One of the greatest technological challenges facing small business owners today is trying to strike the right balance between functionality and cost. As the business grows and the needs evolve, that balance is harder to maintain. Along with the basic needs of having an Internet presence, networked devices and workstations, the looming need of securing the data and environment is always there. As more functionality is added to the business, the security needs increase. Unfortunately questions about protecting the perimeter, customer data and other digital assets can get confusing answer one and most of the network vendors cater to the much larger enterprise space. Some of the most common questions for small business owners are:
- Providing Internet access to the office without putting our information at risk
- Access sensitive company/customer data ubiquitously no matter if it’s from home, mobile smartphone, the office or hotel room/coffee shop
- Offer remote access to employees to work after hours from home or the road
- Prevent viruses, worms, botnets and other malware from taking hold in the network
- Allow employees access to the Internet without allowing them to do/access anything they want and potentially put the business at risk
- What regulations and/or compliance issues apply to the business (such as HIPAA, PCI, SOX, etc)
Proper security techniques are often ignored because of the perceived cost of implementing and managing the solution. While it is true that implementing a security solution costs money, it doesn’t have to be overly expensive. Likewise, the cost of doing nothing can be more in the long run if sensitive data is lost. This can result in the loss of customer confidence, the cost of efforts to remediate the issues that led to the breach, potential legal concerns and risk of future data leakage. The good news is that even with all of the questions and potential issues, good network security solutions are available to meet the needs of the small business without adding significant complexity or changing the way people work.
Technologies like firewalls, VPNs, Intrusion Detection/Prevention and proxy servers are all common solutions to most of the questions listed above. There are many other new and emerging solutions on the market and the market continues to evolve. Trying to find the solution that is right for your business can be time consuming, confusing and frustrating. The hardware vendors are only interested in pushing as much product upon companies as possible. Many consulting companies fail to take into account what the industry trends are and how the issues around network/server security are evolving. It’s important to have a solution that not only addresses the needs of today but is ready to deal with future needs.
At DataPath Solutions, we have a passion for security concerns. From a simple unified solution to multiple discreet devices doing their job in tandem, we want to work with you to understand your needs and your challenges rather than a cookie cutter approach. Instead of inundating customers with industry keywords, strange technology and complicated designs/solutions, we work with them to explain what the suggested solution is, why we recommended it and tie every security solution back to a business requirement or need. We would welcome a chance to earn your business. Please contact us for a consultative session to discuss your security needs/concerns and how we can help address them.