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Cloud Asset Management

Why Cloud Asset Management is the Future

Cloud asset management is a collective process that a number of medium and large company make use of for tracking their software licenses. However, it can be even more than that, because it can also be used to deploy patches, applications, updates, and even entire operating systems to various devices.

Software Asset Management (SAM) is already popular on the cloud, but it will become much more so in the future, as more companies migrate their applications. When you’re looking for a new IT services provider, one of the factors you should consider is if the provider can offer software asset management as a cloud-based service. In this discussion, we’ll provide some insights as to why cloud asset management is the wave of the future, and why it’s here to stay.

Benefits of Cloud Asset Management

Cloud-based asset management can leverage the Internet’s bandwidth for better monitoring, metering, and delivery. When you can set up your SAM by placing the system in a public cloud space, it allows end processes to occur on the user’s personal bandwidth. Even though this last leg of the delivery of process is the only part that occurs on an employee’s personal bandwidth, it does remove the onus from the corporate network bandwidth. That leaves the corporate network available for monitoring, server patching, administration, operating system delivery, and any other maintenance activities that are necessary.

Some of the benefits of cloud management can be traced to the fact that cloud management itself is a vehicle that will free up your company from some of the mundane daily activities and allow you to focus on your business’s core needs. With your software being managed on the cloud, it removes it from your list of local responsibilities, and allows your employees to exclusively work in their specialty areas. Whenever any kind of integration is necessary, your host provider will be carrying it out via the cloud, while you await the successful completion of the task.

Fly in the ointment? 

Probably the only reason why cloud-based SAM hasn’t taken the world by storm thus far is the fact that many companies still have an abiding mistrust of cloud computing. And the reason why managers and executives haven’t fully embraced the cloud is their concern over security. Yes, security is an issue, but cloud-based services are better protected than local services. In other words, your data is even safer on the cloud than it is on your own localized, small network. When more managers come to realize this, the fly in the ointment will be removed, and there will be even more of a rush to embrace cloud computing and cloud-based SAM.

Contact Us 

It can be painstaking and difficult to find the right I.T. services provider, but you should start your search by narrowing it to companies proficient in Cloud Asset Management. Contact Terminal B today to find out how our adoption of cloud asset management can be a huge benefit to your company, and how we can make your data assets secure against attacks and corruption.

M365

11 Ways M365 Will Make Your Life Easier

People are always looking for ways to improve productivity in the business world, because that has a huge impact on any business’ bottom line. If you’re looking for a company to provide managed IT services for your company, you might want to find out if they use M365 in their approach to providing service. Assuming they do, you’ll be able to have much more confidence in the fact that they will be able to boost your company’s productivity.

How M365 will make life easier

Here are some of the tips that will make your life easier, by using the functionality included in M365:

  • Using smart lookup – this is an M365 feature that allows you to look up all kinds of information on your current document. Smart Lookup scans the web for information and delivers a list of useful results.
  • Use ‘tell me’ – the M365 tell me feature saves time by notifying you of the right tool that should be used for a particular situation. Type in what you’re trying to do and tell me will provide some options for how to go about it.
  • Share with collaborators – one of M365’s best features is that it allows you to easily share documents, so collaboration is a breeze. Click on the share button and then enter in an email address and you’re off to the races.
  • Restore the last copy – sometimes you change a document that you decide later is unnecessary, and in that case you’ll have the option of restoring the last saved copy. All you have to do is go into version history and click the restore button.
  • Focused inbox – this is a great way to clean up your inbox so that you’ll be able to focus on the most important messages. This works by segregating your incoming mail under two categories, those being focused and other.
  • Use SharePoint – this is a great way to collaborate on projects with other members of your team, and to share files when needed. SharePoint allows you to create a central repository for project files, so you can set up alerts to denote when changes have been made.
  • Freeze panes in Excel – anytime you’re working with a huge spreadsheet, you may want to freeze the top row so that you’ll always be able to see the headers as you scroll through the document.
  • Use keyboard shortcuts – this saves a lot of time, because it will allow you to quickly execute tasks, without ever having to do any mouse clicking. Just press the share button and enter the email to create a new document. All you have to do is press Ctrl+N, and you can see all shortcuts by selecting File, Options, and Keyboard Shortcuts.
  • Use budgeting templates – M365 provides a number of useful templates in Excel that can assist your planning and budgeting processes. You’ll be on top of your finances by tracking income and expenses.
  • Recall sent messages – If you’ve ever sent out an email and immediately wished you could take it back, this feature might be for you. As long as the recipient hasn’t opened your message yet, you’ll be able to recall any sent message by clicking on Recall and Delete Unread Messages.
  • Organized with OneNote – this is a great vehicle for organizing ideas and thoughts, and it can also be used to track project plans, meeting notes, and task lists.

