Steve Flynn, Sales and Marketing Director of ESET South Africa, says South African small businesses are particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks. Why? Business owners aren’t taking the necessary precautions to protect their digital assets, often with dire financial consequences.

He suggests new attacks detected in less than six months equated to 55 billion. The latest statistics make for sobering reading and underscore the high probability of South African businesses being targeted by sophisticated criminal networks.

Let’s recap, what is cybersecurity?

According to IBM cybersecurity is the practice of protecting critical systems and sensitive information from digital attacks. Also known as information technology (IT) security, cybersecurity measures are designed to combat threats against networked systems and applications, whether those threats originate from inside or outside of an organisation.

A strong cybersecurity strategy can provide a good security posture against malicious attacks designed to access, alter, delete, destroy, or extort an organisation’s or user’s systems and sensitive data. Cybersecurity is also instrumental in preventing attacks that aim to disable or disrupt a system’s or device’s operations.

Cyber-attacks are increasing in frequency, sophistication, and impact, with perpetrators continually refining their efforts to compromise systems, networks, and information.

Why is cybersecurity so important?

Cybersecurity’s importance is on the rise, and it is important because it encompasses everything that relates to protecting our data from cyber attackers who want to steal this information and use it to cause harm. Both inherent risk and residual risk are increasing, driven by global connectivity and usage of cloud services.

Business leaders can no longer solely rely on out-of-the-box cybersecurity solutions like antivirus software and firewalls, cybercriminals are getting smarter, and their tactics are becoming more resilient to conventional cyber defences. It’s important to cover all the fields of cybersecurity to stay well-protected.

Simply put, the cloud is the Internet—more specifically, it’s all the things you can access remotely over the Internet. When something is in the cloud, it means it’s stored on Internet servers instead of your computer’s hard drive.

Cloud computing allows you to rent instead of buy your IT. Rather than investing heavily in databases, software, and hardware, companies opt to access their compute power via the internet, or the cloud, and pay for it as they use it.

3.  Fault Resilient
While using own servers, you need to buy more hardware than you need in case of failure. In extreme cases, you need to duplicate everything. Moving to cloud eliminates redundancy and susceptibility to outages. Thus, migrating to cloud not only adds reliability to the systems but also keeps information highly available.

4.  Scalability
Using cloud computing, businesses can easily expand existing computing resources. For start-ups and growing enterprises, being able to optimise resources from the cloud enables them to escape the large one-off payments of hardware and software, making operational costs minimal.

5.  Lean Management
With cloud, businesses can perform their processes more efficiently. Cloud migration leads existing workforce to focus on their core task of monitoring the infrastructure and improving them. Thus, cloud computing leads to lean management and drives profitability.

Cloud can connect your business processes

Business processes describe how work is done from beginning to end. They are a good way to describe how people are working together today, how they would like to work together ideally, and how their work will be shaped with the introduction of new cloud technology. With an integrated cloud solution, organisations are better equipped to manage and assess the costs and benefits of technology projects.

For organisations that struggle with disconnected business processes and data silos, the cloud offers a way to transform their business operations. With the cloud, there’s no need reinvent the process wheel. Complete cloud application suites are not modular but instead are connected, eliminating data silos, and enabling integration and intelligent business decisions.

Finding a cloud provider that provides all three layers of the cloud—in connected and unprecedented ways—is essential. Moreover, businesses need a complete, integrated platform with intelligent solutions at every layer.

Technology has simplified our lives. Although we may feel that technology can complicate a process or perhaps even get in the way sometimes, I think the sooner we can accept that technology is the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes that enables us, the better off we will be. No doubt we must implement boundaries, but where it can advance or even speed up your business, it would be your priority to invest in it.

Become more productive with the RIGHT Technology

The right technology
Since technology can take over a lot of other tasks, your team can concentrate more and have longer periods of uninterrupted work. That primarily enables them to become more productive. So, it’s vital to choose the right pieces of technology to fit your existing business processes, workflows, and culture. That might mean missing out on the latest productivity tools and applications to settle for more established technology.

Data in the cloud
As remote work continues to be the new normal, cloud and mobile technologies remain essential. They help ensure that distributed workforces have the appropriate resources to stay connected and productive. With the cloud, you can access key business applications and connect with your employees, partners, and clients in an instant.

Tools to help you
Using tools to allow your team to allocate and track task completion dates, setting reminders and keeping the team on track can benefit remote working too to keep everyone aligned.

Teams or Zoom
Technology has made it possible for people to work from home or any other secure place. Provided there is an internet connection available they can access Teams or Zoom to conduct day-to-day team meetings. That increases productivity in the sense that most people are more comfortable working from home and less travel time.

Automate processes and systems
Customer service plays a big role in the success of any business. Being able to automate processes for your customer allows you having to spend time on day-to-day customer service where you can rather spend time working on your business or those customer complaints that have crept in.

