Author Archives: thrivewpengine

There’s an old adage in IT that goes something like this: “people only notice/value technology when it doesn’t work as expected.” This is never truer than with the databases that sit behind so many of the applications we use every day. We expect applications to perform as quickly as we’ve grown accustomed to. We also expect the information contained in them to be kept securely, accurately, and for as long as we need it. A substantial part of an application’s capability to satisfy these baseline requirements depends on the database. So, while most of us never interact directly with databases, most of us become acquainted with them when they become slow, or worse, lose data to theft or other disaster.
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In today’s fast paced world, it’s social media, viral videos, celebrity news and the latest trends. Generally, these boil down to a single word or two which in and of itself, becomes Pop Culture. In the business of information technology, it’s all the acronyms and buzzwords. Some of these buzzwords end up sticking around and become much more than we could have imagined just a few years ago. One of them that’s stood the test of time is, “Cloud Integration.”

It’s become very clear in the past few years that the ever present, and often talked about, “Cloud”, is here to stay. Many people still don’t grasp how important the cloud has become, in both your business and your personal life. It’s more important than ever for businesses of all sizes to take a step back and assess the state of their Cloud Integration…it’s more than a trendy new buzzword now. (more…)

Today’s cybersecurity landscape is changing at a pace we’ve never seen before, and the ability for companies of all sizes to keep up is becoming increasingly difficult.

So that begs the question, and one that myself and my colleagues get very frequently, why would we outsource our security? 

There are so many reasons why companies should very seriously consider enhancing what they’re doing internally by partnering with external experts, but I will lay out the Top 3 we’re seeing in the marketplace today. (more…)

Disaster Recovery Planning – Where to Start?

Whether you’re a newly hired IT leader or recently promoted, understanding the business continuity plan of the organization is critical to sleeping well at night and building a platform for future success.  No matter the challenge or issue, the CIO is expected to prepare, test, and execute their way through any event involving IT systems, to keep the business going.  As IT transitions from a necessary support system into an age of business enablement, having robust and tested DR capabilities are critical to allow for future scalability and reliability.

So, you’ve been charged with reviewing, revamping, or refreshing the “BCDR Plan”.  Where do you start? (more…)

Virtualization has been rising in popularity during the past few years due to its ability to provide a viable solution for companies to increase productivity while reducing IT infrastructure costs.  By switching to virtualization, companies have been able to control workloads in data centers while reducing energy consumption and IT infrastructure.

Before we discuss the specific benefits of switching to virtualization let’s first define what virtualization is and some of the reasons why more companies are making the change. (more…)

This is more of a rant, but it has to be said.  Too many of you are running your business like it is 2001.  Your business might be growing, you are adding more relevant product, but your systems and your processes have not changed.  Specifically, your security.

Let me give you some examples.  A company has this amazing firewall that can process 1,000’s of packets per second, a SIEM that is monitoring every server and workstation, but low and behold the helpdesk is saving all the passwords in an excel document on the file server. Unencrypted. (more…)

Every business with more than one enterprise or server-based application reaches a point when integration between their systems and data becomes important. In its simplest forms, integration may entail email-based messages from one system to another, data extracts and loads, or use of vendor-supplied connectors purpose built for specific use cases. As business requirements outgrow basic methods, more complex integrations typically call for custom development, sophisticated integration tools, or more often, both. Fortunately, as more applications have moved to the cloud, so have integration tools. And as enterprises of all sizes re-evaluate their integration topologies, the market has driven the quality of tools up, and the price, in some cases, down. One such tool, from Microsoft, is Azure Logic Apps. (more…)

This three-part series will highlight areas that are easy for Thrive to implement in your organization to help keep your business protected.  Part one will cover patching, part two advanced email security, and part three security awareness training.

Just as you could have a hole in a window in your house, you may have one on your servers and computers as well! (more…)

As we enter the US hurricane season each year, it is an appropriate time to review what you will do under disaster type circumstances.  There are many things to consider when putting together a disaster plan, but one of the most basic IT requirements is power. Without power very few things can happen these days.  The reality is that your power will most likely go off at some point during the year for something other than being affected by a hurricane.  If you were to be without power for seven to ten days because of fire at a power substation would that impact your business?  What about no power for 24 hours during your high season after a car strikes a telephone pole?  What if lightning struck your building and took out your main power panel? (more…)

The security of today’s information systems go far beyond the general protection measures that were once considered to provide ample security against intrusion. For many companies that are implementing new technologies one of the top priorities in today’s world is security. There are many different aspects that define the overall security of a company’s infrastructure, one of which is patch management.

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