Understanding the Cost of Downtime

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Business downtime is costly. Research abounds on just how much it can set a business back. Some small businesses can’t even rebound from the expenses associated with downtime. This article outlines the many expenses a business can encounter as a result of downtime.

What do we mean by downtime? There are many reasons a business might experience IT downtime. Say, the Wi-Fi goes down or there’s a simple power outage. Either could lead to a small-scale, short-term downtime.

Worse, you could be the victim of a cyberattack that sees criminals encrypting your data. A data breach or malware infection could force you to take systems offline to solve the problem.

Severe weather events such as tornadoes or hurricanes can also cause downtime. Or maybe the building suffers a gas leak or a fire, and your business isn’t immediately able to get back on-site. If you don’t have cloud-based access to your applications, you could suffer downtime.

Every minute you are without your business technology can add up. Let’s consider the various costs you could encounter.

Loss of business revenue

If your people can’t access business systems or network applications, productivity drops. Your sales team can’t close deals, or your product development team can’t access schematics. Perhaps someone in client development can’t get to their pitch presentation.

Remediation costs

Fixing your business technology after downtime takes extra work, which means added resource costs. You may have to pay overtime to the IT team working round the clock to get you back up and running, or there could be places you need to catch up when you had to spend time doing things manually. This disrupts efficiency and costs money.

Customer dissatisfaction

How often do you hear someone apologize for their computer running slowly? When you call a customer service line it’s a familiar frustration. Imagine telling someone instead, “our systems are down, and we are unable to help you right now.” You will be compounding customer aggravation. They don’t want to wait for your downtime to end to resolve their issue.

If there’s a data breach, customers will worry about personal data or compromise of proprietary information.

Legal and compliance fees

Your business could run afoul of compliance or face legal action. For instance, if you are in the health services industry and are breached, you could be hit with hefty fines for jeopardizing personally identifiable information.

Brand reputation

Say your payment processor goes down, and you’re not able to take any orders. Some customers will get impatient and order from a competing website. They may end up switching to that company permanently.

There’s also a misconception that any press is good press. But you do not want your business to make headlines for having fallen victim to a cyberattack.

Employee engagement

Every business owner recognizes the importance of retaining motivated and skilled staff. Employees frustrated by downtime may start looking elsewhere.

Morale and your business culture could decline. Turnover could rise. You’ll need to invest time recruiting, training, and retaining fresh new hires.

Key takeaway

Don’t think business downtime can’t happen to you. When it comes to technology, threats are ever-evolving. Keep current with updates and software upgrades, and be vigilant about fresh threats.

Partner with an MSP to develop backup plans. An IT vendor can help move systems to the cloud to ensure mobile access. MSPs can also be proactive. They perform preventative maintenance and help cut your cybersecurity risk.

We can’t promise downtime won’t happen, but we can make sure you are resilient and able to bounce back more quickly should problems arise. Contact us today at (515) 422-1995.

Onboarding an IT Provider: What’s Realistic?

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When you hire a managed service provider, you want instant results: you want all your technology to run faster and more smoothly, and everyone to be more productive. And there will be no problems again, ever, right? But that’s not realistic. Managed service providers are pretty great (even if we do say ourselves), but we’re not miracle workers. So, let’s discuss what you might realistically expect when onboarding a new IT provider.

Sometimes, quick wins are achieved. The managed service provider (MSP) may be able to immediately get that server powered up again or fix that printer on the second floor that’s only been taking up space for the past three months. Yet there is no magic wand that allows these IT experts to solve every issue instantly.

What should you expect?

If there is a pressing issue, the MSP will start there by looking into what has gone wrong. Then, they’ll be able to make plans for addressing the concern. Maybe a part failed, or your hardware has reached the end of its life. They’ll look into how you use that technology and provide suggestions to make a fix.

Otherwise, if nothing is immediately wrong, your MSP will begin the engagement by learning about your business tech. They’ll want to talk with your stakeholders to discover:

  • where you are now;
  • where you want to be the future;
  • how you use your IT;
  • what your IT budget looks like.

In getting up to speed, this outsourced IT team should be making a great impression on you. This is the beginning of your relationship. They have won your business, but you can expect them to be proving that you made the right choice. Still, this doesn’t mean they can get everything perfect right from the get-go.

The timeline depends on the context.

There could be issues that will take longer to resolve. They may need to do diagnostic work to get to the root of the problem. Solving the issue could take creative problem-solving and a lot of research legwork.

