Where Kansas City Should Focus Their IT Budget

There’s one thing most businesses can agree on: today’s companies are dependent on modern technology for most operations, from communication, to data storage, to product tracking. Regardless of what industry you work in or the size of your business, maintaining a healthy infrastructure is a top priority for businesses who seek to grow in coming years.

But although it’s known that allocating funds to a well-maintained IT is important, it’s not always clear in what specific areas of IT you should be dedicating your IT spending. For your Kansas City business to invest its IT budget effectively, it’s important to know what the experts are saying will be the most critical aspect of IT to focus on. In 2020, it’s undoubtedly cybersecurity, and here’s why:

The Increases in Ransomware and Other Threats

As technology becomes more advanced, unfortunately so do cyber attacks that exploit customer and business data. The threat of a data breach has become a startling reality for companies nationwide, including major corporations such as Facebook and Dunkin’ Donuts, as well as several small and medium-sized businesses.

One of the types of cyber-danger that is steadily increasing is ransomware, in which hackers steal your data and hold it hostage with a demand for you to pay a fee if you want it back. This can be a particularly dangerous situation for Kansas City businesses such as healthcare organizations and financial institutions that store highly sensitive client information.

Ransomware is no joke and can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, a fee that many businesses simply can’t afford to pay. In fact, 22% of businesses have had to cease operating immediately due to a ransomware attack in the last year alone, which can have a major impact on business success.

Additionally, even for businesses that do survive such attacks, a data breach can lead to a loss of business and customers filing lawsuits. This is perhaps one of the biggest impacts of a data breach, considering how much damage can be done to a business’s reputation if they are not adequately prepared to combat cyber attacks that compromise client information.

The Importance Of Cybersecurity

Because these cyber attacks have grown increasingly common, experts agree that cybersecurity should be a top priority for modern businesses as they become more technology dependent. Making room in your IT budget for an investment in advanced cybersecurity can help you to avoid being the target of such malicious attacks as ransomware schemes.

Unfortunately, experts also say that only 5% of companies have their data properly protected. As such, there is a very good chance that your business falls into the 95% of companies that need to be doing something about their data protection, and that means investing in more comprehensive cybersecurity.

One of the best solutions to ensure you have proper cybersecurity measures implemented on your systems is to partner with a Managed Service Provider who offers advanced cybersecurity services.

Part of what we provide at Cenetric, for example, is 24/7 system monitoring and support, which means we can detect threats and patch vulnerabilities before they cause major issues. In a study conducted by the University of Maryland, it was discovered that hackers attack every 39 seconds, an average of 2,244 times per day, so having a team monitoring your systems round-the-clock is an invaluable investment.

In this kind of environment, it is clearly more important than ever that you do whatever you can to protect your business from such attacks. By investing your IT dollars in more advanced and robust cybersecurity defenses, you can ensure your business is ready to combat modern threats and keep their data secure.