“Align yourself with the client, because truly you are on the same team.” Jamie is the Service Manager here at MULTi IT & Telephony Solutions. He is an experienced IT Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. Skilled in technology management, Helpdesk operations, operational planning, IT service management and IT talent management. An IT emergency room.   Jamie: “What we call it is a triage process. When a ticket comes in, we’re triaging it. No different than a patient walking into an emergency room. The guy with the gaping hole in his chest is going to get seen before the person who’s like ‘hey, I have pain in my knee right now.’ You go have a seat, we’re going to get to you. You’re still important but it’s not critical that I get to you right now. This guy’s losing blood. He needs to be seen by a doctor stat. It’s a similar process.” Jamie: “Somebody calls in and says, ‘hey, my printer at my desk isn’t working, but I can print to the network printer fine.’ Okay, cool. You have a workaround, the ticket is in the queue, we’re going to get to that. Versus, ‘hey, nobody in the company has gotten email in the last nine minutes’. Okay, we’re going to go ahead and expedite that, move that to the front of the line because now you’re talking real consequences. How much money do you lose per minute being down?” Jamie: “To keep on the medical analogies, a vCIO is a general practitioner. I’m the guy that you’re going to for the last 20 years; knows you inside and out, what to do. When you go to the service desk, that really is ER. It’s a transaction. I don’t know your medical history. I don’t know anything about you. It’s an in and out transaction process. Maybe I’ll see you again. Maybe I won’t. You’re not taking that deep dive into the environment or their background.” Service desk dispatch. Jamie: “I will say that dispatch, which is the team that’s taking the tickets via email or phone call, have the toughest job on the service desk, because they’re the front-line. They’re the face and the voice for that first interaction of the ticket. Generally when you’re having IT problems, you’re not getting happy and smiling on the other end. Somebody is frustrated. They can’t do what they need to be doing right now, because of some technology malfunction. So naturally they’re maybe a little agitated.” Jamie: “What I tell them to do is get on the same side of the table as them. If they’re having problems with Comcast or the Internet’s bouncing, get on the side of the table with the client. Be like, ‘man, not that internet service provider, they’re killing us. Let me get on the phone with them. I’m going to take care of this for us right now’. Something along those lines. Align yourself with the client, because truly you are on the same team. So you should verbalize that, and not make it seem like they’re calling Walmart, whom they have no relationship with. We have that relationship.” vCIO versus Service Desk Manager Jamie: “It’s extremely different. They require different skill-sets. As a CIO, you really need to be the guy that can see the entire picture at one time, and figure out where all the pieces need to go. Versus service desk where you’re managing a puzzle with a hundred different pieces at once, and you’re just trying to find the corners and start building from there.” Jamie: “You’re also managing more of a process on the service side. Without a process, service desk would fail. Who’s triaging? What order should this be going in? Where does all this kind of fit?. CIO is challenging in different ways, because you’re going up and speaking to the C-suite, and you’re having really consequential conversations. ‘What is the future of my business this year, next year, five years from now? How much do we need to budget for next year? My budget got reduced by 40%, but I know we need new infrastructure. Where do we go from here?” Jamie: “Both are challenging, but present very different challenges. I enjoy both. I can’t say that I enjoy one more than the other.” Service desk team characteristics. Jamie: “Grit is number one. I can teach someone IT. Grit is one of those things that is ingrained in you. You have it or you don’t. The reason I say grit is because you’re going to come across a problem that just stumps you, and you’re going to say, ‘I have no idea’. You just have to keep plugging away and going. There’s help there for you. There’s resources. But you have to have that determination, intestinal fortitude, to keep moving the ball forward. So that’s the first thing I look for.” Jamie: “Number two, I want somebody that I’m comfortable having a conversation with. If I’m not comfortable having a conversation with you and we have a relationship, how’s the person on the phone going to feel?” Celebrate victories. Jamie: “There’s days where it doesn’t feel like success, where you feel like you’ve just churned, but you’ve made progress. We have all the KPIs that we use to measure how we’re doing overall as a service desk. On TVs and Dashboards, around where the entire team can see. How many tickets came in today? How many tickets were closed today?” Jamie: “I can look up and go, ‘wow, we’re really moving the needle today.’ Celebrate the small victories. We’re big on rewarding C-SAT, shout outs from clients. Just walk around; give everyone a little fist bump, “hey, you guys are killing it today.’ I measure my team’s success by my team’s happiness. If everybody out there looks dejected and like they want to be somewhere else, I’m not doing a good job managing my department.” Here at MULTi IT & Telephony Solutions, we truly are proud of all the compliments our service desk team receives. If you would like to join our world class Managed IT Services, get in touch with us online or on the details below: Johannesburg – +27(0)11 435 0450, sales@multi.co.zaCape Town – +27(0)21 879 1950, sales@multi.co.zaDurban – +27(0)31 331 0735, sales@multi.co.za Namibia – +264(0)84 000 8310, sales@multi.com.na

