The Connection, Inc Blog

Managed services have quickly become the most reasonable option for businesses of any size to use, and based on what we’ve seen recently, will soon be the only real option for most operations. However, when considering the managed service option, you need to make sure you find a provider with the following capabilities and service offerings:

Speedy Responses

Downtime is the natural enemy of any business, regardless of its cause. If work cannot be completed in a timely manner, there are going to be some consequences. If these interruptions continue for a while, they can make your business’ survival much less likely.

This is precisely why it is so important that your provider needs to be able to diagnose and resolve the source of your downtime as quickly as possible. Ideally, your provider would be able to do so remotely, eliminating the need for travel that would only add to your lost productivity. A guaranteed response time is another promise that an MSP can make, but other providers often cannot.

Disaster Recovery Services

You might not always consider how much the term “disaster” can cover while you’re referring to your business, but it goes far beyond the data loss events or physical infrastructure damage that many tend to focus on. Lost productivity also qualifies, especially that which is brought along when an entire workforce is ordered to stay home. Find out if an IT provider can help you to minimize these interruptions and get you back in business (as much as you are able) as quickly as possible after any conceivable disaster event. This means that your resource will need to have considered the impacts that an event could cause and have prepared a strategy to minimize them.

Support Options

With so many employees now working remotely, it is crucial that they have the means to receive the support they may need to deal with any issues that they may experience. Thanks to their remote capabilities, the managed service provider can still deliver dedicated helpdesk services to your team if need be. As a result, productivity is more likely to be maintained, without trying to convince anyone to make a house call.

Proactive Upkeep

Of course, why leave your technology open to issues during a challenging time at all? An MSP can use their remote solutions to proactively monitor your tools, preventing issues from occurring in your infrastructure by catching them early. With the MSP’s support, your team will see fewer interruptions and obstacles overall, and will be able to accomplish more as a result.

Budgetary Flexibility

Again, current events have demonstrated that effectively anything can throw your business’ budget entirely out the window, which makes it all the more crucial for you to have a provider whose services are scalable, and can be adjusted to suit your circumstances. The MSP’s inclusive pricing structure, tailored to meet your business’ budgetary capability, makes it much simpler to sustain your services throughout the year.

With businesses contending with so much, especially now, their IT support shouldn’t be a pressing issue. Working with The Connection, Inc can take these considerations off your plate while assisting you in accomplishing more. If this sounds like a better option for your business to consider, give us a call at (732) 291-5938 to discuss all your options.

Does your business have trouble with managing and maintaining your technology? If so, you’re not alone. Many small businesses struggle with even the most basic elements of IT maintenance. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just take this responsibility and shift it off of your employees? The best way to approach technology maintenance is to implement managed IT services.

Small businesses often neglect IT maintenance because they can’t afford to hire in-house technicians. These kinds of skills are in high demand, which often means that small businesses--with their limited budgets--have trouble finding technicians that they can afford. Furthermore, these skills might be region-locked, meaning that they are more difficult to find in certain areas than others, making it challenging to find the skills you need, when they’re needed.

A lot of businesses tend to do one of two things: have their current employees (who aren’t trained IT technicians) perform most of the work, or they simply don’t get the work done at all. Both of these situations are far from desirable. Either the work will get done poorly, or the work doesn’t get done at all. In fact, a project implementation gone wrong could be even more costly if it has to be redone, putting even more pressure on your organization.

In these types of situations, it’s helpful to have someone you rely on to get the work done right. Managed IT services allow small businesses to take advantage of many services that allow them to focus on creating revenue, rather than managing technology. Your company can leverage all of the great technology solutions that larger businesses don’t think twice about. Whether you need supplemental technology maintenance or full-on management of your in-house network, The Connection, Inc has you covered.

We offer several services to small businesses in your area, including:

• Security solutions: Spam protection, content filtering, antivirus, and firewalls
• Business continuity: Data backup, disaster recovery
• Communications: Voice over Internet Protocol, email hosting
• Network management: Remote monitoring and management
• Software and hardware procurement

Does your business need help managing technology? The Connection, Inc wants to make sure that you’re always on top of your technology maintenance. To learn more, reach out to us at (732) 291-5938.

How does your organization manage its IT? For some businesses, it’s not an easy choice or even a remotely affordable one. Some companies are forced to endure subpar services from break-fix IT providers that don’t necessarily have the tools available to prevent issues from happening. Others try to prevent issues from evolving into major concerns. These others are the organizations that have the right idea behind technology maintenance.

