Nortec News: 20 Ways to Protect Your Business | New MS Licensing
Microsoft Offers New Flexible Licensing Options for Companies
Through its Cloud Solutions Provider (CSP) program, Microsoft has introduced an enhanced pay-as-you-go licensing structure that gives businesses even more flexibility in paying only for the software and licenses needed at any given time. While the specifics are nuanced, the shift makes licensing more cost-effective for many organizations.
The traditional method of licensing, Enterprtise Agreement (EA), speaks to a now almost bygone era where companies purchased software “off the shelf,” installed it and kept it in place for a few years before upgrading. The EA licensing is typically a 3-year minimum license with payment required in chunks (usually annually) and no ongoing support. CSP offers monthly billing, no commitment and premier support. It works well for all sizes. Of course, it’s not available for every Microsoft solution. As the name suggests, it’s geared toward cloud-based solutions like Office 365, Project Azure and Exchange Online.
We recommend working with Microsoft experts to determine the best licensing model for your specific needs.
Contact us to talk about your options
Antivirus is Not Enough Anymore – 20 Ways to Protect Your Business
To protect businesses, security requires an approach beyond the basic perimeter protection like firewalls and antivirus. As much as possible, security needs to be integrated into everything you and your staff is doing.
Here are 20 different security measures you need to be taking
Leveraging the Microsoft tool kit, Nortec can help further enhance your end-users identity making it exponentially difficult for hackers and others to infiltrate your corporate network and gain access to your valuable company and individual data. Security is inherent in our process as a managed services provider. If we see someone we don’t know trying to log into your accounts, expect a call from us to verify it’s you.
3 Big Takeaways from the Microsoft Inspire 2018 Conference
As with every year, Microsoft Inspire did not disappoint. Set amid the backdrop of Las Vegas, the conference was a big picture into the initiatives Microsoft has already delivered on and is continuing to roll out. As one of the top 200 Microsoft partners in the country, Nortec remains committed and focused on ensuring that we deliver the most value from your Microsoft solutions by sharing tips and insights into Microsoft’s priorities and latest features. Here are the takeaways from Inspire 2018:
- It’s All About the Modern Workplace
In the Microsoft realm, this looks like integrating your solutions, reducing the number of vendors you have to juggle, eliminating the legacy back offices and fragmented strategies, and bringing everything into one picture. The Microsoft Modern Desktop Initiative is part of this modernization strategy and includes Windows 10 and Office 365 with a focus on Skype for Business, Teams and Enterprise Mobility and Security (EMS) suite.
Microsoft continues to make modernization and integration more accessible with Azure solutions, as more and more clients move workloads into the cloud and shift infrastructure off site, and out of your prevue.
- More Threat Protection Throughout the Microsoft World
Microsoft continues to add capabilities to safeguard sensitive information with Windows Defender Exploit Guard which prevents devices from susceptibility to ransomware and malicious websites. They’ve also added Advanced Threat Protection to Office 365 which includes attachment scanning and malware detection.
- Office 365 Can Now Score Your Company’s Security
Office 365 now offers visibility into how secure your organization is, allowing you to assess your security through Secure Score. Nortec has the capability to run this assessment on your behalf, giving you the details of your current security score and offering specific recommendations to improve your security posture.
Contact us to get your security assessed
We’ll be attending The Mitel Partner conference in October in Phoenix, AZ. Stay tuned in our Q4 newsletter to hear what exciting developments come from that conference.
Team Nortec
Meet Lauren Hirschman
Account Manager
Lauren Hirschman has been an account manager with Nortec for nearly six months and in that time has made herself invaluable to ensuring client satisfaction and the continued growth and success of Nortec.
Tell us what you do for Nortec.
A little bit of everything! Primarily, I work with the sales team, contacting prospective clients to see if they’d be a good fit for Nortec, setting appointments and learning more about the sales and nurturing process. I also manage client satisfaction through regular calls.
What are you working on right now?
I make a lot of phone calls in my job. Recently, I’ve been talking to clients to make sure they are happy and address any concerns they might have. I’ve also been calling federal agencies to help them address cybersecurity concerns they might have.
What’s the best part of your job?
I love working in the tech industry. It’s innovative and keeps me on my toes learning new things.
What advice would you give clients?
Work with your rep! Everyone here is so committed to our clients’ success and it shines through everything they do. If you have concerns, questions or issues, just reach out to your rep.
What do you love about Nortec the most?
The company culture is very supportive, and everyone is friendly. It sounds cliché, but Nortec is really a family-like environment. It’s not about sales and making money here, it’s about helping people (clients and staff) be successful, and I really enjoy that. There is a lot of autonomy and support to innovate and thrive in our careers, and a lot of support for us to do what is best for clients. We use everything we sell in-house too which I think is really telling.
What’s something surprising about you?
I’m only 7! No, I’m joking. My birthday is February 29, so I don’t get to celebrate a birthday again until 2020.
Nortec 9
- Why You Need Identity Based Protection Now
- Businesses Need to Take the Bull by the Horn and Implement Multifactor Authentication
- Microsoft Embraces its Role as Anti-Hacking Enforcer
- The Next Wave of Computing is the Intelligent Cloud
- Our House is on Fire: Elections Officials Worry About Midterm Election Security
- How Do I Protect My Accounts? A Guide to Multifactor Authentication
- Ukrainian Hackers Arrested for Stealing 15 Million Credit Card Records
- Why the Entire C-Suite is Responsible in a Data Breach
- Microsoft 365 is the Smartest Place to Store Your Content
Case Study – Vulnerability Assessment Verifies SolomonEdwards’ Secure Network
In the last 8 years, more than 7.1 billion identities were exposed during data breaches. National professional services firm, SolomonEdwards, delivers strategic expertise and proven project delivery models for businesses of all sizes across the U.S. To assure their clients that their IT environment was as secure as possible, SolomonEdwards engaged Nortec’s security experts including our Certified Ethical Hacker, Michael Vaillancourt.