The Connection, Inc Blog

Budgeting accurately for your long-term IT needs requires an intimate knowledge about technology and IT trends. Compared to other department budgets that are easy to compile by making a few simple adjustments to the previous year’s numbers, your IT budget must take into account the depreciation of your IT equipment for replacement purposes, as well as the cost of procuring the new, cutting-edge solutions that are shaping your industry. Do you have the technical knowledge to come up with an accurate IT budget? If you don’t, you’ll want to employ the services of an IT consultant.

The Value of Having Your IT Provider Help With Your IT Budget
If it feels like coming up with an IT budget is a stab in the dark, then you should consult with the IT professionals. Ideally, your IT provider. The ultimate value of having your IT service provider double as your IT consultant is that you’re getting professional advice from a company that’s already overseeing your IT infrastructure. As a bonus, your IT provider is already familiar with your business model. If you’ve ever worked with a new consulting service before, then you know how much time the familiarization stage can take, and therefore, how valuable it is to not have to pay for introductions.

Thinking beyond the creation of an IT budget, does your IT provider offer routine IT consulting? By having regular conversations about your company’s technology needs, you’ll stay current with the latest IT trends that can improve operations, instead of having to spend time researching these trends yourself. After all, the consequences can be dire if your competition obtains productivity-enhancing technologies before you do, simply because you didn’t know they were available.

When selecting an IT consultant, follow these guidelines to find a good fit:

What You Shouldn’t Do

• Treat consultation as the fix-all solution. Yes, IT consulting can equip your business to resolve several issues, however, if you spread your resources too thin, you won’t be able to properly manage operations. Don’t think that IT consulting is a silver bullet to help you out of a jam. Instead, think of IT consulting like sage advice to put your business on the right track for future success.
• Confuse responsibilities. Before moving forward with your IT consultant, you’ll want to clearly lay out what their responsibilities are compared to your own. Be sure to have this discussion before signing an agreement. Otherwise, confusion and misunderstandings are sure to take place.
• Take your eye off the end goal. With so many moving pieces in an IT budget, it can be easy to get stuck on the details and lose sight of your main goals.
• Prevent this by making an outline of your goals before you get started with your IT consultation. Include in this outline the timeframe you want to accomplish these goals by. Your IT consultant will then be able to work with this outline so you can accomplish your goals in a timely and satisfactory manner.

What You Should Do

• Be as clear as possible. Remember that communication is a major part of every consultation service. Essentially, if your consultant is murky about what you want (or they assume wrongly), then you’ll end up with inaccurate advice and both sides will be frustrated. Avoid this damaging scenario by speaking candidly, and keeping the communication lines open.
• Take the time needed to find the perfect fit. IT consultants advise businesses in some very important matters. Therefore, you’ll want to go with a consultant that you can fully trust. This is why it’s worth it to only go with a company that’s experienced serving the IT needs you have, and one that’s proven themselves successful with previous clients.
• Remember that you’re prone to error too. Nothing good will come from using your IT consultant as a scapegoat for your own mistakes. It’s important to remember that, at the end of the day, you’re the decision maker and the consequences of making a bad decision lie with you. An IT consultant can only advise you so far in making your decision; you're the one saddled with the praise or criticism that comes with being the lead decision maker.
• Hire someone who has skills that you don’t have. This minimizes the chances that you’ll be stuck in a situation you don’t understand.

Now that you have a good idea of what to look for in your next IT consultant, your next step is to begin looking for one. For assistance with this, give The Connection, Inc a call at (732) 291-5938. Regarding many IT projects, we’ll be able to offer the expert IT consulting you need.

You know better than anyone that managing your business isn’t something to be taken lightly. Keeping your technology in proper working order is just the icing on the proverbial cake, making the task of managing your business even more difficult. If you’re using normal break-fix IT services, this might be the case. Alternatively, managed IT services aren’t designed to burden you.

