Business analyst Gartner notes how security software deployments are changing with time – including some ‘security as a service’ (SaaS) approaches to provision that could be preferred by companies keen on third-party delivery models and cloud computing offerings.

“Products within the security market are undergoing rapid evolution, in terms of both new delivery models – with SaaS showing increased popularity – and new technologies being introduced, often by startup companies,” says research director Ruggero Contu.

Gartner saw the worldwide revenue for security software rise by 7.5% in 2011, to reach $17.7 billion, or about £10.9 billion.

For companies investing in new security software, cloud computing infrastructure or even simply upgrades to popular packages like Microsoft Office and Sage accounting and payroll programs, IT training is a must to ensure that the new software is used properly and appropriately by employees.

At Symitry Business Services, we specialise in offering on-site training for employees, so they do not have to take full days out of the office in order to attend IT training days.

Our on-site training is contextual, allowing us to answer any questions employees might have about how a software package helps them to carry out the fundamental duties of their role.

The business services specialist has published figures showing the worrying percentage of companies that have faced some kind of hacker attack or data breach in the past year – and says staff training is a clear factor.

According to PwC, “the survey shows that organisations are experiencing many data protection breaches, data loss events and computer frauds – particularly those that haven’t invested in staff education”.

In the past year alone, 76% of small businesses and a massive 93% of large firms have witnessed a security breach.

Hackers successfully breached 15% of large companies’ networks, contributing to an average ‘worst-case scenario’ cost of up to £250,000 for big businesses and £30,000 for smaller organisations.

Despite this, one in five firms devote less than 1% of their annual IT budget towards ensuring information security.

At Symitry Business, we can offer you on-site training to help your employees understand how to use various programs effectively and in line with your organisation’s security measures.

You may also want to invest in our remote backup services, putting your most sensitive files in a secure facility that is located away from your main office.

Figures published by the European Union’s statistical service, Eurostat, last month show the gap between the different age groups in terms of computer literacy.

Among 16 to 24-year-olds in the EU27 group of member nations, 96% of people have used a computer at least once in their lifetimes, rising to 100% in the UK.

However, extend the age range up to 74, and the EU27 computer usership rate drops to 78%, and 91% in the UK.

Within the UK, 94% of young people have copied or moved a file or folder, 72% have used spreadsheet formulae, 61% have created a presentation and a fairly high 25% have written a computer program.

These percentages drop to 72%, 51%, 36% and 13% respectively among the full range of 16 to 74-year-olds in the UK.

By offering computer training to your staff, you can help them to understand how to complete these kinds of tasks, regardless of their age.

Our Microsoft Office training can demonstrate how to use PowerPoint to create a simple slideshow, for instance – and could have beneficial effects on your in-house training and sales meetings as a result.

The analyst found 56% of cloud storage customers do not check the security offered by external providers.

This is in spite of the fact that almost three quarters (73%) of companies now use one or more outsourced services over the internet – with some external, cloud-based storage of data likely to be associated with that.

PwC information security partner Chris Potter says: “Small businesses may think that, because their data is being hosted by a large cloud provider, good security controls will be in place – but this isn’t necessarily the case.”

At Symitry Business Services, we can offer secure remote backup that protects your sensitive data from any geographical disasters like localised flooding or a fire at your office, by ensuring an archive is maintained in our data centre.

You receive round-the-clock protection of your information, 24 hours a day and seven days a week, for total peace of mind.

And as well as the security advantages offered by our online storage, you can also benefit from scalable pricing – starting as low as £1.50 per month for a 1GB archive.

While it may be tempting to allow employees to use devices they are familiar with, or carry with them anyway – such as their own tablet, notebook or even the storage capacity of their mobile phone – this raises further security issues.

Aaron Messing, a privacy lawyer at New-Jersey-based attorneys OlenderFeldman LLP, warns that companies need a way to ensure sensitive documents are erased from disks when employees leave – which can be achieved through a “bring your own device” policy.

