The incredible growth of the digital economy has opened up markets and enhanced operational efficiency for companies all over, but those benefits have not come without drawbacks, foremost of which is the growing threat of cybersecurity attacks.

Embarrassing, reputation-harming, and business stifling data breaches are an all-too-common headline today. In the first half of 2019 alone, over 4 billion records were exposed, a 54% increase over the first six months of the prior year.

By 2021, global cybercrime damages are estimated to top $6 trillion annually!

It takes constant alertness, comprehensive disaster planning, and redundant backups to guard against the business-harming menace of hackers, ransomware, phishing, and an ever-growing pool of cybersecurity risks. A managed service provider (MSP) is the fastest and most cost- effective means of preventing these threats and mitigating the harm should they occur.

Don’t Let Your Data Be Held Hostage

Once a rare occurrence, ransomware, malware that encrypts your data and locks down your systems so that they are inaccessible until you pay a ransom to the attacker, is now shockingly common:

• Half of all U.S. organizations had to deal with a ransomware attack of some kind in 2019
• A new organization is hit by a ransomware attack every 14 seconds

There is simply no way to unencrypt a system compromised by a ransomware attack, and often, even after paying the demand, the attackers fail to unlock your data. Only a comprehensive and proactive recovery plan can restore your system. Organizations that aren’t protecting themselves lose, on average, $133,000 per attack in downtime, manpower, hardware and software issues, and lost opportunities.

When these attacks occur, the proper plan can make all the difference. 96% of organizations with a universal backup solution in place are able to fully recover from a ransomware attack without serious negative effects to their operations.

Safeguarding the Cloud

Virtually every major business today is either undergoing or completing its digital transformation. Most major business is mediated by connected systems: in 2015, only about half of enterprises stored their sensitive data in the cloud. By 2017, that figure had risen to 85%. 

Today, the cloud is a vital component of digital business infrastructure with a seemingly endless array of options to choose from. The right MSP will help your business get the most for your remote computing investment and ensure every document and asset is fully secured as it moves to and from the cloud.

Many businesses are failing to adopt cloud services due to analysis paralysis. With so many competing options and opaque feature sets and pricing schemes, they fear getting locked into a bad arrangement.

Industry-leading MSPs like Razor Technology have the skills and experience to guide businesses through the cloud ecosystem to find optimal solutions that are tailored to their specific operational and budgetary requirements — and to ensure their cloud-based systems are updated and in compliance with best cybersecurity practices at all times.

Be Ready for a Data Disaster

It’s not a question of if your storage technologies will fail, but when and how much, if any, of your data will be recoverable. In the U.S. alone, 140,000 hard drives crash every single week! 

Of all unexpected data losses, 35% is caused by malware, but whether they’re the result of an external attack, human error, or an unavoidable accident, data disasters are incredibly costly:

• 44% of businesses estimate that a single hour of downtime can result in a $10,000 loss
• 60% of small businesses will never fully recover and have to shut their doors for good within six months of a major data failure

For larger organizations, the risk is magnified. The average unexpected downtime for a medium-sized company costs $74,000 an hour. For large companies, that figure reaches the high six figures.

In that context, going without reliable backups is tantamount to extreme recklessness, especially when there are practical solutions that make backups simple and seamless and reduce recovery times to mere hours (or even faster in some cases) so that your business doesn’t miss a beat when the inevitable happens.

Plus, while your data recovery plan may look great on paper, real-world auditing is necessary to guarantee it will work as projected when it’s required. Yet, a third of small and medium-sized businesses say they test their plan infrequently, if ever.

Choose an MSP That Stays Vigilant

The most pernicious cybersecurity attacks are the least detectable, and too many organizations lack diligence in monitoring and responding to threats. On average, almost 200 days pass before a breach is detected, giving hackers more than enough time to case your network, steal or alter sensitive data, and insert backdoors for future attacks. 

Furthermore, an in-house IT department will have experience with only the systems employed in their organization. A MSP, that manages IT for numerous organizations, each with its own unique software solutions, will necessarily have far broader expertise. The benefit to the individual organizations is an avoidance of vendor lock-in. 

Often, because they have already made significant investments in a specific platform and in training their IT team to manage it, organizations are reluctant to switch to another solution, even when their current system is no longer optimal for their needs. Users of MSPs have far greater flexibility to pivot and upgrade as market realities evolve.

The incentives for managed services are also better aligned than in “break-fix” models (waiting for something to break before remediating the issue). When IT failures benefit the support company, they are disincentivized to help their clients avoid problems. Because managed services is an ongoing, 24/7 operation, both organizations are motivated to not just put out fires as they arise but to reduce the likelihood of them occurring in the first place.

It takes years of hard work to build a thriving business, but all that progress can be jeopardized by insecure systems. Managed service providers stand at the frontline of modern cybersecurity, ensuring your vital business systems won’t be the next risk statistic.

Want to take a quick assessment of the health of your IT environment? Take our data vulnerability quiz: Fit Check. 

Or, Contact the cybersecurity experts at Razor Technology today to discuss how to best protect your business from the growing threat of hackers, ransomware, and data breaches.

Whether you currently engage a Managed Service Provider to assist with your IT support or you’re considering the benefits, we invite you to join Razor Technology’s Director of Operations, Ryan Rosenkaimer as he provides insight and clarity on how the right MSP model can be beneficial to your organization and your internal IT resources.

In this 45-minute webinar, Ryan will cover:

• IT Management Maturity: Moving from a reactive to proactive model. 
• Benefits of Managed Services: Reduce costs and improve competitive advantage. 
• Maximizing Internal IT Resources: Develop internal resources to maximize their value. 
• Shaping a Holistic Managed Solution: Close the gaps that could impede growth now or in the future. 
• Measure, Manage, and Improve Performance: Get clarity and insight through performance monitoring and strategic planning. 
• Mapping an MSP Engagement: See the process and factors for success.
• Choosing a Managed Service Provider: Know the essential evaluation checklist. 

Ryan will explain the different levels of engagement while also outlining how Razor’s approach to managed services has been created to integrate with your organization’s current and future strategic goals. 

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