It is true that many companies fall into a trap when they decide to try to manage their own hosting. They may try to use employees already on staff and find that these employees are spending all of their time with the managed hosting instead of their regular duties. Then again, the business may have to hire additional employees. This means that more wages have to be paid. So here we have two situations that shows work being sacrificed in one area and the business having to pay out more money to pay the new salaries. How can this be avoided?

This is the point where the business may consider outsourcing their managed hosting. This is where you can make sure your employees are doing the job that they are hired to do and the company you are outsourcing to may not be quite as expensive as having to hire one or more full-time employees to manage your hosting.

Here are some things to consider:

Consider the fact that by outsourcing your managed hosting, the outsource supplier is the one who will be carrying the risks. This means that they are going to do all that they can to make sure everything stays up and running and that everything is secure.

Your company does not have to fit the bill for equipment costs if you run servers on your own property. You are using the servers of the IT Company that you hire to take care of your managed hosting. This is another area in which you can save money.

Your company can stay up on the most up-to-date technology. The company you have outsourced to relies on staying up with the latest technology, which means that your business will follow in that respect.

Since environmental issues are taking shape this day and age, many IT companies are employing practices that are more favorable to the environment.

Know that they will do all they can to keep everything up and running. If you have ever noticed, the press covers huge outages and that can hurt a reputation. Most of all, it can hurt the IT Company’s reputation if the problem is traced back to them. Chances are they are managing the managed hosting of more than one company and that can cause a huge problem. These IT Companies employ methods that will keep them up and running even if the world around them is not.

As you can see, there are some things to consider when outsourcing your managed hosting. Smaller businesses may have to evaluate these items more thoroughly because outsourcing may be a big price to pay for them. Larger businesses, on the other hand, may have never imagined that they would fully outsource their managed hosting and other IT operations. However, the more affordable and practical it becomes, the more businesses are outsourcing such operations so that they can keep their minds on the task at hand and not worry about the technical aspect of it. That is why there are so many businesses that are finding success. They rely on the security of an IT outsource company to take care of their websites and other technical aspects so that they can focus on wooing their customers and keeping the money coming in faster than ever.

In the end, you end up with an efficient company that is at the top of their game. At that point, outsourcing their managed hosting may seem like a drop in the bucket compared to what it used to be. That makes looking at outsourced managed hosting something to consider.

Before spyware terrorized your computer, many people used to focus their efforts on avoiding the deadly virus. Since viruses almost became an inevitability, many companies tried to cash in by launching one anti-virus software after the other. Today, you have a different kind of problem that needs more harmful than a virolution quick and they are called spyware.

Now, spyware is becoming the most common way to attack computers. You can easily get spyware just by visiting a website even if you have antivirus software installed on your computer. Dealing with spyware is not that simple.

The only way you can have spyware protection is when you have anti-spyware software on your computer, plus make the extra effort to avoid it.

Spyware is like a virus in the sense that it is also a computer program. The only difference is the objective. Viruses seek to spread and cause damage to data. While spyware does not destroy data, it steals sensitive information like credit card numbers.

Getting anti-spyware software is very easy today. There are so many programs available on the Internet that offer protection against spyware. There are some programs that are free, and others available at very reasonable prices.

Still, it is important to remain cautious when dealing with the Internet. Instead of removing the problem, some websites that offer free stuff would just exacerbate it. Never leave any personal information on suspicious website or they will be intercepted by spyware.

You must also avoid clicking pop-up advertisements, or opening emails from people you do not know. Spyware programmers are very skilled in designing these types of programs so that they will be difficult to detect.

Spyware protection is more than just installing some fancy program. It is all about protecting personal information.

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a security feature that was developed by the major credit card companies to help businesses that process credit cards prevent credit card fraud through various security vulnerabilities that would exist otherwise. All companies that store, transmit, or process credit cards must be PCI DSS compliant in order to process these transactions. If they are not, then they can lose their ability to accept credit cards.

