It can be tempting to get by with a makeshift IT system. Third-party professionals will charge you for IT services, and if you’re just backing up to a couple of hard drives, why not let the savvy computer guy handle it? Then your whole office gets hit with a virus and the computer servers crash.

IT support is a lot like health insurance. It seems like you’re paying for nothing until disaster strikes. And in the long run, you end up using it a lot more than you think. Here are 5 surefire signs you need to put aside the pride and invest in professional Bay Area IT support:

1) Your IT Support Guy Already Works In The Office

Lots of small businesses handle IT support “in-house” by having their most computer savvy employee help them with computer issues. The problem is, there’s a difference between general knowledge of computers, and the ability to handle complex IT issues that relate to data security and cloud storage. If your resident computer guy seems over his head, he probably is. Don’t make the problem worse with a trial and error approach, contact an IT services provider to see about regular IT support.

2) You’re Paying For Advice (Not Help)

Many IT consultants make good money by giving self-serving advice. They will answer the phone, listen to your problems, and give you a sage-sounding solution to “try out”. And if that fails, then you have to call them back and get some more advice. The problem with this approach is that there is no understanding of the underlying condition that is causing recurring problems. A legitimate IT services provider can help you devise a system that prevents you from having to ask for advice…or solve the problem yourself.

3) You Keep Getting Viruses

This one is pretty self-explanatory. If you keep getting computer viruses or system malfunctions, it is probably time to call for professional IT support. The money you spend on a services provider will be nothing compared to the time and lost productivity of having your computers go down. Especially if important data is being lost in the process, or confidential client information is breached (opening you up to legal liability).

4) You’ve Maxed Out Your Data Storage Capacity

If your current data storage system is about to experience a Catch 22, you should seek out a Bay Area IT services provider to guide you through this critical transition. Potentially disastrous problems could include anything from an issue with filing nomenclature (computer filing applications may not recognize Patient 10,000 as a logical extension of Patient 9999) or a lack of data capacity that requires you to juggle important files between multiple hard drives. However you choose to solve an impending data storage problem, you will be better off with an Office IT specialist there to advise you.

5) You Don’t Know What Things Are

There is now a trend for small business owners (even from older generations) to employ the most advanced technology possible. They want to have a live Skype button on their website instead of a phone number. They want to share files via DropBox instead of emailing them. They want Blu-ray enabled PowerPoint presentations. And on and on.

Whatever the trend, many business owners find themselves regularly searching for advice on how to integrate new software or technology on the fly. Who wants that hassle? Investing in professional IT support means you will never have to worry about keeping your business up to date with the latest trends. Your IT services provider will be there to handle it all for you.

If you are interested in learning more about our Bay Area IT support services, Contact Us today to schedule a free on-site assessment!

Common Passwords, Common Problems

You lead a busy life, and it’s tricky enough having to remember all of your daily tasks and errands, let alone a new password for each and every account that you have.

So when it comes time to create passwords, you might choose something easy to remember, maybe a simple phrase or series of numbers… It seems obvious, right?

But you wouldn’t leave the doors unlocked to your house right before Christmas, especially with all the presents under the tree…

And likewise, you can’t leave your accounts unprotected by choosing easily-guessed, vulnerable passwords.

With Strong Passwords, You’ve Got 99 Problems… But a Breach Ain’t One

Think about the needle in a haystack, then picture it in a field of haystacks, surrounded by dozens of farms, all full of haystacks. When starting from scratch, cybercriminals have to look for an exact password match without knowing exactly which rules were used to create the passwords.

Thankfully most people have moved past using “P@$$w0rD” but there are a few general rules of thumb when it comes to creating a strong password:

Avoid “Common” Passwords

• For example: “Letmein” or “123456”

But think of your daily routine at work: flooded with deadlines, pulled in an endless number of directions and frazzled when your laptop starts acting up 5 minutes after your computer support technician has gone home. To top it all off, you urgently need access to the account which you use once every six months. And as luck would have it- that same account has conveniently locked you out and you have no idea what the password is.

Once you finally get logged back in, you may be thinking that you never want to deal with being locked out ever again. So of course you’re going to choose the easiest password to remember. After all, it’s just an account you use occasionally, it won’t matter, right? Come to think of it,“P@$$w0rd” is looking like a pretty solid password option. Easy, but not “obvious” right?

