12
Oct, 2022
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When Talking to an IT Service Provider, Ask These 3 Questions

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There is an inherent value associated with outsourcing the management of your technology to a managed service provider, or MSP. With your team taking a more hands-off approach to technology, they can instead focus on being more productive. If you’re still on the fence about this approach to technology and business, then we have some questions you should consider asking if you are thinking about learning more about MSPs and what they do.

What Services Does Your MSP Offer?

It is important to know what services your MSP offers and what they do not offer. This helps you while you are making the decision about who to go with for your support needs. It can also help influence your decision down the road, as your business might grow and evolve over time to encompass goods or services which you might not see at the moment. For example, a growing business will likely want to take advantage of a cloud platform, including hosting and migration.

How Experienced Are Your MSP’s Technicians?

The level of expertise of your MSP’s staff will also factor into your decision-making. You want a team of seasoned and well-practiced technicians on your side, which will affect your company’s ability to resolve problems, streamline processes, and ensure optimal operations. Furthermore, you want MSPs who can take complex problems and distill them into easier-to-understand statements and language that you can share with management or your staff. When everyone can understand the problems and challenges at hand, they are more likely to be patient and resolve them effectively.

What is Your MSP’s Service Level Agreement?

An SLA is essentially what you can expect to receive from your managed service provider for their goods and services in exchange for your payment. It might include information on how much you pay them, what services they offer, and what kind of turnaround time you can expect for requests. It establishes the expectations you have for each other, in the most basic terms possible.

We Can Help You Today!

If you’re unsure if managed services are for you, then let NuTech Services help you make the choice. We can resolve any shortcomings in technology management that your company suffers from with our team of dedicated technicians.

If you do have an internal IT staff, they can benefit from you outsourcing some of their tasks to a managed service provider. This will help them stay on top of their workload and it can improve your operations.

To learn more about what NuTech Services and our managed services can do for your business, call us today at 810.230.9455.

30
Sep, 2022
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Our Experience Means Substantial Benefits for You and Your Business

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Let me ask you a question: if you had a toilet that needed repairing, would you rather trust a plumber with a few decades of experience or a toddler that had just (mostly) learned how to use the toilet?

That’s what we thought… but when it comes to your business’ technology, finding someone with experience can be a bit more challenging. Let’s discuss the way that the right IT management produces improved business outcomes.

Why Modern IT is So Valuable

Regardless of a business’ size, the right technology can drive its performance ahead by leaps and bounds, particularly in terms of productivity and efficiency. However, with so many options available today, determining which of them will actually provide value to your business isn’t always all that simple. This is particularly the case when you consider that the same technology won’t work the same way for every business.

NuTech Services and our team of professional consultants work closely with businesses in Michigan so they have the IT that will help propel their operations forward most effectively. This goes beyond the concept of just getting computers set up. It also entails the process of incorporating the IT that will improve the business’ capabilities through enhanced productivity, process automation, and collaboration.

Provided that a business’ IT is correctly implemented and supported as it needs to be, the value it can provide is practically unlimited. This is what makes it so important to have access to technicians with an appreciation for the fundamentals of technology maintenance and its impact on a business’ operations.

A Technician’s Experience Matters

The more experience that an IT technician has, the better they are able to shape a business’ technology to provide it with the maximum amount of value and utility. Likewise, someone without this experience will likely find it more difficult to identify what is needed to accomplish these goals—particularly in terms of technology investment and procurement. Without having concrete goals outlined and the knowledge of how to go about accomplishing them, a business can find itself stagnating.

Not only this, but since these investments need to be made thoughtfully and diligently, bringing in an experienced perspective can bring back substantial dividends. By creating a productive and consistent working environment, your operations will be in a better position to succeed.

There are many, many considerations that a modern business needs to weigh out in regards to its IT—whether or not remote work is utilized, are certain systems required to have additional security or transparency, is the robust IT infrastructure you need to maintain attainable? Our consultants can help you construct an effective and reliable business environment that helps you create an improved workflow.

What Experience are You Seeking from Support?

Naturally, acquiring the right technology is only part of the equation. It is also important for you to have the means to keep this technology properly maintained, supported, and managed in general. This kind of support is—in short—critical to a quality infrastructure, requiring experienced technicians with the knowledge and skill to keep your IT in operation.

Threats are more prevalent than ever before, and that’s without even taking the odd downtime incident or user error into account. Again, this means that having an experienced resource to turn to has also become more important. Now, you have a few options—hiring IT staff internally, for one, but this can be incredibly expensive. Hiring a managed service provider is often a more cost-effective option for businesses, with the proactive maintenance we offer helping to avoid downtime and maintain your productivity.

Business IT can easily become quite complicated, but we can help simplify it for you. Call us today at 810.230.9455 to talk to us about what we can do for your operations.

20
Jul, 2022
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Get Your Cybersecurity Answers with Penetration Testing

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Hacking attacks can be stressful to manage, but when you add in that they can strike when you least expect them to, it gets a lot worse. You’ll never know how you respond to such an event unless you simulate it and replicate it somehow. This is what the penetration test is used for; it provides your business with a way to prepare for cyberattacks.

Understanding the Penetration Test

When you perform a penetration test, you check your infrastructure to see where it cracks against a cybersecurity attack. These tests are performed by trained IT professionals who simulate the methods used by real-life attackers. The goal is to find where your business might be most vulnerable to infiltration.

A penetration test will often be performed with a goal in mind. You might need to know which systems are most vulnerable to hackers, and in the process, you might discover that one particular system is more vulnerable than you previously thought. Penetration tests are vital to stopping data breaches and for laying out how you plan to respond to them. It’s much better to keep issues from developing into larger problems.