Yet, this preventative maintenance can seem a little intimidating to business owners on a budget. The break/fix method to IT maintenance is designed to provide organizations the service that they need when they are having trouble keeping their technology in proper working order. This could be something as simple as an email access issue, or a major problem like a hardware failure. Regardless of the issue, businesses would pay out massive amounts of funds just to purchase IT support whenever it’s required.

The problem with this approach is that it is rather passive until disaster strikes. Let’s say that your business has a major project to complete or deadline to meet, but you can’t accomplish this due to networking complications or hardware failures. You have to wait for a technician to arrive on-site to address the issue, and during this timeframe, your employees are being paid to sit around and wait for the issue to be resolved--all so they can do their jobs. This is how break-fix IT works. Your organization is basically a time-bomb when your technology isn’t maintained properly. It’s only a matter of time until you experience a crippling issue that completely derails productivity and costs your business an arm and a leg.

A better way to handle business-level IT support is by implementing what are known as managed IT solutions. By working with a managed service provider, your organization can take advantage of services previously anathema to it--namely, preventative solutions that aim to keep issues from happening in the first place. You can get all of the services that your organization has long-desired, but in a more conveniently priced way. You can achieve enterprise-level network security, back up your data with cloud-based data backup and disaster recovery solutions, and remotely apply patches and security updates so that your hardware and software are always in proper working order. All of these solutions require a dedicated IT technician who can properly manage them, and The Connection, Inc can provide this expert level of service.

Perhaps the best part of managed IT is that it is much more affordable than traditional break-fix IT services. Since managed IT allows for smaller and more affordable monthly payments, it’s easier to handle than the large up-front expenses accrued by sudden charges made by break-fix IT services. Furthermore, since you won’t have to pay for downtime, you’ll save a considerable amount of capital regardless of which services you implement, as they will be implemented with the intention of keeping issues to a minimum.

Does your organization need help with technology management? If so, The Connection, Inc can help. To learn more, reach out to us at (732) 291-5938.

Wouldn’t it be great to have a fully-trained and certified staff of IT professionals sitting in the corner of your office, keeping your technology in line? Unfortunately, small businesses often don’t have the budget required to hire an internal IT department filled with security analysts and network technicians. Even if they do, they don’t have the workforce to handle all of the responsibilities of a full IT department. What’s the best way to handle your organization’s IT?

Two words: outsourced IT. By outsourcing your business’s technology management needs, you can effectively eliminate the burden placed on your organization’s employees and help them be more productive.

Network Assessment
First thing’s first--you need a network assessment before you can know how to improve the way you do business. A network assessment is designed to identify flaws in your current infrastructure, ranging from traffic bottlenecks to security flaws. It’s best that a third party handle this responsibility so that it can be assessed with a clear, unclouded view.

Remote Network Monitoring
Implementing preventative solutions will only get you so far. You need to actively monitor your business’ network so as to make sure that threats stay out as soon as possible. This is what remote network monitoring is for. An outsourced IT provider like The Connection, Inc can monitor your network in real time, ensuring that any issues related to security or operations are resolved in a timely manner.

Security (Firewall, Antivirus, Spam Filter)
Security is one of those things that includes so many details that it can be difficult to prepare for every situation--especially if you’re not particularly familiar with cyber security and its threats. There are all sorts of threats that you have to worry about, including viruses, malware, ransomware, Trojans, spyware, and so much more that can cause trouble for your business. The best way to protect your business is through preventative measures like a firewall, antivirus, spam blocking, and content filtering. We can arm your business with these powerful solutions so that you never have to worry about online threats again.

At the end of the day, managed IT is meant to help your business focus on what matters most: running your business. You can’t focus on keeping your operations moving forward with full force if you have to constantly worry about IT troubles. This is where The Connection, Inc can help. We can provide all of the above services, plus many more. To learn more about how managed IT can help your business, reach out to us at (732) 291-5938.

Technology maintenance and management is one of the major pain points of all businesses, but it comes more easily to large organizations that have large budgets. Unfortunately, small organizations are often left out, placing such an important aspect of managing their business on the back burner. How, then, can you take advantage of proactive IT maintenance without breaking your budget?

SMBs often have a lot of work on their plates due to having smaller workforces. Thus, something as important as IT gets put on hold in favor of the day to day responsibilities. The problem with that is if IT is not managed properly, it will result in downtime. One would think that adding a few heads to focus on technology management would be a solution, but adding salaries to your budget can be an expensive endeavor. Ultimately, there’s a better way.

Before you consider hiring technical staff, let’s have a conversation about managing your technology so you don’t need to put your focus on it. If you’ve been burned in the past by your regular computer repair person, we get it, which is why do things differently. Ordinarily, a business seeking computer support would suffer from what’s known as break-fix IT. This is a type of maintenance that your business seeks out when it’s suffering from broken technology.