So what are a few examples of the weakest passwords of 2014? According to the annual study conducted by SplashData, the Top 25 Worst Passwords of 2013 were:

It’s easy to make password mistakes, especially when they involve seemingly “small” choices. The important decision comes with knowing how to determine which “small” choices can have a surprisingly “big” effect on both you and your business.

As our team will tell you, spend enough time with computer help desk support and you’re bound to see at least a few of the weak passwords on this list. You’d surprised how many “common mistakes” are easily and understandably made when users are struggling without proper tech support for their computers and simply fighting to survive a stressful day.

You’re Not Alone

That’s exactly why managed IT services providers such as Bay Computing are here to help. Having your IT service team a phone call away means that those pesky troubleshooting issues can be taken care of how you need it, when you need it- no matter who is in your office.

How much simpler would it be to have an expert ready on the phone for those moments when IT problems have you ready to throw up your hands? Don’t give up and switch all of those troublesome passwords to “abc123” just yet.

With Bay Computing’s help, your dedicated team is on-call to help guide you through the whole process. Rest easy knowing you are making the right IT decisions for your organization while making the decision to make own your life easier.

Coming Soon: Windows Server 2003 End of Support Date

It is almost time for Windows Server 2003 to shuffle off to that big network in the sky. The official End of Support date (EOS) for the operating system is July 14, 2015, after which it will no longer be actively supported by Microsoft. Everyone working in Bay Area IT services is currently scrambling to meet the demand caused by this changeover.

Is It a Big Deal?

Very much so. It’s vital that software is regularly monitored against emerging security threats, especially on an enterprise level where the stakes are so high. If your systems are not up-to-date, with the latest patches to repair the most recent exploits, then your entire network is vulnerable to hackers.

In 2013, Microsoft issued 37 critical updates for Windows Server 2003. That’s roughly one every ten days. After July 14, you’re on your own.Your “how to” blog post should teach the reader how to do something by breaking it down into a series of steps.

Begin your blog post by explaining what problem you are going to solve through your explanation and be sure to include any relevant keywords. Add in a personal story to establish your credibility on this topic. And make sure to end your blog post with a summary of what your reader will gain by following your lead.

Need some inspiration? Check out these “How-To” examples from the HubSpot blog:

• How to Write a Blog Post: A Simple Formula to Follow
• How to Do Keyword Research: A Beginner’s Guide
• How to Write an Effective Meta Description (Yes, They Still Matter)

BODY:

Now deliver what you promised in the first section. This is the longest part of the post, so make it easy to read. Use short paragraphs, bullet lists, and bold headings to set different sections apart. 

Some common section headers include:

Step 1: Getting Started

Step 2: Do Your Background Research on…

Step 3: First Steps for…

Step 4: Analyze and Repeat

Step 5: Wrapping Up

You can use bulleted lists, numbered list, or multiple headings. Include as many steps, numbers, or bullets that will allow you to discuss your topic thoroughly.

Here are some pointers to make the best possible body of your blog:

• Include visuals
• Include short explanatory phrases in your headers
• At the end, transition into your conclusion

CONCLUSION:

Now it’s time to say goodbye and wrap up your post. Remind your readers of your key takeaway, reiterate what your readers need to do to get the desired result, and ask a question about how they see the topic to encourage comments and conversation. Don’t forget to add a Call-to-Action to turn your blog post into a marketing machine!

Congratulations! What a lovely how-to post you’ve created. 

Very much so. It’s vital that software is regularly monitored against emerging security threats, especially on an enterprise level where the stakes are so high. If your systems are not up-to-date, with the latest patches to repair the most recent exploits, then your entire network is vulnerable to hackers.In 2013, Microsoft issued 37 critical updates for Windows Server 2003. That’s roughly one every ten days. After July 14, you’re on your own.

How to Prepare for Windows Server 2003 End of Support

It is almost time for Windows Server 2003 to shuffle off to that big network in the sky. The official End of Support date (EOS) for the operating system is July 14, 2015, after which point businesses will no longer be actively supported by Microsoft.

With the deadline rapidly approaching, businesses throughout San Francisco and the Bay Area are currently scrambling to find technical help as they look to update and transition their systems. 

