Our accountant recently received an email from secureupdates@quick.inuit.com that instructed her to download “Intuit Secure Software” or else lose access to her account (read the email  below).

These types of emails can seem very official but if you have any question whether it is legitimate or not please contact us or your software vendor to confirm the validity.

A recent study discovered that, of companies experiencing a “major loss” of computer records, 43 percent never reopened, 51 percent closed within two years of the loss, and a mere six percent survived over the long term.
Unlike large enterprises, many smaller companies cannot afford optimal in-house strategies and solutions in the area of Business Continuity Planning (BCP). These companies are consequently at an elevated risk of being put out of business due to any major loss of data. Loss of data could mean emails lost, accounting data lost, patient or client files lost, company records lost, client legal records or orders lost, and so on.

ASK THE TOUGH QUESTIONS

Are you getting good backups? Are you SURE? Do you ever forget to swap the tapes? Do you take your backups offsite every night? Have you done a test restore to be sure the backup works? Do you have off-site storage? What happens when the server dies? What happens if the building is damaged by fire, wind or rain? How quickly could you be back up and working?
If you honestly asked yourself these questions you are probably feeling a little uneasy about your current data backup plan.

Key Benefits of Clear Focus’ Backup & Disaster Recovery Service:
A complete solution that is designed to reduce any server down time with the use of a specialized backup and virtual server appliance.

• Allows near real-time backups-as frequently as every 15 minutes.
  Offers off-site storage at an affordable cost.
• Provides a low-cost, speedy disaster recovery process.
• Data is encrypted so it is not accessible to anyone without the passkey, either on the backup device or at the remote storage facility.
• Eliminates the cost and time of managing on-site tape backup. We monitor and manage the entire process.
• All costs-including frequent on-site backups, on-site virtual server, remote storage, disaster recovery in the event of disaster, and 24/7 management of the entire process are bundled at a price that is comparable to the overall cost of buying and managing tape backup.

A COMPLETE SOLUTION FOR ALL YOUR DATA PROTECTION NEEDS
Near Real-Time Backups: Our “Incremental Forever” methodology captures all changes to the initial image in increments of 15 minutes. The Incremental Forever technology not only backs up recent datasets but also allows end users to reconstruct the state of their data as it stood at the end of various 15-minute restoration points. This level of forensic and auditable data recovery may satisfy various regulatory requirements (such as HIPAA and GLBA) for data retention and data record reconstruction, and also serves stakeholders such as supply chain planners, warehouse analysts, auditors, and legal counsel.

On-Site Virtual Server:
If any of your servers fail, our server virtualization technology embedded in the Backup and Disaster Recovery Server (BDR) allows customer servers and applications to be restored and rebooted in less than 30 minutes in most cases . As you may sometimes endure a wait of several days in order to receive replacement servers from vendors, your BDR can have your business up and running. The BDR multitasks so that, even while functioning as a virtual server, it can continue to back up data from other devices plugged into the BDR. Our technology thus allows you to remain in business without any significant loss of data backup, server functionality, or application downtime.

24×7 Completely Managed Solution:
Our partner’s 500-person Network Operations Center (NOC) monitors your BDR units and the attached servers 24/7. Failed processes generate immediate alerts to our engineers, who often remotely correct errors within minutes of receiving notification. In case of more serious BDR issues, we will conduct repairs at your site. If any BDR units are irreparably damaged or destroyed, we will overnight ship replacements-pre-loaded with all stored data-directly to your location.

Affordable Cost:
We offer a pricing packaged that is all inclusive of the complete backup and disaster recovery service-with no hidden costs. All your costs are bundled and include the BDR, the Incremental Forever Methodology, file restorations, file integrity checks, secure data transmission and remote storage.

Learn more at www.clearfocus.net/services/complete-data-backup

Companies avoid planning for disaster. It’s human nature. But when you think about what it would cost your small or mid-sized business to be without power or IT systems for 24 hours, it’s just good business sense to plan for the worst. To keep your business up and running if disaster strikes, you’ll need to avoid the following common mistakes.

1. Put it off until tomorrow.
With the amount of day-to-day “fire fighting” that most growing businesses do, it’s easy to procrastinate on tackling less urgent projects like disaster recovery and security planning. A recent study conducted by IBM of more than 1,200 mid-size companies confirms this. Nearly 70 percent say that IT disaster recovery capabilities are essential, but less than 25 percent are confident that what they have today is complete. The good news is that today’s affordable and feature-rich software, server and storage technologies mean that businesses can start small, establish a base level of disaster recovery, and build on it over time.

