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A Virtual CIO Could Guide Your Small Business

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 For small or medium-sized businesses, information technology tasks can be pesky at best and completely overwhelming at worst. Even more difficult to manage is creating an overarching plan for a growing business’ equipment and security needs. Many small businesses grapple with their IT needs. In fact, more than a quarter of small businesses don’t employ any full time IT staff, let alone a Chief Information Officer who oversees a company’s IT services. 

Without a CIO how can a small business oversee their equipment and programs while ensuring the security of their vital data? A virtual CIO could be the answer. 

A vCIO — or third-party organization — provides all the strategic and experiential IT knowledge of a CIO while saving your business the cost of a full-time employee. Additionally, the vCIO coordinates and advises clients’ existing IT departments. They may also implement strategic IT goals, plan the IT budget, analyze and reorganize processes and facilitate hardware or software changes. 

Infomax’s vCIO services can provide many of the same services, providing clients with a roadmap for IT projects and strategic development as your company expands. Here are some of the benefits of working with a vCIO. 

Thorough Inspections 

Before getting started, many service providers like Infomax conduct network assessments and inventories of your current IT system. This helps pinpoint potential risks and prioritize projects. By evaluating technology today, providers can identify and implement the solutions to take you where you need to be tomorrow. 

Preparedness 

A vCIO helps your business implement the daily IT tasks that prepare you to meeting strategic goals. Those services include crafting an overall strategy, business continuity planning, network planning and integration and cloud computing. They also can coordinate between your business and vendors, providing vendor management and application selection. Additionally, your vCIOs can connect with your team daily, providing project management, license compliance tracking and reporting. 

An Expert Team 

The above services could be a staggering workload for one or two existing IT professionals within a small or medium-sized business. But a vCIO comes with a team of skilled professionals that make up a third-party provider’s staff. The team of experts help you make important technical decisions and find the best equipment and applications to fit your needs and budget. 

Cost Savings 

Leveraging vCIO services is just like having an in-house CIO who understands your vision for success. However, you don’t have to provide office space or pay full time salary and benefits like you would with a CIO. A vCIO also saves you money by uncovering and resolving issues that can escalate into expensive problems later. 

Ensure Business Continuity 

Business continuity planning balances real needs with financial realities. There may be resources that you can’t live without for an hour, but others that could be down for a day or two. A vCIO works with your business to determine what protection you should prioritize. 

To learn more about Infomax’s vCIO services, read more here and message us at InfomaxOffice.com to get started. 

How to Avoid an IT Wreck

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Before heading out on a road trip, most people make sure their car’s oil is changed and sufficiently filled, their brake pads are functioning properly and their tires aren’t bald. However, it’s just as important to perform regular maintenance on your car when you’re driving close to home. Starting the workday with a dead car battery is extremely inconvenient. Driving with warped brake rotors on the interstate during rush hour can be downright dangerous.

Most people understand the responsibilities and dangers that can come with driving a vehicle, but daily stress makes it easy to put off regular servicing. Your IT systems can suffer from the same negligence.

Small and medium-sized businesses likely have hundreds of devices that require regular maintenance — everything from computers, tablets, desk and mobile phones, servers, routers, printers, scanners, copiers and other machines.

Your office may perform full-scale system checks or data backups once a year or before beginning an ambitious project, but what do you do to ensure your equipment is functioning properly and securely on a regular basis? Can you or your employees recognize the signs of a breached or failing system?

We’ve got answers to your questions to keep irksome issues from turning into a complete wreck.

How do IT issues occur?

IT flareups are often the product of long-term issues that employees may not have recognized or that the company has not prioritized. It’s easy to see how more pressing work or more exciting projects can get in the way of fixing a system or device. If your office has only one or two IT employees on staff, small issues may fall through the cracks.

How can you keep an eye on your IT Services?

First, you need to set terms of reference for all employees. Make sure they understand how the systems and devices they use on a daily basis should work. Train employees to recognize common problems and provide a procedure to follow when issues occur. That way your employees aren’t driving around with the check engine light on for days without popping the hood of the vehicle or calling a mechanic.

Regular meetings are a great way to stay on top of your IT systems. Depending on your operations, a monthly meeting might be sufficient with all departments represented. The meetings should be streamlined, focusing on a plan of action to take care of the parts of your IT system that need regular maintenance — or ones that need special attention — until the next meeting.

How does managed IT help?

Third-party IT services providers, such as Infomax, supplement your existing IT team and allow your organization access to experts in various facets of IT. With Infomax’s iGuard Managed IT, clients know that more than 40 professionals with expert-level experience work for their business. Most importantly, managed IT provides business owners and employees peace of mind knowing that they have a team of professionals who are working proactively — not reactively — to keep your business safe from cyberthreats.

