The modern workplace is constantly evolving, and the need for experienced IT directors has never been greater. In this article, we’ll explore what an IT director does, and the skills and qualifications needed to be an IT director. Then, we’ll dive into how smaller businesses can benefit from having an IT director while also outlining the difficulties that are unique to that size of business. Finally, we’ll review the benefits of IT consulting and using a Director as a Service (DaaS) program.

If you’d like to work with us, or want to use our own Director as a Service program for your IT needs, feel free to hit us up!

Overview of An IT Director’s Role

An IT director is an essential role within any organization. They are responsible for leading the IT staff, developing and implementing strategies, and ensuring that the company’s IT needs are met. It’s a complex job that requires someone with strong problem-solving skills, excellent communication abilities and technical knowledge about current technologies. An IT director must also be able to manage multiple competing priorities and stay ahead of technology trends in order to effectively lead their team.

The role of an IT director includes a number of duties, such as developing and managing a budget, tracking IT projects, leading the IT staff and implementing strategies into the overall company strategy. They must work very closely with other departments to ensure their needs are integrated into the larger strategy. This means they need to understand how the different departments use technology and how it impacts their goals while at the same time keeping up with ever-evolving technologies so they can make informed decisions on what best suits their organization’s needs.

In addition to this heavy workload, an IT director must also possess a wealth of business acumen in order to be successful. This involves understanding both internal processes, such as accounting or marketing, as well as external factors, like customer expectations or industry trends. A successful IT director will continuously evaluate new tools and solutions in order to make sure their organization is taking advantage of current technologies, all while staying ahead of potential competitors who may have more advanced systems than them.

In short, having an experienced IT director is crucial for any organization, regardless of size or budget constraints, because it provides access to resources that can help develop strategies which lead to better success rates for projects across the board.

Above: IT Directors must work very closely with other departments to ensure their needs are integrated into the larger strategy.

Skills and Qualifications Needed To Be an IT Director

Being an IT director involves a combination of technical aptitude, leadership acumen and business savvy. To succeed in this role requires possessing a comprehensive set of skills and qualifications that will allow you to manage personnel, devise strategies and meet the company’s IT needs.

Leadership is paramount for success in this position. It is essential to motivate teams of people to work together towards common objectives while being able to delegate tasks efficiently and identify potential issues before they arise.

Possessing project management competencies is also vital, as IT directors must oversee projects from start to finish within budgetary constraints. Understanding different methodologies such as Agile or Scrum can help guarantee successful outcomes.

Next, having an extensive understanding of current technologies like cloud computing, software development platforms, data security protocols, mobile applications etc., will enable an IT director to assess the organization’s current capabilities and create effective strategies for future growth.

Furthermore, strong communication abilities are necessary so that complex technical ideas can be expressed in understandable terms for stakeholders with no familiarity with Information Technology systems.

Additionally, experience in strategic planning and budgeting are imperative for long term plans which are cost-effective yet still remain true to the mission statement and objectives of the organization.

Finally, presentation skills are also essential so that any ideas formulated by the director can be communicated effectively with senior management or other stakeholders who may not possess any technical knowledge about Information Technology systems.

In conclusion, these qualities are required if one wishes to be a successful IT Director capable of leading teams while developing strategies which fulfill the company’s goals at competitive prices

IT Directors for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses

For small and medium-sized businesses, having an IT director with the right skills, knowledge and experience is essential to staying competitive in today’s marketplace, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. An IT director must be able to work closely with other staff members to ensure that technology solutions are properly implemented and utilized. Additionally, they should use their expertise to develop strategies for future growth. By taking a proactive approach, an IT director can help companies realize their technology goals in order to stay ahead of the competition.

With large companies, this is much, much easier. You simply hire an on-staff individual, because you can guarantee that you’ll have enough work to justify hiring a full-time staff member. What about for small and medium-sized businesses? The role is still essential, as we outlined above, but it’s sometimes difficult to pay an individual that type of salary for what may be a half, or even quarter, capacity position.