We’d love to say that every business we work with comes to us with pristine IT. Everything is in great shape, and we can immediately step in and make everything work even better. But there can be lingering or unidentified concerns. The business may not have the IT depth to recognize the problems that the MSP will quickly diagnose. Perhaps you’ve been ignoring security warnings or network errors or you’ve been bombarded with access requests from malicious IPs. The MSP is going to have to take on those outstanding concerns.

Again, there is no magic wand. The MSP can’t instantly turn the ship around if it’s been sailing toward a massive iceberg for the past year.

Expect to give your MSP team some time to learn your business and get up to speed with your IT. However, don’t give them forever. If it has been six months, and they’re still “figuring it all out,” you may want to reconsider that partnership. But be aware that cutting those ties means starting from scratch to build a relationship with a new MSP.

The better approach is to expect ongoing, informative communication from your new MSP. They should be letting you know what they are learning about your technology needs along the way and making suggestions to improve usage, boost security, increase productivity, and drive efficiency.

One thing you can realistically expect? Your MSP will make a real contribution. These experts should be more than a vendor and more like a partner in your business success.

Contact us at (515) 422-1995.

What IT Services Should You Outsource?

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Every successful small business owner reaches a point when they need to tap others’ talents. When it comes to IT, depending on your skill set, that point could come pretty soon. Yes, there are IT services you can do in-house, but there are others that are beneficial to outsource.

When you started, you might have been dealing with one computer in your home office. As the business grows, so will your IT footprint. Eventually, it could make more sense to outsource your IT infrastructure. Managing your own hardware could prove too costly and time-consuming. In particular, a cloud service provider allows you to take advantage of economies of scale.

There are umpteen options for outsourcing your cloud computing. Once you settle on the provider, someone else can manage updates, handle backups, and track security.

Even if you keep your hardware infrastructure on-site, you can outsource its management, as it can grow too complicated for you to handle alone. Bring in an IT expert to source, manage, and troubleshoot your hardware. You can return your focus to other business areas that better suit your skills.

Other IT areas to outsource

If your business sells to customers online, you might outsource your e-commerce. There are many excellent e-commerce operators out there. They focus on ensuring your customers are always able to shop and buy from a secure online shop. You don’t want to risk losing sales because you’re trying to manage e-commerce as well as all other areas of your business.

Security is another key area for IT outsourcing. Cybercriminals are not slowing down. In fact, security agencies from Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom reported in February 2022 on the increasing threat of ransomware. One of their findings? No one is immune, no matter the size of their business.

As a single-computer shop, you could do automatic updates and change Wi-Fi passwords. But, as your operations grow, there are many more entry points to protect. Identifying vulnerabilities becomes more difficult, and you can’t spend all your time monitoring cybersecurity threat feeds. There’s other work to do, too.

Cybersecurity can’t be set and forgotten. Sometimes, updates can’t wait until the next one you have scheduled. You may need to react quickly to a major event or move proactively to identify whether you are at risk. Outsourcing to professionals who track new threats can help you avoid the worst. When updates are due, they can schedule them at the least disruptive time for your business. Plus, if there is an infected file or malware issue, you have someone on call to deal with that issue immediately. That can help cut costly downtime.

Outsource to IT experts

You may be brilliant in your business area, but that doesn’t mean you’re also skilled at IT. By outsourcing some IT tasks, you can gain peace of mind about your business tech reliability. Instead of trying to recruit and train your own IT people in a tight labour market, you can let the experts in. Then, you can get back to focusing your attention on the other core elements of your business.

Outsourcing IT can lower your tech costs, increase your productivity, and provide peace of mind. By turning to our experts, you can be more productive and enjoy a higher level of IT services. Contact us today at (515)422-1995!

On-premises Software “Ownership” vs. The Cloud

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Cloud computing is common in business. Yet there are some who remain skeptical. One of the sticking points is that the business doesn’t own the software it is using in the cloud. This can cause concern, but this article helps you weigh up the options.

Your business has two choices really. Buy a software package and install it on your devices, or subscribe to the same or similar software offering online in the cloud. (You might also develop and customize your own software, but that’s another story).

When you buy the software, there’s a feeling of ownership. You pay for what you want, and it’s yours. But while you may have the discs in hand, you never really own that software. What you did was enter into an agreement with the manufacturer to use that application in a certain way.

If you go the cloud-based software route, you don’t own but rather subscribe. Meanwhile, you get the benefit of always up-to-date and evolving software. You have access to that software online, often from any internet-enabled device. The software is sharable with more than one person, and every user enjoys the same, consistent and convenient access.

