If you’re a business owner, there’s probably a good chance you spent time figuring out the IT needs of your business. It’s not as easy as searching online and picking the cheapest option or the company with the best reviews. The cheap option may not provide the services you need to keep your business at the top of its game, and the best-reviewed business may be too expensive or offer services that are completely unnecessary for your business.

All across the world, hackers are targeting and exploiting security weaknesses and holding data hostage. In May, the Colonial Pipeline was hit by a cyber-attack that disrupted fuel supplies along the East Coast for several days. The company - and the FBI - paid hackers $4.4 million in Bitcoin to regain control of the system.

Online shopping has become more popular than ever before. In 2020, more than 2 billion people bought products or services online. Whether they’re shopping online because it’s more convenient or they’re avoiding going to brick-and-mortar retailers during the ongoing pandemic, more people are turning to online retailers every day.

People don’t usually think about small businesses when discussing cyber security. The media covers breaches in governmental and big-business security in excess. These entities usually have lucrative targets that attract the attention of hackers but are often backed up with an extremely protective network security system that’s difficult to crack.

Data is everything to a small business in this day and age – which means if you lose access or control of your data, you lose everything.

As dramatic as that might sound, the data backs that up. According to several sources, 93% of companies, no matter how big they are, are out of business within one year if they suffer a major data disaster without having first formulated a strategy for combating it.

When you consider the investments in your business that you can make as a CEO, you probably think to yourself, "Which investments will give my company the best ROI?" With that in mind, would you think of making a significant investment in bolstering your IT department?

Many CEOs are understandably hesitant to throw a lot of money into their IT department because the ROI is more difficult to estimate.

Heat and technology don’t mix. We’re talking about things like PCs, servers and everything inside of them. A lot of manufacturers try to make sure the heat generated by hardware has a way to escape, but it’s not always enough. And what about heat from the outside? This is where problems can really get out of control.

A couple years ago, TechRepublic ran a story with the following headline: “Employees Are Almost As Dangerous To Business As Hackers And Cybercriminals.” From the perspective of the business, you might think that’s simply inaccurate.

There comes a time when every business needs to invest in a phone system: they’re buying a new phone system for their new location or they’re upgrading from an older system. Regardless of the reason, they’re ready to make the commitment.

We all want to protect our businesses. They’re a part of who we are, and it would be devastating if anything bad happened — including an unexpected cyberattack. But it happens. Businesses are attacked every single day. Some businesses are left in ruin.