Behind the Scenes of the New York Small Business Expo with Protected Harbor

Why Microservices Are a Game-Changer for the Future of IT

New IT solutions must handle the ever-increasing volume of data and information while remaining flexible enough to adapt quickly and efficiently to changing business demands.

The need for agility has never been more urgent for today’s businesses. The pace of digital transformation is getting faster and faster with no apparent end in sight. To meet these challenges, enterprises must find solutions that can keep up with the speed of business change. This blog will explain what microservices are, how they can help your organization remain agile, and how they can help you achieve a more nimble IT system as you move forward into the future of your business.

What Is a Microservice?

A microservice is a software system built as a set of small independent modules with particular concerns and functions. Each microservice can be built and deployed independently and work together with other microservices to deliver a complete product or service. The main challenge when building software systems is to find the right balance between functionality, quality, and time-to-market. One option is to build an extensive application that can meet all the requirements from the get-go, but this approach is often challenging and costly in terms of resources. Another option is to break down the project into smaller, more manageable pieces and build a set of microservices that can be released and deployed independently.

Why Are Microservices a Game-Changer for IT?

With growing complexity and the need to scale in mind, organizations are now moving towards microservices architecture (MSA) to break down IT systems into smaller, more manageable parts. MSA is essentially a distributed system approach, where applications are broken down into smaller modules (microservices), and each service is hosted in its separate container or virtual machine. The essential factor to note here is that each microservice can be scaled independently, enabling you to handle the growing demand for particular parts of the system without scaling the entire system. By using microservices, businesses can deploy new software solutions much faster and achieve quicker time-to-market. At the same time, microservices are also helping IT systems become more reliable and scalable.

What Are The Benefits of Microservices?

As microservices help you build more flexible systems, they also help you achieve several important benefits for your business. These include:

• Greater agility – The ability to quickly change and adapt to your customers’ needs is vital for future business success. With microservices, you can respond much quicker to market changes, new requirements, and customer feedback, thanks to the more elegant nature of the system.
• Greater scalability – Microservices are particularly useful when you need to scale your system on the fly, especially in cases of high demand. You can scale up or down specific parts of the system as required, and therefore avoid downtime.
• Improved quality – By designing with quality in mind, you can build a reliable and robust system. End-to-end testing is particularly important when working with microservices, as it helps to ensure the system works as a whole.
• Improved security – When designed and implemented correctly, Microservices can help make your systems more secure. For example, microservices that handle sensitive information can be securely isolated from non-critical microservices.

When to Use Microservices?

Microservices are particularly useful for complex projects that require scalability, agility, and high levels of flexibility. They make sense, especially in situations where you are working with large and complex organizations where communication between different departments and teams is challenging. Microservices can also make sense in cases where you should be able to scale up or down quickly depending on the level of demand for a particular part of the system.

In general, to decide whether to use a microservices architecture, you should think about the following questions: What are the project requirements? What type of functionality does the system require? Is your team capable of designing a system that meets these requirements? In other words, microservices make sense when you have a large, complex project with significant functionality. At the same time, the project is also highly flexible and can easily be scaled depending on the requirements.

Key Takeaway

Microservices help you build more flexible systems that respond quickly to your customers and business needs. With microservices, you can scale up or down individual parts of the system as required, avoiding downtime. At the same time, microservices are easier to maintain and manage.

Small, autonomous services that are easy to change and upgrade are the new standard in a digital world. The ability to develop, test, and deploy small services faster can impact a company’s bottom line by reducing overall development time and quickening the delivery of new features to customers. The good news is that there are several techniques to speed up the development process of your business. Protected Harbor provides expert-level microservices to help you stay on top of things. We specialize in providing a software development approach that focuses on breaking down large systems into smaller pieces to improve efficiency, maintainability, and flexibility and help businesses achieve improved scalability, reliability, and agility. And that’s not it. We are currently providing free IT audit to the companies. Contact us today for one.

