enormous boom in data analytics. We examine a couple of the trends that have resulted from this growth.

1. Moving to the cloud

Cloud resources were initially developed to mainly assist with transactional processes rather than store extensive amounts of data. However, with remarkable growth in recent years, cloud-based storage has soared and emerged as a significant data analytics resource. The result is that many businesses are transitioning on-premise data analytics to cloud or hybrid platforms.

2. Personalized customer profiles

The massive shift to remote and digitized work has led to a boom in consumer data. Such data is quickly being mined and applied to develop highly informed profiles of business’ consumers. This positions the consumer in a uniquely commanding role, with the ability to shape and guide engagement. Companies are needing to act fast to translate data analytics into actionable insights that are tailored to individual consumers.

Resources

Staying ahead of BI and data analytics trends can be complicated and require support. Specialists at Network Coverage can assist in this essential and ongoing process.

We provide BI services that include ERP management, data collection and reporting, dashboard development, performance reporting, and various other essential elements for your BI solutions.

For experienced advice and support on designing and implementing effective BI systems, you can explore expert technology solutions for business strategy by setting up a consultation with Network Coverage.

Public Cloud vs. Private Cloud

The landscape of technology is continuously evolving, and the realm of cloud-based solutions is no exception. Emerging options for cloud technology are diverse and complex. A core question in this context relates to how the public cloud is distinct from a private cloud.

Structures and deployments for the cloud are now diverse, including hybrid and customized options. Each can serve a different purpose and provide various advantages and benefits.

We explore one of the core areas of interest for considering cloud services. This article offers an introduction to cloud technology, a summary of the differences between private and public versions, and a list of considerations on advantages and benefits.

A brief introduction to cloud technology

The ‘cloud’ initially started as a slang term in the tech industry. It has been around since the early days of the Internet. A broadly accepted name today, the cloud is a set of servers within a more extensive networking infrastructure on the Internet. The Internet is made up of servers, clients, and an infrastructure that connects them all. Commonly, servers receive requests from clients and offer a response. Computations in the cloud happen differently. This type of computing does not merely respond to clients; the cloud also runs programs and stores data for a client.

What are the differences?

An understanding of the differences between a public cloud and a private cloud can begin with a parallel to apartments and houses. A private cloud is similar to a privately owned home, where space is not shared with any other tenets. In contrast, a public cloud functions similarly to an apartment building, in which multiple tenets share a larger space.

The private cloud serves a single client. This is commonly a client that wishes to create a private place to store data, process requests, and isolate usage. A private cloud can be managed by a third-party cloud provider or developed internally within an organization. Access to this cloud is limited to the one client that can issue permissions to various users. For instance, an enterprise may develop a private cloud to serve numerous departments or offices in multiple locations.

In comparison, a public cloud is accessible to a diverse set of clients or users. Each client’s usage and data are kept hidden, but they use shared servers for storage, computing, and applications. Management and maintenance of the cloud’s infrastructure are performed by the cloud service provider rather than the client.

Like renting an apartment or owning a home, there are numerous pros and cons to public and private clouds. Determining which cloud is the best fit depends on the circumstances and goals of the user. Below is a summary to help distinguish the two types of cloud technologies.

Public cloud: Advantages and disadvantages

Public cloud services can offer benefits for a wide range of clients, but they may not be bested suited to specialized needs.

Advantages:

• Reduced costs: Public cloud services offer a reduction in hardware and maintenance costs. Clients can determine how much cloud usage they need for their purposes and find payments that fit their economic needs. There is no need to purchase physical hardware or hire IT support.
• Flexibility: The infrastructure of the public cloud allows a client to scale up for growth on-demand quickly.
• Easy installation: Since public cloud infrastructures are already assembled, it is easy for a client to initiate an account and begin operations without the requirement of building a unique and new infrastructure.

Disadvantages:

• Less security: Public clouds rely on a third party to handle computing and storage. Although public cloud services are highly regarded for safety, organizations handling sensitive data—government, financial, or others—may find it preferable to rely on a dedicated cloud’s extra security and privacy.
• Higher traffic: Because public cloud services host a broad audience of clients, they are more vulnerable to an increased user base’s lack of control and latency issues.

Private cloud: Advantages and disadvantages

Private cloud options offer customized benefits for certain clients, but they come at a higher price and extra effort.

Advantages:

• Security: Private cloud infrastructures serve a dedicated client. This is commonly an enterprise or organization. The client’s data, hardware, and connection receive a higher security level because they are hosted and designed for internal use and do not permit multitenancy.
• Improved performance: Fewer users making requests in the infrastructure ensures a more reliable and faster connection. Because the connection remains on the network’s private intranet, it is also less vulnerable to security risks that diminish performance.
• Customization: An internal IT team that manages the private infrastructure can provide designs tailored to a single client’s priorities using the private cloud. This allows the team to better scale storage and computing specific to the client.

Disadvantages:

• Increased costs: With the added expense of hardware, maintenance, and extra IT support, a private cloud is more expensive than public cloud alternatives. Operating systems and licenses for applications also drive up costs.
• Ongoing management: Building a private infrastructure for cloud services requires that the client is responsible for maintenance. This necessitates ongoing support from an internal IT administration that is time-consuming and more expensive.