Having been IT consultants for all of our 25+ year history, we’ve seen time and time again that the workload IT director role for small to medium-sized businesses is like a mountain range, with very high peaks of frenetic work on massive projects, and low valleys, where there’s very little to do and the day-to-day needs of these smaller businesses are largely met. Small and medium-sized businesses just don’t produce the sheer number of needs that large businesses do. This leads to a lot of downtime for a role that comes with a comparatively high price tag.

Tech has gone through huge changes recently, and, without a vigilant eye, compliance and regulatory items can become startlingly out of date very quickly. Smaller businesses need someone who can drive informed decisions. The family friend who is, “good with computers” doesn’t cut it anymore. Businesses need an expert now. They don’t want end up on the news for data leak or other tech mishap.

That puts this size of business between a rock and a hard place: The decisions that need to be made can sometimes be few and far between, but those decisions must be made by an expert in their field. What options do these businesses have?

Above: An IT director must be able to work closely with other staff members to ensure that technology solutions are properly implemented and utilized.

The Benefits of IT Consulting

The benefits of IT consulting are numerous and can be incredibly beneficial for any organization, regardless of size. IT consulting can reduce costs associated with hiring and training in-house IT staff, provide an outside perspective on operations, increase security of systems and networks, access specialized skills without having to invest in full-time employees, and help businesses stay up to date with the latest technology trends.

By partnering with an experienced consultant, companies have access to the most up-to-date knowledge about developments in the industry. This is especially beneficial for those small or medium sized businesses that may not have the resources or budget to keep up with changing technologies. Furthermore, consultants can bring their expertise to projects that require a high level of technical skill. Additionally, they can act as a sounding board for ideas and strategies for implementing new technologies within the business.

IT consultants also provide cost savings since you don’t need to pay them on a full-time basis as you would an internal employee. They are often available on an hourly or project basis so that you only pay for the services you need when you need them. Furthermore, they can often complete tasks quickly due to their experience and ability to focus solely on one problem at a time – meaning your projects get done faster than if it was handled internally.

Finally, using IT consulting services is an ideal way to ensure that your company meets strict compliance requirements such as GDPR or PCI DSS. Consultants have expertise in these areas which can help ensure your company remains compliant and secure while still leveraging new technology appropriately.

Ultimately, IT consulting can help any organization become more efficient and competitive in the market by providing access to expert technical advice and reducing costs associated with hiring full-time staff members. With the right partner, companies have access to specialized skillsets while avoiding long term commitments – making this an ideal solution for many organizations today.

What Does Director as a Service Mean?

Director as a Service (DaaS) is an increasingly popular business model that offers companies the opportunity to access the expertise of experienced IT directors without having to commit to long-term employment. With this service, businesses are able to benefit from the guidance and skills of specialist providers on an “as needed” basis, resulting in improved efficiency and reduced costs.

One major advantage of DaaS is that it provides organizations with access to professionals who have extensive experience in developing strategies and managing projects – two key components for successful IT management. This means they can achieve their technology goals much faster than if they had hired a full-time employee with less knowledge or experience in these areas. Additionally, since DaaS providers are not employed directly by the company, they may be more open to experimentation or new ideas that could lead to improved performance and better results.

Another key benefit of DaaS is its affordability for companies with limited resources or budget, namely, those small to medium-sized businesses. By utilizing this service model, businesses can get all the advantages of an experienced professional without having to invest heavily into personnel costs due to hiring full-time staff, just like with general IT consultants. Furthermore, some DaaS providers offer additional services such as strategic planning and project management which allow organizations even greater flexibility when it comes to achieving their goals quickly and cost-effectively.

InterWorks, as we mentioned at the beginning, has our own DaaS service available, and we specialize in projects for small to medium-sized businesses (as you might have guessed from reading this post.) We can provide the expertise and experience needed to IT landscapes, that are becoming increasingly complex, with a tremendous amount of experience focusing on solutions like cybersecurity, cloud computing, risk assessment, compliance and more. We also offer flexibility and scalability. As your company grows or your needs increase, we can quickly provide more resources to fit those needs. Our adjustable Flat Rate model gives you the opportunity to use as many hours as required each month to improve your company’s IT posture without the salary, benefits, office space, training expenses and additional overhead involved with a traditional on staff employee.

