Trades Should Add Technology to Their Tool Belts

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There are many hands-on trades that haven’t traditionally needed technology. Yet modern tech tools help the plumber, carpenter, welder, or other trade improve productivity and competitiveness.

There are certain common tasks tradespeople face daily:

  • scheduling appointments with clients, suppliers, or inspectors;
  • tracking project deadlines and budgets;
  • communicating with project managers, customers, trades, office administrators;
  • paying employee salaries;
  • invoicing and tracking payables, receivables.

These can all be done with pen and paper, sticky notes, and forms in triplicate, but technology cuts the time spent and lets you focus instead on increasing your bottom line.

The Difference Technology Tools Make

Most of us carry small, powerful computers around in our pockets every day, whether it’s a smartphone or a tablet. Internet-connected devices give tradespeople access to tools to enhance productivity.

Let’s start with scheduling apps, as tradespeople are often on the move throughout the day. Signing up for a scheduling tool (e.g. Doodle) makes it easier to set appointments, and you aren’t involved in the booking process. Customers simply go to your website or link to the app and choose an available time that works best for them. You can even set it up to ensure you have buffers between appointments or prevent someone from scheduling a new, big project to start at the end of your day.

Integrating the scheduling app with your website helps customers reach you. Also, connecting also to a shared cloud calendar can help your team work together better. Everyone invited into the calendar can see who is out on a call, and where.

You can make changes to a cloud-based calendar on any connected device. Others will see the alterations in real-time. This helps you avoid scheduling conflicts. You can set a follow-up meeting with an inspector while you’re out in the field. The office secretary sees your availability in real-time to set up a new customer visit.

Your Trade Office On the Move

With cloud-based office software also available online, you can get more done out of the office. You don’t have to make a trip back to the office to enter your invoice slips and make photocopies of receipts. Instead, take pictures on your phone or tablet, and attach them to the project file in the cloud, or invoice directly from a secure cloud-based processing site. You won’t have to worry about any paperwork getting lost in the back of a truck or bottom of a toolbox.

The Microsoft Office suite, Google Docs, and cloud storage are available from iOS and Android devices. This lets you monitor project timelines, view budgets, and track invoices and payments in the field. Cloud-based accounting packages let you see cashflow or outstanding balances, and pay contractors or suppliers on the spot.

Cloud-based software also gives every employee access to business tools in the office. With a virtual desktop, they can collaborate easily (out on a job or in the office) and make changes in real-time. For instance, a contractor could access software to edit a building plan, then actually see the new design in 3D modelling software.

The great news is that technology is ever more accessible and easy to use. Embracing modern digital tools can improve customer service and trade business efficiency.

Your skill set may not extend to technology, but that’s where we come in. We can help you find the right technology for your business needs. Contact us at (515)422-1995 today!

What G Suite Is and How It Helps Business

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Business collaboration is the norm, whether everyone is working in the same office space or not. Providing the latest technology for knowledge sharing and communication is critical. G Suite is a cloud-based solution enabling effective collaboration through flexibility, productivity, and transparency.

A few decades ago, workers would be expected to answer phones, rip open physical mail, track faxes, and meet in-person with colleagues in the office. With the digital transformation, more of what we do is online. Adding email, file sharing, video conference calls, and chat could have overwhelmed us. Then came the business collaboration platforms streamlining workflow in a single solution. One of these is G Suite.

G is for Google in the case of G Suite. It’s Google cloud’s bid to compete with the likes of Microsoft’s Office 365. G Suite aims to make “working together a whole lot easier.” It combines productivity and collaboration tools around:

  • Connection – Gmail, Google Hangouts (chat and video conferencing), Google Calendar
  • Access – Google Drive, Google Cloud Search
  • Creation – Google Docs, Spreadsheets, Forms, Slides, Websites, App Scripting, and more.
  • Control – Administration Settings, Analytics, Mobile Device Management, Data Storage.

What G Suite Offers Your Business

Having G Suite gives your users an ad-free enhanced version of the features they may already use. For instance, instead of emailing from johnsmith@gmail.com, John could send from the professional domain jobnsmith@yourbusiness.com, and he’s no longer being distracted by email advertising.

“Gmail has a whopping 26% of email market share based on open rates” – Litmus

Since G Suite integrates with Calendar, it’s easy for John and his colleagues to plan meetings. People can share their calendars to enable scheduling, and they can hold the meeting in Google Hangouts. At the same time, users don’t have to share every appointment on their calendar with colleagues.

