It happened again! You come into work, boot up your computer and there it is…an annoying pop-up telling you your computer is infected and asking for your credit card information. It takes your “IT guy” forever to clean up your computer and you’ve been trying to work off your smartphone (or not at all) for the past 2 1/2 hours.
You finally realize that your small business needs virus protection. There are a few options. You can scour the internet for free anti-virus software. However, most free anti-virus software is designed for home computers and really gives you no assurance that your business computers are really protected against the latest threats. There’s no virus monitoring and you will have to rely on your employees to ensure their computers are always up to date. You also have limited support options from the software provider if you actually get a virus.
Option two… you could spend thousands of dollars purchasing corporate anti-virus software. Sure you’d receive much better support and system monitoring capabilities, but this increases your IT overhead. It requires a server to house the software, and a computer genius to install and maintain it. In addition, you’d have ongoing expenses for updates, vendor support and licensing.
The last option is to host your anti-virus software in the Cloud. Hosted Antivirus software is business-class antivirus software that is hosted offsite. Your Cloud provider gives you easy to install software so you don’t have to pay your IT provider expensive setup and maintenance fees and there’s no onsite server required. Lengthy vendor support contracts are non-existent because you pay month-to-month, and only for the licenses you use. Your Cloud Provider monitors your business computers 24/7 for virus and spyware infections and sends you weekly summary reports.
No matter which option you choose, ensure your business doesn’t become a victim of the latest virus or spyware outbreak.