Software support and security

When you “own” the software, you’re responsible for upgrading it and keeping it patched for the latest security vulnerabilities. You’re also limited to the features installed when you purchased that product.

Also, the standalone version of the software is supported only for its lifecycle. You can grow used to using certain software in a particular way. But after five years (typically), the software will be out of date. You can keep using it afterwards, of course, but there will no longer be manufacturer support. That can mean security risks for your business.

Those who subscribe to cloud software get ongoing support and security upgrades, for which there is an ongoing fee. Yet in return, you automatically receive maintenance updates and security improvements. Plus, as new features become available, you get access to those, too, so you can always enjoy the latest and greatest version of that software if you want to install it.

Software developers like this approach, because they can be more responsive. They are able to respond to user requests in real-time and make changes within days.

Scaling with software in the cloud

Scaling with the software you own on-premises is more challenging, as the software is static. If you want more features, you will need to buy more software to install.

With the cloud version, you often gain access to an expanded roster of features. If they are not included, you may have the option of adding on or “unlocking” a new level.

An advantage to the cloud approach? You can install those added features when you need them. But if they add cost and you don’t need them all the time, you can scale back.

Develop a cloud strategy

The type of software “ownership” that suits you will depend on your business goals. Budget can be a factor, too. It helps to have an overall technology strategy. We can help with the decisions you need to make. Schedule a free consultation with our experts today at (515)422-1995.

Aligning Strategy and IT with Your MSP

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Scaling your business is critical to your success. Business is, after all, dynamic. Ideally, it’s growing, but it almost always needs to pivot. When that happens, you need your IT to keep pace. Working with a managed service provider (MSP) to align your strategy and IT can support and even drive agility.

There are times when your business wants to scale up or needs to scale down. Perhaps you’re releasing a new product; maybe your business is seasonal; or, as we all saw in 2020, something unexpected can come along and require you to change the way you do business. No matter what, in today’s environment, you need your technology to evolve with you.

Although MSPs can help fix technology when there are problems, they can do so much more. Taking on an MSP as a partner to help guide your changes adds value to the relationship. Here are several ways the MSP can help.

Help determine what is achievable

As a business owner, it’s part of your job to be visionary and think big. Yet you don’t want to exceed your technology capacity. Demanding more of your IT than it can handle could lead to disastrous downtime. Instead, bring in your MSP’s IT experts to consult on what is achievable and how to get there.

The phrase digital transformation is on everyone’s lips these days. You might want a digital workforce, optimized digital service, or improved business analytics. Yet you won’t get the full benefit of these initiatives if your business doesn’t have the IT framework.

Plan for technology to meet new demands

Bringing on more employees? Congrats! They’ll need computers, phones, and network access. You’ll also need the right software licenses, server capacity, and more. You’re busy enough recruiting and retaining the talent. Turn to your MSP to make sure the tech infrastructure is in place to support your changing workplace.

Working with your MSP to plan for a short-term spike in tech demands can help ensure things go smoothly. For example, knowing that you’re due to be busy, they can test systems to ensure resilience, or they’ll schedule time-consuming updates or system upgrades more conveniently.

Secure the IT whatever you do, wherever you are

In 2020, most businesses had to send employees off-site. IT needs to be changed. Now, many are trying to bring people back, and IT needs are changing again. Maybe it was work from home only before, but now, your business wants to navigate a hybrid model. Whatever the arrangement, the MSP can take on the task of protecting your systems.

When technology isn’t keeping up with your needs, your business can suffer. Employee productivity can falter, as well as morale. Your customers may not get the quality experiences they expect. Aligning IT with strategy supports smooth transitions and satisfied users with cybersecurity prioritized.

Working together for agility

Aligning with your MSP to achieve a strategy makes seamless and secure adaptation possible. IT support can plan with you to set up the reliable and resilient infrastructure you need.

Alignment comes from an ongoing discussion about business goals, budgets, and timelines. Bring in your MSP for more than break-fix support, and enjoy the benefits of more strategic IT advice and planning.

Let’s discuss your business strategy and IT needs today. Call us at (515)422-1995 to schedule a conversation.

Computer Down? You Need it Now. Now What?

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Ever met someone who responds to computer downtime with applause or relief? Neither have we. When a computer goes down, the individual inevitably needs it fixed fast. Yet, depending on your repair model, it could take longer than you hope. This article compares break-fix to managed services.