As a result, those of us working in Bay Area IT services have been hard at work to meet the demand caused by this changover as we work help improve our clients’ systems and properly educate our users as they take action. 

Is It a Big Deal?

Very much so. It’s vital that software is regularly monitored against emerging security threats, especially on an enterprise level where the stakes are so high. If your systems are not up-to-date, with the latest patches to repair the most recent exploits, then your entire network is vulnerable to hackers.

In 2013, Microsoft issued 37 critical updates for Windows Server 2003. That’s roughly one every ten days. After July 14, you’re on your own.

The Cost of Doing Nothing

Well, maybe not entirely on your own. Around 20% of users are expected to miss deadline, with many of them citing the expense and complexity of migration as a contributing factor.

It is absolutely true that migration can be difficult and costly, especially if it involves making changes to other systems. Migration is daunting, but the cost of not migrating should cause you sleepless nights. The biggest expense of all will arise if your computer network services are breached by hackers because you’re running on vulnerable systems.

In order to keep Windows Server 2003 running securely after EOS, you’ll need to invest heavily in your in-house network security. If you need any additional technical support, you’ll have to hire outside contractors. And if you purchase any new equipment or new software, you may find that it’s incompatible.

The cost of all of these things will rise exponentially over time. One way or another, your business will have to upgrade eventually.

With that in mind, each business must consider the costs and benefits tied to updating systems”

• Proactively– Before problems strike, in the driver’s seat on scheduling, able to plan around business costs and expenses
• Reactively– Emergency upgrades on tight timelines to keep your business afloat, limited by resource availability, and higher cost of completion

What’s the Easiest Way Out?

Face this challenge head-on. With the EOS deadline literally days away, the time to act is right now. Get professional assistance from reliable consultants, put them to work with your existing team, and then attack it like any other major project.

Assess

The first thing to do is to have your technical support resource help create an overview of what needs to be done.

You need to know:

• Which users will be affected?
• Which other systems will require an upgrade?
• Is this likely to impact productivity at all throughout the transition?

But not all of these questions need to be negative; you must also consider if there are any efficiencies or process improvements that can be phased in during the transition. When you’re reaching out and getting expert help, it’s important to bring them in at this early stage so that they can help build your implementation plan using the key information you’ve gathered together.

Plan

As you move forward, consider creating a roadmap for your upgrade, and communicating it to every stakeholder within your organization, including non-technical staff.

When you make sure everyone knows what is happening, (as well as how they might be impacted) you enable your teams to plan ahead and to be prepared. Your IT support provider can also help ensure you have the right contingencies in case of the unforeseen.

Implement and Support

Once you’ve got your project roadmap in place and understand the improvements necessary to avoid End-of-Support with Microsoft, you can help guide your company towards making the implementation process as straightforward as possible. 

Remember that it isn’t just software that needs to be upgraded. Your Windows Server resources may require recertification, and other members of your staff or end users may need retraining on your new systems.

When shooting for success, make sure that everyone in your organization has access to the right resouces to complete their job responsibilities.

If you want to make sure your project goes smoothly, it may be time to call in professional IT services support to make sure your server upgrade project is comprehensive, well architected and that it covers all of your business needs. With the right technical support, IT should be simple, seamless, done.

Still feeling overwhelmed?If you want to get your server migration started ASAP but don’t know where to begin, reach out to our implementation team today for a free technical assessment and keep your company moving forward.

7 Ways Professional IT Support Helps Your Business Flourish

Technology is the backbone of modern commerce, so strong technical support is vital to the success of any business. But with steadily increasing overhead costs and thinning profit margins, allocating precious funds to professional IT support often seems unnecessary. After all, when computer literacy is the norm, how does having professional IT support really benefit your business? As it turns out, there are quite a few answers.

1. Helpdesk Support

The vast majority of businesses use computers daily. Invariably, these computers glitch, crash and wipe data spontaneously. For small businesses, these common issues are daunting at best and catastrophic at worst. Even minor setbacks render networks unusable for hours, resulting in lost revenue, upset customers and wasted time.

Don’t pull your engineer or accountant off of their current projects just to have them struggle through business troubleshooting. When you have managers wasting hours trying to fix technical problems, it’s time to bring in professional IT support who can solve your problem in minutes.

