Category: Vox 4 Thought

Satellite or fibre: the value of the right connection

Posted on by Kathleen Morris

Connectivity doesn’t have to be a city thing; it can be an anywhere and anytime thing with the right technology in place

The United Nations believes that connectivity should be a human right. It’s the thread that connects people to education, opportunities, information and insights. And it is the golden key that unlocks the door to both personal and business growth. Yet, there are many parts of South Africa that are still not connected to the internet. The country ranks 68th on the 2021 Digital Quality of Life Index and, even though it’s higher than many other countries listed in this report, it still has to overcome legacy infrastructure and vast rural areas to bring people and connections together. While there are more than 41 million active internet users in the country, there’s a need to find smart solutions that can connect more people to the internet, social media and cool digital tools. As Kathleen Janse van Rensburg, Satellite Product Manager at Vox points out, there are limitations around fibre implementations with poor access in many areas that still need connectivity, particularly farmlands and agricultural spreads.

“There is a vast unconnected area in South Africa and satellite can play a significant role in changing this profile,” she says. “Good satellite coverage can transform access to connectivity across multiple environments, and it can extend to areas just outside the city or to smaller towns or suburbs that have yet to receive reliable fibre.”

There are several different forms of connectivity available to the market at the moment. LTE is a fixed wireless connection that uses fibre or an internet source that leverages cell towers and mobile networks and thrives in areas with solid mobile phone reception. Satellite offers impressive coverage in almost any location which makes it very accessible for people who have limited fibre or mobile network connectivity options. Satellite may have some limitations but proves to be an effective communication medium where Fibre and LTE are not yet available.

From farmers to rural towns to schools, connectivity is an essential tool to support their businesses and their lives. Farmers want reliable connectivity to ensure that their smart systems are working or to gain access to data, and to stream, socialise and network online. There are also many schools and educational institutions in these areas with no or poor internet connectivity. They can’t simply check online for a project or do research by throwing search terms into Google. They rely on creaking tech and limited connectivity that satellite can solve. Connectivity is a right, not a privilege, and so there has to be a bold move towards technology that can enable this.

“The downfall of entry level satellites is that they do not support VPN (virtual private network) services. To provide VPN support on satellite will cost a lot more than what the average consumer can afford, however, working from home is still possible,” says Janse van Rensburg. “Satellite offers users a high level of resilience that ensures consistent connectivity, even in the event of a power failure.”

Satellite is reliable and cost-effective, plus it’s the ultimate digital nomad. It can be implemented in the rural areas and still provide reliable connectivity. It can also be connected to solar panels so that connectivity remains in play during load-shedding which is, in the current climate, an added bonus, particularly for schools and farms that rely on it. Then, moving back into urban or peri-urban areas that opt into satellite, there are the benefits of high-speed connectivity at a really good price point. After all, for most users, cost comes hand-in-hand with connectivity as nobody wants to pay exorbitant fees for a service that should be readily available.

“Satellite in the suburbs can be a smart alternative as it’s an always-on connection. It offers users a foolproof technology that delivers what they need, even during load-shedding,” says Janse van Rensburg. “While you need a slightly more complex setup than other solutions, it can be kept up and running using a basic generator and UPS backup or inverter when the power goes off.”

“Satellite is a perfect and reliable connectivity solution,” concludes Janse van Rensburg. “It brings digital to remote and rural areas, allows people and places to connect, and removes the limitations imposed by distance and lack of infrastructure. In a few short steps, it provides Internet connectivity, no matter how remote you are.”

The four biggest misconceptions of SD-WAN

Posted on by Jeanette Simpson

SD-WAN may be the next generation of connectivity and modernised network infrastructure, but implementation must be smart to get the right results

Digital transformation has triggered remarkable shifts in infrastructure and architecture. Enabling innovation, productivity, connectivity and growth, digital is reshaping how organisations interact and engage with markets, employees and customers. It has also triggered a fundamental change in the structure of the network. Today, networks are key enablers of digital transformation and innovation. Without an agile and scalable network infrastructure that can handle the demands of the digitally-evolved enterprise, the business will not be able to realise its full potential.

