In late February, data analytics company LexisNexis Legal & Professional suffered a data breach in which the threat actor responsible used an unpatched application to access the company’s Amazon Web Services infrastructure. While LexisNexis L&P claims the data leaked was minimal, this breach still serves as an important reminder of a critical security principle: If a company as large as LexisNexis L&P can fall victim to such a simple vulnerability, what’s to say your business won’t?
We used to say change is constant. Now, change is a sprint. We are witnessing a massive shift in how fast the world moves, and it’s not just your imagination—human progress has hit the gas pedal. Technologies aren’t just appearing; they are crashing into each other and maturing so quickly that the “next big thing” is often replaced before it’s even fully installed. This isn’t a random spike; it’s the result of three massive forces hitting their stride at once.
No matter how you look at it, there will always be a significant difference between a data backup and a successful recovery. Businesses are too often under the impression that they are one and the same, but this is a faulty belief that puts them at risk. If you back up your files to the cloud, your business needs a way to recover those files, and fast. Otherwise, downtime ensues, and you don’t want that.
If your best defense against cybersecurity threats is to hope your business is too small to target, we’ve got news for you. That’s no cybersecurity strategy, and hackers don’t care how big or small your business is. All they care about is the value your data presents, and let’s be real, that’s a lot.
It’s smart to be skeptical these days. Between the constant buzz about AI and gadgets that promise the world but deliver very little, you don’t want to waste time chasing every shiny new object. Your goal is simple: run a business that is stable, profitable, and efficient. The good news is that you don’t need a computer science degree or a massive budget to make modern technology work for you.
Does your business still rely on the physical server closet? This space is essentially a physical anchor that requires dedicated cooling, constant hardware monitoring, and a team ready to handle any issues with the machines themselves, making it perhaps the most expensive real estate you own for your business. More agile businesses are forsaking the server closet in favor of a solution that doesn’t require a physical footprint: the cloud.
Hardware procurement is often the invisible ceiling that halts your company’s growth. If you’re in a time of rapid expansion, the traditional way of buying technology—researching specs, waiting for shipping, and manual setup—is going to hold you back from taking meaningful action. In other words, you don’t have the luxury of waiting three weeks; you need to make things happen now.
It pays to be skeptical in today’s world of AI slop and bogus gadgets. After all, you don’t want to chase after every shiny new thing; you want to build an operation that’s both resilient and profitable. Technology offers countless opportunities to make this happen, and you don’t have to rely on fads or drain your budget to scale.
Some businesses find it preferable to host their servers on-site, but they fail to ask themselves if the server is a reliable asset or a financial drain. For years, the argument was in favor of on-premise hardware due to control and a one-time purchase price. But the landscape has shifted since, and now business owners are prioritizing Total Cost of Ownership over control. Do you really know how much your physical servers are costing you, and do you think they are worth that price point?
Who at your business has the organizational knowledge to keep your technology up and running? The problem with small business IT is that the information on how to keep that technology in proper working order is siloed in one particular individual’s head, whether that’s you as the business owner or one particularly tech-savvy person on your staff. By allowing this information to remain undocumented, you’re actively putting your business at risk by artificially creating a single point of failure.