When was the last time that your organization had an unexpected technology expense blast your IT budget out of the sky? Surprise issues that you don’t plan for could potentially derail your budget for months, or even years, depending on the severity of it. Having a clear idea of what your IT service plan covers is a great way to make sure that you don’t get hit by surprise billing.

We’ve put together a list of scenarios that you’ll want your IT support to cover. This way, you can avoid situations where you get unexpected bills from IT work performed on weekends, during off-hours, or on holidays.

Situations You Want Your IT Provider to Cover
When you sign up for IT support, you sign what’s called a service level agreement. This determines what type of service you receive throughout the course of your relationship with the managed service provider. Of course, this could change depending on your provider’s business model, but there are some specifics that you want to keep an eye out for. Trust us when we say that your budget will thank us later.

Here are a few questions that you should ask when determining your service agreement with your IT provider.

• Can your employees submit a support request without worrying about exceeding the IT budget?
• Will you be charged more for after-hours support? Are you covered on weekends and holidays?
• Is there a maximum amount of support that you can receive and would there be any excessive charges if you went over?
• Will you be charged for data recovery in the event of a disaster scenario?
• Will you have the flexibility to add more users and workstations?
• What kind of fees are there for running backup solutions off of virtualized, cloud-based servers while you’re waiting to replace your faulty hardware?
• Are there additional costs for expanding your data storage?
• What are the details behind your hardware maintenance agreement? If there are specific parts that aren’t covered, find out which ones.

Services You Should Want
Once you’ve determined which services you currently have, you can contrast it with what you still need. Here is a list of go-to services that you can count on being solid investments for your organization.

• Unlimited remote and on-site support
• Active Directory administration and maintenance
• File, folder, and share administration
• Security administration
• Network policy enforcement and administration
• Managed antivirus, spyware monitoring, maintenance, and removal
• Data backups as often as every 15 minutes
• Take backups of open documents without interruption
• Rapid data restoration
• Block inappropriate or dangerous web content in the workplace
• Intrusion security

Does your IT plan cover these important services? If not, reach out to The Connection, Inc! Our trained professionals want to help you maximize the return on investment that you get for your IT management. To learn more, reach out to us at (732) 291-5938.

As a business owner, you have plenty to worry about, and your technology doesn’t do you any favors. It’s difficult to oversee the responsibilities of managing technology like workstations, server units, and mobile devices, alongside the ordinary demands of your job. What a lot of organizations don’t realize is that they can improve operations and make their jobs easier by outsourcing the responsibility of technology management to IT professionals.

Outsourcing your company’s IT management needs offers a unique return on investment by taking expensive and time-consuming tasks and handing over this responsibility to someone else; notably, a third-party IT service provider like The Connection, Inc. Through the use of remote monitoring and management technology, professional technicians keep an eye on your organization’s network and address problems as if they were in the office themselves. To give you some examples of how great managed IT can be, we’ll explain how three noteworthy services can benefit your organization.

Remote Patching and Maintenance
Have you ever tried to actually update each and every one of your business’s workstations or servers with the latest patches and security updates? It can take hours, or even days to complete. Worse yet, these updates are practically necessary if you want to ensure that all of your business technology works as intended. If you don’t take care to implement them as soon as they are released, you run the risk of being subject to various developing threats and vulnerabilities.

Outsourcing the responsibility of managing and maintaining your technology via an RMM tool is ideal, as you will no longer have to worry about finding the time to update your systems. This also helps make your systems more secure in the long run.

Remote Management Means Fewer On-Site Visits
One of the most beneficial aspects of remote technology maintenance is that you don’t have to wait for a technician to arrive before handling various technology troubles. Instead of dealing with travel time, the majority of your problems can be resolved simply by remoting into your PC and fixing the problem.

Break-fix IT companies don’t want you to know this, as they benefit by charging you for on-site maintenance. Managed service providers like The Connection, Inc don’t want to do that unless you absolutely need on-site assistance, so you can count on us to always be conscientious about your business’ technology management by proactively preventing problems that require on-site visits from happening in the first place.

