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IT Service Provider Services

7 Things A Good IT Service Provider Will Offer

In the past, it was fairly easy to provide managed IT services, because it involved day-to-day support and sometimes assisting the client with the adoption of new IT tools and techniques. However, today the services offered by an IT service provider have expanded dramatically to include such things as evolving technologies, IT competition, dynamic business environments, cyber security, and minimizing operational costs.

With this rapid expansion of desired services, a great many customers have become unhappy with their current IT providers. The vast majority of businesses and organizations have made at least one switch to a different managed service provider because they were unhappy with services they were originally provided with. If you’re wondering what kinds of services you can realistically expect from an IT provider nowadays, continue reading below to find out seven of the most useful services a provider could and should be delivering to you.

What you should be getting from your IT service provider

Here are seven of the most important services that your Managed Service Provider (MSP) should be able to deliver:

Updating network performance – since your network is the framework for your entire infrastructure, good performance will dictate data availability all through your organization. One aspect of your MSP’s job is to guarantee optimal network performance by constantly optimizing and upgrading specific components.

Adopting new technologies – when you can stay abreast of the latest digital business solutions, it will provide you with streamlined business processes as well as a competitive edge. Since the technology landscape is constantly changing, it’ll be to your advantage to have someone help you choose and implement those innovations which might be most advantageous to your business.

Data backups and recovery – since data is one of your most valuable business assets, it should be a top priority for protecting your data. Your MSP can contribute to this effort by establishing and managing a good system of backup and recovery, so that you’ll have constant access to business-critical data, which can continually be safeguarded.

Cyber threats – there’s no question that cybercrime is constantly on the increase, and that criminals are constantly developing new approaches and techniques for compromising your data. Any good IT provider should help protect all your business-critical data from existing cyber threats as well as emerging ones.

Documentation and housekeeping – a good IT provider has to be responsible for system services, assets, and for performing necessary upgrades. They should also be documenting all the important information about your infrastructure, patching and updates, and optimizations.

Maintaining certifications and compliance – almost all countries around the globe have data protection and privacy legislation in place that will safeguard your data. Your company may be subject to a number of data safety laws on various governmental levels. Any good IT provider should be able to assist you in maintaining compliance under all these regulations, and to avoid any potential penalties.

Business continuity plan – this is a plan that defines how a business will operate following any kind of significant disruption. Your MSP should have a solid continuity plan in place to help you recover from potential disasters such as systems failures, data loss, or significant cyber-attacks.

Schedule a consultation today

If you’re unhappy for any reason with your current provider, contact us at Terminal B and let us show you how we can provide all the important services your business needs. If your MSP can’t deliver the kinds of services, you need and you should seek a provider who can deliver the essential services you need to stay competitive in today’s volatile business environment.

How The Right IT Consultants Can Save Your Sanity

These days, business owners have to be keenly aware of cyber threats and attacks, because not taking the right kind of precautions can literally cause you to lose a fortune, or to go out of business entirely. The headlines these days are full of news items about businesses which have been attacked, with data being compromised and possibly held for ransom by enterprising hackers. If you want to avoid the possibility of having to be bilked out of thousands of dollars of ransom money, or having some kind of malicious virus literally take control of your entire system, your best bet would be to seek out the cybersecurity services of knowledgeable and competent IT consultants.

How an IT Consultant can save your sanity

Here are some of the ways that working with a great IT security consultant can save you headaches, and possibly a ton of money besides:

Economic benefits – if you have a really small business, you might think hard about collaborating with an IT security consultant, but it will probably save you a ton of money in the long run. Your security measures will be emplaced more quickly, and will probably be done right the first time, and you can be confident that you have the best possible security solutions in place. Another benefit of working with an IT security consultant is that they can train your staff, so the element of human error can be reduced.

Saving time – there’s literally no time to waste when you’re trying to improve your cyber defenses. If you have this done by your own in-house staff, they’ll be subject to all kinds of distractions and you can expect the job to take considerably longer. Working with an IT consultant will get the job done much more quickly, because they will be focused on working with your business and nothing else.

