You probably know all the obvious reasons for enlisting a managed services provider (MSP) to oversee your IT environment. MSPs not only fix things when they break, but also identify potential problems and correct them before there is a failure. They help you control costs, minimize downtime and free up internal sources for other projects. [...]
IP-based telephony has been providing organizations with documented benefits for going on two decades now, but a surprisingly large number of businesses still depend on legacy copper phone lines. Nemertes Research has estimated that more than 70 percent of U.S. companies still use time-division-multiplexed (TDM) voices services running over copper, although most at least have [...]
Most people recognize the importance of performing routine maintenance on their vehicles. If you change your oil every 3,000 miles, keep your tires rotated, and regularly inspect your brakes, transmission and other critical systems, you greatly reduce the odds of a breakdown or emergency repair. The same logic applies to the IT environment. Servers, PCs, [...]
Superheroes continue to be popular in the movie theaters. New releases featuring Thor, the Justice League, the Avengers, Ant-Man, Aquaman and the X-Men are all slated for release within the next two years. Although some superheroes have a dark side, most use their super powers to fight evil and bring hope and peace during difficult [...]
In the previous post, we discussed how increased demand for managed security services is being driven by a perfect storm of sophisticated security threats, major investments in security, and a lack of qualified personnel to fill IT security positions. Much of the growth in the managed security services market is the result of increased adoption [...]
The pace of technology change continues to accelerate, providing opportunities for small to midsize businesses (SMBs) to transform their operations, enter new markets and create new business models. Business executives are responsible for developing the vision that will guide the organization’s efforts to take advantage of these new technologies. Trouble is, many SMB leaders struggle [...]
Technology breaks. Essential hardware and software components are predictably unpredictable — there will always come a time when something becomes unstable or just stops working. To minimize the impact of such failures, it’s important to have contingency plans for the repair or replacement of your IT systems. Managed service providers (MSPs) play a critical role [...]
We tend to talk about managed services from a technology perspective — after all, your managed services provider (MSP) takes responsibility for monitoring and supporting your IT environment and handling day-to-day operational tasks. These activities help to increase the performance, availability and security of your systems, ensuring that end-users have access to the applications and [...]
Virtualization in all its forms — including server, desktop and application virtualization — is the catalyst for a fundamental shift in the way small to midsize businesses (SMBs) choose, use and manage technology. As the key enabling technology underlying cloud computing, virtualization lays the groundwork for new and exciting ways to consolidate infrastructure, improve resource [...]
Managed services are all about efficiency. Rather than hiring staff with the skill sets necessary to manage and maintain your IT environment, smart organizations let their managed services provider (MSP) shoulder that burden. The MSP ensures that the right people are always available to perform day-to-day tasks, troubleshoot problems and handle support calls. MSPs do [...]
