Creating a Hybrid IT Management Model: Maximizing IT Resources for Optimal Performance and Security 

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IT Management is essential for businesses, no matter their size. When deciding on IT solutions, keeping them in-house or outsourcing them can considerably impact a company’s overall performance and security.

This article will explore why combining both resources is essential for creating a Hybrid IT support model. We’ll also provide you with a practical guide on how to develop a productive IT management strategy. This will include tips on using Managed Services, building hybrid support models, and maximizing IT budgets. Businesses can create an in-depth, scalable, cost-effective IT infrastructure aligning with their organizational goals by making the most of available IT resources. 

The Role of In-House IT Resources

Once you’ve weighed the advantages of outsourcing IT services, examining your in-house resources is crucial. Organizations must utilize external and internal capabilities to create a successful Hybrid IT support system. This means thoroughly understanding all available IT resources and how to use them to achieve company objectives.  

The first step involves developing an effective IT strategy that outlines critical objectives. It should also identify the necessary resources to achieve them. A clear vision for allocating IT responsibilities between different departments and teams within the organization will help ensure success in designing a robust IT environment. It’s also important to assess any gaps in skillsets or technologies required by each department. Then you can determine which can best be filled with outside providers versus internally.  

In addition, organizations must consider several factors when deciding what type of security measures are appropriate for their network infrastructure, such as encryption protocols, authentication methods, identity management processes, firewall configurations, etc. An assessment should be conducted periodically to identify potential threats and evaluate how existing solutions can address these risks effectively. As technology evolves rapidly, companies must stay ahead of emerging trends and remain up-to-date on industry standards to keep their systems secure from malicious attacks.  

Organizations that invest time upfront researching various options for managing their IT environment have more control over costs while ensuring optimal performance at all times. By taking advantage of outsourced and in-house IT solutions, businesses can create a cost-effective solution tailored to them without compromising quality or security measures.  

Developing an Effective IT Management Strategy

An effective IT management strategy ensures optimal results when combining in-house and outsourced IT resources. This strategy should optimize the efficiency of all components while keeping costs and performance high. To accomplish this goal, it is crucial to consider various approaches that can help define specific roles for each part of the organization’s technology infrastructure.  

By clearly defining responsibilities between internal staff members and external vendors, organizations can ensure that both parties work together towards shared objectives. Additionally, establishing clear communication channels between different stakeholders will allow them to provide feedback throughout the process, allowing the team to adjust their approach whenever necessary quickly. Finally, developing a metrics system that evaluates cost effectiveness, scalability, reliability, and cost savings over time helps measure an implementation’s success.  

Organizational leaders should improve their IT management strategies to keep up with changing trends and technologies. From evaluating new processes and tools to regularly auditing existing ones, having a proactive mindset ensures that all teams remain aligned when making decisions about organizational information systems.  

Maximizing Your Budget for IT Management Solutions

Maximizing your budget for IT solutions is integral to achieving optimal results with hybrid IT support. A comprehensive approach to allocating funds should be taken, considering both in-house and outsourced services to allocate resources effectively. Proper IT budgeting is essential for successfully managing a hybrid IT system.  

The first step towards maximizing your budget for IT solutions is assessing the organization’s current needs. Analyzing existing hardware and software systems can help identify areas for necessary improvements or replacements. This evaluation process helps ensure that the proper amount of funding is allocated to each area that requires attention. In addition, future growth plans must be considered when creating a budget, enabling organizations to plan and ensure they have sufficient funds available as their company expands and evolves.  

In terms of productivity, leveraging the strengths of in-house and outsourced IT services can create cost savings while improving quality assurance standards. By utilizing external resources for specific tasks, such as data backup or cloud storage, businesses can concentrate on core activities while maintaining high security and performance levels. This approach can reduce costs while still achieving optimal service outcomes. Furthermore, integrating new technologies can improve overall efficiency while minimizing maintenance expenses. 

