If you’re a managed IT client with Innovative, you may have contacted our help desk at some point. When you do this, you’re opening what is called a “ticket.” Do you know what a ticket is or what the process looks like? Did you know there are different ways to contact the help desk? If this is all new info to you, don’t worry. I’m new to Innovative and just started learning about the help desk myself. There might be a little more to it than you realize. Let’s get you up to speed so you can get the most out of our service.

I’m sure a lot of what you do at work takes place on your computer, but you have that pesky task that requires physical paper every now and then. Annoying, right?

You use email, I use email, we all use email. But are those emails being protected? How does that all work? So, you might have heard of this thing called email encryption. Your business may have some form of this implemented. Maybe you have a limited idea of what it is or what it does- or maybe you don’t know anything about it. That’s okay. I’m new to this whole IT solutions thing and wasn’t quite sure myself. Email encryption was next up on my list of things to learn. I’m here to pass along some of that knowledge to you. We’re not going to get too into the weeds today. This stuff can become very complicated very quickly. Let’s just talk about what email encryption is and why it matters to you.

Our day-to-day work lives can be pretty busy. The last thing we want is for it to be more difficult to log into our computers. While some might view multi-factor authentication as necessary evil, its implementation can be made easier by working with your managed service provider.

So, your company is looking for a managed IT partner and has decided to do business with Innovative. That’s awesome! There’s one issue, though; our solutions seem a little too fancy compared to what you’re looking for and thus, more expensive. There’s got to be a cheaper solution available, right? Technically, there are probably cheaper solutions out there, but we might not offer them. That answer might feel a little harsh, but there’s a reason we sell what we sell, and it’s not because we want you to empty your wallet.

Let’s face it – printing can be very wasteful. Do you realize how much money you’re losing from paper and toner that's just getting thrown away? The trial and error of printing lends itself to this. I think we’re all tired of shredding documents because they didn’t print the way we wanted them to. The whole process is just a hassle. There’s a dropdown list of printer names that all look the same. Which printer is closest to you? Are the settings configured to what you need? It can all feel like a big guessing game.

It’s another week at Innovative, and I’m continuing to learn the ins and outs of a managed service provider. That feeling of being on a different planet is slowly starting to fade away. Am I an expert yet? Absolutely not. But hey, it’s progress. My most recent learning experience came in the form of a training session on cybersecurity packages. This stuff can be pretty daunting when you first dive into it. EDR, SOC/SIEM, MFA – what does any of this mean?

Exciting news! We’re expanding our service area to Washington D.C. and the surrounding metro area!

It has never been more critical to create a secure password. Cyber attackers are always looking to steal passwords so they can access our information and harm our business. According to the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, 81% of hacking-related breaches occur due to compromised passwords. Don’t become a statistic. It’s on us to make it difficult for them. A strong password is a simple yet essential way to protect your accounts and your business. You can take several steps to create the most secure password possible. It can be tricky dealing with character counts, punctuation and password length. The list of requirements seems to go on and on. Let’s walk through it and explain how you can protect yourself.

My first week at Innovative brought many challenges someone might usually deal with when starting a new job. There were lots of new names and faces to learn, as well as the ins and outs of an entire company. On top of all this, I joined a managed IT services company without any background in technology. Being in such a different environment, everything I encountered was a learning experience. With every meeting and demonstration, I was gaining new information. One of the demonstrations I had the chance to sit in on was for Avaya Cloud Office (ACO). ACO is a hosted phone system that provides communication services to businesses, including Innovative. This made it especially relevant to me because it's a service I'll use at work regularly. The demonstration was hosted by Innovative's CIO Tyler Snyder, who did a great job explaining how many features ACO offers and how these features can change the way an office uses its phones. In this blog, I'll go over some of those features that will be crucial to our clients, my colleagues and me.