Category Archives: Manage Service

Five Major Benefits of a Live Answer Help Desk

Manage Service, ,

 

20160729

A live answer IT help desk is a very valuable resource for your staff, allowing them to troubleshoot issues quickly and efficiently.

In the course of their work, your employees encounter a variety of IT problems. Some of them are easy to resolve, while others emerge as part of a deeper, more complicated issue.

To significantly improve the quality and speed with which your IT problems get resolved, it’s worth investing in a live answer help desk. A help desk is an invaluable resource for resolving IT problems. With a ‘live answer’ set-up that puts your employees directly in touch with IT professionals, your company can experience the following benefits:

1) Assurance that someone is working on the problem

Employees contact a help desk in situations where they’re confused, frustrated, and potentially facing a serious problem that’s hindering or damaging their work. When they request help and don’t receive a timely response, they’re more likely to feel ignored and anxious. Even if there isn’t a quick fix to their problem, they should receive the reassurance of a quick response from IT professionals. They should know that they’re communicating with people, and not dropping their requests into a void.

2) Quicker turnaround and less downtime

Because a live answer help desk ensures a more prompt response, your company will usually benefit from a quicker turnaround for IT problems. The help desk can resolve many problems on the spot. If the issue is more complicated, the help desk can immediately set to work investigating it further and consulting with other IT professionals as needed.

You avoid protracted email exchanges, which often result in miscommunication and delays. The help desk remains more in sync with employees and is able to interact with them. Clarification can be obtained on the spot. The help desk can give employees clear instructions and walk them through the necessary steps towards a solution. As a result, your company experiences less downtime. Downtime lowers morale and weakens your business by draining it financially.

3) New issues coming to light

In the course of interacting with a live answer help desk professional, your employees may inadvertently reveal another IT problem currently afflicting your company. This problem may have gone unrecognized or undetected. It isn’t something employees would know to request help for. It’s possible that it isn’t even a full-blown problem, but has the potential to develop into one. An IT professional can catch these stray revealing comments. They can start working on the unforeseen problem immediately or make a note to return to it in the future.

4) A boost in business

When a live answer help desk leads to effective solutions more quickly, it isn’t only your employees who benefit. Your customers also enjoy a more positive experience doing business with you.

IT problems affect your customers either directly or indirectly. For example, if your website is down, your customers can’t access information about you, buy your products online, or log on to their accounts. If there’s a problem affecting your customer relationship management software, your employees struggle to stay productive. They wind up devoting less of their time to cultivating a relationship with customers and clients.

The benefits of a live answer help desk spread to your customers, who enjoy greater trust in your services and more satisfaction when they work with you.

5) Less of a burden on other IT staff

Even if you already have in-house IT staff, a live answer help desk will ease their responsibilities. It frees up some of their time, so that they can shift more of their efforts towards important projects that will further your business growth. Your live answer help desk also provides another resource in case your IT staff encounters problems that don’t have a straightforward solution. The help desk can assist them with reaching the best possible solution. Or it can handle more routine issues as they devote their attention to the more thorny problem.

Please contact us for further information about our live answer help desk services. Whether your business is small, medium-sized or large, a help desk plays an indispensable role in resolving your IT problems and ensuring that your company doesn’t lose significant amounts of money through preventable downtime.

Five Questions to Ask About Proactive Monitoring of Network Infrastructure

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20160623

Proactive monitoring of network infrastructure is a critical strategy that can help you prevent problems before they develop. It’s important to ask questions!

Neglecting to monitor your network infrastructure is a fundamental mistake that significantly increases the chances of a successful cyber attack and impairs your network’s performance.

As discussed in a recent article from Beta News, companies need to acknowledge that they’ll not only face cyber attacks, but that some of these attacks will likely get past their initial defenses. While it’s important to use anti-malware programs and other first-line defenses that can initially repel many cyber attacks, you need to realize that you’re never guaranteed 100% protection from unauthorized intrusions.

As such, it’s important to maintain layered defenses and actively monitor your network for suspicious activities that could indicate a successful intrusion. Proactive monitoring of network infrastructure is a critical strategy that can help you prevent or detect various problems before they develop into crisis situations.

