This blog will discuss the many benefits of a Virtual Chief Technology Officer (vCTO). As you may know, a Chief Technology Officer is charged with leadership and strategy for the technological requirements in an organization. This includes protecting employee information and other sensitive data that requires a robust cybersecurity program.

A Virtual Chief Technology Officer is where the organization contracts with an outside party, rather than hiring an individual to fill this role. It can also be referred to as an Outsourced CTO, Fractional CTO, Virtual CTO, among other terms.

So Why Do Some Organizations Choose The Virtual Route?

There are many benefits to a Virtual CTO, and we have compiled a list of the most compelling reasons:

1. Independent – Independence for the CTO position from IT Operations is essential to any organization with limited staff, this can be a challenge. A Virtual CTO can be a great way to solve this. Not only is the vCTO independent from IT, but office politics as well.

2. Expertise – Hiring and keeping experienced CTOs is tough, so a Virtual Chief Technology Officer can be a way to improve the organizations cybersecurity posture without adding another FTE. More importantly, if you go with a company that has several vCTO clients, the group knowledge of their client base can be invaluable. vCTO’s and vCTO’s with big 4 consulting experience tend to have the breadth and depth of experience that can be extremity beneficial.

3. Continuity – Having an in-house CTO can be great, until someone else hires them. A Virtual CTO can offer any organization continuity in this role. Even if people move, there’s the benefit of having the continued relationship with the company and the rest of the team, along with the continued processes and approach.

4. Specialization – If you work with a firm that specializes in Virtual CTO services, this is a huge benefit. Having a vCTO that is focused on doing a few things really well that are aligned with the organizations business vertical can have a positive impact on overall strategy and effectiveness of the role in your organization.

5. Cost effective – Although many organizations just can’t justify the $175K+ salary of an experienced full-time Chief Information Security Officer, they are finding that a Virtual CTO can have many of the benefits of an FTE at a lower cost. This is often since most smaller organizations don’t need 2000 hours per year for the position. Another factor is that larger organizations are utilizing vCTO services to selectively fill only the highly specialized portion of the role, also saving money.

The Benefits of Consistent Reporting for the vCTO

The independent vCTO team will be working closely with all involved parties in establishing an effective and ongoing cyber and information security program. This will require monthly meetings to review, plan and execute cyber-related activities as well as quarterly or semi-annual executive meetings to update the executive team regarding the latest development in the field and what steps could be taken to address such concerns. The vCTO team identifies best-in-class technology solutions and guarantee maximized delivery. This approach will lead to the implementation of the core components of an effective cyber and information security enterprise risk management program as practiced by larger firms, but one that has been adjusted to fit the needs of a middle-market organization.

TekElement, is a premier MSP company based in Dallas, TX. We believe that innovation is the cornerstone by which organizations succeed or fail. Our focus for our customers is to identify areas where these tech elements intersect with business-critical operations and apply innovative approaches and solutions to ensure technology is working in harmony with your business strategy.

Since our founding in 2008, our focus has been to identify best-in-class technology solutions and build internal expertise in those areas to guarantee maximized delivery for our customers. Whether it be in security, cloud hosting, or ongoing support, our customers can trust in our solutions to create seamless integration and execution across all areas of their business. Contact us today for a free evaluation of your IT infrastructure.

The internet has changed our lives for the better in many ways. It has allowed us to connect with people over long distances, given us access to information at our fingertips, and truly change the way we do business. However, given how much we rely on the Internet, it has also become a place where we must be careful.

What cybersecurity looks like in the modern era

 

Cybersecurity is the protection of internet systems from cyber threats. The systems can include hardware, software, and data, and this practice is used by individuals and businesses to prevent unauthorized access to information. When the internet was in its infancy, cybersecurity was of less importance. Now, as the internet matures, cybersecurity is not optional.

 

It may be tempting to believe that cybersecurity attacks focus on businesses, but successful attacks mainly focus on individuals. Most successful cybersecurity attacks play off of human weaknesses, such as distracted users who open unfamiliar attachments without thinking, customers eager to take advantage of online discounts, or employees who are deceived by emails that appear to come from company executives.