The Various Types of Testing

First, we should outline the difference between a penetration test and a vulnerability assessment. With the latter, you are just getting a list of what needs to be addressed, while a penetration test is more of a simulated attack against your infrastructure to see how it responds to the attack. Here are three ways that a penetration test is generally performed:

  • Black box testing – The tester goes in blind; in other words, they know nothing about the network or what to target. This type of testing might be used if there are no specific problems that need to be addressed.
  • White box testing – The tester goes in with full understanding of the network, often looking for specific problems that need to be addressed.
  • Gray box testing – The tester has partial knowledge of the network. In other words, they don’t have the whole picture, but they have some of it.

The results will show just how far the data breach got, what was stolen, and other important metrics that you’ll need to keep in mind for resolving problems like these in the future. Not all security plans are fool-proof, which is why there is a necessity for such a test in the first place. It’s up to you and your security team to ensure that such an attack cannot occur for real.

Get Started Today

Small businesses can often struggle with technology management, especially with so few resources at their disposal compared to larger enterprises. This is why we offer comprehensive IT solutions that can fit into just about any budget. If your business can overcome the challenges presented by cybersecurity, then you can go about your day-to-day operations with greater confidence.

To learn more about how we can assist with penetration testing and other proactive, preventative security measures, reach out to NuTech Services at 810.230.9455.

18
Mar, 2022
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How Proactive IT Management Works Better

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How does your company manage its technology? Does it struggle with the idea of managing multiple workstations, server units, networking components, mobile devices, and more? If so, then read on—we have some tips to help you better manage the many different technological parts of your organization.

Keep in mind that this is general advice that can be applied to just about any company. If you want specific advice, we are happy to have a discussion with you with a network consultation!

Less Is More

The more complex an IT infrastructure gets, the more difficult it gets to manage. Therefore, in order to keep your infrastructure as easy to manage as possible, we recommend keeping things simple, or as simple as is appropriate for your business practices. The reason for this is that IT infrastructures with large amounts of varied software and hardware can be difficult to keep centralized and monitored without a dedicated technician to keep tabs on it.

Proactive is Better

If we asked you whether it is better to deal with problems that have derailed your productivity or to prevent them entirely and dodge that bullet, what would you say? Proactive maintenance is one of the most important parts of running any IT infrastructure. If problems persist and grow to be so bad that they cause downtime, then you are leaving money on the table and putting your business at risk. It’s better to just keep the issues from growing to become this bad in the first place.

Outsource When Necessary

We know that not all companies have access to the same talented group of IT technicians, and this lack of talent can often lead to businesses foregoing IT maintenance altogether or relying on existing resources that are not adequately trained or prepared to handle this responsibility. In situations like this, you can rely on outsourcing to an appropriate third party. Even if you have an in-house IT department, outsourcing can be a valuable investment to save your business 

If you want to take the guesswork out of IT management, NuTech Services can help with that, too. Our trained technicians can provide all of the support you need to ensure maximum productivity and efficiency with your network and IT resources. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

16
Mar, 2022
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Where IT Services Meets Physical Security

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Data security isn’t the easiest thing in the world to plan for, especially if your organization doesn’t have any dedicated security professionals on-hand. While protecting your data with traditional methods, like passwords, firewalls, and antivirus, is important, what measures are you taking to make sure a thief isn’t just walking into your office and making off with your technology?

If you don’t have guards or security cameras in place, you’re more likely to suffer from a physical security breach, which can be just as devastating as a digital breach. Ask yourself how comprehensive your security really is. Why not use it as an opportunity to protect your business’ physical assets? With the threat landscape the way it is these days, it’s no surprise that organizations focus on the digital aspect of security, but some people are just old-fashioned and would rather infiltrate a business the traditional way.

It’s also important to keep in mind that not everyone is going to be the perfect employee. You might have a couple of bad apples in the bunch that want to steal business resources. In this case, digital security might not mean much, but physical security like locked doors and so on could make all the difference in keeping them from making decisions that are bad for both themselves and your business.

Basically, you need to take a dual approach: You need to consider both digital security and physical security for the following reasons:

  • Data access is restricted to those within your organization, but even the best employees make mistakes.
  • A tiered approach means that employees only have permission to access data they need for their immediate work responsibilities.
  • Knowing who is accessing devices and data, as well as when they are doing so, can help you to resolve issues as they occur.

Let’s consider a couple of scenarios where it helps to have physical and digital security. Access control limits who can access specific information, so if the data is corrupt or missing, then you’ll have a clear idea of who is responsible for it. On the off-chance that it wasn’t the employee, then you know their credentials have been stolen and abused by a cybercriminal. Access monitoring is helpful for this, as it can also determine when someone is accessing data, as well as where they are located. Thus, if someone from another country is accessing data in the wee hours of the morning, it’s likely that you have a digital security problem on your hands.

As far as physical security goes, consider what would happen if you didn’t keep track of the people who access the sensitive parts of your business. If something were to come up missing, having a cloud-based security system with digital playback as well as complete access control with logs, would let you go back and check to see exactly who had access, and what the situation was before so that you can get to the bottom of the problem. 

Therefore, in order to make sure that you’re keeping your data as secure as possible from all avenues of attacks, we recommend you work with the folks from NuTech Services. We can help you ensure security. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

22
Dec, 2021
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IT Management’s Biggest Challenge can be Settled with Managed Services

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How does your business manage its IT resources? Do you have a chief information officer, or CIO, in-house who manages everything related to your technology? If not, who is the one responsible for managing and maintaining your systems? If you don’t know the answer to this question, we have a reality check for you: you need to.

First, let’s establish a baseline for how businesses have traditionally handled technology management. Then we will transition into how managed service providers change the name of the game and what benefits they offer to small businesses in particular.

