How Small Businesses Are Shifting IT Services Locally, and Why it Works

by Felicien | Jul 19, 2017 | Education

Boutique corporate outsourcing is on the rise: Here’s why that’s great news for small local companies.

There’s an important, growing trend in the outsourcing industry: A move toward outsourcing locally by partnering with local firms that are specifically looking to support small and expanding businesses in the same community. This tends to make people feel better about outsourcing (since it’s still local in nature and helping two businesses in the same economic pool), while also giving small and mid-sized businesses access to managed services that they wouldn’t have otherwise been able to use. Here’s why that matters.
The Rise of “Boutique Collective.”
Back in 2016 studies began to note that outsourcing was, increasingly, divorced from “offshoring” when before the two words were frequently treated as synonyms. Instead, smaller service companies were growing by focusing on their own cities and marketing to businesses in their backyard. In the UK, this new wave of outsourcing was labeled the boutique collective.
The growth of the boutique collective was due to new demand created from growing availability of sophisticated data services. Startups and small companies were interested in using these data services – and in many cases needed these services to succeed in their competitive industries – but they lacked the knowledge of which services to pick, the contacts to help provide the services, and the pricing packages designed for businesses their size. Local outsource-focused providers rose up as an answer.
Ease of Contact and Communication
Obviously, there are several immediate benefits to hiring a local company for outsourcing, especially compared to offshoring. There’s no need to worry about language differences or different hours of operating when communicating. In-person meetings are much easier to arrange, especially on a more casual basis. Even culturally and economically, problems are easier to explain and understand when both partners are local. These benefits encourage companies to consider managed services when they previously wouldn’t have thought about outsourcing at all.
Allowing Startups to Play to their Strengths
This has always been a traditional benefit to outsourcing – removing a division that business had no efficiencies so that it could concentrate on its core operations and value offering. But it was an advantage startup found difficult to adopt due to the costs of outsourcing and uncertainty about growth. Boutique service firms are solving this issue by offering consultations aimed at small companies and targeting the specific services that new businesses need but rarely specialize in. This comes at a useful time for growing businesses that are beginning to make a major decision and hires for their expanding structures and departments.
Knowledge and Fulfillment of Compliance
In more complex industries, compliance is a serious concern for young companies, especially those that don’t have the best resources to draw on or the resources for a strong audit. Boutique outsourcing offers a deeper knowledge of regulations because of their local presence: This allows them to provide services tailored to meet specific compliance rules in healthcare, government contracts, and much more – not just on a national level, but on a city and state level as well. The market has plenty to offer when it comes to automated compliance services, but many smaller companies need someone to manage or host these services for them.
Tackling the Deeper Issues Behind the Cloud and Security
Companies are well aware of cloud storage and cloud sharing these days: What they are unsure about is exactly how those services will impact their operations, and that’s a smart attitude. Jumping into a cloud service without proper planning or research is a risky movie, especially if there are security concerns. So more startups are starting to ask, “Wait, do we need this particular capability? Is this compatible with our other tools? What sort of results do companies see from using this service?” Boutique service providers are well-placed to answer these questions and offer the right cloud services with data to show their real value.
Finding the Right Budget Early On
Smaller, local managed services can provide clear pricing guidelines and fee information on demand to interested clients. That may not seem like a big deal, but it can be very advantageous to young companies trying to make tricky budget decisions regarding subjects they don’t know much about. There’s a danger here that costs may spiral out of control as companies invest in hardware they won’t need in a couple years, or devote too much of the budget to new technology and not enough to keep that technology secure.
Boutique IT services help in two different ways. First, they allow smaller companies to switch early on (or at inception) to cloud services and outsourced tasks rather than buying expensive hardware with a shorter shelf life. Second, they can help companies form a budget that makes room for the necessary expenses, or at least provide opportunities to shift resources around to meet new targets by choosing what services should be outsourced. Both encourage greater budgetary flexibility.
Convergence of Services
Take a look around and you will notice that few of these local providers focus on only one department or type of service. Instead, they offer a variety of different options in a true “boutique” fashion, allowing clients to pick the services they need to form a customized package. These services include consultations, IT, security, cloud data management, and even specific services for different organizations such as NPOs. It’s a flexible approach that provides small companies with the choices they need without constraining them too much. Now small businesses don’t need to worry about what they are missing, and don’t need to fear to take too big a bite when first outsourcing.
Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Local outsourcing can also revolutionize customer support, CRM, inventory management, insurance and much more. To find out how your {city} area business can benefit, take a look at the services offered by {company}. If you see something that could help your business, you can contact us at {phone} or {email} to learn more.