 

Because more than 90% of targeted attacks reach their victims through their email, a major goal in cybersecurity is to utilize a layered email defense. This can be a combination of detecting known and emerging email attacks, taking action once a threat is discovered, and protecting against spoofed and look-alike domains.

 

When it comes to developing a cyber defense solution for your business, it is important to give both your employees and clients peace of mind when working with you. Tekelement’s end-to-end cybersecurity solutions provide actionable steps to secure systems more effectively, monitor and mitigate threats in real-time, and provide regular assessments and recommendations across a variety of frameworks. We can ensure that your business is protected and that your clients and employees have peace of mind when working with you.

 

 

No matter what kind of business you have, you need cybersecurity. Cybersecurity is the practice of defending computers, mobile devices, networks, and data from attacks. While it may be daunting to think about, cybersecurity is a part of your business, and TekElement can help you with it.

 

How TekElement helps your business’ Cybersecurity

 

TekElement has cyber defense solutions that are designed around your business. We leverage the best available solutions and hardware to give you the best cyber protection for your business.

 

Your business is important to us, and our end-to-end cybersecurity solutions give actionable steps to secure systems more effectively. We can monitor and mitigate threats in real time while providing regular assessments and recommendations to improve compliance across a variety of frameworks. Some of our services include data encryption, threat detection, penetration testing, strategy and risk assessment, incident response, and identity and access management.

 

We offer advanced threat protection, a proactive threat analysis and real-time mitigation of known exploits, malware, spyware, and phishing campaigns. With URL filtering, we give real-time malicious website blacklisting and unknown bad actor IP addressing. This stops and blocks threats before they can occur.

 

Our data loss prevention management is a solution to significantly reduce the risk of a data breach and loss. Our ransomware prevention process includes daily endpoint and user device image and data capture to provide rollback strategies across the business. This means you will never have to pay for a ransomware group. Finally, we offer safe, secure, and true offline backup data storage for peace of mind.

 

Because today’s cyber threat landscape evolves at a rapid pace, we focus on cybersecurity services that create a proactive strategy to successfully protect organizations from attacks. Cybersecurity is an ongoing process, and TekElement’s highly qualified cybersecurity experts can help you protect your business from cyber attacks.

 

Business owners in today’s business environment are always looking for ways to be more efficient with their time and energy. One of the ways they do this is with cloud hosting. Cloud hosting has many advantages, including increased server uptime, cost efficiency, and increased security. Investing in cloud hosting can be highly beneficial to your business, but before you invest, it’s important to know what cloud hosting is.

 

What is Cloud Hosting?

 

Cloud hosting may sound complex, but in its simplest form, it is an electronic structure that stores data across multiple computers. The data can be accessed through networks such as the Internet. This differs from traditional hosting because storage isn’t sequestered to a single server. Ultimately this leads to greater flexibility, accessibility, and scalability.

 

The biggest benefit to cloud hosting is that it increases server uptime. This means that whether you are hosting a website or simply storing files, you can access these things all the time. With traditional hosting, if the main computer went down, you didn’t have access to your files. With cloud hosting, since files are stored in multiple computers, if one computer goes down, another from the cluster takes over.

 

Cloud hosting is also cost-efficient because you do not have to worry about spending large amounts of money on infrastructure. With cloud hosting, you only have to pay for the services you need rather than for additional services and resources, even if you do not need them.

 

Finally, cloud hosting can also increase security within your business. Unlike traditional hosting, cloud hosting comes with an established infrastructure that already contains multiple layers of security. Most cloud service providers also offer secure and encrypted solutions, backup recovery, firewalls, and storage segregation.

 

If you are looking for a reliable and scalable hosting solution for your business, cloud hosting is the way to go. Cloud solutions can grow with your business, whether you have five employees or 500. An experienced cloud hosting company, such as Tekelement, can help you decide what type of cloud hosting is best and help you navigate the migration as well.