Data Storage
Keep your business’s data secure and easily accessible with reliable data storage solutions. This category explores essential topics like cloud storage, on-premise systems, and hybrid models, helping you choose the best option for your needs. Learn how to enhance your data protection and ensure seamless access by integrating cloud storage with backup strategies and other cloud computing solutions.
Natural disasters can destroy all your data, but it’s often overlooked when churches set up disaster recovery. Many churches rely on a single person to help with IT support, which can work well for a short time until an incident happens. Disaster recovery is more than data backups in case of a data breach or data corruption. It’s also necessary in the event of a natural disaster like fires or floods. Church IT people usually prepare for cybersecurity incidents or data damage with basic backups. For example, an IT person might set up your environment where backups are stored on a local server. What they don’t prepare for are natural disasters that can completely destroy infrastructure that stores these backups. In the event of a natural disaster, your recovery options are limited. Insurance pays for the lost hardware, but it can’t replace data if it’s lost in a flood or fire. To better prepare your church for disaster recovery, here are a few tips. Building a Disaster Recovery Strategy Your first step is building a strategy. You can take specific strategies as a baseline and work with general guidelines, but the way you build out a strategy also depends on your users, current infrastructure, if you use any cloud resources, and the amount of data stored every day. Disaster recovery experts use general guidelines, but every strategy is also customized for each business. If you decide to work with disaster recovery professionals, they will first audit the environment for every resource. A risk assessment helps identify vulnerabilities and the resources that must be protected against data loss. For example, you might have a server onsite, so it must be included in backups and disaster recovery to restore productivity after an incident. A full disaster recovery plan includes a playbook to use after an incident. The incident could be a cyber-incident where systems must be locked down, a threat contained, and evidence collected to report to law enforcement. In a natural disaster, the plan would include a list of stakeholders to contact and any safety nets included during recovery. For example, you might pay for a cold or warm site where data has been replicated so that staff has a place to work while recovery is in process. A few items you will need to do for a disaster recovery plan: Business Impact for Each Asset Your church relies on certain digital assets more than others. For example, you can probably continue business productivity at a high level without a printer. If the printer breaks, you wait for a new one without much loss in revenue and service to your churchgoers. At the same time, loss of a central application that manages church resources like events and donations might have a much bigger effect. Business impact based on assets gives you a priority list. If you have a managed service provider to help with disaster recovery, the professionals you work with set a priority list for recovery. Higher priority assets will be recovered more quickly than others. It can take months to fully recover from a particularly nasty natural disaster. If you have a fire or flood that damages the premises, you might need to move to another location while recovery is on the way. Recovery in these cases is more than digital assets. You need to have the building repaired as well. In these cases, you might want to have a warm site with cloud resources as backup. Cloud infrastructure is available even after a natural disaster, so you only need to repair and replace local resources. What you do for backups, disaster recovery, and infrastructure to keep your church running even after an event, depends on your budget and current productivity processes. A professional managed service provider can help, but first you need a plan. A business impact covers: Determine Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) Disaster recovery depends on RTO and RPO. Recovery Time Objectives (RPO) determines the amount of between backups before it negatively impacts the church. You might only store data infrequently, so you can wait longer between backups. Some churches need several backups a day to stay compliant with their data recovery plan. RTO is the amount of time that can pass without recovery before it impacts data continuity. It’s possible for a church to continue operations for a few days ,even weeks, before a pen-and-paper approach affects business continuity. In cases of fire or flood, it’s likely that services will be down for several days, so working with a professional to ensure the quickest resolution helps with church business continuity. Most of the steps in previous sections also identify RPO and RTO, but here are a few ways professionals gather data for both RPO and RTO: How Churches Get Help with Disaster Recovery Building the right disaster recovery plan should be done by a professional to make sure your church is fully covered. Corporate Technologies can help. Our professionals have years of experience with disaster recovery, and we can help mitigate losses during and after a natural disaster. Contact us now to see how we can help your church. FAQs
