small business · 4 Corner IT

Small Business IT Consultant: Utilize Network & IT Consulting

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Small business owners often face the difficulty of having to do everything on their own or only having a small amount of staff that don’t possess the knowledge base needed to run a business smoothly. IT is one area often left behind when you are thinking about staffing your small business. This is because most employees have a small amount of IT knowledge. Companies figure they can use their staff’s pieces of knowledge and fit them together as an IT solution. However, by doing this, you could be wasting both valuable time and money. Here is a quick look at why you may consider hiring an IT consultant.

Help Your Small Business by Hiring a Small Business IT Consultant

Hiring a small business IT consultant can help save your business money and help free up time for other projects.

Utilize Your Time Better

When you are using your own time or the time of other non-IT specialized staff members on IT solutions or problems, time is being spent away from other projects that benefit your business. By hiring Network and IT Consulting staff, you will have a dedicated person or team to research equipment and programs. Additionally, they will install them and troubleshoot any issues. No longer will you need to pull a staff member from what they are working on. You can call your small business IT consultant and know your problem will be fixed.

Eliminate the Costs When Hiring Full-Time Staff

Hiring a consultant eliminates the need to hire a full-time staff member. You will save money by not having to pay a full-time wage, benefits, and other expenses that may come when hiring a full-time staff member. You are also keeping a cubicle, desk, or office space. This can help if you are already short on space or allow you to use that space for your staff or client needs.

Streamline Your Technology

When you hire a network and its consulting firm, you hire a consultant or team with a whole new level of knowledge. This knowledge can help your company purchase the best equipment for your specific needs. While doing this, your small business IT consultant can help you streamline your IT equipment and processes, allowing things to run more efficiently. This can help reduce your technology budget and give you a system that caters to your business’s specific needs.

If you are looking for an IT consulting firm to help improve your small business while saving you time and money, contact us at 4 Corner IT.

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The Cost of IT Support for Small Organizations

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The familiar adage, “If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is”, often holds true for many different types of services and products. Especially for newer, rapidly growing industries like information technology, it is not uncommon for small organizations to be somewhat unfamiliar with what constitutes a fair cost, what level of service to expect, and so forth. Unfortunately, when searching for an IT vendor, some companies still allow themselves to be dazzled by extraordinarily low fees, coupled with a vague promise such as “we’ll always be there for you”. Later on they find out the quoted fees were merely a teaser rate, good only for a short period of time and the promise of “we’ll always be there for you”, well, that was only true if the client was willing to shell out quite a few extra $ to pay for steep overtime rates.

Fixed Costs – Buying Peace of Mind

More and more companies are realizing just how dependent their organization is upon technology. That dependence is likely to continue, and perhaps even increase, if an organization hopes to remain competitive. Just as with many other aspects of running a business such as a mortgage, utilities, salaries, etc., IT costs are now simply an integral part of running a successful organization.

It is probably safe to say that most businesses do recognize the incredible value added by IT, including both software and hardware — it’s just a matter of finding the right IT vendor that does an outstanding job on delivery of their peace of mind guarantees.

Delivering Exceptional Value and Service

An IT vendor that refuses to perform the proverbial bait-and-switch tactics is the ideal IT vendor to look for. This premiere type of vendor will instead provide a comprehensive contract clearly defining all the services they provide. The emphasis will be on 24/7/365 availability in order to keep their clients’ IT processes running seamlessly and dependably. The ideal IT vendor stays on top of the latest technology trends, current issues, and challenges specific to the field in order to provide proactive advice and support to their clients. For a clearly defined fixed fee, a top notch IT vendor will provide all the technical expertise required by today’s competitive organizations, so these organizations can do what they do best — that is supporting and growing their own business.

If you would like to know more about negotiating a contract for reliable, comprehensive IT services, please contact us.

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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.

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:

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.
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.
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.
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.

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IT Support for Miami Small Businesses: What Should You Choose?

There are two types of Miami small businesses; well, actually there are three. However, business Type 3’s manager/owner already understands that she needs managed IT support. However, the other two types of small business managers/owners don’t feel they need anything other than on-call IT support at the most.

Business Type #1 – What’s Twitter Again?

You’re typically a staple in your community, like a dry cleaner, grocer or retailer, and you’ve been in business for many years. Maybe the only advertising you’ve ever used was a newspaper or local TV ad here or there. Your business does well because of its location and the fact that you know most of your customers.

