Thank you
First things first. I would like to thank you for being our customer. We enjoy working with each of you. This is a time of great change in how everything works in computer world. We’re seeing the shift to the cloud come into every aspect of work life. Some of you are moving quickly through the changes, others of you are taking your time, a few of you are going kicking and screaming but it is all part of the process and we’re glad to be able to help each of you through it. It’s a big giant learning curve for you and your staff. Productivity is gained through adopting the new tools and modernizing business practices to take advantage of the vast new opportunity that this new app driven world has brought.
On our end, we’ve hired additional staff (above plus our fun photo bombing waitress and minus our Office Ninja photographer Missy) to bring you that one-on-one experience and I hired our first ever full-time trainer to help your staff understand the new tools they have and how to adopt them into their daily work. Productivity takes a hit during change but coming out the other end the adoption of new methods is one of the only ways there is to increase productivity in a business today. We’re happy to be able to help you with this.
Thank you for being our customer and for allowing us to help you through this process. We’re dropping of a little something for your office. The thankful season is my favorite time of year.
Good news
I have some good news for you. For the first time ever we are ahead of the bad guys. I didn’t think this day would ever happen I don’t think it will last but for the time being we are ahead of the bad guys. Here’s why I say that; all of the major sources of breach can be successfully controlled.
- Ransomware is in dramatic decline
- Phishing is under control
- Spoofing is under control
Not all of you have adopted the complete set of tools that can offer this near 100% protected state but the majority of our clients have.
- Multi-Factor Authentication – this is the new password protection. It is also a stepping stone toward the day when we eliminate password completely. (yes that day is rapidly approaching)
- Advanced Threat Management – this is an add-on subscription to Office 365 and included in Microsoft 365 which is what we’d like everyone to move into. This process is underway. It offers near 100% phishing and malware controls.
- DKIM, DMARC, SPF and Anti-spoofing tools in Office 365. Those first group of letters are DNS records that we have created and applied for you. The anti-spoofing tools were an add-on but are now included in every Office/Microsoft 365 subscription. Together they can eliminate 99.5% of all email spoofing. You can read more about how Phishing can be shut down here
- Ransomware protections. We have implemented controls to protect against the encryption of files. It’s not 100% but it will prevent most variants in short order to minimize the impact.
In 2019
2019 is going to be an interesting year. Here are my top two items for you.
- Skype is going away and Teams is its replacement. Yes even for chat. This process is actually already underway.
- Compliance tools and auditing. Compliance tools for ISO, NIST, FEDRAMP, HIPAA and more are flooding into Office/Microsoft 365. We’ve got some great things to share with you in the coming months regarding these new tools, including auditing
- Migrate to Microsoft 365. You probably feel like you just got to Office 365 but Microsoft is changing things and we need to move you into the new plan called Microsoft 365. No worry though, it’s not a migration. It is just a licensing change that will enable a lot of additional security and management features.
It’s going to be a great year and we look forward to working through all of it with you.
About Harbor Computer Services
Harbor Computer Services is an IT firm servicing Southeastern Michigan. We work exclusively under contract with our clients to provide technology direction and either become the IT department or provide assistance to the internal IT they already have. We have won many awards for our work over the years, including the worldwide Microsoft Partner of the Year in 2010. We’re the smallest firm to have ever won this most prestigious award. Most recently we were recognized as one of the top 20 visionaries in small business IT by ChannelPro Magazine (2015). And in 2016 as the top Michigan IT firm for Manufacturing. There are a few simple things that make Harbor Computer Services the best choice for your business. •We are Professionals •We are Responsible •We are Concerned About The Success of Your Business
