Information Technology Support Makes IT Management an Enjoyable and Productive Process

Read this amazing article we found.  It can help you decide on an IT support company:

Back in the original days of information technology and business, the entire technology department was an operator that stored backups and fixed broken computers. Technology has grown and now includes so much more. It continues to offer new and exciting developments as the demands of competitive businesses and individuals change. These changes work together and continue to evolve the ways businesses use information technology. Today technology is everywhere and information technology departments for businesses contain a vast array of employees with expertise in areas such as web design, network support, and PC technicians. IT systems are the driving force of many companies success. As the complexity of business systems increases, companies find it very difficult to keep up and obtain information technology support that is truly beneficial.

IT Management - Managing an Entire IT Department Can Be Simple

Technology can be pretty confusing in the business world. No one has all the expertise in every part of business systems technology. Often the managers hiring employees for these jobs know what they want to accomplish in business terms but do not know what skills are required to make it happen. The result is time spent hiring an employee that doesn't have the skill set needed for the position and unachieved company goals. Any potential employee can come in and talk the talk to get in the door. Unless your company has a dedicated IT manager that truly understands the language, you can end up with a very messy IT department, undependable systems, and lots of frustration. Employees at smaller companies are often relied upon to have many different types of skills making this more likely. What you want are people that have a specialization and a general understanding of the whole picture. This allows them to work together with other employees for the most efficient technology. No one ever said IT management was easy; however, getting information technology support from an outside company with experienced people can make it a lot more rewarding, less costly, and dependable.

IT Outsourcing Services - What Can They Do For Your Company?

Why would you want to use IT outsourcing services? There are many reasons why companies choose to outsource. The biggest reason is cost savings. When the IT department consists of a multitude of semi-experienced employees, the result is money spent where it shouldn't be. An inexperienced employee will buy the wrong hardware, not be able to support the network, or properly run the website. The network may be down often or website sales are halted. These problems cost your company money and possible customers. IT outsourcing services use your specific company goals, current technology, and budget to create a feasible technology plan for the business. Once in place they support the system through monitoring tools. When problems arise, they will either fix them remotely or come to the site and take care of the problem. Many issues are avoided through monitoring and repairs are quick due to their awareness. Updates and backups are done mostly offsite for protection of data and the most current system. The right IT management can transform the way you do business.

to read the rest: http://ezinearticles.com/?Information-Technology-Support-Makes-IT-Management-an-Enjoyable-and-Productive-Process&id=4885649

Fixed Fees Verses Hourly Rates

When your business is looking to hire and IT support Company, you should consider whether you are looking to pay a fixed fee or an hourly rate along with doing online research for companies in your area. This is important in order to hire the best candidate to assist your business with information technology. There is a big difference between paying an hourly rate and paying a fixed fee.  Learn the difference while reading this blog. 

http://www.tvgconsulting.com/why-is-a-fixed-fee-better-than-an-hourly-fee-for-it-services-in-los-angeles/

Why Small Businesses Need IT Support

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Sometimes IT is treated like secondary concern by small business owners who’ve recently made it through the lean, DIY startup years. They might see IT as an option rather than a necessity. But when the first meltdown occurs, like a server crashing or email going offline, owners begin to realize they need some kind of support. But why go with a flat fee, fully managed IT service like Ripple? Why not just get the office manager to troubleshoot problems as they occur? Or maybe an hourly help desk service would do the trick. Yes, it’s true that these solutions are better than nothing, but having a dedicated team of IT experts watching over a company’s network decreases the likelihood of having another emergency situation arise in the first place. Not only that, but when there is a big problem, knowledgable IT folk can get you back on track without taking time away from your employees or having to worry about the cost of being on the line with a “by-the-hour” IT service.

Obtaining the best IT support keeps your people doing what you’re paying them to do, and not fiddling with a malfunctioning printer or some software issue for an hour or more. Here’s a quick breakdown of the reasons why small business owners not only need IT support, but how they can use a fully managed service provider to keep people productive and ultimately grow the business.