2. Email

Professional IT support establishes and manages email systems, restores access to locked accounts, and retrieves lost or corrupted information. Once you have an ongoing relationship with your tech help, they can work with your users to tailor email configurations to meet your business’s needs, utilize options that free email service providers don’t offer, and help ensure that you have the right storage and recovery capabilities in place.

3. Network Dependability

One of the unique advantages of professional technical support is the peace of mind that comes with network dependability. In a survey of over 200 companies accross North America and Eurpe, it was found that more than $26.5 billion in revenue is lost each year, which translates to approximately $150,000 in losses per year, per business because of network outages.

Just as you rely on your car to get you to work, your business operations depend on your network and the IT solutions that you have in place. A dependable network dramatically reduces disruptions, ensuring uninterrupted operations and minimal negative impact to your business.

4. Server Hardware

While it is possible to set up and maintain a server, the process is complex, difficult, expensive and time-consuming. Furthermore, if your server hardware is improperly configured or fails at any time, reconfiguration is both costly, crippling for your business and incredibly stressful for both your employees and your clients. Professional IT support maintains, monitors, troubleshoots and resolves hardware issues proactively, thus enabling you to .

5. Backup and Storage

Additional benefits of IT support include backup and storage capabilities. Without professional support, your managers find themselves relegated to generic storage platforms, many of which don’t meet your business’s needs. Bay Area Technical Support provides storage, access and preservation in a worst-case scenario, ensuring the integrity and safety of your data.

6. Security

From email encryption to network security, database management to sensitive data, security is vital to the successful operation of your business. Repairing damage (not to mention the loss of clients’ trust) caused by a data breach can be expensive, slow and stressful. Working with the right Bay Area IT service provider means your business gets the right security solutions implemented before you are attacked in order to help eliminate many common cybersecurity related risks.

7. Time

Excellent IT support ensures efficiency, protects data, and facilitates productivity. It relieves your managers of many significant burdens, minimizing stress, maximizing time, and providing solutions on a daily basis. Ultimately, when you partner with the right professional IT support service provider, you relieve your team leaders and managers of unnecessary burdens so that they can tackle the business challenges that that matter the most!

Best Practices for Choosing a Cloud Provider for an Elective Healthcare Practice

Although cloud computing is often regarded as a fairly new phenomenon, it has in fact been in use in one form or another since the late 1990s. However, its adoption by medical practices, including those in the elective healthcare sector, has been slow. By employing these best practices when choosing a cloud provider, you can make sure you’re getting an IT services firm that is the correct match for your organization.

Security Measures and Compliance

Core cloud-security measures should be in place that include encryption and identity-based access control. A reputable cloud provider can ensure all the items that external compliance auditors check for comply with legal regulations.

Knowledge of Your Industry

The cloud provider should have an in-depth knowledge of the healthcare industry and preferably of the sector within which your practice falls. It’s important that the cloud provider’s employees understand the particular needs of your practice.

Location of Your Data

Because your data is your responsibility, you should ask the following questions:

• Where are the cloud provider’s servers located?
• Will you and your staff be able to always access the data, no matter where you are?
• Does the cloud provider have a disaster recovery or business continuity plan in place in the case of natural disasters or major outages?

Certification and Training

A cloud provider’s staff must be experienced in your field, correctly trained and depending on your security requirements, may need to be certified in healthcare IT management so that they always comply with HIPAA requirements when undertaking any work items for your practice. While shopping around, you can ask if the staff have previously undergone background and drug checks and whether they understand the medical ethics and the law surrounding such issues.

Service-Level Agreement

Before you sign a service-level agreement (SLA) with a cloud provider, check that it contains definite response and resolution times so that you don’t find yourself unable to access your data if their systems are down or unable to reach any of their IT support technicians simply because it is after hours.

While full staffing may be limited to business operations hours, any reputable technology services provider will have on-call resources available to assist their clients during emergencies.

Additionally, feel free to ask questions in order to find out exactly what services your monthly subscription fee covers.

Cloud computing is part of the modern IT world, and when properly put to use, it can help make your healthcare practice run smoothly, efficiently, and dependably, thus allowing you to focus on providing your patients the best care possible.