What Is Industry-Specific IT Support for CPAs? Industry-specific IT support is a tech help that gets your world. For CPAs, that means the kind of support that already knows how your accounting software runs, how tax systems behave, why client data needs to be locked down tighter than a vault, and financial compliance requirements, too. Now, general IT providers are kind of all over the place, helping every kind of business under the sun. But CPA-focused IT support is built differently. It understands the pressure of tax season, catches QuickBooks issues before they spiral, and knows how critical every step in an audit trail is. One slip, and the whole thing can fall apart. This kind of support doesn’t just help, it gets it. What Are the Benefits of Specialized IT Services for CPAs? 1. Better Support for Accounting Software CPAs don’t just open up any software and get to work, they rely on some heavy-duty stuff like QuickBooks, Xero, Sage, UltraTax, and CCH Axcess. Now, sure, a regular IT provider might step in and fix a glitch or two, maybe restart the system and call it a day. But when it comes to actually setting these tools up right? Making sure they play nice together? That takes someone who knows the accounting world. A specialized IT provider at Corporate Technologies goes beyond the surface. We don’t just support the tools, you get someone making sure those tools are set up to follow accounting best practices, not just whatever works in the moment. 2. Enhanced Data Security and Compliance There is also the security aspect, which is critical for CPAs. You’re dealing with sensitive financial data every single day. So encryption, secure file-sharing, MFA, all that stuff isn’t optional, it’s a must. A niche IT team will have it covered. The team even knows the regulatory landscape, such as FINRA, IRS Pub 4557, GLBA, all those compliance pieces that general IT might miss or barely skim through. 3. Minimized Downtime During Critical Periods Tax season and year-end are the busiest times for CPAs. Deadlines are tight, things move quickly, and there’s no room for mistakes. A regular IT provider might not understand how stressful that can be, but specialized IT support does. The specialized IT providers have been through it before and know exactly what’s needed to keep things running smoothly. A Real-World Example: How One CPA Firm Transformed Tax Season with Industry-Specific IT Support There was a mid-sized CPA firm in Dallas that had been doing well for years. For about five years, they worked with a general IT company. The IT team wasn’t bad, they just didn’t fully understand how accounting firms work. Every tax season, especially as April 15 got closer, the firm would face slow systems or even crashes. It always happened when they were busiest. The IT company didn’t seem to realize how serious that was. When there were errors in Lacerte, the IT team didn’t know how to help. When they had issues getting their document portal to work with ShareFile, their team had no idea what to do. Eventually, the firm switched to Corporate Technologies, and things improved quickly. We prepared their systems ahead of tax season, adjusted their accounting software, and strengthened their security. Everything ran more smoothly and faster. That year, the firm completed 18% more tax returns. There were fewer problems, less stress, and no more last-minute tech issues. Now, tax season feels more controlled and much less chaotic. Why Don’t Generic IT Providers Work Well for CPAs? 1. They Don’t Understand How Accounting Firms Work Most general IT companies treat CPA firms like any other business, like a retail store or a marketing agency. They use the same tools, follow the same checklist, and apply the same fixes. But accounting has its own needs. CPAs handle sensitive client data, need secure portals, and have to follow strict IRS rules like proper audit logs. 2. They Don’t Keep Up with Compliance Rules Financial regulations change often, and CPAs need to stay updated to avoid problems. But general IT providers usually don’t track those updates. If they’re not aware of new rules, your firm could end up facing audits, fines, or even security risks, just because your IT team didn’t know what changed. 