IT Solutions Every Business Needs

business solutions

In an industry overwhelmed with solutions, Ozone is providing IT service providers the right tools for their clients, says Henk Olivier, Ozone Information Technology Solutions MD.

Ozone also educates resellers to provide the correct solutions to their clients.

Many businesses are aware of the basic principles of an IT infrastructure, but not everyone knows where to begin or what are the important factors in IT infrastructure that cannot be overlooked.

These are basic points and questions is what IT providers must know, and business owners can ask.

  • Internet Connectivity
    • What line-speed will be required?
    • What type of router do I require?
  • Internal Network:
    • Will I be using a Wireless network?
    • Will I be using a cable network?
    • How many connections do I require?
    • What type of network switch do I require?
  • Internet Firewall
    • All these below factors will determine what firewall is required:
      • Do I Need to control and monitor employees?
      • Do I require VPN access to the office?
  • Do I require complete webfilter and antivirus scanning on the firewall?
    • Will it be a managed firewall, or will I manage the firewall?
  • Communication Tools:
    • Email Communication
      • Cloud email services or onsite email server?
    • Telephony
      • VOIP or Analogue, or both?
      • Do I require a PABX?
  • Data storage:
    • Onsite file server or,
    • Cloud solution file storage
      • On Cloud file storage security is important
      • *Businesses need to make sure that the company providing this solution have all necessary security in place to avoid hacking of data and to prevent the compromise of sensitive information.
  • Backups:
    • Backup of emails
    • Backup solution for onsite data server
    • Backup solutions for data in the cloud.
    • *“Many people think that if your data are in the Cloud, it is backed-up. In fact, that might not be the case. There are providers that provide cloud infrastructure, but it excludes backups.”
  • Data archiving:
    • Email Archiving
      • For how long do I want to keep a record of old emails?
    • Data Archiving
      • For how long do I want to keep data and how easy accessible must it be to access the old archived data.
      • *Many people think it is not necessary to archive data or email because that physical storage is becoming cheap. However, the fact of the matter is they don’t take into account the loss of productivity because of all the searching and speed related to large data or email storage when all your data is used as current data. There are many great data archive solutions.
  • Internal Network security:
    • Internal data security policy
      • Data security permissions on shared data
      • Data security permissions on personal data
      • *Personal data can sometimes be a threat to business networks, especially for virus infections.
      • Internal Antivirus
        1. Licensed Antivirus
        2. Update virus definitions regularly

“It is important for companies to realise that they need the right firewall solution that protects the business inside the network as well as from outside of the network,” says Olivier.

“You cannot just block all Internet content and social media. You need to educate users and make sure they use the Internet to be more productive.”

Another example is VOIP Solutions, which IT companies can now also easily provide to their clients.

“IT companies don’t need experience in configuring a PABX anymore,” Olivier adds.

Technology today gives IT service providers the opportunity to give their clients the full technology solution from one single supplier.

Businesses can now subscribe to Cloud Services either directly or via an IT company that resells these services.

“I will always suggest that it is better for businesses to get these services from an IT service provider rather than trying to manage and administer everything on their own,” concludes Olivier.

“Businesses does not always know what the correct solutions are, and there are just too many solutions these days to choose from.”

Ozone Information Technology is a distributing company of Cloud solutions to SME companies, and IT service providers can resell a full solution to their clients from Ozone’s range of products.