Managed IT providers work with businesses before breaches occur, periodically going over IT priorities. At Infomax, our iGuard Managed IT team even provides our clients with security awareness training to ensure employees are up to date on how to keep company data safe. iGuard Managed IT Services also entails regular data backups, ensuring that systems can be restored in the event of cyberattack, natural disaster or user error.

How does complete cloud computing keep your IT in line?

Infomax’s Complete Cloud Services — powered by Avatara — are similar to our managed IT services. However, our complete cloud services allow your company to completely hand your IT needs over to a team of experts.

It makes the most sense for businesses that don’t have full-time IT employees and want to staff to focus on their initiatives instead of pesky IT tasks. For instance, your mechanic wouldn’t expect you to rotate the tires on your vehicle while they change the oil.

With complete cloud services, our IT experts work even more proactively to protect and maintain your devices and IT systems. Additionally, all servers, storage and other infrastructure are moved to the cloud, represented as multiple secure data centers across the country. All computers and technological systems are hosted in the secured cloud, taking away the clutter of hardware your organization previously stored. Your business will never again need to buy new hardware, manage device upgrades or download new programs.

To learn more about how Infomax can help keep your IT systems running smoothly, contact us at 1-800-727-4629 or visit infomaxoffice.com/support/contact-us/.

The True Value of On-Site Service

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Servicing your IT network is not a one-size-fits-all scenario. Although remote monitoring serves many valuable functions, nothing replaces the need for occasional on-site service. Ideally, servicing your IT network should be a balance between remote monitoring and on-site service. This way, your business can run as smoothly as possible.

Here are some IT functions that require on-site service, and provide innumerable benefits to your business:

  • IT Road mapping. It’s hard to get anywhere without directions, and a good technology road map will help your business get to the next step. A technology road map ensures that your business is not blindly moving forward in the digital age, but is instead adapting in ways that best suit your business needs. Technology road maps are updated quarterly, so that your business is always headed in the right direction.
  • Email security. Email correspondence is one of the most important forms of communication these days. Make sure this important facet of your business is fully protected, using encryption, filtering methods, and other security options tailored to your business needs.
  • Disaster recovery. Let’s face it. No one likes to think about disaster striking. Fortunately, Infomax takes much of the thinking out and simplifies your recovery plan. Furthermore, with effective and reliable backup plans, you will be able to access those lost or damaged files quickly.
  • The latest software. Infomax provides the most cost-efficient software solutions available. Whether it’s a firewall, filters, or application controls, Infomax will keep your business properly monitored and protected. You will never have to worry that your software is out of date.
  • Mobile security. Mobile devices help businesses function from anywhere at any time. For that reason, they should be as protected as your in-house equipment. Mobile device management will streamline your devices, be they mobile phones or tablets, so that sensitive information is fully protected across all platforms.

As you can see, on-site services are a vital part of your IT strategy. Infomax can help secure your business from the inside out. Contact us today to learn more.

What Does Your IT Roadmap Look Like?

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An IT roadmap is one of the most important strategic assets a company can have. Essentially, it’s an evaluation of your company’s specific IT needs. Without an IT roadmap, you might as well be driving in the dark with your headlights off. Companies without properly managed IT roadmaps run the risk of data loss, security threats, and all sorts of unfavorable situations.

An IT roadmap will help guide your business toward reaching both your short-term and long-term goals by matching you with specific technology solutions along the way. Here are just a few reasons why having an IT roadmap is essential for your company:

  • Minimizing disruptions. A good IT roadmap will systematically tighten the security and functionality of your systems.
  • Economically sound. No one likes spending time and energy on IT issues. With a properly set up IT roadmap, there will be fewer monetary surprises. You will be able to deal with issues before they arise, so you can mange them quickly and get back to work.
  • Building relationships. Prepare for your service credibility to skyrocket. Your services will continue to improve, as you are not simply moving forward blindly. Rather, you have the guidance of an IT roadmap to get you where you want to go.
  • Adapting fast. In a perfect world, there would be no IT problems. However, in the world we live in, they are inevitable. Fortunately, with an IT roadmap, you can act quicker than ever. When the storm comes, your company will be prepared.
  • Staying current. IT roadmaps are best when developed or updated annually. This is because, as technology continues to improve at lightning speed, so must your roadmap.

Remember, a roadmap should be customized for all areas of your business, and based a strategic evaluation of your company’s needs. Infomax has the ability to build and maintain a reliable and current IT roadmap for your business.

Visit our website, or contact us today to learn more.