Device Protection 101: Safeguarding Businesses through Effective Device Monitoring

In today’s digital age, businesses are increasingly reliant on technology to optimize business operations and stay competitive. One crucial aspect often overlooked is device monitoring, which plays a pivotal role in ensuring uptime, availability, security, and compliance. Let’s delve into the top 5 ways monitoring devices can elevate your business’s protection levels and empower your workforce, especially those working remotely or sharing devices.

1. Real-Time Threat Detection

Effective device monitoring provides real-time alerts for any suspicious activities or potential security breaches. By promptly identifying threats, businesses can take immediate action to mitigate risks, safeguard sensitive data, and maintain uninterrupted operations. For instance, malware infections are a common threat that can be detected early with proper monitoring systems. Malware can corrupt files, steal sensitive information, and disrupt normal business activities.

Another example is phishing attacks, where malicious actors attempt to deceive employees into providing confidential information or access to secure systems. Monitoring solutions can identify and flag unusual login attempts or access patterns, preventing unauthorized access and potential data theft. Additionally, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, which aim to overwhelm a system with traffic to render it unusable, can be identified promptly. Monitoring traffic patterns can help in recognizing such attacks early, allowing businesses to respond quickly and maintain service availability.

2. Enhanced Uptime and Availability

Monitoring devices proactively detect performance issues, hardware malfunctions, or network disruptions that could lead to downtime. By addressing these issues before they escalate, businesses can ensure continuous operation, minimize productivity losses, and deliver reliable services to customers.

Consider a company that relies heavily on its e-commerce platform, particularly during peak shopping seasons like Black Friday or the holiday period. During such times, any downtime or performance hiccup can result in significant revenue losses and damage to customer trust. With proactive monitoring in place, this company can receive alerts about potential server overloads or degraded performance well before it affects the end users.

If the monitoring system detects an unusual spike in server load, it can trigger an alert to the IT team. This enables them to take immediate action, such as scaling up resources or balancing the load across multiple servers, thereby ensuring that the platform remains robust and capable of handling high traffic volumes. By addressing these issues preemptively, the company not only maintains uptime and availability but also safeguards its reputation and customer satisfaction.

3. Compliance Adherence

Small businesses face regulatory requirements and industry standards that mandate data protection and privacy measures. Device monitoring aids in maintaining compliance by tracking access controls, data handling practices, and security protocols, thereby helping businesses avoid penalties and uphold trust with clients.

For instance, businesses that process credit card transactions must comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). PCI DSS sets forth stringent guidelines for securing payment card data, which include requirements for maintaining a secure network, protecting cardholder data, implementing strong access control measures, and regularly monitoring and testing networks. Device monitoring becomes instrumental in meeting these requirements by continuously tracking network activities and ensuring that firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and other security measures are functioning correctly.

To illustrate, consider a small retail business that conducts both online and in-store sales. This business must ensure that credit card information is processed securely and that any data stored is protected against breaches. Device monitoring solutions can help the business continuously oversee its payment processing systems, flagging any instances of unauthorized access or deviations from security protocols. For example, if there’s an attempt to access payment data outside normal business hours, the monitoring system can immediately notify IT staff, allowing them to investigate and respond swiftly.

Similarly, organizations in the healthcare sector must adhere to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which mandates the protection of patient health information (PHI). Under HIPAA, healthcare providers are required to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of all electronic PHI they create, receive, maintain, or transmit. Device monitoring assists in compliance by ensuring that access to PHI is appropriately controlled and by providing audit trails that can be reviewed during compliance checks.

For example, a clinic using electronic health records (EHR) can leverage device monitoring to track all access to patient information, ensuring that only authorized personnel have access to PHI. If a monitoring system detects an unusual login attempt or an unauthorized attempt to alter patient records, it can alert the compliance officer immediately, thereby mitigating potential breaches and maintaining HIPAA compliance.

4. Remote Workforce Support

With an increasing number of employees working remotely, monitoring devices become essential for managing dispersed teams and ensuring secure connections. By offering remote monitoring capabilities, businesses can oversee employee devices, enforce security policies, and support seamless collaboration regardless of location.

