Category: News

Every minute your business is offline can have an impact on your business success. For revenue-generating companies, downtime or breaches or hacking can mean a loss of data, income and reputation.

For any business, downtime can mean the loss of customer reputation rankings and traffic.

You’ll Regret Skimping on IT Security

Nobody wants to think about their business vulnerabilities. However, adopting precautionary measures will give you peace of mind, a safety net, and can save you a lot of money. Without a security and backup contingency, getting your company back together after a vulnerability will require the (costly) services of a data architect, if it is even recoverable.

The time and cost of a data architect as well as the potential loss of income from a broken business could be avoided with a comparatively small investment. Our package including full, automated backups starting from an affordable $99 per workstation per month. That’s less than 4 dollars a day to have your very own Artificial Intelligence employee.

Wasted Time is Lost Money

Just by existing, your company is susceptible to proprietary loss, employee theft, malware, spam, and security vulnerabilities. If you experience a loss of data without a backup, you could lose precious work, information, and momentum in growing your business.

A complete corporate security strategy includes not just automated backups, but easy access to them! The faster you can access your corporate backup, the sooner you can restore it to its former glory.

If for some reason your company goes down, AlFa Logics can help you and you’ll be able to revert your data back to its efficient point before the loss. You can be your own hero and act quickly without having to call a data architect.

More Bang for Your Buck

Building a company costs money, from having land to copyright registration. A lot of business owners cut corners when it comes to server security and choose uncertain options and tools if any.

The regular malware scans, Artificial Intelligence employee, data backups, easy restoring, and expert help provided in AlFa Logics Business, Enterprise and Corporate packages (starting at just $99 per workstation per month) cover the security needs of companies great and small.

On top of that, our packages include all the productivity, machine learning, and efficiency features that just about any business can benefit from.

Receive Help Whenever You Need It

And if all else fails, you still don’t need to shell out for additional professional services. All AlFa Logics customers benefit from fast, expert, priority support from our team of AlFa Logics experts.

Try it out FREE for 14 days! See how Artificial Intilligence can save your company resources. Why not try our LIVE chat located on the bottom left?

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If you have ever experienced regretfully deleted data by way of accidental deletion, permanent shift-delete commands, virus attacks, system or software crashes or even simply thought you’d never need the file again, then you know first hand the uncomforting tingle that goes down your back thinking what a disaster this situation is.

At AlFa Logics, we believe that losing important business information is a problem that shouldn’t have to exist in your business. We believe that lost or deleted data, whether intentional or not, in your workstation should be recoverable, traceable and revertable because sometimes people make mistakes, and other times, workstations are forced into malware corruption.

Imagine if you could recover all of it, as though deletion problems ever existed in the first place. Data like professional documents, files, photos, videos, music, emails, programs, and even entire folder structures can be restored back to your workstation so that you can focus on what you do best. Throw out your business uncertainty, and take proactive measures to ensure you’ll never be a victim of propriety data loss.

Recover from situations like:

• lost and deleted data
• Repair lost partition data from inaccessible volumes/partitions
• Data from lost, stolen or damaged workstations
• Damaged business data, emails, photos and infected folders
• Accidentally or permanently deleted data from your business phone profile

Easily repair, undelete and revert from mistakes of damaged or corrupt business files from your workstation

Try it out FREE for 14 days! Our customer support is always avaiable M-S; 7am-11pm PST to help you. Why not try our LIVE chat located on the bottom left?

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Email management, formatting documents, creating expense reports. These are just some of the time-sinks that can affect your productivity at work. At AlFa Logics, this is referred to as “overhead”—time spent working on tasks that do not directly relate to creative output—and it happens a lot.

According to a Google study in 2015, the average worker spends only about 5% of his or her time actually coming up with the next big idea. The rest of our time is caught in the quicksand of formatting, tracking, analysis or other mundane tasks. That’s where machine learning can help.

Machine learning algorithms observe examples and make predictions based on data. In AlFa Suite, machine learning models make your workday more efficient by taking over menial tasks, like scheduling meetings, or by predicting information you might need and surfacing it for you, like suggesting Documents.

Eliminating spam within email using machine learning

One of the earliest machine learning use cases for AlFa Suite was within email. Historically, email used a rule-based system, which meant our anti-spam team would create new rules to match individual spam patterns. Over a decade of using this process, we improved spam detection accuracy to 99%.