If you are not sure how these actions can protect your credit card transactions, below are the security standards that must be employed in order to make sure these transactions are secure:

Not using password defaults or other security measures that are provided by the credit card machine vendor. They are usually all the same and make the system vulnerable.

Install and maintain a firewall to keep intruders out.

If cardholder data must be transmitted over public networks that are open, the data must be encrypted.

Business need-to-know must be used to restrict access to cardholder data.

Physical access should be restricted to cardholder data.

Each person that has computer access, which means they may be able to access credit card numbers, should be assigned a unique username and password. This is so any accessed data can be traced back to the person who accessed it.

All access to network resources should be monitored, as well as access to cardholder data.

The system should be tested on a regular basis. This means all processes should be tested as well.

Maintain an information security policy. Enforce compliance with this policy and discipline if it is deviated in any way.

There are also certain pieces of information on a person’s credit card that can and cannot be stored. The pieces of information that can be stored are the card number, the cardholder’s name, the expiration date, and the service code. Pieces of information that cannot be stored are the magnetic strip, the PIN number, and the CVV code on the back of the card. PCI DSS standards require that information that is permitted to be stored is stored in a secure manner. Auditors will check for compliance in all of these areas. If it is found that the business is in violation in any way, the business could risk losing their privileges of taking credit cards or could face a heavy fine.

A worse scenario is that if a business is found to be in violation of PCS DSS requirements when cardholder information is stolen. This holds the business liable for ensuring that customer information is not compromised and to take measures that are appropriate in case that information is.

Even if you are a hosting provider, you have responsibility such as making sure the connection is secure when accepting credit cards. PCI DSS requirements do not apply to just in-store environments. It is true that it is impossible to verify that the person using the card is indeed that person, but what is possible is to make sure that information is protected so that outside parties do not access it. The internet is crawling with hackers and those looking for insecure connections. Abiding by PCI DSS regulations makes it less likely that such a breach will occur.

So now you can see how PCI DSS protects your credit card transactions. It is very likely that information is stolen when PCI DSS is followed closely. As long is it is followed, you have no security breaches to worry about and no bad audits that could result in trouble for your business.

A dedicated server is a powerful server that is just for your website or business and no one else. This means that your server is not shared with others like shared hosting is. It is ideal for those who need reliability, high performance, better security, and the websites that are being operated are at an enterprise-level. In other words, a dedicated server is for those who need a lot of power and have the money to spend.

There are several advantages to operating a dedicated server. These advantages are:

The website performs better You don’t have to purchase equipment If other websites that share the same server have problems, your website is unaffected because you are not sharing.

The server is also owned by the web host, so you are more or less renting it from them. You do have the ability to customize your server based on whatever your needs are, but what it comes down to is the fact that the host owns it. This can be a good thing, though, especially if your business does not have the administration capabilities to take care of various tasks that you need performed.

Experience

Some companies may have the experience and others may not. If a business has the experience in-house, then that individual or individuals can take care of any changes that need to be made to the website. Some go to college to be able to do this and have no problem at all managing the server. Depending on the type of changes that must be implemented depends on what type of experience and individual should have.

Then again, there are some who just know how to manage servers without any schooling in the area and can do it. It is important to gage what type of tasks must be performed on the website, especially if it is a high performance website that requires a lot of maintenance and manipulations.

On the other hand, there may be no experience required at all. This is where you can choose managed web hosting through your provider. This is where they can maintain and monitor your operating system, dedicated servers, and applications. This way you can still have everything that you need without the experience to go along with it. Unmanaged dedicated hosting may be a cheaper solution for some businesses, but if the experience and knowledge is not there, then managed dedicated hosting is the way to go.

Is it the right decision?

Whether or not your business has the experience to manage a dedicated server, it is important to make sure the business needs it. If you are prepared to take on the cost that is associated with using the host’s equipment and you know that they can provide you with the necessary technical support, then it may be the right decision. It is just important to make sure that your website or potential website is large and powerful enough to require such a server. However, many business websites are and using a dedicated server allows them to make their website even more powerful. If that is you, then dedicated hosting could be the right decision whether you have the right experience or not. Don’t let the lack of experience deter you because there are solutions to that problem.