2. Only big companies can afford it.
Not true. Business continuity planning is not a luxury that only mega-businesses can afford. Without any business continuity structure in place, a small or mid-size business risks losing revenue it really can’t afford to lose. One area often overlooked is continuous data access. Without it, you can’t serve your customers or partners. Backup storage within your primary place of business is a good place to start. But if there’s a power outage, you can still ensure continuous availability as long as you have replicated information in an offsite location-ideally far away from where you do business. Today’s new hosting models and cost-effective offsite backup and recovery mean that peace of mind is available for companies of any size.

3. It’s an IT problem.
Protecting your data and getting your systems online again is crucial, but don’t forget about the people who use those systems. When a tornado touches down or a blackout shuts down the city, your employees need to know what to do. Make sure your plans address employee communications, working remotely, and prioritizing the employees that need access to your core business systems first.

4. Plan only for natural disasters.
People often picture big, headline-making events like floods or hurricanes when they think of disaster recovery. But a complete business continuity plan also anticipates malicious disasters and productivity killers like spam, computer viruses or data theft.
A regional manufacturer found itself inundated with spam and e-mail viruses that took each employee an average of 20 minutes a day to remove. With only minor modifications to its e-mail servers and firewalls, the manufacturer took advantage of an e-mail filtering solution hosted offsite. Now spam and virus e-mail no longer reach the company’s network, giving the company back an estimated 2,500 hours of labor per year.

5. You have to do it yourself.
Only if you want to. You can start by carrying out a basic risk assessment and appointing an employee to write a simple, commonsense policy. Go to a website likethe Small Business Administration’s for tips on disaster preparedness (www.sba.gov ). But if you find this whole subject too overwhelming or time-consuming, get help. Bring in a local services provider to help you develop and implement a plan and any processes or IT capabilities you need. Stop for a minute and think about your business from the 50,000 foot view. How would you fare in a disaster? A business continuity plan is like life insurance; you hope you never have to use it, but if you do, it’s invaluable.

Begin by looking at your business strategy over the next two to three years and determine in which areas you plan to grow, change, or improve. It will be easier to identify technologies that can help your business if you have a clear picture of where you’re heading and what steps you must take to get there.

Once you’ve set down your business strategy, you should appoint a member of your organization to track IT trends and advancements in the marketplace. With the explosion of possible technologies available to you, it can be helpful to have someone on your team who is on top of the current products and trends.

Sit down with this person and list the key technology areas they should be monitoring based on your business needs. For example, these areas could include business applications, data warehousing, Web services, or wireless technologies. By creating this list you can begin to assess which technologies are likely to impact your business. Do any of the technologies you’ve listed present growth opportunities or offer significant improvements in performance or customer service? Are other players in your industry using these technologies to enhance their businesses, and if so, how?

This list of technologies and opportunities is a way for you to narrow down your technology requirements and come up with a well-thought-out investment plan.

Once you have some technology projects in mind, talk to a trusted IT advisor and run a cost/benefit analysis. Look carefully at your technology budget over the next few years, taking into account the cost of maintaining and supporting the IT you already have.

Create a short list of IT investments that you can not only afford, but will also help you achieve your stated business goals. Prioritize these investments according to the benefits they will give your business and then start to look at factors such as the time it will take to implement and test the new technologies, the staff required to support them, and any necessary training.
The project that offers the greatest benefit may also be the one that requires the most time, money, and staff. Investing in one large project may mean you don’t have the resources to invest in others, so you will want to do a risk analysis of any significant project you consider undertaking.

Technology projects are notorious for running over time and budget, so make sure to plan for possible overruns. It’s better to have a realistic idea of the costs you could be facing. If the project runs on budget it will be a pleasant surprise!

Finally, continue to update your IT investment plan and monitor new technology developments. The last thing you want is an aged IT strategy that misses out on the current opportunities in the marketplace. Keep in constant communication with your trusted IT advisor, and once you embark on a project, update your investment plan with new deadlines or cost estimates.