3. They Wait for Problems Instead of Preventing Them Most general IT teams wait until something breaks, then fix it. That might work in some industries, but not in accounting. CPAs can’t afford delays, especially during tax season. Industry-specific IT providers at Corporate Technologies work differently. We plan, check for risks, and prepare your systems before busy periods. How Can Industry-Specific IT Support Solve These Problems? What Happens If CPAs Continue with Generic IT Support? Without specialized IT support, CPA firms run the risk of: At Corporate Technologies, we help CPA firms work more efficiently, build stronger client trust, and create long-term stability by providing IT support tailored specifically for the accounting industry. What Should CPAs Look for in a Specialized IT Provider? How Is the Cost Different from General IT Providers? Though industry-specific support may have a higher upfront IT cost, it pays off through fewer outages, reduced compliance risks, and increased staff productivity. In many cases, these services reduce overall IT spending by preventing issues before they arise. When Should a CPA Firm Make the Switch? The best time is before a critical failure occurs. If your firm is expanding, experiencing recurring technical issues, or undergoing a software upgrade, it’s a clear signal to move toward a specialized IT partner. Why Do Specialized IT Services Offer Better Long-Term Value? Because we design solutions that scale with your growth and evolve with your industry’s compliance demands. You’re not just buying tech support, you’re gaining a technology partner who understands your profession inside and out. Final Thoughts Generic IT support may seem adequate at first, but for CPAs, it usually creates more headaches than it solves. Specialized IT support gets how your world works, aligning with regulations,
Those of us immersed in IT daily often forget that, for most people, many technical phrases we use can sound like a foreign language. The term “virtual data center” is a good example. So, what exactly is a virtual data center? If you’re unsure, don’t worry – we’re here to help. We’ll start by looking at the technical definition of a virtual data center (VDC), but we won’t leave you there. We’ll also make sure to translate the concepts into the language of the living room. So, let’s get started. The Technical Definition of a Virtual Data Center Suppose somebody asks you what a virtual data center is. In that case, you can tell them this: a virtual data center (VDC) is a software-defined infrastructure that emulates a physical data center by providing virtualized computing, storage, memory, and networking resources to support enterprise workloads. You’ll sound like you’ve memorized a Wikipedia page, which will be impressive. The Layman’s Definition of a Virtual Data Center Well, now that we’ve gotten the technical definition out of the way, let’s try to figure out exactly what it actually means. To start with, let’s take a look at the phrase, “virtualized pool of cloud infrastructure resources”. It sounds complicated, but essentially, all it really means is an abstraction of physical servers into a dynamic pool of virtualized resources using software-defined techniques. Have you ever seen a server? Well, a pool of cloud infrastructure resources is basically just multiple servers, set up to work together. What about the phrase “enterprise business needs”? That just means that the network of servers has been set up to help businesses perform the activities that they need to do– whether that be managing customer data or running web applications. So, when it comes to a virtual data center (VDC), think of it this way: a virtual data center is a unified system where virtual machines or containers dynamically share computing, storage, and networking resources beyond the capabilities of individual personal devices. The storage, RAM, and CPU power would all be combined into one system that could be accessed at any time. Why Virtual Data Centers are Useful Now that you know what virtual data centers (VDC) are, it’s worthwhile to have an understanding of what makes them valuable. The great thing about virtual data centers is that resources in a virtual data center are dynamically allocated using software-defined methods to optimize performance and cost efficiency according to demand fluctuations. When you use an app or program that requires a lot of computing power, you’re able to access it. When you don’t need power, you don’t use it. VDCs operate on a pay-as-you-go model that dynamically scales resource usage, reducing upfront capital expenditures and operational costs. Have any more questions about what a virtual data center is, or why they’re helpful? Let us know. At Corporate Technologies, we’re honored to provide technology services to businesses. Get in touch with us. See Also Free Cloud Computing Services What is Cloud Computing
For a modern business of any size, data is everything and it needs to be protected. While security to keep any intrusive entities from accessing said data is critical, it must also be backed up to protect your infrastructure in the event of a breach or data loss.
Ask any business owner what they need to mitigate risk and overcome unforeseen challenges and they usually rattle off their go-to partners: a trusted lawyer, accountant, banker and probably a good insurance agent as well.