Traditional Technology Management in the Office

Depending on the size of the business, this might look a bit differently. Some companies have a CIO who is responsible for making all major technology decisions for the organization. Others have network administrators who handle this responsibility. Some businesses do not have any dedicated IT resources, instead choosing to have their employees handle any basic technology management or maintenance as needed, regardless of their current responsibilities and duties. Trust us when we say that you do not want to fall into the trap of relying on employees who have no business managing technology doing so; it helps no one to have unqualified employees responsible for something as important as your IT infrastructure.

Thankfully, small businesses have an alternative: outsourcing this responsibility to a managed service provider, or MSP.

Managed Service Providers

Companies that don’t have internal IT resources still have an opportunity to keep their technology in proper working order, and it starts with the idea of outsourcing the requirement to a managed service provider, or MSP. Basically, MSPs are businesses that provide comprehensive technology management services. Their entire business model centers around this concept of making technology management as affordable and accessible as possible. It’s basically like having an entire IT department without having multiple salaries in your budget or going through the hiring process for each of them.

The Benefits of MSP Offerings

There are so many benefits to working with a managed service provider that it is impossible to list them all here, but know that many of them involve the following: hands-off IT management on your business’ part, more manageable monthly payments that effectively transform capital expenses into operational costs, and peace of mind knowing that your organization not only receives routine maintenance for your IT infrastructure, but also has access to trusted IT resources at a moment’s notice.

Notice how each of these benefits has to do with making IT management easy for your company. This is intentional on our end; we want you to see that not just large enterprises have the resources to stay competitive in today’s technology-centric business environment.

Get Started Today!

Don’t let technology be a pain point for your business. Let the professionals at NuTech Services help you manage and maintain your IT infrastructure so you can focus on what you do best: running your business. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

18
Oct, 2021
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Managed IT Makes Technology Maintenance a Priority

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You should never settle for less than the best, especially with your business’ technology solutions. Unfortunately, this part of any company’s operations can be so stressful to manage that people often push IT maintenance to the wayside. So, if your company is not performing maintenance on its technology, how can it remain functional? It’s all about finding someone with the right skill set to manage your technology, something that is easier said than done.

For IT management, you have two choices: hire someone in-house to manage your technology or outsource the responsibilities to a third party. How can you know which one is the best for you?

If you hire an in-house department of IT technicians to work on your technology, you can bet that it will be a lengthy and time-consuming process. You have to put together job descriptions, duties and responsibilities, preferred requirements, and so much more, including advertisement, putting together a search committee, collecting hiring documents like resumes and applications, and interviewing successful candidates. By the time you get to the onboarding process, you better hope that all the time you have invested in this process was worth it, because it’s time wasted if not.

For businesses that need help now and want to outsource their entire IT department, there are many resources available and benefits to doing so. Most IT maintenance and management can be done remotely without the need for an on-site visit, meaning that there are no limits in terms of physical or geographical barriers. If it suits your needs, you could work with someone on the other side of the country, and you should never have to settle for anything less than the best for your business.

The biggest difference between the two is that an in-house IT department is dependent on other peoples’ qualifications rather than what your business needs. This is unacceptable, as any resources you implement for your business should improve its operations, not hold it back from reaching its full potential. You should always search for the solution that best fits your company.

An IT audit is the perfect way to start your journey toward solution implementation. It gives you a bird’s eye view of your business’ technology so you can better see where your IT infrastructure is versus where it needs to be. We can provide you with an audit, then provide recommendations based on our findings, as well as implement them according to your specific needs.

The other option you have is to hire an in-house group of technicians, which is perfectly fine if that’s what you need, but we can also help in this situation! You hire your technicians to handle tough technology problems specific to your business, so why not let us tackle some of the everyday inconveniences, like help desk support and day-to-day maintenance? You might find that it is easier to focus on improving your business when you have someone handling these smaller tasks behind the scenes.

If your company wants to prioritize technology maintenance and management, reach out to NuTech Services at 810.230.9455.

16
Aug, 2021
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Managing Your Organization’s Software is More Complex than You Think

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In a world of “as a service” business models, where services are distributed by month or by billing cycle, users are not necessarily buying things outright to replace them at a later date. The issue with this Software as a Service (SaaS) model is that too many of these solutions implemented all at once can create a messy web of software that needs to be managed. How can you make sure that you are getting the most out of your solutions without driving yourself up the wall?

A SaaS management platform is the best way to make sure that you are not leaving any value on the table with your SaaS applications. It can also help you maintain operations in ways that you might not have considered. Here are our top four benefits of using a SaaS management platform.

Analytics and Usage Statistics

If you have ever wondered how your employees use the solutions you give them, then a good SaaS management platform can give you access to these valuable insights. By getting this birds-eye view of how your employees use which applications, you can make more educated decisions about the solutions you implement moving forward. You might even find that you don’t need certain applications because they simply are not being used.

License Management and Renewal

Licensing is another major pain point for organizations that utilize several different types of software. If licenses expire, then access to applications can be brought to an abrupt halt. If employees find this happens to them, then they might look for other solutions to fill the void and get their work done. SaaS management allows you to keep this from happening by giving you one central location to manage and renew licenses as needed.

Enhanced Security and Compliance

No matter how often you use your SaaS applications for work purposes, they will inevitably store some of your organization’s data. This can create problems if you do not know what data and information it is that they are storing. If your business is using a SaaS management platform, you can more easily control security for these applications, a process that also aids in compliance.

Tighter Control over SaaS Applications

SaaS management gives your business the ability to manage its software from one central location, a concept that can help you eliminate shadow IT, which is the situation we described above where employees might implement unapproved applications to solve problems. Giving employees the ability to pick and choose from a pool of applications can make them less likely to look for alternative solutions.

