By Rachel Noe
Searching for a managed services provider and determining exactly the services your business needs is an easily overwhelming process. There are many options available to you. We have been asked many times what different
managed services there are and how an organization might employ them. As an entry in our Q&A series, we take a look at a few of the different managed services options available to you through a provider like Claris.
Managed Computer Support
Let’s say you have the IT hardware but lack the time or technical staff to maintain it. This is a common experience among growing businesses, and is the point where managed computer support comes into the picture. This service ensures that each issue that affects your company’s devices is handled by a competent technician with experience resolving issue. This can also include remote monitoring of computers (and other hardware), which enables your provider to resolve many issues remotely, minimizing the effect on your workday and productivity.
Here at Claris, our core values are more than some phrases on a plaque in the hallway. We hire by them, work by them and live by them. While we believe everyone at Claris embodies these traits, we want to take the chance to point out a few individuals that really exemplify our core values. Today we introduce Travis Evans and how he embodies one of our favorite core values:
Work Smart, Play Hard
Meet Travis Evans, Backup Specialist, ukulele aficionado and Claris fun-maker. Travis embodies our core value of “Work Smart, Play Hard” in his passion for excellence and endless creativity in making Claris a better place.
Technology can help your small businesses grow, add value to your customers, and provide a competitive advantage over your competitors. But how do you choose an information technology (IT) provider that will
best help you? Here are a few suggestions on how to find the best solution, whatever your situation and technology needs may be.
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Network with others in your community
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At the most basic level, start by asking other businesses in your network which solutions they are using. Which IT professionals/firms do they recommend?
The role of the IT person and the IT company has changed drastically over the past several years. The frantic, harried, one-man IT department has encountered the laws of economics and scale. In order to effectively support the technical infrastructure of a growing and increasingly mobile business, IT must become three things: mobile, always on and end-user-focused.
Since Chattanooga established its ultra-high-speed “Gigabit” fiber optic network, it has been the focal point of a lot of international attention. Like a “Silicon Valley of the East,” new tech-related businesses have traveled to the Gig City to plant and grow their ideas. In an effort to get even more companies on board, Chattanooga partnered with The Company Lab and others to host an ambitious competition, to see who could come up with the best new business concept leveraging the Gig. They would compete for over $150,000 in prizes and venture funding.
To recruit these companies, Chattanooga led an international “Geek Hunt,” eventually selecting just a handful of startups to participate. These young companies had all summer to hone their strategy, develop their product and practice their pitches. On August 10
th, 2012, a winner was chosen. The winner was a company called
Banyan, a cloud-based research collaboration tool.
As a proud sponsor of the event, Claris Networks got to chat with Banyan CEO and co-founder, Toni Gemayel, about the start of Banyan, The Gig Tank, the cloud and its effect on its business model.