Cyberattacks Against Law Firms and How to Prevent Them?

No company of any size, including law firms, can afford to ignore the extensive media coverage of cyber security and its hazards. It would be a mistake to believe that smaller firms are not being targeted. On the contrary, according to the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report,

• Human error was responsible for 85 percent of the breaches.
• Phishing was implicated in 36% of breaches, up 11% from the previous year.
• Ransomware was used in 10% of breaches this year, up from 5% last year.

Due to the large quantities of money, information, and customer data that law firms hold, cyber-attacks against them are becoming more common. According to the American Bar Association, more than 25% of law firms have experienced cyber-attacks. This proportion was 35% among law businesses with 10 to 49 attorneys, implying that over one-third of small law firms had been hacked. During the poll, 99% of participants said their legal firm employs password management security.

The fact that 25% of survey respondents said their legal business had been hacked at some point is perhaps the most surprising number. Law firms are an obvious target for cybercriminals; with so much data on so many people and businesses, law firms are a one-stop-shop for harvesting a wealth of data.

Why Are Law Firms More Vulnerable to Cyber Attacks?

Law firms are vulnerable because they often deal with sensitive information on behalf of their clients. This includes client files, billing information, and other confidential data such as intellectual property rights or personal information about employees or associates.

In addition to their vulnerability to cyberattacks, law firms also have network security issues because many rely on third-party vendors for cloud storage or email services. A single breach could expose all of their data at once if it is not adequately secured.

Types of Cyberattacks Against Law Firms

The following are some of the most common types of cyberattacks against law firms:

1.    Malware Infections

Malware is software used to gain access to private computer systems and networks. According to an American Bar Association research, 29% of law firms reported a security breach, with more than 1 in 5 unsure if there was a breach and 36% reporting previous malware attacks in their systems.

2. Ransomware

This malware locks down files on your computer until the victim pays a ransom. It’s become an increasingly common tactic among cybercriminals in recent years.

Law firms, unfortunately, are more vulnerable than other types of enterprises. According to a research issued in May by security firm BlueVoyant, 15% of a global sample of tens of thousands of legal firms had indicators of infiltrated networks, and all organizations were targeted by focused threat activity.

3. Phishing attacks

Phishing attacks are one of the most common types of a cyberattack against law firms. These attacks occur when an email is sent out to employees with a link to a fake website or attachment. This attack aims to get confidential information from the victim, such as usernames, passwords, and bank account details. By 2021, Phishing attacks have climbed by 11%, causing the law firms massive trouble.

4. Insider Threats

According to Egress, insider breach risk is a crucial worry for 96% of IT leaders in the legal sector. It’s simple to dismiss these risks as “your staff.” It’s correct, yet it’s also lacking. Insider threats are divided into two categories.

• These employees are deliberately causing hurt, devastation, and turmoil in your organization.
• Employees who acquire access due to carelessness, negligence, or inadequate systems and processes.

5. Credential theft

This attack involves a hacker obtaining valid login credentials from someone who has legitimate access to a law firm’s network or system. Last year, credential theft was used in 61% of data breaches, posing a significant risk to businesses. It usually begins with a phishing email intended to dupe partners, lawyers, or employees into revealing login credentials.

6. Fraudulent invoicing

Law firms receive invoices for services rendered by other companies. Attackers can send fake invoices to law firms and request payment using a fraudulent bank account or routing number.

How to Protect Your Law Firm Against Cyberattacks

Here are some ways you can protect your law firm against cyberattacks:

● Improve your security culture

The most important step you can take in improving your organization’s security culture. Make it clear that everyone in your firm is responsible for the security and that there will be consequences if they don’t follow proper procedures.

● Implement basic cybersecurity measures

Install antivirus software on all computers and servers, set up firewalls, encrypt sensitive data and conduct regular audits of your IT infrastructure. These basic measures will go a long way toward protecting your firm from cyberattacks.