If you want to get started with SaaS management, NuTech Services can help. We can offer a comprehensive network audit that can give you valuable insights into your software management needs. To get started, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

5
Jul, 2021
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The True Value of Managed IT Services

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Technology management is a pain point for businesses, particularly smaller ones that might not have the vast amount of resources as larger organizations or enterprises. That being said, small businesses have a secret weapon that allows them to compete with larger businesses, and it comes in the form of managed IT services. What is a managed service provider, and how does working with one dramatically change the dynamic of your business’ operations?

What is a Managed Service Provider?

Since so many businesses struggle with technology management, we’ve made that entire premise our own business model, offering outsourced technology management services to organizations that need it. We are highly qualified to provide these services with trained technicians who have years of experience under their belts. In most cases, a managed service provider can basically act in much the same way as an internal IT department, but the real kicker is that there are a ton of other benefits to working with an MSP for your tech needs.

The Benefits

MSPs provide a ton of value for your business. In fact, even if you do have an IT department on-premises, we are confident that you can get some value out of working with an MSP like us. Here are some of the biggest benefits of doing so.

Lowers Costs

Hiring qualified in-house technicians can get expensive, especially if you want to hire top talent. Working with a managed service provider is actually cheaper and more effective for a budget than hiring multiple in-house technicians. Since you pay the MSP a monthly fee based on a service level agreement, it is easy to fit into your budget and it won’t break the bank.

More Convenient Service

Did you know that the majority of IT services your organization might need can all be administered remotely without an on-site visit? Sure, some things like running wires or setting up new hardware might require technicians to be present, but the vast majority of maintenance and management can all be done remotely. This saves you time and money, and since you can basically get the service you need when it’s needed, you won’t be left waiting around and incurring the costs of downtime in the process.

The True Value: Peace of Mind

You absolutely cannot place a value on the peace of mind you get knowing that your technology is being managed and maintained by a trusted provider. You will never have to worry about whether or not updates are being applied or if network security is being maintained. You can know with certainty that someone out there is always there, ready and able to manage any technology problems you might encounter throughout the workday. This translates into less stress and more focus on what truly matters: running your business the way it’s supposed to be run.

Get Started Today

NuTech Services works with small businesses to help them achieve their technology-related goals. By focusing all of our attention on ensuring your technology is in proper working order, you can then shift your focus to running your business and increasing profits. If you are ready to free yourself from the burdens of managing a complex technology infrastructure, don’t wait any longer—give us a call at 810.230.9455.

15
Jan, 2021
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Lessons to Learn From Lego’s IT Development

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Businesses of all sizes have been able to successfully overcome operational challenges by rethinking and adapting the technology they utilize. Let’s consider a huge example and look at what The Lego Group (as in the building blocks) has done to address some of their technological challenges with improved solutions—as well as how your business can do the same.

The Lego Group’s Situation

Sharing their story at the AWS re:Invent virtual conference, The Lego Group revealed that their online presence and its Direct Shopper Technology team was encountering issues… particularly when their traffic was spiking during sales events and product launches, reaching levels 9.5 times what was typical and with a 200-fold increase in transactions. Back in 2017, the release of the largest building set to date (the Star Wars™ Ultimate Collector Series Millennium Falcon™ set, with 7541 pieces) and the resulting traffic on launch day effectively shut down the back-end of their website and overwhelmed the sales tax functionality that called back to their on-premise infrastructure.

This made it so that visitors would only see the website’s maintenance page.

This event proved to the company that some changes had to be made, as their growth simply couldn’t be supported through their on-premise solutions and the limited scalability they could offer. Furthermore, making these changes could allow the company to focus more on their customers’ experience on the website, rather than focusing on basic upkeep, while also giving them the resources to adapt to such demand spikes and capitalize on innovation.

Lego’s Growth Trajectory

Lego began their transition to cloud services in 2018 with the migration of their sales tax calculator and three additional processing services. Ten months later, the company had a serverless platform that was capable of everything its on-premise infrastructure could do, and soon after, the cloud had overtaken their on-premise capabilities with new records being established each month.

As of July of 2019, The Lego Group has been able to triple the number of engineers under their employ through remote operations and adopt 36 more serverless services, utilizing automation and monitoring to ensure that issues could be identified and addressed promptly. This approach has also allowed Lego to shift their attention from maintenance to developing new features that will help to further improve their service and the customer experience that results from it.

What Does this Have to Do With You?

While admittedly scaled up considerably, Lego’s transition to the cloud serves as an effective case study for any business that is experiencing IT challenges, as it demonstrates how much a company can grow and innovate by simply taking advantage of the technology that is available.

The best part is that this is the case for businesses of effectively any size—from a consumer retail and manufacturing giant such as The Lego Group to the small mom-and-pop shops who sell the construction sets that Lego produces. Of course, these capabilities also expand outside of the retail industry, with the potential to benefit a company that operates in effectively any vertical where its operations are concerned.

NuTech Services is here to help you put the technology that can benefit your business into place, ensuring that any operational issues are addressed and that all opportunities are embraced. To find out more about the solutions we use to accomplish this, make sure you reach out to us by calling 810.230.9455.

23
Dec, 2020
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Where MSP Services Come From

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For most people, the term tech support is pretty self-explanatory. The terms managed services and MSP… not so much. Let’s go over what makes managed services and what we do as a managed service provider so different from the IT support you may be used to. To start, we’ll review where the idea of an MSP came from, and end with what one like us can do for you.

Defining Managed Services

On a very fundamental level, managed services and tech support are very different due to the way they operate.

Traditional tech support, also referred to as break-fix IT, are those that most people think of. Whenever a piece of technology breaks down or has some other issue, an IT technician is called to fix it. This was the predominant—and really, the only—option to receive any level of IT support for some time, despite the expensive repeat visits and prolonged operational interruptions that came with it. For larger enterprises, hiring full-time IT staff solved this problem. It’s still costly, and often too costly for small businesses, but it does lead to faster turnaround times and ongoing support.

