Do you often feel stuck in the computer abyss when it comes to managing your company’s needs for web or information technology services? Businesses with fewer than 50 or 60 employees often find themselves struggling to keep pace with their basic web and computer support services and miss out on effective small business IT solutions.
Without the guidance of an information technology services provider, small businesses can end up wasting time and money on computer support services because they aren’t in touch with the best technology tools and practices for small business IT solutions. Even zero-employee companies can benefit immensely from a computer support services partner who shows them how to standardize their practices, save money with the right hardware or software and develop effective websites.
Putting Out Fires – Who Needs Dedicated Computer Support Services Anyway?
The approach often taken by small organizations when it comes to information technology services is one of putting out fires. No one has time to update the website, the network is cobbled together with wiring strung across the floor, and you’re not sure when the last backup really ran. Then, a hard drive starts going click-click. You call that guy you occasionally use for computer support services, “Joe-I-Fix-Anything-PCs,” to get the computer booting. That’s when to your horror you discover that the tape in the drive since last Tuesday wasn’t really backing up and the click-click is the sickening sound of your QuickBooks data being eaten by the dying hard drive.
Can your small business get both affordable professional-class IT service and peace of mind? The secret lies in having a technology services provider handle your technical solutions.
To stay competitive, small businesses must make the most of current technology. But it’s expensive, time consuming, and inefficient to maintain a full-time IT department like larger companies. A true Professional Technology Services Provider offers on-demand talent, depth of experience, deep resources and huge economies of scale. Here are the top 10 benefits you’ll see.
Benefit #1: Stay Focused On Core Business Functions
People are happiest doing what they do best. And they get frustrated by tasks that distract them from it. Researching solutions, implementing new technology and fixing IT-related problems are extremely inefficient for non-IT professionals. Free up internal staff for revenue-generating functions and the business of business.
Benefit #2: Tap Economies Of Scale And Purchasing Power
Due to a single focus on IT, sechnology services providers achieve greater efficiencies and economies of scale. They consolidate purchasing power and have access to deep and broad knowledge bases. Using developed best practices, tasks are completed more efficiently than small businesses can do on their own. The means real cost savings– both in time and money.
Benefit #3: Reduce Cost and Control Operating Expenses
The business value of technology services providers results in very hard dollar savings. In almost all cases, small businesses will spend 25% to 50% less than the cost of even one mid-level IT professional. Then take recruiting, training, vacation, sick days, turnover and other management issues out of the equation to see even more savings. Costs are budgeted, predictable and controlled.
Traditional business management has had to make room for a new facet of business: technology. Through the years traditional business management has had to marry its strategies with the proliferation of technology where every business owner from Starbuck’s to Jim’s Auto has had to incorporate technology into its everyday operations.
The problem is that in the late nineties business believed technology was going to be the solution for every business problem, but it wasn’t until recently that business managers realized that technology will fail if not implemented properly. That is, traditional business management must seamlessly marry itself with technology.
Traditional business management is pretty self-explanatory; it’s managing business through traditional methods that have been used for many years. Traditional business management takes into account all aspects of running a business, large or small. Whether it is a million-dollar company or a billion-dollar company, all companies run the same. Those traditional methods incorporate three aspects of business: sales and marketing strategies, efficient operation and production methods, and manageable finances (SG&A). I believe all businesses should pay attention to these areas of business management.
So, now you have this traditional business model to think of, and you also have to think that the model has incorporated technology. You see, managing a business is not as easy as it sounds, and I know you have never looked at your business in this way before.
“Startups often create innovative products but do not have
financial muscle, so MicroWorld turned to a partner that was
mammoth in size.”
MicroWorld maybe small, but its ambitions are big. MicroWorld
strives to offer cutting edge software security solutions to its
customers worldwide. But to even get a nibble in the crowded
security space, MicroWorld needed to prove that it possessed the
technology required to address customer pains—a tough task for
the company.
“We do not have huge resources for brand building as compared to
established giants,” says the company’s founder and CEO, Govind
Rammurthy. MicroWorld’s answer to being small was partnership
with one of the world’s largest mail server providers, Deerfield
Communications. Deerfield’s MDaemon mail server is used widely
across the world.
MailScan, MicroWorld’s mail server content security and
anti-virus software, was a perfect fit for MDaemon. Partnering
with Deerfield turned the fortunes of MicroWorld. The company
tapped into Deerfield’s channel partners and began establishing
tie-ups with various resellers, vendors and technology providers.
MicroWorld’s entry into the U.K. market followed a similar
pattern. It struck a deal with Paul Smith Computer Services, a
leading software company in the U.K. that had many channel
partners.
Today, the company has a large network of established partners
in various countries- USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina,
Chile, U.K, Norway, Sweden, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey,
Netherlands, Belgium, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and
Indonesia.
Notebooks are becoming an essential mobile accessory thanks to their easy portability and connectivity facility. Imagine the joy of surfing net from the comfort of wi-fi enabled pool side hotel area or the cafe without notebooks? With the rapid changing technology, conventional notebooks are no longer fashionable.
With powerful and advanced technology wrapped in a sleekly contoured compact manner, currently mini notebooks or ultra-mobile PCs as they are called have captured the attention of techno geeks. Even the smaller in size, the functionality of all other parts have not been compromised on mini notebooks. Fast hard disk drive, equivalent processor, high-speed DRAM , reasonable-sized keyboard for real typing and even intuitive Touch Panel pointing device that can be used with either its stylus or even a finger; all features are available in mini notebooks.
Mini notebooks can do what any other laptop or desktop can do. Rapid response time and ease of program modification are important advantages of mini notebooks. No doubt notebooks provide better visual experience, but at close to seven pounds, it could also be the cause of a bad back. Mini notebooks lower the heavy load strain common to conventional notebooks. Weighing around 2.6 pounds, these mini notebooks can still easily fit in a backpack or large handbag. Mini notebooks consume less power and as a result the heat generated is also low as compared to desktops or big notebooks. The radiation generated is also considerably lower. This is another advantage of mini notebooks.