Through effective planning and analysis, businesses can optimize their budgets and maximize their return on investment with Hybrid IT support. By efficiently leveraging internal and external resources while ensuring high-quality output, organizations can strategically allocate funds according to specific departmental needs while staying within financial constraints. By carefully considering current requirements and future development plans, businesses can decide where to give their resources.  

Utilizing Managed Services for Scalability

Budgeting for IT solutions can be maximized with the right tools to achieve beneficial results. An increasingly popular option is utilizing Managed Services, which are often outsourced and provide a cost-effective solution with scalability benefits. Managed Services offer several advantages that make them attractive when considering IT options.   

Managed Service Providers (MSPs) specialize in providing reliable, secure IT infrastructure for clients. Thus, allowing for more efficient use of resources than what would otherwise require full-time staff or extensive investments into new equipment or software. Furthermore, MSPs will monitor and manage systems remotely to ensure performance, security, and stability. Depending on the agreement between the client and provider, MSPs may also assist with additional tasks such as development or maintenance work. Finally, many MSPs offer flexible payment plans to best meet their clients’ needs. 

Overall, Managed Services enables organizations to access specialized expertise at lower costs. This ultimately helps businesses focus on core competencies while controlling operational costs. It also ensures business continuity through proactive support strategies. By combining in-house teams and external Managed Services, companies have the potential to create highly effective IT infrastructures. They will be both cost-efficient and scalable enough to meet changing demands.  

How to Optimize Your Hybrid IT Management Support Model

Once the potential benefits of combining in-house and outsourced IT support have been assessed, organizations must optimize their Hybrid IT support model. To maximize the benefits of both internal and external resources, clearly defining the responsibilities of each party involved is crucial. Companies should also create effective communication channels between their employees and external vendors. Additionally, organizations must seek cost-effective solutions that offer the most value for their investment.  

Organizations should determine which tasks best suit internal or external handling to optimize their IT resources. For instance, day-to-day operations like software updates or network troubleshooting are often more efficiently handled by an in-house team. However, larger projects such as system upgrades or migrations may require outside assistance. Delineating these roles early on will reduce the likelihood of overlap and confusion around who is responsible for specific tasks. Additionally, having clear expectations before beginning any project will improve overall efficiency and outcomes.  

Communication between internal employees and external vendors should also be established before starting any work together. Companies must ensure that everyone understands each other’s working styles and contractual obligations. This will help meet expectations on both sides of the relationship. Establishing consistent communication channels ensures smoother collaborations. Thus, problems can be quickly identified and addressed if they arise during a project.  

Finally, organizations must evaluate all available options when deciding which service provider or technology solution best suits their budget and needs. Different providers offer different levels of expertise and services at varying costs. Some offer subscription models where users pay only for what they use. In contrast, others charge a flat rate regardless of usage. Businesses need to understand precisely what services they require and the associated costs.

What Kind Of Training Will Be Required For In-House IT Staff?

When implementing a Hybrid IT support model, it is essential to consider what training will be necessary for in-house IT staff. This training should cover the basics and more advanced topics. This depends on the project’s scope and any new technologies that may need to be integrated into existing systems. Additionally, ongoing education and coaching are essential to keep in-house staff up-to-date on industry best practices and technological changes.  

One way to ensure proper training is through hands-on activities such as labs or simulations. These exercises familiarize employees with different types of hardware and software applications so they better understand how everything works together. Online courses may also prove beneficial if limited access to instructor-led programs or resources exists. Investing in reliable Learning Management Systems (LMS) can also help track individual progress. They also provide valuable feedback regarding areas where additional instruction might be needed.  

Regardless of the type of training chosen, ensuring all personnel receive thorough instruction before beginning their responsibilities with the Hybrid IT support model is essential. Regular assessments should be conducted to monitor employee performance. Additionally, to ensure everyone remains current on new technologies and processes related to their role within this framework. Doing so ensures that in-house IT staff remain knowledgeable about relevant topics.

