Small businesses are the backbone to every local economy. That's why Small Business Saturday spotlights local establishments that keep communities thriving.
You've worked hard and deserve your vacation time. However, cyber threats are on the rise & bad actors don't take time off. Here's how to stay secure while OOO.
Our greater reliance on IT increases security risks. Discover how partnering with a SOC 2 certified Managed Services Provider (MSP) boosts your cybersecurity.
Empower your employees to contribute to a robust cybersecurity culture that promotes security awareness, compliance, and incident response.
For Veterans Day 2021, we interviewed Navy veteran, Ryan Gilson, about his service journey and how it led him into his cybersecurity career at Net Friends.
Windows 11 is the latest release in the Microsoft Windows operating system. Here's our list of 5 notable features that increase business productivity.
Leverage your Technology Roadmap in new ways by exploring its greater potential and unlock even more business growth.
Your Technology Roadmap is only as powerful as you allow it to be when you regularly consult it with your internal stakeholders to advance your goals.
In 2020, we designed our Stack Lab, featuring technology equipment that facilitates in-house, hands-on training for our technical staff.
The Technology Roadmap should be a close companion to your IT Budget. Discover pro-tips from Net Friends on how to better capture your IT spending.
Far too often, IT companies are stuck in the generalist hiring loop with no formal strategy to develop their technical staff beyond being break-fix technicians.
When targeting your desired outcomes is too difficult, try this brainstorming exercise to help you move forward with building your Technology Roadmap.
By cementing your Technology Stack from the onset, you dodge disruptions such as frequently recycling technology solutions and upending operational processes.
We applaud the increasing number of mental health initiatives in the technology sector that are moving beyond awareness. Here's how our Net Friends are too!
A Technology Roadmap will help any decision-maker capture a visual reference of the technology plans and enhancements that will drive their business forward.
Our cybersecurity culture is deeply informed by our vision for Universal Safe Networks and our commitment to help businesses fortify their security.
Join us on October 12, 2021 at Walk for Hope's Drive-Thru event to support mental health awareness and World Mental Health Day.
Discover a powerful tool that can help you capture your technology goals and scale your business. A Technology Roadmap is your IT Budget's missing companion.
Net Friends CEO John Snyder shares his motivations to create a demand-driven facility for his company to use as needed to collaborate and enrich their work.
Not all heroes wear capes! There is a lot of hidden work in IT support and we salute our fellow IT professionals today for their ongoing efforts.
Are you in the market for a new MSSP? Here are the top screening questions you need to ask when shopping for your next cybersecurity partner.
The advantages of Anywhere Operations not only makes a compelling business case for enhancing your company’s performance, but it can help you make an impact.
With more companies setting net-zero targets, trailblazing organizations are more motivated than ever to pave a viable path to greater climate resiliency.
Net Friends is a SOC 2 Type II certified IT partner with a long history of expertise in HIPAA compliance and Information Technology Risk Management (ITRM).
A mature MSSP is your preferred strategic partner for implementing a robust cybersecurity program that aligns with your business operations.
Implementing these cloud-based services may be the game-changer you need to grow your business and profit margin.
While many industries appear to have adjusted to the work-from-anywhere model, we should consider several challenges that may arise with this mass shift.
Cloud providers are constantly upgrading their services to adhere to the latest industry standards and regulatory requirements to offer unprecedented security.
Lenovo recently inspired us to think back to our first computer, so we asked our staff to reminisce with us.
The Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is central to Microsoft’s plans to boost the security of 1.3 billion workstations running Windows 10.
Net Friends announces that Castra, an award-winning leader in MDR, has signed the largest NetForce IT staffing agreement to date.
A message from Net Friends CEO John Snyder on the Kaseya Breach
It starts with a professional standardized certification for those who practice safe network design and operation.
How do you know when to cut ties with your IT provider? You watch for these warning signs that indicate low operational maturity.
