Blogs
MX Relay spam filtering
MX-Relay Hosted Spam Filtering
Businesses are often targets of spam emails, they can range from harmless sales emails, scammers trying their luck or can contain harmful attachments or Ransomware disguised as regular files. These spam emails can clog up your inbox, making you miss the important emails you need to recieve, or worse can fall into the inbox of an unsuspecting employee and cause crippling infections, or expensive to remove ransomware holding your files for money.
MX-Relay Hosted Spam Filtering catches unwanted spam/junk emails and viruses before they hits your server, all emails go through the MX-Relay Cloud on their way to your inbox so they handle all of the data load. MX-relay is charged monthly per domain name, so every inbox in your network is protected, and with no extra costs based on quantity of emails or number of inboxes.
Speak to your account manager to discuss how MX-Relay can keep your inbox safer and spam free.
WatchGuard Firebox
WatchGuard Firebox
Hardware firewall’s are designed to catch threats before it’s too late. By the time software firewalls that exist on your server/PC detect a threat, it’s already on your system, but hardware firewalls turn threats away at the door.
WatchGuard Firebox is one of the highest performing unified threat management (UTM) solutions on the market, their latest generation of hardware and firmware delivers ground breaking throughput and support for an unprecedented number of concurrent connections, placing WatchGuard well ahead of the competition.
WatchGuard offers a Firebox for every occasion, ranging from tabletop appliances for your office to rack mounted ones for your servers. All your WatchGuard firewalls can be configured and monitored through a centralised management program.
WatchGuard Firebox offers:
- Intrusion Prevention – real-time protection from network threats
- URL Filtering – blocks malicious sites and tools to block inappropriate sites
- Reputation-Based Threat Prevention – real-time protection from malicious sites and botnets using live data
- Application Control – Full control over application restriction on a per user basis
Symantec solutions
Symantec Security
Symantec offer a range of security solutions; including antivirus for your PC, laptop or server, and email protection from harmful files and unwanted spam.
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Our 5 proven tips to protect your business from Ransomware
Our 5 proven tips to protect your business from Ransomware
As you may have seen in the news, organisations are being targeted by ‘WannaCry’ and other different Ransomware – a type of virus that holds your files at ransom until you pay up, but yours doesn’t need to be one of them!
Profile strongly suggests that you follow these simple, routine things you can do right now to stay one step ahead of the hackers and keep yourself, your important files and your business safe.
Regularly install patches and updates for Windows and other software.
Microsoft, as well as other software vendors, regularly release patches and updates for servers, desktop or laptop PCs, tablets and smart phones. These updates are designed to keep you safe and can usually be done automatically if enabled in the settings. It is also important to ensure that your operating system is on the latest version too.
Routinely change your passwords
Having a simple or easy to guess password that you rarely/ never change is a huge weakness in your security, these viruses are designed to find weak links like this and access your system and files with ease. Changing your password once every 6 weeks and having secure passwords (using numbers, upper case letters and symbols) means one less way for these hackers to get in.
Daily backups
It is essential to have a regular system backups, not only in case of infections but also for disaster recovery. Backups can be cloud based or on a physical tape, and can be set to automatically run at intervals of your choosing. It is recommended that your backup runs at least once a day.
Don’t open emails or attachments you don’t recognise or are unsure about
The simplest way to prevent Ransomware affecting your system is not to let it in, if it’s an email address you don’t recognise, a file you aren’t expecting or a subject you don’t understand, don’t open it or click on any links! Opening suspect emails opens the front door for viruses to enter your system and there’s nothing you can do to stop it once you’ve opened the door. Make sure all your staff are aware of this, as it only takes one email to access your entire system.
Ensure you have the latest protection solutions
Antivirus software, anti-spam filters, and firewalls are designed to prevent or alert users to threats before they happen. Making sure you have the latest version of the best solutions is imperative to the protection of your system.
If you are at all concerned about the safety of your business please talk to your account manager about arranging a hardware and security audit, call us on 01442 236311, or send us an email at sales@profile.co.uk.
Pegasus CIS 4.01 is now available!
Exciting news for CIS users, version 4.01 is available now!
Pegasus CIS (4.01) sees the addition of a number of new enhancements. Existing users now have more functionality to improve the way they control and analyse their contracts, and the new features make Pegasus CIS a more compelling solution to implement because they’re based on user experience and bring real-world improvements to the Pegasus CIS proposition.
For more information regarding CIS 4.01 please view our Pegasus CIS 4.01 web page, and to enquire about upgrading please contact your Account Manager, call us on 01442 236311 or email us at sales@profile.co.uk
Pegasus CIS Introductory Webinar 28/04/17
Pegasus CIS Introductionary Webinar – 28/04/17 @ 11:30
Join a Pegasus Product Specialist for an online introduction to their construction software – Pegasus CIS – ideal for Contractors and Sub-contractors in the construction industry.
Pegasus CIS offers companies operating in the construction industry an unparalleled level of control over every aspect of contract management and all the information they need to run their projects profitably, and the latest version offers a host of enhancements to ensure that running contracts profitably will be easier and more effective.
