Grow your business with new Office 365 apps

Microsoft never fails to announce exciting new features for their products. In an effort to improve support for small- and medium-sized businesses, they introduced a series of new apps and enhancements for Office 365 during the Inspire conference in July. Some of the most notable upgrades include:

Microsoft Connections
Email marketing campaigns are a great way to build relationships with contacts and increase sales, but they’re often difficult to manage. With Microsoft Connections, you can easily launch a campaign in minutes using pre-designed templates for newsletters, referrals, and promotions.

As you acquire more contacts, Connections allows you to segment your mailing list so you can target different customers. For instance, you can send product promotions to clients who have stayed with your business for more than six months.

After firing off your emails, performance charts track important metrics like open rates, clickthrough rates, new sign-ups, and canceled subscriptions that can be used to improve future campaigns.

Microsoft Listings
Microsoft Listings helps you seamlessly manage your online presence. Whenever you update your business profile, Listings automatically publishes those changes across your Facebook, Google, Bing, and Yelp accounts, allowing you to keep important information like business hours up to date.

What’s more, Listings includes a web dashboard where you can monitor page-views, reviews, and likes, helping you assess your company’s online reputation.

Microsoft Invoicing
Another useful addition is Microsoft Invoicing, a tool that helps you generate price estimates and invoices. When combined with enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, you can program workflows that automatically redirect invoices, pending payments, and estimates to the right accountant. This application works for credit, debit, and PayPal transactions.

Office 365 Business Center
The Office 365 Business Center brings Connections, Listings, and Invoicing all under one roof. This means information listed on one application is automatically registered onto another, saving you from inputting data multiple times.

The main hub also features a unified dashboard where you can track an email campaign’s performance, Facebook impressions, and any outstanding invoices, giving you full visibility into your accounting and marketing processes.

According to Microsoft, these powerful features will be generally available for Office 365 Business Premium subscribers in the coming months. But if you want to get early access, consider Office 365 Insider program.

Office 365 will likely have even more surprises for SMBs this year, so make sure to keep in touch with us to get the latest rundown on feature releases and Microsoft news.

Are you ready to embrace the cloud with a solution like Office 365? Give us a call, and talk with us about a cloud migration today.

Published with consideration from TechAdvisory SOURCE

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When Was Your Last Backup Test?

These days most people are familiar with what Cryptolocker and Ransomware are. Either your business has been affected, you have a friend who has a friend who’s has fallen victim or maybe heard about it on the nightly news. Ransomware is a particular type of malware advanced enough to limit users from accessing their information unless a ransom amount is paid.

Every day the number of professionals and small businesses being targeted by ransomware is increasing.

As we all know information and the ability to access it is the foundation of any business. The only way to protect this information is to execute an effective backup solution in your IT environment and make sure you’re ready for any possible threat.

In the event of a disaster your backup solution is only as good as its restoration capability. In situations where hardware fails or becomes infected, a little preparation can go a long way. A lot of businesses spend a lot of time and resources picking and investing in a backup solution but often times forget one vital step: regular testing of their backup’s restorability as part of their disaster recovery plan.

If there is a problem with a backup that hasn’t been tested, often you won’t know until it’s too late. A lot of ransomware will try to encrypt data on a network as well as that on removable drives. To make sure your business stays safe it’s important to make sure at least one copy of your backups are safe in your local environment.

Here GCInfotech we believe in an effective strategy called the “3-2-1” rule. This rule states that your business should have 3 copies of your data, stored in 2 different types of media with 1 backup kept off site. Also, ensuring all files in a backup are readable and making sure backups are intact physically all goes into testing your backups and making sure they’re able to be restored when you need them.

Ideally backups should be tested after any change is made. If a new backup is created, test it. If a new machine or server is added, test it. It can be time consuming and seemingly impossible for some organizations depending on the size of the backup. If you can’t check backups after every change, be sure you’re checking regularly.

Standard practice is to replicate a full restore at least quarterly. Logs may be checked to verify which items were included in your backup, as well as checking for errors and informational messages. By not testing applications and files you’re making the assumption that not only have you correctly selected everything that will be required to recover from a failure, and that everything backed up properly, but also that it will restore perfectly at the times when you need it most.

Privacy and security are major concerns for businesses developing a data protection strategy. Ensuring critical data is safely backed up, kept private, and readily available is essential to maintaining productivity and eliminating downtime caused by data-related interruptions or malfunctions. Implementing a data backup plan that meets your privacy and protection needs is a business priority.

Not sure where to start? Give GCInfotech a call to discuss the available solutions that would work best for your company. Together, we can make your business work smarter, faster and more efficiently.

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Ways to protect your company mobile devices

Mobile devices can’t accomplish everything that desktops and laptops can, but that doesn’t mean they’re not important to businesses. More and more employees are using smartphones and tablets to increase productivity and enhance collaboration. But before you adopt a mobile device policy, you must keep them safe from cyber criminals. Cyber criminals now have more entry points to steal your data, but there are simple ways to keep your company’s mobile devices safe.
Ensure mobile OS is up-to-date
Apple and Android’s operating system updates improve overall user experience, but their most important function is to fix security vulnerabilities. You can reduce your business’s exposure to threats by installing updates for ALL devices as soon as they become available. Some people wait for a few weeks or months to update their device’s OS. This gives hackers ample time to exploit vulnerabilities on devices that run on outdated operating systems.
Install business applications only
Downloading apps seems harmless, but lenient mobile devices policies on what should and shouldn’t be downloaded on company devices could lead to staff downloading and installing non-business-related apps from third-party stores, most of which are notorious for malicious advertising codes and other threats.
Be careful with public Wi-Fi networks
Emergency situations might compel you to use password-free Wi-Fi networks in hotels, airport, cafes, or any public place. Connecting to an open network could expose your confidential information and sensitive company data to hackers connected to the same network.