If you’d like to work with us on a DaaS basis, or if you have further questions about the role of an IT Director, please reach out.

The post What Does an IT Director Do? appeared first on InterWorks.

Life continues to go on, and the idea of normalcy is being upended. In this series, we’ve looked at how some of our team members have developed new hobbies to pass the time during the COVID-19 pandemic. But in this post, Blaine shares how his existing hobby and its associated habits have been the familiar thread that’s run through a very unfamiliar season.

Bringing Consistency to Times of Change

What do you find so fulfilling or rewarding about this hobby?

Around 2008, I began collecting cologne, and since then, I’ve accumulated over 100 bottles. It’s really like any other collection. The items increase in value the longer you hold onto them. There are certain types that become discontinued and others get reformulated, so their value really increases when those situations happen.

How is this hobby helping you during this time of quarantine and social distancing?

I wear a fragrance every day and have continued to do so in “quarantine”. It does help keep some sense of normalcy in my life, I think.

How does this hobby help you in your day-to-day role at InterWorks?

As silly as it sounds, I think fragrance can really affect someone’s mood, and depending on the situation, the right smell can really put you in the right mindset. Obviously, I have a few options available, but they are all unique and can really be categorized by what type of situation I’m going to be in. Whether it’s an office situation, meeting, etc., there are certain fragrances that make me feel more professional. Others are more geared towards nighttime or going out, others for gym or active situations, etc. Then temperature and season also come into play … some are geared more towards colder winter months and others for summertime and hot seasons.

Finding Freedom and an Outlet

Why is it important to have hobbies/personal projects?

I think having something to take your mind away from work, home or the daily grind of life is important as an outlet for stress. The majority of my time is consumed by work, family duties and youth baseball. It’s nice when you have time to relax and work on something you enjoy vs. something you’re responsible for or compelled to do.

What has this taught you about yourself? What can hobbies in general teach us about ourselves?

Well, when I initially started out, I knew very little: something either smelled nice or it didn’t. I’m now to the point where I’ve gotten my nose on so many different parfums that it’s easy to tell the quality and ingredients used to create most colognes, even down to the individual notes. It’s kind of fun smelling someone with a fragrance and most of the time being able to ask, “Are you wearing <SPECIFIC FRAGRANCE>?” or suggest, “If you like A, you should try B.”  Like I said before, I think hobbies can teach us that we all need an outlet. We all need time to spend on something that doesn’t involve pressure, a deadline or really any obligation.

The post Out of Office: My Cologne-Collecting Hobby appeared first on InterWorks.

About two weeks ago, InterWorks was once again asked to speak at a lunch and learn event where I presented on digital forensics and its application at an organization level.  But what exactly is digital forensics?

Digital forensics, also known as computer forensics, is probably a little different than what you have in mind. When people hear the term, they instantly think of shows like “CSI” where a crack team of computer whizzes use top-secret, super-advanced technology to solve crimes in a half hour. Unfortunately, that’s far from reality.

So, if digital forensics isn’t the magic TV would like us to believe, then what is it? I’ve found the following definition to be the best description:

The science of identifying, preserving, recovering, analyzing and presenting facts about digital evidence found on computers or digital storage media devices.

I like this definition because it’s simple enough to grasp and breaks digital forensics into five functional areas. I’ll explain each a little further down in the post. But first, let’s take a look at some common applications of digital forensics in the business world.

Common Applications of Digital Forensics

Using the term “forensics” certainly implies that digital forensics is used to recover digital evidence to be used in court of law against some nefarious offender. This is true in many instances. Perhaps a disgruntled employee stole valuable data after getting fired or maybe a company fell victim to corporate espionage. These criminal cases definitely rely on digital forensics to provide evidence pertaining to such crimes.

Digital forensics isn’t just limited the court of law. Often times, a company may be handling some sort of internal affair like a violation of a corporate policy, which doesn’t necessarily fall under the “crime” category. In the same way, however, digital forensics is used to find evidence that either backs or disproves some sort of assumption.

