Problem-Solving With Innovative IT Solutions in Knoxville

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When it comes to the health of your business — both now and in the future — it’s impossible to understate the role of technology. From internal meetings to reaching your customers, great IT is crucial. But just how good of a handle do you have on your business’s IT needs? Are you aware of all of the IT problems you’re facing? Let’s discuss how to problem-solve with IT solutions in Knoxville.

Curious about managed IT services?

Here’s a scenario: you’re passionate about your business — that’s great, we are too! However, you’re not so passionate about navigating your business’s IT issues, or, perhaps, you just don’t have the time. This is where Net3’s managed IT services come in.

Managed IT Services are exactly what they sound like — the IT services you need for your business to run smoothly are managed by an outside expert. Your managed services provider (MSP) becomes responsible for your IT service and equipment. Net3 is proud to provide IT solutions in Knoxville as a leading MSP. In fact, we take care of all the following services:

  • Firewalls
  • Servers
  • Workstation services
  • End user services
  • VoIP (Voice over IP) phone services
  • Telecom & Internet services
  • Cabling
  • Backup monitoring and administration

If you’re still on the fence, it’s important to consider the main reason to choose a managed IT provider. Choosing a dedicated expert to tackle your IT issues as they arise can allow you to focus on making your business thrive.

What is VoIP, and how can it help you?

Another common question when it comes to IT services is regarding VoIP — what exactly is it, and how can it help you problem-solve for your business? Voice-over IP or VoIP services allow users to make phone calls over an internet connection instead of a traditional phone line.

With VoIP solutions in Knoxville from Net3, you and your team can call anyone who has a telephone number — local, long-distance, mobile, or international. Some services can even connect your traditional phone to a VoIP adapter, allowing you to use Voice-over IP services from anywhere. VoIP services allow you to truly connect to anyone from anywhere with ease, making any shifts to remote work seamless.

Some specifics about our implementation solutions

If you’re unsure what “implementation solutions” entails, let’s dive into this a bit. If they sound non-specific, that’s because they are. What’s great about implementation solutions is that they will likely vary from business to business. In brief, implementation solutions from Net3 can solve whatever additional IT obstacles your business has — from equipment to bandwidth or logistics. Just a few examples of implementations solutions Net3 is happy to provide include:

  • Email migration to Office 365
  • Application and data migration from on-site servers or workstations to cloud-based environments (private cloud, public cloud, and SaaS)
  • Local server storage to Storage Area Networks(SANs), Network Attached Storage (NAS) and cloud storage solutions (AWS & Azure)
  • Network assessments

These are just a few examples of implementation solutions. We’re more than happy to discuss your business’s unique challenges and needs at any time.

What are the benefits of strategic IT planning?

Strategic IT planning is another crucial aspect of problem-solving for the entirety of your business’s IT infrastructure. Strategic IT planning is defining your organization’s goals and documenting how your current infrastructure and capabilities can work to meet those objectives. If you anticipate growth, downsizing, major transitions, or any high-risk projects for your business, a strategic IT plan can provide valuable guidance on overcoming those hurdles with as little interruption to your operations as possible.

To learn more about the benefits of strategic IT planning and more, check out the Top 10 Benefits of Outsourcing Your IT.

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3 Benefits of Net3 IT’s Business Phone Systems

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Your business phone systems are what connect your company with clients and potential customers. They are the life-force of your business — but are they really offering you as much as they could be?

If you’re still relying on traditional phone systems then the answer is simple: No! Net3 IT can provide mobility, responsiveness, resources, and features to take your company to the next level!

Here’s what you get when you switch to our business phone systems.

Mobility

What happens if your business loses power or your phone line goes out? Are you at risk of missing out on important business opportunities and client calls? Not with Net3 IT’s hosted PBX business phone systems!

Because the system is hosted in the cloud it can automatically reroute any incoming call to an offsite extension or even your cellphone, so you’re never at risk of missing out on opportunities.

Additionally, Net3 IT’s PBX system has a free mobile app called Reach UC that allows you to make and receive calls and send and receive business text messages all from your cell phone. The app ensures that the calls and texts use your business phone number so that your personal privacy is protected while allowing you the freedom of connecting with clients anywhere you are.

Quick Responses & Vast Resources

When you need a new phone and line or have system problems, you could spend hours waiting on your traditional phone provider or trying to troubleshoot the problem on your own. But with Net3 IT’s business phone system, that’s never an issue!

If you need a new phone and line to accommodate a new employee or business growth, Net3 IT will not only provide you with the equipment but also set it up for you if needed. Not that you need much help considering that unlike traditional phone systems that require tons of equipment, our VoIP phones are made to be plugged in, turned on, and used! Easy set-up designed for a busy lifestyle.