Enter SD-WAN, software-defined networking, that offers organisations of all sizes the toolkit they need to modernise their infrastructure and take it to the point where it can handle today’s applications, demands and hybrid workforce expectations.

“The challenge now facing the implementation of SD-WAN is the misconceptions that trail behind it,” says Jeanette Simpson, Product Manager: SD-WAN at Vox. “These have come about because SD-WAN technologies are an increasingly popular choice for automating network performance management and its rapid growth has resulted in it being surrounded by hyperbole and misunderstanding.”

SD-WAN Myth 01: It improves internet performance

This is not true. What SD-WAN actually does is prioritise application traffic and bandwidth, optimising how the traffic is routed and automating the optimal usage of network resources. The platform has immense potential and can measurably improve the manageability of the network, and it provides organisations with tools and customisation options that they could not normally afford.

“The architecture of most current networks is based on a hybrid of broadband circuits that use different combinations of MPLS, virtual private LAN service and optical point-to-point or multi-point connectivity so you get more bandwidth at your fingertips and everyone will experience better network performance,” says Simpson.

SD-WAN Myth 02: Cost savings

 This is true, but it also isn’t. SD-WAN does have a cost-saving element to it, but it isn’t going to fundamentally transform costs for customers depending on their existing infrastructure, how they use their network and what their objectives are. SD-WAN saves costs when compared with Layer 3 virtual private routed networks like MPLS and uses lower-cost connectivity in the form of broadband internet connectivity, but these benefits are more aligned with the business case for the improved performance and functionality provided by SD-WAN than budget cuts.

“The platform is centralised and companies can make changes faster. The entire system is a lot less resource-intensive, so these two factors will save money,” says Richard Frost, Product Head: Cybersecurity at Armata. “It is very likely that an organisation will see a monthly cost reduction but rather than a heavy slice in costs, it will be more of savings in time and resources.”

SD-WAN Myth 03: It is a silver bullet

Everyone in tech knows that there is no silver bullet, there is also no one-size-fits-all. There is, however, a long list of benefits that can fundamentally transform and modernise an organisation’s infrastructure if done properly and with realistic and strategic objectives. The biggest benefit of SD-WAN is how user-friendly it is – the centralised controlling functionality, built around the concepts of plug-and-play and point-and-click services and consumption, provides an easier work environment compared to MPLS.

“SD-WAN will improve performance, installation and manageability of the WAN, but it won’t necessarily save on all costs or completely replace your MPLS or provide LAN-like performance in a WAN,” says Simpson. “It can improve remote network performance by continuously evaluating throughput capacity, packet loss, latency and other characteristics across two or more WAN links, but the entire network will only be as fast and reliable as the WAN links deployed for it.”

SD-WAN Myth 04: I can build my own SD-WAN

You can. This is absolutely a possibility, but it may risk the business losing hold of the nuanced potential that lies within the SD-WAN architecture. There has to be a deep understanding of the existing network from both the virtual and physical perspectives and the right resources allocated to manage the process and the implementation. For larger, global organisations, this is a challenge that can be overcome with internal resources, but smaller teams would benefit from a managed SD-WAN service provider as this would ensure every box ticked and every gap filled.

“SD-WAN is a promising technology that enables the enterprise to deploy WANs faster and with significant cost savings,” concludes Frost, “Most network architects have abandoned WAN optimisation in favour of SD-WAN or have used a combination of the two to achieve their ideal results. Using a trusted service provider, companies can gain immeasurable value from SD-WAN that spans agility, optimised architecture, multipath networks, dynamic meshing, and a solution that complements and collaborates with existing MPLS to handle more data than either could alone.”

 

 

 

To Cloud or Not To Cloud

Posted on by Sean Rose

Are you cloud-ready? Take this quick self-assessment and find out

Not all workloads are born equal. A Cloud Readiness Assessment will give you the tools needed to start your cloud journey.

We believe cloud computing is strategic for every business, regardless of size. With the right adoption strategy in place, not only can cloud computing solve a multitude of problems you might be facing now, but it also allows you to make almost any of your future business goals a reality too.

Understanding your future business goals is what ultimately forms the foundation of a successful cloud adoption strategy.

