Conceir Data Back-up and Restore Services

When backing up your data is not enough.


We constantly hear stories about how companies have lost data due to hard drive crashes, server theft, and database corruption.  If your company data is in one geographic location – your number one priority should be implementing at least one method to copy your data to another location.  There are many ways to do this- services: Carbonite, Mozy, Iron Mountain; manual process: copy/export data to removable storage and mail to remote office; and automated scripts:  nightly export/differentials to a remote server.


Whatever your method, this should keep you up at night if you don’t have your data backed up.  Servers and hard drives can be replaced if lost, your data cannot.


It is a common mistake that companies make, thinking that having a back-up solution is enough to feel secure.  But it is not the back-up alone that makes you secure…it’s the restore of your data that ensures you will recover from a data disaster.  If you don’t know that a data restore is possible, you have no reason to feel secure.


Conceir Technology Group offers secure Data Back-up and Restore services as part of our 24x7 IT Support services. 

Conceir Data Back-up and Restore includes: 


1. Data Back-up for servers, desktops and laptop


2. Routine, scheduled Back-up Restore Testing to ensure that your data will be quickly restored in the event of a catastrophic event


3. Off-site storage of your data, as an additional layer of protection

Almost 5 Million PC users lose data yearly…make sure that you are not one of them.  Call Conceir at 704.943.4344 or email us at info@conceir.com.  Visit us on the web at www.conceir.com

Run Windows Programs on your Mac? Yes you can!

I know all Mac users have encountered this scenario before. You have one or two programs that you love or you just don’t want to get rid of. But guess what, they will only run in Windows and of course, there is no Mac equivalent, now what? Are you doomed to having to switch between 2 systems, or worse, carry them with you when you need your favorite applications? The good news, not anymore! There is a program that can solve all your application issues and keep them under the hood of your Mac.

The program is called Parallels. This program installs and runs a virtual machine, meaning that it can run a computer within a computer. So inside your Mac you can have a Windows environment running at same time your Mac is running. Now there are quite a few programs on the market that can do this so why is Parallels any different than the others? For one, you can switch between the two OS’s with just the click of a button, no rebooting like you would have to do in OSX’s Boot Camp. Another and probably the coolest feature of Parallels is that your Windows programs can run from the Dock of your Mac! When you launch your Windows applications from your Dock they will open up and look exactly like they are running in OSX! Also you can open and save all your files that are associated with your Windows applications from your Mac folders and directories! To do this though, you will need a “Fully Licensed” copy of Windows and any other software that you would like to run within the Parallels virtual machine. Depending on your version of Windows you can even join a company domain and be able to use your domain account within your Mac.

All about Viruses, and Trojans and Malwares!

You’re sitting at your desk, drinking your morning coffee, surfing through your favorite news sites taking note of the interesting articles. You take another sip and set down your mug as you finish reading the latest update on local bank heist. Ding! You have a new email from you college buddy that you haven’t seen in a while. You read the subject line Party Pix! The title instantly brings a smile to your face. He’s always getting into funny predicaments and there’s always someone waiting in the wings with a camera. He’s never one to shy away from spotlight.

You open the email and notice there’s an attachment with the name YouMissedThis.jpg. Once again, someone is rubbing it in your face that their life is more fun than yours. You open the attachment. Nothing happens. You try again, clicking even harder this time. Still, nothing happens. There must be a problem with this stupid mouse! You highlight the file and then press the Enter key. Still nothing, Aggravated, you mutter something under your breath about the incompetent IT guys and close the email. Hopefully you’ll remember to open the file when you get home tonight. There’s work to be done. 

After two solid hours of work, your fingers need a break. You drain the last drop from your mug and decide to go get a fresh cup. After stopping and exchanging pleasantries with a few co-workers you return to your desk, full mug in hand. A quick glance at your PC screen results in an instant rush of fear through your entire body. Red flashing boxes! Huge exclamation marks!  The words WARNING, WARNING flashing across the screen. Every caution sign and warning symbol, save the skull and crossbones, has crossed in front of your eyes. There’s a new pop-up message! It’s from Microsoft! It’s telling you to Click Here to download a virus removal tool to help clean your PC. You anxiously follow the instruction. BAM! Your PC’s screen is now a beautiful shade of blue laced with tons of seemingly garbled, illegible white text. Your open, unsaved, spreadsheet is gone. It hits you with shear panic... you have a virus! Or do you…

 After a few hours of tedious work by your IT guy, he informs you that you were infected with malware, or more specifically, scareware. He notices your perplexed look and tries to ease the confusion on your face. He rambles on and on using words like Viruses, Trojans, Worms, Malware, Scareware, Badware until you finally give up, thank him for his effort and send him on his way. What he was trying to relay to you will hopefully be better understood with this breakdown of the most common types of PC security threats and the different names given to them.

