Supply Chain Risks: It’s Everybody’s Business

There is an old saying that states, “Take care of your house and let others worry about theirs.” This might be valid in the pre-internet world, but with so many dependencies and relationships that have been created between partners and third-party suppliers, the “trust but verify” motto has become commonplace—or has it? Companies are only as strong as their weakest links. Creating a strong cybersecurity program internally is not enough, as the program should include all aspects of business in which data is vulnerable.

When people talk about endpoint modernization, everyone assumes that we’re referring to the elimination of hard physical phones. My response to that is a big MAYBE! If you’re telling me that you’re eliminating hardphones to enable a collaborative architecture that more easily supports a remote and mobile-first user-base, then you had me at hello. But sadly, the response I usually get is “We’re looking to cut costs.” And there, you lost me. I always suggest you recheck your math.

What role does the IT department play in your business? Does it contribute to strategic initiatives, or does it mostly provide day-to-day support for your users and systems?

Over the years, we have seen a shift from the concept of traditional IT, where a relational database was used for everything, to the public cloud. As the rate of generation and the demand for data continues to grow at an exponential rate, many businesses now face the challenge of not knowing how to cope with the rapid changes while having so much data at their disposal. Users that once dealt with Gigabytes (GBs) of data find themselves now having to learn how to work with Petabytes (PBs). This goes to show that in order for businesses to continue to excel, they need to remain proactive and evolve along with the ever-changing world of technology.

Healthcare: If any industry or vertical landed on the map more than ever this past year, it was healthcare. We’ve talked to more healthcare customers than any other vertical during this time, and it makes sense why: healthcare has touched all of us in some way or another this past year. Whether someone has been ill, needed checkups, or is now getting vaccinated, it has or will touch all of us.

Since its launch in 2010, Microsoft Azure has gained popularity and trust with customers on a global scale. Azure is a public cloud offering that provides solutions for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). However, as with any cloud provider, there are concerns around security and breach issues (i.e., how safe is my data?), as the solutions are hosted in a cloud service provider (CSP) data center.

We’ve been dialing 911 for emergencies since 1968. So 911 calling wouldn’t appear to be a hot topic among business and technology professionals today.

I can remember the moment clearly: I was in an early-morning meeting with several of my employees. Several minutes into the meeting, my mobile phone came to life with notifications and a call. Shortly after answering, there was a knock at the door. Almost instantly, I did not feel so well; I knew this couldn’t be good. As if it were rehearsed for stereo effect, I heard the words no one ever wants to hear: “I think we’ve been hacked.” My first response was, “Not possible!” Turns out, it was very possible and very much a reality. To be fully transparent, I thought my life and professional career were over in that moment; 25 years down the drain just like that! I took the cyberattack very personal.

As an Executive Director at one of the largest school districts in my state, I had officially become the next victim of ransomware.

For years, we have used MPLS and, more recently, SD-WAN to ensure a quality network experience for our office site users. I've noticed a lot of clients still keep their MPLS carrier service, but at a reduced bandwidth with SD-WAN overlays. This works great to deliver apps and services from centralized or regional network hubs.

Since the shift from the concept of traditional IT to the public cloud, there have been many new security services and cloud-native tools being implemented across all vertical industries to protect and govern the customer cloud environment. Cloud computing is evolving at an ever-increasing rate of change, but regulations and technology have not been keeping the same pace. Businesses trust the AWS cloud to secure their infrastructure so they can grow and evolve by accelerating innovation.