● Practice secure file sharing

A critical first step for safeguarding your firm from cybercrime is practicing secure file sharing. This means using a secure connection when uploading files such as Word documents and PDFs onto an online storage service like Box or Google Drive. It would be best if you also use two-step verification whenever possible, which requires users to enter an additional passcode sent via text message each time they log in from an unrecognized device or location.

● Budget for Security

Law firms often prioritize cybersecurity because it seems like something that can be dealt with later. However, it’s important to remember that this is not just about protecting confidential information but also protecting client trust and business relationships with other companies. And when you lose those things due to a data breach, they’re tough to regain.

● Encrypt sensitive data

Encryption is one of the most effective ways to protect your sensitive information from hackers. It’s important to note that encryption doesn’t just apply to emails and other documents

s containing personal information but also to files containing sensitive client information such as names and addresses. The more secure your data is, the harder it will be for hackers to access it.

● Be Proactive

Hire an outside firm to conduct security audits and provide recommendations for improvements. You should also invest in advanced technologies, such as firewalls and intrusion detection systems (IDS), which can help prevent attacks.

● Protecting your network with firewalls

Firewalls are software programs that filter incoming traffic on a network to prevent unauthorized access and block malicious traffic such as malware or viruses. Firewalls should protect all devices on your network so unauthorized users can’t access them remotely.

● Installing antivirus software on all devices

Antivirus software scans files before they’re opened or run to ensure they’re not infected with viruses or malware (including ransomware). All computers used by employees should have antivirus software installed on them and any mobile devices used by employees outside the office (e.g., laptops, smartphones).

Final Words

In today’s online world, hackers look for loopholes in organizations’ IT infrastructure. Law firms particularly need to take a proactive approach when it comes to cyber threats. They should implement robust cybersecurity measures to secure client data, employee and company information, contracts, and valuable intellectual property. By doing so, they can protect themselves and their clients from cybercriminals targeting the legal industry in the future.

Protected Harbor prevents malicious actors from gaining unauthorized access to your data and systems, keeping your clients’ data secure and your company out of the headlines. It also keeps your employees safe from phishing scams and malware. With a robust data backup system in place, your law firm will always have a backup plan in case of disaster. You can keep your team focused on serving your clients and growing your business instead of worrying about keeping themselves and your data safe from hackers. We are giving free IT audits and tests for law firms. Contact us today, be secured.

What is Site Reliability Engineering? A Definitive Guide

As the world is rapidly moving towards digital services and more organizations are adopting cloud-based services, site reliability engineering practices have become essential. The reason is that IT experts and engineering teams operating software have changed drastically. These practices let organizations meet the service level agreements for performance, availability, business KPIs, and user experience.

In this article, we’ll learn about site reliability engineering, key practices, benefits, roles, and responsibilities of a site reliability engineer, and tools used for SRE. Let’s get started with the basics of site reliability engineering.

What is Site Reliability Engineering (SRE)?

Site reliability engineering or SRE is applying software engineering principles to infrastructure processes and operations to help companies create highly scalable and reliable software systems. As a discipline, site reliability engineering focuses on optimizing software systems’ reliability across categories, such as performance, availability, capacity, latency efficiency, and incident response. And those who perform these operations are known as site reliability engineers.

Google was the first who task its software engineers with making large-scale sites more efficient, scalable, and reliable by implementing automated solutions. SRE is a way to bridge gaps between IT operations and developers, even in a DevOps culture. The primary purpose of SRE is to develop automated solutions and software systems for operational aspects.

What does a site reliability engineer do?

A site reliability engineer generally has a background in software development and business analytics and substantial operations experience. They monitor systems in production and analyze performance to detect areas that need improvement. This observation helps them calculate potential outages cost and plan for contingency.

Software reliability engineers split their time between software or system development and operations. Their on-call responsibilities include updating tools, software, and documentation to prepare IT teams for future incidents. Moreover, they build and deploy services to optimize the workflow for the IT and support departments.

