There are three things on the Internet that irk me beyond reason.

Number one of course is rogue security software.  No additional info needed here!

Number two is trial-ware that does not give you a fully working product. How are you suppose to evaluate their solution if you cannot test every function?

Number three is “piggybacking” software applications. We have written about each of these items before in different terms, but I want to bring up the subject of piggybacking again because of something that is happening more and more.  This is malicious software that is installed with another program. Never a good idea.

Oh wait; there is a fourth – automatic renewals that charge your credit card without asking. I hate them – and we don’t have them.

A lot of companies we come across have an IT support strategy based on ‘a guy.’  An IT guy working full time somewhere else.  The owner’s nephew.  A guy who works in the plant but has set up a network of his own at this house.

EVERYTHING in your business rides on your computer network and the data it holds – which is exactly why you can’t afford to have an incompetent person managing it.  But how can you k now for sure if you have the right person or company?  How can a non-technical person know if they are paying for sub-standard support?  And how can you make sure you don’t find out the hard way after a major disaster erases all your data and brings down your network for a week?

Email me for more information – including a report we published “A 2010 Guide to Choosing a Reliable Technical Support Firm.”

I think you will find it a quick read – packed with valuable information.

Thank goodness we drink our own medicine…….

As most of you will know, one of the services we offer our clients is Disaster Recovery via our secure offsite backup  – where we use special software to protect your business critical data and get your technology up and running again in the event of problems or missing files.  Not only do we protect, but we make restoration easy and quick.  The key to true disaster recovery.

This month we had a bit of a nasty shock when – thanks to some pesky failed disks – one of our own internal Servers had a problem and failed.  This meant we had to do perform  Disaster Recovery on one of our own systems.

Is this the definition of irony? Perhaps; but we were thankful for the protection of our offsite backup we use.  It had us recovered and running without a hitch and in very short order.

From our own personal experience, we highly recommend it!

Interested in how to protect your own company’s data or assets?  Please call today at 630-960-9200 and we will give you a free 30 day trial.  We will even let you try our powerful local data vault device for quicker recovery and added protection.

In today’s difficult market environment, many small and medium businesses are looking for better solutions for their technology management and support.  The best effective and money saving solutions are found in flat rate services that monitor your technology 24×7, is proactive, and has unlimited onsite and remote support. But is this business model valuable? We say yes—and think you’ll agree when we explain why.

With flat-rate, unlimited support, an IT firm constantly manages your network, typically from afar. In other words, someone will prevent many IT problems—and fix those that do occur before they disrupt your operations.

Despite this benefit, many companies still consider unlimited support an unnecessary expense because it typically involves a monthly flat rate fee. But there are many ways that such a model actually lowers your IT costs.

• Lower overhead. It can be expensive to hire and train IT staff. In fact, staffing is often the largest portion of a company’s IT budget. You can eliminate much of that expense with outsourced unlimited support, which provide you with high-quality IT staff at a fraction of the cost.  You get the expertise of various staff members that have a vast array of experience.

• Increased cost predictability. The cost of responding to an IT problem is usually an unplanned expense—and often can be a significant one. With unlimited support, you prevent problems, so you can better predict (and therefore manage) IT costs.  And when issues do come up, there are no additional costs.

• A better business model. Additionally, unlimited support provides an efficient business model. There’s less IT down time, which means employees are less frustrated and customers are always served. No more lost employee time (and $$) with outages or inefficient systems. That increases employee retention and helps you create long-term business relationships—which in turn can increase your revenue.

Contact us today for more information about our unlimited, flat-rate technical support.  I guess being proactive really is valuable!