Keep in mind that while IT disasters can result from an external cyber attack, there are also other sources of IT emergencies, including equipment and connection failures. So not only is network monitoring a critical part of your cyber defenses; it’s also essential for preserving the general health of your IT infrastructure. Network monitoring enables you to respond to a problem in a prompt, effective way without waiting to first hear about it from frustrated or panicking employees who find that they suddenly can’t get their work done.

Ask your Managed Service Provider (MSP) about monitoring services

When you hire an MSP to manage and advise you about your company’s IT activities, make sure to ask them about the kinds of monitoring services they provide for your network infrastructure. The following are five important questions to ask:

  1. Will they provide proactive monitoring of your company’s network? Sometimes, IT personnel take a purely reactive approach to IT problems. They swoop in to try and fix an issue only after employees have started noticing it or business operations have slowed down or come to a halt. Make sure that the MSP you work with offers proactive monitoring.
  2. How frequently will they monitor your network? Ideally, proactive monitoring will take place round-the-clock, every day of the year. It’s not enough to only sometimes scan your network or devices for problems, or limit the monitoring to business hours. Your MSP should offer you a 24 x 7 x 365 service.
  3. How will they respond to problems? Let’s say there are signs of trouble in your network, suspicious activities, or an outright emergency. How will your MSP respond? Who is actually responsible, and what will they do? Are there limits to what their monitoring service can detect? While you don’t need to know all of the technical details, you should get a clear sense of how they will use network monitoring to act effectively and swiftly.
  4. Will they let you know what’s going on? It’s important to establish clear communication between you and your MSP, including protocols for when they notify you about problems. Even when there aren’t any problems, they should give you regular reports about the state of your IT health, along with recommendations for changes to improve the security, productivity, and cost-effectiveness of your IT set-up.
  5. What kind of information will they give you? Ideally, your MSP will use the information they glean from network monitoring to give you a strong picture of your IT infrastructure, its strengths, and its potential weaknesses. They should provide you with advice for how to strengthen your network’s performance and security. Instead of just doing the bare minimum to keep your network going, they should actively contribute to its strength and development, with an eye towards supporting your business goals and activities.

Please contact us for further information about our round-the-clock proactive network monitoring. We’re dedicated to improving and maintaining the health of your IT infrastructure.

Four Ways To Prepare for a Windows 10 Migration

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20160609

Backing up your data will make sure it stays safe during the migration.

A recent article from Business Insider takes a sharp tone in its title when it urges people to “stop waffling and install Windows 10 on your computers already.”

It’s understandable why companies may show some reluctance to migrate to Windows 10. People don’t always trust Microsoft and its promises, and sometimes they’re turned away by the computer giant’s aggressive marketing tactics. People may prefer an older system they’re accustomed to and the programs compatible with it. And they may also have legitimate concerns about new problems they’ll have to deal with after migrating.

Making your Windows 10 migration easier

Maybe one of your main concerns about the new operating system is the migration process itself.

To make a Windows 10 migration go more smoothly, it’s important to take the right steps to prepare. Without proper preparation, you’re more likely to encounter frustrating and perhaps devastating problems.

The following are four major ways to get ready for your Windows 10 migration:

  1. Evaluate your device and consider if it’s ready for Windows 10. Depending on the device you’re using, Windows 10 may put a strain on it. Look into whether your device can accommodate the new operating system. (Here’s a link to Microsoft’s specifications for Windows 10.) Inspect the health of your device as well; perform a disk check, and scan your device for malware.
  2. Review the contents of your device. Look into whether you have software that may not work well with Windows 10. And if you have any software on your device that you never use, feel free to delete it and create more space on your device. Do the same for any files you no longer need. (As long as you’re sure you’re not accidentally deleting something you really do need). Check that peripheral devices and hardware, such as your printer, will have compatible drivers with Windows 10. If you understand the content of your computer and work to organize it and clean it up, you’re less likely to experience unpleasant surprises after migrating to Windows 10.
  3. Back up your device. Never migrate to a new operating system without first backing up all of your data. Check that your backups are complete and that you really have copies of everything. Even if your Windows 10 migration goes smoothly, there’s still some danger of permanent data loss.
  4. Make sure you have all of your software license and password information. While many programs should make a smooth transition to Windows 10, it’s best to have copies of certain information readily available, such as software license keys and passwords. Maybe you’ll need to reinstall something or regain access to one of your accounts.