The Nymbis Approach to Cloud Readiness

Our engagement methodology typically begins with our pre-sales engineers, solutions architects and specialists spending time understanding your business’ objectives, challenges and technology adoption road maps.

We have an interactive approach that includes a software-led assessment of our customers’ infrastructure and production environments. Through this data acquisition and reporting, we validate recommendations to overcome challenges, write down technical debt and improve operating efficiencies.

Nymbis provides a free Cloud Readiness Assessment option as well as a more detailed, paid for software-led assessment process. Both of these give us the opportunity to interpret the data provided, yielding insight into commercial, operational and technical efficiencies needed to build cloud solutions that simply work.

We view our engagements as opportunities to collaborate, share industry and technical knowledge and develop solutions that optimise and improve your business operations and outcomes.

The reports also provide tools to identify areas for development and change, as well as the steps needed to adopt cloud technology easily and within budget.

How Ready Are You for The Cloud?

According to our research, 82% of our customers are planning on moving some, or all, of their current solutions to the cloud. Unfortunately, as VMware reports, 30% of cloud migrations fail due to incorrect scoping.

Our Cloud Readiness Assessment process is designed to eliminate this possibility.

First, we take a look at what’s currently being utilised on your server infrastructure. This allows us to set a benchmark for the actual resource costing. From there, we look at the savings opportunities available when it comes to hosting on-premises versus in the cloud as well what environments might be needed in the future, based on your business goals.

As your cloud migration journey and solution design will always be unique to your business, it should begin with the right partner. Having a clear understanding of what to prioritise and how to migrate will ensure success in the cloud.

Journey with us at nymbis.cloud

You Can Do It All with Vobi

Posted on by Lynelle Davids

Buy Vobi Here

One softphone app = endless communication possibilities and huge savings. What’s not to love?

Voice Text Video Call

It doesn’t matter which generation you’re from or what your communications preferences are – you can have it all with Vobi.

Hate to talk? There’s text.

Prefer a little face-to-face action? Hello video call.

Just looking to make a good, old-fashioned phone call? You’re going to love this.

With Vobi, you can call any number in South Africa at reduced call rates across all networks or just go all in and pay a single monthly fee for unlimited talk time. While the text and video call functions are free.

One Softphone App to Rule Them All

Unlike another green smartphone app, Vobi allows you to make calls to any number in South Africa, even if they don’t have the Vobi app installed.

In fact, your Vobi number will remain separate to your mobile number, which means if you have a landline number you’re not quite ready to let go of yet, you can port it to the Vox Network to make and receive calls on it via Vobi.

It’s thanks to the Vox Network that you’ll also enjoy reduced call rates on our Per Minute Calling plan – if you’d prefer to only pay for the calls that you make – with all calls (to any number in South Africa) charged at a flat rate of 46c per minute.

If you really love a good chat, choose the Unlimited Calling plan – which allows you to make as many calls as you like all month long for about as much as you’d pay for 100 minutes of talk time anywhere else right now.

Another great thing about Vobi? It uses almost half the data (0.47MB vs 0.75MB) of other popular mobile messaging apps for video calls over Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G or LTE.

How It Works

Vobi is free to download via the Google Play or App Store and is compatible with Android as well as iPhone.

Once the app is downloaded, you’ll need to make your way to the Vox Shop to choose your Vobi package. There’ll be a once-off set-up fee to buy your SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) account, which allows you to use another number on your mobile phone via the Vox Network.

Once that’s done, we’ll send you a mail with set-up instructions and a QR code. Scan your QR code and start making calls. Easy.

If you don’t have a number you’d like to port, you can choose from any of the options we have available and start fresh.

Both calling packages are month-to-month, so there’s no need to fear contract lock-ins. With the Unlimited Calling plan, you’ll also be saving yourself any bill shock anxiety.

Now that’s worth talking about.

Let’s Talk… Microsoft 365 for Home Use

Posted on by Suhail Dinat

Home is where you truly spend the bulk of your lifetime, and the place which ultimately matters most.

There’s no debating it – our homes and families deserve nothing short of the best. In terms of attention and investment, your personal life is where things truly count most – after all, what good is life if those we value most aren’t looked after?