Contact Us

Reach out to Terminal B today to learn more about how M365 can help your productivity.

It Service Provider

How To Know When You Have The Right IT Service Provider

If you have already begun the vetting process to find an IT service provider for your company, you will already have some experience in matching up your company’s goals, issues, and expectations with the services provided by these candidates. It’s extremely important that you choose the right services provider because it’s not an exaggeration to say that the success or failure of your enterprise may rest on making the right choice. That being the case, here are some considerations you should take into account when narrowing down the field of candidates and choosing the right provider for your company.

Support access

You should have multiple channels available to you for reaching out to your IT services provider. That means you should at least be able to contact them through telephone calls, emails, and even texting as well. There should be some method in place for submitting a help request online, and you should have a good idea when your request will be serviced. The greater access you have to your services provider, the more quickly any technical issues you might have will get resolved, so business can proceed.

Security

Security has become a huge issue in today’s computing environment, given the fact that so many criminal-minded individuals have taken up the practice of hacking to make money quickly without having to do any work. Investigate what kind of strategies your prospective IT managed service providers use daily for their end-to-end security. You’ll need to know that they have everything covered from firewalls to encryption, and even to remote data storage that will protect your company assets. Any provider you choose should have a disaster recovery plan in place, if it becomes necessary to recover damaged, lost, or hijacked data which is critical to your operation.

Understand their offerings

You need to have a good understanding of exactly what services are being offered by your prospective service providers. For instance, can they help you with data backups and migrations? Do they provide repairs to your computer equipment, and if so, what is the process for making that happen? If you’re thinking of migrating to the cloud, can they help you in that area? Ask about the kinds of tools the provider uses to make sure that you have 100% uptime, with virtually no outages.

Service packages

The small businesses of today can become the large corporations of tomorrow, if everything falls right for your company and you experience the kind of growth you envisioned when you first set out. Any Managed IT services provider you choose should be able to scale up right along with your company growth and handle your evolving needs as a growing company. Flexibility and scalability are important considerations if you expect to maintain a continuous relationship with a provider for several years to come.

Experience and reputation

It will be essential to know that any IT managed services provider you choose has a portfolio of satisfied clients, and that they have a track record of technical expertise and excellent customer service. Any provider you choose should be a stalwart in the community and should be well-reviewed by any company which has made use of their services in the past.

Still looking for an IT service provider?

You should take your time in finding just the right managed IT service provider, especially since it can have such a major impact on your operation. Contact us if you’re still looking for that ideal provider, and we can help you find the best match for your company’s goals and objectives.

Managed Cybersecurity

5 Ways Managed Cybersecurity Will Make Life Easier

The importance of keeping your software and systems updated with the latest patches really can’t be overstated, since it limits exposure to cyberattacks and helps to keep your business-critical data safe from hijacking or corruption. You should make best use of all the security features that your apps have built-in, as well as the other security measures your company has in place for combatting cyberattacks.

However, all that may not be enough to discourage all possible cyberattacks, since the computing environment today commonly includes both local and remote applications that make use of the cloud, and a very hybrid type of computing environment. The more IT gets stretched out to support remote workforces, the more exposed it is to risks. To make your life easier, you should seriously consider availing yourself of the services of a managed cybersecurity provider.

  1. Regular updates and patches

If you’re still doing this in-house, it can get to be a real chore, keeping up with all the latest patches and updates issued for your software and hardware. Yet, if you don’t apply them all promptly, you’ll be exposed to a number of cybersecurity threats, all of which could be thwarted by faithful updating of your patches. A services provider will handle all this for you, so you can focus on running your business.