1. Staying Productive
Trying to solve all operational problems related to your business can be a real setback. With experts dedicated to ensuring that your computers are running properly, people can do their jobs and you won’t have to worry about productivity hitting a wall when something does break.

2. Professional Consultation
Simply put, small businesses who invest in IT and get consultation from experts in the field are more likely to thrive than those that don’t. It’s for this reason that investing in IT support should be a prerequisite for any business, no matter what size. IT solutions for computer software, hardware, and more recent innovations like VoIP phone systems and cloud storage are pretty difficult to understand unless you’re a certified IT technician. But when a company’s only job is IT, there’s nothing more important to them than keeping up with technology. Providing good consultation is what keeps their clients happy, and ultimately helps small businesses grow.

3. Security
Security can be a big problem for many small businesses, largely because hackers know that most companies of this size don’t impose tough security measures. This is usually due to either a lack of knowledge about the threat out there, or because the perceived cost of being protected is too high. And internet bots don’t care how small the business is. They’re just automated hacking programs going through a list. If your server somehow makes it onto that randomly-generate list then the damage caused can be pretty extensive. Being up-to-date with security measures should be a huge priority no matter the size of your business. And again, unless you’re in the IT industry, it’s near impossible to keep up with all the latest preventative measures.

As a small business owner, IT support is an absolute necessity if you want to stay productive and grow your company. Check out some of our case studies below and see if our  fully managed Beyond Support (™) IT service can help you do just that.

http://rippleit.com/why-small-businesses-need-it-support

The Relocation Process

If you don't have an IT support company for your small business, you should start looking for one. The internet is a good resource for information, because it is convenient and time-efficient. A search using the words, "IT Consulting Company," is a good way to start your internet research. A search engine will give you great results. Make sure to read the client reviews and testimonials before hiring a IT company.

  http://www.tvgconsulting.com/tvg-consulting-answers-the-question-will-an-it-consulting-company-assist-my-company-in-the-relocation-process/

11 Advantages To Information Technology Provider Services

Every business will face challenges. As a business grows and becomes more successful, the more complex it will become. Inevitably, your business will continue to add new tools, computers and technologies to help it communicate and operate smoothly. However, it’s this very bit of growth that creates new headaches and complexities.

There are business solutions that can help put you back in control. A business shouldn’t have to worry about technology as a hindrance when it should be focused on strategic growth. The technologies your business employs today might well be complex, but the Information Technology (IT) can be simply and easily managed by a professional services provider.

A full-time, in-house IT department can be a cumbersome burden to run and maintain. The costs and pressures of a single department that’s responsible for so much of the flow of the business is not always an option for small or even mid-sized businesses. If your company isn’t a mega-corp with multiple offices scattered across the globe, then one solution is to look to an IT services provider. On-demand 24 hours-a-day, with a depth of real-world experience and an economy of scale that your business just can’t match, world-class IT service can be just a click away.

there are endless benefits to IT Consulting! click here to understand: http://intinc.com/benefits/technical-advantages.htm

Improving Employee Productivity With IT Consulting

Are you contemplating hiring a information technology consulting company for your business operating in Los Angeles, CA?  You are not alone.  There are many companies offering this type of support in Los Angeles.  There are various benefits to hiring an IT company, like TVG Consulting.  The most noticeable benefit is reducing human resources and accounting costs, but did you know that you can also improve employee productivity? 

http://www.tvgconsulting.com/how-can-a-computer-support-company-improve-my-employee-productivity/

Information Technology in Business: The big picture

read this article about business and information technology:

Computers and information systems are essential parts of every business today. Like accounting and legal, every business needs to invest in technology to compete. Technology is both a cost of doing business, and an opportunity to do more business. Most people I talk with recognize the necessity of having a computer, an email address, and a web site, but still look at the upfront cost more than other issues.