Greater experience – you may have some in-house experience and knowledge from your existing personnel, but there is no question that an IT security consultant will have a greater level of knowledge and experience, and will be more focused on the task at hand. A consultant will be in possession of all current knowledge about emerging threats, which means they’ll be able to react better to protect your business-critical data from all known cyber threats.

Productivity – working with IT consultants will help to develop your own internal staff with regard to security procedures and in-house threats before they even occur. This will help to improve performance for your in-house personnel and upgrade their level of knowledge.

No oversell on unnecessary solutions – IT consultants are always focused on providing the best solution for your company. Knowing that there are no one-size-fits-all solutions, you can count on your solution being customized to your specific business needs. This can all be done at a very affordable cost, since there have been a number of recent advances in providing comprehensive IT security solutions.

Availability and convenience – one of the best things about working with IT consultants is that you have access to them literally around the clock. Any issues you might have during off hours can be quickly relayed to your consultant, and that person, or an alternative, will quickly address the issue so that it doesn’t get out of control. You’ll probably discover that working with an IT consultant gives you greater access and support than you would get from even your own in-house personnel.

Terminal B can save your sanity

If you think your business might benefit by working with an experienced IT consultant, please contact us at your earliest convenience. We have a team of well-trained, knowledgeable specialists who stand ready to help you navigate the rough waters of a fast-changing business environment, and to avoid the disaster associated with being victimized by cyber crime.

Cloud Asset Management Illustration

How To Know If Cloud Asset Management Is Right For Your Company

First of all, let’s define what is meant by the term cloud asset management. There’s no question that it’s a huge benefit to be able to access the cloud from any physical location using any electronic device. However, as is the case with physical data storage, there is generally some kind of requirement for secure storage and access, and that’s where asset management comes in.

Cloud asset management attempts to solve the issues of secure storage and access, and the way that it manages business-critical data securely on the cloud. Most businesses will employ a number of different asset management solutions in order to control and effectively administer their digital assets, but a cloud-based solution will generally be superior to an in-house solution because of its more robust security features, as well as its ease of administration. All businesses will require total control of their business assets on the cloud. By employing a safe asset management solution, many different teams within your business can easily access needed data and monitor their assets effectively.

Importance of The Right Asset Management

Cloud asset management is necessary so as to safeguard business-critical data, and to ensure that it can be accessed by business teams from any geographic location. When you have complete control of your business assets, it becomes easier to run your business operation and provide the access needed by relevant teams within your company. If you didn’t have this kind of control over your cloud assets, it could cause improper handling of data considered to be business-critical.

For example, you certainly wouldn’t want this information to be accessed by people whom it was not intended for. Having a great asset management tool will help to avoid security lapses, and at the same time ensure smooth business operations. Cloud asset management will also allow you to stay on top of your business assets, so they can be tracked and managed effectively. If you didn’t have this kind of tight control, it could easily lead to overspending and a general loss of business productivity.

Is It Right for Your Company?

As a general rule of thumb, deciding on the right asset management approach often follows the size of the business you have currently. For example, if your business is a smaller one with limited physical and digital assets, you may be able to get by with an in-house asset management system fairly well. Larger organizations will generally have a greater need for cloud asset management, because they have a great many more physical and digital assets that need to be managed and tightly controlled.

If you think your business would benefit by some of the most notable advantages of cloud asset management, you should contact a provider like ours and seek additional information on how it can benefit your specific organization. You’ll have improved access for business requirements like remote work, you’ll have all data stored and managed from a single location, you’ll be able to include attached images and records using cloud-based tools, and it will be much easier to manage large data sets effectively.

If your business is a relatively large one, and these benefits would be of real value to your organization, you should strongly consider implementing a program of cloud asset management.