Nearly 1 out of 4 small businesses suffered at least one cyber attack last year. Discover cost free protections you can implement now to improve your security.
Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) vulnerabilities are often easy targets for cyber criminals and they are too expensive to appropriately secure and monitor.
Kick off the summer with this curated playlist featuring staff picks by your Net Friends. From The Beach Boys to 2Pac, this mix is will liven up your work day!
Within the broad classification of "small business," there's one type that is largely unacknowledged in IT advertising: the "small office."
Should you buy your IT assets outright or lease them? Let's explore capital expenses vs. operating expenses and how OpEx can optimize your IT budget.
While "Work from Anywhere" is a common term, let's explore the future of "Anywhere Operations" and its implications for SMBs.
Do you need grant funding for your IT? Unsure about how to acquire and maximize IT grants? Explore how a Managed IT Services Provider can help you!
The drive to be a dominant player in your market requires leveraging the latest tech innovations. Your IT should make you more competitive, not hold you back.
At Net Friends, we have a long history of improving our cybersecurity posture and applying it to our services to promote secure environments for our customers.
A Managed Services Provider gives your SMB access to several outsourced IT services at a predictable and affordable cost.
At Net Friends, we regularly review our contracts to revise wording that is ambiguous, update service features, and assess how we can address risk exposure.
Microsoft 365 OneDrive (Business Premium) is the best cloud-based file storage and sharing solution. Explore the business benefits of this powerful tool.
You can leverage outsourced IT staffing for greater competitiveness. Discover how on-demand IT staffing can streamline your business growth.
Microsoft Silver/Gold Partners with Microsoft Certified IT Experts can provide the most innovative and trusted technologies to support your business.
Meet Bob Casey, our Senior Business Advisor. Did you know that Bob spent a month in his twenties on his bicycle, riding across Europe?
Treatment of end-of-life devices requires policies for thorough data sanitization before e-waste recycling and disposal, especially with a remote workforce.
The security vendor Cybereason describes REvil (aka Sodinokibi) as “the Crown Prince of Ransomware.”
Net Friends aims to use "natural language" in our contracts, because we believe that they should be understood by the people who sign them.
Does your company have an IT budget? What are your tech spending categories? Keep reading for great insights on what should be included.
We interviewed Cynthia Hemingway, the Chief Financial Officer for Fourlane, about her perspective on being both a provider and consumer of IT.
Trying to keep IT costs low, or prioritize a fixed monthly cost? Let’s discuss how a managed IT services provider can help you manage your IT budget.
Net Friends CEO, John Snyder, shares hard-won knowledge to help others in business find a shorter path to success.
Net Friends CEO, John Snyder, shares hard-won knowledge to help others in business find a shorter path to success.
If 2020 taught us anything, it's that we are in this together. We asked a few Net Friends to share what this last year has taught them. See what they said...
Madison shares, "When diversity is embraced in the workplace, new ideas and perspectives help improve efficiency and effectiveness."
Without an annual assessment, most businesses have no visibility over their assets, resource constraints, or other critical insights about their environment.
Independent Audit Verifies Net Friends’ Internal Controls and Processes
"Women can really be leaders in the field, because the best IT people are good listeners and take care of the details that are really important to customers."
Your business’ IT requirements will always fluctuate. Here are the top four situations where you will need expert tech staffing to help you pivot.
After years of parallel growth with our software sister company, we became a stronger business with greater clarity and focus on our best-in-class IT solutions.
What does the primary focus of your IT company say about the operational maturity of your IT environment?
What tools do you have in place and optimized to support your risk-informed responses?
"We need more women in these IT positions to help guide and be a mentor for other women to succeed in this industry," Rachel remarks.
Does your business have a Technology Roadmap for your Digital Transformation journey?
Are you focused on minimizing network downtown or avoiding unnecessary disruptions?
Ryuk is a sophisticated strand of ransomware that not only encrypts network drives, but it also deletes shadow copies on the endpoint. Here's how to prevent it!