Also, if you ever run into trouble with your business phone system, you need only call Net3 IT’s dedicated, knowledgeable team to receive immediate assistance and resources. With our experience, partnering with Net3 IT is like having your own in-house IT team but without all the hassle! We keep up with industry trends and technology for you, keeping expert tools and resources right at your fingertips.

Extensive Features

With a traditional phone system, your business already has access to standard features like call forwarding and secure voicemail, but wouldn’t your team be more efficient with bonus features like call recording, voicemail transcription, and text messaging services? Of course, they would be! And with Net3 IT’s business phone systems you get all that and so much more. Enjoy features such as:

  • Voicemail-to-email — Too busy to listen to countless voicemail messages? Read them via email or on the web instead!
  • Advanced auto-attendant — Ensure that your callers are directed to the right person with a virtual assistant or voice recorded operator.
  • Customizable hold music — Keep your callers entertained while on hold with music and messages customized to your business needs.
  • Business SMS — Meet your clients where they are — on their mobile devices! With business SMS services, you can text clients easily from your business number.

Save Time & Money with Net3 IT’s Business Phone Systems

Are you ready to start experiencing the mobility, benefits, and features of a VoIP phone system? Contact us today and learn how our systems can provide your business with an affordable solution that saves your team time, allow you to be more effective at your own jobs, and provide vast resources and assistance to keep your IT services running smoothly!

 

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How To Be Productive On-The-Go with Net3 IT’s Reach UC App

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Whether you sometimes work remotely, travel often for your job, or just want the freedom of mobility, Net3 IT’s Reach UC app is perfect for keeping you productive on-the-go!

With a variety of helpful, tested, flexible features and an easy-to-use interface, the Reach UC app is the perfect way to improve your communication, streamline all your business processes, and facilitate growth and success for your company.

So what is Reach UC? It is an app that runs on any device and provides you with all the best features of Net3 IT’s cloud PBX system anywhere you may be! With Reach UC you can continue working seamlessly straight from any modern web browser or smartphone — a portable solution to help your productivity soar!

How It Works

Using the app is incredibly easy — when someone calls your desk phone, the call also rings the app on your smartphone. See? How easy is that?

You can make calls over your cellular data or connected Wi-Fi signal. Either way, you get perfect reception anywhere you are. And you don’t have to give out your personal cell phone number. The called party will simply see your business line on the caller ID.

Even when signal strength is less-than-perfect, your calls consistently go through because the Reach UC app will let you choose to use a cellular data signal or Wi-Fi.

Reach UC Features

Flawless phone reception anywhere you need it and the freedom of mobility isn’t all Reach UC has to offer. This powerful app was built to be endlessly scalable, flexible, and reliable so that it can grow and change over time, just like your business and needs!

With Reach UC’s wide range of features and capabilities, your communication solution will always remain relevant and competitive. Our powerful app includes:

  • Easy setup and login via your cloud PBX credentials
  • Simple call transferring from your desk phone to your smartphone with one click
  • A searchable directory of your contacts with availability status icons
  • Changeable call handling rules to activate call screening or forward calls
  • The option to record calls and save the file right to your smartphone
  • Clear conference calls and video calls
  • Access to your cloud PBX voicemail
  • The ability to send and receive text messages and pictures using your business line
  • And much more!

The app can also be integrated with your other productivity apps. That way you have easy access to everything you need right when you need it.

Best of all, when you use the Reach UC app from Net3 IT, you get our most powerful solution — us! Our customer support is second to none and our experienced, responsive team will be available all day, every day to enable your business to grow, succeed, and thrive — and sound great while you do it!

Are you ready to start streamlining your communication and upgrading your productivity and mobility? Download the Reach UC app from Net3 IT today!

 

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Looking For Small Business IT Support? We Can Help!

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Are you looking for small business IT support to help take some of the weight off your shoulders? Well, you’ve come to the right place!

At Net3 IT, we understand that IT needs and support can be a daily struggle for many small business owners. Technology, computers, networks, the cloud — it’s all becoming more complex and complicated. It can quickly become too much for your untrained office employees to manage own their own. Not to mention the fact that handling all of your own IT services can take valuable attention away from where it should be: growing your own business!

If your small business uses any kind of technology to enhance operations — and we’re betting you do — you probably face a few challenges that could be solved by outsourcing your IT support. A dedicated, knowledgeable IT company can help you make sense of the various issues that come with your technology, and also help you better capitalize on the benefits, opportunities, and conveniences.

Additionally, professional IT companies often provide scalable services that will grow with you. As your business expands and changes, you’ll require different levels of support. For example, if you begin to hire more employees, you’ll need even more data, hardware, and resources. With outsourced IT support, you’ll not only have access to the equipment you need but also the knowledge and resources to solve issues that you can’t solve on your own.

