The starting place for technology strategy is a mindset. It’s an awareness that IT is more than just overhead, an awareness that IT is not only integral to keep business operations humming along, but that it can be used to move the business forward. While technology strategy includes the utilization of best practices to create and scale high functioning IT systems, there is no cookie cutter template that you can use to create IT strategy. Strategy sets out a path to take you from where you are today, to where you want to go tomorrow and that’s unique for every […]

Wondering if your small business needs the benefits of a managed IT service provider is like asking if you need a guide to scale Mount Everest. Theoretically, you could do the climb yourself but how many years would it take for you to gather all the knowledge you need about the terrain? And how long would it take to get your technical skills up to the level that they need to be? And what’s it going to take to manage the whole expedition? By the time you get it all together you might very well have missed your chance to […]

There comes a time when small business leaders are forced to rethink the IT function of their business and ask themselves – Should we continue to have internal IT staff or is it time to outsource managed IT services? It could be that the IT manager is leaving or there’s been a lot of turn-over in IT. Maybe the organization had a cyber-attack. It could be that the business has grown, and technology needs have become more sophisticated. Whatever the situation, it’s causing stress on the business, especially if it looks like there’s going to be a gap in IT […]

The term “Managed IT Services” isn’t new but unfortunately, there are a lot of companies that say they’re “managed” but they’re really not. How can you tell the difference and how do you know if that’s what your organization needs? Start by asking yourself, “Is IT serving our business?” Here’s what we mean by serving your business. Imagine that you hired someone to take half the workload off your plate. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Now imagine that instead of decreasing your work, it doubled because that person couldn’t do what you wanted them to do without your constant supervision and […]

Effective help desk services are critical during this time of increased remote work. Employees can no longer ask the person sitting next to them for help. Instead, they have to figure out a solution on their own or contact the help desk. Unfortunately they are often underwhelmed by the response that they get. Help desk are often understaffed and overworked, so they focus on closing tickets quickly rather than end user satisfaction. Often companies have their own help desks, but aren’t able to provide those teams with adequate training and support. This results in internal help desks that are often […]