Let us Know How We Can Help Solve Your Cloud Asset Management Needs

If you’re considering an initiative for cloud asset management in San Antonio, you should contact us today so we can discuss the benefits of Microsoft Azure. You’ll notice the tremendous advantages of having complete control over your business assets and critical data, and you may even end up saving money because you’ll have greater control and visibility over all assets.

How Does Desktop As A Service Work — And Is It Right For You?

Desktop as a Service (DaaS) rose to prominence during the pandemic which afflicted the entire globe, and is even today still making its presence felt. During this time, remote teams proved they could still be productive and successful, regardless of where they were working and how spread out they were from the central company. In the aftermath of all that, companies are having to scramble in order to facilitate the technological needs of both remote workers and hybrid workers.

Desktop-as-a-service can fill in the gaps nicely here and provide the needed services for workers. At its heart, DaaS is a secure, high-performance, efficient method of desktop virtualization. It frees businesses from having their computer operating systems tied to physical hardware, and instead allows businesses to use DaaS as a means of accessing virtual desktops on the Internet by using a cloud provider. Cloud providers who offer this type of service can manage virtual desktops directly from their own centralized data centers.

Benefits provided by DaaS

Here are some of the most notable and beneficial advantages of implementing a DaaS service, such as Azure Virtual Desktop for your company:

Lowers IT costs – DaaS solutions can save your company a great deal of money by shifting the cost of on-premises hardware and software to a cloud-based environment where desktops can be purchased as needed.

Increased security – There are fewer security risks posed by DaaS, because the data will all reside directly at the cloud providers’ datacenter, as opposed to being stored on tablets, desktops, or phones used by employees.

Facilitates remote work – With the steadily rising popularity of remote work, a different approach is necessary to access data and applications. Using a DaaS like Azure Virtual Desktop, IT teams can easily move between platforms, and access needed data from multiple machines, regardless of their physical location.

Extend shelf-life of legacy machines – Companies which can’t afford to upgrade all their outdated machines will have the option instead to use DaaS to install a brand-new operating system on all machines. Serving this new operating system from the cloud is far more affordable than replacing all your on-premises equipment simultaneously.

Supports bring-your-own-device (BYOD) – Using DaaS, a bring-your-own-device policy can be supported, so employees are not obliged to only use company-issued devices or to use the same device at all times. This means employees can use their own laptops, tablets, and phones to accomplish work projects and tasks.

Simplifies desktop management – The administrative load can be significantly reduced by outsourcing the deployment, configuration, and management of any company’s virtual desktops. It’s also much easier to scale up or down using DaaS, so it won’t be necessary to manage that in-house.

Is DaaS right for you?

If your company is one that has a significant number of employees working remotely, you should consider DaaS as one possible solution. It can make your life much easier, while also providing the services needed by your employees, in order to remain productive and successful on the job. Keep in mind that you should also be able to enjoy all the benefits described above, and these are some significant reasons for you to avail yourself of DaaS services.

Contact us today if you’re interested in finding out more about how your company can benefit by using the DaaS Azure Virtual Desktop on the cloud. We can help get you setup very quickly, so your employees can start making immediate use of remote desktop services at whatever location they happen to be at.

What The Best Managed IT Service Providers Know About Security

These days it’s essential for any good managed IT service provider to have security as a top priority in their business. Companies will simply not want to work with a service provider that cannot adequately protect business-critical data, and provide assurance that their company data is safe from cyberattack. What Managed Service Providers (MSPs) know about security is that it is essential for business growth. That means the best security practices must be in place right from the beginning, so that they can grow right along with the company.

What MSPs know about security

A managed IT service provider also knows that protecting data is the first obligation in cybersecurity, so detecting any system vulnerabilities becomes paramount. Since the threats themselves are external, they cannot be controlled in any way – but the steps taken to prevent threats from actually being carried out can be managed. Therefore, service providers know they must implement several layers of security, in order to protect their clients’ business data, so their own services will be in demand. The security layers called for include training employees, management policies, security procedures, and such technical controls as firewalls, passwords, anti-virus software, multi-factor authentication, and data authorization.