Ready to get started?

Managing IT resources is crucial for businesses of all sizes. Keeping IT solutions in-house or outsourcing them can significantly impact performance and security. Therefore, it is necessary to combine both resources to create a Hybrid IT support model. This article has provided a practical guide to developing a productive IT management strategy. This includes tips on using managed services, building hybrid support models, and maximizing IT budgets. Organizations can create cost-effective solutions tailored to their needs without compromising quality or security measures using outsourced and in-house IT solutions. By efficiently leveraging internal and external resources while ensuring high-quality output, businesses can strategically allocate funds according to specific departmental needs. All while staying within financial constraints. Implementing these strategies can help companies to optimize their IT infrastructure, improve productivity, and increase profitability. 

If you’d like to learn more about implementing these strategies, contact WheelHouse IT to discuss how we can help your business achieve its IT goals.

The Hacker’s Rubber Ducky Should Frighten You

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Rubber duckies are usually associated with fun times as a child in the bath, but they are now a concerning threat to all of us. With hackers becoming increasingly advanced, you need to be aware of this USB malware concern that could disrupt your business. Keep reading to discover what the rubber ducky threat is and how you can protect yourself from it.

The Rubber Ducky Threat – What Is It?

A rubber ducky is a flash drive-like device that will likely look like a regular storage device. As you undoubtedly know, the cloud has replaced this technology for many people. However, the USB flash drive industry still sees a growth of about 7% year after year.

The rubber ducky might look like a normal flash drive, but this USB device is not recognized as file storage when you plug it into your computer or laptop. This means that the ability to stop data transfers isn’t activated, so as soon as it’s plugged in, you are in danger of being attacked by hackers and risking your workplace security. All keystrokes made while the rubber ducky is in your device will be trusted, offering scammers a variety of ways to infiltrate your systems.

Rubber Ducky Threats

To preserve the network security of your business or personal setup, you must educate yourself about these new and advanced threats. DuckyScript is used by these devices to target the machine and issue demands, offering a very powerful and advanced solution. It allows scammers to write functions and store variables to attack victims easily.

A rubber ducky can also see which operating system you are using and then deploy code based on this system. It will place delays between keystrokes, which hides the automated executions and makes the computer think a human is operating it. Finally, it can also steal your data when it encodes it in binary, putting you at great risk.

The Best Ways to Protect Yourself from Rubber Ducky Threats

The good news is that you can protect yourself from hackers. This can be done by not allowing any new USBs and flash drives to be plugged into your systems. Educate your employees to ensure they don’t use any devices they find so that someone doesn’t accidentally disrupt your workplace.

We’re here to help you keep your infrastructure safe and avoid incidents like the ones we’ve shared above. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you.

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How to Maintain A Reliable and Skillful IT Department

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A successful business relies on a dependable and proficient IT department to support and maintain your company’s infrastructure. Having an IT team who are mentally and/or physically exhausted or dissatisfied can result in issues with your operations that can cause technological emergencies. Maintaining a dedicated IT team is essential to ensure your network operates at its maximal performance.

Continue reading to find the three best practices you can do in order to have a successful and fulfilled IT department.

Fill Open IT Positions ASAP

Although there might be some job positions within the organization that does not necessarily need to be filled immediately, filling any openings within the IT department as quickly as possible is a must. 

If a member of your IT department leaves the company, the rest of the group must carry the load. While the remaining team members may work more hours to help fill the gap, it is your responsibility to take the extra time needed to find an appropriate replacement. If the rest of the department feels like the hiring process is moving slowly in order to save money, they will have ill will towards the company, and their work will show precisely how they feel. If filling in the open position takes longer than anticipated, try to pay your IT staff a little more for the extra time and hard work they have been putting in.