For more information regarding Pegasus CIS please view our CIS home page to book a place on this informative webinar please contact Profile on 01442 236311 or email us at sales@profile.co.uk.
Pegasus CIS 4.01
Pegasus CIS 4.01 Latest Enhancements
Download the Enhancements Guide
Pegasus CIS provides companies operating in the construction industry an unparalleled level of control over every aspect of contract management so that they have all the information they need to make their projects run profitably. This latest release from Pegasus takes this further by providing additional features that make running contracts profitably more attainable.
Pegasus CIS (4.01) sees the addition of a number of new enhancements. Existing users now have more functionality to improve the way they control and analyse their contracts. For new customers, the new features make Pegasus CIS a more compelling solution to implement because they’re based on user experience and bring real-world improvements to the Pegasus CIS proposition.
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Late Payment Reporting Update
Important Opera release information from Profile: Late Payment Reporting
Pegasus have released the following statement regarding Opera 3 and Opera II:
“The government have recently confirmed that from 6 April 2017 large companies and limited liability partnerships will have to publish their payment practices, policies and performance on a half-yearly basis for financial years beginning on or after this date if they meet two or more of the following criteria:
• £36m+ Turnover
• £18m+ Balance Sheet
• 250+ Employees
It is expected that an online submission page will be available on the HMRC website before this date.”
If you meet two or more of the above criteria then you will require a version upgrade to the latest version of Opera 3/II to cater for these changes. Please contact your Account Manager to request the upgrade disc, or alternatively call us on 01442 236311 or email sales@profile.co.uk
For more information regarding Late Payment Reporting please refer to this government PDF
@Profile ES Newsletter – Spring 2017
@Profile Enterprise Solutions Newsletter – March 2017
Welcome to the Spring 2017 edition of @Profile, the clocks moved forward over the weekend, officially ushering in the Spring season and longer days. In this update we’ll introduce you to some great solutions to help you ‘go green’ this spring with paperless solutions for your documents in Dynamics NAV, give you a great opportunity to learn more about how you can manage your expenses from one of our partners, give you some vital business information regarding “Making Tax Digital” and give a quick overview of NAV 2017 for those of our customers not already using it.
-The Profile Team
Going Green – Document Management in Microsoft Dynamics NAV
With Easter next month, spring is well and truly on it’s way! In the spirit of life, rebirth and trees returning to their regular green hue, we’re challenging our customers to join us in “Going Green in 2017”!
As we all know, paper comes from trees, and over 109,000,000 tonnes of paper have been produced this year alone, which is a lot of trees cut down and pulped. Do you ever stop to think how much uneccesary paper your business is using, and what simple things you can do to reduce this? Profile offer a range of paperless solutions to assist with going green!
With Document Capture from Continia saving invoices and documents to records in NAV is effortless. Saving documents digitally is a great way to save space and money, as well as ensuring documents are accessible wherever you are (whilst saving paper and trees in the process!). Invoices can be easily approved by your specified approvers from anywhere with the Continia Web Portal.
Zetadocs from Equisys is a Microsoft certified software solution that automates the production and delivery of business documents to reduce costs, and allows electronic filing in NAV of emails and paper documents. Zetadocs expenses puts expense management on any smartphone or web browsing device, by uploading photos directly into the app, collecting and managing receipts ready to submit your expenses is a thing of the past, and can be approved from anywhere.
Equisys webinar – “how to become paperless and achieve a fast ROI”
Equisys, the company behind Zetadocs for NAV and one of our trusted partners has an informative webinar scheduled for Friday 7th April at 12:30PM, and it’s all about going paperless to save money and become more efficient in the digital age.
The webinar will cover:
- The challenges involved in going paperless
- Practical ways to overcome these challenges
- How other mid-sized businesses have become paperless
Join the webinar and take your next step towards a paperless office.
‘Making Tax Digital’ – How does it affect you?
You will hopefully already be aware about HMRC’s plans to ‘Make Tax Digital’ for all individuals and businesses in the UK by 2020. There is a wealth of information available on the HMRC website including a roadmap of the Government’s plans in this gov.uk PDF
As a Dynamics NAV customer, you will no doubt want to know how this will affect you and you need to be aware that there is an impact to your business. This will be a mandatory requirement for most businesses from April 2018. More information on these changes can be found in this gov.uk PDF
What’s new in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2017?
Check out our website to discover what’s new in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2017, which is available now.
New NAV enhancements
- Easy setup and configuration
- Simplified user experience
- Improved Item organisation, finance tools and jobs handling
@Profile Newsletter – March 2017
@Profile Newsletter – March 2017
Welcome to the spring 2017 edition of @Profile, your quarterly insight into the latest IT and legislative news and updates. It’s the first day of Spring and Payroll end of year is nearly upon us, with it comes all the latest changes to your Payroll system that will be making their way to you soon via our dedicated SystemCare Support team. In this edition we’ll also be talking about the future of Opera II, some mandatory changes forthcoming in ‘making tax digital’, and how you can go green this Spring with paperless solutions for your documents and payslips. This newsletter is packed with important information, so let’s get started.