Despite this, it’s important to remember that it’s impossible to keep all problems from happening. Eventually, you might be unfortunate enough to run into a problem that can’t be fixed through remote access. When this happens, you can count on our technicians to be there when you need us most.

Responsive Threat Detection
There are countless threats that exist on the Internet, and they threaten your business every day. With troublesome entities like viruses, spyware, and ransomware, your business needs a platform in which to mitigate its exposure to these threats. Understanding that your business is a target is the first step toward protecting it.

How would your business react to a data breach? Would you be able to sustain operations following a crippling leak? You don’t have time to keep track of all the latest developments, let alone monitor your entire network. Hiring a third party like The Connection, Inc can take these responsibilities off of your shoulders and ensure that you stay focused on what matters most: running your business.

If you’re sick and tired of dealing with troublesome IT issues, reach out to The Connection, Inc at (732) 291-5938. We’ll make sure that your business stays in action through preventative IT maintenance and management.

In the natural course of doing business, an owner/operator will have to face many difficult situations, but none of these situations are as difficult as asking them to determine whether or not to close the doors of the business for good. Many problems could cause a business to fail, but it has to hurt the failing owner a little more when the solution for the problem was not only within his/her reach, it was affordable.

How does your organization manage its mission-critical technology solutions? We know that most small businesses have some sort of trouble with this topic, either due to budget constraints or a lack of personnel. Either way, we know that there is a better way to manage your business’ technology, and it’s all thanks to an approach called managed IT services.

It’s a fact that most businesses today are rolling out technology as a part of their strategic plan to improve productivity and make their business more efficient. The more technology your organization relies on, the more crucial it is to get comprehensive IT support for that IT.

How much money does your business waste on managing its technology solutions? You might be surprised by the answer to this question. Depending on the way that your organization takes advantage of technology, you’ll have different needs than other businesses, but no matter what kind of organization you manage, it’s critical that you try to get the best return on investment for your solutions.

Let’s start by talking about the way that the average business might leverage technology maintenance solutions. Depending on your business’ staffing capabilities, you might have an in-house IT department that is responsible for general upkeep and maintenance. If you don’t, then chances are that you are either having your employees manage the maintenance of their own technology, or your devices simply aren’t being maintained as well as they need to be. Either scenario isn’t ideal, especially since you can’t take any risks nowadays when it comes to your technology maintenance.

For example, let’s say that a mission-critical patch has been issued for an important piece of software that your organization relies on. Without it, you would be at risk of infection from all manners of threats, including some of the nastiest ransomware on the Internet. Devices need to be periodically updated with the latest threat definitions to ensure that they don’t go unprotected. But the issue here lies in the fact that it’s time-consuming and troublesome to update several devices at once with the latest patches and updates.

Let’s take this a step further and think about a hypothetical worst-case scenario. What would you do if your organization were to suffer from a crippling data loss incident? In the event that our organization falls victim to a flood or fire, your data infrastructure could be destroyed… unless it’s backed up and maintained off-site.

Another service that presents substantial value for any business is one that supplies some form of proactive maintenance and management. This can be an effective way to keep your network free from threats, while keeping all your infrastructure monitored and in working order. Since an outsourced provider can accomplish this maintenance remotely, you can see much less downtime and higher degrees of productivity.

This type of maintenance can be difficult to come by for small businesses if they choose to do it themselves, but a managed service provider can keep your organization from having to stomach some of the largest expenses a thoroughly monitored, maintained, and supported IT infrastructure can incur. Not only do you save money by not adding salaries to your budget, but you also save time and resources by outsourcing the majority of the time-intensive work elsewhere.

To learn more about The Connection, Inc’s professional managed services, call our consultants today at (732) 291-5938.