Security service providers also know the best security practices available at any given time. This can be a tricky thing to manage, because those practices must be constantly updated and changed, in accordance with new methods and approaches used by cyber criminals to penetrate networks. Here is how an MSP will implement top-notch security practices, based on their knowledge and experience with cybercriminals:

Firewall – since the Internet is the primary access point to all stored data on the cloud, a solid firewall must be setup to block intrusions.

Dynamic firewall rules – these must be implemented, so that it’s not necessary to update firewall rules with every new threat.

Protect wireless access points – employees use these to connect to Wi-Fi, so they must be protected through authorization and encryption.

SD Wan – allows for high availability of data for situations like VoIP and Microsoft Teams.

Servers and workstations – since these are network endpoints, they must have comprehensive security controls in place.

Virus detectors – must be running continuously, and must include all known threats.

Backups – to be prepared for inevitable data breaches, data backups must be maintained off-site so that corrupted or encrypted data is not lost.

Putting what they know into practice

Knowing the best practices to implement for security is the foundation for services provided by an MSP to all clients. All the security controls described above must be in place in order to properly protect client data. All data gathered from these controls can then be logged into a central repository, where the service provider will receive instant notifications about any suspicious activity. Because client data is constantly being monitored, any risk to clients is significantly reduced, while security is being increased.

Contact us

If you’re in the market for a new managed IT service provider, we urge you to contact us at your earliest convenience. We make a point of maintaining a staff of the best and most knowledgeable security experts, so they can use their knowledge to help protect your valuable data assets. We use what we know about security and cybercrime to prevent intrusions and breaches, so that you can sleep easier at night, with the knowledge that your business-critical data is safe from exploitation by cybercriminals.

10 Things You Didn’t Know Windows 365 Could Do For You

Most individuals and most companies purchase Windows 365 so they can use PowerPoint, Word, and Excel – but there are plenty of other hidden treasures within the software that you can make advantageous use of. In this article, we’ll discuss ten of these hidden gems that you might want to use, so you can really maximize your use of Windows 365.

Ten undiscovered gems in Windows 365

Most subscribers to Windows 365 are unaware that the following apps are contained within the software, ready to be used at any time:

Power Automate – Power Automate can automate repetitive tasks for you, and save you tons of time. It connects to other Microsoft 365 apps and creates workflows comprised of the actions you use most frequently. it also helps to remove or lessen the high volume of human error, because the processes are all automated.

Bookings – This can be a valuable app for scheduling meetings with contacts or with your team members. Any kind of appointments can be scheduled using this app, since it sends recipients a notification to choose a time and date which is suitable for their schedule.

Planner – Among all the planning apps on the market today, Planner stands out because it’s so intuitive and easy to use. You can manage entire projects by creating a team, a list of tasks that must be accomplished, and then assigning those tasks to team members.

Yammer – This app works like Facebook for the business environment. It’s basically an internal communication platform that has a Facebook kind of feed, which is very familiar for users. It can also be integrated with Teams, so that employees can drop in and out of conversations anytime.

SharePoint – This is in essence, an Intranet for your company, being a very popular way to share web pages, resources, and news in a big way. It’s totally customizable, meaning that you can add your own color scheme and company logo. It looks somewhat like Teams, but it doesn’t really have a project work focus or involve any kind of teamwork.

PowerApps – This is an outstanding app that has become a leader in the no-code revolution sweeping the business. Your employees will have all the tools they need to create apps, and this can remove the necessity of manual data entry, while also pushing out updates to team members’ smartphones. It’s a bit like Power Automate in that it generates workflows automatically, although it’s a far more complex app.

To-Do – Everyone loves to use a to-do list in order to keep track of outstanding tasks and obligations. This app allows you to create such lists, then track and prioritize your tasks for whatever area of your business you need them. You can tell at a glance what has already been accomplished, and what is yet to be done. This app works very well with many other Microsoft 365 apps for information-sharing and updating, and it’s available on mobile and desktop platforms.