-The Profile Team .
Payroll Year End – What’s New?
The end of the tax year is upon us and with it comes the new Payroll changes that will affect you and your business in 2017/18. If you’ve not had a chance to read up on the changes, please read our summary below.
Apprenticeship Levy
The Apprenticeship Levy is being introduced to help young people get into apprenticeship schemes by putting the money from this new tax into funding the education side of an apprenticeship in the UK. The tax will apply to companies who have a pay bill of over 3 million in a year, and will be 0.5% of the pay bill.
National living wage increase for 25 and overs
The national living wage for employees aged 25 or over will rise from £7.20 an hour to £7.50 an hour from April 2017.
Gender pay gap reporting
From 6th April 2017, employers will need to submit and publish information about their gender pay gap and gender bonus gap annually. This will only affect you if you have over 250 employees.
1150L standard PAYE code
As of 6th April 2017 the new standard PAYE code will be 1150L, this means that employees standard tax-free personal allowance will be £11,500 for 2017/2018 tax year.
Salary Sacrifice Schemes
As of 6th April 2017 employees who are involved in Salary Sacrifice Schemes will no longer see the savings on their tax and NI contributions, and will pay the normal amount of tax.
Opera II – The Writing’s on the Wall
Opera 3 is Pegasus’ current flagship product, but there are some remaining customers who are still using Opera II even now, despite the product being outdated and Pegasus putting it into ‘maintenence mode’, which means it will not receive any updates to functionality or compatability.
With the release of Office 2016, Office 365 and Windows Server 2016, Opera II users will find that none of these new products and systems are compatible with their current pegasus software, which means it will become increasingly difficult to plan how your business’ infrastructure will grow and evolve around a product that won’t be receiving compatability upgrades.
We recently sent a letter out to our Opera II customers explaining the ways that HMRC’s plans to ‘Make Tax Digital’, as well as the lack of Opera II support for new systems and software will affect you and your business, below is an exceprt regarding ‘Make Tax Ditigal’:
Making Tax Digital
You will hopefully already be aware about HMRC’s plans to ‘Make Tax Digital’ for all individuals and businesses in the UK by 2020. There is a wealth of information available on the HMRC website including a roadmap of the Government’s plans in this gov.uk PDF
As a Pegasus customer, you will no doubt want to know how this will affect you and you need to be aware that there is an impact if you are not using Pegasus’ flagship product, Opera 3. Pegasus are not planning to make any functional changes to Opera II to enable sending tax information digitally to the HMRC. This will be a mandatory requirement for most businesses from April 2018. More information on these changes can be found in this gov.uk PDF
If you are not already, we strongly recommend speaking to your Account Manager about this especially if you are still running Opera II. Alternatively, please email sales@profile.co.uk with any concerns.
Going Green – Document Management & Email Payslips in Opera 3
With Easter next month, spring is well and truly on it’s way! In the spirit of life, rebirth and trees returning to their regular green hue, we’re challenging our customers to join us in “Going Green in 2017”!
As we all know, paper comes from trees, and over 109,000,000 tonnes of paper have been produced this year alone, which is a lot of trees cut down and pulped. Do you ever stop to think how much uneccesary paper your business is using, and what simple things you can do to reduce this?
The Document Management Application in Opera 3 allows you to save and view your documents digitally within Opera, which means no more printing and filing. Any file type can be captured and retrieved, and users can be given different levels of access rights to ensure the securityof confidential documents. Employees not using Opera 3 can also access the document manager through a standalone app.
Every time you pay your employees you could be sending their payslips directly to their email inbox instead of printing out hundreds, maybe even thousands of pieces of paper on a regular basis. The latest version of Opera 3 being distributed currently contains email payslips as standard, for more information, assistance with setting it up, or for training on using email payslips in your business, please speak to your account manager or email sales@profile.co.uk
Webinar: Opera 3 Payroll benefits – 23rd of Feb, 14:00
Webinar: Pegasus Opera 3 Payroll benefits – 23rd of Feb, 14:00
Join us on Feburary 23rd at 14:00 for an in depth look at Opera 3 Payroll and the benefits it can bring to you and your business. In the webinar we will cover Opera 3 features such as:
- Introduction to Opera 3 Payroll
- E-Payslips: The Future of Payslip Distribution – E-mail Payslips & Pegasus Web Exchange
- Storing Employee Documents Securely with Opera 3 Document Management
- Reporting
The webinar will run from 14:00 for about half an hour and will be a great source of information for anyone currently using Opera II who wants to know why Opera 3 would be the right move for you. Profile’s Sales Manager Matt Peace will be running the webinar, and using his experience and knowledge with the product he’ll take you through it’s key features and benefits.
If you would like to register for the Webinar, please email sales@profile.co.uk with your name and company, and you will be emailed a link to join the webinar before it begins.
For more information about Opera 3, visit our Opera 3 homepage, and if you would like to discuss this, or any of our products and services, please call 01442 236311 or email Sales@profile.co.uk.