Tech Advisory

Technology Advice for Small Businesses

powered by Pronto Marketing

How dependencies shape business application availability

Cloud application outages can stem from failures in supporting services and infrastructure. A failed sign-in may result from an authentication service outage, an inaccessible website from a DNS or network issue, and an unconfirmed order from a database or payment processing failure. Mapping these dependencies in advance and deciding how the application should respond when… Continue reading How dependencies shape business application availability

How cloud dependencies affect application availability during an outage

When a cloud application becomes unavailable, the cause may lie in a service it depends on rather than in the application itself. Identity providers, DNS, third-party APIs, and background processing all play a role in delivering a working service to users. Identifying which dependencies are essential to business operations helps organizations prepare for service disruptions… Continue reading How cloud dependencies affect application availability during an outage

Why cloud application dependencies matter during an outage

A business application can become unavailable even when its core systems are working. A failed identity provider, DNS resolution issue, unresponsive payment API, or backed-up job queue can prevent users from completing essential tasks. These services are dependencies that applications rely on to function. Understanding which dependencies are critical to business operations is essential to… Continue reading Why cloud application dependencies matter during an outage

Beyond the password handoff: Preserving institutional knowledge before an IT departure

Every business has at least one person who knows why things are configured the way they are. Until that knowledge is written down, it belongs to the individual rather than the company. Keeping a simple log of technology decisions turns individual knowledge into a shared reference material and makes leadership transitions far smoother. What access… Continue reading Beyond the password handoff: Preserving institutional knowledge before an IT departure

IT decision logs: The simple habit that protects your business when key people move on

Offboarding checklists cover accounts, devices, and badges but rarely capture the reasoning behind IT decisions. An IT decision log fills that gap by recording key decisions, why they were made, and which systems they affect. This helps businesses retain critical knowledge when employees leave. What access handoffs leave out NIST SP 800-53 addresses employee departures… Continue reading IT decision logs: The simple habit that protects your business when key people move on

How to document technology decisions before an employee leaves

When a long-tenured employee leaves, the most valuable knowledge they take with them is rarely a list of passwords. Rather, it’s the reasoning behind IT decisions: why a firewall rule exists, why backups run at two in the morning, or why one vendor was chosen over another. Access can be transferred quickly, but that knowledge… Continue reading How to document technology decisions before an employee leaves

Stress-test your incident response plan with a tabletop exercise and no downtime

For small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), knowing who makes key decisions during a cyberattack is essential. A cybersecurity tabletop exercise helps teams identify responsibilities, test response procedures, and clarify escalation paths before an actual breach occurs. Through guided discussions rather than live system testing, businesses can improve their incident readiness without disrupting daily operations. Why… Continue reading Stress-test your incident response plan with a tabletop exercise and no downtime

Cybersecurity tabletop exercises: A practical guide for SMBs

An incident response plan that has never been rehearsed is an assumption, not a capability. Tabletop exercises let a team test its plan on paper: a facilitator presents a scenario, and participants work through decisions, handoffs, and communication as the situation develops. The format is low-cost, low-risk, and well suited to small and medium-sized businesses… Continue reading Cybersecurity tabletop exercises: A practical guide for SMBs

How to run a cybersecurity tabletop exercise without disrupting operations

Most small and midsize businesses (SMBs) keep an incident response plan on a shared drive and never test it with the people who would have to use it. A tabletop exercise closes that gap. It is a facilitated walkthrough of a realistic incident in which participants talk through what they would do, who decides, and… Continue reading How to run a cybersecurity tabletop exercise without disrupting operations

Building a cloud outage runbook: What employees should do when critical tools go down

A 2026 study found that 73 percent of Americans expect significant disruption within 24 hours of a major cloud outage, and more than half would feel the impact within four hours. For businesses whose operations depend on SaaS tools for communication, project management, finance, or customer service, an unplanned outage without a response plan means… Continue reading Building a cloud outage runbook: What employees should do when critical tools go down