Negotiate for Your IT Budget

Just like in any other position, the right tools are required to do a job properly. This is also true for the department of IT. Unfortunately, when it comes to creating a budget, the administration can cut the funding for IT or not allocate more money to the department. If your employees in IT see other departments growing while they feel overworked and exhausted, they will become burnt out and may eventually leave the company.

It is important to remember that the more complete an IT department is, the more willing employees will be to keep the company’s IT infrastructure as secure as possible. IT funding should be incorporated into the budget as a priority because IT can help increase productivity and efficiency. 

Outsource Short-Term Projects and Routine IT Maintenance 

Often if your IT team gets overwhelmed with short-term projects or routine IT maintenance, there might not be enough time spent on improving the company’s network operations. Distributing these tasks to another company, also known as co-managed IT services, can free up your IT team and allow them to focus on meaningful IT projects that can improve the productivity and efficiency of the department. 

At WheelHouse IT, our team can help assist your IT department by remotely taking care of your routine IT maintenance and any short-term projects your organization may encounter. For more information, contact us today at 954.474.2204.

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What Are The Three Rules of HIPAA?

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The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) lays out three rules for protecting patient health information, namely:

  • The Privacy Rule 
  • The Security Rule
  • The Breach Notification Rule

A national standard is established when these three rules are followed, and health information that could be used to identify a person is addressed by these standards and privacy procedures.

Failure to adhere to the three HIPAA rules, compliance obligations, and security policy–or any security breach of electronic information systems through unauthorized access to electronic health records, confidential health, and medical history, or electronically protected health information–can result in civil money penalties (and even criminal penalties), a loss of reputation for healthcare professionals due to intentional violations, and even the loss of employment for an employee.

Businesses can face fines of up to $1.5 million for failing to comply with the law and addressable implementation specifications. As a result, if you are one of the covered entities under HIPAA, you must follow the three HIPAA rules and security management processes, taking appropriate corrective action when necessary.

Why are the three rules necessary?

For Private Healthcare Information (PHI): there wasn’t much of a consensus on what the best practices for PHI should be. But things began to change after the introduction of HIPAA.

In the beginning, there were privacy and security rules. Protected health information (PHI) was the focus of HIPAA’s new standards, which applied to the entire healthcare industry.

In addition to this, HIPAA’s primary goal was to improve the patient experience. Covered entities were given a variety of policies and procedures to ensure that their clients’ information was protected without a lot of hassle. Reduced paperwork, in addition to improving workflow, is a benefit to the covered entity.

To meet HIPAA’s requirements, code sets must be used in conjunction with patient identifiers. Health insurance portability is aided as a result of this ease of information transfer. With the Portability and Accountability Act in mind, healthcare providers are attempting to make the patient’s experience more pleasant.

HIPA’s rules also serve some much more minor purposes. Life insurance loans may be exempt from tax deductions, depending on the circumstances. It also improves the efficiency of healthcare services and makes it easier for patients to interact with them.

Who needs to have HIPAA compliance?

Private hospitals, health insurance companies, medical discount providers, and other business associates are all included in the scope of HIPAA’s application.

This type of business is known as  “covered entities,” and must abide by the HIPAA regulations and security standards. Exceptions to the HIPAA rules for covered entities are extremely rare.

A company or organization that provides third-party health and human services to a covered entity must adhere to the HIPAA regulations. As “business associates,” these companies are subject to the same regulations as the covered entities, even though they do not provide direct services.

The business associate agreement must be signed by both business associates and covered entities. Before undergoing any procedures, the confidentiality and integrity of PHI must be preserved, and the business associate agreement does that.

The three main rules of HIPAA

As mentioned earlier in this article, HIPAA legislation is made up of a few rules that outline what you must do to comply with the law. We’ll now discuss them in detail below:

1. The HIPAA privacy rule

HIPAA defines the circumstances under which a person may disclose or use PHI. Everyone has a right to privacy, but as we all know, there are some situations in which the rule might be applied. Those who are covered by this policy must adhere to a set of rules.