Data Management
Proper organisation minimises waste of time in an office search for papers. Think of the minutes and hours wasted by secretaries when browsing through endless spreadsheets in search of important customer data. That time could be used more productively if a time-sensitive database management system was utilised.

The first step to doing this

This first step should be followed by an assessment of how the organisation is meeting established objectives, milestones, benchmarks and relevant KPI’s. The assessment should identify the technology currently in use and the gaps that exist between these current IT operations and the objectives and strategic goals outlined in the ongoing strategic plans.

An IT Return on Investment is essential and in so doing not only does it support the organisations directives, but it provides stakeholders with a sense of responsibility and willingness to further invest in Information Technology and innovations thereof.

Be more productive in your workplace through Information Technology (IT) and grow your business. Rito-Technologies is an IT business partner that maximises business output through technology. They enable their clients to be SMART with their IT Strategic Planning, which is guaranteed to increase your business performance and ROI.

For more information about our IT Strategic Planning, request a free assessment today or get in touch with us at info@rito-tech.co.za or call us on 010 213 7016 and we will gladly assist you.

Information Technology (IT) plays an important role in the day-to-day operation of today’s businesses, as businesses are starting to realise the importance of IT to keep things working and for overall business success.

The world in which businesses operate is shrinking daily. Customers are increasingly more tech-savvy and the instant gratification generation, intellectually fed by online and social media, demands change and innovation be delivered now. The upsurge in cloud solutions and distributed workforces all combine to make the importance of IT strategy progressively more important to many organisations.

But what is an IT Strategy?

IT Strategy (Information Technology Strategy) is a comprehensive plan that outlines how technology should be used to meet IT and business goals. An IT strategy is a written document that details the multiple factors that affect the organisation’s investment in and use of technology. Ideally, this strategy should support and shape an organisation’s overall business strategy.

But how can an IT Strategy achieve business success? Unless your IT strategy is focused on understanding and aligning to your business, customers, and strategy, and delivering benefits against that business strategy, you will become less and less able to compete. While this sounds simple, the reality of defining an effective IT strategy is more complex.

The first step to implementing an IT Strategy

This first step should be followed by an assessment of how the organisation is meeting established objectives, milestones, benchmarks and relevant KPI’s. The assessment should identify the technology currently in use and the gaps that exist between these current IT operations and the objectives and strategic goals outlined in the ongoing strategic plans.

An IT strategy has become a critical element for organisational leadership in recent decades. Its growing importance mirrors the rise of technology as a critical element for business success. The importance of an IT strategy has been amplified as organisations focus on digital transformation.

Integrate innovation in your workplace through Information Technology (IT) and grow your business. Rito-Technologies is an IT business partner that maximises business output through technology. They enable their clients to be SMART with their IT Strategic Planning, which is guaranteed to increase your business performance and in return grow your business.

For more information about our IT Strategic Planning, please get in touch with us at info@rito-tech.co.za or call us on +27 (0)10 213 7016/7 and we will gladly assist you.

Technology is about innovation and innovation in business is all about doing things differently to provide better products and solutions and improved service to customers on a global scale.

Provide better products and solutions

The right technology enables our business to provide better products and solutions with ongoing research and support. As we know, the very meaning of technology is innovation, so your Information Technology (IT) solutions in your business should equip you with the innovation your business needs to continue to improve your products and services and expand on your offering as the need arises.

You can also use information technology to improve the services you provide to your customers so that they can provide feedback on your products and services and suggestions for improvement.

Not only should your IT solutions be innovative, but they too should improve your productivity and efficiency within your business which in turn will help reduce costs and maximise revenues, which can then be invested into growing the business through technology.

Improve your customer service

Business growth also depends on acquiring and retaining customers. This requires businesses to provide a consistently high level of customer service. Technology can help with this too. Modern Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software and Professional Services Automation (PSA) are reaching new heights, benefiting both businesses and their customers alike.

It is all about integration, these days, and the latest CRM and PSA solutions can integrate seamlessly with business communications systems to provide insights that help boost customer service levels and in turn customer retention.

Global Communication

In the 21st century, most communication is via email. Communication via e-mail is faster and cheaper than sending letters. The biggest advantage of communicating with technology is speed. The communication speed has increased. The speed at which you start your business. The speed at which things need to happen, and the speed at which customers want it.

Office 365 and Teams, allow international meetings to be held via computers or mobile devices, which improves the efficiency of meetings. With file-sharing services, you can instantly transfer files across oceans. Smartphones enable business partners to communicate anytime and anywhere. Companies with partners in different parts of the country or world can now send important updates or information immediately. Use technology to integrate communications into your business. Keep your employees in touch and use collaboration platforms so everyone is always kept up to date on business and development and you will see your performance will significantly improve too.

For more information about our IT Strategic Planning, please get in touch with us at info@rito-tech.co.za or call us on 010 213 7016 and we will gladly assist you.

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