Everybody is talking about the cloud, but the average business owner doesn’t really understand what that means. It’s the new and exciting thing, supposed to be super easy to use and inexpensive. However, it isn’t the answer to everyone’s problems, but that can be hard to understand when it comes so neatly packaged. After all, besides the cloud, how else can I access my data everywhere? In order to understand what all of the options are, we need to go back to the basics. Let’s start with your IT environment. Depending on the size of your company, it can be incredibly complex or quite simple, but they all have similar pieces. In the past, all of these pieces had to live in your location. It was easy (or at least easier) to understand how it was all connected. You installed software using a CD on your desktop computer. Your desktop computer was not mobile and you couldn’t sign onto anyone else’s computer in the office. It connected to other computers and the internet through a wired network and wired access in your office. Your data was stored on either your own desktop computer or the physical server in your office that you connected to through the wired network. That server was backed up onto a separate hard drive, again in your office. Everything was contained in your office and you could only access it from that one location. As the internet has developed in power and speed, how we accomplish all of those same tasks has changed, purely because we are connected. We don’t need CDs to download software, you can download it from the company’s website. In fact, for most software programs now, you can’t even download the program to your computer or your server. You access it all directly from your internet browser. The software company keeps it on their servers. You also don’t need wires to connect you to the internet or your network. You don’t need your server to be located in your office. It can be in a data center halfway across the world. The same goes for your backup. Even your desktop can now be available to you on any computer because it is actually stored in the cloud. The cloud is the limit! But really, what is the cloud? When people think of “the cloud,” they often just picture their data floating somewhere. In a way, that is true, but what it doesn’t highlight is the physical infrastructure that still lives somewhere, just not in your office. Cloud computing is a network of physical servers located somewhere in the world connected to the Internet that manages your data, instead of a local server or computer. Your data, software, and even desktop can be stored somewhere other than your office and you can access it anywhere that you have internet. That’s the cloud. But what people don’t often realise is now with the power of the internet you can also access the server in your office from anywhere too with the right technology. It is essentially your office’s own private cloud. What does that mean then? The conversation simply becomes about where is the most cost effective place for me to store my data. Cloud storage is like leasing a car and an on-premise server is like purchasing a car. Depending on the number of employees, the programs your business uses, and your budget, any number of cloud or on-premise solutions could make sense. What’s best for my business? Let’s say you’re a start-up just getting your feet wet. With the power of Office365 (a cloud solution for both software and storage), you can get up and running with all the basic tools you need for business – email, file storage and sharing, and the Microsoft Suite- with minimal upfront costs and a reasonable monthly fee. You can scale quickly, adding users as needed. On the other hand, a large professional services firm requires serious horsepower because of their programs and number of employees. When it comes time to replace their infrastructure, it might be tempting to scrap it all and go to the cloud. There will be costs to make the transition to the cloud but nothing compared to the price tag on reinvesting in physical infrastructure. However, a cost analysis might show that the monthly costs of cloud storage end up being more than the cost of physical infrastructure spread out over the life of that equipment, especially if you end up using more cloud resources than you originally planned, overages can add up quickly. Again, it’s just like leasing a car versus buying one. Yes, if you buy a vehicle, you are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep but if taken well care of, the investment can save you money in the long run. But if you don’t want to make an upfront investment or you don’t want to be responsible for the upkeep, then leasing a car is the right option for you. Ultimately, every business falls somewhere in between. Some pieces of your IT environment are better off in the cloud and some are better off on-premise. What you won’t find very often is an IT provider who is comfortable handling both. They are either cloud only, selling their particular solution with no real interest in finding what is best for your business or they only support your physical infrastructure. Here at Multi IT & Telephony Solutions, we’re comfortable with all of it. We understand the pros and cons and the associated costs so you can make the decision that is best for your business now and the future. Want more from your IT provider? We know change is hard. A conversation is a great place to start. Contact us to set up a call. Get in touch with us online or on the details below: Johannesburg – +27(0)11 435 0450, sales@multi.co.zaCape Town – +27(0)21 879 1950, sales@multi.co.zaDurban – +27(0)31 331 0735, sales@multi.co.za Namibia – +264(0)84 000 8310, sales@multi.com.na