The standards set by the privacy rule address subjects such as: 

  • Which organizations must follow the HIPAA standards
  • What is protected health information (PHI)
  • How organizations can share and use PHI
  • Permitted usage and disclosure of PHI
  • Patient’s rights over their health information

In 2003, the HIPAA Privacy Rule was first put into place. That includes healthcare providers, as well as clearinghouses, and other health insurance entities. Healthcare-related business partners joined the list in 2013.

For the most part, the rule on patient privacy restricts the extent to which medical records can be shared without explicit consent. Allows patients and their next of kin (representatives) to access their medical records under the HIPAA privacy rule These requests for access and disclosure must be responded to within 30 days of receipt by the Covered Entities. 

Healthcare entities covered by HIPAA include:

  • Health plans 
  • Health care clearinghouses 
  • Health care providers 

The privacy rule restricts the usage of health information, which could identify a person (PHI). Covered entities cannot use or disclose PHI unless:

  • It’s permitted under the privacy rule, or
  • The individual has authorized it in writing.

The privacy rule does not restrict de-identified health information. 

2. The HIPAA security rule

The HIPAA Security Rule sets out the minimum standards for protecting electronic health information (ePHI). To access that information in electronic format, even those who are technically capable of doing so would have to meet those standards.

The HIPAA security rule covers the following aspects:

  • The organizations that may need to follow the security rule and be deemed covered entities.
  • Safeguards, policies, and procedures that can be put in place to meet HIPAA compliance
  • Health care information that is under the protection of the security rule

To put it simply, anyone who is part of the BA or CE and can access, alter, create or transfer recorded ePHI will be required to follow these standards. These technical safeguards will involve NIST-standard encryption in case the information goes outside the firewall of the company. 

In addition to technical safeguards, the security rule will include several physical safeguards. If you’re in a public area, you won’t be able to see the screen because of a workstation layout. Only a specific area within the company’s network allows you to do this.

Administrative safeguards are also checked, and they are combined with the security rule and the privacy rule. A privacy officer and a security officer are required to conduct regular (an ongoing process) audits and risk analyses as part of these safeguards.

These evaluations are critical to the safety of the system. When considering possible threats to the PHI, they don’t care if it’s just a theory. Consequently, they plan to implement a risk management plan based on it to avoid any potential risks that could occur in the future. 

A covered entity must take the following steps to ensure the security of all ePHI they create, send, or receive:

  • Ensure the confidentiality integrity and availability of the PHI
  • Protect against improper uses and disclosures of data
  • Protect the ePHI against potential threats, safeguarding their medical records
  • Train employees so that they are aware of the compliance factors of the security rule
  • Adapt the policies and procedures to meet the updated security rule

Confidentiality, integrity, and availability rules in health care must be met by the covered entity.

3. The HIPAA breach notification rule

Occasionally, there may be a breach. The breach notification rule comes into play here. The Department of Health and Human Services must be informed as soon as possible if there has been a data breach. Regardless of the nature of the breach, this must be done within 60 days of its discovery, this is where a good risk management plan comes in handy.

If a breach during administrative actions involves a person‘s personal information, that person must be notified within 60 days of the discovery of the breach.

In the event of a large-scale breach that affects more than 500 patients in a specific jurisdiction, the media should be informed as well.

An immediate announcement of a privacy violation is required by the HIPAA rule for breach notification. The Office for Civil Rights may impose fines if you don’t comply.

Alternatively, the Covered Entity may decide not to send a breach notification if it can show that the critical element of the PHI has not been compromised. A violation of privacy and security rules would be warranted if they are found to have been compromised.

Reportable Breaches and Exceptions

A breach of PHI occurs when an organization uses or improperly discloses PHI. However, they are only required to send alerts for PHI that is not encrypted. In addition to this, there are three additional circumstances in which the breach notification rule is more lenient, during such compliance violations and PHI breaches.