What is a Virus? A virus is a piece of software that, like its biological namesake, spends its entire life trying to replicate itself and make your life miserable. The malicious code will try to infect your files even going as far as trashing your master boot record to make your PC a zombie or kill it altogether. One of the key definitions of a true virus is that it needs human action to start the process. A virus can not initiate its program until you tell it to. 

What is a Worm? A worm is a virus that has evolved, so to speak. Unlike a virus, a worm can start itself without you doing anything wrong. Like its virus predecessor, its goal in life is to replicate itself and ruin your day. Worms will seek out vulnerabilities in your computer network and replicate from computer to computer all by themselves. The most common entry point for a worm is through email and instant messaging programs. 

What is a Trojan? Sometimes referred to as a Trojan horse, these programs appear to be something useful, and when launched, pretend do something desired on your screen. Like the people of Troy, you have no idea that something sinister is afoot. While you are watching the seemingly innocent slideshow of baby kittens, your PC is running illicit code that is harming your computer or stealing your information. Most Trojans are downloaded from free software or music sites and computer attachments that were unknowingly sent to you from a friend with a hacked email account. 

What is Spyware? Unlike the threats mentioned above, spyware does not harm your computer in any way. Instead of attacking your PC, they attack you. These sneaky programs run on your PC with no apparent sign that they are even there. They search your computer for valuable information including passwords, credit card numbers and bank accounts. They can also secretly track every keystroke on your PC compiling the data and sending it off to an offshore database. Your personal information is now on the black-market being sold to the highest bidder. 

What is Scareware? Probably the most profitable type of all of the security threats is scareware. These programs are usually silently downloaded from an infected website and launch themselves when programed to do so. They usually don’t do any harm to your PC but instead display fake warnings and error messages. Quick to follow these messages is an offer to download and install a removal tool that will make all of these risks disappear. You click the link to download the fix and you are asked to pay $59 for the software package. A lot of people will reluctantly pay the asking price, download the removal tool and feel relieved when all of the popups are gone. Thinking all is well, a few weeks down the road, the process start all over again. Your $59 bought a few weeks of relief. Until the program is completely removed by an IT professional the cycle will likely continue. 

What is Malware? Malware stands for Malicious Software. Any program that is designed to exploit a computer or its user is officially malware. Malware is a generic term that covers all of the above threats, and more. 

The computer world is a dark and scary place, to say the least. Using common sense and a good antivirus program you can eliminate a lot of the risk. Be careful what websites you visit, what email attachments you open and most importantly, have a good IT service desk on speed dial.

Conceir Offers best rate for IT Services in Charlotte

In today’s outsourced IT Services world there are two main types of pricing models. Both of these models have been around the industry for a long time and have caused serious friction between the companies providing the IT support and the companies needing IT support.  These models are commonly referred to Pay As You Go and Prepay.

Pay As You Go IT support is a standard REACTIVE model. The client will call their designated IT provider when issues arise. The service technician will respond to the client’s request based on their agreement with the client, usually within 4 – 24 hours after the request was placed. The ‘clock’ starts ticking once the technician starts to diagnose the problem at hand. The technician will then work to resolve the issue accumulating billable time during the process. Once the issue is resolved, the technician will log the time spent to resolve this instance. At the end of the billing cycle the IT provider will send a bill to the client for the total number of hours that their technicians worked on that client’s IT support issues. A typical hourly rate for this type of service is $150-$200 per hour.

The Pre-Pay support model is very similar to the Pay As You Go model. The main difference is that you agree to buy a preset number of hours, commonly referred to as a Bucket or Block. You will typically get a discount of 10-15% for buying the time, usually in blocks of 25-50 hours, before you need them. The resolution process for IT requests is typically the same as above except that you will not receive a new invoice until the pre-paid hours are all consumed. You will then be presented with a new invoice for a new block of hours.  The end result is an upfront expense that gives you no guarantees on how long before you are invoiced again. The more you need them, the more your budget suffers.

