An IT Support Blog from London

Read the latest IT news, tips and insights from IT Support pros at HTL Support

5 Benefits Of Outsourcing Your Business IT Support

5 Benefits Of Outsourcing Your Business IT Support

Medium to large operations face a tough decision when choosing how to provision IT support, either  internally or by means of an outsourced provider . Both routes carry costs, benefits and disadvantages.

The stand-out benefits of IT outsourcing

After many years of providing outsourced IT support to countless businesses, HTL has come to see the specific areas of a business which benefit most from outsourced support, and why outsourcing is often the better choice. As a result, we think you should evaluate these five benefits when considering outsourced IT support.

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Data Breaches Have Hidden Costs – Learn What They Are

Data Breaches Have Hidden Costs – Learn What They Are

Data breaches can result in dire financial repercussions for any organisation that has to deal with sensitive data, whether that be personally identifiable information (PII), personal health information (PHI), payment details, or other similar data. Depending on the number of records compromised, the costs range anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds of millions of dollars.

The latest Ponemon study, sponsored by IBM and released in July 2018, calculates the full cost of “mega breaches” (involving more than 1 million lost records) to be $350 million. This figure takes into account the more evident cyber incident expenses such as those for technical investigation, customer breach notification and credit monitoring, regulatory fines and litigation services, among many others. The organisation would also have to cover the cost of investing additional resources into network security improvements.

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2991 Hits

The Importance of Video Conferencing - and How To Get It

The importance if video conferencing

Video conferencing has been affordable for companies large and small for many years, yet many businesses have not wholeheartedly adopted collaboration by video. Though it is estimated that 64% of companies already use video conferencing for meetings, many operations skip video collaboration altogether, despite the rapid growth in the number of people working from home, including in the UK.

If your company relies solely on phone calls, IM and emails to communicate, it is worth taking a step back and considering the benefits of video conferencing. Keep reading as we outline the benefits of video conferencing, and the video collaboration options available for your business.

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3387 Hits

7 Terrific Ways Managed Services Can Help Your Business

7 Terrific Ways Managed Services Can Help Your Business

It’s a decades-old question that businesses continue to ask: should we outsource our IT? What benefits can a managed service provider (MSP) bring to our business, and are managed services cost effective? The ideal option varies from business to business, but the strong growth trend for managed services provision indicates an increased willingness among businesses to utilise managed services. Why? Let’s look at some of the primary benefits of MSPs.

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2534 Hits

HTL Heads to 'The Business Show'

HTL at The Business Show UK

On the 16th and 17th of May, HTL demonstrated our broad range of hosted desktop and cloud solutions at Excel London, the biggest exhibition of its kind. Representatives from companies big and small witnessed first hand just how much difference our services could make to their workflows.

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When Would You Need an IT Audit?

When Would You Need an IT Audit

With the onset of new technologies, most organisations have come to rely heavily on their IT practices and systems to ensure that operations are carried out with utmost efficiency. But how do corporate executives and business owners know that their IT system is effectively contributing to the company's business objectives?

The careful consideration given to the acquisition of software assets or the upgrade of IT infrastructure is justified. However, less attention is devoted to evaluating if these investments are actually providing a positive return for the company. Perhaps more important than ascertaining whether IT resources are properly leveraged, is to ensure that the enterprise's IT systems are reliable and secure enough to maintain the integrity of the company's data and information assets. 

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7 Ways You Can Improve Security Without Breaking Your Budget

7 Ways You Can Improve Security Without Breaking Your Budget

It is easy to follow the mistaken belief that beefing up security at your business involves buying expensive hardware and software or hiring a top-rated security consultant to step in and make major changes. In fact, it is possible to make solid security progress by simply following good practice, and by tightening protection where needed.

Making these essential improvements is important for businesses of all sizes. In 2016, the Federation of Small Businesses found that the UK’s small businesses are collectively attacked over 7 million times a year, costing up to £5.26 billion. In this article, we cover some of the most effective ways to improve resilience against these attacks without spending an arm and a leg.

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2924 Hits

ISO 27001 and How Accreditation Boosts Customer Confidence

ISO 27001 and How Accreditation Boosts Customer Confidence

The challenges of actively managing information security are growing, and every business, regardless of size, should pro-actively protect their systems and the data held within. But how do customers know that your information security practices are fit for purpose?

Even the best intentions do not guarantee sound security practices for businesses. The only way for customers to judge the internal processes of your business is by checking for accreditation such as ISO 27001. In fact, 71% of respondents to a 2016 survey by IT Governance Ltd said that they had fielded a question about ISO 27001 accreditation.

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HTL to Attend the Business Show, London on May 16th and 17th

HTL to attend The Business Show, London, on May 16th and 17th

HTL Support is delighted to announce that it will be exhibiting at The Business Show, London, on May 16th and 17th.

Our professional and friendly team is looking forward to welcoming visitors, and learning about the areas in which they most need IT support, as well as demonstrating the latest software solutions that can provide a competitive edge to businesses throughout London. Find our stand at exhibitor number 110.

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4 Tips to Make Your Cloud More Resilient to A DDoS Attack

 4 Tips to Make Your Cloud More Resilient to A DDoS Attack

DDoS attacks are typically designed to inundate servers and entire networks by consuming computing resources through large volumes of traffic, connections, or requests. And so, because cloud infrastructures are assumed to be backed by a large assemblage of such resources, many people believe their servers are less susceptible to these types of attacks if they’re hosted in the cloud. But that’s not entirely true.

If your servers are hosted in a multitenant environment along with a bunch of other servers belonging to other organisations (which is usually the case in a public cloud), your servers could be at risk of collateral damage. If those other servers (note: not yours) are bombarded by a DDoS attack and your cloud service provider (CSP) attempts to absorb the attack, your own servers, which share the same underlying infrastructure with those other servers, could also suffer.

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