Choosing the right cloud

In some cases, choosing the correct cloud service is regulated. For instance, government, medical, or financial industries may be under regulations to protect data and users with more significant security measures.

However, small or medium-sized companies and startups commonly prioritize efficiency and the ability to scale quickly. For these purposes, a public cloud solution is often an optimal fit. Yet, enterprises or larger organizations with the resources to invest in their own servers and infrastructure may find value in the added security and customization of private cloud solutions.

Resources

There are many factors to consider when deciding on and implementing cloud services. An organization must wade through the various options for cloud services to determine the correct fit for the circumstances.

Network Coverage has assembled a set of technology and business solutions to support your organization in maneuvering through this complex and critical environment.

Set up a consultation with Network Coverage for experienced advice and support.

A Guide to Identifying & Reducing Network Congestion

To understand how to prevent almost anything, it is often critical to first understand some of the causes of the thing we want to avoid. For congested networks, the method used to fix the issue can often be directly related to the reason. Imagine trying to fix a leak without understanding precisely what is causing the leak or its origin.

What is Network Congestion?

Congestion refers to when a network is overloaded with data (like roads with cars or the like). In some cases, street traffic is the result of a temporary situation, like high volume or accidents, much in the same way as congestion on our networks. Other cases present more dynamic or overarching issues, like the poor design or needed repairs—more significant matters that require their type of solutions.

Causes of Network Congestion

Over-Used Devices

Not all devices are created equal. Some devices are designed to handle more traffic than others. Examples of devices such as routers, switches, and firewalls are constructed with expectations for network throughput. Adding to the confusion, the assigned capacity for a given device is a theoretical value. In other words, the stated capacity for a device may not be the precise ability the device will manage in real-world scenarios. Pushing devices to their max (reported) capacity can often result in over-utilization of the device.

In many cases, structures for using multiple devices are designed with hierarchies. A higher-level device will often serve lower-level devices. It’s critical within a hierarchy to ensure that the lower-level devices are not requiring more than the higher-level device is capable of supporting. Such incongruencies lead to bottlenecks in the flow of data. Continuing our anecdote about street traffic, this would be similar to when a multi-lane freeway merges into two or fewer lanes.

Too many devices

It’s also important to clarify when a network might be using too many devices. Given that every network has a precise level of support it can provide, issues may arise if this capacity is too strained with an excessive volume of devices. Too many devices can easily lead to a network that is receiving a surplus of requests for data.

Antiquated hardware

It is vital to acknowledge when the figurative streets to which our traffic is traveling may be outdated or require repair/updates. The same goes for our hardware. Any discussion about hardware also extends to wire and cable connections between devices. For example, ethernet cables differ in their maximum data speed and require updates or replacements as your business grows and matures over time.

Deficient design or poor configuration

Each network needs to be designed—or structured—in ways tailored to your operation’s needs. As an obvious example, a small-scale company with only a dozen or so employees requires a dramatically different architecture than a network servicing hundreds. But the cases are too common that a network does not scale in proportion to the operation it supports. A network needs to be optimized to provide connection to all segments while maximizing performance across each of those segments. Designing subnets is a viable way to allocate performance where it is needed the most—or the least. Subnets can be created around where you are sure a lot of data will be required and sized appropriately for this purpose.

Fixes for Network Congestion

Traffic monitoring

Any starting point for determining a solution for over-utilized devices, too many devices, or an insufficient network design must begin by assessing the action. Monitoring network traffic will provide insight sufficient for identifying problem areas. It will help determine where congestion may exist. It can also illuminate under-utilized regions that may be reallocated to perform better in a different area. As problems surface, you will have an awareness of how to make adjustments to design and usage. In many cases, tools are available to install for the sake of monitoring, which will allow you to optimize solutions to congestion.

Bandwidth

A network that can transmit more data is less likely to experience issues of congestion. The simple solution to increasing the amount of transferable information is to increase your network’s bandwidth. It is critical to remember a common proverb: a chain is only as strong as the weakest link. In many respects, this is true for a network. A network’s slowest component is commonly linked to its overall performance. Once you’ve monitored your network and identified how data traffic is flowing, you can upgrade your network’s slowest parts to maximize the benefit of increasing your bandwidth.

Segmenting and Prioritizing

Another benefit of monitoring traffic is the capacity to design or re-design a network optimized for your needs. Towards that end, segmenting your network into smaller sub-networks will increase efficiency and create space to establish practical priorities. This not only produces a more viable network but also permits more accurate monitoring. Through segmentation, you can reduce or increase data traffic to positively impact congestion areas. You can do so with more accurate data and less guesswork.

Prioritization simply refers to your capacity to minimize congestion by giving due emphasis (priority) to key network processes. When non-essential or less essential services receive lower priority, a network reduces its likelihood of congestion. Of course, it is necessary to apply care and precision to prioritizing, because the wrong configuration or design can exacerbate issues meant to be resolved. This process can hugely benefit from the correct software or a team of technology experts to support and implement the appropriate design.

