(Photo credit: Michael @ NW Lens)

There once was a time when help desk was such a misnomer. It was more like help-over-the-frustrating-phone. Working in the bullpens of nationwide organizations in the mid ‘90’s, I can recall the hair pulling experience of troubleshooting a printer problem for almost half an hour over the phone, when the client finally confessed that he had not been following many of my instruction because he “couldn’t be bothered” and thought I should just know how to fix his problem off the bat without his “help”. Pins and needles, needles and pins... (Honeymooners reference there for those that don’t know it).

Oh what we would have given for remote access software. Oh how we would have rejoiced and made offerings to the mighty software gods for such powers. Now I write this of course from the techie's perspective, but I can well too imagine the dialogue of that one time client: “I had a printer problem and this company technician, whom I’m sure is overpaid, had me clicking around for almost two hours. She had no clue what the problem was and who knows how we got it to work.” Perspective is everything, but I am sure this guy would have rejoiced just as loudly given the option of me simply remoting his system and taking care of the issue while he got himself a latte.

End of story, today’s technology goes a long way to bridging the gap between user and support technician, making everyone’s life easier and blood pressure that much lower.

What’s your worst help desk experience; from either prospective?

Cubicles in a now-defunct co-working space in Portland, Oregon. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The day has finally come where you can have employees that never enter your physical office. You can expand your staff while not paying for more physical space to house them in. For all you know, some of your employees can be men, women, or mystical characters from beyond; yet all fully qualified, of course. Wherever or whoever your employees are doesn't matter as much anymore as their ability to successfully work off-site.

Many growing businesses need a simple solution to working with off-site employees at low prices.  Businesses want their remote workers to not only be reached at a minute-to-minute basis, but also to give them access to files from the office. Fortunately the ability, to speak with employees from anywhere in the world is a simple and very inexpensive possibility.

You might be shocked, but the solution doesn't require as large a budget as you likely anticipate. The solutions pertain to e-mail, telephones, and IM.  Microsoft Exchange can provide your email needs with extra features, higher security, and web access.  Microsoft even offers an IM solution called Lync that ties into your email and allows you to not only chat securely, but also automatically save the conversations to your Outlook for later reference.  And as for file sharing, now there are many options to consider, from in-house servers and VPNs to full cloud solutions. For telephone solutions, there are many VOIP options available that allow organizations to operate as if the employees are in the same space, even though they are not. Phones that can connect via extension numbers, share voice-mail boxes and more. And all are technologies almost exclusively built for the small business.

End of story, having employees that don't even share a zip code work as if they were in adjoining cubicles can be done. All that is needed is a bit of technology and a dash of courage. But I think you can do it.

How do you feel about the evolving office space? Do you like the idea of people working from all over, or do you prefer the comfort of knowing you can walk down the hall to talk to a co-worker if you need to?

(smallbiztechnology.com)

Here's a topic that gets us techies clucking whenever it comes up. Those of us that serve small businesses play a game of who has the better horror story. By far, my favorite (because it didn't happen to me or one of our clients) was the one about the company that had to spend $10,000 to replace all the essential business data lost to drive failure. There was complicated and expensive low level hard drive data retrieval involved. I still get goose bumps. That terrifying tale is closely followed by the company that had to pay two extra full time employees for four weeks of data entry to replace the database information they lost at the errant stroke of a key. Neither of these companies had a backup plan of course. Are you shivering yet?

The simple fact is that backing the systems is not only simple, inexpensive and essential, it can and will save you thousands of dollars and hundreds of man hours when the inevitably unexpected happens. The options go from buying the hardware to saving it through an on-line service, or cloud backup. The benefit of any on-line service is it fits nicely into a disaster recovery plan as well. See, when a system is backed up to tape and the tape is stored within arm's reach of the system, that does nothing for you should something unforeseen happen to the office in which the systems reside. With both system and tape gone, you no longer have a business. Plus, on-line backup services are automated and verified by someone else, one less thing for you to worry about.



End of story, while hindsight is 20/20 a little foresight goes a lot further and feels so much better too. Back up the systems to tape, to external drive, or through on-line service. Just get it done, before not doing so does you in.

Do you have a backup horror story of your own? What are you doing to backup your data today?

The best way I can frame this is by listing the six things that make MY IT Services Management company great; seems only natural. Firstly, my team and I look to create relationships with industry leading companies. Dell and Microsoft, for example, offer great partnership programs. They expect superior quality from their partners, ensuring quality to our clients by extension. In turn they provide exceptional support, training and exclusive deals we get to pass on to our clients. It's the best way to create a win - win situation.

The fact is we have staff so you don't have to. Our staff is trained and kept up to speed with relevant and emerging technologies. Additionally, given the number of technologies our staff is trained on, the cost of one contract is far less and more encompassing than hiring on one tech support position for your company. Being that we have staff, and not “a guy”, when one is out or on vacation, our clients never feel the absence because there are others to pick up the slack. And because we are watching the systems pro-actively, we'll catch the preventable issues before they become headaches for you.  We totally have your back.

We have been in this business since 2002. Clearly we are not a fly by night, or like one of the “tech guys” you find on Craigslist. We are reputable and reliable. And though I may sound a bit boastful, it's actually well-earned pride. And in truth, any IT Management Services company you work with should be able to say the same.

Recap:

Six Signs of a Great IT Management Services Company

1.    Vendor relationships that benefit you
2.    No training cost
3.    Less than the cost of hiring one in house tech staff
4.    No service gap due to absence (or vacation pay, as you would for an in house hire)
5.    Proactive monitoring
6.    Established companies that can offer reliability

Tell me, what are the hallmarks of a great company in your industry? And if you have any questions for me, go ahead, shoot.

Reading in the recent issue of the NY Enterprise Report that "CFOs Planning on Investing in IT in 2012" my cold little heart was warmed for more than just the obvious reasons. Aside from the clear opportunities this creates for my business, it really does make me breathe a sigh of relief to know that many small business are actually considering rising out of the techno back waters we often find them in.

All to often, when we start working with a new client, the current state of their IT is one a few scenarios. Either, they have a fair number of "Frankenstein" computers that were cobbled together by their last IT guy, with pirated software that has stopped functioning properly. Or we walk into a scenario where too much technology was implemented in an effort to solve a relatively simple issue. For example, a $10,000 server purchased to resolve the simple issue of sending out fifty page faxes the purchase of a new fax machine would have solved. It is not uncommon for us to find fully loaded servers, sitting in the corner, lonely and sad because the last tech never finished the implementation.

My point here is that, as with anything else, there are two extremes for IT spending. Squeezing the nickel and cutting corners leads to countless hours of lost work time due to machines that don't function well. Overspending and not following through on the technology purchased has the same effect on the budget and productivity. None of these approaches work.

My best advice is to get some professional advice. They say "a man who is his own lawyer has a fool for his client." Just about the same can be said for the business owner that is his own technology adviser. Before you make any technology decision, do your homework and get the advice of several technology professionals. It is best if these professionals have expertise in the small business arena. And if their email address ends in @gmail.com, run. As fast as your feet can take you.


So, are you planning on investing in your IT? Have you made IT purchases that you wished you got better advice on? Do tell.