  1. If it was unintentional or done in good faith, and was within the scope of the authority.
  2. If it was done unintentionally between two people permitted to access the PHI.
  3. If the organization has a good faith belief that the person to whom the disclosure was made would not be able to retain the PHI.

Under such a case, the organization should ensure that such incidents don’t reoccur and take corrective action plans. Breach alerts are required only for unsecured PHI. If you secured it as specified by this guidance, then you don’t need to send the alerts. 

Partner with Wheelhouse IT 

You may believe that you can meet the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) on your own, and you may be right. A HIPAA-verified Managed Service Provider (MSP) makes it much easier to achieve HIPAA compliance than if you were to do it on your own.

To keep your organization and in-house IT department HIPAA compliant, you can rely on Wheelhouse IT. Some of the benefits of working with us include:

  • Conducting HIPAA security risk assessments
  • Encrypting all PHI and stored data
  • Implementing backup and disaster recovery plans to keep data secure
  • Identifying system vulnerabilities and providing high-quality solutions
  • Providing the necessary technology to ensure data security
  • Providing services such as Remote Monitoring Management (RMM), cloud-to-cloud backup, and authentication and access control

WheelHouse IT is ready to help your business navigate HIPAA compliance.

If you are looking for the assistance of an MSP for your HIPAA compliance needs, book time on our calendar below.

Make the Best Technology Decisions for Your Business

business technology

When it comes to business, productivity and profitability are directly correlated. If your company has a high productivity rate, then chances are your company is also highly profitable. On the other hand, if your organization is not as productive, then revenue is most likely down as well. Fortunately, there are simple modifications you can do to enhance your company’s productivity. With the use of technology, you can refine your organization’s process which would in turn increase productivity and profitability.

Automate Technology as Much as Possible

Automation is when a machine completes simple, repetitive tasks by following instructions or workflows. An automated machine runs as efficiently as the human who programmed it. As with most businesses out there, members of your organization will more than likely have several work tasks to complete. Automated processes, such as artificial intelligence, end-to-end management software, and various other smart tools and devices can help alleviate employees’ tasks, all while saving money for your business in the long run.

Improve Your Collaborative Approach

With the proper systems up and running, it is much easier for companies to manage workloads more effectively and efficiently. There are strategies that you can utilize to assist members of your team in collaboration and the development of ideas. Some of the tools you can use are:

  • Customer relationship management (CRMs): CRMs can assist in enhancing client satisfaction which in turn will improve the workflow of your organization. CRM software allows you to manage various job tasks and assign those tasks, keeping members of your team responsible for their specific duties.
  • Video conferencing: Video conferencing can help all employees of the organization, whether they work in the office or remotely from home. This tool allows all members of your team a place to meet and collaborate on any projects the company may have.
  • Collaboration tools: Depending on your organization’s specific needs, there are a variety of tools that can assist in team collaboration. Intranet software allows employees to communicate, collaborate, and perform their job duties efficiently. Software integration is the process of incorporating software parts to allow for increased communication and sharing of data between all members of the organization.
  • Productivity applications: Cloud-based productivity applications provide your team with the tools needed to boost productivity and work engagement. Applications can vary from written documentation to organizing a presentation. As long as users have access to the internet, they can utilize these tools on any device that has a web browser. 

Most Importantly, Customer Satisfaction

Many companies rely on customers to keep their businesses thriving. Previous studies found that the retention of clients is about five times less costly than the acquisition of clients. Therefore, it’s important to involve your customers. The best tool to keep customers involved in the CRM. The main purpose of a CRM is to update your clients and keep them engaged from a business standpoint. Customers will be able to give feedback which provides valuable data for you and your company to make informed decisions.

Your business will continue to grow if it’s operated efficiently and effectively. WheelHouse IT can offer various business technology solutions based on your company’s needs. To learn more, please contact us at 954.474.2204.

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