Tag: computer repair

  • Can outsourcing your IT save you time and money? 4 proven benefits to outsourcing your IT

    Can outsourcing your IT save you time and money? 4 proven benefits to outsourcing your IT

    Where and how to spend your technology budget is often a constrained topic for our clients and prospects, often the need to improve things is apparent by the time they’re having a discussion with us but there’s still a hesitancy that’s difficult to overcome.

    Investing in your business requires a lot of thought and consideration even when it’s a topic you know well, but for many the topic of IT is a somewhat intimidating subject even during the best of times. When IT is causing you woes it can feel like an insurmountable task to evaluate a solution to solve it given how many different paths there are to take.

    Is it hardware being finicky or failing, a recent cyber scare, ongoing data loss causing you consternation and keeping you up at night? Even minor technology conflicts such as keeping up with ongoing maintenance or replacing a device for an employee can demand hours of research and head banging and still not land you in a place where you feel totally confident in your choices.

    If you have an IT person in your company or one you work with it can still be difficult to keep up with it all in modern workplaces. Devices fail, the maintenance is never ending, and choices will have to be made. There is no one and done solution to it but outsourcing your IT to a company who does this as their bread and butter can not only save you a lot of time and hassle – it can even save you money.

    It may seem counterintuitive as there will be a cost to outsourcing your IT, but there is no avoiding making an investment when it comes to technology in 2024. Below are 5 proven benefits to outsourcing your IT.

    1. No hiring, training, or managing additional staff: Anyone who’s been involved in onboarding a new employee knows what a time sink it is, from the initial search to interviews to training. With a provider like Valley Techlogic we handle hiring and training technical staff members and have a rigid standard for those we work with so only the best people represent the face of our business to our clients.
    2. Teamwork and combined experience: IT like many other career paths covers a whole spectrum of knowledge that would be impossible for one person to master in totality. We have a team of qualified people who specialize in a wide variety of topics and decades of combined experience. For many small businesses hiring for all of these roles would be extremely cost prohibitive but under one service plan with us you have access to our full team.
    3. Many solutions under one umbrella: We also invest heavily in solutions that we provide to our clients, again for one flat monthly fee. Many of these solutions are not available other than through a provider like us and are beyond your typical anti-virus solutions that only scratch the surface. Ongoing, real-time monitoring and threat detection. Backup solutions that include immutable access (so they cannot be tampered with) and more real-time your needs exactly: We tailor our plans to fit your needs exactly and can scale up or down with you. We base our solutions on how many users we’re supporting, so as you grow our plan will grow with you providing exactly the right amount of coverage.
    4. Ongoing risk prevention: Our plans include all of your IT maintenance, so if something is amiss such as a device failing, we can offer our recommendation for replacing it before it becomes an issue – this is especially noteworthy when it comes to critical devices such as an onsite server.

    In total if you looked at each facet of a solution like ours compared to trying to invest time or money to replicate it bit by bit on your own, the costs would be exorbitant. This is why we see so many businesses who have inadequate solutions for IT and who try to cut corners, this is not a category where you should try to go it alone.

    Reach out today to learn more about what Valley Techlogic can do for your specific business by clicking here or the image below.

    Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.

    This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.

  • Patch Management 101 – From Neglected to Automated; 5 Tips for Managing Patching in your Business

    Patch Management 101 – From Neglected to Automated; 5 Tips for Managing Patching in your Business

    If we asked a new client what they had in place for patching most of them would answer in one of two ways. Either they’re “pretty sure” patching is happening regularly, or they know patches have mostly been ignored for quite some time.

    Regardless of how they answered, the outcome is usually the same. We usually inherit managing systems that are way behind on patches. That’s because patching doesn’t start out being an automated easy process for most businesses, there is some effort required to get into a good patching process established.

    If patching is left up to employees for their devices, it’s typical for the “Remind Me Later” to become the permanent option when it comes to patching. Depending on their level within your company this can either be a bad idea to very risky (though any device can act as a threat vector when it’s connected to your network). If a device that has admin level access is unpatched and it’s basically handing the keys to your kingdom over to bad actors.

    That’s because many patches are released specifically to address an active security concern. While functionality and quality of life improvements are also addressed via patching, active security concern patches can be released with little notice and should not be ignored.

    We’re also aware many users have a negative association with patching, especially if they’ve installed patches in the past and encountered bugs or issues. While these patches can be rolled back, it may not be simple to do so especially if your machine hasn’t been set up that way.

    There’s also patches for IoT (Internet of Things) and peripheral devices that aren’t as simple as clicking “Update Now”. Many times, patching these devices involves going to the companies website, downloading the patch, and manually installing it. With routers in particular patches are typically released to address a very serious security threat. We reported on a series of Netgear routers which when unpatched could easily be taken over by an intruder.

    Now that we’ve established why patching is important, here are five ways to make it more manageable:

    1. Create an Inventory of Devices Within Your Business: To manage consistent patching across the board you first need to know what you have. It’s a good idea to keep an inventory of all your devices (even peripherals or handheld devices like tablets).
    2. Create Consistency for Work Devices: For devices you or your employees work on, like laptops and desktops, it’s a good idea to try and maintain consistency. Meaning if you’re applying a patch to one of them you should apply it to all of them. That way it’s not a mishmash of various updates across your business. This will also make it much easier to troubleshoot any issues.
    3. Make Sure They’re Running the Latest OS (Operating System) Too: For Windows devices, it’s also important to keep them up to date with the latest OS version. Windows will discontinue patches for operating systems that have reached end-of-life. This doesn’t mean they no longer require patching; in fact, these devices are often targeted by hackers specifically because they can no longer be maintained.
    4. Also, for Windows Devices Have a Group Policy for Patching: This is an advanced tip, but you or your current IT provider can setup a group policy to make sure patches are occurring on a schedule for Windows devices.
    5. Work With a Professional to Create a Patching Plan: Patching is part of ongoing maintenance, and it can be difficult to address it on your own. At Valley Techlogic patching management is provided under every monthly service plan with us.

    Here is a mini report on how Valley Techlogic addresses patching management (as well as other routine maintenance items):

    Interested in learning more? Schedule a consultation with us today.

    Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.

    This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.