Introducing: Microsoft 365 for Home Use

Solutions for your busy life are now confirmed, as you harness the ability to be powerfully productive. Create, connect, and share wherever you go, whenever you need to – it’s constantly up-to-date Premium Apps, Storage, Security and more within a single convenient subscription.

We now live in an age where everyone at home requires some form of digital resource. Work, college, even school at an entry level all necessitate a degree of technologically based hardware or software solutions. Think about it. At any given time (in a household of four, in no particular order), Dad can be busy with work, Mom maintaining her business, Brother completing his campus assignment, and Sister finishing a school project. The days of one home, one device, and one account have long passed us by – part of the digital revolution we find ourselves in requires that everyone everywhere has some access to the computing tools they require where possible.

M365 Personal and Family are systemically designed to enable your entire home to enjoy the full benefits of Microsoft without compromising on quality. Work, play, interact or stay connected – the possibilities are endless, and fulfill a wide array of needs to suit everyone respectively.

How can you use this? Glad you asked!

  • Unleash the beast and maximise your productivity potential.

With a wealth of Microsoft 365 Productivity Apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Editor, you and your entire family can enjoy a wide array of benefits. From showing off your best creativity to collaborating with friends and family, sharing documents, editing, and operating off any device in real-time, it redefines the way your entire squad works to open new doors of productivity.

  • All the files protected with layers of security.

With a 1TB Microsoft OneDrive, complete with built-in ransomware, you’re able to store and protect important personal files such as videos, family photos and schoolwork. But you ask, what about those extra important, twice as confidential documents? We know what you mean. Whether a Birth or Marriage Certificate, Life Policy, Will or Trust, OneDrive Personal Vault folder adds and extra layer of Security (such as Identity Verification) to help you sleep at night.

  • Maximise your time with family and friends.

M365 allows you to plan and strategies a variety of family/friend related activities. From get-togethers to general family time, staying on top of your schoolwork, adding due dates to calendars and more – you can easily manage multiple Email accounts, lists and notes in one single view.

  • Stay connected to those who matter.

With Teams, you’re able to bring your family and friends together for calls, video calls and chats – but why should it stop there? You can host virtual events such as birthdays or baby showers (although we’re not quite sure where the gifts go) or collaborate with classmates on group assignments. Create separate chats for family, friends, colleagues, and schoolmates – and redefine the way we work, play and interact.

  • Full protection for the entire family.

Ensuring you (and your loved ones) are always protected begins with creating healthy habits. With the Microsoft Family Safety App, you can apply screen time on devices, apps and games. Furthermore, you can block inappropriate apps or games and restrict the content users engage with. Content filtering keeps your viewing kid-friendly, and in turn give you as a digital parent peace of mind. Better yet, you can share locations with family members whilst saving the list of places they visit. Most of all, say goodbye to worrying when your kids take your car out for a spin – you can track speeds, how often drivers use their phone while at the wheel and even how often they brake too hard – it really makes us grateful we learned to drive many, many years ago.

Whilst Microsoft 365 for Home use sounds like one umbrella with many Apps to get you through the day, the reality is for more and infinite possibilities. From sharing your Microsoft 365 family with up to six people (with each using up to five device simultaneously across Windows, Android, Mac and iOS), Microsoft 365 Personal is a single person subscription which allows you to use up to 5 devices at the same time.

We live in a smarter, more digitised world – and modern parenting should be reflective of that. The things which really, truly matter deserve nothing short of the best – and it doesn’t come better than Microsoft 365 for Consumer and Home.

 

Let’s Talk… Microsoft 365 Business Premium

Posted on by Suhail Dinat

Running a business in 2022 is a lot like having kids – it needs attention, protection, requires lots of hard work and doesn’t come cheap. It’s worth it, of that there’s no doubt, but take your eye off the prize or drop the ball for a split second and it can come back to haunt you later.

Much like you would never compromise the safety or wellbeing of your loved ones and the things that matter most, your business needs deserve a similar treatment. After all, you’ve devoted your love, effort, blood sweat and tears towards creating, maintaining, and growing this wonderful venture – so why should you risk it all in a second or allow it to be abused by people with ill intentions?

