Operations | Monitoring | ITSM | DevOps | Cloud

The cloud has become a core component of Information Technology because of its flexibility, affordability, and ease of use. Software is run via cloud subscription models, reducing time to market and simplifying distribution. Entire offices have moved into the cloud, allowing teams of all sizes to collaborate and communicate remotely. Beneath it all, files and data are stored and shared in the cloud where it’s readily accessible across devices.

The public sector hasn’t always had a reputation for digital agility and modern hardware, but that’s beginning to change thanks to COVID-19. Forced to operate from home, public sector employees are employing a mix of devices and cloud strategies to keep city services running. However, these very same advances could be fueling shadow IT within public sector organizations and leaving them vulnerable to data leakage, theft, or attack.

I was asked to write a pledge to help promote the importance of Safer Internet Day, which is taking place February 8. If you are not familiar with Safer Internet Day, it is a day dedicated to highlighting practical ways in which you can be involved in creating and maintaining a better online world. You can read more about it here. I took on this task and actually came up with two pledges: a personal and business one.

There are a variety of ways to add accessible data storage to a home or business network, but not all equipment is created equal. Determining the best solution is challenging, especially for small businesses or home users who don’t necessarily need the features and capacities that large organizations require. Among the most common solutions to choose from are cloud, in-house servers, and network-attached storage (NAS).

Companies typically seek to create centralized systems to manage IT assets, including not only hardware, software, networks, and infrastructure, but also important data. Complete control over such a complex environment is often difficult -- if not impossible -- to achieve, but proper asset management protocols can help organizations edge closer to that goal. Asset management makes it easier to manage budgets, utilize analytics, protect data, and optimize the IT environment.

While MSPs have been making significant investments in security and offering services, it is a challenge to keep up with the frequency and evolving sophistication of today’s cybersecurity threats. Defense in Depth (DiD) is the foundation on which most MSPs have built a layered security approach for dealing with them.

In the digital age, organizations depend more on IT than ever before. The foundation of many IT functions -- including data storage, website hosting, emails, and software -- is server management. Without reliable, functioning servers, most IT functionality would collapse. Many businesses have migrated internal IT to cloud services using servers located in remote data centers, but a significant number still have in-house servers or use a hybrid environment of in-house and cloud services.