However, it’s also extremely important that you assess potential cloud providers to ensure that they meet your business requirements and that they are able to comply with the legislation requirements which govern your practice.

Contact Bay Computing today for your free onsite evaluation and detailed information about the right customized cloud-computing options for your business.

5 Questions to Ask IT Consulting Firms

The days when only big business worked with IT consultants are long gone. Increasingly, small and medium size businesses (SMBs) understand that outsourcing some or all of their IT projects to consultants can help them focus on core business objectives, leverage expertise they don’t have in-house and cut overall costs.

But not all consultants are created equal. To find one who can help your company achieve its goals, you have to ask the right questions. Here are 5 questions you should ask to ensure you hire a consultant who will help your business succeed:

1. Have you worked successfully with businesses like mine?

If a consulting firm doesn’t list current and former clients on its website, you should probably keep looking. For those who do, look for experience with clients from a broad range of industries, from healthcare to insurance to financial services. To help you in your search, the best consultants will also provide testimonials and case studies, and give you references you can check out.

2. Are you a full-service provider?

You want a service provider who has experience not only with many types of businesses, but also many types of problems. The best providers are able to deal with any issue which arises, whether it’s a server crash, network downtime or missing data. They will support you with a full array of services, including security, communications, cloud computing, network, servers and storage.

3. Will you have people dedicated to my business?

The best IT consulting firms will assign a dedicated support team to work collaboratively with you and your employees, manage your ongoing IT services needs, and ensure that support from your dedicated team will be ready, willing and able to help at the first sign of trouble.

4. Do you have a long-term plan?

When you work with experienced IT technicians, they understand the value of creating a strategic plan for your technology needs and will take the time to perform a comprehensive assessment of your IT network (some Bay Area technology services companies will even do this free of charge). They’ll provide you with a detailed road map for ongoing monitoring, technical helpdesk support and any specific maintenance requirements unique to the needs of your systems and your business.

5. Can you tell me how this benefits my business and how much it is going to cost?

When partnering with an IT services provider, you want someone who works with you to identify the best solution to fit your needs, and if necessary, someone who will push back against quick-fix or bargain-basement not-a-fit solutions when there are reasonably priced and far superior options available which satisfy all of your business needs. As your technology partner, your IT consultant should help you understand the business reason behind any new purchases, how much you’re going to pay, but also precisely what you will be getting for your money.

Conclusion

Don’t be fall into the trap of casually selecting the first IT consulting option that you come across- When it comes to keeping your office running smoothly, it is key to perform your due diligence to make sure you find the right IT services partner.

Throughout your search, if the answer to each of the above questions is “yes,” you’re well on your way to finding a dependable IT consulting firm that your company can build a strong relationship with into the future.

By asking the right questions, and getting the right answers, you will help your business find the tetechnical services resources who will become your trusted partners who are equally as committed to the success of your business as you are!

Five Steps: Is Your EHR Managment HIPAA Compliant?

The advent of electronic health records (EHR) have improved many aspects of health care: faster data sharing, better care coordination, increased patient participation, reduced errors and more.

But it also means that additional steps are necessary to ensure that your patients’ electronic protected health information (ePHI) is protected and that your practice is compliant with the Federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA).

Five Starting Steps: EHR and HIPAA

The implementation and maintenance of the following five steps may require specialized expertise, which should be available among your technology support staff. These experts can help your EHR operations run smoothly and help you navigate complex technology-related challenges.

Analyze Risk

The first step in HIPPA compliance is a risk analysis, which can identify potential threats. According to the Office for Civil Rights, a risk analysis involves identifying all sources of ePHI and all potential risks to confidentiality. Once identified, steps can be taken to protect, mitigate, or correct for problems.

Encrypt ePHI

The second step is technological: encrypting ePHI. HIPPA rules require, “the use of an algorithmic process to transform data into a form in which there is a low probability of assigning meaning without use of a confidential process or key.” Your technology services team can help ensure that the right IT solutions are implemented to keep your data properly encryptedat all times.

Secure Hardware

The third step is similar to a locked file cabinet; it provides access only to those with a key. The United States Department of Health and Human Services recommends both physical and technical safeguards for ePHI. Physical safeguards limit access to the hardware site and provide use restrictions to workstation facilities. Technical safeguards include:

• Unique identification
• Passwords
• Automatic logouts
• Emergency access procedures

Establish Clearance Levels

The fourth step is establishing an access hierarchy. Make sure you have clear definitions of who can see what information and for what reason setup properly by your computer support specialists.