On the other hand, managed services are specifically designed with the small-to-medium-sized business in mind. Instead of waiting around for a company to call with an IT issue, a managed service provider will instead proactively monitor a company’s solutions to ensure nothing goes wrong in the first place. We’ll go a little deeper into how this is particularly beneficial later on, after we review how managed services came to be.

The Development of IT Support Services

Back when computers were first made available to businesses, small regional providers known as system builders that would construct generic computers for companies to use began to pop up. Large companies soon followed suit, and as a result, the high price of personal computers was reduced significantly.

In response to this change, system builders shifted away from the labor-intensive creation of computers to simply reselling those that the larger companies made. This gave them the title of systems reseller and proved to be a lucrative approach… especially without the Internet to facilitate direct-to-consumer computer sales.

Despite this, resellers discovered that they could generate higher profits by adding to what the manufacturers were providing. This led to the development of value-added resellers, or VARs. These VARs would sell the machines to consumers, as well as help install them and add them to existing computer networks. These networks and their needed infrastructure grew in importance as the Internet became a viable tool for businesses to use in the 1990s.

It was then that the VARs became systems integrators, and commonly provided break-fix repair services.

As the 1990s approached the 2000s, IT services were common enough for providers to start to act as advisors to their clients, recommending tools and introducing best practices into the clients’ networks. It was then that the term IT consultant was used.

Finally, with businesses relying on their technology more than ever before, it was no longer sustainable to solve problems after they happened. This helped drive the idea of proactive monitoring, remote maintenance, and online service delivery forward. At this point, the managed service provider was a reality, with the security of proactive support delivered in return for a set monthly fee.

What Can an MSP Do for My Business?

Today, managed services are the right choice for a business that wants to improve its operations while managing their time and budget more effectively. With a single provider taking care of all its IT management and maintenance needs, a business subscribed to these services gets to enjoy clear operational benefits with the confidence that their technology is reliable.

NuTech Services is proud to be known as an MSP, delivering top-notch solutions and services to businesses in a sustainable and beneficial way. To learn more about how we can assist you in your operations, give us a call at 810.230.9455.

18
Dec, 2020
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How Managed Services Developed into What They Are

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When you see that we offer tech support, you almost certainly have an idea of what that means. However, upon hearing about our typical service delivery for the first time, many people are really surprised by how different our services—as a managed service provider—are. These differences are not an accident. Let’s go back in time a little while to explore how managed services came about, and what difference they could make for you.

What are Managed Services?

Let’s start off with a very basic description of what “managed services” are, as compared to the common impression of “tech support.” Whenever one thinks about “tech support” or “IT,” they’re likely thinking of the break-fix version: some piece of information technology breaks or malfunctions, so IT is called in to fix it. While this proved effective enough, it also led to a lot of repeat visits… oftentimes for things that were relatively simple to fix.

Managed services are a different approach, tailored particularly for small to medium-sized businesses. Instead of waiting for something to go wrong, a company will enlist a managed service provider—or MSP—to proactively monitor their IT to help prevent issues from impacting it. This brings a variety of benefits that we’ll touch upon later. Right now, we wanted to look back and consider how this approach was first devised and deployed.

The History of Computer Support and Services

As computers were first introduced into the business landscape, so-called system builders—small regional businesses that offered “white box”, or generic computers—would offer other businesses their services. Large companies soon joined in, and this resulted in the prices of personal computers plummeting.

To adapt, system builders quickly shifted from constructing labor-intensive computer systems to reselling what the large companies would offer, making the systems reseller a lucrative thing to be. After all, before the Internet helped link the manufacturer to the end user, these manufacturers needed a go-between to get these devices into a customer’s hands. However, as time passed, these resellers realized that they needed to do more. As a result, systems resellers phased into “VARs”, or value-added resellers.

Basically, VARs were computer resellers who would not only sell the machines but would also assist with the installation and networking of these systems. As the Internet became more applicable to business needs and challenges in the early 1990s, this networking (and the additional equipment needed to support it) only became more crucial.

At this point, the VARs became known as the systems integrators, as this more accurately described their function. This point in time was also the high point for break/fix IT repair services.

As the late ‘90s rolled around, IT services were commonplace enough that providers were frequently stepping into advisory roles for their clients, making recommendations and implementing best practices. With this shift, systems integrators adopted the title of IT consultants.

Of course, as the technology used by businesses became more advanced and capable, repairing issues as they arose became less feasible. This, paired with the remote capabilities that the Internet was able to support, made the idea of proactive maintenance and online solution delivery a workable possibility.

Thus, managed services were born, with service providers delivering up-to-date and optimized solutions in exchange for a set monthly rate.

What Do Managed Services Entail?

Nowadays, managed services have risen to become the preferred choice for businesses in the know, thanks to the improvements that these businesses see to their productivity and operations. With a single provider attending to all a business’ IT-related needs, working with a managed service provider has shown to have clear operational benefits.

At NuTech Services, our team of professionals is proud to provide the best managed services that businesses could ask for at a reasonable, all-inclusive rate. Interested in learning more about our services? Reach out to our team by calling 810.230.9455 today.

25
Nov, 2019
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IT and Professional Services: A Strategic Relationship

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When you think of professional services, you may think about smart people doing important things that took them years to learn how to do. You may not, however, consider them the kind of people that lean on their technology to make their businesses work. This is because for the longest time, technology wasn’t a major part of the professional services landscape. 

Times have changed.

Today, the professional services industry is experiencing somewhat of a makeover. The effort-based expectations of the past are being replaced with outcome-driven expectations, leaving many professionals looking to technologies to help their businesses manage this shift in expectations. Typically, businesses begin their quest for efficiency by automating mundane portions of the business. This creates cost savings and promotes speed. The problem this model presents for professional services firms is that they don’t have many parts of their business that can be automated.