Does your business have trouble with managing and maintaining your technology? If so, you’re not alone. Many small businesses struggle with even the most basic elements of IT maintenance. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just take this responsibility and shift it off of your employees? The best way to approach technology maintenance is to implement managed IT services.

Small businesses often neglect IT maintenance because they can’t afford to hire in-house technicians. These kinds of skills are in high demand, which often means that small businesses--with their limited budgets--have trouble finding technicians that they can afford. Furthermore, these skills might be region-locked, meaning that they are more difficult to find in certain areas than others, making it challenging to find the skills you need, when they’re needed.

A lot of businesses tend to do one of two things: have their current employees (who aren’t trained IT technicians) perform most of the work, or they simply don’t get the work done at all. Both of these situations are far from desirable. Either the work will get done poorly, or the work doesn’t get done at all. In fact, a project implementation gone wrong could be even more costly if it has to be redone, putting even more pressure on your organization.

In these types of situations, it’s helpful to have someone you rely on to get the work done right. Managed IT services allow small businesses to take advantage of many services that allow them to focus on creating revenue, rather than managing technology. Your company can leverage all of the great technology solutions that larger businesses don’t think twice about. Whether you need supplemental technology maintenance or full-on management of your in-house network, The Connection, Inc has you covered.

We offer several services to small businesses in your area, including:

• Security solutions: Spam protection, content filtering, antivirus, and firewalls
• Business continuity: Data backup, disaster recovery
• Communications: Voice over Internet Protocol, email hosting
• Network management: Remote monitoring and management
• Software and hardware procurement

Does your business need help managing technology? The Connection, Inc wants to make sure that you’re always on top of your technology maintenance. To learn more, reach out to us at (732) 291-5938.

Wouldn’t it be great to have a fully-trained and certified staff of IT professionals sitting in the corner of your office, keeping your technology in line? Unfortunately, small businesses often don’t have the budget required to hire an internal IT department filled with security analysts and network technicians. Even if they do, they don’t have the workforce to handle all of the responsibilities of a full IT department. What’s the best way to handle your organization’s IT?

Two words: outsourced IT. By outsourcing your business’s technology management needs, you can effectively eliminate the burden placed on your organization’s employees and help them be more productive.

Network Assessment
First thing’s first--you need a network assessment before you can know how to improve the way you do business. A network assessment is designed to identify flaws in your current infrastructure, ranging from traffic bottlenecks to security flaws. It’s best that a third party handle this responsibility so that it can be assessed with a clear, unclouded view.

Remote Network Monitoring
Implementing preventative solutions will only get you so far. You need to actively monitor your business’ network so as to make sure that threats stay out as soon as possible. This is what remote network monitoring is for. An outsourced IT provider like The Connection, Inc can monitor your network in real time, ensuring that any issues related to security or operations are resolved in a timely manner.

Security (Firewall, Antivirus, Spam Filter)
Security is one of those things that includes so many details that it can be difficult to prepare for every situation--especially if you’re not particularly familiar with cyber security and its threats. There are all sorts of threats that you have to worry about, including viruses, malware, ransomware, Trojans, spyware, and so much more that can cause trouble for your business. The best way to protect your business is through preventative measures like a firewall, antivirus, spam blocking, and content filtering. We can arm your business with these powerful solutions so that you never have to worry about online threats again.

At the end of the day, managed IT is meant to help your business focus on what matters most: running your business. You can’t focus on keeping your operations moving forward with full force if you have to constantly worry about IT troubles. This is where The Connection, Inc can help. We can provide all of the above services, plus many more. To learn more about how managed IT can help your business, reach out to us at (732) 291-5938.

Technology maintenance and management is one of the major pain points of all businesses, but it comes more easily to large organizations that have large budgets. Unfortunately, small organizations are often left out, placing such an important aspect of managing their business on the back burner. How, then, can you take advantage of proactive IT maintenance without breaking your budget?

