Outsourcing IT Service Management: Business Tips

outsourcing it service management business tips

Running a business demands the use of technology for transactions, processes, and security. Having the right people in charge of these roles is fundamental for the success of a firm. But why are companies reducing or eliminating their IT staffs? Today’s business tip is about outsourcing IT service management.

Outsourcing IT Service Management

While IT expenditures continue to increase, hiring is not. Instead, companies are relying more on IT service management solutions because of the immediate benefits that these offer. If a business chooses to handle all operations internally, those costs pass on to customers in a higher priced product that is not as competitive in the market. Outsourcing eliminates costs involved with hiring an employee, such as management oversight, health insurance, training to keep their skills up to date, retirement plans, etc. In addition to this, there are also costs associated with attrition because workers will gain skills and experience over time, and this will make them more valuable to other employers. And if their current employer can’t meet their salary requirements, it is likely that they will look elsewhere.

For small companies, outsourcing can help their budget, and it creates a more equitable playing field between them and large enterprises. Small firms will have access to the latest technology while managing to stay ahead of the revolving doors of obsoleteness. As a result, they will have more money to use in other areas, and having capital to funnel into operations that directly produce revenue will attract investors.

Outsource IT companies have professionals with proper industry training and certifications. Instead of the knowledge of one person, a client will have access to the collective experience of a team of specialists. Furthermore, a client will reduce the risk of keeping up with technology because outsourcing IT firms know the industry and its best practices. This will save a firm from implementing a costly wrong decision. Benefits of outsourcing IT include 24/7 management of systems by IT professionals, improved productivity, proactive maintenance work, and support for software and hardware needs. With all these concerns taken care of, business managers will have more time to focus on their core competencies.

To learn more about this topic contact us.

 

Backup for Small Business: Four Important Things to Think About

backup for small business four important things to think about

Sometimes it takes a disastrous cyber attack to remind businesses how important it is to back up data. Backup for small business is always important.

Backup for Small Business

A recent article from Small Business Trends, for example, mentions how ransomware has opened up discussions on the need for backups.

Keep in mind that backups are helpful not only for cyber attacks; they’ll save you from other disasters or problems as well. If a major storm hits your area, causing a power surge or outage that wipes out some of your data, you’ll have backups to retrieve and work off of. If an employee accidentally deletes a critical file, you’ll be able to restore the original.

What should small businesses consider when coming up with a data backup plan?

There are a wide variety of data backup solutions available. Not all of them will work well for your business or your data. When coming up with a data backup plan, consider the following points:

  1. Your main risks. How are you most likely to lose data? What kinds of disasters are you most vulnerable to? Answering these questions helps you choose the best kinds of data backup solutions for your business – file-level vs. image-based, cloud vs. local vs. hybrid solutions.
  2. Your most important data. Consider the data and applications that are critical to your business’s functioning and success. For them, you want the quickest restoration possible to avoid costly downtime and permanent losses. You want to ensure that the backups are comprehensive, timely, and well-protected.
  3. Your most sensitive data. Whatever backup solutions you choose, ensure that you’re safeguarding copies of your data – particularly the most sensitive data – from theft and destruction.
  4. Your metrics for backup success. How will you determine if your backup plan is a success? For example, you can set goals for maximum allowable recovery time or maximum amount of data you can afford to lose; does your backup plan fall within these parameters, or would you experience unsustainable losses? Always make sure to test your data backup measures.

Don’t hesitate to contact us for advice and assistance. Choosing the right backup solutions is critical for your business. When implemented thoughtfully, data backups become your business’s lifesaver, protecting you from the severe effects of IT disasters.

Backing Up Your Data: Analytics Help Manage Data Backup

backing up your data analytics help manage data backup

Businesses amass huge amounts of data. It’s all important, but it’s not all of equal importance. Working documents are more important than cache files, and the ideal strategy for backing up your data recognizes that. If the disk drive fails, it’s the live documents that need to be up to the minute. Analytics help a business define a backup strategy with priorities that reflect its needs.

Backing up your data

Retrospective analytics show how backups have performed in the past. Is the process keeping up with the file system? If it’s steadily falling behind, then it’s necessary to change the backup strategy or add resources. If it’s keeping up overall, it still makes a difference which files get priority. If important files get delayed because large downloads are hogging the duty cycle, that makes recovery harder.

