August 2020

630.850.9039 Continued pg.2 We love this stuff! We are committed to helping businesses use technology to run their organization successfully and profitably. Your Image Here What’s New This monthly publication provided courtesy of Catherine Wendt, President of Syscon Inc. Quarter 2 payroll reports were definitely new. Mary helped quite a few clients navigate these new waters. Some clients learned they can’t ‘double-dip’ on the IRS relief packages. Some took advantage of delayed tax payments; others are reporting Paid Leave benefits; crazy! Our team continues to be healthy and vigilant to stay that way! Each member of our team serves a critical role on behalf of our clients. I’m sure you feel the same way about your team. When people experience difficult times, like now, their true character comes out. Is this an opportunity for some self assessment? We’re in leadership; let’s be sure we’re leading well! - Catherine Wendt If you’re like many businesses today, there’s a good chance you’ve made this one mistake with your IT security: you don’t budget for it. Or if you do budget for it, it’s not enough to really protect your business. Time and time again, business owners decide NOT to invest in IT services; NOT upgrade end-of-life equipment; NOT use business class products. Instead, they go it alone or skip it completely and expect us to keep things running. Or they might approach an IT services company and ask, “What do you charge for your services?” They don’t ask, “What will I get for my money?” or “How can you meet the needs of my company?” This is a backward approach to IT – and it’s a big mistake. The fact is that a lot of business owners don’t take IT seriously. They think that because they haven’t been hit by a data breach or a malware attack that it will never happen to them. That’s another big mistake. Just because a business hasn’t fallen victim to a cyber-attack DOES NOT mean they’re safe. When you hire an IT services company, what do you get for your money? The honest answer is that it depends on your specific needs. Many IT services companies offer everything from basic to advanced network security. You can expect services like: • Cloud backup • Data protection • Data monitoring • Threat detection • Technology maintenance • And more! August 2020 The #1 Mistake Companies Make With Their IT -- 1 of 4 - (continued from page 1) Everything is designed to protect you, your network, your technology, your employees and your business as a whole. It’s all about giving you the information and resources you need so you can worry less about outside threats and focus on your customers and the success of your business. When you’re invested in good IT security, you shouldn’t even know it’s there. It runs in the background like a quiet but powerful electric motor. It’s there when you need it, and it’s there when you’re not even thinking about it. For some business owners, this is a tough pill to swallow. They don’t have something tangible in front of them that they can see 24/7. A lot of business owners like to be more handson. They like to see what their money is buying. We’ve seen companies that have the latest cell phones, but are running Windows 7 workstations (end-of-life, big security risk). Some offices have beautiful full screens/monitors, but won’t sign off for automated patch management, business class antivirus, and monitoring. The PM’s have new trucks, but the server is six years old and needs to be replaced. What do these have to do with security? Windows 7 computers are unsafe and a prime target for hackers. Automated patch management keeps the computers safe with the latest Microsoft security patches, rather than waiting for the next maintenance visit which could be quarterly. Business class anti-virus is as basic as having Office; email threats, thumb drives, attachments, all need to go through a quality anti-virus solution. Today, none of us can afford to skip out on good IT security. We can’t wait to react until something happens. Because when something does happen, it’s often too late. The cybercriminals have done their damage and moved on. Meanwhile, your business comes to a screeching halt, and you have to pay the big bucks to get everything back on track – if you can get back on track. Some businesses don’t get back on track. They are forced to close after a cyber-attack because they don’t have the money or resources to recover. The damage is simply too much and the cost is too high. Don’t get caught off guard by a data breach, malware infection, hacker attack, employee mistake, or data loss due to technology failure or natural causes like flood or fire. Protect your business the right way and avoid the mistake so many others make when they avoid the investment in good IT. Work with an IT services firm that takes your business as seriously as you do. Contact us if you have any questions or concerns. All Things Tech August 2020 630.850.9039 I have the book because Darren Hardy wrote the forward, and I really enjoy his books and daily video blogs, so I decided to read No Regrets, and I’m glad I did; it’s more than I thought. The book starts with how to develop your ‘Why, What, When and Won’t’ list. There are half a dozen starter questions for each of these ‘W’s.’ Will a sale be good for you, for your customers, for your staff? Are you ready for the emotions associated with a sale? Should you sell, or should you buy for growth? He then goes into the importance of choosing a valuation method, and getting your A Team together—Accountant, Attorney, Advisor. He then goes into more specifics such as presale planning, putting the word out about the sale, and controlling the desire to take the first offer! I was pleasantly surprised at how he approached this topic. There is a lot of repetition (wordy) in the various topics. That said, each chapter has a workbook-style section to capture your thoughts and help prepare. Every business owner should read this, whether you’re considering to sell now or not. - CMW No Regrets by Paul Niccum Cathy and Larry Sightings Catherine participated in Syscon’s two-day annual Traction meeting. Great day with new focus for Q3. Larry will be playing French Horn in a trio during a live stream Facebook event in early August. ‘Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.’ - Tom Landry “Automated patch management keeps the computers safe with the latest Microsoft security patches.” -- 2 of 4 - Shiny New Gadget Of The Month: If you could ride your bike on the water, would you? Thanks to the Manta5 Hydrofoiler XE-1, you can. The Manta5 Hydrofoiler XE1 is a high-performance watercraft for people of all ages. The minds behind Manta5 wanted to bring cycling to the water – and they succeeded. The hydrofoil design helps keep you balanced while you pedal across the water, similar to how you pedal on a bike. You can use it on the ocean, in rivers, and in lakes. Learning to ride takes practice, but once you get the hang of it, it’s a breeze! It won’t be long until you’re jetting across the water – on your own power! There’s even a small electric motor that brings you up to speed if you need it. Take your summer to the next level and learn more at Manta5.com. Working From Home Some of our clients took their workstations home when their offices decided (or were told) to close. Others already had laptops, so they were mobile. The rest decided to use their computer at home. For those who wound up working from a home computer, there were a variety of issues; how to log into their network or hosted server; older, slow equipment; the need for speakers and/or a camera for those remote meetings; some even needed to remotely access their office workstation which had specific software. Although we don’t include home computers in our support and maintenance agreements, things were upside down, so of course, we helped any of our clients with whatever they needed. So now it’s been several weeks and it’s time to regroup. If you still have people working remotely on home computers, here are some things that need attention, ASAP. Whether the computer is accessing your network, working on email, attaching/opening documents, or many things in between, they’re doing it with your company data, and these machines may not be secure! • Step up and pay for a quality antivirus software on these home computers. • Offer to pay for some Tech Support. This might include changing the default or lame password on their home router. • Offer to pay for some Tech help to update patches, run a malware scan, and do a health check. • I can’t tell you how many of these home computers turned out to be Windows 7! If they’re going to continue working from home at all, purchase a replacement computer for them, one with Windows 10 on it. No one is looking to spend money unnecessarily, but if your remote workers require a computer to do their work, make sure they have a safe computer. This pandemic isn’t the only ‘virus’ out there, and you don’t want to have your company’s data ‘infected.’ They’re connecting to your network, opening and sending company email and documents—if that home computer is infected, YOU are now at risk.—CMW Another Phishing Scam This one must have taken them 30 seconds to create. The ‘From’ says ‘Syscon-inc Message Center’ and has MARVIN@nextouch.io, an email address that is not Syscon. And, read the domain name part of it as ‘NextOuch’; in the words of Leroy Jethro Gibbs, there’s no such thing as a coincidence. The Subject line is ‘You will not be able to receive future messages due to insufficient storage.’ Yes, that’s the subject. Then it says ‘This email was generated automatically from sysconinc.com’ followed by an image file. All you have to do is click... DON’T CLICK! Don’t open anything. This isn’t from Syscon. Delete the email right away. Tell your staff about this, too. If you’re really running out of space, and there are limits in Outlook, you’ll get an alert in Outlook, not an automated email. If you’re not sure, pick up the phone and call us! CMW All Things Tech 630.850.9039 From the Techs The Manta5 Hydrofoiler XE-1 August 2020 -- 3 of 4 - All Things Tech Construction Corner Sage 100 Contractor version 22.3.84 Chris spent some time reading through the Sage release notes (fun, I’m sure) and has some highlights to share with us. If you used the Absence field in the 5-2-2 screen to track any COVID-related paid time (individual or family), this release has report 5-1-8-91. With this report, you can gather the information you’ll need for payroll tax reporting. If you are one of our hosted clients, Chris actually installed this report on your server back in April, so you have it whether you upgrade to this release or not. If you use both the Service and Job modules, you probably use the Combined AR/SR report. In the past, when the period was blank, the report didn’t print properly. This bug has been fixed. I’ve not seen this one, but according to Sage, they fixed a problem with the 1-5 Bank Reconciliation. Records that have a void status now remain void when you do the final save (good to hear!). We don’t often see Sage reporting Aatrix updates, but this release has a note. The Aatrix certified payroll reports now display the correct hourly pay rate for overtime; that includes premium pay. Looks like our Massachusetts and Washington friends were having issues with a Paid Family Medical Leave reporting through Aatrix forms. This has been fixed as well. Update on Live Chat Issue You might remember our short article on the Live Chat with S100C. They started routing it through Germany and many firewalls block other countries. Good news—we heard back from their developers and this is now fully resolved! - CMW PPP Funds—Follow Up We’ve received some questions, and heard some news on the forgiveness of the SBA Loans that were part of the PPP Fund initiative. Hopefully you’ve been following the changes. They put a different cap on owner wages; they extended the length of time to use the funds for qualified expenses; there are new clarifications on the breakdown of Payroll to Rent/ Utilities. Check with your CPA for specifics. If you’ve met the forgiveness terms and have spent the funds, you might be ready to fill out the forms to request forgiveness. Where to start? Start with your bank—they made the loans, they’ll have the application, and ultimately, they decide if you’ve met the forgiveness guidelines.—CMW Sage Support Renewals—How to Save Money You really need to keep your Sage 100 Contractor support current; renew it each year. BUT, did you know there is a Gold level (read, ‘more money’) and a Silver level? You have to ask for a quote with the Silver level; they only send the renewals for Gold. If we help you with your S100C, you only need Silver! CMW Learn to Love Your Mondays Tired of babysitting every Monday? Tired of moving costs from the wrong jobs? Join us Wednesday, August 26th at 11:30am Central Time! Register at 630.850.9039 This month’s trivia question: Computer viruses are identified using patterns called what? a) Malware Codes b) Virus Definitions c) Trojan Horses d) Rootkits Congratulations to last month’s Trivia Contest winner, Julie Dooley with Wellen Construction in Marlborough, MA! Julie’s name was drawn from the fishbowl for last month’s correctly answered question: What do we call a collection of 2 or more computers that are located within a limited distance of each other and are connected to each other? c) Local Area Network Visit www.syscon-inc.com/Trivia for contest rules. Who Wants To Win a $25 Amazon Gift Card? To enter: Go to www.Syscon-inc.com/Trivia and type in your answer. All correct answers will be put into a fishbowl and we’ll randomly draw the winner. The Winner will be contacted shortly after the deadline and will be announced in next month’s newsletter. Deadline: August 20, 2020 August 2020 Good-bye Paper Time Sheets -- 4 of 4 -