‘Tis the most wonderful time of the year. Malls are more crowded than ever before, children are catching colds, and snowstorms threaten to put a halt on mass transit systems making it impossible for employees to get into the office.

Weather during the holiday season is a particularly large threat.

Almost any modern businesses depends on information technology to keep things running. Unless you’re using typewriters and adding machines, computers are an integral part of running your business. As your business grows, you can eventually reach the point where you don’t have the time or the expertise to manage your IT resources on your own.

You read the news and hear about cyber attacks on big businesses and think, “that would never happen to me.” It’s an easy trap to fall into. Many Small & Medium Business (SMB) owners operate under the guise that cyber criminals go after the big fish – the ones with lots of money, sensitive data, and a strong identity.

Outsourcing your IT needs to a managed service provider (MSP) is one of the best ways to scale your small business rapidly. However, although the benefits are more than evident, the process of ceding responsibility for managing and monitoring your IT infrastructure to a third-party is not without risks.

Destress at work? Impossible! At least that’s how it might feel when you’re pounding the pavement and putting your nose to the grindstone to meet your ambitious goals.

But stress can impede progress. As popular as it is to say that hustle is the only way to win, hustling in the wrong way can actually hurt you more than help.

If you’re running a small business, your budget is probably tight. Full-time IT professionals aren’t cheap, meaning hiring a staff member may be out of the question. Even if you have in-house IT staff, they can easily become overworked, overwhelmed, and unable to handle all of your IT needs.