Tag Archives: managed services

Is It Time For You To Have A Managed Service Provider (MSP)?

Manage Service, , , ,
Cloud technology network managed service provider concept

Tired of working on IT issues and not concentrating on tasks that can grow your business?

There are numerous benefits associated with having a managed services provider(MSP), but how will you actually know if now is the time to start outsourcing your IT management? There are some signs to pay attention to when you are ready to find out if you actually need a Managed Services Provider(MSP).

Do You Need A Managed Services Provider(MSP)?

No one wants to walk into their workplace and discover that something is not working with the technology. It does not matter if your business is a small business, a medium-sized business, or a large business; discovering this type of problem can be the difference between having a successful work day and having to find a way to repair the issue that has delayed your business operations.

When you have a team of dedicated professionals on your side providing you with the managed services you need, these issues will eventually be a thing of the past. As you begin to think about your current IT struggles and all the options you have available, we want you to think about making the decision to outsource your services. There are many signs that could mean you are in need of an MSP, including the following:

Multiple Tech Problems

It is not uncommon for businesses to face different IT problems and challenges, especially with all the advances and changes in technology. To reduce the IT problems you may be facing, you can choose to upgrade your technology and ensure you keep data backups. When you back up your data, you should ensure that the backups are accessible in order to reduce technical problems. When you partner with a Managed Services Provider(MSP), you will have the peace of mind you need because your data will be secure at all times and your technology will always be current. You will be able to spend more time on other aspects of your business instead of worrying about the technical issues that may arise.

Limited Finances

If you do not have the finances to hire a team of IT professionals, you will appreciate the affordable option of a Managed Services Provider. Many businesses may only think of an MSP as another thing that requires money, but when you have a team of IT experts on your side, it can turn into a very wise investment. A Managed Services Provider will not be as expensive as employing an IT team that will be in-house.

A Weak Strategy

Every year, your current network will experience multiple changes within the organization and outside the organization. You will need a strong IT strategy that will help your business now and in the future. A strong and secure IT strategy will also help ensure that your business will have long-term success. If you feel that your current strategy is not strong enough to keep up with the IT advancements, now is a good time to consider outsourcing your services.

We know that you want your business to continue growing and that you want to stay on track with the other businesses in your industry. We can also understand how you would like to have an edge over the competition. You are going to need to be able to develop a solid IT strategy and maintain your knowledge of technology and networks. If you are looking for a service that can provide you with efficiency, increased productivity, and efficiency, a Managed Service Provider is the solution you have been searching for.

It does not matter what industry you are in, a Managed Service Provider could be the option that leads you to the level of success you have been searching for. Contact us today for more information.

IT Help Desk Support: The Knowledge Base

Manage Service, , ,
IT Help Desk Support - woman on a phone at her desk

IT Help Desk Support

One of the most important tools that your business’s IT help desk will need is a knowledge base. When your business does not have a knowledge base, your organization will increase the chances of providing support that is inconsistent, as well as customers who are unhappy and long telephone calls.

An effective knowledge base will also hold information that will help your customers and your end users to resolve some issues on their own, a long list of frequently asked questions, and additional documents that everyone in your support staff can access at any time. There are multiple ways that your IT help desk and IT management systems can benefit from using a knowledge base.

Obtaining More Knowledge

There will be many organizations that will have one person who knows a significant amount of information about IT and technical issues. While these people are always great to have around, sometimes others in the organization will direct all the hard questions to the IT help desk expert without taking the time to learn what needs to be done. Many people in the workplace will feel that documentation can be placed on hold because there is already someone who knows what to do. What will happen if that IT expert leaves the workplace? All of the knowledge that was once there is gone now and where will that leave everyone else? You will not have to worry about this happening with a knowledge base because the knowledge will always be there.

Reduction in Call Volume

Since your IT help desk agents will have the knowledge they need to find answers to their questions, the length of time they will spend on the telephone speaking to customers and end users will decrease. Instead of your customers and end users being placed on hold while IT help desk agents are asking questions, the help desk agents will be able to find the document they need, resolve the problem, and take the next customer’s phone call. When you can resolve problems quickly, customers will now spend less time waiting to receive assistance.

Reduction in Ticket Volume

When customers use your IT help desk’s knowledge base to find answers to their own problems, there will not be a need to constantly create support tickets with the IT help desk. Your IT Help Desk’s knowledge base can be used in the portal, the customer will be able to access the knowledge base area to create a ticket. When a customer finds information that helps them, they will be able to return to their job task with a solution.

Reduction in Costs

When you are able to save time by reducing call volume, tickets, and the length of phone calls, it is very likely that a knowledge base will help your organization save money on all support costs. While you are saving money by lowering costs, you should feel confident in knowing that you will not reduce the level of quality when it comes to the support you provide. You will actually be improving the quality of support because you will be providing support that is effective, efficient, fast, and consistent.

An IT help desk that has a knowledge base that is available at all times of the day will give everyone the opportunity to research a problem and find a resolution even when the help desk is closed. Not only can a knowledge base help you save money when it comes to operational costs, but you will also improve your chances of providing high-quality support that will remain consistent.

How efficient is your IT help desk? Does your help desk have a knowledge base that provides quality support? For more information on our IT help desk services, please do not hesitate to contact us today.

Is It Time To Make Adjustments To Your IT Help Desk?