Why Your Small Business Needs IT Support

Of course, you don’t need to be an IT expert to confirm that your system, software, and equipment are up-to-date and working normally, but every business is eventually going to run into problems they can’t solve.

Through the cloud and basic information sharing available on the Internet, virtual support can often ease much of the IT struggle and make it easier than ever. But it isn’t the perfect solution for everything!

Much of the time, the problems that arise within your IT services are going to be time-consuming or complicated. And you shouldn’t have to take your eyes off the prize that is your business development to troubleshoot IT challenges. Not only does outsourcing your IT save you time and energy but it also saves you money.

Additionally, with most IT plans from a responsible IT company, you only pay for the services, time, and responses you need. Unlike with an in-house team, you wouldn’t have to pay for IT needs you aren’t using. Typically, this is a huge cost-saver for businesses that simply don’t have consistent tech issues, but want access to professional, knowledgeable support in the event of a serious problem, such as a data breach or server malfunction.

How Net3 IT Can Help You

At Net3 IT, we know exactly what it takes to run a small business — and exactly what IT support can do to help you stand out.

With today’s technological advancements leveling the playing field, the right IT support and planning can help your business compete. That’s why our goal is to use our knowledge and passion for information technology to help you grow your business.

We use personalized, tailored solutions to meet your IT needs. We solve common challenges through expert consultation and strategic IT service implementation. And we offer the experience, individual support, and technical solutions that help keep your company thriving and let you do your best work. In short, we support your entire business — not just your IT needs.

If your small business is struggling with any aspect of IT or VoIP services, we’ll help you overcome those hurdles. We’ll help you implement a scalable solution that can seamlessly accommodate your present needs and future challenges through:

Let Net3 IT take some of the weight of business ownership off your shoulders through IT support. Our years of IT experience make us experts in solving problems that can’t be handled with in-house resources. Contact us today for a free IT assessment and personalized solutions.

 

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Using IT Consulting in Your Business Strategy

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If you aren’t already using an IT consulting company in your business strategy, you should be! In addition to providing constant IT support and extensive resources and knowledge, having a slew of knowledgable professionals at your fingertips saves you time and money. And we all know that if there’s something any small-to-midsized business needs it’s more time and money!

Whether you’ve simply outgrown your current IT setup, are looking to improve your company’s performance, or just want better tools to handle today’s technological challenges, an IT consulting company could be the very thing that takes your business to the next level.

What is IT Consulting?

Let’s start from the beginning, what even is IT consulting? Simply put, it is contracting an outside company to handle your IT needs. The goal of the field is to help companies and organizations better understand and manage their IT resources. Basically companies like Net3 IT help you learn how to best use IT to achieve your business goals!

Most of the time, IT consulting services are flexible — designed to grow with your business’s needs. Whether you’re just needing VoIP phone solutions or are interested in the more in-depth managed services, your dedicated IT provider will have a package perfect for you.

After meeting with you and discussing your business strategy and goals, your consultant will then craft a plan for your company and work with you to implement it.

The Benefits of IT Consulting to Your Business

Now for the big question that I know you’ve been dying to ask: why do I need an IT consultant? Well, even though you probably have a decent understanding of IT, you may not know it all. After all, you didn’t spend years training and hours per day dedicated to the world of IT. But the professionals within your IT company will have done just that!

Additionally, your time is already in high demand and short supply. You don’t have time to sit and troubleshoot every situation that arises. And you shouldn’t have to! You know how to run your company better than anyone, and that’s where your time and focus should be.

By hiring an IT company to manage your technology needs, you can reclaim your time and refocus on your business. But wait — there’s more! Here are just a few of the benefits of outsourcing your IT needs to a consultant.

1. Immediate Access to Resources & Knowledge

Is there something wrong with your IT services that you just can’t seem to solve? Maybe it’s more complicated than you’re used to or a larger problem? Perhaps you’re just looking for more options for your business to better use your IT. Or, are you worried you’ve overlooked potential risks within your IT strategy?

No matter what scenario you’re faced with, your IT provider will have the resources and knowledge to help you find the solution immediately. All that knowledge they’ve spent years honing can flow to you with a simple phone call.

With an outsourced consultant, you won’t have to worry about waiting on someone to be trained or a staff member to troubleshoot a potential issue. Your IT needs will be met whenever you need them by your expert team.

And, best of all, it’s not only the knowledge you’ll get to benefit from but also their latest technology and tools as well! Having this kind of access allows you to grow and maintain your business strategy as needed.

