Merrick Sloss, Author at Bellwether Technology

Account Management with Integrity – Spotlight on Michele

Posted on April 13, 2022 by Merrick Sloss

Every day is different and holds its own challenges for Michele, and she likes it that way because it keeps her thinking and learning. As an Account Manager at Bellwether, it’s Michele’s job to be the go-to person whom clients call on when they have questions about anything at all having to do with their Bellwether IT services. She may not always have the answer right away, but she’ll find it or get them to the people who do. In her role, Michele works closely with Bellwether’s vCIO’s (Virtual Chief Information Officers) to make sure that the lines of communication […]

All-Inclusive or Partial Managed IT Services: Which Option is Best?

Posted on March 29, 2022 by Merrick Sloss

When your business runs on technology (and whose doesn’t?) you need to be confident that your IT team has the expertise and bandwidth to do everything that needs to be done. Whether you have an internal IT manager and staff, or someone “good with technology” overseeing IT, there can come a time when you’re not convinced that what they can provide is enough. This puts your organization in a precarious position because when the balls start to drop, you’re going to suffer the impact. Impacts like downtime, employee and customer frustration, loss of competitive advantage, and even cyber-attacks. The good […]

Cybersecurity Beyond the Basics: Managed Detection and Response

Posted on March 23, 2022 by Merrick Sloss

Web apps have made it easy for just about anyone to start a service business. All you have to do is buy a subscription to the software and off you go. Along with the latest software, you’ll get access to tutorials and tech support, and you can even join an online forum where you can interact and learn from others in the same business. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Yes, it’s great except this is not what it seems. This is the cyber-criminal ecosystem and the improvements that have allowed business technology to evolve so quickly are the same kind of […]

Bellwether Technology Corporation Recognized as a Top Managed IT Service Provider

Posted on March 21, 2022 by Merrick Sloss

(March 21, 2022 – New Orleans, LA) – Bellwether Technology Corporation is on CRN’s list of the Top 500 Managed IT Service Providers in the nation. This annual list identifies the leading service providers in North America whose forward-thinking approaches to managed services are changing the landscape of the IT channel, helping end-users increase efficiency and simplify IT solutions, while maximizing their return on investment. Bellwether’s consistent presence on the Top Managed Service Provider (MSP) list since 2014 is a sign of their commitment to bringing clients the highest quality of IT strategy and management. While Bellwether provides managed and […]

I Can Do That – A Spotlight on Zasha

Posted on March 14, 2022 by Merrick Sloss

Zasha, Director of Operations at Bellwether Technology, hasn’t always worked in IT. In fact, when she landed her first IT job as an assistant systems administrator for a government contractor, she didn’t have any experience in the field except for being her family’s go-to IT resource. During the course of the job interview, she didn’t know the answers to all of the technical questions that she was asked. But it turned out that how she did answer revealed a lot of about who Zasha is and not just what she knew. “I had no professional experience in IT and there […]

Cybersecurity Beyond the Basics: Network Segmentation

Posted on February 18, 2022 by Merrick Sloss

An employee gets an email that says their invoice is attached. Opening the attachment downloads a computer virus that encrypts the files on their computer in seconds. The virus spreads to other computers in the company and soon the entire network is taken down and a cyber-criminal is demanding a hefty ransom in return for the encryption key that’s required to release the data. This is what cyber experts call – a cold, dark day. It’s the day when you have a cyber-attack. While cyber-attacks like this ransomware scenario can happen quickly, these days it’s more common for the bad […]

5 Benefits of Technology Strategy

Posted on February 9, 2022 by Merrick Sloss

The starting place for technology strategy is a mindset. It’s an awareness that IT is more than just overhead, an awareness that IT is not only integral to keep business operations humming along, but that it can be used to move the business forward. While technology strategy includes the utilization of best practices to create and scale high functioning IT systems, there is no cookie cutter template that you can use to create IT strategy. Strategy sets out a path to take you from where you are today, to where you want to go tomorrow and that’s unique for every […]

3 Ways That Managed IT Services Enable Your Your Business Success

Posted on January 17, 2022 by Merrick Sloss

3 ways that managed IT services guide you along your business journey

Wondering if your small business needs the benefits of a managed IT service provider is like asking if you need a guide to scale Mount Everest. Theoretically, you could do the climb yourself but how many years would it take for you to gather all the knowledge you need about the terrain? And how long would it take to get your technical skills up to the level that they need to be? And what’s it going to take to manage the whole expedition? By the time you get it all together you might very well have missed your chance to […]

Cybersecurity Beyond the Basics: The Principle of Least Privilege

Posted on January 5, 2022 by Merrick Sloss

With a Zero Trust strategy for cybersecurity, the presence of an intruder is assumed. That means that tactics are needed to limit exposure and the potential damage that the intruder can do. One of those tactics is the Principle of Least Privilege. Least privilege involves matching up permissions to access data with the job or tasks that need to be done. This starts with determining exactly what data is needed to perform specific functions and then establishing limits. Historically, companies have been quite relaxed when it comes to allocating permissions with user and even administrator accounts because opening up access […]

The Pros and Cons of Internal IT vs Managed IT Services

Posted on December 17, 2021 by Merrick Sloss

There comes a time when small business leaders are forced to rethink the IT function of their business and ask themselves – Should we continue to have internal IT staff or is it time to outsource managed IT services? It could be that the IT manager is leaving or there’s been a lot of turn-over in IT. Maybe the organization had a cyber-attack. It could be that the business has grown, and technology needs have become more sophisticated. Whatever the situation, it’s causing stress on the business, especially if it looks like there’s going to be a gap in IT […]