You intentionally carry a flip phone and don’t have any desire for a smartphone. Your first and last email address might be an AOL one and you may use Facebook to communicate with family members. However, chances are, you don’t use your computer nearly as much as your children or grand children do.

Your IT Plan?

You just hire someone to fix whatever happens when it comes up, like the plumbing or the cable.

And like any business plan, your IT plan should be inherently strategic.

Business plans are inherently strategic.

Business Type #2 – I Even Know a Little Code

You typically own and understand things like smartphones, tablets and e-readers. You might have taken some web design or computer repair courses. In addition to a Facebook account, you’re on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and even Reddit; and you’re really getting into SnapChat.

You’ve been talking to a developer about building the mobile app for your business and you actively use SEO, local SEO and social media marketing to advertise your business.

Your IT Plan?

Because of your understanding of modern technology, you don’t think you need someone always watching over your business. You feel you already know what they would tell you, so you’d rather save money and just hire someone when something goes wrong.

Why You Both Might Want Managed IT Support for Miami Small Businesses:

Gain More Time

As a business owner, you’re busy. Even if you understand computers like the back of your hand, if you’re working as a travel agent, why waste valuable business time thinking about computer upgrades and maintenance?

Prevent Hacking

Information breaches come in many forms and most hackers are well aware that small business owners either worry they can’t afford adequate protection or don’t realize the risks that are out there. In addition, people also sometimes hack Facebook and other social media accounts as well. There are numerous security threats and unless you are in the IT or web security business, you absolutely are not up to date on the threats to your business or the advanced protection available to you.

Prevent Emergencies

Instead of suffering through an emergency, why not prevent one? If you have a managed IT provider that knows your server, your email system, your backup system etc., that person can spot small issues before they become larger issues. However, suffering through your company email system going offline, server crashes or hacking attacks is stressful and oftentimes unnecessary.

Have Expert Advice All the Time

Would you use professional cleaning equipment to clean your own teeth? Would you practice law without going to law school? Though computers and other devices become very personal items to us because of the many ways we use them, we must understand that unless we’re trained, IT and computer repair is nothing more than a hobby. In addition, you can consult with your managed IT team member about business improvements like:
– New software and hardware purchases
– VoIP phone systems
– Social media management & marketing
– Effective online marketing
– Cloud storage
– The server type and size you need,
– And so much more
Though 4 Corner IT offers hourly IT repair and maintenance services, we believe most small businesses should consider managed IT support. If you disagree, we recommend that you at least have us come out and evaluate your IT situation, so that if an issue arises, at least we already know a little about your business. Please contact us today to design the right IT solution for your small business.

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3 Important Aspects of IT Support for Miami Small Businesses

Although it’s not the most engaging aspect of running a business, IT support can have a big impact on your overall success. In this blog we’ll cover three important aspects of IT support for Miami small businesses.

According to this article, small businesses need knowledgeable, trusted technology partners who are proficient with current technologies and willing to help learn their industry’s operations requirements.

Personalized assistance

No reputable IT support agency thinks it offers a cookie-cutter service. Since each client has a different situation based on its technology, its resources, and its employees, IT support must be personalized. As a result, you’ll know that the recommended solutions are picked specifically for your business.

IT strategy planning

All businesses need an IT strategy, even if they don’t rely on technology much. If you’re not thinking ahead, then your IT will become outdated quickly.

A good example of this is migrating to cloud computing. According to a recent CIO article, businesses need to plan this out ahead of time:

“Chances are, security will be a shared responsibility between cloud provider and client company. Most companies approve of that, because it affirms that they do not lose control just because they move to the cloud. Figure out ahead of time who does what so that there are no unwelcome surprises (or breaches) down the road.”

This is where IT support comes into play. We’ll make sure your migration to the cloud, or any other transition you’re considering, goes smoothly.

Off-site and on-site service

Cost-effective IT support uses a combination of off-site and on-site service. Thus, most common errors are solved off-site and the occasional severe problem is taken care of on-site.

Your business benefits from this the most. Since off-site support is efficient, your IT support doesn’t cost as much. Additionally, the savings get passed down directly to our clients.

Outsourcing IT support is a great way for businesses to cut back on expenses and maintain a high quality of service. To talk more about IT support for Miami small businesses, or anything else, please contact us. Thanks.