IT support for ERP-run businesses

Yes. Attackers go after businesses that cannot afford to be down, and a manufacturer or distributor that cannot ship has a strong reason to pay quickly. Attackers know this.

Mid-sized businesses are attractive for another reason. They often have fewer protections than large companies and nobody whose job is to watch for trouble. Many attacks are not aimed at a particular company at all. Automated tools scan the internet for any business with an unpatched system, an exposed remote access service, or a stolen password that still works. Whoever turns up in the scan becomes the target.

Suppliers are also used as a way to reach their customers. This is one reason large customers now send security questionnaires.

The basic protections stop a large share of these attacks. They include multifactor authentication on email and remote access, prompt patching, endpoint protection, email threat protection, and backups that an attacker cannot reach from your network. All of these are part of Elevate. Elevate Complete adds security awareness training and phishing testing, which matter because many attacks begin with an email.

Citadel Security adds quarterly external vulnerability scanning, stolen-credential monitoring, and managed detection and response, so weaknesses and suspicious activity are found sooner. It also includes a response plan.

No IT company can promise you will not be attacked, and we do not. Three things are worth checking this week: whether multifactor authentication is on for email and remote access, when a backup was last restored as a test, and whether any remote access service is open to the internet. The complimentary assessment checks all three and puts the answers in writing.

Yes. Most manufacturers and distributors have all three, and each has different needs.

The office looks like any other office: desktop and laptop computers, email, shared files, and printers. The warehouse usually has handheld scanners, label printers, and wireless coverage across a large space full of metal racking, which is hard on wireless signals. The shop floor may have computers beside machines, and in some businesses the machines themselves are connected.

The ERP connects them. An order entered in the office becomes a pick in the warehouse and a job on the floor. If the wireless drops in one aisle, or the label printer at the shipping desk stops responding, the ERP is working but orders still stop.

Under Elevate, we manage your network as one system and write up how it is laid out. Network, server, and Microsoft 365 management, patching, backups, and endpoint protection are all included. Where possible, the different areas are kept apart on the network, so a problem on an office computer cannot easily reach the equipment on the floor. Some older production equipment cannot be updated in the usual way, and keeping it separate is how it is protected.

The assessment looks at all three areas. The plan sets out what each one needs, in priority order, with a firm price.

Syspro is the ERP we know best. We look after Syspro and the systems it connects to.

An ERP has two sides, and each needs support. One side is the application: how the software is configured for your business, your reports, your workflows, and the modules you use. Your ERP vendor or implementation consultant usually looks after that. The other side is everything the ERP depends on in order to run: the server or hosting, the database, the network, the computers and handheld devices that people use to reach it, the printers that produce labels and packing slips, the backups, and the security around all of it.

That second side is what we look after. When users say the ERP is slow, the cause is often there. A server may be short on memory or disk space, the network between the warehouse and the office may be struggling, or a backup may be running at the wrong time of day. We find the cause and fix it. When the problem is inside the application, we work with your ERP consultant so you do not have to pass messages between two suppliers.

If you run a different ERP, tell us. We will tell you plainly whether we are a fit. Much of the supporting work is similar from one ERP to the next, but we would rather say so at the start if yours is one we should not take on.

The switch is done in stages and planned around your operating hours.

It begins with the complimentary assessment, which takes two weeks and does not interrupt your operations. We look at your systems, your security setup, your software, and your risks, including the equipment your ERP depends on. You receive a written report and a 45-minute walkthrough.

The plan follows about a week later. It sets out what we would do, in what order, and what each part costs, and it scopes the transition for your business. How long that takes depends on how many sites you have and how well your current setup has been recorded.

During the transition, anything that could affect the ERP is scheduled outside production and shipping hours. If you have busy periods, such as month-end or a seasonal peak, tell us and we plan around them. Support stays in place throughout, so your staff always have somebody to call. We write up your systems as we go.

We deal with your current provider ourselves. We need passwords, license details, and whatever records they hold, and we keep the conversation professional.

The best time to start is 90 days before your current contract renews. That leaves room for the assessment, the plan, and an unhurried transition.

At the end, your systems are written up and two named people know them.

A new site or line comes onto the same setup as the rest of your business. It is not treated as a separate project with its own way of doing things.

When a business adds a building, the temptation is to get it working as fast as possible with whatever is at hand. Somebody buys network equipment from a store, a local contractor installs it, and the passwords are written on a sticky note. A year later nobody remembers how it was done, it does not match the main site, and it becomes the place where problems start.

We do it the other way. The new location gets the same kind of network equipment, the same security, the same login arrangements, and the same backup approach as your existing sites. Staff who move between buildings can log in at either. The ERP is reachable in the same way. A fix that works at one site works at the other. We write the new site up as we build it.

