Simnet – Customized IT Solutions to Protect Your Business

Q. What are the costs and impact of IT downtime?

I’ve read this question and I’ve seen all kinds of answers for it. Usually

it comes with a sexy calculator showing a number of files or megs of data which all translate to a dollar value. Losing a single critical piece of data can impact your business for sure but what about ALL your data? What about all your systems? We all understand that risks exist, and we also know avoiding risk is near impossible without knowing what the risks are.

What answer would you get when asking your IT Guy/Gal/Dept the following:

• can I commit to our client obligations if…
• can I keep selling if…
• can I deposit money and pay bills if…
• can our staff work if…

The only good answer to the questions should be: We have a policy and procedure and we validate it every …

Answering the question, “What is the cost to downtime” isn’t directly associated with a file or megs of data.

Q. What are the real costs to down time?

• Client Relations
• Financial Impact
• Employee retention
• Business integrity

You don’t need me to outline these points to you. It’s common sense. Not meeting obligations in any way impacts the bottom line. So what can be done to limit the amount of impact WHEN these unplanned events occur?

All technology people will spew the 3-2-1 rule for backups. Three copies of your data, on two different mediums and one copy should be offsite. That’s great but when was the last time your business tested the integrity of your backups?

Q. Better question, how do you recover when it’s your backup platform that’s been compromised?

Q. Do you have a plan for what would happen if these systems have been compromised? Does that plan have a persons name associated with it? Did the business sign off on the plan or just trust that one is in place?

The problem with most Disaster Recovery Plans or Business Continuity Plans is they are static processes with vague procedures to back them. They might be tested once a year by the person who wrote them.

Most often times, the simplest answer is true. Move your infrastructure offsite and sign a hosting contract that has teeth.

Old technology is more susceptible to risk and here’s why:

• Older technology is harder to patch
• Typically installed on a single server with slow recovery times
• Holes in security have been added over the years without being documented to protect against new exploits
• Old battery backups don’t last long enough
• Encryption in transit or at rest just wasn’t part the original design
• Etc…

Now you’re thinking: how to doI protect myself AND migrate offsite. Do I pick Azure or AWS? Last I checked, neither Azure nor AWS care about what systems you have hosted with them. You’ll pay for what you don’t understand. To comprehend the public cloud, maybe you’ll hire a cloud architect. They’ll make it all safe and secure and migrate your servers for you. Yes a cloud architect with help, but;

• They wont make it secure, that’s a separate role
• They wont maintain the cloud platform, they’re project focused and move on
• They will build your cloud platform with no regard to the costs

Confused on what to do now. Alot of business we talk to have been where you are. So what if you could rely on a company to;

• Understand your IT business objectives
• Build a migration plan
• Ensure your cloud systems are resilient and have multi location availability
• Secure it, and keep it secure
• Maintain your systems day in and day,24x7

Sounds like a sales pitch. It is.

It’s a pitch based on trust.

I built a company that will maintain your technology whether on premises or our private cloud, maintain it, migrate it and secure it. AND we back it up, Contractually.

I’m tired of buying services and not getting everything I need because I didn’t know the right question to ask. We’ve done this enough times to know what to ask and how to deliver the service ensuring everything that’s needed to be in-scope, is in-scope.

Simnet, a company located in Whit by Ontario, has been in business for over 17 years providing innovative IT solutions. They are experts in transforming technology from a liability into an asset.

Whether you need assistance with one project or a complete IT overhaul, they can deliver customized solutions that will help you execute your business plan more efficiently.

We interviewed Ted de Vos, the Founder, and CEO of SIMNET, to learn more about the company.

Here are few important takeaways from the interview.

Q. What developments of the company have you witnessed over the years?

Our client base has grown over the last five years, but we have stuck with our boutique concept.

We want each of our clients to have a unique experience that suits their growing business needs.  Our company has invested heavily into our data centers to ensure that our clients are offered enterprise-grade performance.

Q. How does Simnet help businesses grow?

We listen to how businesses want to leverage their technology. Our solutions are tailored to satisfy each business yet are agile enough to know that nothing in technology is finite. We are providing them with a roadmap to focus on their business while we focus on IT.

Q. What is the firm's goal and mission to be successful?

Our mission is to be recognized as one of Canada's greatest service companies. When we say service, our goal is to provide the best IT service available. We hire for it; we train to it; we live it. We want all of our customers to feel valued like they are the only customer. Providing excellent service translates to happy customers who are excited to share the value we bring to them.

Q. What are the benefits of using your services?

Performance – A consistent (reliable) high performance without the price tag that our competitors are asking.

Scalability - We grow with you. We can be as agile as you need us to be.

Experience – We offer a high-touch, human touch. We want to be seen as an extension of our customers (clients) team. We want them to know our names. The more we understand about our customers, the better we can help.

Service – Communication, no support request goes untouched is our mantra. Our clients are always kept in the loop while we work on the resolution.

About the CEO

Ted de Vos is the Founder and CEO of SIMNET. He is a solution-driven, problem solver, drawing from 25 years of enterprise IT experience. With Ted, performance is the driving factor, be it datacenter compute, datastore store IOPS, or pushing the limits on a track day with his friends.

He comes from a family of entrepreneurs. He has a great passion for solving real problems. Simnet was born to simplify the integration of IT with business. Further to that, they made performance and support their core values. The concept of keeping ideas simple allows them to share ideas easily. Today, Simnet helps over 100 clients worldwide. And while Simnet has grown, its entrepreneurial spirit remains intact.