Tag: Managed IT services

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Business

Tip of the Week: Use Admin Accounts to Control Your Network

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There are various types of user accounts that your employees and administrators can use to access their workstations, but one of the biggest points of contention to consider when planning out data access is the use of administrator accounts. Specifically, you want to avoid handing out administrator account access to users like it’s Halloween candy.

What’s the Big Deal?
You would think that assigning administrator accounts would prevent users from making poor choices with your data. The main difference between the two is that administrator accounts have many more privileges compared to the traditional account used by the average user. In fact, a traditional account is much safer to use unless you actually need administrator access to perform a certain task. Ordinarily, a normal user account can’t install software or mess around with important files in the system, but this isn’t necessarily the case for an administrator account.

Admin accounts are essentially the most powerful account on your computer. They have the permissions to perform just about any role on your PC. It’s the same role that your IT department uses to make any significant changes to your devices during updates and general maintenance. Every computer needs to have at least one admin account found on it, but if access from untrained users is allowed, they could make changes to important files needed for the computer to run properly.

Why You Should Limit Admin Account Use
While it might make sense to have admin permissions if you’re the only one who uses your computer, this is simply not the case on a managed network. There are security problems associated with using an admin account as your primary device account. What happens if your account gets compromised by some sort of malware? It’s simple; the malware will install on your admin account and be able to make any changes it wants to any of the important files only accessible by your admin account. While more permissions as the device owner might sound ideal, it only makes it easier for threats to leave a lasting effect on a device.

Standard accounts have more limited permissions, meaning that if they are compromised in any fashion, they will be more limited in the amount of damage they can cause. It’s for this reason that it’s best to limit administrator accounts as often as possible, as there is no guarantee you will never fall victim to such attacks.

To minimize the chance of your business’ endpoints falling prey to attacks, you should implement proactive measures against the countless possibilities out there–including a compromised admin account. To learn more about how your business can protect itself, reach out to us at PHONENUMBER.

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Casserly Consulting Blog

Reduce Your Costs By Outsourcing Your IT Management

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Your business deals with all types of troubles, but one trouble that can be extraordinarily costly is when your organization’s technology doesn’t work properly. That’s why many businesses hire an IT staff who work to mitigate technology-related problems. One issue you should be cognizant of is cost. Typically, IT professionals have training, certifications, and experience and demand an above average salary. If you have a small or medium-sized business that is working with tight margins as it is, it can be extremely difficult to take on new personnel costs; especially ones that don’t directly result in bringing revenue through the door.

A popular solution to this quandary is to outsource your organization’s IT management to a managed IT services provider (MSP), like COMPANYNAME. Our certified technicians will first assess your business’ information systems to get a good idea where your inefficiencies lie, then they’ll go to work devising a customized technology and management plan to fit your business’ needs. Starting a relationship with a baseline of knowledge we can deliver value through our cost-saving managed services that include:

  • Hardware & software support: We are the IT guys after all. We have relationships with some of the most notable vendors in the industry so our clients can get the hardware and software solutions they need to be the best version of their business. We’ll also ensure that any software you use will be up to date with the latest threat definitions.
  • Around the clock monitoring: In order to provide the ROI we intend to, our services have to reduce or eliminate your organization’s downtime. That’s why we monitor and proactively maintain your network and infrastructure with our state-of-the-art monitoring software. In doing so, if there is a threat to your network, or your hardware, we’ll know about it immediately, and we can take steps to remediate the issue. This allows you to get more from your hardware and avoid the operational problems that comes when you have to stop to deal with network and infrastructure issues. 
  • Backup and disaster recovery: Your business’ data is an extremely valuable asset, and as such, it has to be protected against situations that arise where you may lose it. Anything as benign as a storm could wipe out a lot of hard work. Our backup and disaster recovery platform not only backs up your data periodically, it creates copies that are sent off-site into the cloud, so that no matter what is thrown at your business, your data will be safe. 
  • Network security: Along with our monitoring and management program, we also ensure that your network is secured from the literally thousands of threats that face it every day. From malware to corruption to infiltration, our network security platform keeps your data available and your network working properly.
  • Vendor management: Along with having access to a myriad of top industry vendors, we also can help you manage your vendors, whether we use them or not.
  • Around the clock IT support: We offer a comprehensive help desk where technicians who have remote access to your end-points can solve situational computing problems for your staff 24/7.
  • Options: We also offer a whole cache of powerful IT solutions including cloud computing, communications, printing, conferencing, and physical security solutions that work for any-sized business.

