Entries by Lawrence Strauss

A Review of 2023

Here are some notable events and stories from 2023:

A Guiding Principle

Bryley is a client of Bryley, President Garin Livingstone said in a 2023 interview. We have people at Bryley that need technical help. We also need to make sure that our computer systems are being maintained and updated. Among the benefits of adhering to this model?

  • Updates and patching are as minimally disruptive as we can get them.
  • New technologies are fully vetted before the tech is deployed

This principle of being one’s own client has been a standard that Bryley has observed over the course of its thirty-six years … [6 min. read]

Bryley Systems’ 9th MSP 501 Award

MSP 501 is an IT industry signifier that recognizes the MSP (managed service provider) industry’s highest operational efficiency and business models. The MSP 501 award is based on a sixty-point audit to verify the fitness and stability from which independent IT providers can serve their clients with dependable IT.

With its detailed questionnaire (over sixty areas of scrutiny) and the requirement to have financial results certified to the auditors, the MSP 501 award helps benchmark which MSPs are fit to earn their clients’ trust … [3 min. read]

How Do You Turn an Ocean Liner?

Years ago a consultant told me that to shift a business’ paradigm was like trying to turn an ocean liner. Seems about right.

Bryley was started in 1987. Over that time we’ve had to continually think and rethink what’s working and what’s no longer serving our clients. And from the process of assessing and reassessing we’ve evolved. For example we went from designing and installing networks to being companies’ outsourced IT departments – the skills and tasks involved to successfully fulfill each of these roles is different. So we’ve adjusted staff and shifted our expertise. This kind of change is never easy.

That’s why when you’re considering Bryley as your IT provider, we make it a point to look out for the obstacles you’ll be facing in making the shift from how you’re currently doing things … [6 min. read]

How About That HQ

Are you familiar with TARDIS, Dr Who’s time-travel machine? It looks unassuming, but inside … I was interviewing Client Experience Specialist / Marketing Coordinator Courtney Leonard and she told me about her education in interior design. Even though she admits her knowledge is limited, she retains a lot of enthusiasm for the field, so I had to ask her about the Bryley building. Here’s what Courtney had to say about this … [3 min. read]

6 Questions for a Successful Technology Change

It’s an achievement to bring in a new technology solution that will help your employees do their jobs better or that will keep your business more secure.

It’s an achievement also because many companies look the other way when the time comes to review and update processes, legacy applications and machines. Are they trying to delay the inevitable?

But if you have decided to review and upgrade your tech processes, there are some things you should bear in mind to make the change as easy as possible … [6 min. read]

A Few Minutes with Rylie, Field Technician

As researcher Sherry Turkle has observed, it’s in the awkward silent seconds that communication (which means, to have something in common between us) happens. We need those pauses in conversation to process what the other has said, to let the words and our thoughts about those words affect us, to consider a reply and then choose our words. These silences along with other non-verbal signals do the connective work when we speak to each other: you know you are talking to a real person.

Turkle’s work has been an inspiration to Field Technician Rylie. At the University of Rhode Island Rylie achieved a bachelor of science degree in Computer Science and became fascinated working in Python and C++ with Artificial Intelligence … [5 min. read]

ARA Mass Trains Its Member Organizations

The American Rental Association of Massachusetts (ARA) set their member organizations on the path to cybersecurity awareness this month. ARA received six hour-and-fifteen-minute-long custom seminars that introduced the concepts of Security Awareness Training – tailored to their industry.

Bryley VP Roy Pacitto facilitated the online, interactive sessions that provided an introduction to Security Awareness Training (SAT) for ARA member organizations. The aim was to provide each participant with the basics that if the concepts presented were adhered-to the organizations would be less likely to experience a security breach. It was explained at the outset that one-time training sessions have only limited benefit. But couple initial training with ongoing Security Awareness Training and the results are historically impressive in minimizing cybersecurity risks … [six min. read]

Cyber Liability Insurance

Bryley is sometimes asked by its clients about the need for liability insurance for data compromise and other risks associated with our digital lives. For these kinds of questions Bryley turns to Murphy Insurance … [2 min. read]