With those applications in mind, let’s break down digital forensics into its five parts:

Identify

All digital forensics starts with identification. Before doing anything else, it’s important to identify where data is stored. In the old days, investigators found the data they needed in filing cabinets. Today, it’s pretty much all electronic. Data is stored on the hard drives of computers and servers, flash drives, network equipment – you name it, there’s data on it.

Whenever I first arrive on the scene, I always evaluate the environment I’m in and think of all the potential devices on which data might be stored. Understanding the whole environment and what is contained within it helps me to understand what evidence, known as “artifacts,” we’re dealing with. As you can imagine, different devices and means of storage or data transfer leave different types of artifacts. The more of these you uncover, the clearer the picture becomes.

Preserve

Preservation is a crucial part of the digital forensics process, and it largely rests on the shoulders of investigators like me. Why is preservation so important? Because without integrity, a piece of evidence loses its value or “admissibility” in the court of law. That’s why it’s so important to ensure that the artifacts are unaltered and preserved in their original state.

Personally, I preserve these artifacts by completing chain-of-custody paperwork and documenting every aspect of a case from start to finish. This serves as a detailed written account that I can reference when evidence is ready for presentation. Maintaining this paperwork is immensely helpful in explaining to a court or legal team why you performed a certain action or treated evidence in a certain way, even when you have to defend those findings.

One incredibly useful piece of technology is Write Block. Write Block allows an investigator access data on hard drive but blocks the ability to alter or “write” to that existing data.

Another common practice during an investigation is to create a forensic image of the data or device being examined.  In short, it creates a copy of the data found on the drive. I can then perform investigation and analysis on that copy while preserving the integrity of the original.

Recover

In just about every case, there is some sort of recovery process. This can include recovering deleted files from normal OS processes, intentionally deleted files, password protected files and even damaged or corrupted files. There are many methods of recovering these artifacts, and I try to use as many as possible to, as mentioned earlier, paint the fullest picture possible. Once you’ve identified and recovered (while preserving integrity throughout), you can start analysis.

Analyze

Analysis is the guts of the investigation. This is where all the expertise and elbow grease comes in. I use several apps and programs to look at common artifact locations such as the memory, registry, event logs and browser history. Additionally, I can use other scripts and manual analysis to look at obscure shellbags or even the operating prefetch files.

Again, the key here is to gather as many artifacts as possible, and there are often many artifacts to be found. In fact, any action performed on a computer can create up to five artifacts in different locations. A good example is a simple Google search. Whenever you search for something, it’s not just logged in your browser history; there’s also a coordinating registry artifact that points to that search. Depending on the configuration of your devices, this search may be present across every device you own. A device like Skype, for instance, will sync chat history across all devices. Using these various artifacts that all point to each other, we can really develop that clear picture we’re after.

Present

Finally, once examination is complete, it’s time to present the findings in the form of a case report. All that documentation that we recorded makes creating this report a hell of a lot easier in the end. And all of the information we collected hopefully leads to some definitive conclusion. Even so, what happens next isn’t up to the investigator. Will the evidence be enough to prompt some action? Will the case make it to court? Will the company you worked for terminate that disgruntled employee? The truth is, as an investigator, it doesn’t matter. The only thing that does matter is presenting facts clearly and concisely. That’s the end goal of digital forensics.

Interested in learning more about digital forensics and how they might help your business? Get in touch with us today.

The post What Is Digital Forensics? appeared first on InterWorks.

To Clear Cached Values
+ CLEAR (25327) #

To Reset A Phone
+ RESET (73738) #

To Enter Setup
+ SETUP (73887) #

View Current Configuration Settings
+ INFO (4636) #

Ping From Phone
+ PING (7464) #

Factory Reset A Phone
+ RRAMOS (772667) #       *this will prompt you to enter 1234 as the password before reset.

The post Shoretel “Mute” Codes appeared first on InterWorks.