As part of this process, your practice may want to create processes to assign access rights based on position levels within your organization (depending on the size of your practice) to serve as an extra precaution instead of relying solely on ad-hock access approvals

Conduct Audit Reports and Periodic Evaluations

The final step is evaluating how well your implementation is performing. This involves routine audits of which users have accessed sensitive information and the review of any healthcare IT related problems and processes observed.

As a busy medical practitioner, you are busy dedicating yourself to providing the best patient care possible. Now with HIPAA Compliance coming down the pipeline, you and your practice may be feeling overwhelmed by the seemingly endless list of requirements necessary to be HIPPA compliant.

Work with your Bay Area IT services provider to ensure that the proper roles for compliance are defined and to establish the policies and procedures necessary to proactively prevent, detect, contain and correct security problems. Our organization is readily available to answer any healthcare IT questions you may have or to set up a free assessment of your HIPPA compliance readiness.

Healthcare IT: Free Up Your Practice to Focus on Patients

Top-rate medical practices are often let down by sub-par technical support, so it may be time to source the professional-caliber IT support services you need. However, that is sometimes easier said than done, and it’s important to know what support services your practice requires to protect your electronic health records (EHR) and the Electronic Personal Health Information (ePHI) you deal with each day.

As a physician, worrying about your healthcare IT services is not what you need to spend your day focusing on. Your job is to tend to your patients, and a company that offers a skilled support service enables you to do that. Support for your EMR/EHR software (such as NexTech) includes preventing inappropriate use, malware protection and training in best practices.

Inappropriate Use

Inappropriate use often involves interaction on social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, or even on your own practice’s website. Research shows that displaying ill-chosen photographs, using discriminatory language, violating patient privacy and posting negative comments are ways that medical practices may overstep ethical rules and legal regulations. A professional IT company can enable the monitoring and disabling of inappropriate use on practice computers, whether it’s inadvertent or deliberately malicious. This enables you as a physician or office manager to devote yourself to what you are specialized in instead of having to waste precious time on policing employees.

Antivirus and Malware Software

Viruses, worms and malware destroy and steal or even ransom medical records and sensitive ePHI, so it’s imperative that your practice has the proper protections in place against them. Like the human variety, viruses that attack computers are constantly mutating, doing so through the workings of Internet hackers. An IT firm of good standing always keeps your office up to date with the right selection of antivirus solutions, preventative programs and safeguards against malevolent cyber invaders, giving peace of mind to you and to your patients.

Best Practices to Avoid Malicious IT Attacks

Cyber criminals are constantly searching for valuable, vulnerable data such as:

• Names, email and physical addresses of patients and employees
• Social Security, medical ID numbers, Protected Health Information (PHI or ePHI)
• Payment card info (regulated by PCI-DSS, or Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards)

This information is usually sold in bulk to the highest bidder and used for a variety of nefarious activities. Don’t risk losing your patients’ trust simply because of weak IT management.

Implementing industry standard best practices to ensure your business and office operations are secure against cyber-attacks is not always simple.

Training staff, using strong passwords that are frequently changed and limiting network access are just the beginning when implementing the necessary procedures.

Mobile devices are particularly vulnerable to cyber and physical theft, so and all patient related data needs to be encrypted before being sent across public networks. All devices, whether mobile or office-based, should be frequently backed up to preserve data. A trustworthy IT services company can develop and execute a cyber-security strategic plan for your practice.

Choose Carefully

One of the challenges faced by physicians during 2015, according to Medical Economics, is keeping abreast of modern technology. A fairly significant number of medical practices have, to their detriment, bought low-cost EHR software only to discover that support services were sadly lacking or simply nonexistent. Physicians Practice recommend that one of the most effective ways of protecting your practice against data breaches is to contract with IT support service firms that are familiar with EHR and compliance issues.

Concern about problems such as inappropriate use and cyber-attacks from hackers takes physicians away from what they do best — caring for patients. Contact our support team at Bay Computing for information about best practices to prevent malicious invasions of your electronic systems.