Organizations are always looking for strategic ways to manage costs. One proven method is outsourcing IT support and other non-core functions, such as HR and accounting, to a specialist. Specialization allows outsourced organizations to achieve economies of scale, which lower costs while improving service.

Over the last year or so, we've been encouraging our clients who want to use a cloud-based office productivity suite to choose Microsoft Office 365. We've already talked about its rich functionality, ease of use, availability, and cost-effectiveness. Now we’d like to talk about its security and compliance features.

Microsoft has been around a long time. Some view them as past their prime and losing ground to Google. When I tell you the latest version of Microsoft Office is actually something to write home about, I don’t expect to get more than a, “I’ve heard that before?” Let’s see if I can change your mind.

When we talk about data security, we're basically talking about two things: making sure information and applications are available to people who are authorized to use them, and keeping everyone else away. Identity management is key to our ability to do that.

As illustrated by our medical device company case study, gone are the days when employees only worked out of an office and wielded a simple set of tools to get work done. In today’s world of anytime, anywhere work, employees use whatever device is most convenient, whether it is a desktop at home, a laptop at work, a tablet in a client meeting, or a smartphone everywhere. To support this reality from an IT perspective, we recommend the following:

Looking for ways to save money on IT without sacrificing productivity or functionality? The following are 8 proven methods to help.

Shifting from on-premises applications to hosted cloud services is a great way to ease your company's IT burden, but it takes careful planning to avoid a stumble on the way to cloud services. Watch out for these common mistakes:

Phishing is one of the biggest security threats to Xantrion's clients right now. Small and midsize businesses are low-hanging fruit for attackers because they have more worth stealing than an individual, but fewer security safeguards than a larger business. What's more, phishing attempts are becoming more frequent and more sophisticated. The harder they are to spot, the more likely one of your employees will get suckered into revealing sensitive information like a password or banking information.

When it comes to IT, there are two kinds of risks. One involves system failures, whether they're caused by hardware, software, human error, or natural disaster. Minimizing these risks is called business continuity planning. The other involves the damage to your business caused by lost or corrupted data.