Key Practices in Site Reliability Engineering

Here are the key practices to implement software reliability engineering in your organization.

• Availability_ The SRE team is responsible for maintaining system and service availability once they are in production, initiated by service-level agreements (SLAs), service-level objectives (SLOs), and service-level indicators (SLIs) for the underlying services.
• Performance_ After stabilizing availability, the SRE team can focus on optimizing service performance. They assist development teams, fix bugs, and identify performance issues across the system.
• Monitoring_ SRE teams have to monitor operations and implement appropriate solutions based on how respective services measure performance and uptime.
• Incident response_ Site reliability engineering is critical for incident response. The SRE team should be available to respond, review, and explain incidents occurring within the system. It includes auditing processes, production workflows, alert criteria, and other factors.
• Preparation_ The integration of SREs into IT and development allows developers to learn more about the production environment and help IT and DevOps teams get involved earlier in the development lifecycle.

Roles and Responsibilities of an SRE

Here are the leading roles and responsibilities of a software reliability engineer.

1. Monitoring

Software reliable engineers ensure that underlying infrastructure is running smoothly and that tools and systems are working as desired. Moreover, they monitor critical services and applications to reduce downtime and ensure availability.

2. Automation

Software reliability engineers build automation tools to manage IT operations. Therefore, rather than performing these tasks manually, they aim to automate them. These functions include

• Incident response
• Continuous integration
• Continuous delivery
• Monitoring
• Alerts

3.Cross-team collaboration

Software reliable engineers work across different teams, particularly development and operations. By developing a reliable system and offering support to these teams, they give their teams more time to focus on building new features and get these out faster to consumers.

4. Issue resolution

Software reliable engineers work closely with the development team, especially when problems arise. They collaborate with the developers to help with troubleshooting and offer consultation when alerts are issued. Following the incident resolution, SRE will revisit the situation and determine the cause to ensure it does not happen again.

Benefits of Site Reliability Engineering

Site reliability engineering aims to enhance high-scale systems’ reliability through automation. The main goal of SRE is to fill the gap between the infrastructure and development teams. Incorporating aspects of software engineering into infrastructure and operation functions has several benefits, the most notable being more service resiliency and constant uptime. Here are some other benefits of SRE.

• Filling the gap between infrastructure and development teams
• Automate processes
• Planning and maintaining operational tasks
• Continuously analyzing and monitoring application performance
• Managing emergency and on-call support
• Contribute to the overall product roadmap
• Ensure that software has proper logging and diagnostics

Common Tools used by SREs

Here are some of the most common tools used by software reliability engineers.

1. DataDog

Datadog is a monitoring and analytics tool used by system reliability engineers and DevOps teams. It can determine performance metrics and event monitoring for cloud and infrastructure services. You can see across systems, services, and applications, get complete visibility into advanced applications, analyze and explore log data in context, and proactively monitor your user experience. Moreover, Datadog lets you visualize traffic flow in cloud-native environments and get alerted on critical issues.

2. AppD

AppDynamics puts your IT teams at the center of business success. It’s a tool that provides a common view across server and database infrastructure, providing real-time actionable insights. SREs can track numerous metrics for their SLI. However, its core APM product gives valuable metrics. AppD includes many additional tools delivering deep insights, such as End User Monitoring and Browser Synthetic Monitoring. Site reliability engineers can measure SLI, SLA, SLO, and error budgeting to tie them to their business objectives. It lets them prioritize the most critical business aspects and take action in real-time.

3. DynaTrace

Dynatrace software intelligence platform empowers DevOps teams and site reliability engineers to detect issues before they occur by providing intelligent and automatic observability for the most complex distributed cloud environment. Moreover, continuous automation delivers precise root-cause answers to site reliability problems at all software development lifecycle (SDLC) steps. Dynatrace helps software reliability engineers improve availability, reliability, and latency and mitigate the impact of service outages and downtimes.