The break-fix model is a short-term one. Maybe you have someone you turn to on a consistent basis, but you may still have to wait. If you’re calling for help when it’s needed (and let’s hope it’s not that often), that IT repair guy might not be available. If they’re backed up, you’re going to be waiting.

If you don’t have someone you’ve used before, you’ll need to ask around. Look at reviews to find someone with expertise with your apps, services, or network. Then, you’ll probably need to make many calls until you find someone who can come out now.

But does their immediate availability mean they’re reliable? Bringing in external IT support means trusting someone else with your computer, which often entails letting them know your passwords. A business has good reason to be wary of giving that kind of access to someone they are hiring on a one-off basis.

On the other hand, the managed services model is a long-term one. When you work with a managed service provider (MSP), they get to know your setup and business needs. Yes, in the event of computer downtime their focus is on getting you up and running now, but they will pursue approaches that fit your specific overall objectives.

Why MSPs Make More Sense

In fact, your computer may not have suffered the downtime in the first place. After all, the MSP’s focus is on avoiding any technology disruptions. One of their jobs is to proactively monitor your systems. They want to help identify any issues before they happen.

If something does go wrong, your business has the peace of mind of knowing:

  • You are a priority customer as part of your contract with the MSP.
  • They can remotely access your systems to get started ASAP.
  • You don’t have to pay a premium for rush services. You’re covered by a fixed monthly fee (offering financial predictability, too).

The MSP will also have the advantage of already knowing your business systems and what you need them to do. As a trusted advisor, already supporting your tech, they can find the problem more quickly. They don’t have to learn your IT setup from scratch; they may even have set it up in the first place!

Your MSP partner will take precautionary measures when they know you’re coming up on a busy season. Knowing your tech needs to perform at its peak, they can test systems to ensure resilience. Alternatively, they’ll know when your business slows down, so they can schedule any time-consuming updates or system upgrades more conveniently.

Taking the Long-Term Approach with an MSP

Working with an MSP has benefits beyond dealing with downtime issues, too. When you partner with a reputable MSP, you’re gaining an IT partner invested in your business success.

A break-fix consultant is focused only on what’s gone wrong. The MSP can offer valuable input to improve your productivity and streamline processes. We can also help find budget efficiencies.

Don’t wait for a downtime disaster to seek out someone to get you back in business. Instead, partner with an MSP to avoid those problems in the first place. Enjoy many other benefits, too. Contact us today at (515)422-1995!

6 Top Tech Small Business New Year Resolutions

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As the new year approaches (already?), it is a good time to take stock and plan some small business resolutions. Join the millions around the world determined to make the best of January’s fresh start. Try these suggestions for top IT resolutions to better your business.

#1 Embrace digital transformation

The business world is going digital. Ideally, you’ve already made the move to some extent, but always be looking for new ways to streamline your business processes.

You might embrace document scanning to move all your paperwork online. It’s easy to search digital documents for keywords. That saves time spent looking for the right piece of information, plus, you’ll do away with file cabinets and bankers’ boxes of paper.

Find more cost savings and business efficiencies migrating to cloud computing. The big benefit? Every user can access the same applications as colleagues or peers online. Plus, the software doesn’t need installation on every individual’s device. Meanwhile, IT can manage upgrades and security patching on the cloud-based server.

During COVID-19 you probably added more business collaboration tools to support remote work. These continue to advance and evolve, so don’t get complacent with existing solutions.

#2 Improve cybersecurity

Presumably, you are securing your business against cyberthreats year-round. Still, the start of the new year is a good time to ensure that you are following best practices such as:

  • upgrading all software and hardware and keeping security patches up to date;
  • setting up several data backups in case of a breach or disaster;
  • testing your technology for any vulnerabilities hackers might leverage;
  • planning for business continuity and disaster recovery;
  • educating employees about cyberthreats and encouraging a culture of cybersafety.

#3 Encourage workforce engagement

Keeping your IT current is one great way to improve employee morale. With the best tools available, your workforce can enjoy greater productivity. Don’t lose people during a staffing shortage due to frustrations with the tech they use every day at work. Offering online learning also encourages workforce engagement, as people feel more respected.

Retention isn’t the only advantage. Attract new employees with the tools to support flexible work hours. Using technology to simplify onboarding can make a great first impression on new hires, too.

#4 Enhance customer service

There are many ways IT can support enhanced customer satisfaction. For one, converting phones to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) can ensure every call gets answered. You’ll also empower customers to reach the right people when they need to.

