Maintaining Cloud Compliance and Security with Limited IT Resources

Dan Ortiz

Each company strives to differentiate themselves from their competition through the development of intellectual property, formulas, processes, unique methods of production, etc. Protecting proprietary information is essential in maintaining a competitive edge along with preserving a unique company identity. Leveraging SaaS-based Microsoft 365 provides a comprehensive set of online services that need to be configured and continuously tuned. Your compliance and security settings are essential to the protection of your environment and proprietary intellectual capital. 

Addressing Cybersecurity Threats

Think about the beginning of modern aviation. The Wright Brothers dreamed of creating a flying machine early on in their lives. Their passion for creating something groundbreaking led to the first recorded flight. Imagine if their designs had been stolen. History would have been changed forever. The difference between the early 1900s and now is the number of bad actors out there with access to a remote gateway in which to commit theft. The scale of attempted theft of proprietary company information is growing exponentially through identity breaches, ransomware, browser hijacks, DDoS attacks, rootkits, trojans, virus, and worms—just to name a few. There are individual bad actors out there as well as state sponsored groups. Ransomware has increased 300% year over year. In 2020, the average cost of downtime associated with ransomware attacks rose by 94%

Meeting Compliance Requirements

In addition to fending off the rapidly increasing threat vectors, companies also have stringent compliance needs based on industry regulations, company location, legal, standards, and ethical practices. How do you ensure that your company is meeting all the compliance requirements? What would happen to a healthcare organization if patient information was shared accidentally? What would happen if your company was audited and there were gaps in your legal hold policies? How would your company recover from customer credit card information being accessed illegally? 

Balancing Resource Constraints

Let’s face it, companies need to ensure that their data is secure and compliant with limited IT budgets.  Per Gartner, 38% of the IT budget is tied up in headcount and 74% of their time is caught up in IT operations. These are the same people that are tasked with innovation and company growth. Burnout is a real problem in companies and the job market is quite attractive. You can invest in growing the talent internally or try to hire the right talent on the open market. How much do recruiting agencies charge for talent placements?  

Managing Complex Cloud Environments

Many organizations are faced with these cloud challenges. Proactive threat monitoring, compliance gap analyses, optimizing compliance performance, and setting policy baselines with limited resources can put a lot in jeopardy for your organization. Joining forces with a partner that offers full-scale Microsoft 365 managed services can significantly free up your IT operations and budget for other imperative needs. As a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner and Microsoft Tier 1 Cloud Solution Provider, Connection offers customized solutions to meet the needs of your organization with a value-based approach focused on your success. Our flexible options can cover some or all the administrative tasks associated with your Microsoft 365 environment, while ensuring your company is secure and compliant. Ask your Account Manager about our Microsoft 365 cloud managed services or contact us for more information.

Dan is a Business Development Manager for Microsoft at Connection with over 10 years of experience in software licensing. In his spare time Dan is an avid hiker.

© PC CONNECTION, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.