Let’s talk Microsoft365 Business Premium – your gateway to raising your business Security Posture.

Simply put, M365 Business Premium is a comprehensive offering for small to mid-sized businesses alike. Primarily, this serves to offer you and your brand a wide array of office productivity tools designed to enhance your business functions. However, it doesn’t end there, as the software takes it one step further to present comprehensive security and management functions within a singular cost-effective package.

Not only do you grant your organisation access to a wealth of international-grade tools conducive for growth and efficiency, but you also ensure that in terms of safety, security and reliability, your brand is never left wanting.

So, what does it really do?

Whilst many of the benefits are so all-encompassing, they can be quite intangible in nature, there are a few key primary functions which M365 Business Premium focuses on so as to guarantee the future safety of your business, namely…

  • Regulation + Prevention of Unauthorised Access to Work Data:

The software allows users to apply advanced Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and Conditional Access policies. These serve to ensure that access to work Data is reserved only for authorised users (save the right access for the right people!) without infringing on accessibility for those who do warrant it. Internally, your employees can securely access Data anytime, anywhere – but only if they’re meant to.

  • Protection from Phishing Attacks:

M365 Business Premium comes standard with Microsoft Defender installed. The result? Added protection against Phishing attacks. This includes, but isn’t limited to:

  1. Time of click protection against malicious links – said links are checked in real-time to warn users if the destination is malicious via Safe Links.
  2. URL Detonation – When a user clicks on a URL in an email message or in an Office file, the link is checked by Defender Safe Links and is identified as blocked, malicious, or safe before opening the website
  3. Anti-Spoofing Technology – AI-powered Anti-Phishing Intelligence helps protect against impersonation and spoofing with Anti-Phishing
  4. Multi-Factor authentication – if the password is lost or stolen, attackers can’t access your Email or Data as a second form of authentication (pin or Microsoft authenticator) is required.
  • Data Loss and Breach Protection:

Furthermore, the software offers advanced capabilities, such as Data Loss Prevention and Azure Information Protection. These combine to assist with the classification and protection of sensitive Data (such as customer/employee information, confidential Data, social security, and credit card numbers). Your business info is priceless – and this ensures that even if it is compromised, all is far from lost.

  • Security for Work Data on Personal Devices:

With Microsoft 365 Business Premium, you can set up Intune App Protection Policies, so that work apps can be separated from personal apps. This serves to ensure that work documents and attachments are only saved on authorised workshares such as OneDrive for Business – thereby safeguarding sensitive work information.

All in all, this is a resource which should (and will) prove invaluable to your business protection and growth. Statistically, South Africa is the third most targeted country in the world in terms of Cyber Attacks. One attack, one vulnerability or one weak point is often all it takes for those with malicious intent to destroy a lifetime worth of work – don’t let your business be another statistic. We may not be able to wholly solve Cyber Crimes, but you can take the precautions required to combat it.

Explore a world of endless possibilities and guaranteed enhanced security with M365 Business Premium. You, your employees and the future of your organisation will thank us.

 

It’s Time to Update Your Content Management System

Posted on by Bhavin Mistry

And maximise your website’s full potential with a better user experience and enhanced security.

Even though it’s really just the right thing to do, there are at least six crucial reasons for regularly updating your Content Management System.

But first, a little refresher.

 

What’s a Content Management System again?

 

Well, it’s the software application or set of tools that is used to create, manage, and publish digital content quickly and easily. A CMS (Content Management System) can be used to create and manage websites, blogs, mobile apps, and other forms of digital content. It’s versatile, sure, but most importantly – it makes it easy for almost everyone to create those things and publish online without having to know how to programme code first.

Like all online products, they just get better over time.

 

Our Top Six Reasons for Updating Your CMS

 

  1. New Features and Functionality

What’s not to love about that, right? With every update, software developers are ensuring you’re not only getting the most out your CMS, but there are all new ways you can make your website, blog or app even better. WordPress 6.0 was released back in May, and with it came with far more customisable editing features and enhanced themes.

