The Welsh Wire: Mike Ritsema of i3 Business Solutions

Recent cyber-security disasters around the country this year underscore the importance of having layers of security for your business assets.

“A cloud layer so somebody’s watching the dark web or any of my passwords out there, let’s have a firewall so the bad guys don’t get in, let’s protect the desktop with antivirus and patching and then let’s educate our people,” says Mike Ritsema, President of i3 Business Solutions in Grand Rapids, a recent guest of Sheri Welsh on The Welsh Wire podcast. “And lastly, let’s have a backup so that if something bad does happen, I can go back two or four hours, get all the information I lost or was encrypted. Let’s make sure we’ve got layers of technology security, and it’s updated every day, every week [so] somebody is keeping an eye on it.”

Ritsema is also a proponent of what he calls embracing the cloud. “I say, let’s try and centralize information [in the cloud] so we can search in one place, very secure, and find it rather than hunt across a half a dozen or a dozen logins.”

Finally, he emphasizes how important it is to work with your IT person or organization to create a road map that connects your business or your organization to a technology plan. “My goodness, with all the potential of technology to help us be more productive and profitable and manage risk, let’s make sure we’re working with our technology team to create a road map or strategic technology plan for the next one-to-five years to accomplish what we want to do in the business.”

Listen to Sheri’s entire interview with Mike Ritsema.

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