G Suite calendar allows users to create many calendars with different settings. Maybe one is private, another is only visible to certain people (you and your assistant), and yet another is public so that the entire company can see.

Anyone who has used Microsoft Word or Excel will quickly adapt to Google Docs and Sheets. It’s even possible to import Microsoft files into Google, then export them again into .docx or .xls files.

Yet on Google’s cloud platform, users can share files in real-time online. People can work together on the same file, at the same time, regardless of where they are actually located. This eliminates time wasted sending attachments and consolidating comments.

While work is in progress, or after you move on, you don’t have to worry about the files disappearing. Basic G Suite users get 30GB of storage. Business and Enterprise users have access to unlimited cloud storage and archiving. This lets a business store all its files in a secure, centralized location. A Google’s Cloud Search searchable one for Business and Enterprise users.

The administrative control offered is another reason to pay for G Suite. A business can manage all its user accounts from a single dashboard. You no longer have to worry about someone leaving and refusing access to their Gmail files.

With G Suite, you can go into the administration console and take control. Easily add and remove people. Plus, access management is easier with one dashboard to assign roles and rights. You can also manage mobile devices and set up two-factor authentication for greater security.

Still sound overwhelming for your small-to-midsized business? A managed services provider can help get you set up on G Suite. This secure, simple-to-use cloud platform can help you work smarter and faster.

Call us at (515)422-1992 to get started!

Hey You, Get Off the Public Cloud!

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The Rolling Stones sang, “Hey you, get off my cloud,” yet businesses might want to think instead about leaving the public cloud. Weigh these possible public cloud concerns against the advantages of alternate cloud solutions.

When most people think of the cloud, they are thinking of the public cloud. Apple users are on its iCloud. Others may be storing files on Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Cloud, or other services. These all typically have a free level of service. You can pay a monthly fee to upgrade based on the resources you use.

Cloud data is easy to store and access. This can enhance business productivity and efficiency. Added advantages of hosted cloud services – public or private – include the following:

  • Speed. Hosted cloud services come on demand or self-service. It’s possible to have cloud resources up and running in a matter of minutes.
  • Performance. Cloud providers focus on running secure data centers with the latest infrastructure. It’s their job to worry about hardware setup, software patching, and network reliability.
  • Scalability. Add cloud capacity without buying equipment or software, or training employees.
  • Mobility. Employees can access the cloud from anywhere, on any device.
  • Disaster recovery. Providers build in redundancies to ensure uninterrupted service.
  • You don’t need to invest in on-site equipment, maintenance, and management.

Yet there are some drawbacks to the public cloud. The public cloud is affordable because businesses share resources. The cloud service provider relies on economies of scale. They bring many businesses together for the same services, and it all adds up. But if you’re in an industry with high compliance requirements, the public cloud is a risk.

Advantages of the Private Cloud The private cloud offers the same benefits as the public cloud – and more.

A private cloud solution is dedicated to your business: yours is the only data on the server. This is a more secure solution offering greater visibility and infrastructure control.

A private cloud can be on- or off-premises. On-premise, your IT team sets up, manages, and maintains the cloud infrastructure. Off-premises, a cloud services provider customizes a dedicated and secure cloud.

The private cloud is appealing to regulated industries, government agencies, and tech companies needing strong controls. It is more expensive but allows businesses to easily access data, applications, and backups, and with reduced security risks.

Cloud Flexibility with a Hybrid Option A third alternative is the hybrid cloud. The business takes advantage of both public and private cloud solutions. You decide which apps and data workloads need more security. Meanwhile, the public cloud is available to offer cost savings and efficiency, plus, it can be a backup for sporadic traffic spikes.

The hybrid option, though, requires strong integration between private and public cloud deployments. Managing the mix of architectures can prove challenging.

Understanding the difference between these cloud offerings can help you choose the best for your business.

Need help migrating to the cloud or changing your cloud solution? Our IT experts can help you weigh the tradeoffs and determine the best one for your needs. Contact us today at (515)422-1995!

What Is SharePoint, and Why Use it?

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Mobile, remote workforces still need tools to share and collaborate with one another. Business teams want to work together and get the job done efficiently. Microsoft SharePoint helps make that happen.

SharePoint is used in science and education, law and government, finance, computers, electronics, and technology verticals. Its largest market share globally is in the United States. Other top markets are Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

If you’re subscribing to one of Microsoft 365’s business plans, you already have access. SharePoint is Microsoft’s document management and collaboration tool. Users, wherever they are, connect to SharePoint through their own browser. SharePoint streamlines the process of tracking workflow and documents. But that’s not all that the platform offers.