  1. Don’t need those skillsets in-house

When you have a managed cybersecurity provider, you won’t need to have those same skills in-house, and that means you won’t have to pay someone a hefty salary for doing the work right on the premises. Security professionals are getting more expensive all the time because they are in such high demand, and for what you’d have to pay a pro, you can easily arrange for managed services with a reputable provider.

  1. Experts in the field

Because it’s their business to stay on top of all issues related to cybersecurity, managed services providers tend to be aware of all the latest threats, as well as all the latest software and hardware designed to thwart them. They know about things that your company probably would not be privy to, so you can get better protection from a service provider.

  1. 24/7 service

Your company probably doesn’t have anyone in-house who is dedicated to cybersecurity around the clock, but a managed services provider does. That gives you the best possible protection, and it even covers times when your entire staff might be in bed, dreaming of a world with no cybersecurity threats.

  1. Better communications

When you have a managed services provider, they make a point of contacting you about even the slightest threat to your network and business assets. Many of these communications might be overlooked if they were managed in-house, but a services provider will pass them along to you, so you know they are being vigilant and doing their jobs.

Contact us to learn more about our managed cybersecurity services

The never-ending area of cybersecurity can be a huge headache for any company, but it’s one that just can’t be overlooked. If you lack the personnel in-house to implement strong security measures, contact us so we can help you close any vulnerabilities, and make your business-critical data safe from attack.

IT Services Company

9 Questions A Potential Managed IT Provider Should Be Able to Answer

More companies than ever are outsourcing at least part of their I.T. function to a third-party, preferring to focus on their company strengths and core skills. However, the process of choosing the right managed IT provider can be very difficult, partly because there are so many of them, and partly because it’s absolutely critical that you make the right choice. Here are some of the questions you should be asking candidate companies, to determine if they’re the right fit for your enterprise.

  1. Q: What kinds of services does your company provide?

A: You may need to know whether a candidate company can handle the entire I.T. function, or whether you’re only looking for a partial outsourcing, and they can specialize in those areas.

  1. Q: Is your Helpdesk available 24/7?

A: If your business operates on a 24/7 basis, or if you have outlets in other time zones, you’ll need to know what kind of support can be delivered by a candidate provider. If there’s a gap in coverage, you may need a different provider or some other supplemental coverage.

  1. Q: How many employees are in your company?

A: This should tell you how large and how successful a particular candidate is, and whether they have the personnel to handle all your requirements. It should be an indicator of the level of success achieved by any candidate company you’re working with.

  1. Q: How long has your company been in business?

A: This is another strong indication of the level of success achieved by a candidate company. Those which have been in business for a number of years must have proven their ability during that time, and must have a portfolio of satisfied customers, otherwise they wouldn’t still be in business.

  1. Q: What is the typical size of your clients?

A: It’s good to know that a provider can handle a company of your size, and that they’re already doing so. If a provider would be overwhelmed by taking on a customer of your size, you should steer clear of them.

  1. Q: What is involved with your onboarding process?

A: You should have some idea of the process a candidate company would use to bring you into the fold. If you have any issues with their onboarding process, it’s good to know right up front rather than being surprised about it when it actually happens.

  1. Q: Do you support [X] application?

A: If there are any applications you use that are critical to your business success, you should know that a provider company can support this software if necessary.

  1. Q: What makes you stand out from your rivals?

A: If any of your candidate companies have features or services that set them apart from competitors, it would be good to know what those are. It may be something your company can leverage to advantage, and it may even be a reason for choosing one particular candidate.

  1. Q: What are your pricing plans?

A: You don’t want to get sticker shock when you get that first monthly bill, so make sure you know all the fees and charges associated with the outsourcing action. This will help you budget for that cost, and it will tell you whether or not a particular company is in line with your planned expenses for the coming calendar year and beyond.

Contact Terminal B to learn more about what an IT services company can offer

If you’re in the market for a managed I.T. services company that will put your company first, contact us today.

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