It’s always an exciting time when you commit to a new IT project that promises to change your business for the better. Naturally, the exciting stuff is what comes after the implementation process—a process that can range from easy-as-pie to incredibly complex and stressful, depending on the expertise your company employs.
Macro Systems Blog
How has your company managed its technology in recent years? Depending on the way you have done so, you could be unnecessarily throwing money down the drain when you could instead be reinvesting it into your business. If you are ready to take your operations to the next level, consider changing your approach to your office’s technology management with managed services.
The COVID-19 Pandemic has put a ton of pressure on small businesses; many have even been forced to close down operations until the situation ends. For those that are able to keep operations up and running there are likely to be some difficult decisions that will have to be made. Macro Systems is here to help by offering comprehensive IT support and services that will help keep your business up and running efficiently and securely at a time when many of your competitors might be closing their doors.
Managing business technology is no simple task, especially if your budget doesn’t isn't large enough for an internal IT department. You want professionals who know what they are doing to be the first ones handling your organization’s technology solutions, but sometimes this just isn’t possible. While the concept of outsourcing technology management and maintenance to a third party sounds odd at first, it is better just about any other alternative out there.
Your critical business systems are malfunctioning and you don't know exactly what’s causing the problem. Luckily, you aren’t caught up in this alone. There are people that can help you, just like a doctor would help you if you were ill. Nonetheless, instead of calling your healthcare provider, you want to call a managed services provider, or 'MSP'.
How often do you look at a workstation in your office and say, “Wow, I should replace that soon!” Old equipment is vulnerable to all sorts of performance issues, and if you wait too long to replace it, you might be dealing with troublesome downtime and wasted capital. Plus, older hardware is often harder and more expensive to replace. Thankfully, there’s a service that’s capable of changing the way that you procure new hardware, including workstations, server units, network components, and so much more.
There are numerous surveys and reports produced each year that evaluate digital threats and cybercrime. Not every publication applies to every business - but many of them do have some important take aways regarding the best practices of handling IT. Here’s few highlights from the 2017 Cyberthreat Defense Report that offer important insight for SMBs and their use of technology.
We all know the pain of contriving a brand new business solution. It takes time to implement and it can be an unnecessary hurdle to greater operational efficiency. Therefore, the best way to make the most out of a brand new solution is to use one that requires minimal setup, and can be implemented immediately into your business strategy.
It’s well known in the business world that outsourcing your IT will yield significant savings for your IT budget. However, did you know that the benefits of outsourcing IT go beyond monetary savings? For example, gaining access to a new skillset is just one valuable benefit to outsourced IT that doesn’t have a column in your budget.
We often discuss why it’s important that a business takes proactive measures to resolve IT issues before they become problems, but these definitions might be lost on some of our followers. In order to understand the true value of our IT services, it’s imperative that you’re able to distinguish the difference between these two disruptive sources to your technology.
Seasoned business owners understand the value of working with professionally-trained teams. Due to the complexities and time constraints of running a business, there’s no way that one person can do everything, much less doing everything well. Therefore, it’s ideal to have a professional team dedicated to every aspect of your business, especially when it comes to IT.
Modern businesses are built upon their data. Therefore, you need someone you trust to oversee it. Having the wrong person handle your IT systems could turn into a number of time-consuming, costly, and irritating problems for you. Here’s a list of the six most common IT problems that can be prevented by going with a trusted IT service provider.
A technology-based parody of the classic Christmas story, “A Christmas Carol,” by Charles Dickens.
Once upon a time, in a land not much different from this one, there lived a business owner. His name was Scrooge. He wasn’t an unlikable fellow; jolly and cheerful at any glance, his smile could light up the darkness in anyone’s life. Yet, when the winter months arrived, and a chilled wind blew across the land, so too did a fell gust freeze his heart. It was time to figure out why his systems were hacked (again), and he knew it would be an expensive endeavor. How he hated managing his IT.
We offer a handy IT service called vendor management. This is where we resolve technology issues on behalf of your business by coordinating with vendors to provide a fix, even if it lies outside the realms of our expertise. You may not realize it, but you actually use vendor management services for other everyday aspects of your life.
It can make a big difference for your business to partner with the right technology vendor. How can you know if you’re working with a vendor that’s looking out for your company’s best interests, or one that wants to rip you off? You can know for sure if you’re working with the right vendor if you have your trusted IT provider choose them for you.
Just because you have an IT technician on staff, doesn't mean your technology needs are 100% covered. The people making up your IT department are just that, people, and because they are people, having reliable coverage can be difficult. Outsourcing your IT department is the perfect way to get the extra coverage your business needs, especially when your IT team can't be there for you.
You may have been using a PC long enough to remember just how awesome Microsoft Word 98 was. When Microsoft first released their Office 98 productivity suite with programs like Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, there was really nothing quite like it on the market. Unfortunately for some businesses, Word 98 isn't nostalgia, it's a daily reality.
When people talk about "phoning it in," they usually refer to purposely doing subpar work at their job. However, when a computer breaks and someone "phones it in," they're referring to calling remote IT support, which has a completely different connotation because remote IT service is service that's of the highest quality!
For a business owner, leaving money on the table is the worst feeling because it means passing up on easy money. From forgetting to upsell to a customer to having a delivery route be longer than it needs to be, there are many ways that businesses leave money on the table. Take a look at your company's technology; you may be leaving money on the table by using inefficient technology that's literally sitting on your table.