In 2020, many organizations pivoted their business models due to the pandemic. If you're one of these companies, you may have developed new processes and procedures that allowed you to safely continue operations and maintain high customer service levels. Now that the dust has begun to settle, it is an excellent opportunity to evaluate or reevaluate any new cybersecurity risks that could have been created by these changes. In this article, we offer practical guidance on how to classify and measure your cybersecurity risks for effective cybersecurity risk management.

At Systems Engineering, employees are our number one resource.  Our success depends on our dedicated and skilled staff who share our values and contribute to our vision.  The Systems Engineering Spotlight gives a brief but revealing look at one of our valuable members.

It seems we can’t go more than 24 hours without hearing about the latest and greatest data breach affecting millions. These headlines are worrisome and has lead to many sleepless nights for business leaders at small and medium-sized businesses. 

One of the most important documents  your organization can create is a Business Continuity Plan (BCP). This plan is a comprehensive review of how your organization will continue to operate when responding to unplanned disasters that impact business processes, applications, and IT infrastructure. We are all familiar with the burdens that the COVID-19 pandemic placed on businesses throughout the world. Companies that had a BCP in place were much more prepared than those without. The level of response this pandemic required highlighted the importance of business continuity planning and raised some unforeseeable questions that all companies should now ask themselves.

Every year, business leaders sit down to create annual IT budgets to define how much their organization will spend on technology in the coming year. As technology now permeates almost all aspects of our businesses, your IT budget should be approached strategically to allocate and spend IT dollars on investments that drive the most business value.

This year, many businesses had their 2020 IT budgets blindsided by the novel coronavirus. When the pandemic hit, business and IT leaders redirected and poured their IT dollars into digital transformation initiatives that created efficiencies and enabled the productivity of their remote workforces. As we look to 2021, lessons learned from 2020 coupled with a backdrop of economic instability will influence our technology spend in the coming year.

Office 2010 will reach end-of-support on October 13, 2020. After this date, Microsoft will no longer provide technical support, bug fixes, or security updates for Office 2010. You will be able to continue using this version of Office, but by upgrading before any product falls out of support your business minimizes risks, including reducing exposure to security threats, remaining in compliance, and continuing to receive the latest product updates and support.

Current events have forced many businesses into quickly enabling staff to work from anywhere at any time. Desktops were replaced by laptops that could be taken home, staff using personal devices to access company data, and quick adoption of cloud and mobile apps. The ability to keep your business running took precedence over strategic planning, and now is the time to enable your remote workforce to be productive and secure. This  mobile workforce evolution comes with many benefits, but if it’s not approached with careful thought and planning, it can also come with a unacceptable level of risk.

There comes a time in every business when the introduction of new technology is required. You know that the change is needed and will likely bring added productivity or cost saving with it. What you are trying to work out is WHEN this change could happen. You are aware that this could be a disruptive project for you and your staff and there never seems to be a good time. When thinking about implementing a new project, there are considerations every business leader needs to know. 

Has it been a challenge to manage your complex environment due to the frequency of Microsoft 365 feature updates? Would you prefer less frequent updates since they can be unpredictable and disruptive to productivity? If this is the case at your organization, then we have good news for you. As of May 12, 2020, Microsoft announced the general availability of a new Monthly Enterprise Channel. Now, organizations can bring users the latest capabilities to stay productive and secure, but on a predictable, once-a-month release schedule.