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About Red Level

As a comprehensive technology services company, Red Level delivers customized scalable technology solutions designed precisely to our client's unique needs – solutions that accelerate growth, reduce costs and enable collaboration. As a preferred partner to technology leaders such as Microsoft, DellEMC, and VMWare, we deploy the most advanced business technology solutions, ensuring optimal reliability, productivity and value.

Nine Ways to Ensure Your Company is Protecting its Employees

We all know the basics like hand-washing and social distancing, so let’s cut to the chase and talk about some topics (and solutions) you might not have considered. 1. You can’t change human behavior, but you can nudge it. The employee who was a germaphobe before quarantine began will likely continue to be the safest employee. The employee who throws dishes in the sink without washing them, and leaves empty containers everywhere will not likely change their behavior. Nothing will change here. Solution: That doesn’t mean you can make it easier for employee safety. Many companies are putting touchless hand sanitizer stations (like this one) at all entrances and in the shared dining areas. Others are requiring temperature checks upon entering. This means staff trained in taking temperatures are required and that can be a significant investment in resources. 2. Don't bother with "Who's at risk?" assessments. Why not? Because every employee who is ...

2023-02-16T16:01:21+00:00

Ransomware Attack at MSU: Keep your company safe

While we're all focused on working through COVID in the real world, hackers are working their nefarious scams in the virtual world. Their latest target is close to home – Michigan State University. A ransomware attack infected MSU yesterday stealing student data, files, and financial information. Red Level has solutions to protect your clients, data, and reputation, but there are also several simple things you can do to stay safe: Apply patches and updates. Ensure that systems are up to date and that all software updates are installed. Double-check email addresses. Watch for unfamiliar names and domains, as well as ‘spoofed’ accounts pretending to be trusted contacts. Think before clicking. Don’t click or download suspicious or unexpected attachments, or visit unfamiliar links. Use proactive protection. Install and use the latest antivirus and anti-malware software available. Keep regular backups. Maintain a regular offsite backup schedule and implement a disaster recovery plan. Modernize ...

2023-02-16T16:01:22+00:00

Tools & Resources for Returning to Work in Michigan

Michigan businesses have been given the green light to get back to work – but with many new rules, guidelines, and processes to ensure our workforce stays healthy and keeps the novel coronavirus from flaring up again. Enter the free COVID ClearPass app from Red Level which helps organizations fulfill many of these new safety protocols. On Monday, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer released Executive Order 2020-91 – a new order addressing how Michigan business could emerge from quarantine and gradually resume in-person work. While some of these guidelines are specific to requirements for PPE (personal protective equipment) and social distancing, many of the new rules address capacity limits, employee tracking, and emergency communication – all things the COVID ClearPass app does exceptionally well. Let’s take a closer look at each of these six processes outlined in the governor’s Return to Work plan safeguarding Michigan’s workers from COVID-19. Organizations must develop ...

2023-02-16T16:01:22+00:00

Microsoft Teams vs Zoom, Which Should You Use?

When the FBI sends a warning to the public, it’s generally a good idea to heed it. The FBI recently issued a notice to the public citing security problems with the Zoom video-teleconferencing platform. The platform has been compromised in such a way, according to the FBI warning, that will make you reconsider the security of the system for things like remote learning of school-age children. That’s exactly what the New York City School district did. The district announced last week, due to security concerns, they will be transitioning to Microsoft Teams for their distance learning. Even SpaceX has forbidden its employees from using the tool. While the Zoom platform has good intentions, it is short-sighted for us to think a company that experiences a 500% growth boom overnight is prepared for the security risks that come with it. Current times have demanded businesses adopt a remote collaboration solution while still working with ...

2023-02-16T16:01:22+00:00

Emergency Time Block of Helpdesk Services

Our work lives changed so quickly in the last 30 days. The speed of change has left many businesses looking for help. Does your company have the right tools, technologies, and talent to survive and thrive as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic? The Good News: Red Level is here to help. For a limited time, Red Level is offering NEW clients an EMERGENCY TIME BLOCK of 25 or 50 hours of Helpdesk Services to set-up, secure, and maintain these critical technologies for your company and your remote workforce. This one time, no long-term commitment, discounted block of time is simple and easy to use with full access to our helpdesk team. The entire Red Level team is working to keep businesses in business. We're securing data, connections, and operations while helping companies transition their employees to work-from-home. How are we doing this? Through: Virtual Private Networks (VPN) to protect sensitive ...

