Before I was ever introduced to OneDrive, I did not have a go-to place for storing and saving important information on my personal or business computer. Whether I had important files I created in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, all my items were saved as a random file name on my desktop or placed into a folder in My Documents.
Almost all workplaces utilize email and an internal messaging system to connect with team members across an organizational level. Business tools like Slack, Zoom and GoToMeeting are often implemented in many offices to help individuals work more efficiently together.
What IT metrics matter the most? Is it how fast an issue is resolved? How many times the same issue reoccurs? Cost to resolve the issue? All of these metrics can have a varying degree of importance depending on who you ask! Today we are going to look at the IT metrics that provide the best overall picture of how your IT is performing for your business.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made businesses painfully aware of their fixed operating costs. The largest of these fixed costs are people often followed by office space. Outsourcing your technology immediately changes many fixed costs into variable utilization-based costs, with a POSITIVE impact on your business efficiency.
The sudden shift in how we work has been challenging for many businesses. For some it validated their technology platforms, and for others exposed their limitations. Regardless of the outcome, it is important to take these experiences and update your technology roadmap.
Remote access and collaboration have been key components of Stringfellow technology roadmaps since 2006. It all started with moving users to "hosted" Exchange mailboxes, which sounds very dated in today's world of Office 365 services. Today we focus on a cloud-first and servers-to-services mentality for all our roadmaps.
MFA is no longer optional in today's threat landscape. Over three YEARS ago we started talking to our Clients about utilizing MFA, as passwords are no longer keeping your information safe. The number of IT providers that STILL do not ENFORCE this critical security configuration is very surprising.
The first step to improve your business productivity is to understand the three illusions executives have about internal IT versus outsourcing. These illusions are reinforced by unsophisticated technology providers, vendors what want you to use their (on-premise) products, and internal IT's need to stay employed.
Netflix has changed the way we consume video content, and grown into a streaming giant. A key to their success was knowing what parts of the business to outsource, and which ones to keep in house. Starting in 2008 they shifted their infrastructure over to a partner, and unplugged their last corporate datacenter in 2016. The biggest benefit is their increased agility due to having the "operational load" of running ALL their technology shifted to an outside partner.
Congratulations, you are part of a growing business that is about to make an acquisition! All the financials are thoroughly reviewed, corporate culture is synergistic, and everyone is excited. Did anyone do a technology capacity and alignment review? Nah, we will let the "IT folks" figure that out later, no big deal….except that it is.