Learn how to determine the most effective ways for your employees to enhance the security of their email environment at work. What is email security, and why is it so crucial? To answer that, you must know that an overwhelming majority of company security breaches start with a phishing email. Phishing emails are just what they sound like: virtual bait “dangled” in front of your staff by cybercriminals to “catch” something they want from your company. Specifically, hackers are trying to capture your most sensitive information. As we move further into the future and as technology advances, so do hackers’ skills. This is why email security is so imperative. A cyberattack can lead to significant consequences for your business. It can cost a substantial amount of money in attempted recovery, as well as potential legal fees and other penalty charges. Not to mention company downtime, which can deplete resources. There can even be non-monetary consequences—not as expensive on paper, but equally costly. Your customers’ trust in your brand could be tarnished, and as many companies have had to learn the hard way, trust can be nearly impossible to earn back. When it comes to creating a well-rounded cybersecurity plan for your business, we know the best tips and tricks to get you started on your journey. Our expert tips to improve email security Our team at Multi IT & Telephony Solutions have years of experience in this area, so we’ve seen it all. These are our best bits of advice that you’ll want to follow sooner rather than later. Because hackers’ abilities are improving every day, the quality and strength of your business cybersecurity should be too. Expert email security tip #1: regular education As cybercriminals continue to evolve, so does the knowledge it takes to protect your company. Make security training a regular occurrence so your team’s knowledge base on this subject is never outdated. Ensure new team members also get caught up to speed if they are hired in between cybersecurity training sessions. By making cybersecurity a part of new employee onboarding, you lessen the chance that they unwittingly become a weakness in your system by not being appropriately trained in time. We have advice in another article on how to implement an effective cybersecurity training program for your team that we suggest reading as well. Expert email security tip #2: password protection Many people use obvious passwords to make logins easier on themselves. Unfortunately, this also makes logins easier for hackers who are trying to get into your accounts. If you tend to forget your passwords, you need to find a digital method for helping yourself to remember. Don’t write them down on a piece of paper where someone can easily find them. Office guests and, yes, even co-workers, can accidentally compromise your accounts—so don’t let your passwords be shared with anyone. But which digital tools can you trust? Don’t just try saving your passwords in browsers. Utilize applications that offer the right protections. For example, you can safely store passwords digitally by taking advantage of apps like LastPass. That way you won’t have to worry about remembering so many different passwords for all the different websites you use daily. And when you create your passwords, make them strong. Come up with a truly unique combination of length, letters, numbers, special characters, and other traits. While it should be obvious not to, it’s surprising how many people still think they can use their name, “123456” or the actual word “password” as their password. These are not adequate options. We want to spell this out for you so that your staff doesn’t accidentally spell out danger for the whole network. If you can’t think of one on your own, try a random password generator such as Dashlane or even passwordgenerator.net Expert email security tip #3: encrypt your emails If you want to protect your emails, we urge you to consider encrypting them as an added layer of security. There are several types of encryption, but data-centric tends to be less risky than point-to-point. If a hacker intercepts sensitive data that is encrypted, they won’t be able to read it. This significantly lowers the odds of successful attacks. Encryption keeps emails between a sender and the intended recipient private because the person trying to break in won’t have an approved email encryption key. Expert email security tip #4: multi-factor authentication Cyberattackers may find that it’s simply not worth their time trying to breach your email security when other businesses have emails that are less difficult to break into. Thus, you should know how to make use of multi-factor authentication. If they want your information, make them jump through hoops. It’s not just about making more “hoops” for hackers either though—this is quickly becoming an extremely standardised security measure that also covers lost physical equipment. For instance, if a staff member leaves a work laptop in a restaurant and someone with ill intent steals it, no one can get into it if it has all the right security measures. And laptops are only one example. We all access work emails from our personal mobile devices and tablets as well, which means we need to cover all devices. With this extra layer added for amplified security, you will be able to easily verify whether the person trying to log in was you or someone who is not authorised to have account access. This is done via a one-time password (OTP) that is automatically generated, typically a rotating six-digit code. Through this avenue, a stranger who somehow manages to get their hands on your username or password will be faced with additional hurdles that shut them out. Expert email security tip #5: delete any unused accounts Your company might have old accounts that have gone inactive due to an employee having a name change, forgetting to consolidate emails, or a departure from the company. These accounts should not sit around and collect virtual dust. The accounts that go untouched for long periods because they are forgotten about, and thus are unmonitored, can pose a weak link in your cybersecurity chain. If you’re not paying attention to an account then you’re not being careful to keep identity thieves and financial fraudsters at bay. You cannot afford to leave holes in your business security plan, so get rid of them immediately—before the cost of making amends for a particularly nasty breach compromises your company. Expert email security tip #6: keep your software up to date It is crucial to keep everything up to date—not just your knowledge base and employee training