Serve As Your Organization's "Acting I T Director"
There may be someone in your organization who you rely on to address occasional I T issues that crop up, such as the corporate franchise parent office or services vendor changed its Internet control site landing/log-in page for its dealers, and compatibility view needs to be adjusted in your browser so employees can log in to conduct business; or your office manager can no longer print receipts from the UPS site; or “my Internet stopped working .” These examples, along with many other simple issues which any good PC user should know how to rectify, are simple fixes for the employee serving as the “in house computer guy.” But as operating systems evolve; Adobe Reader, Flash, ActiveX and Java security measures increase; Web servers lock out older versions of utilities; Active Directory and other server configuration and control services’ rules and procedures change; routers and other devices need upgrading; and these don’t all happen at the same time so any one change may affect how the others perform; things are getting more and more complicated at a faster rate. This means more down time, or non-productive time for your organization. And if there’s a real mission critical issue, meaning you can’t run someone’s credit, or you can’t print customer receipts, you can’t be down for hours.
Many businesses can’t afford to, or don’t want to hire a full time I T person. That’s where we come in to help you! Let us be your “Acting I T Director.” Whether you are in the medical, legal, accounting, automotive, municipal, manufacturing, retail, or any business or service provider industry, let us handle your I T issues while you concentrate on your daily business.
We will accept your members’/employees’ phone calls when they have issues and address them with three levels of service. 1) We will try to rectify the issue over the phone and train you to self-resolve should the issue come up again, given the issue we are talking about is within the security level of the caller, 2) We will determine if the issue is a bit more complicated and needs to be handled by remote access to your systems, and 3) If the issue needs to be taken care of on site, we will go on site and rectify it.
When we say handle your I T issues, we mean completely relieving the burden from your organization. We would become the liaison to the telco and telephone system installation company, Internet service provider- whether you have copper, coax, fiber, MetroE, T1 circuits, frame relay, POTS or PRI; elevator servicing company; overhead paging installer; video surveillance and/or security company; door access company, credit card machine installation and servicing companies; point of sale manufacturer and installation and /or servicing company; HVAC company; all low voltage vendors; and electricians. We already manage these services for our municipalities- such as volunteer fire districts where there are no full time employees on a daily basis. We also install the same equipment and provide many of the above services ourselves, so we speak the same language and get things done quickly.
Maintenance is an important part of our “Acting I T Director Services,” especially when sensitive network and computer workstation components are involved. If we install your secure network, maintenance, within our TMS Service (training, maintenance and support) is bundled.
Our maintenance component includes:
I T Security, Updates and Upgrades
The biggest complaint these days from a user is that he or she has to constantly update operating systems, software and utilities. “It’s asking me to update again, should I do it? The last time I updated this, my KVS Financial software didn’t work after the update.” “This is ridiculous, is there any way to turn off all these notifications about updates?”
It’s a shame that I T security plays such an important role in the design of equipment, firmware, software, and operations these days. Remember when you installed Java or Flash and kept the same version on your machine for 6 months before an update was developed- and that update improved its function and not rectified a vulnerability? Unfortunately updates are coming out weekly for many programs and utilities, if not even more often. But most are necessary to install as people who have nothing better to do, keep trying to find ways to breach the software codes and gain access to our systems. We receive immediate alerts from the national cybersecurity agencies, and based on the CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) determine which need to be addressed on your systems right away, which can wait until that night, and which can wait for the next scheduled maintenance.
Data Backup, Physical and Logical Cleaning
Periodically, (usually daily or weekly, depending on your business, business code or compliance requirements), we come on site and grab an encrypted copy of your critical data, which is selectable by the network owner, or set up secure, encrypted packet transfer over VPN to your stored container in our lab. We physically take your encrypted data off site or electronically receive it and either way, it is stored in our fireproof safe in the lab. The data remains unusable until it is needed and restored at your location. Our procedures are explained thoroughly upon quotation. We also periodically inspect your netclient workstations and physically clean them inside and out from dust and dirt (hardware); as well as logically (software). See Computer Clean and Refresh Services on the Computer Services Page.
Provide Executive I T Advice
When your organization is ready to expand, change I.T. systems, add other low voltage services that you would like integrated into or controlled by your secure network (security system, surveillance system, new phone system, access control, etc.), as your Acting I T Director, we would be happy to provide advice from an I.T. perspective to assist you in planning.
