Managed Services
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Managed IT services are quickly becoming the norm for today’s businesses. That’s mostly due to the amount of time managed services can save you over managing your own systems. Many companies have found that the small monthly expenditure it takes to hire a managed IT service pays for itself over and over in time, ease and productivity.
Here are 5 ways a managed service can save your business time.
Maintenance
Maintaining your IT system takes a huge amount of your IT department’s time but if it isn’t done, the downtime can cost even more and can cut into your profits and reputation. Every business relies heavily on its IT infrastructure. If you aren’t able to make calls or send emails it can have a devastating impact.
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Information technology has experienced rapid growth throughout the years, and there’s no sign its stopping. From mobile communication to ease of sharing project files, there’s never been an easier time to increase productivity. But with this tech, a company might find itself incurring some pretty big maintenance and infrastructure costs, along with the myriad of problems which can arise from hardware/software in general.
Often, a company will outsource their IT. Some of the biggest reasons are for increasing production and cutting costs. Because you’re working with a solid third party, these savings come from a variety of factors.
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Firewalls are responsible for protecting a company’s proprietary data and other IT resources from internal and external attacks on the IT network. Considering that business data is the most valuable asset that most companies possess, it is essential to have a strong, resilient firewall in place — one that is consistently upgraded to address the latest threats.
If your Chicago-based company is in the market for a new firewall solution, you have two choices for implementation: purchase firewall software and implement the firewall on an in-house model, or outsource your firewall needs to a provider of IT support in Chicago. Below are four of the primary benefits that come with choosing the latter option.
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- Posted by stratchi
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Meetings are an inevitable part of most businesses, and traveling for those meetings has been an integral part of the corporate world for a long time. However, the process of business travel has become outdated. Business travel can be very expensive, time-consuming, as well as unreliable. Just in 2014, 98,017 flights have been cancelled and 766,539 flights have been delayed (and it’s only September).
When it comes to cost, the average domestic business trip costs $965 and lasts 3.3 days. American companies spent roughly $225 billion sending their employees on trips in 2012. Additionally, it takes an average of 53 hours and 24 minutes to prepare, travel and attend an in-person meeting with five people. Overall, that’s a lot of time and money spent for meetings.
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- Posted by stratchi
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IT is the bedrock on which many companies are built. Consequently, the IT budget is a common cost cutting target. The challenge, of course, is to reduce IT costs without jeopardizing productivity. Outsourcing IT functions to a qualified third party is one of the easiest ways to do this. Your company may currently perform IT support in-house, but outsourcing the function can yield several important cost saving opportunities, four of which are listed below.
Reduced Hardware Maintenance
Implementing IT solutions on a hosted model is an excellent way to eliminate the upfront cost of hardware. In a hosted model, the service provider owns and maintains the system, charging you an affordable monthly fee. Examples of hardware that can be implemented on a hosted basis include servers, business telephone systems, and data storage silos, to name just a few.
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- Posted by stratchi
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Your business is the best of its kind. We know that; but do the public? Your company may offer the greatest products/services that your city has ever seen, but if you don’t invest in SEO, how will anyone know?
The biggest source of information these days is the Internet. And with more than 250 million websites on the Internet, yours could easily get lost in the clutter. SEO, or search engine optimization, is what makes your business stand out from the rest. With a strategic SEO campaign, your business will be able to see long term, lasting benefits.
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- Posted by stratchi
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If you’re a small business owner, do you allow your employees to use their own devices? If not, you’re missing out on a number of benefits that a BYOD can give your company. BYOD (bring your own device) is a growing trend in the business world as smartphones and tablet sales continue to rise. In fact, 83 percent of all businesses allow their employees to bring their own devices to work. While there are challenges and risks involved in allowing BYOD in your office, the opportunities typically outweigh them. Here are just four reasons SMBs should BYOD:
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- Posted by stratchi
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Lately VoIP, also known as Voice-Over Internet Protocol, has been taking the world by storm. Being known as the ‘reinvention-of-the-wheel,’ VoIP is a fancy term used to describe the transmission of audio signals over the internet. It is commonly used in the business world, but also as a consumer product–Viber, Google Voice, even Skype are currently dominating smartphones and PC with the concept of making free phone calls globally over the internet. Something current carriers do not offer.
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Going home for the holidays can be chaotic – weather, traffic, illness, you name it. Fortunately, the cloud makes holiday travel easier for professionals who need to remain in contact with their company while still enjoying time with their families. On the cloud, users are able to store their critical items on a virtual drive. This information can then be accessed from any computer or mobile device in the world as long as they’re connected to high-speed internet.
Since most people have smart phones, it’s no longer necessary to lug around hefty laptops while trying to juggle other luggage. This means important documents can be signed off on, budgets can be reviewed, and files can be shared by everyone no matter where they are during the holiday season.
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Growth is normally a business goal, however scaling can be very costly. Fortunately, there are new technologies that can help a company ramp up quickly and efficiently. These innovations make scaling up a data center simpler and less devastating to a company’s bottom line.
1. Modular Data Center Additions
Microsoft, HP, and other large companies provide entire data center modules that enable quick scale ups but at a hefty price. A new addition consisting of multiple racks and as few as 30, assembled remotely so that the cooling systems, power, cabinets, and servers are all ready to go by the time they are installed is more effective than adding an entire module with hundreds of servers.
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