Since the front office and the back office of many professional services firms have some form of disconnect, and much of the work dictates that a person handles the intricacies of that work, automation isn’t really an option. That doesn’t mean there aren’t ways for professional services to utilize new technology to promote faster, more accurate, and more efficient operations. One way that professional services companies can improve is by making a digital transformation.

What Is a Digital Transformation?

The digital transformation refers to shift from analogue systems to digital ones. Over the past twenty years many analogue systems have been retired to make way for digital ones. This includes cloud-hosted solutions for time and resource management, productivity and collaboration, and even for the archival of information. The added efficiency a professional services firm can gain from committing to digital systems–especially in the processes listed above–is sure to quicken the pace of your business’ operations. Let’s take a look at the technologies some of the most utilized professional services companies are beginning to use. 

Medical Practices

Medical practices have been improving their IT under mandate for almost a decade. How has the digital improvement gone? A study from 2018 showed that 60 percent of practices that have upgraded their information systems have had a positive experience, while 23.5 percent had (what they’re calling) positive-to-mixed results. Only eight percent reported having a negative experience implementing technology. It took healthcare officials at every level working together to achieve digital transformations that help fuel electronic health records and other technologies used to help curtail cost redundancies and promote the delivery of comprehensive care.

Law Practices

There are a lot of lawyers that like to continue to do things the way they always have. After all, it is one of the oldest professions and there is a standard of decorum that many lawyers adhere to. In many ways the legal profession remains unchanged. That doesn’t mean that they aren’t using technology. The profession as a whole may not benefit from automation as much as other professionals, but it still does benefit through other solutions like document management, mobile management, and other digital systems often utilized with remote workforces. 

Most professional services firms are, like most other businesses, using information systems to improve operations and be the best firm that they can be. If you are working in the professional services market and would like to learn more about how your firm would go about making a digital transformation, call the professional service experts at NuTech Services today at 810.230.9455.

6
Nov, 2019
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Like IT or Not, You Need to Keep Up

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You have to establish your organization as a contender. To do so, you’re going to need to use at least the caliber of tools that your competition is using. According to the 2020 State of IT report that Spiceworks has released, the majority of businesses with fewer than 100 employees have plans to adopt new technology solutions.

Admittedly, it can be easy to roll your eyes at statistics like these. If a method works consistently for a business, why go through the trouble of changing it? Why is it that you have to adjust how you do business, just because someone else has?

Well, there are a few reasons.

First, I want you to consider why we use computers today, rather than typewriters, or send emails and instant messages instead of carrier pigeons. It isn’t that the more traditional alternatives were inherently bad, it’s just that the technology that replaced it is better.

The technology that we all use today is still improving – becoming faster, more powerful, and more capable than what was introduced not all that long ago. 

Technology follows something called an s-curve – gradual improvement as a new method is introduced, sudden acceleration in the improvements that are made, and then it peters out as the technology reaches its limits. At this point, a new technology is presumably introduced, and the process resets.

Each time a new improvement is introduced, you have the opportunity to use a better tool than your competition does… but the same can go the other way, too. If your competition pulls too far ahead of you in its capabilities, your customer service capabilities won’t matter when compared to a service that is just better.

Using up-to-date technology solutions makes your business more efficient. When you’re dealing with a business, how long are you willing to wait to receive your promised services? 

Not only do inefficient services wear down a client’s patience, longer operations are inherently more expensive – so, in a way, you wind up spending more money to deliver a less satisfactory product or service.

Not good – but again, easily fixable with more recent solutions, like automation. Automation makes operations a lot quicker by eliminating rote processes, accomplishing this as your employees work on other things. 

Finally, you have to consider your business’ security. When so many cyberattacks are now run almost completely self-sufficiently, the protections that your business relies on will have to work far faster than any human being could.

On the other side of the coin, an increasing amount of cyberattacks are relying on human fallibility in order to take root. When phishing attacks (think the Nigerian Prince scam, but more refined and directed to your users) targeted a reported 76 percent of businesses in 2018, you need to know that you and your employees can spot them. By helping you implement the security solutions you need to protect your business on the digital side of things, and by educating your employees on how to spot threats and issues, NuTech Services can help keep your business safe and competitive.

Our team would be happy to talk to you about implementing the IT solutions your business really does need to remain competitive. We can also remotely maintain it for you, allowing you to go about your business without having to worry about it. Please, reach out to us at 810.230.9455 to learn more.

1
Nov, 2019
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Why Your Technology Needs Upkeep, Updates, and Upgrades

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There is no question that today’s business operations require technology, but even that doesn’t tell the whole story. Not only do businesses need technology, they need to maintain this technology as well. Below, we’ll review the three basic steps to technology maintenance… and how we can help simplify these steps for you.

Upkeep is Simplified Via Network Monitoring

It is a well-established fact that, for a computer network and other IT solutions to continue working effectively, it helps to maintain them. In turn, this requires them to be monitored so that potential and developing issues can be resolved… which means that someone will have to be responsible for that monitoring.

Now, you could hire an additional employee to handle that part, but one person just isn’t going to be able to both maintain your business and see to the other considerations we’ll cover here. A better option would be to hire that employee, supplementing them with an agreement with NuTech Services. We can handle the network monitoring aspect, allowing your internal resource to help you strategize how your strategy will develop – but more on that later.

Updates are Managed Per the Managed Service Agreement

Between performance improvements and heightened security, it isn’t as though software developers stop improving the solutions they release until the official end-of-life date passes. However, while these improvements may be available, do your employees know that they are?

This could be one more thing you don’t have to worry about with NuTech Services on your side. We keep our ears open for industry news and will install updates for our managed service clients… we’ll even do so after hours, so as to not interfere with your operations. 