sessions, but the technology itself as well. Cybercriminals are growing their skills all the time. You need to ensure your tech is keeping up. Always update company software and hardware as soon as updates are announced by the developer, or when your advisors suggest. Old technology is a sure weakness into your private networks and precious data. Expert email security tip #7: secure your network Take a step back and look at the bigger picture when considering ways of bolstering your email security and your overall business cybersecurity strategy. Emails are just one part of a comprehensive security plan. Don’t forget your network as a whole. Higher-level awareness can improve protection in other areas of your business’s internet security and email security. After all, no one is perfect—even with proper training. By casting a wider net, you improve your chances of catching the email blunders that employees may be making. Network security is especially important with the rise of smartphones and other mobile devices. Logging into work systems from personal tech makes security an issue. Malware and keyloggers are always possible attack vectors when it comes to accessing credentials. Leaving more virtual doors open makes it even trickier to keep track and fend off unwanted “guests.” Expert email security tip #8: sender policy framework Cyberattackers sometimes strategically disguise the origin of their message in an attempt otherwise known as email spoofing. To prevent these fake emails from getting through to your inbox, anti-spam Sender Policy Framework (SPF) authenticates an email sender’s internet domain. However, be careful in setting this up, as incorrectly configured SPF records can cause your own domain to be easily spoofed. Otherwise, it can be very useful because the SPF protocol will allow the owner of a domain to specify which mail servers they typically use when sending mail. A brand sending an email will publish SPF records in their Domain Name System, or DNS. These records list precisely which IP addresses are authorized to send messages on behalf of their domains, thereby signalling anything outside of it may be suspicious. Expert email security tip #9: DomainKeys Identified Mail DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) is another email authentication method designed to detect forged sender email addresses. This protects against spoofing—a technique often used in phishing and email spamming. DKIM is mainly about the sender taking responsibility for signing their emails. This way, the receiver can know whether an email claiming it came from a particular domain was indeed authorized by the domain owner. Without features like DKIM, how can people really know who to trust? Making sure there is an authentic sign-off is a great way to stay safe in virtual spaces. Expert email security tip #10: use business-grade email providers IMAP and POP are “legacy” within Office 365, but should be disabled if possible. You should also consider a third-party or layered anti-spam solution. If one computer at the office becomes compromised by getting hacked or gets affected by malware, it’s best if you can isolate the issue rather than let it spread. If you can minimise the damage, you can of course expect an easier fix and assert more control over your devices and network. If a problem is left to infect everyone else’s system, you’re going to find yourself in a bit more of a mess. So stop it before it happens and always plan ahead when it comes to internet safety. Expert email security tip #11: domain-based message authentication, reporting, and conformance Also known as DMARC, the advantage here is that email senders and receivers alike know how to cooperate to enhance the security of email communications. The receiver would be alerted about key policies in the mail flow and get feedback to the sender about the emails that are rejected. With a bit of code, DMARC will mainly function to help filter fraudulent mail that could otherwise overflow your inbox and become a trap at your company. You will also have the opportunity to see what is going on at your business and get a real-time window into the inner workings. Thanks to helpful reporting, you’ll be among the first to know if something goes wrong—and fast. When you have all the right details and you review them carefully, you are less at risk of anything slipping past you. This tactic will be another crucial part of any company’s holistic email security strategy. Be sure your staff is complying with any regulations or protocols set for the safety of the organization. Help them—and others not even working for your company, but who do business with it—understand why this is so important. Every connection, thus every email, poses a potential risk to those who don’t know better. Expert email security tip #12: use a managed IT service To ensure all of these measures are in place, implemented effectively, done regularly, and always up to date, you may need some help. Company IT security is not a one-person job, but that of an experienced team. Experts with decades of real-world experience between them in the area of business cybersecurity will be most adept at making sure nothing is missed. It can be easy to assume you have your bases covered with internet safety, especially if you keep up with reading cybersecurity resources. But there is a lot to keep track of and you shouldn’t have to go it alone. Email security is a niche area of expertise. Having specialists to work with you and oversee essential protection steps is the assurance you’ll need to not constantly worry about a devastating breach. Most traps are easy to avoid with the right tools and professionals that a managed services provider (MSP) provides, but much harder to recover from. Take every preventative measure possible to protect your business from cybercriminals. Get in touch with us online or on the details below: Johannesburg – +27(0)11 435 0450, sales@multi.co.zaCape Town – +27(0)21 879 1950, sales@multi.co.zaDurban – +27(0)31 331 0735, sales@multi.co.za Namibia – +264(0)81 353 9702, sales@multi.com.na