“Whether your company chooses to adopt a BYOD programme or not, be sure you have a clearly defined mobile device policy in place that outlines what is and is not acceptable,” he adds.

One alternative is to introduce cloud computing capabilities that all employees can use in the same way, and eliminate the use of physical mobile devices completely.

We can provide on-site training for your workforce to help them to learn how to use cloud-based collaborative tools and remote storage effectively.

In turn, you may find that storing your data in a cloud computing system leads to further improvements – such as making use of our secure off-site storage for important data.

With many workers’ commutes thrown into doubt, the prospect of half-empty offices is an extreme but viable concern for employers.

However, there is no reason why many might not be able to establish flexible working arrangements, even at relatively short notice.

If you already have an intranet system, it could be fairly easy to allow external access for approved individuals, as well as to set up collaborative working on files such as Microsoft Office documents.

Doing so has the added benefit that you can demonstrate clear willing to give your workforce access to the flexible working conditions they are now entitled to request.

At Symitry Business we can help you to understand whether your server is capable of supporting cloud computing and what the likely additional strain on your IT infrastructure will be.

We offer on-site Microsoft Office training that can prepare your workforce for using documents in new, collaborative ways – even across multiple locations.

And we can also provide secure remote online backup for your most sensitive documents, so that you know they are safely archived for the long term.

The business insight provider has published a new study entitled Effective Financial Management for International Expansion.

From its survey of 200 companies, the organisation found that improving financial accounting and reporting is a key element in best-in-class strategy.

“CFOs strive to maintain real-time visibility to financial data and information through a strategic mix of process innovation and technology implementation,” writes Aberdeen Group’s Nick Castellina.

Among the initiatives being put into practice are: effective risk management; streamlining of order-to-cash processes; improved financial accounting and reporting; and improved resource management and productivity.

For companies that are rapidly expanding and wish to adopt a best-in-class approach to doing so, better payroll procedures are an important first step.

We can help you to make use of industry-leading software such as Sage Line 50 and Sage ACT! to understand your workforce and productivity better.

We can supply you with the software as an approved Sage Business Partner, and can also offer on-site training to make sure your staff know how to use the relevant program without needing to take a full training day out of the office.

The divide seems to be between banking organisations, where speed is of the essence and large-scale document capture is taking place on a daily basis, and insurance, where a slower, accuracy- and trust-based approach is preferred.

“Aberdeen’s research shows that, as in the well-known Aesop fable, there is more than one way to run a race,” writes report author Nathaniel Rowe.

The study looked at 30 insurance firms and 29 banking organisations but highlights the different approaches any company might want to choose between when attempting to digitise paper records.

Whatever approach you choose, we can provide you with the necessary server support to keep things running smoothly, and secure off-site data backup to protect the electronic versions of your most important documents.

Our IT experts deliver a depth of knowledge that would be difficult and expensive to create in an in-house team – particularly for smaller firms.

And if you are experiencing any other difficulties with your servers or your computer network, contact us to find out if we can help, no matter what your problem may be.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, global disk storage revenues rose by 3.5% compared with the same period of the previous year, while external disk storage outpaced the rest of the market at 7.7% annual growth.

Capacity grew by even more, at an annual increase of 22.4% to reach 6,279 petabytes worldwide, according to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Disk Storage Systems Tracker.

However, the months to come could show more turbulence as disruption to major disk-manufacturing regions filters down the supply chain.

Liz Conner, senior research analyst for storage systems, explains that flooding in Thailand has led to a global shortage of disks, accounting for part – but by no means all – of the 2011 growth.

“The enterprise storage market is expected to start feeling the brunt of this shortage in 2012, resulting in minimal impact on the fourth quarter and 2011 as a whole,” she adds.

Cloud storage and remote online backup services are an ideal solution for companies addressing their outgoings on disk storage.

In a climate of rising disk costs and lower availability of hard drives, remote backup offers a scalable service-based solution, without having to meet the immediate pricing demands of global manufacturers.

For more about our online backup service, click here.