Flying Without a Net: Companies Without Computer Departments Face Pain, Surprises : Insurance News Onlypunjab.com- Insurance News

Flying Without a Net: Companies Without Computer Departments Face Pain, Surprises
Publish Date : 6/26/2006 10:35:00 AM Source : Insurance News Onlypunjab.com

Mid-size and smaller companies without departments devoted to information technology (IT) or without the proper skills and procedures can face serious security breaches, loss of data, costly downtime and other risks. Consider these two "live" examples:
• A global textile company with offices in the New York metro area suffered for four days with a supplier that couldn’t fix a glitch in the network. About 70 people were left idle.

• A small retailer was attacked by a Trojan horse, known as the "graypigeon backdoor," that knocked out standard virus protection software, and threatened to bounce confidential information to banks in Brazil. The most likely source – e-mail.

Such problems are all too common, and they pose special challenges for companies or locations that have fewer than about 120 people. "Beyond that number, companies generally hire a full-time IT professional to manage the function," notes Bill Rooney, president of BDE Computer Services www.bdecomputer.com of Clifton, N.J., now in its tenth year serving the New York metropolitan area.

Small businesses rule, in numbers, if not in tech savvy. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 98.4 percent of all firms in New Jersey have less than 500 employees. In New York, it’s 99 percent.

About 70 percent of these companies have fewer than 100 people and many of them are vulnerable, Rooney says. "Keeping up with technology is no longer an option for small businesses, it’s a necessity. Aside from new hardware, if a business doesn’t update network security and software on a regular basis, they’re going to get bit. It’s just a matter of time."

According to a market research report by IDC, "Corporate concerns with endpoint security, regulatory compliance, spyware, spam, worms, viruses, digital identities, mobility and complexity will help to drive the security software market to achieve almost $6 billion in revenue in 2009."

In 2004, more than 10,000 new viruses and their variants were identified, causing billions of dollars worth of damage. Despite the tide of security threats, the importance of technology and e-commerce continues to grow with burgeoning sales of PCs. And that contributes to growth in business productivity. Nationwide, business productivity jumped 3.9 percent in the first quarter of 2006, compared with 2.5 percent a year earlier, according to statistics released by the U.S. Department of Labor in June.

While taking advantage of digital technology, many small- and mid-sized companies, concerned about service costs, often don’t recognize their vulnerability until it’s too late. A small problem can quietly grow until it cripples a system, if not an entire network.

"That’s not just failing to plan, but planning to fail," Rooney says. "The cost of downtime, lost productivity and customer satisfaction, all become very real when a system goes down. Malware [disruptive software can even threaten a business and put its reputation on the line. The sad part is, in many cases, those kinds of problems are completely avoidable."

In a report issued in June, Microsoft found that of 207 million consumer and small business PCs scanned during a 15-month period, 5.7 million were infected with malicious software, and more than 60 percent of those had at least one backdoor Trojan.

Avoiding the Bite

The cost of contract services may not be as high as some office managers might imagine, all things considered. Rooney notes that a single in-house technician might cost between $65,000 to more than $100,000 a year, depending on location and experience. He points out that an annual service contract can keep maintenance costs down while boosting efficiencies -- and experience is a part of the reason. "We see more viruses and network problems in a month than an in-house guy would see in a year," Rooney says.

In an annual contract, among other things, a technician visits the premises at least once a month to ensure that all virus protection, computer systems and backups are running smoothly, and to install new software and upgrades, and new hardware when required.
"Just by being there, we learn about the business and can often make recommendations that can make a company more efficient and profitable," Rooney says.

Among recent projects:

• A growing public accounting firm wanted its CPAs to spend less time on tedious tasks and more time at client offices to be more competitive. BDE developed a secure system so CPAs can enter information into their laptops from source documents at client locations, and store them securely on main office computers. None of the client information remains on the laptops.

• The holding company for more than 20 Foot Locker stores on the East Coast wanted to restrict employee access to the Internet. The security system BDE implemented is boosting productivity while cutting exposure to liability.