  1. Improved Security

If we’re being technical, this would actually sit at number one. But, where’s the fun in that right? By far the biggest reason to keep your CMS updated is the relief it provides knowing your website is far less vulnerable to cyber-attacks thanks to internal bug fixes and security patches. Consider this chilling statistic: reportedly 86% of WordPress sites are hacked due to outdated installs and plugins…

  1. Better Performance

There’s no point pouring your blood, sweat and tears into a website only to have it load slowly or not at all. The face of your business should be incredible to look at, but most importantly, a joy to use. Fast load times are crucial here.

  1. Bug Fixes

Sure, it seems like we already covered this one, but there’s more to it that just improved security. As exciting as WordPress 6.0 is, it doesn’t mean it was all smooth sailing. Last month, WordPress released its maintenance 6.0.1 update, containing 13 bug fixes for Core and 18 for the Block Editor.

  1. Reputation Protection

This is the Internet; word will spread fast – either via social media or business reviews – and if your website constantly crashes, is unavailable or extremely user unfriendly, your business will go down with it. Regularly updating your CMS goes a long way in avoiding those headaches.

  1. Increased Savings

Again, it might seem like this should be further up the list – but let’s call it saving the best for last. If you wait too long to upgrade your CMS, you may encounter problems that are difficult or expensive to fix. Updating your CMS on a regular basis not only offers better features but saves the time and hassle it takes to deal with technical issues on a large scale.

 

To recap: If you’re not already keeping your CMS up to date, we recommend doing so as soon as possible. An outdated CMS can leave your website vulnerable to security threats, slow down performance, and cause compatibility issues with new software and plugins.

 

How to Update Your CMS

Whether you’re running WordPress or Joomla, here are two handy step-by-step guides to help you stay on top of the latest updates.

First though, and this is important, don’t forget to make backups of all your files and plugins before you update. It’s always better to be safe than sorry, and as far as anything digital is concerned, you can’t be too careful.

With that out of the way, feel free to click any of the links below and discover the glory of the optimised CMS that awaits.

WordPress 

Joomla

Let’s talk…. Premium WordPress Hosting

Posted on by Suhail Dinat

Ja ne? In South Africa, we definitely like things…

It’s the reason people who visit the UK for three weeks come back with an accent, or how the closest reference point for those in JHB South is automatically Bassonia. It’s why we have a song about Versace and, despite having no electricity, even our looters went for the TV’s first. We like Woolworths’s water because it makes us look fancy, our petrol is pricier than the most expensive fragrance, and our most established chicken franchise costs a small mortgage for a medium quarter chicken meal (we’re looking at you, Nando’s).

Also, based on some of our competitors Fibre prices, it explains why some of them are even in business – but that’s a story for another day.

The fact is that nobody likes being extra quite like South African’s. From the kid in the tuck shop line who only buys buddy cokes to the CEO of Eskom taking a bonus after 294 days of rolling blackouts, as a nation, we’re not shy to say we enjoy the finer things in life (or, if you’re the owner of Ster Kinekor Hyde Park, not shy to ask either).

So, if we unanimously like premium products and premium experiences in our personal life, we really need to wonder why our business (and its website) should be any exception?

Let’s talk Premium Hosting – which is basically WordPress Hosting made Bougee.

If you (or your business) needs a website, then Vox provides locally hosted and dedicated WordPress Hosting service – just minus the headache involved with managing a server (it’s like flying Business Class over economy – more perks, way better space to operate, and none of the headache of hoping you can get the armrest before someone cramps your style).

True, Shared Web Hosting does exist (and has its merits), but why would you offer your brand anything less than the best? After all, your website is effectively the face of your business and, more often than not, your first point of customer interaction – particularly if you’re big on E-Commerce. Studies show that a first-time user on a web page has an attention span of around four seconds before they keep scrolling, move on or click “back” (unless, of course, it’s one of THOSE websites) – so it’s your job to make it count. If your page is buggy, crashes, or just looks as bad as the SARS one (with similar levels of response time), your business will eventually feel it – either through a lost sale or, even worse, a lost customer for good.

This is what separates traditionally shared hosting from its Premium counterpart – it doesn’t just sound fancier, but opts not to split resources across multiple customers. The end result? Instead of inconsistent levels of speed, reliability and customer service, your audience can feel like they’ve just checked into Emirates first class – minus the caviar, of course.