Conclusion

Site reliability engineering requires strong skills to succeed. There should be a sense of trust between the teams, and being responsible for SRE is more about taking ownership of production operations. It’s a specific approach focusing on IT operations, and if you want to adopt an SRE culture in your organization, go ahead and train your IT team by following the best practices. However, it’s a myth that you can achieve 100 percent perfection, but you can make things better using suitable tools and best practices based on your organization’s requirements.

With a team of experienced engineers from Protected Harbor, you can rest assured that your site is in good hands. We provide a range of site reliability services including monitoring, capacity planning, incident management, and security. Protected Harbor’s engineers are experts in Ruby on Rails, Python, Node.js, and other popular open-source technologies. They have experience with many enterprise-level technologies, including Apache, Nginx, Kafka, etc. We are giving free IT audits to the companies and site reliability consultation. Contact us today!

Protected Harbor excels at Small Business Expo 2022

Small businesses know that the road to success can be a tough one. Finding reliable, affordable services and resources can be challenging too.

To help them get through the rough spots and reach the business expansion goal, businesses of all sizes should participate in a Small Business Expo like this. This free event is held at New York Hilton Midtown, Americas Hall, packed with helpful resources for business owners. Protected Harbor at Booth 3524 is giving away all the industry secrets IT companies don’t want you to know. Learn how to pick the right provider for your company, the best questions to ask, and what tech trends are helping businesses grow in 2022.

Booth 3524 is a one-stop-shop for all your IT needs. Our experts can help you select the right cloud, virtual, data center, security, and network technologies to meet your company’s needs. The best way to choose the right technology for your company is to speak with an expert and narrow down your choices. Ask about the benefits and drawbacks of each technology and which one best fits your needs.

Also, we are giving away free t-shirts, Apple AirPod Pro’s, Apple MagSafe Wireless Portable Battery Pack, and Apple Watches. So what are you waiting for? Come win!

Red Flags: It’s time to switch your IT Managed Service Provider

Technical hiccups happen regardless of your business’s size, niche, or geography. And outsourcing your IT infrastructure services to an MSP provides you with a dedicated team that can handle all such issues. This team is always on alert to address any problems, getting you back up and running as soon as possible. You hire MSPs to fix your problems and reduce your downtime.

But fixing issues and keeping it running are slightly different things, though. If you find your MSP fixing the same issue numerous times, you’re probably with the wrong MSP. Actual MSPs must be less product-focused and more focused on solving client problems. In addition to billable hours, your MSP should track the uptime of your systems.

Sometimes with specialized services, like those an MSP provides, it can be hard to assess how well they perform their job. But the bottom line is that outsourcing your IT to a managed service provider (MSP) is supposed to make your life easier. If it doesn’t, something has gone wrong. There are subtle signs that your MSP is no longer the right fit for you. A few questions to introspect are:

How often has your MSP not even known there are issues until you tell them? Do you consider your MSP as an on-demand IT service provider?

The answer to this question is about strategic fitment. Do you consider your MSP a transactional partner or partner to work with you? It’s not enough that your MSP is fixing IT issues that arise. They should proactively assess hardware and software needs and security practices bi-annually or quarterly. And this can even be outside their written contract (scope of work). Proactive maintenance makes all the difference when it comes to IT management.

A good MSP should regularly monitor your IT infrastructure and identify issues before they become bigger problems, and they should have the expertise to provide proactive support and guidance. If you feel like you’re having to tell your MSP about issues and they’re not taking a proactive approach, you may want to consider finding a different provider that can better meet your needs.

Do your MSP over-promise and under-deliver?

It is important to carefully evaluate the capabilities and reputation of any MSP before entering into a partnership. This can include checking references, researching customer reviews, and reviewing their offerings and guarantees.

Some MSPs may over-promise and under-deliver, while others may provide high-quality services and support. It is important to thoroughly research and choose an MSP that aligns with your organization’s needs and priorities and to establish clear expectations and performance metrics to ensure that the MSP delivers on its promises.

