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When it comes to IT services, knowledge is power. The single most valuable thing we can pass along to our clients is our expertise.
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Insider 94 Navigator 2023
Resources & Advisors for Buying & Selling a Business
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Case Study – Healthcare – Skyway Behavioral Health
Start Up Requiring Robust Infrastructure – From Planning to Implementation
The 7 Irresistible Qualities of Cloud ERP
Learn why ERP tools are an critical component for many businesses.
Why a Business Continuity Plan is Essential
Learn why your company needs a business continuity plan.
Ransomware 101
If you’re looking for ways to stop ransomware dead in its tracks, the experts at CCS Technology are here to help.
How managed services make the difference
Learn more about the benefits of partnering with a managed services provider.
Cloud Services and the SMB Revolution
Learn more about how Cloud Services from CCS make your life easier.
Office 365 Migration Made Easy
Migrating over to Office 365 has never been easier with CCS Technology.
The Advantages of Working with I.T. Pros
Learn how working with a seasoned technology pro makes your work easier.
Closing Common Cybersecurity Holes
Learn several critical cybersecurity tips and tricks any SMB can use.
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CCS Technologies company brochure
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Summer Storms Shouldn’t Take Down Your Servers
/in Blog, Business Continuity /by Chris HigginsSummer means power outages. That can mean a data center outage; but it shouldn’t. All businesses should have appropriate disaster recovery plans to keep them functioning through power outages and other incidents that take down systems.
A disaster recovery plan includes the steps needed to bring information systems back online, but it isn’t just a copy of the daily runbook. The plan needs to document:
Once the recovery plan is developed, it needs to be tested to ensure that it works. It’s surprising how easy it is to leave important systems and important steps out of the plan! Only testing can provide the reassurance that the plan will be effective. Tests can be as simple as a tabletop read-through, but full-scale disaster simulations that execute the documented processes are the most robust way to test a disaster recovery plan.
Finally, the plan needs to be kept up to date to reflect changes in IT resources and business processes. It’s a good idea to update the plan as part of your change management process whenever a new system or device is deployed in production. Annual reviews, coordinated with an annual test, are also effective.
For more guidance on developing an effective disaster recovery strategy, contact CCS Technology Group.
Additional Disaster Recovery Resources
5 Disaster Recovery Disasters to Avoid
Make Sure Your Disaster Recovery Plan Isn’t Just Words on Paper
Craft An Effective Disaster Recovery Plan
Searching the Dark Web Should be Part of Your Information Security Strategy
/in Blog, Security /by Chris HigginsPeering into dark corners can be scary, especially when it’s the dark corners of the web. If you’re concerned about whether company data has been exposed on the dark web, you have to go looking for it, but you need to do it carefully. There won’t be blinking signs lighting the way to your stolen info, and if you aren’t careful, you can even draw unwanted attention. Nevertheless, there’s more risk in ignoring the shadows than in checking to see what they’re hiding. Here are some things to keep in mind:
Checking the dark web lets you know if you’ve been victimized
Every business is vulnerable to attack, but it isn’t always obvious that an attack was successful. Because hackers often post stolen data on the dark web, finding it there confirms that you’ve been attacked and lets you know what sensitive data was taken. You can then focus your security efforts to change those stolen passwords and increase security where you were vulnerable. While some of that new security is reactive, knowing what’s on the dark web can identify new threats and let you be proactive in adding security measures, too.
It isn’t easy to find your data
There’s all kinds of stolen data available on the dark web, but it isn’t easy to access or to identify where it came from. In addition, there may be data about your business on the dark web that wasn’t stolen but can still make you more vulnerable to attack. Some data on the dark web may even be completely innocuous. You can easily waste a lot of time trying to find data and then figure out whether what you found is significant.
You can make yourself more vulnerable when you explore the dark web
The queries you do when you search the dark web can leave a trail the bad guys can analyze to learn more about your IT resources. It’s important to be smart about exploring the dark web to make sure you learn more than you reveal.
What are the kinds of things you should look for on the dark web? You’ll want to search for data that reveals the inner workings of your business, plus sensitive information about customers. This includes data about your executives, including their personal information and information about their activity outside of work. Customer data, including personal data and account information, is also online. In addition to data about people, there may be data about systems, including helpful hints on how to set up fraudulent accounts or bypass security measures.
You may want to look for more than lists including name, address, account number; there’s code on the dark web, so it’s worth looking for proprietary source code along with other intellectual property.
Protect Your Business With CCS Technology Group
Protecting your business requires knowing what data has made its way onto the dark web. CCS Technology Group’s dark web scan provides a safe way to peer into dangerous places on the web and gather the insights you need to protect yourself from further damage. Contact us to learn more about why exploring the dark web should be part of your cybersecurity strategy.
Additional Dark Web Resources
Is the Dark Web All Bad?
Discover the Dangers of the Dark Web
What is the Dark Web and Why Should We Care?