Adding an online scheduler expedites booking and avoids doubling up on appointments. Microsoft Scheduler allows people to book on a calendar of your available time slots, meaning there’s no back and forth. Online schedulers can also send follow-up and reminder emails.

#5 Explore automation

Sure, this is a component of digital transformation, but it’s cool enough to get its own resolution. Try enterprise content management software to automate workflow. Your team can more easily capture information and access documents while more quickly delivering content when and where it’s needed.

Leverage process automation to identify and address bottlenecks within and across departments. Your software’s bot can warn you if a task is stuck, or it can do things such as sending an invoice straight away or notifying someone when information is missing.

#6 Work with an MSP

One resolution we recommend for every small and midsized business? Resolve to partner with a managed service provider. For a consistent, monthly fee you gain IT experts on call. We can monitor your network, manage hardware and software, and consult on the best tech.

The break-fix model is costly in the long run. Select an MSP with expertise in your industry to free up resources to drive the business bottom line. Contact us at (515)422-1995 for more information!

To Delete or Archive Email, That Is the Question

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An email inbox can get overwhelming. It’s estimated we send 306 billion emails daily; not you personally, of course, although it may feel that way. So, you have to come up with strategies to corral the communications, one of which is deciding whether to delete or archive an email. This primer will help.

First, let’s consider the drawbacks to having all those emails sitting in your inbox. You may think it doesn’t matter, as you work only at the top of the screen with the newest communications. Yet those old emails are more than clutter. If it’s locally hosted, they can also slow down your email platform, and, if it’s remote and you’re paying for storage, they can be costly, too.

You have alternatives: deleting the emails or archiving them.

Deletion v Archiving – The differences

You should already know what it means to delete an email. You click on the little trash can icon and the email disappears from your inbox. Yet, for at least a certain time frame, you can still find it in your trash bin. If you realize you need to recover that email, you can, but deleting that email marks it for removal from existence entirely.

Unless you’re a double-deleter. If your business imposes mailbox size limits, you may be in the habit of going to the trash and deleting emails there, too. After all, when you delete an email from your inbox and it moves to trash, it continues to take up space.

Another option is to archive the email message. This also takes it out of your inbox but puts it on a different path. The email is indexed and put in a protected storage area for you to access in the future. The indexing preserves the information in a smarter, more searchable way.

Meanwhile, you’re able to revisit those emails using the mail archive’s search function. This allows you to search body content, sender or recipient, and attachments, and it’s all done quickly.

Email archiving can help shorten audit response, keep information for litigation, preserve intellectual property, and help with business continuity. You can also use archiving to check employee communications aren’t violating any policies.

Special Considerations

Your business could be in an industry where it needs to keep records for compliance and regulation reasons. In that case, you won’t want to delete emails until you know it is acceptable to do so. You’re going to need to archive instead. In the U.S., five Wall Street brokerages had to pay $8.25 million in fines after deleting customer transaction emails.

Still, you don’t want to get into the habit of archiving everything “just in case.” Honestly, how often do you need to revisit that funny meme from Sally in accounting? And you can’t take advantage of a discount offer from a pet store once it has expired. Deleting makes sense!

Another strategy to avoid having to answer the archive-or-delete question in the first place? Unsubscribe. It takes a moment to click on “unsubscribe” at the top or bottom of an email from a mailing list. This action saves you from having to make yet one more choice in your day.

Need help wrangling your email inbox? Our IT experts can help. We can set up an email management system to help make the decisions about archiving or deletion. Contact us today at (515)422-1995!

Prepare Your IT for the Holiday Season

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We all know about the Grinch who ruins Christmas for Whoville. Don’t cast IT as the Grinch of this holiday season. Prepare your technology and systems to reduce downtime risk. You’ll avoid disrupting your customers’ holiday season or employees’ seasonal fun.

Update and upgrade IT

Expecting an uptick in online shopping for the holidays? Apply system updates ahead of time. You’ll want to complete any hardware or software upgrades early to avoid unplanned downtime.

Test your technology infrastructure to ensure that it can handle more traffic. Review system integrations to make sure front- and back-ends can communicate smoothly. Identify any issues or bottlenecks in advance to be able to upgrade or update any IT that needs help.

One in three customers will leave a beloved brand after one negative experience, per PwC. You don’t want to risk a downed website or other IT challenges. Even a few hours of disruption can be costly. In 2019, American retailer J. Crew lost an estimated $775,000 in online revenues over only five hours.