Benefits of Using Office 365 for Business

by Felicien | Jul 19, 2017 | Education

From strong security to seamless integration and even unprecedented mobile access, Microsoft Office 365 has plenty to offer your business.  

Office 365 offers some clear advantages for business, whether you need to boost your collaborative abilities, improve mobile access or only want to be sure your data stays secure. Learning about this innovative, easy to use the suite of software can help you decide if it is a good fit for your organization. If you already use Office 365, learning more about your options can ensure you make the most of this scalable, flexible business solution.
Benefits of Adopting Office 365
Office 365 Offers Easy and Seamless Integration with Other Solutions
The tools you already know, use and rely on for your workflow can seamlessly integrate into Office 365. The list of programs and tools that perform well with Office 365 is extensive and includes common solutions like Word, Excel, Outlook and Power Point. Office 365 makes it easy to standardize your file formats and to ensure that everyone one your team can open, access and use the pieces you create.
Mobile, on the Go Access is Easy with Office 365
Mobile use is at an all-time high and your team uses smartphones, tablets and other devices to stay connected and perform tasks, even when they are not in the office. Microsoft Office 365 allows your team to open and process documents, access contacts and calendar information and send emails from any connected device. Office 365 works with both PC and Mac and with Android, iPhone and even Blackberry devices.
This mobility allows you and your team to work from home, while you are traveling or from virtually anywhere you can get a connection. Whether you are heading to a trade show, calling on clients or taking a much-needed day off, you connect in an instant to get the information you need to serve customers or support your team.
Office 365 Enhances Communication and Collaboration
It’s easier than ever before to collaborate with your team and for your workers to share and access information. A password protected portal can be established that allows your team to quickly access the documentation or files then need – and more than one person can access and work on a piece at a time. Once work is complete, progress is tracked and noted so that anyone in the group can quickly determine what has been done and what still needs to be completed.
Collaboration and communication are about more than just opening, editing and sharing documents; Office 365 also supports robust, large scale storage and sharing and even online meetings.
Intuitive, Easy and Accessible
Unlike some other programs or packages, Office is free of jargon and very user-friendly. It has an intuitive, easy to learn dashboard that is standardized between applications. Even those in your group that are not particularly tech savvy can get up to speed quickly and become efficient users of this flexible suite of tools.
You do not need an on-site IT team to handle Office 365 issues and no one on your team needs to attend any kind of special certification to actually use this software.
Security and Safety Provides Peace of Mind
Microsoft has a robust and proactive security team and Office 365 receives their full attention. In many cases, the company has recognized vulnerabilities and released patches well before a publicized ransomware or malware attack. By identifying risk and possibilities for exploitation early, Microsoft has a long history of taking aggressive action to prevent you from being victimized by cybercriminals. In an ever-changing, ever-evolving landscape, regular patches and updates are a must; you’re far more likely to be victimized if you use a system that is regularly protected and up-to-date.
Security is about more than updates; Office 365 features the same robust systems used by Microsoft and some of the biggest brands to protect networks, documents and even email. With built in scanning capabilities, your Office 365 suite can scan your email around the clock and alert you to any suspicious software or attempts to hack your systems.
Office 365 was designed with reliability in mind and Microsoft does more than the promise they’ll be online; they offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee via a financially backed SLA (Service Level Agreement) to provide peach of mind about availability.
Flexible, Scalable Solutions
With a simple pay-as-you go pricing setup and plenty of flexible options, you can start small and scale at your own pace. You don’t have to pay for more than you’ll use or begin to feel restricted as you grow. For new businesses experiencing growth, this flexibility ensures cost effectiveness. Since you can scale up as needed, your team can continue to work with the tools they are familiar with as you grow, you don’t have to change to a new system or adapt to new tools.
From cost efficiency and scalability to the peace of mind that comes from working with Microsoft, Office 365 has plenty to offer the enterprises of all sizes. Interested in Office 365 and want to learn exactly what it can do for you? Contact {company} at {email} or by phone at {phone}; we understand the power of this powerful suite of tools and know just how much it can help your business grow.

A Few Signs that You Have a Bad Network Design

by Felicien | Jul 19, 2017 | Education

This article talks about network problems and some of the signs that it may need to be upgraded. With the network infrastructure becoming a major part of doing business, it is important to get it right.
 