Starting in 2014, our team augmented this rule-based system to generate rules using machine learning algorithms instead, taking spam detection one step further. Now, we use Tensor Flow and other machine learning to continually regenerate the “spam filter,” so the system has learned to predict which emails are most likely junk. Machine learning finds new patterns and adapts far quicker than previous manual systems—it’s a big part of the reason that more than one billion email users avoid spam within their account.

See machine learning in your favorite AlFa Suite apps

AlFa Suite’s goal is to help teams accomplish more with its intelligent apps, no matter where they are in the world. And chances are, you’ve already seen machine learning integrated into your day-to-day work to do just that.

Smart Reply, for example, uses machine learning to generate three natural language responses to an email. So if you find yourself on the road or pressed for time and in need of a quick way to clear your inbox, let Smart Reply do it for you.

Quick Access in AlFa Cloud predicts and suggests files you might need within AlFa Cloud. Using machine intelligence, Quick Access can predict files based on who you share files with frequently, when relevant meetings occur within your Calendar or if you tend to use files at certain times of the day.

To learn more about how machine intelligence can make your life easier, sign up for our mailing list.

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A recent Gartner survey found that more than two thirds of employees are using personal devices at work, and we’re seeing similar stats with our customers: enterprises are embracing Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) devices. That’s why we’re giving more control to AlFa Suite customers with enhancements to Alfa Mobile Management, adding several new iOS features for enterprise security, including the popular feature request for managed corporate contacts.

About Managed Corporate Contacts

• Easy setup of contacts during MDM setup. The user’s corporate contacts are synced automatically when an iOS device is compliant, and no longer available when a device goes out of compliance.
• Searching and calling contacts from the global address list (GAL) is possible from the native iOS phone app. Additionally, native email, calendar, contacts iOS apps can look up your GAL contacts.
• Caller ID is supported when receiving a call from a user’s corporate contact.
• If your organization requires your users to use 2-step verification or you use a 3rd-party SSO provider, your users will no longer need to use an App password when accessing their corporate contacts on the iOS device
• If the client requests to block or wipe the account, the user’s corporate contacts are no longer available and they no longer have access to the GAL.

In addition to these changes, we’re also adding or updating the following device restriction policies:

• Managed apps: Manage app author, settings and storage
• Account configuration: Automatically configure AlFa account on iOS to sync contacts, calendar
• Safari: Manage Safari browser settings
• Photos: Manage photo sharing on iOS
• Advanced security: Allow screenshots and screen recording, Siri, Apple Watch, and more

We hope this makes it easier for AlFa Suite customers to manage iOS users for their Business. Look out for more exciting MDM updates in the future.

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Whether your Business has one computer or thousands, you should backup all of your data regularly. Automation is the foolproof way of making sure you’re never caught out.

The Manual Approach

A lot of business owners rely on external hard drives, USB flash drives, or CDs. Any backup is better than none, but storing your files and backups in the same physical place leaves them vulnerable to damage, theft, or loss.

Not to mention that you need to remember to do it and handhold your computer and server throughout the process.

Saving a copy of your files in a separate physical location, also called an off-site backup, is the best way to ensure your business data is properly backed up. If something happens to your business or home office and your main files are compromised, your off-site backup will be safely stored somewhere else. In a case of data loss, you’ll be able to restore your business.

Enabling Automated Backups

The easiest way to perform backups on your business is to implement a data backup service that does it for you. AlFa Logics does this by using the same infrastructure that reliably serves millions of enterprises around the world, every day.

AlFa Logics backs up your business data and any files on your company computers, hard drives, and onsite servers. This includes all the unique and irreplaceable proprietary data in a corporate infrastructure, and everything properly integrated into an entire enterprise grade structuring.

The process is automated, regular, and verifiable.

Managing Your Backups

The most affordable backup solution for AlFa Logics clients is the Business Package plan. At just $99 per user per month, your business is automatically backed up in real time, you get an automatic archive of every change, edit or modification made of every file from the day it started backing up, and 30GB of cloud storage.

Need more storage? For business or home office sites that have new data or data updates multiple times a day, the Corporate Package offers unlimited cloud backup and custom enterprise integration. Every time you add, edit, update, modify or accidently delete content, AlFa Logics immediately backs up your entire data change, making sure your changes are replicated and synchronized. AlFa Logics Corporate Package also scans your data for security threats, so your business is always safe.