In the day and age where the website defines the company, choosing a dedicated server and using unmanaged or managed hosting can be a large decision. If you don’t know where to start, simply ask the various companies offering dedicated hosting and see who is more willing to help you understand. That can be a good indicator that you may be starting a nice business relationship.

For many people, computers have become a daily necessity. We use them for work, for correspondence and for entertainment. Many of the files are important documents and losing them would cost us time and money. Backups are the best way to prevent their permanent loss.

Many people think of backups as something large companies or computer geeks do. Or they might plan on doing it when the get the chance. Every one of those people has either already lost data due to some kind of problem with their system or they will one day. Every piece of computer equipment has a lifespan and is going to fail one day or another.

When that happens, you’ll be faced with one of two things. On one hand, you’ll have a backup of all your critical information and can restore it all back onto your repaired computer or a new replacement. On the other hand, you’ll lose the financial information, music, digital photos and all the other important files on your computer.

There are, unfortunately, an infinite variety of ways to lose data. Besides hardware failure, computers can be destroyed in fires or floods. Hard drives can be damaged by power surges caused by lightning strikes or data lost by a child randomly hitting the keyboard. Viruses can infect systems and erase hard drives.

Having that data stored in a backup is often the only way to get it back. And even if it can be recovered by a data recovery service, it can cost thousands of dollars for them to do the work.

What Do You Need To Backup?

Most people don’t actually have to backup every single file on their computer. This can require a large amount of storage and can take a long time. The critical things to backup are all the files you have created and any software that cannot be replaced. Financial records, word processing documents, legal files – the list goes on and on.

But backups needn’t be.

The easiest way to backup your files is to use the software that comes with most operating systems. Windows includes one, as does Mac OS X, Linux and others. These programs are usually pretty straightforward and it’s just a matter of selecting the files and folders you want to save. Many of them can even be scheduled to run in the middle of the night or some other time you’re not using your computer.

If you want something a little more powerful, there are a number of backup program you can purchase. These programs offer features such as only backing up files that have changed since the last backup, or those that have changed since a particular date.

Some data, such as e-mails are only slightly more difficult to protect. Some e-mail clients can be configured to keep copies of received and sent e-mails on the e-mail server. When that’s not an option, most can export messages to a file, which can then be backed up.

Backups can be done to any kind of removable media – writeable CD’s/DVD’s, removable hard drives or even the newer ‘keychain’ devices that plug into a USB port. Even floppy disks can still be used in many cases. Documents often take a small amount of space. Just set aside 7 disks and rotate them from week to week.

Daily backups are one more thing to do in a busy schedule. But the day you lose that file you need and can’t restore, you’re going to be a whole lot busier.

Being PCI DSS compliant is extremely important when a business or organization accepts credit cards for their products or services. In fact, being able to accept credit cards makes an organization more profitable in a world where credit cards and debit cards are the way to pay. Credit cards allow an organization to accept payments in many different ways. A consumer can make a payment via credit card over the internet and even over the phone. This gives organizations more ways to bring in money and PCI DSS makes accepting payments even more secure.

Being PCI DSS compliant helps organizations by:

Protecting the customer’s personal information in order to avoid disputes that could be costly to an organization. Increases customer confidence in your payment methods allowing clients to feel secure when purchasing items from you. Protecting the organization from remediation costs and other financial losses. The organization is provided a check on their system every so often to make sure that the system they use to store and transmit their customer’s data is not compromised in any way. Increases payment security which in turn makes sharing personal information such as credit card numbers less strenuous for customers.