When your technology doesn’t work properly, you will seek out assistance. The break-fix IT provider will then dispatch someone to resolve your problem. They will finish their work and you’ll pay any support fees that you’ve accrued (sometimes this includes travel time, an hourly budget, parts, service fees, etc.). This type of IT maintenance is more reactive than proactive, as it responds only when you are currently experiencing problems rather than preventing them in the first place.

At The Connection, Inc, we pride ourselves on proactive IT maintenance. This type of managed service can remotely monitor and resolve most issues that your organization encounters before they evolve into bigger, more expensive problems. An example of this is actively monitoring your network for signs of hardware failure, then proceeding to assist you with replacing the problematic hardware before you deal with downtime. It’s just one way that your business benefits from proactive IT maintenance.

Thus, as long as it’s covered in your service level agreement, managed IT expenses will continue to be much easier to budget than the costs associated with break-fix technology maintenance. Outsourced IT services from The Connection, Inc can be your first step toward optimizing your business’ operations and taking the strain of IT management off of your capital budget. To learn more, reach out to us at (732) 291-5938.

Fundamentally, business is simple: if you take in more revenue than you have expenses, your company is a success. There are just so many elements to manage to ensure that revenues outpace expenses that it becomes difficult to ascertain what you can do to cut costs and see a higher degree of profitability for your efforts.

Many organizations are hindered by the need to use big chunks of capital, leaving them with fewer options when it comes time to make critical business decisions. If your budget is stretched, for whatever reason, maybe that capital you would rely on to boost profitability isn’t available, putting you in a pretty precarious position.

Today’s businesses rely on productivity and operational efficiency provided by technology. The Connection, Inc has made a name serving New Jersey SMBs because we make technology work for the modern business. We reduce the overwhelming financial burden that small and medium-sized businesses experience by providing several productivity-boosting services that can be leveraged to improve overall profit margins.

How do we do it? 
By signing on to our managed IT services, organizations can take advantage of our consultants’ and technicians’ expertise to find cost-efficient solutions to solve their core business problems. Some of our solutions typically include:

• End-to-end network and infrastructure monitoring - With a combination of technical expertise and properly-leveraged automation, we are able to monitor your hardware and network to proactively handle a variety of issues before they can force your business to lose effectiveness through downtime.
• Backup and disaster recovery - One of the biggest misconceptions that small and medium-sized business owners have is that their data isn’t important. Since the success or failure of a business can rest on their data management systems, we’ve developed a comprehensive backup and recovery platform to protect those assets from any circumstance, including fire, flood, cyberattack, or garden-variety negligence.
• Cloud-based services - One of the biggest capital costs for a business is continuously upgrading its central computing infrastructure. By turning to cloud computing to host some of the business’ mission-critical processes (like email, applications, and storage), businesses are now able to better manage many of their infrastructure costs.

At The Connection, Inc, we understand revenue generation is something successful companies excel in, and unsuccessful companies don’t. That’s why we aim to provide the tools and expertise that modern companies need to secure themselves, boost productivity and efficiency, and reduce their capital expenses. For more information about our managed IT services, or other technology solutions that can help your business succeed, call us today at (732) 291-5938.

It’s a far too common scene in businesses: an employee is working on an important project when their workstation starts acting up. Flustered, they call in the IT department, but they won’t be able to make it up to them for an hour at least. So, what’s a worker to do? Just sit there and wait? With a Help Desk solution, this wouldn't be an issue.

A business’ critical operations aren’t something that can be casually postponed. Therefore, any issues that present themselves must be attended to as quickly as possible in order to avoid wasted time and lost productivity. A Help Desk solution allows an employee to call in the cavalry, so to speak, the moment something begins to go wrong.

Once the employee contacts the help desk representative, the underlying issue can be identified, rooted out, and resolved. This can all be accomplished without disturbing other members of the business. The employee’s coworkers will not need to be disturbed by a member of the IT team coming up to troubleshoot the problem, and IT will have one less distraction from their innovating responsibilities to deal with this problem.

Finally, the employee will be able to return to their work much more quickly and easily than they would otherwise--minimizing the effects of the issue on all fronts.

If a comprehensive Help Desk solution sounds like it would be a welcome addition to your support, let us know! Reach out to us at (732) 291-5938 for more information today.