SharePoint Core Features

Businesses gain several benefits from using SharePoint.

Collaboration. Now, you can store documents in a folder on a server. SharePoint lets you create workflows, see document history, track file access, and more.

Organization. SharePoint greets users with a screen that shows:

  • what they interact with most frequently;
  • sites that they are following;
  • featured links;
  • a search bar

Having recent activity and access to important links and relevant sites as the entry point to the platform can help keep your people productive.

Within SharePoint sites, you can also create lists to collect items. This might be announcements, contacts, links, or a task list.

Integration. SharePoint works with Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and more. A team might create a shared notebook to keep information in one place and evolve as projects do.

Create community. SharePoint websites are a centralized location for teams to find what they need. Human resources might set up a site with its updates and important forms. This allows everyone to quickly find the information they need.

Version control. Don’t worry about emailing documents to various team members for input. A SharePoint document becomes the single source for the one, current document.

Search. Advanced search capabilities make it easy to look across a site library. Or users can search content in all SharePoint sites they can access. Avoid decentralization where assets are spread over employee PCs or different department siloes.

Data insights. Keeping all business data in one place makes it easier to review. Determine what’s being used or who is accessing what to identify trends. Site admins, owners, and members can track number of views, popular items, how many times people interact with the site, and more.

Share news. Keep teams engaged and informed using the News feature. Users post updates, or share reports and documents in the newsfeed section of the website.

Mobility. Users can upload files and access them from anywhere. SharePoint works with Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, or Mozilla Firefox browsers. There’s even a mobile app to let people remain connected from their mobile devices.

Why SharePoint?

SharePoint bundles many features together in a dedicated platform suiting different industries. Replace inefficient, paper-based processes with a centralized, online repository of documents. This can help with accountability and limit business bottlenecks.

SharePoint helps you build personal, team, project, customer, and/or vendor-facing websites. Avoid unwieldy email threads or confusing conference calls. Chat online and track edits in SharePoint.

You can also automate business processes. SharePoint allows you to create intelligent workflows for simple tasks. For example, you can streamline processes, with SharePoint automatically sending files for approval. Once done, you’re notified the review is complete.

Success with SharePoint

You’ll need to establish an implementation strategy, and also train employee to understand SharePoint’s value. Know that businesses lacking IT resources struggle to customize features and build automated workflows.

Our IT experts can determine the SharePoint service model that’s best for you. We can help integrate SharePoint and add customizations where they can help you. Contact us today at (515)422-1995!

Save Money and Time with Managed IT Services

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IT services can be one of the largest and most unpredictable expenses within a business. Unexpected failures, mandatory upgrades, and sudden staff changes can happen quickly and be very expensive.

These factors, a part of the IT world, make IT departments costly, hard to manage, and difficult to budget for.

Switching your business to managed IT services can lower costs and reduce unpredictable expenses. Making the switch can cut down management overheads and reduce budgets to a fixed period cost. Here’s how.

Reducing Infrastructure

It’s common in many firms for single tasks to be required to pass through multiple devices before they can be delivered or shipped. Invoices, payroll, and digital deliverables are particularly common culprits. When looking to improve efficiency and lower unnecessary costs, this is typically the first place to trim fat.

Instead of adding office clutter with more devices, cloud resources can streamline processes. Using cloud-based technology to do some of the same tasks as before typically adds more power and improves speed.

Cloud-based services are usually faster and available to more users at once. Files and services are easier to access and less likely to clog up the internal network.

Reducing the overheads associated with running internal servers is commonly a major bonus too. Eliminating associated costs such as maintenance, security, cooling and upgrades is the largest bonus many firms receive.

Cloud technology has the power to simplify and speed up your entire workflow while making large financial savings.

For most businesses, these savings can be put into critical areas of the firm where they can be better used.

Keeping IT costs predictable

In the world of IT, bad news is a fact of life. Systems failures and critical events will always happen eventually, it’s just a question of when. Virus attacks, malware, hackers, and hardware failures occur commonly and can take a systems out of operation for days.

Managed IT services focus on tackling these issues before they happen. Continuous monitoring of systems alerts us of hardware issues before their symptoms even begin.

Antivirus, firewall, and security systems are also kept up-to-date every night to prevent threats from being exploited and data being stolen.