SMBs often have a lot of work on their plates due to having smaller workforces. Thus, something as important as IT gets put on hold in favor of the day to day responsibilities. The problem with that is if IT is not managed properly, it will result in downtime. One would think that adding a few heads to focus on technology management would be a solution, but adding salaries to your budget can be an expensive endeavor. Ultimately, there’s a better way.

Before you consider hiring technical staff, let’s have a conversation about managing your technology so you don’t need to put your focus on it. If you’ve been burned in the past by your regular computer repair person, we get it, which is why do things differently. Ordinarily, a business seeking computer support would suffer from what’s known as break-fix IT. This is a type of maintenance that your business seeks out when it’s suffering from broken technology.

When your technology doesn’t work properly, you will seek out assistance. The break-fix IT provider will then dispatch someone to resolve your problem. They will finish their work and you’ll pay any support fees that you’ve accrued (sometimes this includes travel time, an hourly budget, parts, service fees, etc.). This type of IT maintenance is more reactive than proactive, as it responds only when you are currently experiencing problems rather than preventing them in the first place.

At The Connection, Inc, we pride ourselves on proactive IT maintenance. This type of managed service can remotely monitor and resolve most issues that your organization encounters before they evolve into bigger, more expensive problems. An example of this is actively monitoring your network for signs of hardware failure, then proceeding to assist you with replacing the problematic hardware before you deal with downtime. It’s just one way that your business benefits from proactive IT maintenance.

Thus, as long as it’s covered in your service level agreement, managed IT expenses will continue to be much easier to budget than the costs associated with break-fix technology maintenance. Outsourced IT services from The Connection, Inc can be your first step toward optimizing your business’ operations and taking the strain of IT management off of your capital budget. To learn more, reach out to us at (732) 291-5938.

Consultation is one of those words that you take for granted because you see it everywhere. Think about it, most businesses that provide a professional service offers some semblance of consultation. For the small business owner, can you really afford to pay premium prices to “experts” for them to give you their so-called professional opinion? Besides, what do service providers mean when they use the term “consultation”?

In the traditional sense, a consultation is a meeting to discuss a contracted issue. To that end the consultation provides the opportunity for a party that is dealing with problems to get a professional opinion about how to resolve that problem. This works wonders when you have a rash and go to the doctor, or if you have a wicked toothache and go see a dentist. These consultations typically result in near instantaneous relief of a problem, but for business owners that are suffering from inefficiencies, cost overruns, and other major operational problems, there is a good chance that there is a way to leverage technology and automation to eliminate any problems your organization could have.

At The Connection, Inc, our consultants have a strong grasp on the technology the modern business uses to mitigate their inefficiencies. To that end, our consultants will perform a full network and infrastructure assessment that will give us a better idea of what kind of changes need to be made to your process, to your technology, or to your workflow.

Since you want your business to grow, we don’t just look at how you can fix the problems you have, we make a comprehensive plan on how you can leverage technology to sustain the growth you want to see and eliminate downtime and other profit-sapping inefficiencies over time. This IT roadmap can include hardware refreshes, software deployment, additions to network and physical security, and much, much more.

Our technicians understand how today’s most dynamic IT systems can work to build efficiency. We also understand that there are plenty of products on the market to help you. That’s why we put you beside some of the industry’s best vendors to get you using reliable and powerful technology to benefit your business. Best yet, the problems you have day-in and day-out with your aimless approach to technology will quickly be replaced with a strategic technology plan that works for your business. Aside from our value-based consultation service, some of the technology solutions we can provide your organization include:

• Full network and server management
• Network security monitoring
• Help Desk
• Hardware repair
• Hosted utility computing (cloud computing, hosted communications, etc.)
• Line-of-Business software (consumer relationship management, enterprise resource planning, etc.)
• Physical security solutions (access control, security cameras, etc.)

If you think you can get more out of your business, you are probably right! Call The Connection, Inc at (732) 291-5938 today to make an appointment to meet with one of our knowledgeable representatives and get consulted on how to best move your business forward.