Handle I T Emergencies
When any device or component begins to act unexpectedly, or any electronic provider services are interrupted, or multiple network users are having difficulties with the same or similar issues; or higher level network users abruptly leave the organization, or new hires need training on your systems; we consider these to be issues of utmost importance- and we should be called. We feel it is our role to keep every employee working who relies on technology, and every situation that limits productivity or causes down time as short as possible. Due to network controls within the infrastructure of the networks we design, install and maintain that are scripted to send alerts to us; loss of provider services, system services, device malfunction, and any such “disturbances in the force,” will allow us to discover and correct many issues before your users have problems.
Pre-Construction I T Consulting
You might be a hotel developer scoping out sites to build your next 650 room hospitality facility, or a medium-sized builder looking to add an office in another town. You may be a general contractor that wants to set up a few project management trailers and needs Internet and WiFi service in the middle of “nowhere.”
Through the years, we’ve seen how having an I T consultant during construction planning and implementation can save time and money. Here are a few of the issues that we have recognized and eliminated as Pre-Construction I T Consultants.
Many large companies have their own I T group that comes in when the project is practically completed, and installs the business chain’s management system and security. But it takes weeks instead of days or a few months instead of a couple of weeks, because the GC is trying to get the local telephone, cable TV, and Internet provider together with the I.T. group representative flying in for the preliminary.
The internet people are telling the GC they need 125 static IPs, and the I T group is asking about connections, bandwidth and service type options with pretty specific downstream requirements. The Internet company sales rep needs to talk to their engineering department, but doesn’t quite understand the I T group’s special needs and has to arrange a meeting between them and the supporting ISP sales engineer, when the engineer can get out.
During initial installation of phone and data service, the providers installed their Demarks on the wrong side of the building because nobody with plans met the installers on site.
Data Backup Services
We offer 3 services in reference to data backup:
We will consult with you to help develop in-house options for backing up your critical data yourselves relative to your daily process and business practice.
We offer cloud data backup to an exclusive company data container which we set up in our secure network lab. On a periodic basis of logical choice, our data backup engine will, using credentials that we prepare and do not provide to anyone in your organization; contact a host device we configure behind your gateway to encrypt and then transfer the data to our lab. Every day, client containers are backed up to portable SSDs and stored in our fireproof safe. Your data stays encrypted until it is needed to restore in case of loss, and does not decrypt until it passes through the host behind your firewall.
We offer physical data backup where we come to your offices/business, encrypt and backup your data at your site to portable SSDs. We carry the encrypted backups to our lab and lock them in a fireproof safe. Should they get lost between your business and ours (which has never happened), they will be unusable on any system. Your data stays encrypted until it is needed to restore in case of loss. If a data restoration is needed, we carry the data back to your location, decrypt, and reload.
Computer Controlled Environment / IP Device Control
You have video surveillance of your facility on another company’s Web server in another state that can be viewed by anyone with access to the Internet and a little “know how.” Your electronic door entry system throughout the hospital, firehouse, factory, facility, etc., is controlled from a different location where an administrator can log in and enter and delete authorized/unauthorized personnel and change the status/locations of entry. Your VOIP phone system is controlled by your service provider with a company-authorized admin having access to their Web-based control panel.
You no longer have to wait a few hours (days?) to configure your phone system or address access controls or view surveillance footage until your providers repair a temporary issue with their networks/systems. Call us to set up a control system at your location behind your own firewall that will address all of the I T control features in-house, or through a unique static for your own remote control/viewing through you own secure VPN tunnel.
The above controls are only examples. You can also set your temperatures, start your pumps, adjust your lights, record activities, monitor network traffic, Internet use, etc.
Data Recovery
If you have an internal or external drive or any type of storage container that stopped working, refuses to be recognized by a host device, continually clicks, or has sustained trauma or physical damage; and it is not allowing you to read its data- which you really need to have, please call or use CONTACT US to get more information about our data recovery services and see if we can recover the information for you.
If you deleted information by mistake and want to recover it, we may be able to help you as well.
If you deleted information by mistake, a good rule of thumb to follow as soon as you realize you've mistakenly deleted information is: Stop adding new information to your drive. Even though the title of your file or folder is no longer listed in the drive directory, the actual data remains on the magnetic media until it is overwritten, and there's a better chance of recovery if the drive is not striped with new data. Please check the call-out with pictures above, right, for some more information about our data recovery.
Please call or click here for more information about our I T services that will help make your organization run more smoothly, protect your resources and provide you with peace of mind.