After spending some time working with dozens of businesses, I think it's time to take a step back and look at the big picture of technology in business. Let's take a reporter's view of the topic, and ask the basic questions: who, what, where, why, when, and how much?

For today, we'll keep this short, but each of these questions deserves a more complete article in the future.

Why?

What are the benefits of technology for a business? There are many, but most fall under a few categories:

• Reach more potential customers, develop a business relationship with potential customers
• Streamline operations, reduce costs, improve efficiency, maximize profit, minimize waste, devote talent to core business instead of overhead
• Provide better service to customers
• Support better relationships with key partners
• Allow customers to better guide the business

The very first question businesses should ask before spending any money or time on technology is, “why am I doing this?” If there is not a core business benefit to be gained, why do it in the first place?

How Much?

Established businesses outside the technology industry typically spend between ½ percent and 10 percent of their annual revenue on technology spending, depending mostly on the industry. Manufacturing and retail are typically at the low end of this range, while finance and health care are typically at the high end.

If you're at the low end of technology spending for your industry, you may be missing out on some key benefits technology can provide. If you're at the high end, you may be spending more than you need to on proprietary solutions, or you may be leading your industry with some strategic investment.

What?

What costs do you need to consider as part of your technology budget? These break down into several categories:

• Initial cost—hardware and software, and training
• Ongoing cost—maintaining systems, including licenses for proprietary software, hosting, and support
• Upgrade cost—cost of upgrades, and expected lifespan of systems/frequency of upgrades
• Value proposition—how much employee time will the system save? How much new business could the system generate?
• Opportunity cost—how much potential revenue is lost by not implementing a system? What are your competitors doing in this area?
• Risk—what are the risks of a particular system? What does it cost to mitigate those risks?

Where?

Should you spend most of your technology budget on infrastructure, hosted applications, custom line-of-business applications, or what? The answer to this depends a lot on your industry, but even more on your specific business. Generally, most businesses spend around half of their technology budget on infrastructure—computers, networking equipment, and Internet Service Providers (ISPs). As the world moves more and more online, and open source software becomes more compelling, there are huge opportunities for savings in these areas, for businesses that can take advantage of them.

When?

There's a fine line between too much and not enough. Spend too much on technology, and it will consume your time and budget, leaving you ill prepared to do anything else on your business. Spend too little and your competition may improve their business to the point that you can't compete.

You need to implement enough technology to see a real benefit, prevent the worst disasters, and not miss out on any major opportunities, while not spending more than you can handle.

Technology has a cost not just in dollars, but also in the time you and your employees need to spend adapting to it. Bite off too big a chunk and technology becomes counter-productive. Nearly always, small, incremental, ongoing chunks are a better way to bring technology into your business than large all-or-nothing systems that promise to do everything right away.

Who?

Finally, you need to decide who to help you implement technology in your business. Will you do it yourself? Do you purchase an off-the shelf product? Do you use free software? Do you hire a programmer to create a custom system? Do you use a hosted system? Do you hire a consultant to help?

Obviously, as an open source consultant, I think the answer is usually hire a good consultant to help you use as much quality free software in your business as possible. Whether or not to use a hosted system depends on your specific business needs. Off-the-shelf proprietary products are quickly becoming the least favorable way to go, but there are still a few niches where there isn't a viable alternative.

Many businesses are stuck at a tactical level, trying to stay ahead on cash flow and payroll, and don't have time to think about technology in a strategic way. But a strong plan for technology should be a part of every business plan, and re-evaluated whenever taking a strategic look at a business.

http://www.freelock.com/information-technology-business-big-picture

Reducing Your IT Capital Expenses

Among business organizations there is a concern about how they will run their business at low IT capital expenses. During tough economic times, the cost of running a business increases and leaves the business owner thinking about how they can save money.  In small to medium sized businesses cost cutting is a huge priority.  After all, you can't make money if you spend it all.  

http://www.tvgconsulting.com/computer-support-company-in-los-angeles-explains-will-an-it-consulting-company-reduce-my-it-capital-expenses/