Another thing to point out is the fact that PCI DSS continues to evolve as credit card fraud becomes more sophisticated. It is fair to say that any business that must store or transmit credit card data is a target of those wishing to access the personal information of customers for their own benefit. Thieves then use the customer information in order to use their credit and commit fraud. However, PCI DSS stays up-to-date on the latest threats in order to keep the consumer information secure. This minimizes the risk involved with the organization accepting credit card payments and minimizes the risk to customers.

Business regulation

As stated before, PCI DSS keeps businesses up-to-date with the latest security updates and threats in order to prevent security breaches from occurring. However, different organizations may have different requirements when it comes to PCI DSS. Let’s take a grocery store, for instance. A grocery store is a point-of-sale transaction where credit card information does not have to be stored. The protection that PCI DSS offers is in the transmission of the data and not in data being stored since a grocery store has no reason to store credit card data.

An online store or organization, on the other hand, may store consumer data so that the consumer does not have to enter their payment information every single time they do a transaction. What this does is allow the customer to complete the transaction with a few clicks of the mouse instead of getting in their wallet and having to enter all of the information all over again. This is where PCI DSS can become especially important. If the system were to be breached, which is very rare, there could be millions of credit card numbers accessed. However, PCI DSS stays up on the most sophisticated methods that thieves use to access these credit card numbers in order to protect both the business and the consumer.

PCI DSS for better business

When a person knows that their information is secure with your organization, they are more likely to spend their money with you. PCI DSS compliance is mandatory for any business or organization that record credit card data, however, not all consumers know this. It is especially important for those consumers who give online organizations their personal information and permission to store their credit card data for future transactions. It is very important that they know their information will not be accessed or mishandled in any way.

A managed services provider is a company that manages services for another company. Basically, they are a company that takes care of outsourced services on a month-to-month basis, which is how they also receive their income. Many of these services are provided via the internet and cover such tasks as IT services, remote data backup, desktop and security monitoring, and technical assistance. It is also common for a managed services provider to also manage a company’s web hosting and maintenance of their websites.

However, managed hosting is perhaps the most common function of many managed services provider. The provider bills the business they are providing the services for a fixed amount on a monthly basis. They provide IT services that would otherwise be provided in-house by existing or additional staff. They backup any data that is on the website and any data offered by customers visiting the website to benefit the business in case the website crashes. The customer data also allows the business to stay in touch with their customers. The managed services provider also continuously monitors the website in order to prevent security breaches. That way if there is a security breach, the managed services provider can rectify the issue right then and there. The managed services provider is also there to provide any technical assistance to the business or the customer if any issues come about with the web hosting.

It is obvious that a managed services provider can do a wide range of things for the business that the business would need an entire IT staff to do. Additional tasks that they perform include managed remote access, network monitoring, network management, scanning for vulnerabilities, firewall management, securing the e-mail and messaging system, tracking incidents, and server management. These are a few amongst the many tasks that would be required by the company that the company is outsourcing when hiring a managed services provider.

Benefits to the business

A managed services provider takes many tasks off of the hands of the business. In fact, the different payment models that managed services providers make available to the businesses that they serve is usually cheaper than having to hire one or two full-time employees to take care of these tasks or having existing employees add these tasks to their work loads. There may be times in which issues come about and those employees must focus on the managed hosting while putting their other job responsibilities on the backburner. However, some managed hosting operations are so large that it takes a number of employees to manage the system and everything that comes with it. This avoids having to pay higher salaries, additional salaries, training costs, and prevents staff members from being overworked.

Another benefit is that a managed services provider focuses on the task at hand because their job is to manage services for the business so that the business can focus on customer satisfaction, monitor costs better, save money by not having to manage their managed hosting themselves, protect vital information, and focus on making the applications satisfactory for the customer. They have no additional tasks other than focusing on the success of their client’s managed hosting.

Overall benefits

So the overall benefits are quite obvious in terms of convenience and cost. What’s really important is that the managed services provider is not consumed with other tasks because their job is to ensure the business they provide services for remains running smoothly in terms of their managed hosting. Successful managed hosting means the business can be more profitable and the consumer’s view of their business will be one of trust and satisfaction.