PC-as-a-Service (PCaaS) streamlines and procurement and enhances productivity

With the trend toward remote work evolving to a hybrid office modelv, the case for small and medium-sized businesses to embrace PC-as-a-Service (PCaaS) is more compelling than ever.

Businesses need their employees to be as productive as possible no matter where they are without worrying if their PC workstations are fast enough, secure enough or properly connected to the data and applications they need to get things done.

PCaaS offers many benefits, allowing you to scale up your employee PC footprint as quickly as needed to support essential on-site employees, remote workers and hybrid offices with the latest and greatest Windows-based desktops and laptops.

Predictable costs and more secure data

Moving to PCaaS eliminates the upfront of cost of buying PC workstations and reduces the time and effort necessary to source and negotiate with vendors. Guided by your requirements, a managed service provider acquires the best hardware on your behalf, and you subscribe instead of buy through a monthly leasing model.

A PCaaS subscription provides predictable budget because your costs are fixed over the course of the agreement rather than occasional small or large capital expenditures and all the associated costs with deploying, managing, and maintaining a fleet of workstations. The cost savings of embedding the cost of equipment into a monthly fee add up quickly because lifecycle management of hardware becomes the responsibility of your service provider, including device disposal. You also have the flexibility to scale up or down as needed without worrying about whether you have the available management expertise or devote resource to sourcing and negotiating with vendors.

PCaaS frees up your own IT teams for more strategic projects aligned with business objectives because you can trust that a managed service provider will provide the technicians needed to manage any hardware and software regardless of location, including on-site troubleshooting or remote updates and maintenance. This also translate into reduced downtime because this IT support is available 24/7. Productivity is also enhanced because any new device that lands on an employee’s desk is pre-configured to desired specifications with all needed apps necessary for them to do their job.

Another added benefit to PCaaS is enhanced data protection due to better business continuity and security. The right service provider will also offer off-site data so that in the wake of a natural disaster or power loss they can easily restore critical data and re-provision your equipment quickly so there’s little to no disruption to your business operations. PCaaS also encompasses security safeguards such as hardware-based security measures, secure authentication for users, and data encryption and malware detection/remediation as part of any device deployment. By managing your fleet from a central location, your provider can update all devices with any security patches remotely, as well as keep a real-time inventory by tracking their location and status.

Workstations on demand

Supra ITS’ PCaaS, also known as “Workstation-as-a-Service” (WaaS) takes on the day-to-day management of all your employee workstations, no matter where they work or what they do. We manage any software updates and hardware upgrades, answer any technical support calls, and reconfigure the PC as needed to improve productivity and meet business objectives. This enables both your employees and IT staff to focus on strategic initiatives that drive revenue for the business rather than get bogged down with PC troubleshooting.

Because we automatically deliver the latest patches and updates to every endpoint in alignment with robust security policy and any mind any regulatory requirements that govern your industry, you can have peace of mind your business is protected without any barriers to productivity. Our sourcing strategy future-proofs your business with workstations that will be able to run your core applications for years to come.

There are many ways artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning already impact cybersecurity. You can expect that trend to continue in 2024 – both as tools for data protection as well as a threat.

Balancing Cybersecurity Innovation Amid Evolving Threat Landscapes

Even as you implement AI and machine learning into your cybersecurity strategy through the adoption of tools like Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR), Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and Managed Detection and Response (MDR), so are threat actors. They will continue to update and evolve their own methodologies and tools to compromise their targets by applying AI and machine learning to how they use ransomware, malware and deepfakes.

With small and medium-sized businesses just much at risk as their large enterprise counterparts, SMBs must take advantage of AI and machine learning as mush possible. AI-directed attacks are expected to rise in 2024 in the form of deepfake technologies that make phishing and impersonation more effective, as well as evolving ransomware and malware.

Deepfake social engineering techniques

Deepfake technologies that leverage AI are especially worrisome, as they can create fake content that spurs employees and organizations to work against their best interests. Hackers can use deepfakes to create massive changes with serious financial consequences, including altering stock prices.

Deepfake social engineering techniques will only improve with the use of AI, increasing the likelihood of data breaches through unauthorized access to systems and more authentic looking phishing messages that are more personalized, and hence, more effective.

Countering Cyber Threats and Harnessing Innovation in 2024

If hackers are keen on leveraging AI and machine learning to defeat your cybersecurity, you must be ready to combat them in equal measure – just as AI and machine learning will create new challenges in 2024, they can also help you bolster your cybersecurity. While regulations are being developed to foster ethical use of AI, threat actors are not likely to follow them.

AI will also affect your cyber insurance as your providers will use it to assess your resilience against cyberattacks and adjust your premium payments accordingly. AI presents an opportunity for you to improve your cybersecurity to keep those insurance costs under control.

Conclusion

There’s a lot of doom being predicted around the growing use of AI and machine learning. And while it does pose a risk to your organization and its sensitive data, you can use it to bolster your cybersecurity even as threat actors leverage AI to up the ante. A managed service provider with a focus on security can help you use AI and machine learning to protect your organization as we head into 2024.

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