IT Starts with Strategy

If you're planning to upgrade hardware or networking infrastructure in your business this year, you may see significant cost savings by purchasing that equipment soon (i.e. this month) thanks to increased tariffs on Chinese imports.

From basic desktop computers to complex network infrastructure, all businesses need some sort of technology to operate. With the amount of technology necessary to compete in today's economy, how do businesses maintain margins and absorb ever-growing IT costs? Leasing is an option that reduces your initial investment and allows for the flexibility to adopt new technology based on your business needs and not capital budgets.

Do you have computers in your business operating on Windows 7?

Do you feel like you just upgraded away from Windows XP?

If that’s the case, you were most likely utilizing Windows XP beyond its April 8, 2014 end of life date and managed just fine without upgrading immediately. So, it makes sense that you are probably not too concerned about upgrading away from Windows 7 any time soon.

You survived the last end of life date just fine, and you’ll get through this one too, right?

Wrong.

National headlines about ransomware attacks crippling Baltimore City and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport might leave smaller businesses thinking that governments and large corporations are the only entities facing a real threat of attack.

However, threats against businesses of all sizes have been on the rise. Malwarebytes Labs issued a Cyber Crime Tactics and Techniques 2019 Q1 Report stating that cyberattacks on businesses in general have increased 235% in the past year. Ransomware specifically is gaining rapid momentum in Q1 2019 with a 195% increase in ransomware attacks on businesses from Q4 2018 to Q1 2019.

When you think of email from a business standpoint you think of company announcements, junk mail, co-worker problem solving, and reminders that it's Jane's birthday. It is easy to get caught up in the flow of the business and overlook the full functions of this tool that you use every day. This is true even more so in health care because the focus tends to lean more on patient satisfaction than it does the technical aspects in the background. This is why email often gets overlooked when it comes to HIPAA compliance.

Many organizations, especially those experiencing growth, find themselves at a crossroads where they must decide to expand their own internal IT department, or perhaps hire their first full-time IT staff member. Small and medium-sized businesses typically have a ‘technical’ employee or two who perform the daily duties of managing the organization’s equipment with varied results. These ‘involuntary IT managers’ often perform duties that go well beyond the scope of their actual job description. As a result, neither the job they were hired for nor those extra responsibilities are performed adequately due to time, budget, and/or knowledge setbacks of those individuals being pulled in multiple directions.

Do you know how much your business spends on print and copy expenses?

If the answer is no, you are not alone. According to a Gartner Group study, 90% of businesses lack an understanding of the total financial impact of printing and copying.

The two biggest reasons for this lack of clarity are:

1. Printing and copying expenses are often split between office equipment costs and office supply expenses.
2. Printers and copiers are often managed separately yet used interchangeably.

Considering the average employee prints 34 pages per day at a cost of around $725 per year per employee, printing and copying expenses are typically the third greatest business expense behind payroll and rent.

A server allows businesses to point all users toward a centralized location to access files and applications. There are some considerations when deciding if your business needs a server. In general, servers offer many benefits, and are a common approach for businesses that want consistency, centralization, and/or PCI, HIPAA or other industry-specific compliance.

If you're not sure that a server environment is right for your business, there are other alternatives to consider, each with their own pros and cons.

This is a very common question among small businesses, so let’s start with a quick definition of what a server is. A server is typically an on-premise, high-performance piece of hardware that is combined with a high-end, server-based operating system that is used to store data and centralize resources (what a mouth full).

When done properly, all computers point to this server to access files and application data while hardware/software redundancy keeps a high level of up-time for your staff. There are numerous benefits to this type of centralization, but it doesn’t come without a cost.

Wouldn’t it be great if every time you called your IT support provider, they answered the phone? Waiting for service is not anyone’s idea of a good time. With the pace of business in our world, it is unreasonable that the only option for acquiring IT support is waiting by the phone like you are expecting a date to call. 

Unfortunately, this is frequently the service you get from single-person IT support operations, otherwise known as your outsourced "IT guy/girl." This level of support may be fine for your home PC, where processes and payments are not depending on technology working right now, but for small and medium businesses, the consistent coverage provided by a trained, business-focused helpdesk team can be a lifesaver.