Managed IT Services

Your computers are one of the primary tools (if not the only tool) used by your employees to get work done. If they are not operating at their best, they are a liability to your organization. Cole Systems Inc. provides easy, secure, and reliable support of all of your end point devices.

What we do:

• We will configure, maintain, monitor, and troubleshoot your organization’s computers, laptops and other mobile devices.
• We will install, configure and update the operating system and application software on these devices.
• We will install management software to provide inventory information, system updates, alerts, and automated configuration of all end points.

Cole Systems Inc. manages and maintains your infrastructure including Servers, Storage, Network, and Internet Connections to ensure maximum uptime and reliability.

What we do:

• We will configure, maintain, monitor, and troubleshoot your servers, network devices, data storage and cloud services.
• We will configure and monitor logging and alerting on all capable network devices.
• We will provide connectivity support, including interfacing with telecommunication providers.
• We will provide backup software and services, perform data restoration when required and ensure business continuity.
• We will configure and support IP telephony systems and can provide audio/video conferencing solutions for remote work.

Most IT service providers focus solely on the computers and equipment that make up your infrastructure.  Your employees are the people that make your business run, and they are just as important to us.  We are able to assist with most configuration and usage questions that come up, and can help in getting support from vendors for specialized software and processes that your users might be having trouble with.

What we do:

• We will demonstrate or document how to use features of common software products.
• We will troubleshoot performance and technical issues for your users.
• We will interface with software vendors for next-level support.

In the modern always-connected world, your users and computers are under continuous assault. These attacks are initiated from remote locations and happen faster than any human could possibly monitor. It is imperative to have modern firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems, virus, malware and ransomware protection, spam protection, and content filtering installed and enabled wherever possible.

What we do:

• We will install and manage network-edge equipment designed to block and mitigate these kinds of risks.
• We will configure email filtering and backup services to protect all online accounts.
• We will provide only secure, encrypted remote connectyons to all systems and information under our control.
• We will ensure user accounts are configured to use best practices in terms of passwords, multi-factor authentication and security groups.

Your employees are frequently exposed to sophisticated phishing and ransomware attacks.  Cole Systems Inc. provides a platform and will help manage the urgent IT security problems of social engineering, spear phishing and ransomware attacks.  Get a firsthand look at how your organization stacks up across security knowledge areas from your baseline assessment and survey as well as monitor your organization’s ongoing improvement.

What we do:

• We provide baseline testing to assess the susceptibility of your users through simulated phishing atacks.
• We perform ongoing fully automated simulated phishing atacks, using a selection of thousands of templates to keep your users on their toes.
• We provide access to the world’s largest library of security awareness training content including interactive modules, videos, games, posters and newsletters.
• We provide automated training campaigns with scheduled reminder emails.
• We provide reporting, showing stats and graphs for both security awareness training and phishing results.

The information that your employees create and manage is of critical importance to the operation of your business. Losing data, or even losing access to data for a significant amount of time can destroy an organization instantly. It is imperative that the information stored on your systems is protected and replicated remotely to ensure business continuity.

What we do:

• We will ensure that any system or service that stores business-critical data is backed up.
• We will perform data integrity tests on data backups to ensure that they are usable if they are required.

Equipment should be replaced when it becomes a barrier to the user or has become a security or reliability risk.  Replacing equipment can be expensive, disruptive and labor intensive.  A proper hardware replacement plan can minimize these problems while optimizing the use of your organization’s IT budget.

What we do:

• We will maintain an inventory of your IT assets and can provide access to a web portal for reporting purposes.
• We will provide procurement services using our network of distributors and partners to provide the best possible pricing on any hardware or software we recommend.
• We will normalize equipment specifications and configurations so that all users share a similar high-quality computing experience.
• We will work with users to ensure minimal disruption and inconvenience while replacing or repairing their equipment.

The modern IT infrastructure extends to and connects with potentially dozens of third-party services. Email and collaboration software is no longer provided by a local server on your network, but by a subscription service. Line of Business programs, accounting, and industry-specific software for construction, law firms, and many others are also completely cloud-based. Cole Systems Inc. can act as your administrator for these services, ensuring that they are as secure and protected as the rest of your environment.

What we do:

• We will administer your SaaS subscriptions for you and manage user account creation, modification and deletion.
• We will track license usage to ensure you are subscribed to the correct plans and are not paying for excess users.
• We will configure appropriate security policies to prevent data leakage or compromise.
• We will develop a data protection strategy for any critical information stored by a service provider.