2023-02-16T16:01:23+00:00

Achieve More with the Office 365 Cloud Immersion Experience

We’ve all been there. We've had technology dumped on us, sometimes with no explanation. What we hear most often from our clients is that they have rolled out Office 365, but people are not adopting the technology. How do we solve that? People don't embrace technology, but they embrace solutions.  Office 365 Offers Many Powerful Tools  In the Office 365 environment, we see all these different opportunities to work with tools inside of the product. However, that can be overwhelming, and who has time to be overwhelmed in the workplace?   “Empower & Inspire peopleby creating an immersive experience where they discover for themselveswhat’s possible in a Microsoft-powered organization.”  Provide a Direction with an Office 365 Cloud Immersion Experience  This Office 365 Cloud Immersion Experience is a chance for your users to become empowered. It’s a hands-on session to explore how to leverage the tools you already own to do more with less. We listen to what the needs of the business are. We walk through your business challenges one-by-one that way, we can see a clearer vision of ...

2023-02-16T16:01:23+00:00

Top 7 Microsoft Exclusive Quick Starts

We developed a series of Microsoft Exclusive Quick Starts to help answers our client's everyday questions on Office 365 and Microsoft 365. Some of the biggest and most frequent questions are around:   Where do I start?   What do we need to do first?  Where should we go from here?  We've just bought Office 365, we've just moved to Teams, or were moving to SharePoint, what do we do first?   Based on these questions, we developed a series of Microsoft Exclusive Quick Starts to help provide answers.  Microsoft 365 Immersion Experience Quick Start Office 365 is way more than just email. Microsoft 365 is cloud storage, integrated voice, integrated messaging, file sharing, document collaboration, video sharing, and so much more. This quick start is perfect for anyone who is looking at Office 365 and wants to make sure that it’s the right fit for them. It is also ideal for companies that have just deployed Office 365, and want to ensure they are using it to the fullest. Office 365 Power Up Quick Start Dig into all the different layers of Office ...

2023-02-16T16:01:24+00:00

New Years Resolutions for Smart Business Leaders

https://youtu.be/UaSD-VIGNAY Everyone is busy getting ready for the holidays. It's crazy to think 2020 is just around the corner. And while a lot of people are talking about their same old New Year's Resolutions – lose weight, exercise more and save money – smart business owners should be thinking about their new year – and new decade tech resolutions. Is 2020 going to be a year of growth and success for your company? It can be if you make these three simple tech resolutions. Lose weight. It's time to trim down all that old on-prem hardware in your server room. Make a resolution to move to the cloud. Red Level is helping companies do more for less with cloud solutions from Azure and AWS. Investing in business-grade hardware is a major capital expense. Growing companies are staying up-to-date and preserving capital with pay-as-you-go services. Red Level can help you ...

2023-02-16T16:01:24+00:00

MASCO Corp. Aligns IT with the Business to Transform as a Modern Workplace

MASCO Corp. designs, manufactures and distributes branded home improvement and building products worldwide. Its industry-leading brands include Delta® and Hansgrohe® faucets, Behr® paint, and Kichler® decorative and outdoor lighting. With about 10,000 associates throughout the company, IT is challenged to stay abreast of technology to digitally transform MASCO as a modern workplace. The Situation In 2005, MASCO targeted about 10 siloed business units each functioning with a decentralized structure. There was little-to-no communication with corporate IT. At the same time, fragmentation plagued other internal departments. The concern in communications, for example, was broken intranet hubs, a lack of cohesive communications with associates causing confusion and a need for new tools to improve business services. Essentially, MASCO was in disarray requiring an infrastructure upgrade to stabilize the company’s technology stack. Specifically, IT was challenged to: Upgrade old hardware Digitize the backend, and migrate from SharePoint 2003 and old Microsoft Access databases ...

2024-02-29T18:57:09+00:00

Use Exchange Online Protection to Protect Your Business Against Online Threats

Exchange Online Protection (EOP) is a service that is hosted by Microsoft as email security for your organization it's always on filtering spam, in addition to removing malware and viruses, so you don't have to. What is Exchange Online Protection Service?  Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is a cloud-based email filtering service that helps protect your business against online threats, including spam and malware. How can it be used? Exchange Online: Built-in to Office 365 email subscription Standalone Scenario: Protection for your existing on-premises email server Hybrid deployment: Protection for both on-premises and cloud mailboxes EOP provides several convenient services, and there is no software to install. It is built-in and ready to go for Office 365 subscribers. For Exchange Hybrid and Standalone environments, all that is needed is to point your MX records (records that allow the internet to know how to reach you by email) to exchange online protection ...

2023-02-16T16:01:25+00:00