Unless you’re Nokia or Home Affairs, everything adapts to the present and gears up for the future – and conventional shared hosting is now a thing of the past (at least if you, like us, require optimised performance and better uptime and scalability – which is pretty much everyone except the licensing department).

Still not sold? Here’s the pitch (or, at least, more of the pitch) …

  • With Premium Hosting, you can enjoy lightning-fast speeds through our dedicated infrastructure.
  • Worried about Security? Stress not – you’re backed by the Vox Security Team (which is basically the digital version of The Hawks – versus Coin Security for standard).
  • Improved performance, which results in higher click to sale ratios.
  • Need an HTTPS enabled site? We offer SSL certification as well.
  • And, of course, Vulnerability Scans come included. Why wouldn’t they? It’s Premium.

So, like Maboneng in 2022 or the Diamond Walk in Sandton City, everything looks better when you go the extra mile to make it stand out. Your brand, and your website, deserve the best – and it doesn’t come better than Premium WordPress Hosting with Vox.

Managed services can alleviate the impact of a growing IT skill shortage

Posted on by Quintin van Zyl

By Quintin van Zyl, Manager of Managed Services Operations at qwerti

South Africa is in the midst of an ongoing and deepening IT skills shortage that is exacerbated by the high global demand for IT talent from the country’s skills pool. The exodus of quality skills is often spurred on by attractive remuneration and the opportunity to work for off-shore companies without leaving home.

The best talent with the most in-demand skills that remain in the country will largely be attracted by corporations and large enterprises with flexible salary budgets. IT skills fall in amongst the highest demand category and the current national shortage and strong future demand place small and medium businesses in a precarious situation.

This scarcity of IT skills and its limited availability to certain sectors of the market means that IT heads, in SMEs especially, are finding it challenging to attract and retain the right talent to deliver on their strategic IT goals. Deploying and managing IT infrastructure is complex and this is where a Managed Services Partner (MSP) can play a significant role. MSPs are able to mitigate against poor capacity planning and growth prediction and remove some of the HR-related challenges in terms of individual salary and expenses attached to employee benefits.

In addition, the demands placed on companies by skilled IT talent can sometimes take an undesirable turn as their awareness of this skills scarcity becomes more apparent.

Leveraging a partnership with a managed services company can help CIOs and IT managers cope with those challenges and alleviate the impact of the current skills shortage. MSPs provide flexible, as-a-service models that enable IT leaders and their teams to focus on the business value of IT.

Managed service adoption can simplify the IT environment in a business by freeing in-house employees for higher-value tasks. Some MSPs will also embed skills in your organisation if required and the advantage here is that training, certification, remuneration and continued availability of expertise in your environment are all for the account of the MSP while you simply need to commit to a predetermined term based contractual fee agreement.

Partnering with an MSP is not only about resources – it also helps to compensate for skill shortages and scale your IT operation in a cost-effective and time-efficient manner. It is also a strategic opportunity for your IT department to embrace digital transformation through accelerated adoption of modern technology offerings that can enhance collaboration, operation and data security in your organisation.

Managed Services Partners are complementary to existing in-house IT teams that are focused on driving transformation, especially when their IT shop is inadequate in terms of resource availability.  Businesses will need less of the deep technical IT infrastructure skills as this can be brought by the MSP. For the CIO or IT manager, an opportunity exists to elevate their own roles within the organisation further and become a key part of the strategic conversation across the entire enterprise in terms of cost containment and increased efficiency – easily achievable with access to the right tools, shared infrastructure and the right skills to boot.

A question often posed is how do MSPs deal with the scarcity of skills and are they not impacted by it? The fact is MSPs are not completely immune to this crisis but are somewhat better placed to attract talent despite it. In addition to market-related salaries and the usual perks, the fact that MSPs can offer their employees extensive, much sought-after exposure to a number of environments, technologies, industries and projects, and that they possess the means to facilitate training, upskilling and certification opportunities, makes them employers of choice in the IT sector.

If your business, like many others, is embarking on a journey of transformation or preparing for your next big IT move, success might lie in finding the right MSP to handle the fundamentals, enabling the internal team to focus on turning the application of IT into a competitive advantage for the business.