Predictive analytics can warn of future shortcomings based on current trends. Perhaps the current backup storage is enough and the process isn’t falling behind, but extrapolating current trends may show that will change soon. Knowing in advance lets the IT manager add storage, request a faster data connection, or make changes in the backup process before there’s a crisis.

Keeping a history makes it possible to tell a one-time spike from a developing problem. If backing up your data is falling behind because of a huge chunk of incoming data, and that situation isn’t expected to persist, that’s not a major problem. If it happens often, it’s time to act.

More backup copies are better, but again there are priorities and cost considerations. Analyzing the backup data can help to identify the data that needs an extra level of protection. If a smaller volume is available for a secondary backup, what sets of files can it hold without exceeding its capacity? Which ones are most important?

Backing up your data is smart. Smart backing up is even better. Knowing what’s happening allows smart backup strategies. Contact us to learn how we can make your backups safer and smarter.

 

Office 365 for Business: 3 Reasons You’ll be So Happy You Switched

office 365 for business 3 reasons youll be so happy you switched

With all the advances in technology, many companies are working with outdated tech solutions even though there are great platforms available to them that offer more than the legacy tools they’ve used for years. Have you thought about Office 365 for business?

What they don’t realize is that, over time, support for these outdated systems will wane. Your organization will also lose its competitive edge. Lastly, your clients, partners and colleagues will expect you and your staff to be familiar with modern technology and to maintain similar levels of productivity when they deal with you.

Collaborate Better

Office 365’s featured project management tool, Planner, helps employees work together and stay organized. Professionals conference and collaborate in real time without having to refresh their screens to see edits or changes.

Office 365 also features the Yammer Enterprise Social Network, (ESN) app. Yammer configures with most other popular business platforms like SharePoint. Experts predict ESN’s will eventually be the main tools professionals use to search for talent, interact with colleagues and cut out the email clutter. Just like Facebook feeds keep you updated so will your ESN.

Save Money

Technology is expensive when you factor in the costs of buying hardware and software, updating, patches, maintenance and security. When you switch to Microsoft’s secure cloud, you reduce your maintenance costs. Your MSP and Microsoft work to maintain, update and secure your data and employee accounts as an integrated part of your package. Pay a monthly flat rate. Never pay for additional tech help again.

Plan for Your Business’ Growth

Scale your plan up or down whenever you want. Office 365 is affordable for businesses of every size. If your business grows, buy more OneDrive storage space and pay only for whatever additional services you need.

Contact us today at 4CornerIT. We help businesses just like yours migrate to the Microsoft Office 365 platform. It’s one of the easiest ways to finally manage and secure your company’s data properly.

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IT Support Helps Keep Your Data Backups Safe By Removing Ransomware

it support helps keep your data backups safe by removing ransomware

Ransomware continues posing a serious threat to businesses. IT support can keep your business protected by removing ransomware. A recent article from The Atlantic presents estimates of the staggering losses companies sustain when this malware takes hold of their devices and blocks access to their data.

The FBI’s estimate is that between January to March of this year alone, ransomware led to hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.

Keep in mind that this is a conservative figure, as many companies and individuals may not even report ransomware attacks to the authorities.

Along with the ransom payments that companies sometimes make to cyber criminals to regain access, other ransomware costs include reductions in productivity, missed sales opportunities, extended downtime, and losses in customer trust.

How can IT support professionals help? By removing ransomware and keeping your date safe. 

One of the key ways to minimize the impact of a ransomware attack is to have data backups available on a system that remains uninfected by the malware.

If your backups are intact, and you can retrieve and restore your data from them easily, you’ll be much less likely to suffer costly prolonged downtime. You’ll be able to restart your business operations more easily and continue meeting your own needs and customers’ demands.

IT support professionals can work with you by removing ransomware, ensuring that you have reliable copies of your data, and that they stay out of reach of malware. For example, one of the ways that ransomware can compromise your data backups is if you have all of them in an external drive that’s attached to a computing device when it gets infected. However, if you retain copies at another location, such as in the cloud, they’re more likely to stay safe.

Don’t underestimate the crippling damage you can suffer from ransomware attacks. Sometimes the losses are unsustainable.

Please contact us to further discuss protecting your business by removing ransomware.