For example, consider a marketing agency with employees working remotely across different time zones. By implementing robust device monitoring solutions, the agency can ensure that all remote devices comply with security protocols, regardless of the employees’ locations. The monitoring system can enforce the use of VPNs for secure connections, regularly check for software updates, and verify that antivirus programs are up to date.

Specifically, if an employee’s device shows signs of potential malware infection or is missing critical security updates, the monitoring system can flag these issues for immediate resolution. This proactive monitoring not only secures the company’s sensitive client data but also enables employees to work without interruptions caused by security breaches or system failures. Consequently, the agency can maintain high productivity levels and safeguard client information, ultimately leading to a more efficient and secure remote work environment.

5. Shared Device Security

For businesses utilizing shared devices, monitoring becomes critical in tracking user activities, managing access permissions, and preventing unauthorized usage. By implementing device monitoring solutions, businesses can protect confidential information, promote accountability among users, and maintain the integrity of shared resources.

Consider a hardware store in which multiple employees are accessing computer systems for design, configuration, quote and ordering of home goods and services. These shared devices pose a unique security challenge due to the constant flux of user activity and the diverse purposes for which they are used. By implementing robust device monitoring solutions, the store can significantly enhance the security of these shared computers.

For instance, device monitoring can track user logins and logouts, ensuring that each user session is properly accounted for and that any anomalies are promptly flagged. If the monitoring system detects an unusual pattern, such as multiple failed login attempts or an extended period of inactivity followed by a sudden surge in activity, it can alert the IT staff to investigate potential security breaches or misuse.

Furthermore, monitoring can manage access permissions to restrict certain activities by unauthorized users. For example, administrative settings should only be accessible to store staff, preventing employees from installing unapproved software or altering system configurations. This level of control helps to maintain the integrity of the shared devices and protect against the installation of malicious software.

Additionally, the system can enforce automatic sign-outs after a period of inactivity, reducing the risk of a user’s session being hijacked by the next person who uses the device. By continuously scanning for vulnerabilities and ensuring compliance with security protocols, the monitoring solution safeguards company and customer data while maintaining a secure usage environment.

By leveraging device monitoring in such a setting, the store can ensure a safer, more secure experience for all patrons while protecting the integrity and functionality of its shared resources.

In Conclusion

By prioritizing device monitoring strategies, businesses can fortify their defenses, optimize operational efficiency, and foster a secure work environment for all employees. Embracing proactive monitoring practices is not just a measure of protection but a strategic investment in long-term sustainability and growth.

For further insights and detailed information supporting the importance of device monitoring in small business settings, you can refer to the following reputable sources:

1. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)

2. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

3. Data Privacy Regulations Overview

4. Remote Work Best Practices Guide

5. Device Monitoring Solutions Comparison

Stay informed, stay protected, and optimize your business with the right tools for effective device monitoring. Your business deserves the best defense against evolving digital threats. If you want to discuss this with an expert, please contact Montra at info@montra.io or +1-404-665-9675.

Four Ways to Revamp IT Rollout Efficiency for Retail

The process of rolling out new technology into your stores. It’s a flawless and simple joy, right? It starts as a clear and easy plan on a spreadsheet but ends up a messy series of poorly timed shipments and badly configured devices, leading to a lot of emails creating inefficiency and frustration. Ever found yourself marveling at how your best laid plans are dashed against reality? Or how your implementation partners vanish into thin air during deployments? Or perhaps you’ve witnessed the “budget bloat” that happens when inefficiency in your rollout creates delays and re-work that are blamed on ‘supply chain issues’. Fear not, weary retailers, there exists a better way to manage this process.

Bringing Order to the Chaos

Retailers, in their steadfast effort to modernize, encounter a formidable challenge. Implementing new technology across numerous stores is comparable to managing a complex array of IT equipment, each with unique configuration requirements. The hurdles are abundant, much like the frequent issues with point-of-sale systems or wifi. These include discrepancies in deployment times, lost shipments, and the perennial “it worked fine in testing” dilemma.

We believe that an integrated approach that links inventory management, asset management, remote management & monitoring and shipping logistics, into a single platform is the only way to maximize the efficient management of IT assets in a dispersed environment like retail.