Sway – This is very much like PowerPoint lite, allowing you to create newsletters, presentations, and all kinds of other documents efficiently and rapidly. One of the great things about this app is that you can extract content from online sources, then instantly produce a professional-looking result without having to invest tons of time in it.

Stream – Anyone who likes YouTube will love working with Stream, because it’s an internal video-sharing kind of app. Using this app, you can upload, share, and produce your own video content. You can also organize that content into different channels, share it with team members, and make use of the tremendous amount of storage it comes with.

Clarity – It’s always good to know how users are accessing and making use of your website. When you know what they’re clicking on and what they’re engaging with, you can modify your website so it’s more appealing to users. Clarity provides heat maps of pages and sections where users are spending a great deal of time. It’s also capable of replaying videos of what users are doing on your website.

Using extra features in Windows 365

Most people don’t know about many of the apps and features described above, because they’re focused on using the more traditional apps provided by the product. If you’d like to know more about the apps above, or about other lesser-known features included in the software, contact us at your convenience. We have experts on hand who will be happy to explain or provide a service that will educate you and your team members.

5 Top Threats Cyber Security Services Defend Against

By the year 2025, it is expected that it will cost a total of $10.25 trillion to continue the battle against cyber crime. Given the fact that this is representative of the largest wealth transfer in human history, there isn’t much doubt about the size of the problem, nor about the need for everyone to do their part. While humans themselves have historically been the weakest links in preventing cyber crime (consider phishing and identity scams), cyber security services can contribute a great deal to defending corporate data. In this article, we’ll consider the five biggest cyber security threats out there today, and how cyber security services help to prevent them from happening to your business.

Cloud security threats

There are literally tons of opportunities for leaks to take place with so much data traveling between companies and various business partners. A tremendous amount of data passes between cloud providers and business organizations, and that gives cyber criminals their chance to hijack this data for their own purposes. With so many businesses now having moved to the cloud, it has become fertile ground for concentrated attacks by criminal-minded individuals. About 50% of all businesses are now on the cloud, so even more organizations will be positioned there in the future – which means there will be greater opportunity for cyber criminals.

Mobile security threats

Even though mobile computing hasn’t been around all that long, it hasn’t taken cyber criminals long to figure out vulnerable points and carry out attacks against them. In fact, since mobile devices have become so popular, they have become a particular point of interest to cyber criminals, simply because there are so many of them. There are app-based threats, web-based attacks, network attacks, and even physical threats against devices that don’t use PIN numbers or biometric security features.

Social engineering attacks

Social engineering attacks have grown even more prevalent in the last couple years, because more workers are signing on to work machines from home, where less protections are in place. These types of attacks are often the most successful because they usually involve tricking a human into providing passwords or other critical company data, and they all seem very safe and legitimate. Some of the most common ploys have criminals posing as company executives, and asking for specific company data, or using email attachments to unleash viruses into a company network.

Ransomware

The basic premise of ransomware involves a breach of the company network, and unleashing a virus that encrypts business data, thereby rendering it unusable. The cyber attacker will then ask for a sum of money in return for the data, and many companies simply have no recourse but to pay the ransom and hopefully get their data back. These kinds of attacks are growing exponentially, since Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) has now become popular. Kits can be purchased that will unleash ransomware on various companies, so the would-be cybercriminal can simply turn it loose on an unsuspecting business public.

Remote work threats

Working from home increased significantly during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and most remote workers have continued in that setup even after COVID has begun declining. This fact has not been lost on cyber criminals, who are doing their best to exploit the relatively weaker security computing environment. For instance, there are unsafe Wi-Fi networks, email and phishing scams, unencrypted file-sharing, and workers will often use personal devices for work. Most personal devices lack the security protection necessary to safeguard business data, and this provides an opening for cyber criminals to carry out attacks.

Ready to protect your work environment with Cyber Security Services?

Contact us to today to learn more about optimizing your defenses.

