A new business wrapped around security creates a wealth of new opportunities.
Data security will shape the future and well-being of many businesses. Proactive, forward-thinking dealerships, such as Impact Networking in Chicago, IL, can help prevent cyberattacks while differentiating their businesses to become more than printer providers. No doubt, office technology dealers are well-positioned to provide these services, and doing so is a natural progression from selling and supporting devices that are integral to communications for your customers and their customers.
Some savvy dealers have already diversified into print management, different forms of printing, and IT. All can be profitable extensions of your business. IT is perhaps the most promising, beginning with the basic issues of networking a customer’s computers, servers, printers, copiers, scanners, MFPs, and handheld devices, and moving on to security that protects the entire network. This is a must-do in a time when network breaches make the nightly news.
While some dealers have added various IT services to their offerings, Impact Networking has taken diversification in a broader and bolder direction by creating a separate data security company that provides IT services for customers, whether or not they are existing office technology customers. The company, called DOT Security, is a managed security service provider and offspring of Impact Networking, which has long offered customers production printing, MPS, and IT services. DOT focuses on Impact’s customers. Its offerings bring state-of-the-art information security technology to the office equipment market.
“Because cyberattack is inevitable, cybersecurity is imperative,” said DOT’s CEO Jeff Leder, who has 13 years in cybersecurity. The inevitability of things going sideways is borne out by the growing number of attacks and intrusions on large firms plus the nearly 50% of cyberattacks targeting SMBs, a category that includes your business and those of your customers. “It’s a big problem when a company is running out-of-date operating systems or software and are unsure if they’re secure,” said Leder.
Too many are like that, leaving the way open to attacks. In fact, some 70% of IT decision-makers say they don’t have the cybersecurity infrastructure to fend off an attack. A “hope for the best” approach means it’s only a matter of time before a business is crippled or held up by a cyber-criminal.
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DOT Security cites endpoints of networks—copiers, MFPs, and handheld devices—as potential access points. Add to this the largely unprotected MFPs in employees’ homes where more people are now working. Hackers see mobile phones, tablets, remote MFPs, hallway copier/printers, and even security cameras as on-ramps to networked information.
This is about more than protecting digital assets: It’s how dealers and their customers should be thinking about their businesses. Humberto Gauna, a 20-year cybersecurity veteran and chief strategy officer at DOT Security Services noted, “Security has to be a state of mind for all members of an organization.”
DOT Security provides edge security, endpoint protection, secure data protection, identity and access management, network security monitoring, risk management, compliance, and more.
Because there are no one-size-fits-all cybersecurity options, DOT Security provides customized, enterprise-level solutions. This begins with assessing a company’s environment, evaluating current defenses, designing a comprehensive approach, deploying a customized solution, and managing it throughout its lifecycle. Yes, lifecycle, because “Security is not a one-and-done solution,” concluded Gauna.
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