For most businesses, Wi-Fi is considered an essential need. If the network connection goes down at the office, there is a good chance that everything will run much slower on that day. It is amongst the reasons why IT departments need to be on their toes all the time, looking for potential pitfalls. They do so by upgrading that physical infrastructure often, creating training programs for employees, and doing regular software updates. If you rely on a network at your organization, here are some signs that it could do with an upgrade.
Problems with LAN.
The Local Area Network usually runs at quite a high speed. Thus, any problems such as congestion are not easy to detect. However, when a bottleneck occurs and causes one or more switches to buffer, that can affect application performance, which will become noticeable to users.
LAN congestions should only last for a short period. However, it can take longer in cases where there is extreme congestion. This type of extreme congestion is usually the result of poor configuration. One of the signs that you are having problems with the LAN includes momentary freezes of applications, especially during peak hours.
Problems with Wireless LAN.
Wireless LAN is susceptible to a wide range of challenges. If the wireless LAN is configured for a particular environment, it should work without any problems most of the time. You will have to establish whether the wireless network or underlying issues cause problems you are experiencing. If the problem is as a result of underlying network problems, it should be quite easy to resolve.
Problems with the WAN.
In contrast to the LAN problems that can stem from congestion, WAN can suffer a lot with congestion. When congestion occurs, it tends to last for quite a long time. Sometimes WAN congestion can lead to lost networks for an entire day.
WAN issues can be quite difficult to resolve. However, throwing more money and bandwidth at any problem is not the solution. The best way to address this problem is to control the traffic. This is done by filtering out any traffic that is unwanted.
Another way to reduce WAN infrastructure is to educate users on how to use the IT infrastructure. In most cases, WAN congestion is caused by recreational use of the internet. This is when users use their devices to access funny videos and listen to internet radio.
Issues with VPN.
Virtual Private Networks carry data in an encrypted form. They are prone to the same problems as WANs. However, the additional encryption and tunneling can increase the complexity of data flow. This can cause problems that would otherwise not have existed.
Problems with the internet.
Congestion of the internet is amongst the most common problems experienced on any network. The reason for this is some so many people are accessing the internet for various purposes. As with WAN, if the issue is severe, it can take quite a long time to resolve. You will typically experience web pages failing to render, web pages failing to open, and slow responses.
Unreliable Voice quality
Voice over IP uses a protocol that requires a stable network connection. If there are any issues with the system, it can lead to excessive noise or the speech may sound quite unusual. Poor sound quality usually indicates that there is a lot of packets lost because of network unreliability.
The primary challenge with VoIP is that transmitting a lost packet is meaningless since the voice is real-time. It thus works best when using UDP, which is a protocol that does not have an error recovery mechanism.
If you have problems with voice quality, there is a good chance that you have issues with your network. This can be because of bad network configuration, which leads to lack of traffic prioritization.
Pixelated Video.
When the video is being transferred over a faulty network, it is quite easy for video pixelation to occur. It is usually in the form of rainbow-colored interference that appears on the screen. This can indicate the network is congested or is not properly configured to accommodate video. It is important to note that video traffic places a heavy demand on the network.
Freezing Video.
When the network is awful, the video can freeze. If the video is buffered, this may not be a cause for concern. However, during video conferencing, that can render it unusable. The voice element will always take precedence to video. The result is that video streaming may not even be established.
If you plan to make use of video conferencing, ensure that the network is properly sized and configured. It is particularly true when hosting a video hub that provides conferencing for various endpoints. The network has to provide support for all the video sessions even when they are operating simultaneously.
What are the Qualities of a Good Network?
A good network design is properly documented and follows best practices. This will allow the business to add new software and equipment without compromising the system’s integrity. An IT department that has a good network design is able to concentrate on being innovative and proactive. This is in contrast to an IT department with an inferior network that has to spend most of their time putting out fires.
In any organization, the IT network needs to have a firm foundation. That way, when new equipment and software is added, there are no problems that arise. There is also need to have a policy on how alterations are made to the network. Even minor changes have to be considered since they have a potential impact on the network assessed.
Summary.
By understanding the kinds of problems that can plague your network, you will be able to know how best to solve the problems. It is especially important today when technology plays such an important role in how competitive the organization is. Take time today and begin a serious assessment of your network today to determine if it has any issues.