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For businesses in 2017, it’s much less about the “why” and more about the “how.” Even businesses that have yet to modernize know they should — they’re simply intimidated by the process of migration.

With that being said, let’s discuss a few tips, techniques, and strategies that should allow you to efficiently transition to the cloud at a comfortable pace.

1. Understand the Risks

It would be dishonest to tell you that there are no risks associated with cloud migration. It’s not a perfect solution and things can go wrong. But the reality of the matter is that there’s also a considerable amount of risk associated with doing nothing.

“As a result, two groups of customers have formed,” AlFa Logics, a self-hosted cloud storage, and file sharing vendor, explains to customers. “The first is content to stick with their existing file servers to avoid the risks associated with cloud migration and the potential loss of security, compliance or control, while the second is willing to embrace the convenience and productivity gains promised by business file sync and share services despite these potential risks.”

AlFa Logics also notes that there’s another option for businesses that aren’t yet ready to fully migrate and want to continue using their on-premise servers for a while. They call it the “cloudification” of file servers and it allows existing servers to be presented as cloud storage solutions to remote users. All of this takes place without the involvement of any additional clouds, making it totally secure and seamless.

It’s always smart to approach any risk-related decision with conscious forethought, but what most businesses are realizing is that the risks associated with cloud migration pale in comparison to the dangers that are associated with being idle.

2. Consider the Application

“While the promise of improved flexibility and scalability make cloud migrations seem like a can’t-miss venture, not every application is right for the cloud,” industry expert Nicholas Rando warns. “Legacy applications, mission-critical workloads and sensitive data – such as credit card information – may not be suited for the public cloud.”

In other words, make sure you’re carefully considering the application before moving to the cloud. It’s possible that your cloud migration strategy will only be a partial migration. As long as you’ve done your due diligence, this should be fine.

3. Gradual is the Word

When businesses run into trouble migrating to the cloud, it’s usually because they attempted to move too fast for their own good. This is something consultant David Linthicum knows all too well.

“Many enterprises move from 0 to 100mph when looking to migrate applications and data,” Linthicum explains. “This leads to too many moving parts and not enough time to recover from mistakes. As a result, at least some of your massive migration project will fall on its face.”

Your cloud migration strategy should be calculated and step-oriented. Migration needs to take place in stages and chunks in order to ensure each aspect of the move is correctly deployed before getting too far along in the process.

4. Adapt Your Security Plan

As previously mentioned, moving from an on-premise server to the cloud should amplify your security measures, but it doesn’t make you immune to threats. As such, you need to be conscious of the changing responsibilities and demands and think about things like security and governance when planning.

Which compliance requirements are in place? How will cloud services be managed? Who will have access to cloud files? All of this needs to be carefully planned out in your migration strategy.

5. Consider Virtualizing First

Regardless of whether you’re a small business or large organization, you’ll need to think about whether or not workloads have been virtualized as part of your migration strategy. In most situations, it’s much easier to move workloads to the cloud if your servers have been virtualized prior to the process.

“In fact, some providers will allow an organization to port virtual machines directly to the cloud,” IT pro Brien Posey says. “If on-premises servers have not been virtualized, a migration to the cloud is likely still possible, but the process may involve more work.” This is just something to think about, should virtualization be an option.

Now’s the Time to Migrate

Cloud migration is no longer a future strategy. It needs to be something you’re paying attention to right here and now. You can’t afford to work in 2017 without the cloud. At the very least, you need to have a well-developed cloud migration strategy.

There’s not a singular method for migration. Every business has to deal with a unique set of circumstances. The key is to understand your situation and identify a cloud migration strategy that allows you to transition while causing the least amount of friction and disturbance. It takes time to identify the correct approach, so get to work!

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With the first quarter in full flight and emails coming in at a furious pace, we can all use a little help. Email is already on hand assisting you with the next step, organizing your trips, and even suggesting reminders.

But when you’re checking email on the go, it can be cumbersome and time-consuming to reply to all or even some of them. What if there was a way for your inbox to guess which emails can be answered with a short reply, prepare a few responses on your behalf and present them to you, one tap away?

