It's no secret that AI is taking the technology world by storm. Businesses are becoming more dependent on deeper and speedier insights. The opportunities for advancement that have opened up as a result of AI have allowed businesses to catapult into a whole new level of customer service delivery and overall operational efficiency.

Whether your business is large or small, the as-a-service model for client devices warrants your attention if you purchase or lease PCs, mobile computers and other devices for your company.

If you own your machines and devices, you know only too well that maintaining, updating, keeping them secure, and replacing them takes a big toll on your IT team, or if you don’t have one, can get expensive and cause workplace disruption hence impacting productivity. What about security threats? Are your devices adequately protected and backed-up? When time comes for imminent replacement, do you have the budgets to proceed when you should?

With so many vulnerabilities around us, data protection remains a top priority for organizations as they face the realization that proactive steps must be taken to ensure data is highly available, accessible and resilient as it continues to grow at unprecedented rates. Along with the acceleration of data growth, one of the major impediments to efficiency and budgets are inefficient data protection systems.

Most companies rely on the expertise of multiple providers who support their businesses in areas such as applications development and maintenance, IT infrastructure, ISPs or MSPs, Cloud Hosting, etc. However, having one expert advisor to guide you towards the best solution to fit your needs that is not influenced by what they can sell you may be more difficult to find.

It’s 2018, and with a new year, a new chapter begins. If you’re rethinking your IT department and how it can contribute to opening up new opportunities for your business, I’ve come across a thought-provoking piece from Deloitte’s, The Symphonic Enterprise that I think you will enjoy.

As is the tradition at Sentia, we like to wrap up the year by looking forward to emerging trends and highlight those that could have a significant impact for our customers moving forward.

From a general perspective, 2017 was a great year for Canada in many ways. Did you know that we were ranked the 2^nd in the annual “Best Countries” survey from the U.S. News & World Report? The survey evaluated 80 countries in a variety of categories including economic influence, citizenship and quality of life. 

Data solutions are at the core of our business at Sentia. This provides us a front row seat to help our customers with the increasing challenges in keeping growing amounts of data secured and protected. A tremendous amount of pressure is being put on businesses to store more information, have it easily accessible and agile across diverse environments.

The marketplace is seeing high growth in cyber threats as well as an increase in their sophistication. One of the ways to keep informed and plan proper preparedness for a potential cyber breach is to look at current security trends in Canada and the cost of such a data breach on an organization.

Since 2003, October has been recognized as National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM). This effort was brought to life through a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Cyber Security Alliance. NCSAM was created to ensure that every individual stays safe and secure online.

In my recent blog post, I talked about digital transformation and how CIOs are preparing to support this explosion of internet connected devices. The security around these devices is creating a massive challenge.