If you are looking for a way to get the technology that can help you grow your business, you are just looking to reduce your IT management costs, or you are thinking of attempting to get your footing on a new IT initiative, call the IT professionals at COMPANYNAME today at PHONENUMBER.

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Casserly Consulting Blog

Which Approach Puts Your IT in a Better Position?

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Technology management is one of the major issues that challenge small businesses. Do you know the various strengths and weaknesses of having an in-house IT department versus an outsourced IT provider? As a managed service provider ourselves, we’re in a unique position to help your business make an educated decision about the future of its IT management.

In-House IT Management
If your business is fortunate enough to have its own in-house IT department, you know what it to get the right people for the job you need to painstakingly assess all applicants. Since, your business’s in-house team will always be at your disposal, your technicians have to be chosen with the applicable know-how to mitigate the technology troubles your organization will most frequently come across.

On the other hand, small and medium-sized businesses are known to have some troubles, even when working with an in-house IT department. Training new team members can be tricky, time consuming, and expensive, especially if your business has complex technologies that need to have dedicated management. Once these technicians are trained to cover the bases your business technology demands, they will only get more expensive; so seeing a substantial return your investment may not be possible.

Managed/Outsourced IT
Outsourced IT provides one of the most sought after assets for a business: predictable technology costs. When you hire a managed service provider, your business will always be using maintained and monitored technology, where issues are solved remotely for a flat monthly fee. An MSP generally stays updated on the latest findings and technologies in the industry, making them more well-rounded technicians than those that are simply concerned with the workings of your business’ current technology. It’s actually much more affordable as well, as you’re only adding one payment to your budget compared to the multiple salaries that would be assaulting payroll for an internal IT department.

The only issue that you’ll encounter with a managed service provider is letting go of the reigns a bit and trusting someone else with control over your business’s IT. Therefore, trust is something that is absolutely crucial if you choose to outsource your IT management.

COMPANYNAME wants your business to benefit from outsourced IT solutions. To find out what we can do for you, reach out to us at PHONENUMBER.

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Casserly Consulting Blog

Are You Prepared for Employees to Bring Their Own Devices?

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Bring Your Own Device policies have helped many companies save money on technology by allowing employees to use their own devices, rather than taking on the cost of providing devices. However, as much as a BYOD approach can help a business financially, there are some potential drawbacks to adopting one that you should be prepared to deal with.

Managing These Mobile Devices
Whenever there is a Bring Your Own Device strategy enacted, there needs to be Mobile Device Management in action as well. Your MDM software also needs to be monitored, as this will inform you if someone without the proper authorization is accessing data that they shouldn’t be.

However, sufficient monitoring is a time-intensive task. It is even possible that it would require you to add an additional employee to properly make use of your MDM software. Before you commit to these measures, which are a must for successfully implementing BYOD, make sure you have (or can obtain) the resources to run them.

One great solution to mitigate your organization’s overall BYOD costs is the built-in automation that many of today’s Mobile Device Management platforms offer. This automation can be customized and run to allow your technicians to focus on the core aspects of your business’ technology rather than spend all of their time, and your money, monitoring employee smartphones.

Streamlining For Support
A major advantage to providing employees with work devices is the control you have over the devices you provide. By selecting a specific model for your employees to use, you can standardize your systems that much more, and make your IT administrator’s job that much easier. By reducing the variety of devices they need to be familiar with, IT can service them more quickly and effectively.

This can be a drawback to BYOD, as it makes support a more arduous task and–as a result–more costly. With a variety of devices and their specific issues, it becomes a more time-intensive task to identify and resolve any problems. Taking this into account, it may be a more cost-effective option to invest in standardized mobile devices for your company to use, rather than try to manage the variety of devices your workforce likely uses based on personal preference. This is a variable that you will need to consider based on your specific circumstances and abilities. Do you finance devices for your staff? Or, manage the varying devices your staff will bring?