This enables retailers to pull four important factors into control in the management of their IT rollouts:

1. Track Procurement and Warehousing

Before any rollout begins, it’s crucial to efficiently catalog and organize all your devices. You may be doing this in a spreadsheet or maybe an asset manager, but you need to manage the workflow also. Even a small rollout can become overwhelming without proper organization, and many devices need to be ordered in advance to ensure availability when needed. Without systematic tracking, finding everything during the shipping phase can be time-consuming.

Montra’s device lifecycle platform, Via, addresses these challenges effortlessly. Designed specifically for IT, Via enables seamless tracking from procurement to deployment. It keeps tabs on software revisions, warranty dates, and service ticket history. By integrating with your ordering and shipping processes, Via simplifies procurement and warehousing complexities, ensuring every device is accounted for and ready for use.

For warehousing, Via allows you to track devices down to the pallet or individual shelf location. You can even track devices by serial number and manage IT asset details like software versions and hardware warranties. The platform also supports creating bundles and setting kitting requirements for interdependent devices. Any rollout process can be initiated within Via or through service management platforms like Salesforce Service or ServiceNow.

2. Monitor Shipping Centrally

Once devices are ready to go, the shipping process often turns into a disorganized mess of tracking numbers across multiple carriers. Whether you are shipping a bundle of devices to a single store, or a fleet of devices across multiple stores, using spreadsheets to track all your shipments can quickly get out of control.

With Via you can initiate and track all shipments from one location. You can ship bundles of devices with the same ease as a single unit. You can also specify requirements for pre-configuration or kitting prior to shipment, and you can even indicate whether an installer is needed on site to meet the devices.

Once devices are shipped, they can be tracked directly in Via with real-time updates from UPS or FedEx fed directly into the system – even across multiple accounts numbers. No more tracking packages across multiple carriers and various carrier accounts.

3. Monitor Devices in the Stores

Ensuring ongoing performance and swiftly addressing failures are critical aspects of IT efficiency in retail. Once devices are deployed, they should be continuously monitored for security and availability. Real-time surveillance allows for the immediate detection of security issues or system failures, ensuring that any problems can be addressed before they escalate.

Via integrates device monitoring with logistics and asset management to greatly improves response efficiency. Knowing the origin, duration, imaging history, and spare inventory of each device throughout its lifecycle streamlines issue resolution.

This integrated approach not only reduces resolution and response times but also minimizes downtime and employee time spent on technology issues rather than customer service. This leads to an enhanced customer experience, increasing sales and promoting repeat visits. A single, system of record for devices, like Via, also eliminates the need to maintain multiple databases of devices for warehousing, for device monitoring and for asset management.

4. Manage Returns and Spares

Furthermore, when it comes to the inevitable hiccups that require a system to be returned or replaced, Montra Via also streamlines this process. The platform’s efficient returns processing mechanism simplifies the logistics of initiating the return of a failed device and ordering a replacement from the spares inventory with minimal disruption. Designed for standard returns or cross-shipped ones, Via reduces downtime, ensuring stores quickly receive the correct equipment with an accurate configuration. By making returns processing seamless, Montra Via protects retailers from the potential chaos caused by device malfunctions, thus maintaining high operational standards and customer satisfaction.

Montra Via also helps you manage your spares inventory with a separate inventory account for spares systems and parts. Importantly you can see set reorder alerts, see versions and updates, as well as warranty dates. This help makes certain that your spares are up to date and ready if a return is required.

As retail continues to get more tech-enabled, implementing Montra Via for your IT logistics is akin to upgrading from a cash register to a modern POS system. Cost efficiency, faster deployment, better uptime, streamlined cybersecurity, efficient inventory management, and improved spare device storage aren’t just aspirations; they are your new reality.

Retailers, elevate your tech rollout game now. Life is too short for inefficient IT deployments. Join those who refuse to accept the status quo, empowered by the revolutionary capabilities of Montra Via. Your future self—and your bottom line—will thank you.

