Guiding SMEs through the tough times ahead

Mike Puglia at Kaseya explains how small and medium-sized businesses can use automation to increase efficiency and drive revenues during a time of economic uncertainty.

The UK’s SMEs may face challenging economic conditions, but the pandemic taught everyone the importance of digital technology in helping businesses survive and thrive.

Embracing digital transformation, especially by automating processes, will help smaller businesses grow in tough times. A Strive UK report confirms that businesses using technology are more optimistic about the future.

With greater use of the cloud and a proliferation of remote users and devices thanks to hybrid working patterns, smaller businesses have moved beyond the old conventional view that technologies such as automation only work at scale for large businesses.

Everyone can surely see the benefits of the automation of routine, repetitive admin tasks. But for SMEs, some the of the biggest gains from automation come in solutions that manage IT infrastructure. 

Many SMEs may have limited IT resources. Yet like all businesses, they want to take full advantage of advances in security and performance that are available through more efficient use of IT solutions.

Automation streamlines tasks and increases efficiencies in IT, which is especially important in the current climate. By taking care of IT management tasks with unfaltering accuracy and timeliness, automation leaves SME businesses with far more time to concentrate on what grows their revenues.

Driving automation

The good news is that in today’s market, SMEs have plenty of options when it comes to deploying automation to streamline service delivery, increasing the efficiency of complex business workflows such as services provisioning, administration and support.

Managed service providers (MSPs) are now set up with integrated IT and security management platforms that tackle several critical challenges without complication. They make it much easier to service the needs of SMEs, bridging the gap between multiple platforms, applications and systems.

This more advanced level of automation streamlines execution of security policies and backups, configures new network devices and servers so they work efficiently and securely, and takes care of patching. Businesses with limited budgets can continue to operate successfully by selecting the best solutions for their particular circumstances at the best price.

Automating patching

Although patching is a familiar process, its neglect is all too easy, with potentially very damaging consequences. Application vulnerabilities, frequently caused by lack of patching, were identified as a common causes of data breaches in 2022.

When it comes to patching, consistency is key, which is why most automated solutions complete this automated task every 30 days. The alternative – doing it manually – is a risky undertaking that relies on someone remembering every time.

All organisations, including SMEs, use third-party software on their endpoints. Many know about the vulnerabilities that make the news and affect Windows and Mac operating systems, but the failure to patch other systems can account for most of the vulnerabilities exploited by cyber-criminals yearly.

This is the biggest blind spot for many SMEs. They overlook how restricting patching to their operating systems leaves their technology stack vulnerable. The UK government’s 2022 survey of security breaches found smaller businesses believe themselves less likely to suffer a ransomware attack, or even that they face no threat at all because of their size.

Some said they would turn to their IT providers for advice if hit by an attack. As the report points out, the reality for many is that when targeted, they pay a ransom to remain viable.

This is why SMEs need to use automation to stay on top of patching. It takes 15 days on average to patch a vulnerability that is being used in active attacks, according to data collected by Google’s Project Zero. Yet SMEs have scant resources, and often the criminals can easily exploit a vulnerability before the business can patch it.

By contrast, IBM research shows that automated security catches about 40% more threats than conventional security, including zero-day exploits that are new or little known. SMEs can use automated remediation of IT incidents, defining events and conditions that should be monitored.

They can define the process to respond to that event or condition, including executing a script to remediate the problem. With centralised alerts for virus and ransomware detections, businesses enjoy the security of automatic quarantine for potentially infected end-points.

Coupled with this, automation helps back up all systems efficiently on a routine basis, so small businesses don’t have to worry about losing data to cyber-attacks. An automation solution will, for example, auto-remediate a failed backup without direct intervention.

Further uses of automation

In addition to beefing up cyber-security, service desk automation enables any size of business to receive and organise queries, emails and customer grievances. It works well with routine tasks such as IT-related on-boarding and off-boarding, password-resets and data management.

Since software works 24/7, automation of these areas significantly reduces operational costs, eliminates most errors, offers quicker detection-and-response and improved service. The result is much greater satisfaction for end-users, partners and customers at each touchpoint. It also contributes to a leaner and a more standardised IT infrastructure.

Time to take the initiative

In the current downturn, and with the persistence of many supply chain difficulties, most SMEs still see investment in technology as the route to growth. With guidance and support from providers with more advanced platforms, the opportunity to benefit from automation is now very significant.

Yet one size does not fit all: SMEs should seek unbiased advice and customised solutions and services. It is definitely worth pursuing. The gains can be transformative, protecting an organisation from proliferating cyber-threats while reducing overheads and increasing accuracy in many routine business processes.

The automation and streamlining of workflows and IT management will carry any SME through the current disruptions into greater efficiency and much-enhanced profitability for the longer term.

Mike Puglia brings over 20 years of technology, strategy, sales and marketing experience to his role as Kaseya’s Chief Security Officer & GM of Security Products. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Hampshire and an MBA from the Carroll Graduate School of Management at Boston College

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com