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After a year of market disruption due to COVID-19, the last thing that businesses need is a cyber-attack that halts production and results in thousands or millions of ransom dollars. And, yet, that is exactly what has been happening lately with a string of attacks on businesses, schools, hospitals, and government agencies across the country.

Two significant hacks have made headlines recently. On May 7th, a cyber-attack paralyzed the Colonial Pipeline Co., one of the largest gasoline pipelines in the United States that supplies roughly half the fuel used on the East Coast. About three weeks later, one of the world’s largest food companies, JBS Foods, was forced to shut down plants in North America and Australia after its IT system was hacked.

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Emergency Preparation Deals was the subject line of the blast ad for the online store.

Generators, gas fuel can, portable 5 gallon toilet, folding shovel, emergency tool kit, tarp, batteries galore…flash light, head lamp, flood lamp oh my!

While all of the above items listed are important for your survival at home, have you thought about your business? Compile an up to date employee contact list, have a list of vendors and customers, and review an emergency evacuation plan. Well, that covers the people.

However, in the event of a disaster, what would save your data? Sure, all of the above items have their importance, but if the disaster affects your servers or systems, a shovel will not dig you out of the hole!

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THE CLOUD

“The” Cloud has become such a valuable place for businesses. It has become the buzz word in technology. Do you remember when it was “laptop”, “wireless”, or “social media”? A computer used to be so bulky and tethered you to a chair in order to accomplish work. Let’s not even imagine how slow they were! Now, wireless laptops, tablets, and phones allow you to work from almost anywhere. The idea of social media was foreign to most a decade ago. Now, social media has become an outlet to rapidly share life happenings, photos, advertise, or blast out worldly news. You may not know that the concept of “the cloud” was created in the 1970’s. However, the technology has become more mainstream since 2000. Now, run your business in “the cloud” and benefit.

Below, read the 5 reasons you and/ or your business can benefit from cloud computing.

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Having a green approach to IT means two things. It is creating efficiency in energy consumption and resources. Taking care of our Earth’s resources has been a large focus on many levels.

Obviously, the less you plug in, the less energy is used. Energy efficiency has improved thanks to the cloud. Yes, again the cloud is the buzz word. The cloud offers so much value to a business owner and the environment alike. Running a business in the cloud is cost effective; allowing you to pay for what you need when you need it. Cost savings appear in many ways, but for the focus of this post, we will highlight the energy efficiency aspect. When a business puts its server(s) in the cloud, they are no longer plugged in at your office or warehouse. Your direct energy usage and costs go down. It is estimated that for every $1 spent on a server, it could cost $1 for power and cooling. Datacenters host your server(s) that you put in the cloud. Many datacenters are also making efforts with energy efficiency. Some are turning to natural gas, solar and/or wind power as a resource. Efficient natural gas powered generators or backup generators are being put onsite. An underground natural gas line is the least likely abundant fuel source to be damaged in the event of a weather related disaster. There is also the idea of raising temps inside a datacenter (even 5 degrees) to decrease the energy being used. When JR Vision started in datacenters 17 years ago, it was commonplace to keep your datacenter temperature at 68 degrees; but now, some datacenters are keeping temperatures as high as 78 degrees. Datacenters are also being designed with more efforts to keep a consistent temperature surrounding the hardware. The rows of racks now house the hardware to have the fronts face each other. The cool air is forced into each aisle, pulled into the racks at the front of the hardware, and the warmed air is pulled up to the ceiling. More energy efficient fans are better controlling the air flow and keeping a more consistent temperature throughout.

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How would your business benefit from being able to access your QuickBooks application anytime from almost anywhere?

Does your business have multiple office locations, mobile workers, or outsource work/ use third party contractors?

“As a company with two offices in two different cities, we continuously found it challenging to access QuickBooks on the computers in one of the offices. As our business began to grow, we needed a more convenient and effective solution. We contacted JR Vision to help us identify our options based on our needs and they determined a cost-effective and very convenient option for us. We can now access QuickBooks in the cloud at any time and from any place. It’s made a huge difference in our productivity and our ability to manage our books more efficiently.

The process was simple and there was minimal down time. JR Vision helped us get set up with ease and ensured we were up and running with no glitches.” -Liane Caruso, President, The CRUSH Agency

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Are you a small to medium-sized business keeping your server(s) onsite? Are the servers stored in a closet or under a desk? If yes, you must read on and learn why that is not recommended and how JR VISION can help you EMPTY YOUR CLOSET!

Smooth and successful daily business operation relies on your IT hardware. Imagine showing up to the office one day and the servers had crashed or are struggling and overheated- a meltdown. This stalls productivity which costs you money- leading to costly repairs or the need for new hardware- which costs you even more money.

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