As business leaders or managers, many of us have experienced positive business growth and refinement of our offerings that, ultimately, benefits most, but not all, of our clients. You may have an enjoyable working relationship with a long-term client, but the client’s needs and your business sweet spot no longer align. In fact, business experts …
In today’s world of connected IT systems, the risk associated with your important data is heightened. Most small to mid-sized organizations rely on a trusted IT support organization to protect critical information. Our industry uses an umbrella term called “managed service plan” to describe the services that we provide. As I’ve discussed in previous blogs, …
Good versus evil. It’s all too common. New technology is released as a useful tool for IT professionals and inevitably hackers learn how to use the tool for evil. In 1973 when data encryption became a useful tool it was adopted using the DES (Data Encryption Standard. As of 1997, the standard was changed to …
In 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote in a letter that “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” After being in the IT business for 39 years, I will add one more certainty; in our industry nothing is as important as up-to-date, accurate, and secure documentation. When you engage with …
We often hear a similar story when new companies call us desperately looking for a quick IT solution. “As soon as I clicked it, I realized I shouldn’t have. I know better.” This is typically something that a user says following a virus infection or a successful social engineering hack. Preventing this situation is exactly …
In November of 1995, an episode of Seinfeld aired in which Jerry and his friends visit a soup stand. The proprietor has an extremely regimented way that he insists his clients adopt in order to be treated with a bowl of his soup. The concept is funny. The idea is that all of his customers …
Back in 1980, when I was selling TRS-80’s at a Radio Shack/Tandy Computer Center, we sold a cassette tape deck specifically designed to copy data and programs created on the Model 1 computer. You’re probably asking yourself, “How old is this guy?” Back then, this was a great way to recover your information should something …
When you call an IT help desk, you are calling to get an issue resolved. Something has likely occurred while you were performing your daily work and you need it to be fixed…and quick. Of course, there may be other reasons to call a help desk. Perhaps you are interested in a new application and …
It was a very clever commercial. Four masked men enter a bank with baseball bats yelling “on the floor, on the floor”. A woman patron laying on the floor looks up to a man dressed as a security guard and whispers, “do something” and the man replies, “Oh, I’m not a security guard, I’m a …
A high-quality managed service plan will include a component that addresses your firm’s information technology strategy. Many managed service providers refer to this as virtual CIO (vCIO) services.
Having a single recurring monthly fee for all your technology services clearly solves the problem of receiving a surprise invoice, while sharing the responsibility for uptime with the vendor.
Over the past several years, in response to the success that hackers have had in gaining access to our personal data and key information, we have all had to modify the way we approach our IT systems. If you’re using the same strategies that you employed five years ago, then you are vulnerable, and you need to change your security plan.
Rachel did everything correctly. She had a very strong password. She didn’t use the same (or even a similar) password for any other account, and yet her email was hijacked. Hacked. What happened, and how could this have been avoided?
When browsing the Internet, you may have noticed that some sites will display a lock icon next to the URL address (as shown below): This icon, along with the ‘s’ following ‘http’ in the address line, is your indication that the communication between your device and the website is secure. When logging into your credit …
Recently, there have been two high-profile customer data breaches in the news that are examples of credential cracking and credential stuffing: on November 9th at Dell Computers and on October 31st at Dunkin Donuts. The Dunkin Donuts incident required all DD Perks members to change their passwords. Let’s dig a little deeper and look at …
Nick Eckman joined NetCenergy in 2016 from an international gaming company. Nick’s experience with supervising and implementing secure, fiber and copper wire infrastructure services provides our clients with a team of highly trained and experienced technicians. In addition to the skills required to manage our infrastructure services department, Nick brings a very experienced and focused approach to project management and is a stickler for accurate documentation for every project designed and built by his team.
Peter Lachapelle joined NetCenergy in 2015 and is responsible for leading all of NetCenergy’s operations and accounting functions. Each department within NetCenergy reports through Lachapelle. He brings his years of experience to maintain a pragmatic, efficient, client-focused team at NetCenergy. Lachapelle joined NetCenergy after completing a 27-year career with a Rhode Island, federally-charted bank which culminated in his senior management position as COO and CFO for the bank.
Peter Nelson has 25+ years of technology and management experience and has been with NetCenergy since inception. Peter serves as the VP of Engineering at NetCenergy. His role consists of managing the engineering staff, driving the companies technology strategy, and ensuring NetCenergy keeps up to date on new technologies and solutions.
As a Founding Partner, Dan is a result oriented individual who is always focusing on what is best for his client. He understands that business applications empower an organization and that technology must support those critical business applications. Dan’s technology career started in 1990 at EMC Corporation. Through the years, he has represented technology and consulting services for several organizations until 2003, when he and Don Nokes founded NetCenergy.
As President of NetCenergy, Don is responsible for ensuring client satisfaction, overseeing overall performance, and for providing direction to the organization. Prior to co-founding the firm with Dan Charland, Don held senior leadership positions with IT service firms ranging in size from $3 Billion to $10 Million in annual sales.
Nokes serves on the boards of the Rhode Island Business Group on Health, Renew Energy Initiative, the Corporate Board of Blue Cross Blue Shield of RI, the Lt Governor’s Small Business Advocacy Council, Representative Langevin’s Cybersecurity Advisory Committee and the RI Joint Cyber Task Force.
With decades of hands-on HR experience, Margery Ahearn is our Director of Human Resources, overseeing all hiring of new positions for NetCenergy with a careful eye on sourcing technology savvy engineers and skilled office-based professionals who fit our company culture, understand our commitment to our clients, and bring their time and talents to our team. Margery has both a BA and MBA in Business Administration from Southern New Hampshire University.