After installation, there are various settings you can check and configure to make the operating system more convenient for you, such as when to schedule updates that restart your device. The more carefully you prepare in advance, the fewer adjustments you’ll likely need to make once the migration is complete. But regardless of whether you think the migration went well, it’s important to go through your device and check that everything is working as you expect.

Don’t hesitate to contact us for assistance with migrating to Windows 10. Although people’s lingering concerns about the new operating system have some weight, it’s important to consider the advantages you’ll get once you migrate to it. Many companies are opting for Windows 10 because of its powerful security, its strong performance across computing devices, its user-friendliness, and its array of helpful, high-quality programs such as Cortana. Windows 10 users will also benefit from future tweaks and updates, along with support for compatible Microsoft programs. (In the next few years Microsoft will withdraw support from older operating systems.)

We can help you ensure that the migration process goes smoothly and that your operating system and its programs are set up in an optimal way for your business.

Your Managed Service Provider (MSP) Can Strengthen Your Company with Scalability

Manage Service, ,
20160603

Bolster your team with the support of a MSP.

When you hire a high-quality Managed Service Provider (MSP) to handle your company’s IT activities, you’re getting more than just IT support. You’re also receiving services that will help you anticipate the future and sustain your company’s growth.

An important quality that companies need in their IT activities is scalability. Given the rate of technological change, and the fact that companies often need to expand to accommodate larger scale operations and more employees, scalability is critical to supporting business growth.

How can your MSP contribute to scalability?

Your MSP will provide your company with scalable IT solutions, helping you succeed as your business develops and new technologies emerge.

A recent article from eWeek lists scalability as one of ten best practices IT professionals must bring to their work. It’s vital for your company’s development and growth. Imagine that you need to launch a new operation but find yourself getting held back by unexpectedly limited capacities or resources. This could prove devastating to your company’s success. Scalability allows for rapid changes and gives you the flexibility to undergo new developments, whether it’s your need to grow, to scale back, or to direct your company down a new path.

What are some activities that demand scalability?

  • Hiring new employees. With new employees, you need to accommodate new devices, expanded software services, and a greater amount of data getting generated in the course of business operations. Employees often use multiple devices, such as desktop computers, laptops, and smartphones. Can your IT solutions readily encompass these new devices and the data they process and transmit?
  • Managing data. Your company’s activities produce enormous quantities of data, and the volume can continue growing at a rapid pace. Data needs to get managed well: stored, protected, backed up, and organized, particularly when it’s critical data. Your data management solutions must be scalable. You need to always have enough space for your data, and that space must remain secure against cyber attacks and other IT disasters.
  • Keeping your company secure. Cyber criminals are always looking out for vulnerabilities in your devices and network defenses. Strong cyber security involves round-the-clock network monitoring to detect suspicious activities. Scalability is a key quality for your cyber security plan. No matter what new devices or programs you incorporate into your business activities, your cyber security solutions must cover them immediately.
  • Determining software usage. Certain kinds of software you need throughout the year, while in other cases a program may prove necessary only for certain weeks or months. Scalability allows you to govern software usage in a cost-effective way, so that you’re paying for services only when you need them. Scalability also lets you quickly give new employees access to your software, and remove their access or privileges when necessary.

The benefits of scalability

In addition to sustaining your company’s continued development, scalable IT solutions can save you money in the long-run; you don’t waste money on hardware or software that you don’t need. Because scalable solutions can accommodate rapid changes, they also help you stay productive, free from unnecessary downtime. And they remain responsive to your needs, both short-term and long-term. You remain better prepared for whatever changes your company faces in the future.

Cultivating and maintaining scalability is a challenge, and only a high-quality MSP can help you meet it successfully. To further discuss scalability, please contact us. When we work as your MSP, we provide you with IT solutions that are tailored to your company. We’re always on the lookout for new technologies that enable you to benefit from scalability in a cost-effective way. You won’t have to worry about IT solutions that are unnecessarily inflexible and keep your company from reaching its full potential.