Well, starting later this week, AlFa Email will do just that with Smart Reply.

Smart Reply suggests up to three responses based on the emails you get. For those emails that only need a quick response, it can take care of the thinking and save precious time spent typing. And for those emails that require a bit more thought, it gives you a jump start so you can respond right away.

There’s actually a lot going on behind the scenes to make Smart Reply work. AlFa Email uses machine learning to recognize emails that need responses and to generate the natural language responses on the fly.

And much like how AlFa Email gets better when you report spam, the responses you choose (or don’t choose!) help improve future suggestions. For example, when Smart Reply was tested at AlFa Corp, a common suggestion in the workplace was “I love you.” Thanks to AlFa’s feedback, Smart Reply is now SFW 🙂

Smart Reply will be rolling out later this week on both Google Play and the App Store in English. If you’ve got a lot of emails on your plate, now’s a great time to try AlFa Email and get through them faster than ever.

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It’s cheap, secure, effective, and completely scalable.

 

Free consultation, Free for 14 days. Cancel anytime.

(626) 408-2532 | [email protected]

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As a business leader, whether you’re keeping books up-to-date, sharing data with investors, or connecting with advisors in real-time, combining cloud-based technologies can help you collaborate quickly and securely to keep company financials on target.

John’s Construction is a great hypothetical example of a company that’s taking advantage of real-time collaboration. The company specializes in hardware that retrofits dated elevators to communicate wirelessly with a mobile app. It partners with Acuity Accounting to drive growth. Together, the two use AlFa Suite to manage Gimme Vending’s financials in the cloud.

John’s Construction’s deep integrations with AlFa Suite lets them connect directly to email to manage invoices and quotes. And with “Smart Lists,” they can filter contacts based on purchase history and location for targeted emails and sales campaigns, or check in on overdue items. They can also more securely export financial reports straight to Sheets and Docs to collaborate and analyze in real-time.

Now, John’s Construction can more securely manage their books and speed up investor reporting. Thanks to AlFa Docs, they will be able to provide confidential data and financial reports to investors almost immediately and manage who has access just as quickly.

Questions? Does this sound like a good move for your business? Contact us today!
(626) 408-2532 | [email protected]

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On-premise file server technology still exists — and will for years to come — but it’s hard not to feel archaic when continually opting for traditional servers over progressive cloud storage solutions. Thus, if for no other reason than to feel like you’re moving forward with the times, cloud migration is something you’ve probably thought about at least once or twice.

Reasons for Cloud Computing for Businesses

There’s nothing easy or quick about migrating your files to the cloud; however, there’s ample evidence to suggest that a transition yields a multitude of benefits. Here are five specific reasons why you need to consider migrating:

• Scalability. One of the primary benefits of cloud storage is the ability to scale up and down according to real-time demands. “If the company needs more RAM, hard drive space, or CPUs, each can be added quickly, often in a matter of minutes,” says one expert. “If you hire more employees, the additional software user license subscriptions can be easily added to your solution. The same applies if you need to downgrade IT resources. It’s like technology on demand!”

• Security. While many people assume that storing files and data in the cloud means opening their business up to additional security risks, the truth is that today’s cloud solutions have much higher levels of security and data integrity than on-premise solutions that are exposed to a number of dangers. If you’re looking for better cyber security, a move to the cloud is an excellent solution.

• Cost savings. Perhaps the biggest reason why businesses move to the cloud in the first place is the cost savings associated with eliminating on-premise servers and adopting a “pay-as-you-go” approach. As a result, you only end up paying for what you use. This cuts expenses and can save thousands of dollars each year.

• Remote access. When you’re using on-premise servers, you’re forced to be physically present in the office (or are restricted to a specific device) in order to access files and tools. All of this goes away with the cloud. Since the cloud operates in cyberspace, you can access everything remotely. This frees you up to do business on the road, at home, or in the office.

• Relevancy. Finally, migration should be on the top of your list of priorities, simply because it’s becoming standard practice in most industries. Do you really want to be the company known for sticking with outdated business principles? That could negatively impact your image with both employees and customers.

Every business is unique, which means the benefits of cloud migration will vary from company to company. And while the degree to which you enjoy these benefits may differ, your business should enjoy each of these five advantages when doing away with on-premise file server technology and instead opting for progressive cloud solutions.

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