Decision Maker’s Guide to Vetting and Selecting an ERP Solution
/in Blog, ERP Software /by Chris HigginsFollowing our articles discussing the challenges that growing businesses face when using desktop accounting software when they should be embracing ERP, we would today like to explore a few tips to make the selection and decision process easier.
Catch up with our accounting to ERP series by reading our latest posts: The Hassles of Using Desktop Software in a Socially Distanced Business, Never Let a QuickBooks File Size Hold You Back: Grow with Confidence in the Cloud, and Are QuickBooks Workarounds Putting Your Business at Risk?
It Starts with Getting Users on Board
Getting from accounting software to ERP is rarely an easy task. Your people are used to a specific operating environment. The workarounds that we mentioned in our last blog have become a way of life. Your employees, who may be resistant to change, will say that the hiccups and hassles are just ‘quirks’.
However, this is a challenge you can overcome. Getting users on board starts with talking to them about their opinions and thoughts on how to better the current processes. Find out what the pain points are from each department that uses the current accounting software, evaluate which software and users would be brought into a larger ERP solution, and ask how you can help.
This will help you to not only drive the point home that there are better solutions out there, but will also inform your decision.
Use the Pain Points as a Guideline
With so many solutions available to you, the number of options available to you may seem overwhelming. This is even harder for companies who haven’t gone about a move from single-focused products to comprehensive solutions. It may feel like every product is better, but few are perfect.
Some solutions are better tailored to your processes than others, some have a flatter learning curve, and others deliver more customization and configuration. With user critiques in mind, you have a reasonably nebulous picture of your needs, and can generally piece together a dozen options.
Take Advice
ERP is a big market and in turn has spawned its own cottage industry of analysts and review sites whose goal is to help you understand your move. These companies are built on their word, and take steps to minimize bias, vet reviews, and take their own approach to evaluating solutions.
In jour journey from accounting software to ERP, you’re going to want to take the advice of the analyst reports and reviews to understand metrics for evaluation, reasons behind the decision, and recommendations from those who are in the know.
Analyst Reports
In the same manner that software vendors compete for customers, analyst firms need to provide value for those who pay to commission or reproduce the report. Often, this means that each analyst firm will take a unique approach to the way they look at software using clearly defined metrics to create an apples to apples comparison. Additionally, these reports often discuss broader market trends that can be used to understand which platform fits into their criteria.
Here are just a couple examples:
User Reviews
Though your processes may be unique in total, it’s likely that each process has been tackled by a system before. With thousands of companies having used each of the solutions you’re looking at, it shouldn’t be hard to see if a solution has been configured to the way you work. This is where user reviews come in.
User reviews are vetted for accuracy and honesty, often discussing the company’s journey to the solution and aftereffects of installing. Here are just a few places to look:
Bonus: Analysis Based on User Sentiment
One analyst firm went further, consolidating user reviews to create an emotional footprint, exploring how well a company delivers on user expectation. The Info-Tech Enterprise Resource Planning Emotional Footprint Report provides a comprehensive evaluation of popular products in the Enterprise Resource Planning market. This buyer’s guide is designed to help prospective purchasers make better decisions by leveraging the experiences of real users. Learn more about this report and download it here.
Test the Solution
Given that most ERPs do most basic business processes equally well, the important functionality differentiators are at the fringes – those functions and needs that pertain to your industry and your specific business. But the best way to see what this means is to get in the weeds.
Separate out and review the systems that have a solution for your industry. There are a number of software selection services and websites available that can help you whittle your list of candidate systems down from hundreds to a manageable handful. Your goal at this stage is to identify your “short list” of no more than 3 to 5 candidate systems that fit your needs. You should be able to do that in your review of the systems targeted at your industry.
After cutting down your list, begin to explore product demos. Discuss with your vendor and potential partner the things you want to see in a demo including the most important functions so that anyone who might use a product can see it in real time. You’re in control here, so ensure that before the demonstrator leaves, they show you everything you need to see.
Seek out a Partner
If you’ve made it this far, there’s one more decision to make—who’s going to help you get up and running. Though many ERP vendors offer internal implementation teams, these are rarely the top-tier partners for your business.
The implementation partner industry is built on personalization, local service, and customer focus. As they have dedicated teams to implement and support customers, these partners often make it easier to implement, configure, and tailor your solution than the internal vendor resources. For example, companies like Acumatica rely exclusively on a partner network to do this work, focusing the internal teams on innovation and giving you the focus that you can only get from a local partner.
The Right Partner Helps You Go Further: Just Call CCS
When companies move from accounting software to ERP, they are making a big decision that will impact the next decade of operations. The right partner can build, configure, and deliver the solution you need now and in the future, and if you’re looking for a local partner with the skills and expertise to make your ERP journey a reality, look no further than CCS Technology.
We were founded on the principle that technology should make it easier to run your business, and have spent our time in this industry ensuring our clients realize this.
We invite you to learn more about your journey from entry level to the cloud by reading Seven Signs You Need ERP Software, 5 Benefits of ERP for Accounting and Financial Management, and How to Improve Efficiency with a New ERP Solution. Read to learn even more? Contact us for a free consultation.