Manage Service, , ,
IT help desk professionals in control room

Using a managed service company can help your internal IT resolve issues faster

For businesses, the IT help desk or service desk is an essential component. If your employees are constantly being slowed down due to problems with technology, productivity and efficiency will be slowed down as well. Businesses that have a good IT help desk on their side can keep everyone equipped to be efficient and productive. When everyone is productive and effective, this will result in less downtime.

At one point, having a “good” help desk was more than enough. However, things have changed significantly. Unfortunately, there are many businesses that are still operating a help desk that would have been better suited a few decades ago. One of the most common approaches to management today is measuring an IT help desk on customer satisfaction, the number of answered calls, and the number of resolved calls. Unfortunately, using this type of strategy or approach lacks foresight.

There are a few signs that will indicate your current IT help desk model is not headed in the right direction, including the following:

You Are Only Looking At It As Another Expense

When someone calls into your help desk and shares any type of information and feedback, this is giving you free and useful intel on how your help desk is operating. When you are able to discover this information and use it to provide feedback to the rest of the organization, you are tapping into the power of an IT help desk. Using this intel and using it to improve the IT help desk is also one of the best ways to reduce the call volume. If you are not doing any of these things, you are wasting an opportunity to use one of the biggest resources you have in your workplace. Your IT Help Desk can provide you with feedback from real users.

You Have No Solution For The Mobility Problems

In many workplaces, employees are given the freedom to commute and work remotely due to the power of mobile devices. Mobility is a growing trend in the business world, and sometimes employees will need assistance when they have mobility issues. If you have not dedicated any of your technology to solving mobility issues, now will be a great time to do so. Not every IT expert will be specialized in remote devices, mobile applications, mobile headsets, etc. This is where you will need the assistance of mobility experts who have the skills to solve mobility problems. If you are not currently equipped with an IT Help Desk that can solve mobility issues, it is not too late to get one. If you cannot maintain those skills and specialties in your workplace, you can consider outsourcing your mobility help desk.

The Calls Are Not Being Managed Properly

We know that you are logging your phone calls and categorizing them, but what else are you doing? If you are not doing more, you are not doing enough. Some calls that come into your help desk will contain vital information about technical problems, downtime, outages, etc. Taking the time to assess this information and prioritize it will allow you to provide feedback to others. You will want to do more than provide the basic information that is on the call log.

If your IT environment is currently struggling, there are ways of getting it back on track. You will not have to become experts overnight and you will not have to go above and beyond to completely modernize your IT environment. You can make some improvements to your current environment to modernize your processes, and you will be able to accomplish more than you think.

If your organization is experiencing any of the above signs, it is important that your management team embrace the fact that changes need to be made. Are you ready to rethink and re-imagine your IT help desk? Please do not hesitate to contact us today for more information.

Website Acting Sluggish? Server Monitoring Will Tell You Why (Part 1)

Manage Service, , , ,
Man waiting on a slow running website at a desk on a laptop

Slow internet getting you down?

Whether you’re running an eCommerce venue, popular blogger, active business site, job board, charity platform or one of any number of popular websites with a ton of daily traffic, speed is everything. Even if you run a little mom-and-pop site for sharing recipes, the highly competitive modern online environment has no room for slow web pages. The slower your page loads, the more likely your visitors are to close the tab and try somewhere else that’s more responsive and considerate of their valuable internet browsing time. Even a one-second delay in page load statistically results in a loss of 7% of your visitors.
Speeding Up is Harder Than it Sounds
Of course, it’s a lot easier to say ‘speed up your web page’ than it is to actually do it. The reason for this is because your load time isn’t a value you set in your configuration, it’s how long your server takes to serve up the page to each user. There are certain things that anyone can do to reduce load time like use smaller images and chop up your content into multiple compact pages instead of big long ones, but what if you’ve already done that or your design relies on big pictures and long content-rich pages?
There are a few other things you or your web developer can do, but the potential fixes get more and more complex with each attempt at optimization. You can, for instance, set up caching so that your regular users hold onto some of the data your page loads up, making it locally available and faster to appear after the first visit. Then there’s compression which zips up and vacuum-shrinks your HTML and CSS files for faster downloads. When all this is done, if your website is still sluggish then the answer is lurking somewhere in the performance of the server itself, but where?
What’s Wrong With Your Hosting Server?
As you may remember from setting up your website, a site has to be hosted on a server, either locally on a computer you own or, ideally, on a virtual cloud server. If you’re hosting on a local server, it’s possible that your problem is actually physical. Take a moment in the middle of the night when you have the fewest visitors to turn off the machine and clean it. Chances are there’s a reasonable amount of built-up dust inside the case, caked to the vents, and just floating around. If your web page speeds up after this procedure, the problem was that the computer itself was struggling to cool itself and keep up with demand.
If you’re hosting on a cloud server, or if cleaning didn’t help, then the problem lies in the processes running on the server itself. The longer a server runs, and the more things you’ve done on it since setting it up, the more likely it is to have unnecessary processes and memory use eating up your resources and preventing your web page from getting the speed and performance it needs to impress your visitors.

Knowing that your website is slow is only the beginning of the solution and without the ability to monitor the slow down, it will be incredibly difficult to identify and cure the reason your website is running so slowly. This has been the first half of our two-part article. To find out what happens next and how to use monitoring to speed up your website, join us next time for the second half. If you’d like more information about IT managed services or to find the perfect solution for your business, contact us today!