Montra Releases Notable Updates To Its IT Management Platform

Montra Releases Notable Updates To Its IT Management Platform

Workforce Management, Asset Management, Advanced Filtering Features Give Users More Productivity Options

ATLANTA – July 19, 2023 – PRLog – Montra, the leader in IT management-as-a-service, announces today updates to its award-winning platform, providing customers with improved navigation and an increased breadth of available features. Advanced filtering is now available across all parts of the Montra platform, allowing users to define advanced multi-factor filters that provide quick, customized data retrieval for easier reporting. Additional updates include:

Workforce Management

With a simplified user interface and automated presets, the onboarding process is more productive and flexible than ever, providing an improved employee experience. New hire types are available (sales, software development, finance, etc.) and roles and IT rights are more defined, giving greater security options for hiring managers and IT administration. Other updates include:

  • Workforce team member profiles in the directory now include assigned assets and licenses detail.
  • SaaS Application License Management: Tenant Admins can now setup their applications from a set of pre-defined SaaS application licenses (e.g., Microsoft 365, Adobe Creative Cloud, Dropbox, etc.)
  • A new interface to view license usage and add or remove user licenses.

“We listened to our customers and developed additional options that meet specific needs in today’s market. Research has shown that a strong onboarding process improves new hire retention by up to 82 percent,” says Scott Ryan, CEO, Montra.

Asset Management

As the workplace evolves and more people and processes are remote, managing devices has never been more critical — or challenging. Montra’s asset management tools now include the ability to view individual asset details, including asset assignment histories, and show all asset types over the entire platform, including spare or returned devices. Additionally, devices can be configured with user assignment, asset type, conditions and other qualifiers for more advanced tracking and management.

“The Montra platform is critical to our business. We use Montra as a source of truth for our customer asset information,” says Colby Adamson, COO North America, Pixellot, “These additional asset management features will make it even easier for us to manage our ever-expanding fleet of devices, saving us money and time.”

About Montra Technologies

Montra is the leader in IT Management-as-a-Service which provides advanced remote IT management for today’s workplace. Montra is trusted by some of the world’s most recognizable brands. Montra’s platform is directly integrated with our customers’ other software for seamless, efficient, automated tracking of devices, regardless of location. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the company was founded by industry experts with decades of technology leadership. Recognized by Channel Futures as an MSP to Watch and listed on the Inc. 5000, Montra is a proud member of the ATDC at Georgia Tech. For more information visit Montra’s website or connect with us on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Montra Expands Customer Base with Addition of Discovery Storage

Montra Expands Customer Base with Addition of Discovery Storage

Next-gen Self-Storage Facility Operator Gets Nationwide Coverage with Montra’s Remote IT Management Platform

ATLANTA (June 20, 2023) — Montra, the leader in IT management-as-a-service, announces today it has signed Discovery Storage as a new customer, handling the company’s distributed IT management needs.

“We needed a single nationwide partner to design, rollout, and manage all our properties’ technology assets across all our locations. Montra was the right choice and they have been instrumental in keeping our devices secure, while cutting our IT management time and cost,” says Dan McCoy, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Discovery Storage. “Montra helps us keep the advanced technology in our properties working securely so our on-site staff can focus on delivering great service to our customers.”

By staging, pre-configuring network gear, and assisting the onsite installers, Montra set up all of Discovery Storage’s systems remotely without the cost of flying specialists to every location. Montra’s ongoing monitoring enables proactive response to find and fix issues as they arise. If needed, Montra’s software manages the process of returning systems for repair or replacement, providing Discovery Storage’s management visibility through the entire process.

“We are proud to work with Discovery Storage and look forward to growing our partnership as they expand across North America,” says Scott Ryan, CEO, Montra. “Whether you are onboarding remote employees or deploying devices into remote locations, our software manages the workflows to get people productive and devices secure quickly and efficiently.”

About Montra

Montra is the leader in IT Management-as-a-Service which provides advanced remote IT management for today’s workplace. Montra is trusted by some of the world’s most recognizable brands which use our innovative platform to provide exceptional service automation and responsiveness. Montra’s platform is directly integrated with our customers’ other software for seamless, efficient, automated tracking of devices, regardless of location. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the company was founded by industry experts with decades of technology leadership. Recognized by Channel Futures as an MSP to Watch and listed on the Inc. 5000, Montra is a proud member of the ATDC at Georgia Tech. For more information visit www.montra.io or connect with us on LinkedIn or Twitter.