Conceir Technology Group has seen a need to replace these industry standards with a more budget friendly, PROACTIVE, model that not only saves you money but provides a much higher Return On Investment (ROI). Our solution to this problem is our Flat Rate model. There are many benefits to our Flat Rate model that will help reduce your annual cost for IT support and also provide you with a much better overall IT experience for your entire staff. Under the Flat Rate agreement we have the flexibility to proactively fix issues that may cause you headaches, downtime, added expenses and loss of productivity. We have added incentive to make sure that your systems are preforming optimally at all times. If your systems go down, for any reason, we absorb the support cost, not you. This provides us with much more incentive to fix little problems before they turn into big ones. At the same time, under either of the previous models, your IT provider will actually benefit from you having down time by charging you for every incident that occurs, even if they could have prevented it from happening.

We believe our role should be one of helping our customers get the most out of their IT Systems, not profiting from them when they go down. Along with a stable IT environment you will also be able to accurately budget your entire year of IT expense. No surprises, no long term contracts, guaranteed uptime and better ROI. We are here to help you be the most efficient that you can be, all the while saving your money and most importantly your time.

Conceir Technology Group – IT Infrastructure Assessment Initiative

Conceir Technology Group’s Infrastructure Assessment initiative is being offered to customers to help them understand, and subsequently improve, the current state of their IT infrastructure and what that means in terms of cost, security risk and operational agility. The Infrastructure Assessment initiative has been developed using industry best practices, Conceir Technology Group’s own experiences with its enterprise customers, and is based upon Gartner’s Infrastructure Maturity Model and MIT’s Architecture Maturity Model. A key goal for Conceir Technology Group in creating the Infrastructure Assessment Initiative was to develop a simple way to use a maturity framework that is flexible and can easily be used as the benchmark for technical capability and business value. 

We will be conducting a detailed assessment and profile of your IT organization. After we understand where you are in the Infrastructure Optimization Models, we will work with you and your teams to identify the highest impact options for IT optimizations that map to your business and IT priorities. Conceir Technology Group will commit to our customers that we will achieve these significant milestones:

• • Identify where clients’ are in the Infrastructure Optimization Model
• • Identify highest impact options
• • Identify biggest challenges
• • Build a plan that maps to clients’ business and IT priorities
• • Work with clients to help them get started

Conceir Infrastructure Assessment Initiative or CIAI

What is the Infrastructure Assessment Initiative? 
The Infrastructure Assessment Initiative from Conceir Technology Group has been developed using Industry best practices, Conceir Technology Group’s own experiences with its enterprise customers, and is based upon Gartner’s Infrastructure Maturity Model and MIT’s Architecture Maturity Model. A key goal for Conceir Technology Group in creating the Infrastructure Assessment Initiative was to develop a simple way to use a maturity framework that is flexible and can easily be used as the benchmark for technical capability and business value.

CIAI

What can the Infrastructure Assessment Initiative do to benefit my organization? 
The Infrastructure Assessment Initiative helps customers understand and subsequently improve the current state of their IT infrastructure and what that means in terms of cost, security risk and operational agility. Dramatic cost savings can be realized by moving from an unmanaged environment towards a dynamic environment. Security improves from highly vulnerable in a Basic infrastructure, to dynamically proactive in a more mature infrastructure. IT Infrastructure Management changes from highly manual and reactive to highly automated and proactive. Conceir Technology Group can provide the technologies, processes and procedures to help customers move up through the Infrastructure Optimization Journey. Process moves from fragmented or non-existent to optimized and repeatable. A customer’s ability to use technology to improve their business agility and deliver business value increases as they move from the Basic state up the continuum toward a Dynamic state empowering information workers, managers and supporting new business opportunities.

By working with Conceir Technology Group and using this model as a framework, an enterprise can quickly understand the strategic value and business benefits to the organization in moving from a “basic” level of maturity (where the IT infrastructure is generally considered a “cost center”) towards a more “dynamic” use when the business value of the IT infrastructure is clearly understood and the IT infrastructure is viewed as a strategic business asset and business enabler.

Conceir's IT Guarantee