You can avoid this by providing a practical internet data plan, preferably one that includes roaming services, for remote workers. And if you really have to connect to an open Wi-Fi, don’t use the connection for transferring sensitive data.
Enable phone tracking tools
Losing a company-issued mobile device is a scenario many would rather not contemplate, but it happens. Devices can be misplaced or stolen, and enabling a useful app such as ‘Find my iPhone’ for iOS devices, ‘GPS Phone Tracker’ for Android, or any other device-tracking app in Apple’s App or Android’s Google Play stores helps users locate lost phones, or otherwise delete data in stolen devices. Downloading and setting up the app takes just a few minutes, and it will give you peace of mind knowing that even if your phone is lost or stolen, its contents will not be compromised.
Screen SMS carefully
SMS messaging may not be as effective as email phishing, but SMS phishing can also be used to trick users into clicking malicious links. Hackers send messages purporting to be from someone you know or a legitimate source that asks you to urgently send confidential data. You can either delete these messages, block unknown senders, or alert your IT department in case you encounter a possible scammer.

Mobile devices are becoming more critical to operations. And with more devices open to attack, businesses must bolster their cybersecurity efforts. Hackers will exploit every possible vulnerability, and that includes those in unsecured smartphones and tablets. Get in touch with us if you need comprehensive security solutions for your business.

To learn more about how to safeguard your business, or if you are looking for an expert to help you find the best solutions for your business talk to GCInfotech about a free technology assessment

Published with consideration from TechAdvisory.org SOURCE

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Comparing Office 2016 and Office 365

Pairing your business with the right productivity-enhancing tool is a challenge. Fortunately, you can choose between two popular options: Office 2016 and Office 365. But which is right for you? Here are three main differences that may help you decide.

How they’re paid for
Office 2016 is a stand-alone suite, and regardless of the quantity purchased, is described by Microsoft as a “one-time purchase.” You pay a single, upfront cost, meaning the entire purchase price must be paid before receiving the license to legally run the software for life.

By contrast, Office 365 is a subscription service requiring monthly or annual payments. Office 365 allows users to run applications only if payments are made. If you stop, you will have 30 days to continue operating after the previous payment’s due date before the license expires.

How they’re serviced
Another aspect to consider is the service and support offerings. Microsoft provides monthly security updates for Office 2016 applications, and these updates fix non-security bugs. However, you don’t get upgrades for improved features and functionality. If you wish to run the latest edition, you’ll have to pay another upfront fee.

Office 365 users, on the other hand, get the same security patches as Office 2016 and also additional feature and functionality upgrades twice a year.

How they sync with the cloud
Microsoft announced a major change this April: As of October 13, 2020, Office 2016 applications acquired through an upfront purchase are required to be in the “Mainstream” support period (the first five years of the decade-long commitment) to obtain cloud connectivity. Office 365 subscriptions won’t experience this problem.

In order to achieve measurable results and enjoy business growth, it’s imperative that your business is working with the right Office solution. Give us a call and let our team of experts assess your needs and determine the better option.

To learn more about how to safeguard your business, or if you are looking for an expert to help you find the best solutions for your business talk to GCInfotech about a free technology assessment

Published with consideration from TechAdvisory.org SOURCE

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Malware targeting MacOS steals bank logins

Although ransomware has stolen the limelight recently, there’s another type of cyberattack targeting your bank account. Thanks to some horrifying ingenuity, being infected by OSX.Dok can result in victims directly handing their bank account information to hackers. Take a minute to find out how it works so you can avoid making a costly mistake.
OSX.Dok isn’t new, but it has been improved

Originally, this Mac-based malware looked very different. When OSX.Dok was first reported several months ago, it could infect only older versions of the Apple operating system. Besides being relegated to OS X, it didn’t do much more than simply spy on the internet history of its victims. More recently, however, OSX.Dok was updated to target the newer macOS and to steal banking information.
How does it work?

Like so many malware programs today, this particular threat is distributed via phishing emails. Because the end goal is to acquire private financial information, these emails pretend to have pressing information about taxes or bank statements stored in attachments that actually contain malicious software.

Once any of these attachments are opened, OSX.Dok secretly broadcasts information about the computer and its location to the malware’s authors. Based on that information, hackers can redirect victims that visit banking websites to copycat URLs tailored to their language and location. Almost everything on the copycat sites looks exactly the same, but when you submit your user ID and password, they go straight to hackers.

Worst of all, the latest version of this malware seems to be incredibly advanced. It actively changes the way it hides itself and even modifies system settings to keep the computer from checking for operating system and security updates.
What can I do?

Security experts are still working on a way to combat OSX.Dok, but believe that it will remain a problem for some time to come. For now there are a few things you can do:

Never open attachments from people you don’t know personally, and even then be wary of anything you weren’t expecting.

Pay attention to little details. For example, copyright dates at the bottom of fake banking sites only went to 2013.

Look closely at the lock to the left of URLs in your address bar. Fake websites may have security certificates with names slightly different from those of the sites they mimic.

The best way to stay ahead of threats like OSX.Dok is by partnering with a capable IT provider. That way you can be sure that you have all the latest software and hardware to keep you safe. Even if something managed to slip through, regular audits are sure to find infections sooner than an overburdened in-house team would. Call us today to find out how we can protect you!

To learn more about how to safeguard your business, or if you are looking for an expert to help you find the best solutions for your business talk to GCInfotech about a free technology assessment

Published with consideration from TechAdvisory.org SOURCE

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