Other areas to explore when considering network congestion include using redundancy models, assessing security attacks, LAN performance tests, over-subscription, or TCP/IP protocol settings.

Resources

For experienced advice and support on designing or implementing effective measures for reducing network congestion, you can explore expert technology solutions for business strategy by setting up a consultation with Network Coverage.

Integrating Sage with Microsoft Programs

A vast expansion of markets for software solutions entails an ever-diversifying landscape of opportunity. But it can also present individuals and businesses with an overwhelming array of decisions. Deciding on how to upgrade or transition to new software platforms can present challenges. At the same time, new software solutions are also evolving as add-ons or integrations with legacy software platforms.

One of the most highly valued integrations exists between software giants Sage and Microsoft. These two technological companies account for millions of users around the globe. With such a large share of the global market, it’s no surprise that businesses of many sizes and industries recognize a need for integrating the two platforms. Many companies have built their operations on the legacy of Microsoft products. But Sage offers a unique set of specialized functions that have also become integral to more effective and refined business operations.

Integrating the two sets of solutions has presented a critical opportunity for numerous businesses. Ditching a legacy system to build anew can be onerous for business operations. However, by integrating rather than replacing existing software systems, companies are seizing newfound ways to develop.

Sage offers various products that can be seamlessly integrated with existing Microsoft programs for a more specified approach to business functions such as accounting, payroll, and human resource management.

In this article, we explore how a company can integrate Sage software with various Microsoft programs.

Integrating your Sage software with Microsoft programs

Sage and Microsoft have been developing on similar timelines. Founded in 1975, Microsoft rose to dominance in the 1980s, while Sage was founded in 1981 and witnessed rapid growth. In 2015, the two brands began direct conversations about an integrative relationship. Sage recognized the vast expansion and flexibility of cloud-based technologies and understood Microsoft to be a suitable partnership in staying tuned with these more mobile innovations. Integration capabilities for the two software solutions have existed along the way, but 2016 produced the first active partnership between the two software moguls with the creation of Sage 50c.

Sage 50c

Perhaps the most notable and celebrated integration between Sage and Microsoft resulted from the creation of Sage 50c. This partnership’s mainstay is the integration of Sage’s popular desktop interface with Microsoft 365 and OneDrive.

Sage 50c can continue to be used without Microsoft, but Sage’s software can be integrated with existing users of Microsoft’s cloud services or new customers. Although the Sage 50c interface remains the same, there are many new integrative features. For example, users can integrate a scheduled backup option for automatic upload to Microsoft’s OneDrive. Sage 50c can also integrate accounts data to synchronize with Excel documents in the cloud, accessible through Office 365 applications and Sage add-ins.

For Sage’s existing Intelligence Reporting feature, there is now no required setup. The intelligent reporting functions can be accessed through the Sage Intelligence app within the Microsoft 365 options folder. Reports can be replicated for storage in OneDrive, allowing users to access the data remotely while permitting non-Sage users’ editing capacity through Excel. These reports can also be generated in reverse, originating in Excel and saved for access through the OneDrive storage.

This overview of integrating Sage 50c with Microsoft 365 is not intended to be exhaustive. Instead, it highlights how a core Sage solution can be seamlessly integrated with existing Microsoft platforms. Both Sage and Microsoft offer further information on the subject.

Sage 300

Another widely used product is the Sage 300 software. This solution works in combination with Sage Contact and integrates with Microsoft 365. Using Sage 300 and Sage Contract allows users to view customer information through Microsoft’s Outlook. Integration of these Sage solutions with Outlook permits a business to overview customers’ credit data, contact information, salesperson, and price level. A company can also view customer history, communications, and notes or comments entered in Sage 300.

Integration of Sage and Microsoft’s platforms is a simple process. The process begins with verifying your existing or new Microsoft Office 365 account with Sage for compatibility with Sage 300. Following an activation email, the integration starts by logging into Office 365 while also adding users and granting them access to Sage apps. The integration proceeds by installing the Office 365 connector on the Sage 300 server. The connector and necessary components can be downloaded from the Sage Business Center. A Sage 300 Office Configuration Wizard will be added to the Start menu that can be clicked for further installation steps.

Sage 100

Beyond the many integration opportunities with Office 365, Sage 100 offers another of the plentiful options for integrating with Microsoft products. Sage 100 may be integrated with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Combining these two solutions can assist in preventing data entry errors or duplicating data entry.

Integration of Sage 100 involves the vast financial information of Sage services in tandem with Microsoft’s ability to manage data related to customer relations. A variety of third-party options can further elevate the integration of Sage 100 with Microsoft’s Dynamic CRM to track updates, automate tasks, and log data.

Resources

This article highlights a few ways a business can integrate Sage solutions with Microsoft programs, but there are further opportunities available. Exploring these integrations can be an exhaustive effort. Many companies will find that a technology expert can vastly simplify and expedite implementing these viable integrations.

Even further, the benefits of integrating Sage with Microsoft programs can be critically beneficial. A company or enterprise stands to improve productivity, increase security, and ensure critical data is accessible.

For experienced advice and support on software integrations, you can explore expert technology solutions for business strategy by setting up a consultation with Network Coverage.