Reducing Downtime

IT failures that take your systems offline typically costs far more than the total repair bill to fix it. Every minute your critical systems are unavailable is time spent not creating business income or value. The more staff you employ, the more the cost multiplies too.

It’s important to consider the value of the business’s reputation on top of just downtime. Not having services available when clients or customers need them most can sour relationships fast. Your services may be the difference between meeting and missing a crucial deadline. If your service isn’t reliable then clients may look for one that is.

No Internal IT Hires

As every business owner knows, the cost of staff is far more than just their salary. Holiday pay, retirement, sick leave, training, benefits, and downtime all must be factored into the total cost. Staff costs are the single biggest bill to pay, even in the smallest IT departments.

Managed IT reduces staff costs down to a single lower cost bill that includes all your IT needs.

We train and manage our own staff to service your firm. By doing so, you get all the advantages of an IT department to meet your business needs without the overheads and management of staff that are not central to customer demands.

Managed IT Services for your Firm

While IT and services are complex, expensive, and resource consuming; it doesn’t have to be for your business. Managed IT services present a simple, cost-effective solution to meet your requirements.

We can slash your downtime, secure your business, and keep on top of your infrastructure without adding unnecessary expenses.

Give us a call at (515)422-1995 today to see if managed IT services are the right fit for your firm.

Is Your Business’s IT Ready for the Coronavirus?

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The Coronavirus is spreading as fast as feared. Business must be ready for the worst. One priority? Protecting the health of employees. Preparing the way for remote working is one top recommendation.

News of the virus, which the WHO is now calling COVID-19, has prompted urgent interest in remote work. Business collaboration software, virtual desktops, and private networks can all help. This tech helps business continue as usual, even with quarantined employees.

It’s difficult to imagine you aren’t aware of the looming health pandemic. Trying to limit the contagion, we’ve already seen big business take major measures. These include:

  • Nike temporarily closed its European headquarters when an employee was diagnosed with the virus. After the first death in Washington state in the U.S., the company also closed its world headquarters for a deep clean of its campus.
  • Twitter told its roughly 4,900 employees to stay home to work.

Other businesses are weighing up the options. Furloughs? Changes to sick leave? Or encouraging work from home. The last option appeals, but how do employees work remotely? How can they continue collaborating with people they used to sit beside, meet in the office, or travel to see? Technological solutions.

The Right Technology for Remote Work

Remote workers want a centralized platform with a simplified (yet secure) login process. Business collaboration software is a great enabler of mobile, flexible work. Replace in-person meetings with voice or video conferencing. Streamline chat, voice, and video in one software platform. Tools such as Microsoft Teams, Google’s G-suite, or Slack, allow business to create team channels.

Business collaboration tools also simplify access to email, calendars, documents, and file sharing. Employees can use a single sign-on to access business tools and data. This supports improved efficiency and increased transparency.

Providing a virtual desktop can provide access to important business applications, as well. Virtual desktops in the cloud allow users to work separately from their personal computers. The software virtualizes the user’s unique desktop environment at any workstation. All the data and applications are stored on a central server. Users access apps, folders, and toolbars from anywhere, with a consistent, secure experience.

Using a cloud-based solution also provides peace of mind. While remote workers access the corporate network, the sensitive data isn’t stored locally. So, the business needn’t worry about the loss or theft of sensitive data. Plus, cloud-based virtual desktops are easy to rapidly install outside a quarantined area.

Worried about securing those remote connections? Another option is a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN connects computers, smartphones, or tablets to a shared or public network as if connecting to a private network. These encrypted connections to the internet secure data and protect employees’ mobile activities.

Mobile Work Helps Every Day

You can hope that your employees stay healthy and your business remains unaffected, but why take that risk? Empowering remote work benefits business, even without the threat of a fatal flu.

Remote teams enjoy greater work-life balance. The workers spend less time commuting and are more productive. Empowered, they also feel trusted and more engaged.

Meanwhile, business can save money on physical space and hardware investments. Additionally, the hiring pool of qualified personnel expands with remote work, and the business can offer its services more globally and flexibly. All that’s true whether the coronavirus becomes an issue for your business or not.

Enabling a remote workforce takes technology. Need help installing and connecting your employees? We can help. Contact us today at (515)422-1995.

When is Your Business Ready to Move to the Cloud?

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By now you know that the cloud isn’t going away any time soon. In fact, cloud computing has become a natural step in business growth, thanks to the numerous (and continually growing) benefits. More and more applications are coming out in web-based form and staff are exceptionally comfortable with this type of change. So when is the right time to move your business computing to the cloud?