When your technology breaks down, can you rely on your IT provider to be there in a moment’s notice? What if you need someone to talk you through a troubleshooting procedure? During the weekday you expect them to be available, but what if you’re burning the candle at both ends over a weekend to finish an important project? Furthermore, your office might be closed, but your IT infrastructure still needs to be attended to.

Most organizations would prefer that their technology infrastructures be available and functional to their employees at all times. This includes someone keeping tabs on the infrastructure during off-hours. Can you reach your provider after-hours and on weekends or other times that you may not normally need assistance?

Why You Need 24/7 Support
Countless problems could occur when you least expect them to, especially when nobody is in the office to respond to them. What happens if you’re hit with a sudden DDoS attack, or a piece of hardware experiences some sort of critical failure? Such a large issue could cause widespread damage and downtime that places your budget and reputation at risk.

Most importantly, however, you need to consider just how your employees or customers will react if they try to access your services and are unable to do so. If you don’t have someone to resolve the issue, chances are that you’re going to be the one taking that 3:00 a.m. phone call telling you that your server is down. Really, it’s in your best interest to make sure that someone is on-hand and ready to fix the issue so that you don’t have to.

Network Monitoring is Also Crucial
Of course, not every IT provider will want to make this sacrifice for your company; though any who dare to call themselves an IT service provider will put their sleep schedules on the line to make sure you don’t have to. At the very least, you need an IT provider that can offer your organization 24/7 network monitoring in some capacity. This type of monitoring can be accomplished by having a dedicated technician keeping a close watch on your infrastructure for any oddities. In situations like this, a technician is contacted to resolve a problem remotely should there be a problem. It’s about as easy and hands-off as you can get.

To learn more about proactive monitoring and management, or to understand your technology support options, contact us today at: (732) 291-5938.

Your business relies on technology to keep operations moving, but your technology relies on you to stay functional. While many small businesses will choose to forsake an in-house IT department in favor of a self-service model, this is a costly maintenance practice that could put your IT in jeopardy. Instead, your organization should invest in our managed IT services, which have the possibility to show your business an entirely new way of managing technology assets.

Instead of taking a break-fix approach to IT, managed technology services take preventative measures to keep problems from escalating into major disasters. Here are three ways that managed IT services can help your business.

Cost Savings
One of the biggest ways you can save on your IT is by implementing managed services. Due to the way managed services work, you get a service for a monthly fee. Now, compare this to the usual way of managing technology. When your technology breaks, instead of reaching out to a company that can diagnose and fix your problems for a steep cost, a managed service provider can administer the care needed as per your service level agreement.

Furthermore, the majority of problems can be prevented through careful maintenance and management, which is something that a break-fix IT provider won’t tell you. After all, they profit from your technology consistently breaking down. Managed IT providers want to save your business money through preventative maintenance. This means minimal hardware replacements, as you’ll only need to replace technology that’s in danger of an imminent failure.

Less Wasted Time
Chances are that you don’t have an internal IT department, and even if you do, it’s probably buried in work that nobody has time to get to. When there’s too much work that needs to get done, it’s easy to accidentally cut corners in order to guarantee that something of critical importance doesn’t go unanswered. One of the most frequent cut corners could include the administration of patches and security updates, which are crucial if you want to keep your business safe from online threats.

Managed IT services give your administration or internal IT department a break from constant technology maintenance. Instead, the responsibility is outsourced to an MSP whose sole responsibility is the upkeep of your technology solutions. This lets you stay focused on operations without worrying about your technology.

Peace of Mind
We mentioned that some companies leave the management of technology up to their employees, but we failed to mention how dangerous this can be. When you have untrained employees working with complex machines like workstations or servers, the chances of user error skyrocket. This can lead to downtime and other problems that could hinder the productivity of your organization.

The biggest benefit of managed IT services is that you know for sure that your technology is being handled by professional, proven technicians. This virtually eliminates the possibility of user error stemming from large technology revamps or maintenance projects. When a project is done right the first time, everyone benefits--especially your bottom line.

If your business wants to cut down on the amount of expenses and save on capital costs, managed services are the way to go. The Connection, Inc can provide a number of managed services designed specifically for your business. To learn more, give us a call at (732) 291-5938.

Have you ever taken a broken-down workstation or server unit to a break-fix IT technician, only to have them resolve the problem and demolish your IT budget with absurd costs? For small businesses that can’t afford to hire an on-site IT department, this is a common occurrence. Thankfully, the SMB now has more options than ever before for how they want their IT to be managed, and it all starts with managed IT services.

Let’s say that your team is deep within the throes of productivity on a major project, and even the slightest hiccup will knock off their momentum and derail all progress. What would happen if the software they need to do their job suddenly became unusable, or settings on their workstation get changed without their knowledge? Without a reliable IT department, you might be out of luck.

