This Week at Rotary

Sandra Batakis Shares Five Moves to Reduce Risk and Headaches

At a recent Salem Rotary Club meeting, Sandra Batakis, CEO of Sandra Network, offered a straightforward look at how small and mid-sized businesses can strengthen their technology without getting lost in jargon. She opened with practical questions that every business owner should be able to answer: whether two-step sign-in is enabled for email, how long it would take to resume billing if a main computer failed, where backups actually live, and how quickly lost access to email would impact revenue. These questions highlighted a core theme of her talk: uncertainty around technology is itself a business risk.

Sandra emphasized that cybersecurity has become a survival issue, not an optional upgrade. Hackers do not target businesses because they are famous, she explained, but because they send invoices and cannot easily afford downtime. The most common attacks are remarkably simple, including fake invoices, stolen passwords, compromised email accounts, and ransomware. She described “good security” in plain language: using two-step sign-in across systems, having backups that can truly be restored, training staff to recognize unusual emails, and ensuring someone, internally or externally, pays attention to alerts.

She also addressed the rapid rise of AI tools in everyday business operations. When used carefully, AI can help draft customer emails, summarize long threads, or create a first pass at job postings or FAQs. Her caution was clear: businesses should avoid pasting sensitive information into public tools and always review AI-generated text before sending it. AI, she noted, should support decision-making, not replace it.

Sandra then turned to the role of cloud systems in modern operations. When configured correctly, the cloud can make work faster and safer by simplifying onboarding, reducing emergency IT issues, and allowing staff to access files securely from anywhere. She stressed, however, that the cloud is not automatically secure; it becomes secure only through proper setup and management.

Across her work with regional businesses, Sandra sees consistent priorities: predictable costs, fewer urgent problems, clear documentation of who has access to what, and reporting that shows genuine improvement over time. This shift toward managed, stable IT has replaced the old break-fix model for many organizations.

She closed by outlining a simple “tech health check” that encourages businesses to look at their authentication practices, password management, backup reliability, software updates, and their plan for handling incidents such as suspicious invoices or lost devices. Her final message was both realistic and encouraging: improvement doesn’t require an overhaul — choosing even one upgrade this month can materially strengthen a business.

For more information, Sandra Batakis can be reached at SANDRA@SANDRANETWORK.COM or 978-535-0202.