11 Frequently Asked Questions About Cloud Service

With many businesses already having positioned themselves on the cloud for efficiency and savings, you’d think that there’s a fairly good understanding about cloud storage and what it can do for you. Even though 94% of all businesses use at least some form of cloud service, only about 50% of all corporations currently store their business-critical data there. That means many companies are still in the process or considering a move to the cloud. Here are some of the questions most often asked about cloud computing, and the answers may be helpful in having you reach a decision for your own business.

Frequently asked questions

Q: How safe is the cloud?

A: While the cloud is subject to constant attack from cyber criminals, most providers have some excellent security measures in place. When negotiating with a particular provider, be sure to find out what kind of security they have in place.

Q: Is cloud storage still popular?

A: Absolutely. It is currently a $370 billion dollar business, and by the year 2025 it is expected to soar to the astronomical level of $832 billion.

Q: How many companies actually use cloud service currently?

A: Approximately 94% of all companies use some kind of cloud services, even if they don’t have their company data stored there.

Q: What’s the difference between private, public, and hybrid clouds?

A: Private clouds are only used by a single enterprise, which means they would then maintain all the hardware and infrastructure. A public cloud is used by multiple businesses, and none of these would be responsible for any kind of maintenance. A hybrid cloud is one which allows you to use both a private cloud and a public one when it is advantageous for you to do so.

Q: How much data is actually stored on the cloud?

A: By the time 2025 rolls around, there will be more than 100 zettabytes stored on the cloud. A zettabyte is equivalent to one billion terabytes, or one trillion gigabytes. Also by 2025, there will be more than 200 zettabytes of data stored on all media, with half that being on the cloud.

Q: Who is the biggest provider of cloud services?

A: At present, the largest provider of cloud services is Amazon Web Services. Amazon has about 31% of the total market share, which is considerable, given the number of companies making use of the service.

Q: Which geographic region has the biggest share of cloud computing services?

A: By far, North America uses the biggest share of cloud services, at a whopping 61%. The next closest area would be Western Europe, at a distant 21%.

Q: How did COVID-19 impact cloud services?

A: COVID-19 caused a sudden flock of businesses to join the cloud, because so many workers were obliged to do remote work at that time.

Q: What is a data warehouse?

A: It is a setup which can incorporate both current and historical data, because businesses often have a need for detailed analysis of data. A data warehouse is capable of handling all these needs, because it is designed to handle long-range data needs over a period of time.

Q: What is microservices architecture?

A: This type of architecture allows a very large application to be broken down into smaller, functional applications so that services can be provided to the requestor much more quickly and efficiently.

Q: What are containers?

A: These are self-contained packages including all the elements necessary to run in virtually any kind of computing environment. Development teams often make use of containers, because they facilitate rapid development and efficient deployment.

Ready to join the cloud?

At some point in the near future, most businesses will be situated on the cloud. Now is the time for your company to make the move, and realize some of the same advantages and benefits that other companies have been enjoying for years already. You will probably save money on monthly operating costs, and you’ll gain some remarkable efficiencies while doing so. Contact us today to get setup for the exciting world of cloud service.

What the Best IT Consulting Companies Know About Productivity

Most businesses and their owners would like to become more productive, because increased productivity means generating more product within the same amount of time, and that leads to greater profitability. Some owners have spent considerable effort thinking of ways that could make their business more productive, without really making any substantial gains. That’s why there can be a great deal of value in hiring an outside consultant to come into your company and make recommendations after assessing your processes and work strategies. In this article, we’ll discuss what the best IT consulting companies know about productivity that perhaps a business owner might not be aware of, or simply cannot see.

Different perspectives

There can be tremendous value in having someone from the outside evaluate your business processes with a view toward increasing productivity. It’s similar to the situation we’ve all been in where we talked over a problem with a friend or relative, and they immediately had a clear idea about how to solve the problem. Sometimes what’s really necessary is simply to bring in a different perspective and a new set of eyes, to see and comprehend the issues. In some cases, a business owner is just too close to the situation to see the obvious, and it takes someone who has no involvement to see past the obstacles and find a solution.