MSP industry has cut-throat competition. And to survive, many MSPs rely on the effectiveness of their salespeople. However, the challenge with this method is that sales calls or pitches often commit big promises upfront to secure your business.

In reality, the service provider might not have the capacity or competency to deliver such services. Reviewing your IT service agreement lets you pick areas where your MSP hasn’t delivered up to its promises.

Does your MSP have the vision to plan and execute for the future? How good is your MSP in project management skills?

The sole purpose of your MSP is to provide reliable IT services. And that can’t be achieved with a myopic view of day-to-day operational issues. Your MSP must champion taking cues from regular issues, devise long-term plans that put you in the driving seat and execute with a transparent governance model.

If you are experiencing difficulties with your current IT-managed service provider, it may be time to consider switching to a new provider. One red flag to look out for is if your current provider struggles with cloud migration or the free flow of information.

Another red flag is if your provider cannot accurately write a scope of work document or create a service level agreement. If your provider is not delivering on project objectives or not meeting the agreed-upon project plan, this may also be a sign that it is time to switch.

Additionally, if your provider is not knowledgeable about cloud infrastructure or data center management, this could be a red flag.

Do they track response time? How well do they handle complaints? Does your MSP manage stakeholder communications effectively?

One of the best indicators to answer this question is MTTR (Mean Time To Repair/Resolve/Recovery/Response), MTTF (Mean Time To Failure), MTTA (Mean Time To Acknowledge), and MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure).^[1] These can be good baseline or benchmark that starts more challenging conversations regarding the process, RCA methodologies, response protocols, and more.

Another issue to watch out for is if your provider is unfamiliar with the project goals and deliverables or cannot create a project plan that aligns with these goals. If the provider’s team members are not working collaboratively or the provider’s business model does not align with your organization’s needs, these can also be red flags.

Ultimately, it may be time to switch if your provider is not delivering the expected service level. When making the switch, be sure to carefully review the terms and conditions of the new provider’s service agreement and work closely with them to ensure that the project is delivered successfully.

How well does your MSP align with your organization’s culture? Do they own your issues? Do they consider your users as their ‘own’ users? Do they track CSAT?

Can you ring your MSP at 2 AM and be assured that someone will be working on the ground to resolve a critical business issue. Does your MSP empathize with you in a significant outage and work tirelessly to bring back the system? Does your MSP think about the solution first or bring the contractual scope of work in every discussion? How well does your MSP resonate with your user community, values, and vision?

If answers to the above questions are No, is your service provider an MSP then? Yes, an MSP is responsible for a specific and agreed set of technologies for an agreed-upon subscription cost. But, if your MSP only does time and materials on a break-fix basis, they aren’t an MSP.

It would help if you didn’t forget that an MSP is a Managed Service Provider. The effectiveness of managed services lies in their simplicity. They augment your competency rather than you shifting your operational complexities. Actual MSPs think beyond their scope, which benefits your entire landscape.

Final Words

If you’re not receiving the level of service you expected or if you feel your provider is not actively working to solve your issues during a contract period. This can happen, and you have the right to switch when it does.

When it comes to choosing a manage service provider in rockland county NY to handle your company’s tech needs, trust is key. Partner with Protected Harbor, when our members think of us, they don’t just think of us as an MSP. We are more than that.

We will walk you through the process of selecting the best solution for your company’s specific needs. Once you’ve signed up, you’ll have access to our years of experience and you can manage all of your company’s IT tasks, request support, and configure your team’s profile settings.

If you need help managing your business, Protected Harbor is the go-to MSP in Hudson Valley New York. Together we will identify areas of improvement, outline a road map for change, and put a process in place to track your progress. Contact us for a free IT Audit.

How do leading MSPs differentiate themselves from the rest?

MSP’s operating model is a paradigm shift from reactive to proactive support.  This means one KPI for an MSP must be to ensure your IT doesn’t fail while ensuring optimal performance.