By Scarlet Pruitt

• Websites can become infected without the owner ever knowing because so many applications can be used to operate just one Web portal. Updating these applications is sometimes overlooked and this omission offers hackers free reign to insert damaging code.
• While traditional corporate AV can stop viruses, it can miss malware, which can be just as damaging. Adding another layer of protection that recognizes and blocks malware agents is an important part of a comprehensive security approach.
• Websites that sell space to third-party advertisers may be unknowingly hosting damaging widgets. This ambiguity of ownership can lead to security holes that hackers can exploit easily.
• Social networking sites that let users post almost any material they want offer fertile ground to hackers seeking to embed damaging HTML. Merely visiting such pages can allow viruses or malware in and traditional AV defense won’t block it.

These attacks that result from simply visiting an infected site are called “drive-by downloads”. The only way to achieve total protection from these and other hazardous threats is to deploy a web filter that blocks viruses and malware before they can get near your networks.

Multi layered Protection is Your Best Bet One way to strengthen network security is to deploy a web filter, such as a web filtering appliance that adds another layer of protection with onboard antivirus and anti-malware protection. These offer real-time virus and malware blocking as part of an overall four-factored defense.

A Firewall, web filter, desktop anti-virus, server anti-virus, all need to do parts of this protection. Antivirus is complicated problem that sometimes takes a complex solution. If you need help wading through the options give us a call.

Doug McLeod, founder and CEO commented, “It is an honor and privilege to be recognized by such a prestigious list. We started offering our clients this type of service several years ago and it continues to be the trend of the future. I think our ranking shows how we have taken Managed Services one step further to offer our clients all of their computer hardware, software, and unlimited support for a flat monthly fee. The mantra we live by is ‘You’re going to love your technology…We guarantee it.”

The ranking was based on overall managed services revenue, overall managed services growth, number of computers managed and other data. Clear Focus is one of the early adopters and leaders of the MSP model. The MSP industry has been rapidly growing across the country.

About Clear Focus
Clear Focus provides a suite of managed services for small to midsized businesses ranging from computer support, data backup, and project management. The company’s primary goal is to remove the pain and headache of computer problems. They offer a holistic solution centered on pro-active care that takes the burden off of business owners and lets them get back to running their business. Clear Focus aims to help their customers become more efficient, productive, and satisfied with their technology investments.

Wow, can you believe 2008 is nearly over?!?!?! It seems like every year cruises by even faster than the last. Let us take a minute to run through what happened in 2008.

The Forming of Key Methods

In early summer we formed Key Methods as the parent company to Clear Focus, BizTek, and Key Software. The spirit of Key Methods can be summed up in two words, “Best Practice.” Best practices can be defined as the most efficient (least amount of effort) and effective (best results) way of accomplishing a task. We want all the services and products we offer to be “Best Practice.”

The Addition of Key Software

At the same time we were forming Key Methods we purchased a great company called Enterprise Systems International (ESI) in Seattle. ESI developed ERP software, including a great product called ES/2000. Our new software company is called Key Software and we look forward to carrying on the work that ESI started. Look for new additions to ES/2000 coming soon and other software products in the future.

The Addition of BizTek Consulting

We also brought BizTek Consulting under the wing of Key Methods in 2008. Dan Paquette, one of the three founders of Key Methods, started BizTek in 2002. Dan and his team bring a wealth of business and technology consulting expertise to our company.

Clear Focus Continues to Grow

Thanks to our many wonderful customers Clear Focus has continued to grow. It seems our model of CompleteCare: Hardware, Software, and Support for a Flat Monthly Fee has really caught on.
Of course, we continue to work hard looking for new trends and solutions that will make the most impact on your business. And trust me, we have some exciting tricks up our sleeve that will be arriving in the coming months. Stay tuned!

A Big Thank You

Thank you for a great 2008 and we’re looking forward to an even better 2009! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Doug McLeod, Dan Paquette, John McQuaig
Founders of Key Methods

Key Methods will continue to develop and enhance the ES2000 ERP System and provide a future path for customers to take advantage of Software as a Service (SaaS).  Key Methods will also continue to support clients with the MCS legacy application and clients utilizing ESI’s networking services.

Dan Paquette, founder of BizTek and a principal of Key Methods said, “For many years I have watched talented companies struggle as they grew.  Endless changes to technology and process distracted them from their core business. I am looking forward to sharing Key Methods with our clients so they can focus on what they do best.”

Doug McLeod, founder of Clear Focus and a principal of Key Methods added, “We are very excited with this opportunity, in the past, Clear focus has avoided software development due to not being able to find quality programmers. By combining our experience in the managed service industry and the quality talent of ESI we can deliver a complete and reliable solution to the client.”