Fundamentally, business is simple: if you take in more revenue than you have expenses, your company is a success. There are just so many elements to manage to ensure that revenues outpace expenses that it becomes difficult to ascertain what you can do to cut costs and see a higher degree of profitability for your efforts.

Many organizations are hindered by the need to use big chunks of capital, leaving them with fewer options when it comes time to make critical business decisions. If your budget is stretched, for whatever reason, maybe that capital you would rely on to boost profitability isn’t available, putting you in a pretty precarious position.

Today’s businesses rely on productivity and operational efficiency provided by technology. The Connection, Inc has made a name serving New Jersey SMBs because we make technology work for the modern business. We reduce the overwhelming financial burden that small and medium-sized businesses experience by providing several productivity-boosting services that can be leveraged to improve overall profit margins.

How do we do it? 
By signing on to our managed IT services, organizations can take advantage of our consultants’ and technicians’ expertise to find cost-efficient solutions to solve their core business problems. Some of our solutions typically include:

• End-to-end network and infrastructure monitoring - With a combination of technical expertise and properly-leveraged automation, we are able to monitor your hardware and network to proactively handle a variety of issues before they can force your business to lose effectiveness through downtime.
• Backup and disaster recovery - One of the biggest misconceptions that small and medium-sized business owners have is that their data isn’t important. Since the success or failure of a business can rest on their data management systems, we’ve developed a comprehensive backup and recovery platform to protect those assets from any circumstance, including fire, flood, cyberattack, or garden-variety negligence.
• Cloud-based services - One of the biggest capital costs for a business is continuously upgrading its central computing infrastructure. By turning to cloud computing to host some of the business’ mission-critical processes (like email, applications, and storage), businesses are now able to better manage many of their infrastructure costs.

At The Connection, Inc, we understand revenue generation is something successful companies excel in, and unsuccessful companies don’t. That’s why we aim to provide the tools and expertise that modern companies need to secure themselves, boost productivity and efficiency, and reduce their capital expenses. For more information about our managed IT services, or other technology solutions that can help your business succeed, call us today at (732) 291-5938.

Too many businesses suffer due to issues with their information technology. The IT department, that is supposed to be innovating, is just too swamped down solving immediate technical problems to do so. However, if left unchecked, having an IT management deficit could swiftly create larger problems throughout your organization.

No technology is stagnant. Either it improves, or it is replaced by something better. But what if the people who are in charge of improving your solutions were too busy rectifying issues to ever get around to making the necessary improvements? In a situation like this, you’d soon have to make do with insufficient systems, which would only lead to more issues that would eat up IT’s time. This would, in turn, keep them from solving the root problem.

Finally, you’d ultimately be unable to work around the issue and be placed in a position with two pretty lousy options: either you finally bite the bullet and update everything, or you wait for your company to slowly be pigeonholed into providing a few very basic services until the effect it has on your business can no longer be ignored.

However, there is a third option that could help prevent you ever reaching that point in the first place: managed IT services.

A trusted managed service provider, or MSP, can help you take back control of your IT strategy by supplementing your internal team’s efforts with their own. Is your team overwhelmed by service requests? An MSP can take some of that burden from their shoulders, freeing them up to innovate and improve your business’ network and infrastructure. Alternatively, your MSP could devise and implement a strategy to help keep your systems on the cutting edge, while your internal team runs interference on any issues you might encounter.

Adding to the benefit of the MSP is the fact that their services are delivered at a steady monthly rate. This allows you to incorporate the expense of professional IT support and management into your budget with confidence, while also providing budget flexibility.

The expert IT technicians at The Connection, Inc can help you design and implement an IT management strategy that can help your organization avoid downtime and protect your technology investments. For more information regarding our powerful managed IT services, give us a call at (732) 291-5938.