It all starts with a growth-oriented business model. The most successful MSPs focus on delivering genuine value to their customers, continually improving their offerings, and scaling their businesses. To grow their businesses, MSPs can focus on increasing the amount of business they do with existing customers, acquiring new customers, or increasing the average value of each customer. So, beyond keeping your IT lights on, MSPs that stand out provide good business value for their job. Here are a few differentiators of modern MSPs.

Advanced security offerings

Cyber-attacks are mainstream, particularly for small to medium-sized businesses. Threats are more frequent, targeted, and a lot more complex. According to a Accenture — Cost of Cybercrime Study report, around 43% of cyber-attacks are aimed at small businesses, and only 14% are prepared to defend themselves. A quality MSP company should ensure you are safe from online threats rather than waiting for the disaster. Instead of dealing with cyber attackers or ransom calls as they come, a good MSP can target vulnerabilities in advance and shut them down before it becomes a problem. Yes, some attacks can penetrate even the best of systems. However, robust threat prevention will de-risk the threat of an unexpected event. Your MSP must offer a comprehensive plan that can prevent even sophisticated threats.

Cloud services and automation

Modern MSPs are switching to cloud-native solutions and automation levers to improve the quality of their services. Cloud solutions provide scalability and on-demand disaster recovery to their clients. Automation brings efficiency with lower dependency on humans, thus reducing manual errors or discrepancies.

Innovation

Best IT service companies focus on innovation, which can benefit their customers. These companies know the importance of tracking the latest industry trends. With their help, you can utilize digital technologies to get ahead of competitors. Best MSPs are not stuck with their approach and technology and update their offerings based on trends, geography, and industry. For example, new forms of cybercrime develop every year. A company that focuses on innovation will know how to safeguard you from further attacks.

Value creation

Leading MSPs consult and advise on the best technologies or tools. They help build a customized program based on your business goals and strategic vision, manage the program’s implementation, and run daily operation and maintenance of those critical functions. MSPs must keep up to speed with the latest developments and develop new services to keep delivering value to their customers.

Customer Experience (CX)

CX has already been the buzzword for the last half a decade. The concept was initially driven by big consulting firms and is now necessary for IT customers. As modern users prefer being at the center of things, they expect self-service via knowledge forums, chatbots, and service catalogs, i.e., omnichannel communication. A helpdesk managed service provider supports these areas to improve your NPS and CSAT. Your in-house team can focus on the strategic aspects of improving tech adoption.

Adaptability and Resilience

The disruption caused by the pandemic demonstrated that adaptability and resilience — from both MSPs and their customers — are essential to survive. As companies adopt a hybrid working culture, MSPs must shift their operating model to suit the situation. E.g., MSPs need to equip their employees and clients with the right tools to support remote working remotely.

Conclusion

Top MSPs know how to stay ahead of the curve, keep their customers engaged, and offer value-added services that make their customers’ lives easier. As technology advances and changes the way businesses are done, MSPs must keep up with the latest trends. To stay ahead of the curve and deliver top-notched service to their clients, MSPs must stay informed about the latest technological advancements and customer demands.

Protected Harbor’s team of IT experts is dedicated to providing its clients with dependable IT solutions that meet their unique business needs. With its remote monitoring and management capabilities, our solution enables clients to access their IT team whenever needed — no matter where they are. As a hudson valley new york manage service provider we specialize in small- to mid-sized businesses and offer scalable and flexible services to fit client needs. We also offer 24/7 on-site or remote monitoring, data recovery, and an SLA. We offer a free consultation to help you determine the best solution for your business. Contact us today!

What To Look For In An MSP? Mention Some Qualities

The managed service provider business has risen rapidly in recent years, but what do you look for in an MSP partner?

The market has nearly doubled in value in the last five years, rising from $107 billion in 2014 to $193 billion today. By 2023, the market is estimated to reach $296 billion.

