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.
No, we’re not talking about cirrus, stratus, and cumulus clouds. However, just as there are different clouds in the sky, there are different aspects of cloud computing that make up what we say when we refer to the Cloud.
First, the
public cloud.
In this model, the infrastructure is owned by an organization selling cloud space as-a-service, and is widely available on a pay-per-use basis. RackSpace and Amazon Web Services are two of the most commonly used public cloud services. Pursuing this model typically requires considerable front-end technical knowledge. Additionally, it is dependent on a consistent, robust internet connection. If the connection goes down, you will be unable to access your cloud-hosted data or applications.
Do you store all your personal documents on a personal computer or through a personal cloud? According to Gartner, Inc., by 2014, most of us will be utilizing such cloud-based platforms as Dropbox and other applications to store our documents and access them across a range of devices. While this may not be news to many of our tech savvy readers, Gartner’s report, “The New PC Era: The Personal Cloud,” has broken down five of the “megatrends” that have led to consumers moving from a culture tethered to a personal computer to a culture of mobile personal cloud users.
Megatrend 1: Consumerization
As technology has changed, so have consumers. In short, users have become more technologically savvy, and this has resulted in people who expect very different things out of their technology, says Gartner’s report. The rise of social media has given consumers a platform to make their thoughts and wishes known, and consumers themselves have, in some cases, become the innovators in the technology world.
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.