It helps to involve us early. If you are planning a new line or a new warehouse, tell us before the lease is signed or the equipment is ordered. Internet connections can take weeks to install, and wireless coverage in a warehouse should be planned before the racking goes in.

The assessment looks at what you have today, so adding a site or a line does not mean starting over.

Most downtime has ordinary causes, and most of them can be dealt with in advance.

Equipment gets old. A server or network switch that has run for eight years is more likely to fail than a new one. Your written IT plan records the age and condition of your equipment and flags what should be replaced, so replacement happens on your schedule and not in the middle of a shift.

Updates get skipped or badly timed. An update applied during working hours can interrupt the ERP. An update that is never applied leaves a weakness. We apply patches under Elevate and plan them around your operating hours.

Storage and capacity run out. A database grows every year. A server that was large enough when the ERP was installed may be short of space today. We watch for that and deal with it before users feel it.

Backups fail without anybody noticing. A backup job can report success for months and still be unusable. We test your backups, so you know they work.

Security incidents stop production. Ransomware is one of the most damaging causes of downtime for manufacturers and distributors. Elevate includes baseline security, and Citadel Security adds monitoring.

Knowledge sits with one person. If only one person understands how your systems are set up, an outage that happens while they are away lasts longer. We write up your systems, and two named people know your account.

Yes. This is increasingly common for manufacturers and distributors, and it is one of the reasons businesses call us.

Large customers want to know that their suppliers will not become a way into their own systems or a cause of interrupted supply. Before signing or renewing a contract, they send a questionnaire. It asks how you protect your systems, whether you use multifactor authentication, how you back up your data, whether your staff are trained, whether you have an incident response plan, and what would happen to their orders if you were attacked.

Many suppliers struggle with these forms. The security is often in place, and the difficulty is that nothing is written down, so answering means chasing several people and hoping they remember correctly.

We help in two ways. The complimentary assessment reviews your security setup and shows you what is missing before you fill anything in. If you have a questionnaire on your desk now, bring it, and we can check your setup against those exact questions.

For the longer term, Citadel Security keeps a written record of how your security is set up and keeps it up to date. When the next questionnaire arrives, the answers are already written. It also adds vulnerability scanning, stolen-credential monitoring, managed detection and response, and a response plan, which are things these forms ask about.

Yes. Older systems are normal in manufacturing, and replacing them is often not practical.

A machine that cost a great deal and still works well may be controlled by a computer running an operating system that its maker stopped supporting years ago. The software that runs it may not work on anything newer. Replacing the computer could mean replacing the machine. Nobody expects you to do that because of an IT policy.

These systems do carry risk. An operating system that no longer receives security updates has known weaknesses that will never be fixed. If it sits on the same network as your office computers and can reach the internet, it is an easy way in.

The usual answer is to keep it apart from everything else. An older system can be placed on its own section of the network, allowed to talk only to what it needs, and kept away from the internet and from email. That way it keeps doing its job, and a problem elsewhere cannot easily reach it. It also needs its own backup arrangement, because rebuilding an old system from nothing can be very difficult.

During the assessment we identify older equipment and software and record what each one does and what it connects to. The plan sets out what we would do about each, including what we would leave alone. Your written IT plan then tracks them, so replacement can be budgeted when the time comes.

For a manufacturer or distributor, managed IT is mostly about keeping the ERP and everything connected to it available during working hours. Orders, inventory, purchasing, production, and shipping all go through the ERP. If it is slow or down, the effect reaches the warehouse floor and your customers within minutes.

With Unimatrix, the work is delivered through Elevate. We manage your network, your servers, and your Microsoft 365 accounts. We apply patches and updates and plan them around your operating hours. We look after your backups and test them, so you know they work. We look after Syspro and the systems it connects to.

The help desk, emergency network support, and on-site escalation are available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday to Friday.

Security is included. Elevate comes with email threat protection, a firewall for up to 75 users, endpoint protection, and multifactor authentication. Businesses whose customers or insurers ask detailed security questions add Citadel Security for monitoring, a response plan, and a written record.

You also get a written IT plan, which we review with you on a set schedule. It shows what needs replacing and what it will cost.

Your staff call the help desk and reach people who already know your systems. Two named people know your account and both have worked on it. They know which ERP you run, where it is hosted, and how your sites connect to it, so nobody has to explain the setup while the warehouse waits.

The first step is to find where the fault is. If one workstation cannot reach the ERP, the problem is local. If a whole building cannot, the network or the connection between sites is the likely cause. If nobody can, the server, the database, or the hosting provider is where we look. Where the cause is on your side, we fix it. Where it belongs to the ERP vendor or a hosting company, we contact them and keep you informed.

Your written plan and your named contact are there for this situation. You should not be the one explaining the outage to your own customers while also trying to get it fixed.

The help desk, emergency network support, and on-site escalation are available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday to Friday.

If a problem is not moving, there is a set path for who it goes to next.