A small business is just as susceptible to the many problems that face large enterprises, and the dangers only multiply with the more technology you implement in the office. The larger your network gets, the more difficult data distribution and storage becomes. The more employees you work with, the more devices that will appear in the office. The more data you work with, the more likely you are to get hacked. These are all very real risks. What are you doing to protect your company from these threats?

We’d like to present one surefire way to dodge the majority of problems associated with business technology management: outsourced IT services from The Connection, Inc. We can use our proactive approach to take care of your technology so that you can focus on running your business. While we offer many different types of services, here is a brief rundown of some of our popular ones.

Data Backup and Disaster Recovery
Have you taken the time to think about what your business would do if it suddenly lost all of its data? If not, do so now. It could be much more than just a couple of months’ worth of leads put at risk. An untimely hardware failure could have lasting effects on the way that your business functions. You’ll need to replace the hardware, which could take several days, or even weeks. During this time, your business isn’t working as intended, which can severely damage your productivity. Instead of suffering from this unfortunate occurrence, you can implement a BDR to take multiple copies of your data and keep them safe for recovery at a later date. BDR is designed to eliminate downtime and take a proactive stance against data loss due to natural disasters, hacking attacks, user error, and more.

Remote Monitoring and Maintenance
Most problems with your technology can be resolved remotely, without the need for an expensive on-site visit. Managed IT services capitalize on this convenience by allowing you to get the help that you need, when you need it. This cuts out waiting for the technician to arrive on-site and keeps downtime caused by the issue to a minimum, allowing you to get the problem fixed right away and get right back to work. Furthermore, we can apply any necessary patches and security updates remotely so that you will always be protected from existing and developing threats.

Network Security
Hacking attacks and security threats will always be one of the most dangerous parts of running a business. Some of the scariest threats currently on the Internet include ransomware and botnets that enslave Internet of Things devices. Only a cybersecurity professional knows how to identify and prevent infections from known threats. We can equip your business with a comprehensive Unified Threat Management solution to limit infections on your network in the first place. The UTM includes an enterprise-level firewall, antivirus, spam blocker, and content filter.

Cloud Hosting
Why host your data on-site when you can outsource the responsibility to us? When you think about it, hosting your data on your own servers is a bit of a hassle. Unless you have on-site technicians to take care of it, you’ll be left at a disadvantage. Maintaining servers is certainly not a job for amateurs. The Connection, Inc can store your data in our cloud, which we can maintain ourselves. You can remotely access your data through the use of cloud services, allowing you and your team to be productive from anywhere at any time.

What are your thoughts on this type of technology management for your business model? If you’re ready to give it a shot, reach out to us at (732) 291-5938.

Managed IT services are so popular with small businesses that they’re becoming a commodity. If you’re not taking advantage of managed IT, what’s your excuse? Here we address three common excuses put forth by companies that avoid managed IT.

“I’ll save money by only fixing technology when it’s broken.”
At first glance, this seems to make sense. By only performing maintenance on your devices when they aren’t operating as intended, you should be able to save money in the long run. The only problem here is that technology by nature requires that you perform maintenance on it regularly in order to maintain optimal performance. If you aren’t providing the care that it needs, you’re holding your business back from achieving its maximum potential.

Then you have to consider the fact that technology is much more expensive to replace outright than it is to perform routine maintenance on. Think about it; a server unit is very, very expensive, and so are good, quality workstations. If you’re going to purchase hardware, wouldn’t it make sense to perform maintenance on it and guarantee a long life, rather than await a premature hardware failure? Managed IT seeks to provide this care throughout the lifetime of your technology to ensure its longevity and proper functionality.

“My technology doesn’t need maintenance regularly.”
Some businesses are under the impression that they don’t use their technology enough to justify regular maintenance routines. This may be because they only use their office productivity suite, the Internet, and not much else. If technology systems don’t receive regular maintenance (like patches and updates), security can quickly become a problem. Also, when you don’t experience a targeted hacking attack, it can be easy to fall into a false sense of security.

