What goes through your head when you hear the words “IT audit?” Are you concerned about your business’ deepest and most shameful technology secrets being exposed, or are you excited about the opportunity to resolve issues that you might not even know exist? We hope you have the latter mentality, as it’s the appropriate one, especially if you want to build a business that stands the test of time.
Starting a business requires a certain mindset, one that demands a certain disdain for failure. However, this entrepreneurial mindset might actually hold you back from seeing success with your business’ technology. This month, we want to explore how the same mindset that has allowed you to build your business to where it is today is actually getting in the way of effective technology implementation, as well as what you can do about it.
Your company's relationship with IT has a direct correlation to how well it operates. If your technology fails, your business suffers productivity losses, as well as financial ones due to decreased reliability in the eyes of customers and clients. One of the best ways to ensure you’re following through on the promises you make to your customers is to implement a proactive IT strategy to replace the reactive approaches seen in the past.
Business leaders and decision makers have a lot to deal with… and that’s before factoring in all the problems and obstacles that arise over the course of their normal operations, especially when it comes to the technology their businesses rely on.
Of course, a smart business owner would want their technology to be as reliable as possible, available without requiring conscious effort. As it happens, one of the modern options for IT support enables circumstances to be as close to this ideal as possible… but the other predominant option ultimately gives you more to worry about.
Deals are great; offering some money and getting more than you’d expect in return… It’s the next best thing to free. It’s also really nice to get something fast.
Not so fast, though. As nice as they can make things seem, “cheap” and “quick” aren’t often synonymous with “effective” or “valuable.” In fact, selecting the presumably easy route regarding your business technology can ultimately lead to bigger problems in the form of something called tech debt.
Third-party vendors are essential for today's businesses; they deliver mission-critical resources and tools to the organizations that utilize them, including raw materials, software, and other services. Alas, these vendors can also serve as direct lines into your business for a cyberattack to take advantage of for their own purposes.
Listed below: how you can still lean on your vendors without sacrificing your critically important security.
There are many ways that a modern small or medium-sized business can experience an issue that puts their IT out of commission in one way or another. Each one can hit one of these businesses especially hard in the wallet.
Let’s review some today and discuss how they can be resolved.
Running a small or medium-sized business means juggling countless priorities. You're focused on your customers, team, and bottom line… but what about the technology that powers it all?
Usually overlooked, your IT infrastructure is far more than just the computers on desks. It's the complex web of network equipment, essential software subscriptions, cloud services, and even the personal smartphones and tablets your employees use for work. Keeping this entire ecosystem running smoothly and securely is a significant challenge for many SMBs.
Do you ever feel at home in your business’ server room? Assuming you have a server room, and it’s more than just a stuffy closet in an isolated part of your office, that is. If you’re not confident that you can provide your servers with the management, maintenance, and monitoring they require, we recommend you work with a managed IT company to ensure you get the most value you can from your server units.
There is a concept known as the iron triangle that offers a simple framework for project management by outlining the balance between your costs, your available time, and the desired quality of your outcome.
Traditionally, the iron triangle helps illustrate how these factors impact each other. Instead, we wanted to take advantage of the principles of the triangle to explore how advantageous it can be to outsource IT services.
The big thing in business computing is AI, or artificial intelligence, and businesses are implementing it to solve a lot of repetitive issues that free up their employees to serve other roles. One such area is for IT support. But is it worth it to chat with a robot when something as imperative as IT is on the line?
Technology is a large part of how businesses run today, but that also makes them prime targets for cyberattacks. These attacks can shut down operations and steal sensitive data. Listed below are five common cybersecurity issues businesses deal with:
Every business relies on technology for at least part of its operations. This means that every business, especially those with operations that make IT an essential part of the process, will need access to some form of IT support.
For most small and medium-sized businesses today, managed IT is the best option. Listed below are a few reasons why this is.
There's a lot of pressure on (usually understaffed and overworked) internal IT teams to manage and maintain increasingly complex systems. For businesses noticing signs of strain on their IT staff, seeking assistance from managed services providers (MSPs) could be the remedy. Listed below are tips an MSP like us can use to alleviate the pressure and contribute to workplace wellness for all.
For any business to succeed it needs to exhibit some degree of empathy toward its audience. Otherwise, the services and products they provide will be less likely to meet the priorities and needs that its targets are experiencing.
As a managed service provider, this is perhaps most true of us, as our services revolve around predicting the needs of our clientele and resolving them… ideally, before the client even realizes they have a need to fulfill.
The cloud has allowed managed IT service providers, or MSPs, to fill a uniquely shaped void in many companies’ business models. Working with a managed service provider can make up for all of the traditional challenges of technology maintenance and management while also affording you unique opportunities to limit costs, reduce waste, and increase productivity.
In good times and bad, profitability is the priority for most businesses. However, this priority is usually a challenging one to achieve, but did you know that there are a few different ways that investing in a relationship with a managed service provider can help increase your productivity—and as a result, your overall profitability?
Critical thinking skills are universally helpful to have, especially in the business setting, and especially when it comes to your business’ information technology management. Listed below are ways these skills benefit your business, and how you can work to foster them.
Business technology is a helpful tool, there’s no way around it. Unfortunately for businesses, technology has to be replaced every so often. Even if the technology doesn’t break, there are innovations made that can help your business do what you do better. The thing is: Technology does break, so you need to understand how to get the most value out of it when it is working.
Is there anything in your office that doesn’t require technology in some way, shape, or form (the old coffeepot that makes the perfect cup doesn’t count)? Increasingly, the answer to that question is “no.” Let’s review how much the modern average business relies on IT to really reinforce how ubiquitous technology has become.