• A major pet hospital wanted a better way to store X-rays and other images. BDE created a virtual "paperless office" that includes a digital mass storage system that reduces handling, improves file sharing and access time between locations, and minimizes file space.

And what about turnaround? Contract customers, of course, get first priority. "We always have technicians on the road, so we can usually have someone there usually in about an hour, and often have it fixed before someone else could even get there," Rooney says.

For the textile company mentioned at the beginning of this story, BDE identified the problem and worked almost around the clock to get the network up and running. "What couldn’t be done in four days, we did in a day and a half. And we recovered 100 percent of their data," Rooney says.

BDE Computer Services, formed in 1996, is a comprehensive technology service provider, dedicated to meeting and exceeding the technology needs of its business clients. It supplies a broad range of equipment and offers consulting services spanning hardware, software, networking, Internet and security/firewall services.

Note to editors:
Article references and resource links are available.
BDE Computer Services can provide timely and articulate comment on a range of IT issues impacting small- and mid-sized businesses.
Contact: John Giotta, BDE Computer Services 973-772-8507.

Onlypunjab.com

The Best Benefit in The Travel Insurance Industry Just Got Better Publish Date : 11/5/2007 7:25:00 AM
TravelSafe Insurance upgrades it's industry-first "Cancel For Any Reason" travel insurance benefit to cover up to 100% of travelers' non-refundable trip cost.

SASid and Markel Insurance Company Introduce Short Term Medical Health Insurance for Individuals and Families Publish Date : 11/5/2007 7:23:00 AM
SASid, Inc. and Markel Insurance Company announced today that they have joined together to offer short term health plans for individuals and families.

PrintsMadeEasy.com Announces Plans for New Line of Real Estate Business Cards Publish Date : 11/3/2007 6:26:00 AM
PrintsMadeEasy.com, the global leader in online printing solutions, today announced plans to release a new series of templates and designs for real estate business cards in 2008.

Sompo Japan Insurance Company of America Announces Selection of Millbrook and Oracle® Business Intelligence Solution Publish Date : 11/2/2007 7:16:00 AM
Millbrook Incorporated is pleased to announce that Sompo Japan Insurance Company of America has selected a solution based on...

Life Insurance Opportunities in Qualified Plans to be Focus of Nineteenth Annual Henry A. Deppe Lecture Publish Date : 11/1/2007 7:07:00 AM
Five financial experts will participate in Life Insurance Opportunities in Qualified Plans as part of The American College's nineteenth annual Henry A.

Lighthouse1 Announces CDH Event of the Year Publish Date : 11/1/2007 7:07:00 AM
Lighthouse1, the industry leading provider of consumer driven healthcare administration solutions, announced that Revolution '08, the first Lighthouse1 OnDemand™....

Partners Advantage Insurance Services, Inc. Merges with Maxx Financial Partners, LLC Publish Date : 11/1/2007 7:07:00 AM
Partners Advantage Insurance Services, Inc., and MAXX Financial Partners, LLC, announced today the completion of their merger, creating one of the ...

Website Exposes Dirty Little Secret of Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) Publish Date : 11/1/2007 7:07:00 AM
Go.Toby.com, the popular real estate news and information website for Palm Coast, Flagler County, and Northeast Florida posts an article revealing ...

Silanis Sets the Record Straight on Electronic Contracting Myths Publish Date : 11/1/2007 7:07:00 AM
Leading electronic signature provider Silanis Technology has posted a recording of its recent Webcast, "Electronic Contracting - Dispelling the...

Employers Tackling Health Care Challenges with 21st Century Benefit Design Publish Date : 11/1/2007 7:07:00 AM
A new approach to health care in the 21st century should address the most acute challenges of our time and chart a new course through better use of data, ...

Total Results : 3507
More News (Opens in New Window) : [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 Next Page

Canada News

Gadget News

Infotech News

Europe News

Health News

Middle East

Sports News

Advertising News

America News

Application News

Asia Pacific

Software News