Then there’s the problem that comes from having Internet-connected hardware like servers and workstations. Most businesses will be using their technology solutions to browse the Internet and conduct business with email and other communications which could potentially result in a data breach. Do your employees know how to identify phishing scams and other online malicious activity? While most organizations use security solutions like firewalls and antivirus, consumer-grade is often not enough to protect sensitive data from hackers and data breaches.

“My employees and I can handle IT all by ourselves.”
Here’s one of the biggest reasons why companies don’t implement managed IT services; they feel that they can do a fine-enough job managing their own technology. This is fine if companies have an internal IT department, but it’s more likely that small businesses are relying on their own employees to perform troubleshooting procedures and basic tech maintenance to save money.

Ask yourself this question: “Would I rather have skilled technicians working with my technology, or my busy employees, who have other duties and obligations?” More likely than not, you’ll want your team to focus on their responsibilities within your organization, rather than wasting time with your business’s technology. Managed IT allows your team to take a step back and focus on what matters most: your business.

So, what do you think? Would you be willing to reconsider your approach to IT maintenance? If so, reach out to us at (732) 291-5938.

Business owners expect a lot out of their IT network, and rightfully so. However, technology isn’t perfect and can sometimes get in the way of these expectations. To overcome these technology shortcomings, IT administrators and business owners can benefit by outsourcing these expectations, especially when it comes to these three crucial aspects of IT.

Technology’s incredible growth has brought about a need for technicians who are skilled enough to handle everyday maintenance. As time passes, technology grows more complex, and as such it requires more comprehensive maintenance. Eventually, innovators in the IT industry discovered that their services could be improved by preventing technology problems from happening in the first place. Enter: managed IT services.

We’ll discuss the differences between traditional break-fix IT, and the managed services model that has changed the industry significantly.

How Break-Fix IT Works
Some businesses are known to run their technology into the ground. This means that they’re using their technology, with all of its imperfections and warning signs, hoping that nothing will go wrong or break down. Companies like this hope to save money by dodging maintenances unless it’s absolutely necessary. Ultimately this approach winds up being more costly.

For an analogy, look at the automobile. We all know that it works best when you’re taking proper care of it by providing regular oil changes, replacing tires when they’re needed, and other preventative maintenance. Yet, some people just don’t take good care of their vehicles, and when they break down, it costs them a significant amount of money.

How Managed Services Work
Unlike break-fix IT, which takes care of problems as they appear, managed services are designed to detect abnormalities and issues before they become full-fledged problems. Doing so allows businesses to save money and time by outsourcing the upkeep and maintenance of their technology to a third party. By avoiding expensive technology problems, organizations can save further. For example, performing server maintenance is much cheaper and more efficient than dealing with an untimely and costly hardware failure in that same server.

The Benefits
As a busy business owner, one of the most limited assets that you have is time. There’s only so much time in the day to manage your technology, and it doesn’t help that you’re restricted by a budget. Replacing a major piece of hardware can be crippling, especially if it’s unprepared for. This is the biggest benefit of taking advantage of managed IT services: preventative maintenance is much more cost-effective and efficient than hoping for the continued functionality of your technology.

Basically, the big difference between break-fix IT and proactive managed IT is the fact that you’ll be dealing with fewer technical hiccups due to regular maintenance and management. This leads to more time and more cost savings, allowing you to focus on what matters most: running your business.

If your business is sick to death of dealing with constant computer problems, you can benefit from a managed IT service agreement with The Connection, Inc. Our trusted technicians are trained to handle all of your mission-critical technology solutions. We treat our clients’ technology the way that we treat our own, so you can know for sure that your company’s assets are in professional hands. For more information about managed IT services and solutions, give us a call at (732) 291-5938.

Every organization has mission-critical systems that they rely on in order to function, and the IT technician is responsible for keeping them running. Modern technology and best practices have given rise to a new way of managing business technology, one that knocks the traditional break-fix IT out of the water.