Consider, for a moment, what could happen if you let your employees service their own computer, or work on things without any oversight whatsoever. What if they accidentally misplace data, or remove a component that’s critical to the functionality of their workstation? The possibilities for something to go wrong are limitless. This is why you only want knowledgeable technicians working with your solutions.

However, what if you don’t have it in your budget to hire an experienced IT technician? There remain several opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses that may (or may not) have an internal IT department. The Connection, Inc’s help desk solution is among them; it’s capable of providing your team with the support it needs to keep operations moving forward. We can act as your outsourced IT department, whom you can contact at any time should support be needed.

Here are just a few of the many benefits that come with The Connection, Inc’s help desk solution:

Convenient support
With a help desk solution, you can have near-constant access to technical support for your business’s mission-critical systems. If your team needs help with an issue, we’re here to help walk them through it. Our team can even remotely access your systems and resolve the problem, which cuts out the expense of an on-site visit, and resolves the issue quickly and efficiently.

Assistance from professional techs
One of the greatest benefits you get from working with our help desk is that you’re not receiving support from some hack halfway across the world; you’re instead working with someone who has a working relationship with your business, and someone who is invested in the success of your organization. We succeed when you succeed, so we’re always happy to go the extra mile for our clients.

Single point of contact
Nobody likes to deal with vendors, and it can be an excruciatingly painful process when your organization has to contact multiple vendors just to troubleshoot a technology component. Instead of reaching out to each one individually, you can contact The Connection, Inc, and we’ll act as a single point of contact so that you can keep operations pushing forward.

Does your SMB have the technology support it needs to ensure maximum efficiency? IT management and maintenance isn’t something that the average office worker should be handling; you want only the best and brightest minds caring for your hardware and software solutions. The Connection, Inc can provide you with the tools and services you need to succeed. To learn more about our help desk solution, or to ask about our other outsourced IT services, reach out to us at (732) 291-5938.

Business owners expect a lot out of their IT network, and rightfully so. However, technology isn’t perfect and can sometimes get in the way of these expectations. To overcome these technology shortcomings, IT administrators and business owners can benefit by outsourcing these expectations, especially when it comes to these three crucial aspects of IT.

Technology’s incredible growth has brought about a need for technicians who are skilled enough to handle everyday maintenance. As time passes, technology grows more complex, and as such it requires more comprehensive maintenance. Eventually, innovators in the IT industry discovered that their services could be improved by preventing technology problems from happening in the first place. Enter: managed IT services.

We’ll discuss the differences between traditional break-fix IT, and the managed services model that has changed the industry significantly.

How Break-Fix IT Works
Some businesses are known to run their technology into the ground. This means that they’re using their technology, with all of its imperfections and warning signs, hoping that nothing will go wrong or break down. Companies like this hope to save money by dodging maintenances unless it’s absolutely necessary. Ultimately this approach winds up being more costly.

For an analogy, look at the automobile. We all know that it works best when you’re taking proper care of it by providing regular oil changes, replacing tires when they’re needed, and other preventative maintenance. Yet, some people just don’t take good care of their vehicles, and when they break down, it costs them a significant amount of money.

How Managed Services Work
Unlike break-fix IT, which takes care of problems as they appear, managed services are designed to detect abnormalities and issues before they become full-fledged problems. Doing so allows businesses to save money and time by outsourcing the upkeep and maintenance of their technology to a third party. By avoiding expensive technology problems, organizations can save further. For example, performing server maintenance is much cheaper and more efficient than dealing with an untimely and costly hardware failure in that same server.

The Benefits
As a busy business owner, one of the most limited assets that you have is time. There’s only so much time in the day to manage your technology, and it doesn’t help that you’re restricted by a budget. Replacing a major piece of hardware can be crippling, especially if it’s unprepared for. This is the biggest benefit of taking advantage of managed IT services: preventative maintenance is much more cost-effective and efficient than hoping for the continued functionality of your technology.

Basically, the big difference between break-fix IT and proactive managed IT is the fact that you’ll be dealing with fewer technical hiccups due to regular maintenance and management. This leads to more time and more cost savings, allowing you to focus on what matters most: running your business.

If your business is sick to death of dealing with constant computer problems, you can benefit from a managed IT service agreement with The Connection, Inc. Our trusted technicians are trained to handle all of your mission-critical technology solutions. We treat our clients’ technology the way that we treat our own, so you can know for sure that your company’s assets are in professional hands. For more information about managed IT services and solutions, give us a call at (732) 291-5938.