Author Archives: Level5 Management

The CFO’s role has evolved. No longer focused solely on balance sheets and cash flow, today’s CFO is at the center of enterprise-wide decision-making, including cybersecurity. According to Gartner, over 70% of CFOs now oversee areas beyond finance, such as digital transformation, compliance, and cybersecurity for CFO functions. For finance leaders, that shift presents a […]

In a quiet office in Tampa last February, a small construction firm unknowingly clicked a hyper-realistic invoice link from a known vendor. In under two hours, their network was encrypted. The attackers demanded $350,000 in cryptocurrency. The common factor is that they’re all AI-generated. The sender? Deepfake spoofed.

Hiring an in-house IT team seems logical for many growing businesses. You want someone on-site, someone who “knows the ropes.” You desire an on-site individual with extensive knowledge and experience. However, as your company scales and technology becomes more critical to your operations, an internal IT model’s financial performance often begins to show quickly.

Walk through any modern manufacturing floor today, and you’ll see more than just machines humming and conveyor belts moving. You’ll find intelligent systems collecting real-time data, connected devices communicating across networks, and operations tuned to the second. Manufacturing technology is evolving in this era, transforming the production, maintenance, and transportation of products.

Small and mid-sized businesses often grapple with the challenge of providing reliable services within their limited IT budgets, all while keeping pace with rapidly evolving technology. Buying new hardware every few years, managing upgrades, and handling breakdowns—it’s resource-heavy, capital-intensive, and often unpredictable.

As more businesses accelerate their digital operations, many are faced with a pivotal infrastructure decision: Should they invest in a hybrid cloud model or adopt a multi-cloud strategy? While both approaches offer significant flexibility and performance benefits, understanding their differences and the context in which one may outperform the other is critical to making the right call.

IT operations and cybersecurity have always been high-stakes domains, but artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly raising the bar. AI has reshaped how businesses detect threats, respond to incidents, and streamline technical support. As companies race to keep pace with rising attack vectors and operational demands, AI in IT support and cybersecurity is shifting from a futuristic concept to a present-day necessity.

When people think about cybersecurity breaches, their minds often jump to banks, healthcare providers, or massive corporations. Rarely do they picture law firms. However, for cybercriminals, legal practices are high-value targets. That’s because law firms hold a goldmine of sensitive data: client records, contracts, confidential communications, financial documents, etc.

If you’re a small or mid-sized business owner, chances are you’re not losing sleep over cybersecurity every night, but maybe you should be. Ransomware attacks now threaten businesses of all sizes, including those that do not have deep pockets of Fortune 500 companies. Your business falls into the category of ransomware targets because it stores valuable data with restricted financial capabilities and insufficient security measures.

Many small business owners think that tech rules are the responsibility of big companies. Small and medium-sized businesses today, on the other hand, deal with just as much private data, such as credit card numbers, client files, and payroll data. This makes them easy targets for hacks and compliance violations. Additionally, more people work from home or in a hybrid setting, which makes it harder to manage devices and make sure everyone has access.