It is becoming common for insurance providers and auditors to require documentation or reports about your organization’s technology and information safeguards.  Their questionnaires are often thick with jargon and ask for information beyond what the typical small business documents, or even knows they should document.

What we do:

• We will work with you to fulfill your insurance provider or auditor’s requests in regards to your IT infrastructure, privacy and data protection.

Your organization’s domain name is a fundamental element of brand identification, and at the same time is deeply connected to your technology infrastructure.  The domain name defines the memorable address where your web site is accessed, and is part of every email communication sent and received.  The primary domain name is a key component of your organization’s identity and must be managed and secured appropriately.

What we do:

• We will register your domain name or multiple domain names on your behalf.
• We will configure the domain name(s) to automatically renew in order to prevent expiry or loss.
• We will use authoritative name servers that are separate from your web hosting and registrar to avoid vendor lock-in or other scenarios that could prevent access.
• We will employ registration privacy mechanisms to prevent registrant lookup spam and fraud atempts.

Your web site is likely the primary means of providing product and contact information for your business.  It can be as simple as a logo and contact information on a single page, or it can be an enormous e-commerce shopping site providing products or services to customers around the globe.  Your web site must exist on a server that is able to be accessed 24 hours per day, every day, and it must be capable of sending the information you are presenting quickly and accurately to ensure user engagement.

What we do:

• We will provide computing power, disk space and bandwith sufficient for serving any web sites reasonably typical of small to medium organizations.
• We will provide software and configuration for common programming languages and databases used in the creation of modern web sites.

If your organization has specialized requirements for a software or service that demands high levels of bandwidth or computing power, a dedicated server can be the best option.  Dedicated Servers can be configured with as few or as many resources as required to perfectly fit your requirement, and can be deployed instantly on pre-racked and ready to use hardware at one of our data centers.  Internet bandwidth and disk space is virtually unlimited, and usage is calculated down to the minute.  Resources can be added or removed at any time, and there is no practical minimum or maximum size or setup.

What we do:

• We will work with you to determine your server(s) technical requirements.
• We will configure a private network segment and deploy your server in a secure, isolated environment.
• We will install an operating system and your software or services and ensure they are performing as expected.
• We will configure appropriate network protection, firewalls, monitoring and backups to protect your data.

“Cloud Storage” is a popular phrase describing data storage in a remote data center.  Cole Systems Inc. can provide secure accessible data storage in multiple data centers located in Canada.  This storage can be used in tandem with a Dedicated Server, or can be used independently and directly by external systems.

What we do:

• We will help you determine your data storage requirements and choose the best service and access method.
• We will configure your Dedicated Server or other system(s) to access the storage service securely.
• We will configure appropriate backup and/or replication plans to protect your stored data.

Once your organization has secured a domain name and hosting for your web site, you will need to decide what to present when a visitor types in your address.  Cole Systems Inc. employs a team of programmers and graphic designers who can create anything you can imagine.  We are available to design sites from scratch, convert printed materials or brochures, or simply maintain or update existing web sites.  We can develop anything from basic splash pages to complex e-learning sites serving tens of thousands of users.

What we do:

• We will work with you to decide how much or how litle involvement you would like us to have with your web presence as part of our consultative process.
• We will have an opportunity to assess the general size and complexity, and any potential security issues during the migration of your current web site to our servers.
• We will provide ad-hoc maintenance and update services for your existing site.
• We will be happy to scope major projects or custom software development, and present our recommendations in a separate project proposal.

Because the Internet is a global network of interconnected computer systems, it does not conform to, nor is it necessarily restricted by international borders. However, this does not mean that your local laws regarding information privacy and security do not apply to your data when that data is stored on or served from computers located in other jurisdictions.

In Canada, all commercial organizations are required by PIPEDA or an equivalent provincial law to protect personal information against loss, theft, unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification. In addition, certain industries have supplementary data protection requirements prescribed by their own governing bodies. In layman’s terms: any time you store personal information about someone, it must be secured.

Geography becomes an issue when data is stored in another location with different legal requirements. If there happens to be an order granted for access to your data by the government in that other location, it is then subject to their rules and they can use it as they see fit.

This scenario is very rarely an issue, but is something to consider when you are in a regulated industry or have other privacy concerns.

What we do:

• We use Canadian suppliers and Canadian data centers whenever possible.
• If data is to be stored outside of Canada, it is stored in an encrypted format such that the service provider or anyone else would be unable to read the data.
• We choose to deal with companies who have a track record of denying requests for access to private information by foreign governments.
• We are able to provide private physical hardware, hosted in Canada at a Cole Systems Inc. owned facility for organizations with the most sensitive data storage requirements.