Monthly Archives: April 2015

What The Future of Help Desk Support Looks Like

Manage Service, ,
If employers don't adapt to their employees' use of personal devices for work, they risk leaving themselves open to security threats.

If employers don’t adapt to their employees’ use of personal devices for work, they risk leaving themselves open to security threats.

One of the best tools available from a managed service provider is their help desk and support services. These IT pros must keep their finger tightly on the pulse of rising technology to manage their customers ever-increasing needs. In the fast-paced world of growing tech, when looking into the future, these three things are certain:

BYOD is Growing, Learning to Adapt

Employees that BYOD (Bring Their Own Device) to work currently only account for about 1/3 of hardware being used professionally. According to a survey of over 1,400 executives, when asked this question, “Do you allow your employees access to your networks via their smartphones, tablets and laptops,” only 33% replied affirmatively.

But the truth is, employees are going to work from their personal devices whether corporate likes it or not, so the best course of action is to adapt. If enterprises don’t allow access, users will simply leave IT behind and risk security threats and data breaches.

Mobile First Mentality

We’ve all seen the statistics about the tremendous growth of mobile devices and this trend has not fallen on deaf ears at the help desks. The number of mobile WiFi hotspots, some public and unsecured along with those safer connections available at home and work have also increased significantly.

Due to this tremendous increase in traffic, many IT help desk operations have deployed separate departments just for mobile inquiries. This streamlines the process and concentrates support processes quickly and more effectively.

 

24/7 Real Time Support

 

Long gone are the days of waiting for hours, days, let alone weeks or more for support. Customers expect answers almost immediately, anytime and anywhere. Emergency service is simply a given for this profession.

 

For all your managed IT service needs, any questions, comments or concerns you may have, please contact us. We offer on-site services in addition to special pricing platforms for group packaging and a la carte options for any or all of your IT issues.

Reasons We Love IT support

Manage Service, ,
Computer issues can happen at any time of day or night, and when they do you need timely support.

Computer issues can happen at any time of day or night, and when they do you need timely support.

Maintaining and building a computer network is often costly and difficult for businesses. Without IT support, time and resources are taken away from your core goals. IT support provides many benefits. Here are a few reasons why we love IT support.

Computer and technology problems occur at all times of the day and when they do, you need timely solutions. Real-time support provided by IT support keeps your business running without expensive interruptions and delays. Help desk support allows your employees to solve everyday problems, such as difficulties with using and installing software. You don’t have to be the expert on technological advances and new updates. Further, the support services from companies who you bought your software and hardware from are often hard to reach or involve long waiting times. With real-time support, your IT problems are easily solved.

Monitoring your system is another advantage of IT support. To keep your computer network running efficiently, being aware of potential and unknown problems is essential. Many businesses don’t have a dedicated system administer on staff, so managed IT support allows you to have constant monitoring without the expense. For example, it is important to keeping track of what percentage of system resources are being used to know when and what updates or expansion to your network is needed.

One of the most important advantages of IT support is disaster recovery. Computer crashes happen and loss of information is costly and problematic for businesses. Being able to recover data quickly is essential for the success of your business. IT support provides protections from data loss and helps with recovery when loss can’t be prevented.

We love IT support because it allows you to do what you do best and helps your business succeed. If you would like to learn how we can provide IT support, contact us.

Where Do I Put All of These Backups?

Data Backup, ,
No data is safe unless it exists in at least two different places, but should really be in three or four to be totally secure. But where should you store your data?

No data is safe unless it exists in at least two different places, but should really be in three or four to be totally secure. But where should you store your data?

Data Backup is one of the most important things a company can do with its data.  No data is safe unless it exists in at least two different places, and even then, it should really be in three or four places, especially if it’s more important than the janitor’s daily to-do list.  Data backup can get a little complicated though, because there are a number of different options, and it’s important to make use of at least a couple of them.  Here are a few of the options.

 

Local NAS Device

Most office networks run off of servers.  They’re what keeps everything connected and functioning.  They might run software the office uses, as well as several other tasks.  Often, these servers have large amounts of hard drive space.  This might be a great place to put a copy of all your important files, however, there is a better option.  NAS stands for network-attached storage.  A NAS device is a server, but it’s a server that’s been specifically built to store files.  It’s not meant to do anything else, like run programs or process data, but since it specializes in storing data, it’s a very efficient option.

Business Continuity Device

Business continuity is a concept that can save a company in a disaster, however, it must be planned before hand.  If a disaster were to strike, for example, destroying data or rendering it inaccessible, a business continuity plan, and the software and hardware that goes with it, can immediately begin functioning, which will allow the company to continue running while steps to complete recovery are taken.

Cloud Storage

The cloud is a surprisingly safe place to store important data.  Once you make sure you’re working with a trustworthy company, your data will usually be at least as secure as the data on your own servers.  And since data on the cloud is stored all over the country, this solves the “off-site copy” requirement of data safety.  It can also be a surprisingly inexpensive option.

Need some help backing up your data?  Contact us!  We can help you with data backup and other business technology and networking challenges.  We’re here for you.

3 Reasons Why You Need ACT! Contact Management Software

Contact Relationship Management, ,
ACT! Contact Management Software keeps your contacts organized all in one place and seamlessly integrates with the tools you already use.

ACT! Contact Management Software keeps your contacts organized all in one place and seamlessly integrates with the tools you already use.

Would you like to grow your business quickly and simply?  Do you need to manage contacts, find leads, and follow up with prospects?  Trying to find a way to market your products or services more effectively?

If you answered “Yes!” to any of those questions, ACT! Contact Management Software might be the perfect solution for your business.  With more than 2.7 million users and 40,000 corporate customers, ACT! is the #1 best-selling contact management software.  Here are 3 reasons why you need contact management software…and more specifically, why you need ACT!:

1. Contact Organization: ACT! organizes all of your customer details (contact information, emails, meeting notes, calendars, etc.) in one convenient database that can be accessed by multiple users at once.  No more fumbling through a plethora of databases, spreadsheets, email archives, and sticky notes to find a crucial piece of customer information!

2. Integration Capabilities: ACT! seamlessly integrates with tools you already use – Office, Outlook, Google, Dropbox, iCloud, Facebook, LinkedIn, accounting systems, and many more – so you can streamline your work and increase productivity.  For example, the link between Outlook and ACT! allows you to have incoming Outlook emails archived to the corresponding contact in ACT!, creating an email history specific to each customer that can be quickly and easily reviewed.  ACT! allows you to coordinate and organize the information you are already gathering using these various business and social programs.

3. Targeted Marketing: Using ACT! marketing tools, you can study and sort your contacts to ensure that you are sending the right message to the right customers at the right time.  Template editing tools allow you to create, send, and track e-campaigns.  Email marketing tools generate graphs and reports that provide information about opens, clicks, bounces, opt-outs, and more.  Intelligent call lists automatically prioritize contacts and expedite follow-up.  ACT! helps take the guesswork out of marketing.

ACT! Contact Management Software is affordable, user-friendly, and can really make a difference for your company. Contact us today to learn more about how ACT! can help you take your business to the next level.