This article was originally published on SocialSign.in.
At SocialSign.in, we want to help business owners understand the importance of their IT infrastructure. To help do that, we spoke with one of the most qualified people we’ve worked with in that space. Danny Mizrahi is the CEO of Contango IT, a full service tech company in New York City with a passion for cloud computing.
As IT consultants, they are focused on keeping costs for their partners down and using their expertise to build their business up. Danny has been an entrepreneur from the age of 13, and today he keeps that spirit alive as a business owner and member of the New York City Hospitality Group. That spirit is part of what qualified Contango as Dropbox’s first IT consulting partner, and led to a variety of other strategic partnerships (listed below).
Since 2008, he’s helped businesses of all shapes and sizes with everything from affordable cloud computing solutions to server room construction and maintenance. Here are some critical elements that he believes are part of any successful business network.
1) Remember that Backup and Disaster Recovery Aren’t The Same
Do you know the difference between data backup and disaster recovery? Here’s a quick reminder. If your data is deleted or corrupted, having a backup will allow you to restore the original files even after they’ve been lost. If your business has a solution in place to backup its files, you’ll be able to recover any important documents, but you’ll still need to re-download them for access. Disaster recovery, on the other hand, allows a business to experience zero downtime in the event of a disaster or emergency. It recreates your work environment, in real time, so if your office becomes inaccessible you can still login remotely and keep working like nothing ever happened. It’s never too late to implement these solutions for your business. If you owned a business in New York during Hurricane Sandy, a strong disaster recovery system was the difference between being out of commission for a week or remaining fully operational.
2) Constant Monitoring and Security are Worthy Investments
As a business owner, you probably have some type of security system in place at your front door or register to protect your assets. Well, it’s important to remember that the files on your computer are assets as well. That’s why it’s important for any office or business infrastructure to have a strong firewall and anti-virus protocol. 24/7 monitoring is a common offering for this type of investment, but sometimes comes with a monthly fee. The value that an IT consulting company like Contango provides is immediate response to these issues, along with no monthly fees, so visit their website to learn more. It might be weeks, months or even years before that investment pays off, but the headache and heartbreak you’ll save yourself if something goes wrong is well worth it.
3) Choose Cloud Services over Servers
What do Dropbox, Google Apps for Email and SocialSign.in all have in common? They’re all cloud-based services.
By implementing cloud-computing services for your business, you create the easiest maintenance and support options for your IT staff or consultants. The best part about a strong cloud solution is that it’s up and running 99.999% of the time. Every business has different needs, so sometimes a server is a more appropriate solution. If that is the path you take, make sure you replicate that server activity to the cloud for disaster recovery purposes. In the event of a disaster like Hurricane Sandy, a simple cloud computing email service like the one provided by Google Apps, Rackspace Hosted Exchange, Dropbox, and others will enable you to continue communicating with clients, wherever you are.
If you’re looking to implement cloud-computing services for your business, Contango has been advocating that technology since 2008. They use the best tools in the industry to create affordable, custom solutions for every client they work with, and place an emphasis on attentive support.