Third-party backup, a Microsoft 365 essential

Posted on by Barry Kemp

By Barry Kemp Head: Nymbis Cloud Solutions

 Microsoft Office 365 users might not be aware but their data, be it deleted documents, emails, chat history and other aspects of the suite or even users, remains accessible for a period of 30 days only on the MS platform. Microsoft’s primary objective is to keep its infrastructure and platform up and running smoothly so that users have continued use, but no real long-term backup is provided as part of the licence.

The full MS 365 stack in use by most users includes Email, SharePoint, OneDrive and MS Teams which has Chat and File Folders within and it is imperative that all of this is backed up to ensure recovery of data, whether accidentally or maliciously deleted, is possible when required. The responsibility of managing and protecting the business’s data does not fall within the scope of the Software as a Service (SaaS) provider, in this case, Microsoft 365, but rather in the domain of the IT lead or department in your organisation.

In the event that an email, for example, needs to be recovered several months later or a user has been deleted and access is again required after a few months, this will not be possible – at least not with any intervention from Microsoft. In these scenarios, which are common to most businesses, a robust third-party backup solution is necessary to facilitate the retrieval of data.

There are several reasons why organisations that use a cloud-based solution especially,  need a third-party solution for backup. Amongst them are the following:

  • Accidental deletion: A common occurrence, whether on purpose or not. A backup could restore your user to on-premises Exchange or Microsoft 365.
  • Retention policy: If your business needs to comply with certain regulations, laws and internal policies that stipulate retention or deletion of information, a reliance on the Retention policies in Microsoft 365 offers limited protection only as they are not proper backups. What you need is a backup that can store your data for longer periods in a secure location for easy access and recovery when required.
  • Internal security threats: Threats from the inside of businesses are more widespread than we may imagine. Malicious behaviour by exiting employees for example can cause the loss of critical data through intentional deletion. A sound recovery solution that can retrieve from a backup can safeguard you from permanent loss of data.
  • External security threats: A backup can easily restore data to an instance before the attack thereby safeguarding your organisation from Ransomware and other external threats posed by cybercriminals.
  • Legal and compliance requirements: A third-party backup solution is purpose-built to easily search within a backup and quickly bring back data to meet any of your regulatory compliance needs.
  • Managing hybrid email deployments and migrations to Microsoft 365: Whether you are migrating to Microsoft 365 or have a blend of on-premises Exchange and Microsoft 365 users, the exchange data should be managed and protected the same way, which makes the source location irrelevant.
  • Teams’ data structure: Microsoft Teams is not an application that stands alone. The data generated in Teams resides in other applications like Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and OneDrive. This adds a layer of complexity and, as such, it is crucial to protect this data.

One of the biggest benefits of using a third-party supplier for your MS 365 backup is that it gives your organisation a level of redundancy – allowing you to access your data even in the unlikely event of Microsoft going down completely. This view is supported, in a sense, by Microsoft itself given that responsibility for customers’ data features prominently – at the forefront – of Microsoft’s Shared Responsibility Model. Microsoft is adamant that safeguarding your data is primarily your responsibility.

Budget-conscious SMEs and other businesses that find themselves without an adequate in-house IT capability could consider Cloud backup solutions. They don’t require you to own hardware because they store your data in their own or partner data centres. All the infrastructure and data are on the Internet, encrypted, and accessible to you on demand.

Although a third-party cloud backup vendor will deploy the same physical tools that your business will have to acquire for an on-premises setup – maintenance, upgrades and replacement hardware and software will be for their account and the advantages to your organisation, should you choose the cloud route  are as follows:

  • No setup and maintenance are required. All infrastructure is already installed and configured for you.
  • High scalability. Cloud backup services can scale up and down on your request. It’s simply a matter of adding or removing licences as required.
  • No overheads are required. Price points are set up front and will include everything required to start backing up immediately.
  • Compliance confidence. The cloud offers all the security and certifications required to meet the unique needs of your organisation.

If Microsoft 365 is the cloud-based choice for your business for easy teamwork and collaboration, adding a cloud-based backup solution can bolster your environment by securing and protecting your business information and activities on the platform.

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