To address their IT demands, businesses increasingly turn to managed services partnerships.

This massive global expansion is an enormous surge in demand for outsourced IT services.

• 75% of SMBs outsource at least a portion of their IT to a managed service provider (MSP).

SMBs, in particular, are finding managed services to be an appealing option to the more traditional in-house IT departments to which they have become accustomed.

Simple economics is the reason behind this. Simply put, hiring an MSP partner is substantially less expensive than hiring a whole internal IT workforce.

Here are some qualities to look for in a managed service provider.

• Take a shared approach to managed services
• Provide a flexible service model
• Offer advanced services
• Offer round-the-clock support
• Support multiple time zones
• Solid strategic relationship with your cloud provider
• Leverage remote monitoring for proactive maintenance
• Robust backup and disaster recovery plan
• A dedicated, reliable, and single point of contact for your business
• Work with your legal team to address compliance issues

How do I choose a managed service provider?

What should you look for in a Managed IT Services provider? This is a severe technology investment. Many fly-by-night companies offer managed IT that don’t have the track record, experience, or capacity to adequately serve your organization’s needs. To ensure you make a wise choice, review each vendor you consider with the following criteria.

Flexible, Scalable Plans:

What type of plan does the service provider offer? If they are complicated and have a lot of fine print, chances are you’ll be getting charged for a lot of stuff you don’t need, or else you’ll find yourself in crisis only to learn that certain services aren’t included in your service plan.

Look for a simple, easy-to-understand billing agreement with transparency around what is and isn’t included. If you’re unclear about anything in the contract, seek expert advice before signing. Avoid companies that want to lock you into a multi-year agreement but are reluctant to convey their responsibilities. Are they playing a leading role in continuous improvement and staying up to date with changing technology and data compliance regulations, are they playing a leading role?

Robust Customer Support:

It would help if you usually had it right away when you needed customer support. You don’t have time to wait until business hours begin in a different part of the world or try and explain a complex problem to a chatbot that can only deliver answers from a preprogrammed FAQ. Ask what kind of support is promised, when and how it will be given, and what your options are in an emergency.

Service Level Agreements:

Uptime is critical to your company. You aren’t making money if your organization isn’t accessible to your customer base. A service level agreement (SLA) will promise a certain level of uptime, typically well over 99%, and a response time during outages within a specific time frame. Suppose the Managed Services provider fails to meet these obligations. In that case, they will typically be subject to a penalty (often a free service period to compensate for their breach of service.)

Technical assistance and installation on-site

Engineers are trained subject-matter specialists who respond as a backup when a company needs maintenance or repairs.

They are in charge of designing and installing IT projects on-site and performing periodic check-up trips to ensure everything is functioning smoothly.

Remote monitoring and troubleshooting

Support groups capable of proactively monitoring the network functions of the company.

If a client has a problem requiring quick attention, a help desk should be available, or an engineer should be ready to solve the problem remotely without the client’s involvement.

This help should be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Extensive support for cloud-based operations

Revenue from public cloud services was $182 billion in 2019; this year, it will reach $250 billion.

Cloud services quickly become the focal point for many small and midsize businesses as executives gain trust and recognize the benefits.

They are more secure than ever and offer various options for storing firm data and licensing software.

Your MSP partner should be able to demonstrate substantial cloud service provider partnerships.

Final Words

It may seem counterintuitive, but having your personnel manage every part of your IT infrastructure can hinder them from concentrating on duties that directly impact your bottom line. Hiring an MSP to supplement your IT team will allow your personnel to focus on enhancing your company’s efficiency, productivity, and creativity. Furthermore, the correct MSP will be there for you in the long run, allowing your company to grow to new heights.

Protected Harbor is not your typical MSP. We assist you in maximizing the benefits of current and emerging IT solutions so your business thrives. If you want to learn more about how outsourcing your IT can enhance your business’s productivity, contact us today for a FREE technology assessment, or read our FREE eBook.