Blog - Page 7 of 12 - Bellwether Technology

How Do You Qualify for Cyber Insurance?

Posted on July 15, 2022 by Merrick Sloss

If you want to have a shot at qualifying for cyber insurance and get the best possible rates, you have to show that your company is effectively managing cyber risks. Unfortunately, it’s getting harder and harder to get cyber insurance even if you’re trying to renew an existing policy. If you don’t believe it, just have a look at a current application. When they’re considering your risk profile, insurance underwriters want to know what security controls you have in place. The answers to the questions on the application get technical really fast. In fact, most insurance companies are asking you […]

What’s It Like To Transition To Managed IT Services?

Posted on July 13, 2022 by Merrick Sloss

What’s the transition to a managed IT services model going to be like? That’s the question that comes up next after you’ve decided that you need to do something different with IT, and managed services are the solution to your problems. Whether you’ve picked a provider or you’re still evaluating your short list, asking questions about what the transition to the new services will look like will help you to be prepared. The managed service provider (MSP) should have an established onboarding process that they follow to get clients started with services. The goal of onboarding is not just to […]

Bellwether Technology Corporation is on the 2022 New Orleans Top Workplace List

Posted on June 27, 2022 by Merrick Sloss

(June 26, 2022 – New Orleans, LA) – Managed IT services company, Bellwether Technology Corporation, is on the 2022 list of Top Workplaces in New Orleans for the fourth year in a row. Placement on the list is based on employee responses to survey questions about their work environment and how their employer treats them. The Top Workplaces list is limited to 70 New Orleans companies and is published by The Times-Picayune and The New Orleans Advocate. You can view the list on https://topworkplaces.com/award/neworleans/2022/35-124/ The survey is facilitated by Energage LLC, a third-party technology partner. Bellwether’s inclusion reflects the company’s […]

Cybersecurity Beyond the Basics: Compliance Frameworks

Posted on June 23, 2022 by Merrick Sloss

When it comes to creating a cybersecurity process that can consistently translate security expectations into actionable tactics, you need a framework. Frameworks are how regulations for data confidentiality and safety are communicated and enforced in many industries. For example, any company that gathers and stores information about your health or medical care must be compliant with HIPAA. What is a Compliance Framework? A cybersecurity compliance framework is a set of guidelines and best practices that enable consistency and clear communication about security expectations. Compliance frameworks communicate cybersecurity standards, but they don’t provide instructions for exactly how those standards should be […]

How Much Do Managed IT Services Cost?

Posted on June 15, 2022 by Merrick Sloss

When you’ve decided that managed IT services are a good option for your business and you’re evaluating different companies, you need to understand what’s included and what’s not included in their monthly fee. Evaluating managed services provider (MSP) costs isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison, so having questions to guide your conversation about what to expect as far as costs is imperative. Before we go any further, let’s identify a price range for managed IT services prices. In general, you can expect to pay between $75 and $250 per user per month so what you pay depends in large part on the […]

Always Thorough, Always Prepared – Spotlight on Brian

Posted on May 27, 2022 by Merrick Sloss

Brian is known for being thorough. Whether it’s revamping a network closet’s cabling or getting answers to questions before they’ve even been asked, Brian likes to be prepared. This quality serves him well as an Escalation Engineer for Bellwether and the end result is that clients feel taken care of. According to Brian, there are a combination of factors that come together to create a client experience where people feel heard and attended to. One is the personal interaction. When he’s troubleshooting an issue, he likes to go directly to the individual to talk with them to find out exactly […]

Cybersecurity Beyond the Basics: Systems Hardening

Posted on May 19, 2022 by Merrick Sloss

What do cyber-criminals do when they need more computing power? They steal it, of course, and something connected to your network could be captured and enslaved in a global botnet army if you haven’t hardened your systems. This is what occurred in 2016 when a huge Denial of Service attack targeted high profile websites and hosting providers.* Here’s how it happens. A cyber-criminal searches the internet for devices that have weak, default or no passwords or other holes that can be exploited. When they find an open door, they confiscate the computing power and turn it in the direction they […]

Is My IT Services Company Understaffed?

Posted on May 15, 2022 by Merrick Sloss

When you’re disappointed with the service and results that you’re getting from your IT services company, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly why but one reason could be that they’re understaffed and overworked. The decline may have happened over a period of years or perhaps you’re a year into your relationship and it’s become apparent that the IT company can’t deliver what they promised. Either way, when your IT services company is understaffed, it shows up in your business as frustration, recurring problems, and plain incompetence. Is this happening to you? Let’s take a deeper look at what you might be […]

5 Ways Managed IT Services Solve Your IT Staffing Problems

Posted on May 6, 2022 by Merrick Sloss

What if your IT manager resigned today? What if two or more of your internal IT team needed time off at the same time? What if maternity/paternity leave for multiple IT staff overlapped? What if everyone in the IT department got food poisoning from the takeout meal they shared? We’re getting a little melodramatic here but the point that we’re making is that when you have a small internal IT team, you’re just one situation away from big trouble, especially in a tight job market. How can you make sure that you’re always staffed even if something happens to pull […]

How to Evaluate a Managed IT Services Company

Posted on April 25, 2022 by Merrick Sloss

As a business leader, you might be hesitant to make a change with what you’re doing with IT because you don’t have the technical background needed to compare different managed IT service companies. If your goal is to augment your internal IT team, there will certainly be some technical questions that your IT manager will want answered. However, whether you’re looking for a co-managed or fully outsourced solution, what you, as an executive, really need to determine is: As you gather the information that will answer these two questions, you’ll be able to paint a picture of what it will […]