Many businesses are facing this question now that cloud computing has become a mainstream norm. After all, you’ll be able to roll out new apps in days, not weeks, and nobody ever says ‘no thanks’ to increased security and efficiency.  Like any strategic business decision though, timing is everything.  Here’s how to assess your need before you make the switch:

1. Age of servers and workstations
If your workstations and servers are reaching their end of life and a large capital investment is coming up, you’ll be able to minimize the expense by moving to the cloud. You may even be able to skip certain upgrades completely. Your staff will still need devices to access the cloud data, but you’ll have a lot more flexibility in your choice and they won’t need to be as powerful. This can be a huge cost saving made in just moments.

2. Need for remote and mobile access
Many businesses are growing while on the move, with a mobile workforce needing to access files from anywhere at any time. This could range from moving around the one location, between offices or even working from home. Forget frustrating connections and lost productivity, cloud computing allows staff to work securely and efficiently from any location with internet access.

3. Current support setup
If your business currently outsources all your network management, you’re perfectly suited for the move to cloud computing. Network maintenance and monitoring becomes a non-issue, handled 24/7 as part of your cloud service. Network efficiency just keeps rising too, as your cloud provider is always improving their systems. You’ll find problems are fixed before you knew they existed, and server downtime becomes a thing of the past.

4. Need for predictable IT costs
If it feels like IT costs can spiral out of control at times, challenging your budget and patience, cloud computing will seem like a dream come true. When you make this shift, you’re moving from a capital expense to an operational one – server and system replacements are no longer your concern. You’ll be able to budget for IT costs in advance, knowing no blowouts are hiding around the corner. Monthly costs are known and (usually) capped based on what you use, leaving your cash flow much relieved.

Today’s cloud computing is more advanced, secure and priced more competitively than ever before.  At its core, cloud computing is purely about doing things better, and it can have a massive impact on your profits, productivity and even staff satisfaction rates. If your business requires a robust, always available infrastructure with easy monthly costs, it’s time to take a serious look at your cloud computing options.

We offer a variety of cloud services to help your business. Give us a call at  515-422-1995 to discuss how we can improve your business IT.

What is the Cloud? And Where is it?

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There has been a ton of talk about the cloud. Cloud this, cloud that. But what actually IS the cloud? It’s okay if you don’t know, most people don’t understand it and even some tech people tend to wave their hands towards the sky when trying to explain it!

Since it actually has nothing to do with the white fluffy things in the sky, let’s lay it all out:
Cloud computing is about storing and retrieving your data (personal or business) within your own piece of the internet. It’s so you can access it from anywhere, just like you do a web page, and it won’t matter if your office is closed and you’re squeezing in a little work on your phone at midnight. Everything will be saved and ready to pick up when you get back to your desk. Colleagues in different locations can even collaborate on documents in real time.

If that all sounds a bit futuristic, think about how an email service like Gmail works. None of your emails are actually being stored on your hard drive or device, they’re stored on the Gmail server and you can access them anytime you like.

Your read/send/receive changes are applied instantly, remembered for next time you log in. This is a form of cloud computing. So is Netflix, where you can stream movies and TV shows on demand. All the video is actually stored on a computer somewhere else in the world and sent to your device in tiny pieces as you watch it. Netflix remembers what you watched, where you got up to, and even if you’re hopping immediately from one device to another, it still has it all ready to go.

Where is ‘cloud’ data stored?
Good question. And it’s why the term ‘cloud’ causes so much confusion. The data absolutely must be physically stored somewhere. Companies who offer cloud storage have huge warehouses dedicated to holding servers whose sole job is to send and receive data all day. And by huge, we mean HUGE.
You could get lost walking the rows of servers, just box after box for what seems like forever. The biggest server farms or ‘cloud campuses’ are still growing, but to give you an idea: they can be upwards of 1million square feet. It’s big business, literally.

In terms of location, the US and UK are popular server farm locations, but the company could also have copies of your data stored elsewhere in the world. This is so they can fulfill their redundancy guarantees – if disaster hits one location, the other still has a copy.

Having additional locations and copies also increases the speed of access. With some companies, you can choose your preferred location so that data doesn’t have to travel quite as far across the world, increasing speed even further, which of course, saves time and money. Collaboration, security, redundancy, AND savings? We’d call that a win.

Ready to take advantage of cloud computing? Give us a call at 515-422-1995

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