If you do need major IT upgrades or system changes, postpone them until after the holidays. Don’t mess with what works right now if you don’t have to do so.

Safeguard business data

The holiday season means employees will be distracted by festivities or out of the office, yet the cyber bad guys don’t take breaks. In fact, they ramp up for the holiday season. In 2020, the greatest number of daily DDoS attacks in Q4 were on December 31, when 1,349 attacks were recorded globally. So, take cybersecurity action.

Make sure you are protecting systems, detecting threats, and defending against attacks. A security assessment can help determine what you are doing well and could be doing better. This can be internal or done by an external party (with greater objectivity). If you face compliance or regulatory concerns, try an external IT audit.

Test backup and recovery

Ensure IT resiliency by testing your backup and reviewing your business recovery plans.

We recommend data backups in three places as best practice. Back up to a local, on-site computer, to a remote device that requires separate access, and to the cloud, giving you access anywhere, regardless of office conditions.

Test your backup to:

  • confirm data accuracy;
  • ensure you can effectively access and use the data;
  • gauge the time it takes to perform a backup;
  • identify and address any issues that arise during recovery.

According to the Ponemon Institute, business continuity management policies can nearly halve the mean time to recover and improve cost savings by 50%. That’s more money to spend on the staff holiday get-together! So, call a meeting of your business continuity planning team. Discuss any changes that might be needed and make sure everyone knows their roles. If someone is going on vacation, get someone else up to speed on their responsibilities.

‘Tis the season for IT

Every season you’re going to need IT, yet the holidays see your customers and employees wanting to get things done and get back to family and friends. Keep your technology in tip top shape, and you’ll have a happier holiday season.

Need help maintaining and securing your IT or looking for data backup and business continuity? Give us a jingle at (515)422-1995!

How to Expedite Your IT Support Request

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When your technology isn’t working, you want a fix right now. Whether it’s an inability to connect to your network or to open an important presentation file, you’re quickly frustrated by the need to file an IT support request. You can’t wait! We get it, so allow us to share some tips to help you get faster IT support.

Whether you’re working with an internal IT help desk or are supported by your managed services provider, you probably start out by filling out a support ticket. You might be able to call in directly or email, but your IT gurus are still going to need certain information from you to get started.

The more you can put on the help ticket, the more efficiently we can help solve your issues. The following highlights some of the critical info we need from you.

Extent of Issue

Outline the impact of the tech issue. Is that printer crisis you’re writing about happening only on the personal printer of one individual who doesn’t print often? Or is the entire floor using that printer and looking to print year-end reports today?

It helps to know who is affected, those individuals’ roles, and the scope of the problem. This can help IT to weigh your needs against those of others in the company for urgency.

Urgency

If one person is reporting a security breach and another is reporting a buzzing noise from their desktop, the response may be triaged. The IT support desk is going to weigh criticality:

  • What will be the impact of downtime while waiting for a fix?
  • Are company customers affected by the issue?
  • Is the entire company unable to work?

Detailed Description

The better you can describe what is happening, the more likely you are to enjoy timely and efficient support. Always provide, if possible:

  • the location of the affected technology;
  • the name of the affected workstation;
  • the name of the engineer who recently helped (if this has happened before);
  • when the error occurred;
  • what you expected to happen;
  • what, if anything, you did in an attempt to fix the problem.

There are a few common troubleshooting steps you may want to try before submitting an IT help request. These include:

  • asking around to see if anyone else is affected;
  • searching online to see if someone else has encountered and shared a resolution to the issue;
  • quitting and restarting the application;
  • rebooting your device.

Error Messages

If there is an error message associated with your issue, please share it with the IT team. Taking a screenshot of the message on your computer and sending it to us can help your tech experts more efficiently figure out what’s up. The best thing would be, where possible, to take a screencast of the process causing the problem.

Contact Information

Share the quickest way for the service desk to reach you. If you’re going to be in a meeting all day, maybe share a number where you can be texted with questions. If you’re traveling, provide your cell phone number instead of letting an IT support callback languish on your office voicemail.

IT Support You Can Count On

Please don’t let your sense of urgency detract from the need for this essential information. You may be frustrated and stressed, but you can help us help you by taking the time to give us all the information needed to troubleshoot effectively.

Cut downtime and get back on track faster with these tips for expediting IT support. Our tech team is always here to help your business be at its most efficient and productive. Contact us today at (515)422-1995.

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