Leaving Yourself Vulnerable
Not all devices are equally suited for use in a BYOD strategy–sometimes, a new feature can lead to a pretty severe vulnerability. Take, for example, any device with iOS 11 installed. Despite having switches in its control center to activate and deactivate Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, these switches don’t actually deactivate their connection. This leaves these devices vulnerable, and if they were a part of a BYOD implementation, your business becomes vulnerable, as well.

Wasted Resources
Often, the question isn’t if BYOD makes sense, it’s if BYOD makes sense for a particular employee to have access to. Some companies will reimburse their staff for the personal data that they use. However, if an employee’s responsibilities don’t really require the use of a mobile device, having them involved in a BYOD strategy is akin to paying for their personal use of the device; and, can hinder their overall productivity.

Don’t get us wrong–BYOD can be a great benefit to your business and its bottom line. You just shouldn’t dive in without considering the potential downsides and planning how you will go about solving these problems. The IT professionals at COMPANYNAME can help. To learn more, call us today at PHONENUMBER.

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Casserly Consulting Blog

Don’t Underestimate The Value Of Managed IT

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Have you had to make substantial technology investments in the past year? How much money do you think you will spend this year? If you have a solid technology budget in place, you’ll know how much you expect to spend, but what happens if critical systems fail? Are you prepared to cover the cost of new technology, the management of that technology, and the staff that you’ll need to do so? If you are even a little unsure about it, managed IT services could have plenty of value for your business.

There are two critical facets to every IT strategy. The first is based in demand. What technology does your business need to be MOST successful? Do you need one server to deploy the software that your company uses? Three? Five? What do you do for communications? What do you do for storage? There are a lot of variables at work when deciding how to deploy technology solutions, and since there is so much cost associated with these systems, many businesses cut corners to provide their organization with technology solutions but end up putting their overall sustainability at risk.

The second facet, and often most costly, is based in supply. Your supply of technology has to be monitored, managed, and maintained to provide you a reasonable ROI on your technology investments. Typically, the cost of onboarding, training, and deploying a proficient technician far outweighs the cost of new technology; and, to make matters worse, the more technology your organization deploys, the more resources you need to have to ensure that all is running efficiently, and as intended. After all, the downtime that comes with fledgling technology, is a major problem for any organization.

COMPANYNAME can often provide a substantial cost reduction, better services, better technology, and a better return on your technology and management investments than buying new technology all the time, and hiring people to manage it. We utilize industry-leading remote monitoring and management software, leverage automation, and dispatch certified technicians to help businesses like yours build and maintain robust technology. We also have partnerships with some of the industry’s best vendors to ensure that every client has access to the technologies they need to build an efficient and secure IT infrastructure.

By delivering comprehensive IT management, our managed IT services are exceptionally valuable. If you run an AREASERVED business that is looking to improve your processes, deploy powerful technologies, and manage the technology you have, call us today at PHONENUMBER.

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Business

Managed IT Can Help SMBs Tackle These 3 Common Challenges

b2ap3_thumbnail_smb_technology_challenges_400.jpg It’s only natural that new and improved technologies will be challenging for employees to embrace and become accustomed to using. These challenges tend to shape how businesses will make their decisions as time passes. A few industry research firms have released their projections as to what challenges businesses will face in the coming months of 2017.

While their reports were far from identical, there were a few consistencies in the findings that each firm came across. These consistencies can help the average small and medium-sized business adjust their approach in the coming months to optimize their ability to grow.

Both research firms found that, in varying order, the top three challenges that SMBs will face have to do with maintaining their current solutions, organizing restricted budgets and necessary costs, and increasing their security. However, one of the firms found that the concern over security was more focused on their mobile devices. Despite this minor difference, there is still a pattern to the priorities that SMBs will have throughout 2017 that enables us to establish what solutions will be in high demand.

Most notably, the companies who were examined as a part of this research were highly concerned about their finances–specifically, how to optimize their spending in order to receive the highest return on investment as possible for the least amount of capital expended. This considerable task becomes much simpler once a managed service provider is introduced into the equation.

The way things used to be, a company would (for the sake of their budget) assume that they wouldn’t encounter any issues and devote limited funds to resolving them, but when an issue was encountered, the company would end up spending their entire budget and then some, leaving them at a deficit the next time a problem surfaced. An MSP, on the other hand, will provide its services for a regular (and therefore predictable) cost, allowing your business to properly budget for its IT maintenance.

