Just to note my experience, I have been working in the IT field professionally since high school. Started from a residential client base to more small businesses, mainly restaurants and hotels. That equates to 11 years of actual hands on tech experience. I was hired as a "Network Administrator" for Iconic Mind.
Greg Mudd, the owner of Iconic Mind, is a liability to anyone who is currently trusting him with maintaining their network. Greg Mudd "knows" and is comfortable using technology, but to try and convince your clientele that you are an expert on various types of technology ranging from Cisco networking devices to programming iPhone apps, PHP programming and various other forms of application development shows a complete lack of planning and forethought.
On the first day of my month 1/2 worth of employment he stated that company policy is we never tell a customer "No, we don't do that." Company policy is we do EVERYTHING and we research how to do what we aren't 100% familiar with. Greg and his company lack a compliance design for his clients networks. This leads to insecure data and a much higher probability of data compromise. If you call him to open a trouble ticket, his internal work process to identify a solution to the trouble ticket is as follows:
1) Google, Google and see what we can learn about unfamiliar forms of technology and become experts in the next 10 minutes worth of Google queries. If Google doesn't turn up a solution then on to step 2.
2) If its a Cisco issue then guess what we do? Call Cisco, get them on the phone an have them resolve the issue remotely while I'm on site looking like I'm actually resolving the issue. What good is a CCNA that you claim to have if you are just going to call a Cisco rep that also has a CCNA every time you need to make a modification or optimize YOUR client's network? Inefficient and not very cost effective.
3) This next step in the scariest part. Create an oDesk posting. For most of you that most likely do not know, you can go to www.odesk.com and post a job. People can then bid on the job you posted. For example: If you wanted to make a website, post on odesk and web developers will reach out to your with their going rate.
One of Iconic Mind's clients is a Medical Center. One day, they called the office to open a trouble ticket. They were unable to print from a few of their workstations.instead of actually troubleshooting the issue, Greg Mudd went through his normal process to resolving the issue. He gets to step three of the process listed above and started creating an oDesk post. His solution to the printing issue was to hire someone from oDesk and GRANT THEM REMOTE ACCESS TO THE NETWORK in order to troubleshoot the issue for him!!! BIG TIME security compromise, just giving a random stranger on the internet access to a Medical Facility's network which most likely contains sensitive medical documents and other information. I'm not sure if he actually granted access in this particular instance; but I can only imagine who else he may granted access to various networks from over the internet thus upping the chance that sensitive data becoming comprised. This should be alarming, as it was for me when he told me that's his solution when he is stuck with a problem he cannot readily resolve.
If he is currently "maintaining" your network, you need to know that your data is completely insecure and is not being backed up ANYWHERE. His back up policy is as follows:
Before any Iconic Mind tech performs work on the network or any network device, he or she needs to run a back up. This policy is outside of compliance, there should be a backup routine running daily which should contain at least 15 days (depending on network size and business type) worth of backed up data. What happens if you get a virus on the network? What back ups is Iconic Mind going to restore from? None, because there aren't any backups thus the lack of a redundant back up routine. What if you accidentally deleted a very import document? Too bad, there isn't a back up routine so it's gone for good. What if a hard drive fails that contains important information? Too bad because Greg made the decision to design networks that lack redundancy checks.
Back to my point, if your business hires Iconic Mind as your Network and Computer solution, note that there are very fundamental flaws in his very "thrown together without forethought" networking "scheme." Again, can't stress enough, your data is very insecure and Iconic Mind is imposing a very high liability. He is an amateur at best and I would be very skeptical if you consider hiring him.
Side Note: I am not a disgruntled employee but I do believe that people who trust Mr. Mudd to keep their data secure should be notified. He lacks the basic compliance and redundancy principles that are resulting in his clients' networks having serious fundamental flaws and insecurities.
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