The story of how we went from a scrappy group of six technicians at Duke to a radically innovative IT partner that brought HIPAA expertise to the table.
Who should be the IT decision-maker in your business? How do you decide whether to outsource or hire for your IT needs?
Maze is a sophisticated strand of ransomware that steals data and exfiltrates it to servers controlled by hackers.
The primary lever of extortion in leakware is to threaten to release a target’s confidential data. Here's how you can protect yourself against these attacks.
With over 15 years of hiring perspective, John Snyder, Net Friends CEO, shares his thoughts on the common traits he looks for when hiring new talent.
Do you want your business to be competitive in the market? Here are 3 great reasons why you should hire an IT Managed Services Provider today!
Line-of-business (LOB) software is the Achilles heel of small business backup strategies. Don't forget to secure critical data from your LOB tools too.
Small and medium-sized businesses often hire managed IT service providers to reduce costs and leverage external expertise, assets, & direct vendor partnerships.
As Aruba puts it "the 'Magic' is in the customer experience" after being positioned as a Leader in the 2020 Gartner Wired and Wireless LAN Magic Quadrant.
Net Friends selected a potent combination of tools that allows us to offer our small business customers enterprise-grade security without enterprise pricing.
When we discovered Cortex XDR as the best detection & response tool on the market, we knew we'd do everything we could to create access to it for our customers.
How our Founder, David, fostered a culture of entrepreneurialism and experimentation that few IT Support companies have pursued...
A typical small business' IT budget should be somewhere between 3-7% of its total revenue. Here are 5 key questions to consider before investing in your IT.
How on earth did we “predict” the pandemic? All “Back to the Future” jokes aside, the simple fact is we didn’t predict anything. What we did was more practical.
Net Friends Provides Triangle Businesses Exclusive Access to Aruba Networks Wired and Wireless Infrastructure Product Suite
This year, we are grateful for every interaction that reminded us that we are in this together!
In November 2020, Gartner released its Magic Quadrant for Network Firewalls with Palo Alto Networks securing the top position yet again in the Leader quadrant.
Business coach Mark Henderson Leary is the podcast host of "You're Doing It Wrong," where he interviewed John Snyder about implementing EOS at Net Friends.
You never forget your first cybersecurity incident. It was the summer of 2001, & I was working as a field tech, supporting several medical research departments.
The “Business Premium” plan is affordable and gives us access to powerful cloud-based security tools that we could call upon to keep your data more secure.
The top three reasons why we selected Kirkpatrick Price as our SOC 2 Type II auditor and how that led us to a powerful risk assessment tool.
How the Axio360 tool helped us quantify risks and give key stakeholders the power to make informed decisions in response to potential risk events.
How the Axio360's quant tool helps us explore various risk scenarios and directly quantify the costs for those events should they occur.
After our SOC 2 Type II audit, we started engaging with new risk categories that led us on a journey towards discovering a powerful risk assessment tool.
In 1999, I was a new tech at Net Friends, enjoying my time supporting dozens of research departments at Duke University.
Have you heard that over 90% of data breaches begin with an attacker sending email? This statistic is unfortunately about four years out of date.
One of the most rewarding aspects of working alongside an incredible team of talented people is that you discover the diverse experiences that people bring.
Establishing our Palo Alto Networks partner status allowed us to differentiate ourselves as an MSP and MSSP in the local and regional market.
In 2016, we hired a former educator with a Masters in curriculum development and instruction to join our team as our first Training Coordinator.
I first met Grant Leonard back in 2002. We hired him at Net Friends as a contractor to help with all sorts of IT security projects and initiatives.
YOUR PARTNERS IN TECHNOLOGY FOR BUSINESS
Our customers recommend us because the quality of our work & dedication reflect our genuine interest in the people and businesses in our community.
We believe IT Support should be straightforward.
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