The studies also showed that many businesses were concerned about a few other factors that an MSP can help resolve. An MSP will take proactive steps to make sure that a company’s solutions don’t encounter issues that could throw its productivity into jeopardy. This can be accomplished by proactively monitoring the technology a company has in place. An MSP will also make sure your security solutions are maintained so that threats are less likely to make it onto your network in the first place.

An MSP can help to serve your business beyond these top three concerns throughout 2017 and beyond. For more information into what an MSP can offer, give COMPANYNAME a call at PHONENUMBER.

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Business

What it Looks Like When an IT Provider Goes Above and Beyond

b2ap3_thumbnail_care_for_your_business_400.jpg Modern businesses have a lot more to worry about than organizations did over 100 years ago. Chances are that your organization has its hands full with operations, and the last thing that you want to worry about is securing data and hoping that your technology solutions work as intended. Thankfully, you can easily outsource the management of these systems to a managed IT services provider.

Of course, you can’t just leave the task of managing your IT to just any organization. You want to outsource to only the most reliable and trustworthy managed IT company–one that can provide only the best care that you would expect an in-house team to deliver. You can rest assured that COMPANYNAME handles our clients’ technology as if it were our very own, and provides solutions that keep your organizational downtime to a minimum.

The reason why you can trust our word? We are putting our reputation on the line. It’s just good business to take proper care of your technology, and by showing you that we care, we can develop a great relationship with your staff by keeping your technology working properly.

How We Protect Your Business
It’s extremely important to protect your business’s assets, including the most valuable one of all: your data. Cyberattacks have grown extremely sophisticated over the past few decades, and as much as we hate to say it, even protected businesses are at considerable risk. This is why enterprise-level security solutions are needed, as consumer-level security is inadequate for protecting something as important as your business. Furthermore, we compound this by providing comprehensive remote monitoring and management, as well as complete preventative measures to mitigate issues before they become large-scale problems.

You also have to worry about the risk of user error. Since your business is made up of employees–none of which are perfect–you need to plan for the day that a user will accidentally download the wrong attachment or click on the wrong link, allowing malicious entities access to your network. Granted, it’s impossible to take the time out of your workday to monitor each and every user while they work, which is why outsourcing this responsibility is often the ideal solution. COMPANYNAME can monitor your network so that you don’t have to.

How We Manage Your Technology
What if you were to experience technology trouble that completely takes down operations? If this happens, you need someone with experience leveraging continuity-minded technology to get you back on track. In situations like these, you can’t wait for a technician to arrive on site, so it’s more reliable and efficient to have the work done remotely by an IT provider.

The main benefit of outsourced IT is that you don’t have to worry about your technology any longer, and you’ll be able to spend more time focusing on running your business. Besides, the many benefits of managed IT eventually pay for themselves in the long run in the form of improved productivity, enhanced efficiency, and reduced downtime.

For more information about what COMPANYNAME can do for your business, reach out to us at PHONENUMBER.

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Technology

Productivity Suffers Without a Cohesive IT Plan

b2ap3_thumbnail_outsource_your_it_management_400.jpg There are right ways and wrong ways to do many things, and managing IT is no exception. Many businesses, especially small ones, are left susceptible to issues and vulnerabilities in their network. What’s worse, these are often networks that are supported by an IT “expert.”

Whether it’s due to budget constraints, a lack of workable time, or any other reason, companies frequently settle for substandard solutions when it comes to making changes to their IT. Oftentimes, they’ll try to bury their issues underneath a relatively updated infrastructure without doing anything to resolve the underlying problem. Either that, or they decide that they can fix the problem themselves, piecing together an unstable solution that almost works.

Observing this has only made us at COMPANYNAME more dedicated to providing a real solution for businesses that resort to these DIY implementations.

Many business, most often small ones, have a few things in common. First, they all experience similar issues with their IT, and secondly, they are usually ill-prepared to deal with the repercussions of these issues. Furthermore, these businesses will frequently neglect their need for standard operating procedures for their employees to follow.

This only opens the business up to greater issues as the employees will resort to processes that they’re personally comfortable with to complete their responsibilities. In the end, the workforce is left in the uncomfortable position of desperately needing change, with the unwillingness to make any changes.

As a result, the already tricky business of running an SMB is only made more difficult. When issues persistently prevent your technology from serving its intended purpose, your employees will be rendered incapable of meeting their responsibilities by a situation that is out of their control.