How Does Automation Impact your Workflow?

by Felicien | Jul 18, 2017 | Education

Done the right way, automation can vastly improve your workflow and mitigate risk, making it an ideal addition to any organization.
From vastly improved data entry speed to standardized documentation and easy integration of applications, automation can have a huge impact on the way your business processes workflow. Done correctly, automation and AI can speed up your workflow by ensuring that the information you have to work with is accurate and available to everyone who needs it. Automated tracking of changes and work ensures that everyone on the project can see status and needs at a glance and that managers can make real time changes to improve workflow if needed.

At {company}, we know that the benefits of automation are only part of the story; our clients use automation to not only handle routine tasks but to spot and flag irregularities and concerns so that a human operator can take action. Automation can help you be more secure by identifying problem orders, eliminating errors and even recognizing problem behaviors early and taking steps to mitigate risk. At {company}, we recommend automation and AI for a variety of reasons, detailed below:
Simplified Data Entry and Tasks
Automation and AI excel at mundane, repetitive tasks like data entry and processing. Where a human operator can quickly become bored, burnt out, distracted or overwhelmed, automated procedures keep right on going. The 1,000th entry is as fresh and accurate as the first. Automation can also simplify these critical tasks and integrate data into your existing systems without additional prompting or steps. The right automation process can also identify those entries that are questionable in some way or that need to be reviewed by a live operator.
When you use automation for data entry and related tasks, you can swiftly input even large groups of data or information without concerns about fatigue and with a timeline expressed in minutes or hours, not weeks. You’ll also be able to accept and process customer information around the clock, not just during business hours.
Automated technology can also be set up to detect fraudulent or questionable entries from your online forms or site. By recognizing and flagging problems with anything from incorrect or fake addresses to eliminating duplicates or flagging them for review, your AI programs can help cut your losses when it comes to e-commerce fraud.
For those in finance or insurance, both claims processing and new accounts processing are drastically enhanced with automation; robots can be set to accept and set up claims and then service accounts, alerting an individual employee when help is needed.
Automation can have a significant impact on your overall workflow simply by taking on those tasks that don’t require a lot of human interaction or intuitive decision making. This can free up your team to focus on other, more important tasks.
Enhanced Ability to Share & Track Changes
Automation can also make it easier for your team to collaborate. When an automated system takes in data or order, it can make sure everything needed is included, then alert the right team member to process the order. By inputting data with automated processes, your human team is freed up to actually work on a project, instead of tediously tracking down details and paperwork.
As with any cloud based, paperless system, information input via automated system is available instantly to all team members, whether they are in the same room or in different parts of the country. Being able to access the entire project whenever they need to improve collaboration and scheduling, while automated tracking of changes improves work flow and communication. Team members have the option to complete a task with the confidence that all changes are being tracked and saved or they can choose to push the project through to the next person, moving it along and speeding things up.
For managers, automation ensures that there is not a backup at the entry point and that the entire workflow process can be seen from a bird’s eye perspective. Automated reporting can ensure that the management team always knows not only where projects are but where things are hanging up or getting stuck, making it easier to make real time corrections or adjustments as needed to improve workflow.
Improved Accuracy
Human listeners can misinterpret the spoken word or even mishear numbers and names when data is inputted in person or from the phone. Robots don’t make these kinds of mistakes. Even with written paperwork, it can be tough to tell an “I” from an “l” or mistake a poorly written 7 or a 4. Automated systems allow data to come right from the setup point; if the client or customer inputs data into a computer-generated form, that data is always entered correctly. The improved accuracy of both data input and processing helps eliminate errors – and makes sure your customer that ordered 2 items doesn’t receive 22 or 222 of the same thing.
Seamless Integration Between Departments and Applications
Can your sales team access your customer history data to better serve their needs – even while your support staff is processing an order? Can you view caller history when someone calls you, even if you are not at a particular workstation? Automation standardizes data in many ways and makes it easier for you to switch from one application to the next or even between departments. Automation can easily integrate with your legacy systems and even allow you to add functionality or additional services as needed.
From the time savings to the ability to free up your human workforce and even the confidence you get from knowing you are working with accurate data, automation can help. Learn more about what automation and AI can do for your unique business – contact {company} at {email} or {phone} to find out how easy it is to speed up your workflow and revolutionize your business with the power of automation and machine learning.

3 New Apps In Office 365 Business Premium That Can Help Boost Your Small Business

by Felicien | Jul 18, 2017 | Education