Indigo Tech Services

Out in the world we run into a common, frustrating occurrence.

I call it the "just some guy" phenomenon. And it means that your network and data are being handled by someone's nephew or cousin or someone who isn't up to the challenge of the modern threat landscape.

Something like 70-80% of small businesses work with an MSP or IT company and these incumbents range in quality all over the place. As I have been meeting with and chatting up more and more potential customers I keep running into places with just some guy as their provider.

And I have started sending out the following list of 10 questions for your IT person/company. These are some baseline things EVERY IT provider should be putting forth to protect your network.

1 - Do you have Anti-virus and Endpoint Detection and Response software on all computers? This is a layer of cybersecurity protection to help secure computers and servers from nasty infections.

2 - Do you ensure there are no computers older than 5 years and no obsolete versions of windows? Old equipment kills productivity, lowers morale and is more vulnerable to hacking and malware.

3 - Do you restrict admin access on all employees? This is the biggest struggle to sell people on but preventing admin access can minimize the damage that any rogue employee or infected computer can do to the rest of the network.

4 - Are your phone/data/IoTs networks segmented? This enhances performance and minimizes attack surface area for bad actors.

5 - Do you have 2 factor setup on your email, remote access and VPN accounts? This simple change could have prevented that big pipeline hack from a few years ago.

6 - Are you offering email security services and backing up email? Most people don't think about it but your email is not backed up by default and accidental deletions can lead to major data loss.

7 - Do you have onsite and offsite backups for your data that are tested regularly? Onsite backups are vital for quick restores. Offsite backups are insurance in the event of a fire/flood/theft. Testing is important because when your server goes down minutes count towards getting it back up and running.

8 - Do you have a business class firewall with active security services? It's amazing how many larger companies have an 80 dollar off the shelf router instead of a business class firewall inspecting and protecting network traffic coming in and out of the network. That is like using a bike lock instead of a bank vault.

9 - Do you have a strong password policy? That means no default passwords, no repeats, no sharing and NO 'Password123' anywhere.

10 - Do you regularly remove old and obsolete equipment and tidy up the server/network closet. Any IT provider worth their salt will at least push you to keep things neat and tidy to avoid clutter and junk from piling up.

If your IT provider can't or won't make these things happen on your network Indigo absolutely will!

One thing that's frustrating as a sole proprietor is reaching out to vendors and other service providers and hearing nothing but crickets.

I get it. I'm a little fish, right now. My business needs are modest and my eye is always on the bottom line. I don't have piles of cash to spend quite yet.

Conventional wisdom in the MSP space is that smaller clients can't or won't pay as much. And they're not profitable and not worth pursuing because it's not worth the effort. Supporting 3 companies with 3 employees each is more work than a single 9 person company after all.

From a purely financial position this makes sense. But there's more to business than just monthly expenses and revenue.

I've seen companies grow from 40 people to over a hundred. And shrink from 20 down to 2. The ebbs and flows of macroeconomics affect small businesses more and more quickly than the big fish companies in the world.

Now I also firmly believe that there are many obstacles to growth for small businesses. For some it's cash flow, for some it's competition. For me right now it's marketing and I'm having a heck of a time just getting a company to answer a call or email.

For most small businesses IT support is a bottleneck between them and their full potential.

I see it all the time. Computers so old they could be in middle school, network equipment that's as much dust as it is metal and plastic, and costly and ineffective software solutions.

All these things kill productivity and that means wasting money and time. It also shows employees that their bosses don't care enough about them to get a new computer. That can also kill productivity.

The solution is simple enough, hire a professional company with decades of experience who knows a little about both technology and psychology and you have a recipe for success. Indigo is that company.

And we serve the big and the little fish alike. Reach out today and we'll see if we can get you off the hook of your network issues.

Indigo Tech Services IT services by people, for people

You may have heard that the free version of Microsoft Teams is going away. If you're worried about it here's some info to put your mind at ease.

1) - If you're paying for office software (which most businesses are) then teams is included in the subscription. No action needed.

2) - If you're not paying for office software subscriptions there are alternatives to teams available. Slack is good for chatting/intra office communication. Zoom and Google Meet are good for video conferencing.

3) - The free version of teams was extremely feature limited and the full version is much better anyway.

If you do need to purchase here's a quick and dirty breakdown of pricing.

Teams only - $4 per person per month
365 Basic , includes full teams and web versions of office apps - $6 per person per month
365 Standard, includes full teams and desktop versions of office apps - $12.50 per month

Hopefully this answers some questions you may have had. Understanding and tailoring what office version you need to your business can be tricky and it's easy to overpay for licenses you don't need.

We're happy to answer any questions or review your current license structure to make sure your IT dollars go as far as possible.

https://fortune.com/2023/02/02/bosses-monitoring-workers-productivity-paranoia-backfiring/

This is why we don't spy on our employees. And also don't ask your IT person/company to do it for you!

Bosses spying on workers are breeding paranoia that makes them worse at their jobs and more likely to quit It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.