REASSIGN EXTENSION TO ANY PHONE

• Press # #.
• Enter the extension number you wish to reassign.
• Enter the password for that extension.
• Press Option 7, Mailbox Options.
• Press Option 3, Reassign Your Extension.
• Press Option 1, Assign YourExtension To This Telephone.

REVERT EXTENSION BACK TO YOUR HOME PHONE

• Press# # (twice).
• Enter the extension number you wish to reassign.
• Enter the password for that extension.
• Press Option 7, Mailbox Options.
• Press Option 3, Reassign Your Extension.
• Press Option 2, Unassign YourExtension.

The post Shoretel Extension Reassignment appeared first on InterWorks.

Audio File
The type and size of audio file used is very speicific.  The file must be a 16kHz, 8-bit, mono, wav file that is no larger than 750kb in size.  If you want to check the properties or convert an existing sound file to this format, I recommend download Audacity, a freeware application that can help you manipulate these settings.

Custom Phone Script
Next you will need to create a custom phone script.  Open notepad and add the following lines to the text file:
          WaveRinger1 L/rg 192.168.0.1/ringers/sound.wav
          WaveRinger2 L/r1 192.168.0.1/ringers/sound2.wav
         *you will replace 192.168.0.1 with the IP of your Shoretel server and the .wav files will be the name of your specific sound files.
Save the file with the the following name, shore_000123456789000.txt (replace the 000123456789000 with the MAC address of your phone).

Copy Files to the Server
You are now ready to copy the files to your Shoretel server.  The configuration file (shore_000123456789000.txt) needs to be placed in the InetPub directory and the wav files will be placed in InetPubRingers.

Reboot/Configure Phone
Once the files have been placed in the appropriate directory, you can now reboot your phone.  The normal boot up process will take place, but after you see the Country and Language text files download to the phone, you should see the .wav file you created start to download.  When the phone is done downloading and fully booted, you can go to Options–>Change Ring–>Select Standard.  To test you can select the Ring softkey to hear your sound file.

Additional Notes: In the configuration file, WaveRinger1 specifies the external ringtone and WaveRinger2 specifies the internal ringtone.  Also in this example I used Standard, but if you want to replace one of the other rings (Ring 2, Ring 3, or Ring 4) you need to modify the lines in the configuration file using this table.
         Standard (External) – L/rg
         Standard (Internal) – L/r1
         Ring 2 (External) – L/r10
         Ring 2 (Internal) – Lr/11
         Ring 3 (External) – L/r12
         Ring 3 (Internal) – L/r13
         Ring 4 (External) – L/r14
         Ring 4 (Internal) – L/r15

The post Shoretel Custom Ringtones appeared first on InterWorks.

Manually Configure LLDP Off On Phones
1. Reboot the phone, enter the password when prompted and hit #.
2. Clear all values? Choose No.
3. Hit # through the options until you are prompted for LLDP? Toggle this option to Off (press * to toggle) and hit #.
4. At this point it should prompt you to Save All Values? Choose Yes and the phone should automatically boot up error free.
*This procedure needs to be done on every single phone connected.

Turning Off LLDP On Managed Switch (most common manufacturers)
Dell Switch
1. Remote onto Management Interface using IP Address.
2. Go to System, then to LLDP-MED, then LLDP Properties.
3. Uncheck the Enable LLDP box, and Apply Changes.
4. Reboot the switch, which will force all the phones connect to reboot as well, but this time they will boot normally.
*Keep in mind that these procedures have to be configured on all switches that have phones attached.

Cisco Switch Config Commands
lldp run
!
!
!
interface FastEthernet1/0/1
switchport voice vlan 2
spanning-tree portfast
sh lldp

Global LLDP Information:
Status: ACTIVE
LLDP advertisements are sent every 30 seconds
LLDP hold time advertised is 120 seconds
LLDP interface reinitialisation delay is 2 seconds

Switch#sh lldp

Global LLDP Information:
Status: ACTIVE

Shoretel Support has informed us that they will releasing a new phone config file with their next update which will set LLDP OFF by default.  Until that release, the above methods will resolve the issue.

The post Shoretel Version 9.0 / 9.1 LLDP Isssue appeared first on InterWorks.