Today’s Businesses Shouldn’t Go Without a VPN

March 3, 2023

Let me ask you a question: how do you balance the prevalence of remote work with the fact that a lot of company resources should only be stored on-site? A VPN—or virtual private network—provides the answer for many businesses. Let’s examine what a VPN actually is, and how it helps to protect your business’ data as you access it from outside of your business’ secure network.

So, What is a VPN?

In simple terms, a VPN is a dedicated network connection specifically configured to send and receive data securely. This means that, since you don’t want your business’ data visible to the world, it is critical such a connection is used when your team is remotely accessing your local network. By putting a VPN in place, you can ensure that your entire organization has access to a secure connection that will connect them to whatever data they are authorized to access.

How Does a VPN Work?

The key to a VPN’s inherent security is the encryption that is applied to your data as it is in transit. By encrypting the data as it travels, all a snooping hacker will be able to see is a jumbled mess, protecting your information. The VPN even hides your location, giving our hypothetical hacker effectively nothing to work with.

Why Do You Need a VPN?

It all comes down to trust, and the lack of it that you should have for public Wi-Fi connections. While undeniably intended to be convenient, public hotspots like those you’d find in an airport or your favorite coffee place just aren’t nearly secure enough to entrust your data to. Using a VPN allows you to take advantage of this convenience without this otherwise deal-breaking security tradeoff influencing your business.

Your data is more than information, after all—it’s what keeps your business going. As such, losing it or having it compromised could mean you could potentially lose your business. Planning ahead can help prevent this, especially with the help of First Column IT and our team of IT pros. We’ll set you up with a VPN and the rest of the technology needed to enable secure and productive work wherever you may be.

Give us a call at (571) 470-5594 to learn more.

‍

How to Ensure Your Project is Carried Out Successfully

What actually goes into a successful project implementation strategy, and how can you make sure your business is starting from an advantageous point? Today, we want to explore some of the ways your organization can best prepare for a project so that it has an optimal outcome. Whether you want to streamline your project timeline, implement tools to help see it through, or just make the entire process easier to manage, we’ve got tips for you.

August 15, 2025

Cooling Needs are a Hotter and Hotter Topic

Computers generate heat as they work, which is why laptops and desktops have fans and massive cloud computing server farms have equally massive climate control systems. Devices of any scale need to be properly cooled to maintain their functionality.

August 13, 2025

Can You Expect Accountability from Your IT Resource?

It’s tough to own up and take the blame, especially when you know it was you who made the mistake. Unfortunately, in IT, there’s a lot of blame thrown around, so it’s something that those in our profession have to get accustomed to. When you work with a technician, you want them to take responsibility for their mistakes and take action to prevent them in the future—and that’s exactly what we aim to accomplish with our managed IT services. Here’s how we make sure our clients can hold us accountable so they get the best services possible.

Welcome to the First Column IT Tech Blog