Accountability

Another reason why a business owner might fail to install measures that lead to increased productivity is because he/she is too close to employees to hold them accountable for their actions. Whenever someone you trust holds you accountable for your actions, it greatly increases the likelihood that the appropriate measures will be adopted and success will be achieved.

When a consultant comes into your company and makes recommendations for improvement, they will generally hold you accountable for implementing those measures – otherwise, what’s the point of seeking outside help? It’s like when you’re trying to lose weight on your own, versus having a friend accompany you on that same journey. By yourself, you might well be tempted to slip off the bandwagon and start cheating, but your friend being right there with you will discourage that kind of behavior and help keep you on track for accomplishing your weight loss goals.

Technology

IT consultants are very aware of the fact that using the most advanced and modern technology can instantly boost productivity for any kind of business enterprise. Whereas a single business owner might only be aware of what’s happening with their own discreet enterprise, a consultant will have had the chance to work with many different companies, and will have observed the many positive benefits technology can bring. Individual workers will be more efficient when they have the latest technology available to them, because work can be done faster and more efficiently.

When a consultant recognizes a situation that could be improved by making use of better technology, they will point that out and possibly recommend that a business adopt this newer technology. It won’t be a case of just installing advanced hardware or software everywhere because it might bring about good results – it’s much more a case where technology would be recommended when there is clear indication that it will provide a substantial boost to productivity.

The best IT consulting companies can bring it all together

These are three very important aspects that might heavily contribute toward increasing productivity at any company. The best IT consulting companies will be aware of these valuable tools, and will recommend them in the appropriate situation to bring about positive change. Even if you knew about these things already, they might not lead to a more productive work environment at your business, because you might need a fresh perspective, greater accountability, or some solid advice about new technology.

For more information about what Terminal B can do for you, click here.

What You Should Expect From Your IT Helpdesk

There’s no question that an IT Helpdesk team must be ready and willing to provide the assistance necessary to resolve critical problems. Some of these may be serious enough to shut the business down, and downtime is anathema to any business owner. In the article below, we’ll discuss some of the qualities you should expect from an IT Helpdesk team when you’re looking for a provider. Any company that is unable to provide these services may best fit for your company.

Unlimited support

With any normal IT helpdesk, you should be able to get the support your need from your managed IT services provider. If an issue can’t be resolved remotely, and your plan includes it, you can expect that an engineer will be dispatched to the local site, where a more hands-on approach can be administered. Ideally, you want your support to have a ‘whatever it takes’ attitude toward problem resolution.

Flexible service level agreements (SLAs)

No business is the same and that holds true for IT helpdesk needs as well. Your IT services provider should offer a number of different service level agreements so that you can find the right level of service for your business’s needs.

Team approach

Having a team approach is probably the best way to handle a helpdesk, because it allows for members of the team to become very familiar with a particular client, so their support can be much more specific. It also allows for frequent interaction between the helpdesk team and your company personnel, so that trust and confidence can build up between them.

Solution for talent retention 

It is the nature of the beast in the IT world, that skilled professionals will move relatively often to find new jobs. You may already have encountered situations where some of your most valuable employees left the company or are at least seriously considering it. A managed IT services provider can be relied on to provide continuity of services in an uncertain economy. In addition, an MSP offers maturity and expertise not available on the ever-changing hamster wheel of staffing.

Experienced engineers

It is worthwhile to find out the level of expertise associated with any helpdesk at a company you are considering for managed IT services. Ideally, a good helpdesk should be comprised of individuals with many different skills, and it should include levels of proficiency that range from relative newcomer to very experienced veteran. This kind of diversity will provide faster resolution for issues, and more high-quality support from your IT helpdesk.

Contact Us

We understand that when you are seeking an IT services provider, it is essential to have a fully functional, smoothly operating IT helpdesk. That is why we have gone out of our way to establish the best functionality in the business, and it’s why we can offer clients the most efficient support possible. Contact us today to find out more about our hosted services, and about how our superior IT helpdesk functions.

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