Upgrades are Strategically Prioritized

It isn’t uncommon for people to turn to an expert opinion for assistance in making a decision. As the IT experts around Michigan, we’ve fielded a lot of questions about improvements to existing technology. As we said before, we can help you come up with a strategy for your technology that allows you to make optimal use of it, and this strategy includes the upgrades you should make. Upgrades keep your business safer, more efficient, and as a result, help you to be more productive.

We can help you decide which upgrades you need to adopt next, referencing your current solutions and needs to inform your strategy. Then, we can handle your vendor relationships on your behalf, possibly getting you a better deal than you would have otherwise.

Reach out to us to learn more about these solutions and services, or any of the others we offer. Call 810.230.9455 today!

4
Sep, 2019
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Tip of the Week: Best Patch Management Practices

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Patches are a critically important aspect of your technology. As a result, you need to be sure that yours are managed properly. We have three tips to share so you can optimize your patch management processes.

Create Procedures for Both Routine and Emergency Patches

Many patches are released on a predictable schedule, so as to make it easier to keep up on patches – after all, if you know that a patch is going to be released on a certain date, you can set aside time to apply that patch. There are also emergency patches that are released when a vulnerability is discovered and remediated.

As you might imagine, both are important to maintain – one, to keep your business as free as possible from vulnerabilities, and second (and perhaps more obviously), to keep your business secure in the face of an impending threat. That’s why you need to make sure you have set processes in place to ensure that all patches are tested and applied. While it may not always be a pressing security issue, it is better to be prepared for anything that the vendor is concerned about.

At NuTech Services, we always build out and update our procedure, and test updates before they are applied to prevent downtime and other issues. It’s all about working smarter, not harder.

Have a Controlled, but Realistic, Environment for Testing Purposes

Let me ask you a hypothetical question: someone comes up to you on the street and offers you a pill that would make you immune to the common cold, but with no peer reviews by any medical board or the FDA. So, do you take it?

I would hope you would say no, simply because you have no idea of the effectiveness of the pill without it having been tested. Patches are the same way. Without any testing, you simply don’t know how well the patch will work, or if it will interfere with another process. Before you apply any patches to your primary infrastructure, you need to have made these evaluations in a reasonable approximation of it. An effective means of doing so is to spin up a virtualized environment and stress-test the patch there, before actually applying it – just make sure you give your tests enough time to produce trustworthy results.

Keep Track of When Patches Are Released

Depending on the hardware and software you use, patches are going to be released on a different schedule. This is because different manufacturers and vendors manage their schedules differently. Just look at Microsoft and their famous Patch Tuesday (typically the second and sometimes the fourth Tuesday of each month). In order to properly keep your patches up-to-date, you need to know when to expect them.

For assistance with your business’ patch management, you can always turn to NuTech Services. Give our professionals a call at 810.230.9455.

28
Jan, 2019
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Focus Your Technology on Producing Efficiency

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Technology can go a long way toward helping businesses be more productive with their time, but only if the solutions implemented are right and proper for your organization. We’ll discuss three services that you can provide for your business that can maximize productivity with technology solutions.

The Cloud
The cloud has risen in popularity over the years, and it’s because the benefits are simply too incredible for businesses not to adopt the cloud. Many of these benefits are a result of the cloud improving productivity. For example, cloud computing’s flexibility makes it great for use on mobile devices. Users are no longer limited to being in the office, and as long as they can access resources in a secure way, they can get just as much work done while out of the office over the Internet as they could if they were in-house.

Outsourced IT Management
Technology is only worth the investment if you have the time and resources available to properly manage it, as if you fail to take proper care of your technology, it could fail much sooner than you expect it to. The problem is that not all businesses can afford to hire a full-fledged in-house IT department to properly maintain their IT infrastructures. Thankfully, businesses like NuTech Services provide outsourced IT management to businesses with limited budgets who want to turn IT from a capital expense to an operational expense. Even if you have in-house IT resources, you can supplement them with outsourced IT to save time and make opportunities for other employees to get more value out of their employment with your organization.

Collaboration Solutions
There are many solutions out there that are designed to help your organization be more effective at collaboration. Whether it’s Voice over IP, hosted email, or instant messaging applications, your organization can use them to collaborate and share experiences in a way that facilitates cooperation and productivity.

Does your business want to implement technology to focus on improving productivity? NuTech Services can help. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

14
Jan, 2019
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The Pros and Cons of Automating Business Processes

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Most industries utilize automation to at least some degree. With plenty of benefits that can be taken advantage of, businesses need to remember that they still must be careful about implementing these systems, as failing to do so could cause downtime and negatively impact productivity. Here are some of the major benefits and detriments that your organizations should consider when examining automation.

The Pros
There is more than one application and way to use automation. While the uses are more general than specific, they can be applied to several different kinds of goals or processes, whether it’s customer service or data processing. In this sense, automation can be used in a pretty universal way.

Efficiency
It’s obvious that certain processes take a considerable amount of time to complete, but if they are handled by automated systems, they can be completed much more efficiently than before. In other words, since you don’t have to focus on these tasks, you can instead devote the time to something else entirely. This effectively adds more time to the workday by removing routine tasks that can be handled by an automatic process.

Minimizing Repetition
If someone has to do the same task over and over again, they are doomed to lose interest and make mistakes. If these tasks don’t require focus, then the employees will likely let their mind wander, and productivity can suffer. This makes even a quick task more likely to be repeated multiple times, making it less likely to yield a return on the investment. Automation makes it more convenient and less risky to leave monotonous tasks to employees. Trust us when we say employees will thank you for taking these tasks off their plate and freeing up their schedule for others.

Convenience
When someone reaches out to your business, it’s likely they need your help with something, and they need it fast. If you can’t provide it on a convenient time frame, chances are they will take their needs elsewhere. Automation gives them the ability to get help from a chatbot or other similar automated system without the need to staff someone at all times to address immediate needs. This gives you a better chance at being able to respond to their needs when they reach out to your organization.