COMPANYNAME can help put control back into your hands with our variety of IT solutions. From our proactive monitoring and maintenance practices to our ability to block many distractions, we can apply a consistent solution to your entire network, unifying your IT so it will better serve your needs. Call us at PHONENUMBER for more information.

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Business

Here’s a Cost-Effective Alternative to Onboarding Additional IT Staff

b2ap3_thumbnail_outsourced_it_400.jpg An internal IT department serves two primary purposes for businesses. The first is to keep an eye on your technology problems and resolve them. The second is to plan for the future and implement new strategies that will help your organization function more effectively. The problem for the average small business is that their IT department often doesn’t have the luxury of performing both of these tasks.

The root of the problem is that most IT departments are too busy dealing with technology support issues and requests from employees to innovate. Eventually, this lack of innovation could cost your business money.

Do You Know What You’re Paying Your IT Department For?
By definition, your IT department is supposed to plan methods for your business to improve its infrastructure through any means necessary. On the side, they are supposed to help your organization by providing technical support for your assets. By adhering to this model, your IT department should be able to find ways to improve your technology infrastructure, while providing technical assistance for those who need it. The problem is that, as technology becomes more complicated, the help demanded by employees increases.

While it might seem ideal to approach IT support with an internal IT department, it rarely works out. IT departments just don’t have as much time as they need to really work toward improving anything. Often times, these issues are either recurring or resolved simply by rebooting the system, which is a waste of your IT department’s time.

Is Your IT Department Taking Your Company Nowhere?
While your IT department struggles to keep up, your team will naturally need to make forward progress. However, when all they do is respond to problems without making progress in order to prevent them, it’s easy to overlook the fact that many of these problems can be prevented in the future with a little innovation in the present. Plus, when routine maintenance is foregone for the sake of solving short-term problems, you’ll lose out in the long-term due to decreased performance and security issues.

As you can see (perhaps even from your own experience), an in-house IT department is often more distracted by problems that aren’t even theirs to resolve, which pulls them away from work that could make your business better. As a result, many organizations seek to outsource the IT work of their IT department’s in order to make up lost time. This can include innovation, but more often than not, you’ll find that outsourcing routine IT tasks and technology support to be helpful to your company’s overall goals.

After all, your technicians were hired to innovate, so why not give them the opportunity to do so?

To learn more about outsourced IT, reach out to COMPANYNAME. We can provide a help desk, network audits, and so many more valuable IT services that will help your organization improve efficiency. Call us today at PHONENUMBER.

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Business

How Consolidating Your Technology Vendors Will Save You a Ton of Time

b2ap3_thumbnail_vendor_management_services_400.jpg Who manages the relationships that your organization has with its various vendors? Do you have someone who specifically handles this role, or is it pushed onto your already-full schedule? If this is something that takes up a significant portion of your day, vendor management (though necessary) can become a detriment. Thankfully, there is a better way to handle your vendor relationships, and it doesn’t involve stretching yourself thin.

With COMPANYNAME’s vendor management strategy, an outsourced provider directly handles all vendor relationships so that your organization doesn’t have to. Vendor management solutions have the potential to save your organization a large amount of time and capital.

Basically, how this works is that you no longer have to deal with the frustrating and time-consuming process of reaching out to each and every one of your vendors, and the outsourced provider handles this responsibility for you. In a sense, a service provider like COMPANYNAME can be your single point of contact for your technology vendors.

There should be no question whether you have time to deal with the emails and phone calls required to keep up with your technology. We can handle all of this for you, plus some, reaching out to your vendors as your business encounters issues. If you have questions about your products, you don’t have to worry about being put on hold or finding the right technician. We’ll deal with all of that for you so that you don’t have to waste your time.

Consolidating Your Vendors Into a Single Phone Number
Without vendor management, your business would be wasting countless hours that would be better spent on profitable initiatives. Furthermore, relying on vendors to resolve issues can quickly put a time-sensitive project behind schedule. With outsourced vendor management, you achieve all of the goals that you want to get to without sacrificing the time that you would spend making sure that your technology solutions are working as intended. This single point of contact allows you to take the unpredictability out of your tech support.

If your business wants to improve operations and take technology management to the next level, consider our vendor management services. To learn more, reach out to us at PHONENUMBER.