Potential Cons
Automation might be quite helpful for businesses, but there are some issues that should be addressed in order to ensure it doesn’t become a liability for your business. For example, some processes are simply too complex for a machine to handle in the same way a human brain can. Most automated systems are limited by design, thus ensuring that they will be limited to the task assigned to them. After all, an automated system’s purpose isn’t being fulfilled if you have to provide constant feedback to it. Here are some ways you can make sure the faults of automation sting less:

  • Use automation sparingly: Some of the services that could be automated likely don’t need to be. This is particularly true for more complex issues. Consider that many of the people who contact your business have a point of contact within your organization and regular requests, meaning that working with a human might not be such a bad thing if they are available at that time. In this way, automation supplements human contact rather than replaces it.
  • Have employees direct the automation: If an automation system can’t perform a task on its own, having employees direct it during more complex tasks can work to mitigate the issue. A complicated request can be made, but still processed and understood with the right direction.
  • Ingrate your automation: You don’t want to stop processes midway. As long as your automation is well-designed and thought-out, tasks can be integrated with automation to ensure they are handled in the most complete way possible.

What are some ways your organization can benefit from automation? Let us know in the comments.

28
Sep, 2018
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Getting a Better Sense of Customer Relationship Management

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I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how important it is to have a handle on your clients’ needs. After all, how else are you supposed to offer them the level of service that they need to remain satisfied enough to stay subscribed to what you offer? This endeavor is exactly why a customer relationship management (or CRM) system is so crucial.

What is Customer Relationship Management?
Customer relationship management is effectively how a company can gauge and improve their interactions with their clients, gradually coaxing them toward repeated business transactions. By compiling data from the many points of contact that a prospect or repeat customer has with a business, that business can build a profile that will help inform their next steps.

With data able to be drawn from website and social media activity, live chat and telephone conversations, and a customer’s purchase history, CRM software can heavily assist you by constructing a database of customer information. Some can even automate certain processes, assisting a company’s marketing and sales forces in more effectively communicating with customers from a more informed standpoint, or allowing labor to be saved by leading an incoming caller through a precomposed voice menu to direct them to whom they need to reach.

A CRM can also be used to optimize internal tasks, like the managerial responsibilities of Human Resources, processing analytics, and automating certain workflows. Some CRM solutions have even begun to incorporate artificial intelligence to better predict a customer’s trajectory.

Customer relationship management systems can be hosted on-premise or delivered over the Internet as a cloud-based solution.

Putting a CRM to Use
A CRM can be leveraged in any number of ways for your business to embrace. Social media engagement can be monitored to identify which platform is most used by an audience, monitoring keywords and brand mentions. Otherwise, it can be used to assist in addressing feedback over social media.

Speaking of feedback, a CRM system can also be of use in a business’ contact center, collecting data from service calls to inform a company’s sales and marketing efforts, as we mentioned above. This is especially useful in a business-to-business application, as it can help to optimize a business’ journey through the sales and marketing funnel.

If a CRM system sounds like something that your company should implement, reach out to NuTech Services by calling 810.230.9455.

14
Sep, 2018
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Budgeting for IT Can Benefit Your Business’ Bottom Line

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Your business depends on a budget to come out in the black at the end of the fiscal year, and the way you invest that budget will have a considerable impact. As you create this budget, your IT needs to be one of your top considerations – after all, it is what effectively powers the modern business. Here, we’ll discuss how diligently incorporating your IT into your budget can help your business be more successful down the line.

How to Approach Your IT Spending
When determining an IT budget, perspective is an important part of the process. It can be tempting to view your IT as just another cost of doing business, but it really is more than that. Your technology (and the state it is in) has ramifications that spread to your entire business, so if it is lacking, everything will be. Employee morale will suffer, your productivity will slow, and your incoming cash flow will falter.

After all, an IT budget needs to account for a lot. There are the costs associated with acquiring and subsequently upgrading your information technology, as well as training your staff to properly leverage these solutions. However, a good IT budget will also account for the odd inconveniences that will require some financial spending to resolve. Furthermore, with your budget in mind as a reference, explore some of your options as far as cost-savings go… are you paying for more resources than you need? Are you leaving money on the table anywhere when those funds could be used more effectively contributing to another goal? While information technology is hugely helpful when leveraged properly, it can become a financial burden if over-invested (or even under-invested) in.

This is how you should actually consider your IT budget: an investment. While some of it will be classified as a business expense, much of your spending will be into endeavors that help your business, either by increasing efficiency or reducing waste. Either way, your IT can be used to put your company in a better financial situation.

Encouraging Financial Well-Being with an IT Budget
If you’re unsure of how to proceed with budgeting your IT, we’ve compiled a handy list of things you should (and shouldn’t) do during the process.

  • Have a set budget for your IT. In order for your business to be able to utilize the caliber of technology solutions it needs for success, you need to put forward the investment into those solutions.
  • Invest in business-enhancing solutions. Whether you’re boosting your internal productivity or fortifying your business against threats that could keep you from conducting business as usual, your IT budget should be spent in ways that directly benefit your operations.
  • Don’t shoot from the hip. Like we alluded to above, if you aren’t investing in your IT solutions correctly, you could find yourself in a worse spot than before. It is crucial that you go about investing in your IT strategically, directing funds to where they are needed and where they will help you to generate more revenue.

Alexa von Tobel, CEO of LearnVest.com, said, “We all have pretty much similar dreams, and at the root of all those dreams is being able to be in control of your money.” We agree, which is why we’re dedicated to providing you with the most value in our IT services without emptying your coffers. To learn more about the easily-budgetable services that we have to offer, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.