2. On-demand Support

Has your firm ever faced a server failure or a cyber-attack? Those data breaches happen often. And, unfortunately, small-to-midsized businesses are an ever-growing target. If you don’t have a disaster recovery plan in place and the ability to restore your systems, these could be detrimental.

Luckily, an IT consultant will take that burden off your shoulders and field the crisis for you. Your IT firm has the resources and the knowledge to meet a data breach head-on. They will monitor your systems and services and most of the time they will be able to catch potential risks before they become a problem. If a breach still occurs, your IT company will respond immediately — and time is crucial during a breach.

3. Increased Security & Reduced Downtime

As I said before, small and medium businesses are becoming the target of more and more cyberattacks. Increasing security should be one of the main focuses of your business if you want to be successful.

With more and more technology becoming integral to our lives and our businesses, it’s even easier for breaches to occur. You already know that having your data compromised is detrimental to your business. But, the downtime that occurs while a breach is being resolved is just as damaging.

Your IT consulting company will help you prepare for this by searching for potential risks and monitoring your systems. They will minimize the downtime with a solid strategy and a disaster recovery plan.

4. Improved Productivity

Building your business is what you do best, and that is where your focus should be. Without a dedicated IT services team in-house or a consulting team, you and your employees will be forced to take time for your daily tasks and goals and spend that learning, troubleshooting, and implementing IT.

By outsourcing your IT needs, you can avoid the time-wasting struggle and put everyone’s focus back on your business. A solid IT framework will help streamline your daily work in addition to your IT tasks. Your consulting company will handle all of the heavy-lifting and you’ll be able to regain your focus. Once you and your employees stop trying to spread themselves into IT roles, you’ll be able to watch the productivity soar.

Do you need help with IT consulting, planning, and implementation?  Schedule an assessment with us today and learn how we can help to save you better meet your business goals.

 

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4 Ways Strategic IT Planning can Help Your Small Business

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Strategic IT planning is the roadmap to success your business has been waiting for — and it could be the key to unlocking even more business growth!

Your IT strategy will be the living, evolving document that shows your team, investors, and customers how you intend to implement new strategies and achieve the goals you’ve been working toward. It will outline exactly where your strengths and weaknesses are and highlight the areas in which IT can contribute. Through strategic IT planning, a company can gain a competitive advantage by planning ahead and making the best use of the tools and technology at their disposal.

But why do you need strategic IT planning for your small business? Because it can help you identify strengths, weaknesses, and risks, help you respond to change, better communicate your intentions, and limit potential incidents — and much more! Let’s dig into the details of how strategic IT planning can help your small business.

Identifies Your Strengths and Weaknesses

A truly thorough strategic IT plan begins with a comprehensive assessment of your current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and potential threats. In order to determine where you want your company to be, and how to get it there, you must first establish exactly where it is. And that means identifying all the internal and external factors that can affect your IT’s ability to contribute to your company’s growth and success.

By identifying the gap between where your current IT department is and what you hope to achieve, you’ll also be able to determine what barriers are in the way of your growth and what resources you’ll need to bridge that gap.

Strategic planning is designed to help you identify your small business’s strengths and weaknesses because it is through that analysis that you’ll be able to plan your roadmap forward. It will tell you what technology you already have in place and what you need to invest in to give you a competitive edge and help you meet your business goals.

Allows You to Respond to Change

When it comes to technology, the one thing you can always rely on is change. Updates, improvements, upgrades. The list is neverending as change lives constantly around the next corner. And as a business owner, you know that those who are prepared for change are the ones best equipped to leverage it into an advantage.

Thinking about the future, preparing for the changes that are coming to the best of your ability. That’s the only way to remain successful. And strategic planning encourages just that.

From the start of your IT planning, you’ll be looking at the comprehensive picture of where you are, where you want to be, and what is standing in your way to getting there. One of the most common barriers is change, and failing to plan for it. But with strategic planning, you are better prepared for unexpected changes. This living document will be filled with processes, policies, what-ifs, and procedures to cover you in the event of that unforeseen blackout just before the conference begins or the system outage right in the middle of a holiday weekend.

Helps Better Communicate Your Intentions

Whether you are attempting to communicate with your superiors, your employees, or your customers, you need a centralized message. You need to have answers to all the questions they’ll ask, and you need to know exactly what’s in it for each of them — the biggest question on everyone’s mind.

Strategic IT planning is the perfect way to craft a high-level roadmap to your success that you can share with your team, investors, and customers. Although your strategic plan is a living document that should be constantly changing and updating, the goals and outcomes you set shouldn’t change too drastically — unless you meet them, that is! So, this gives you targeted messaging and explicit information with which to communicate your intentions.

Additionally, it serves as a good reminder to you on what your intentions were. It’s common to get buried in the details of every day, especially as a business owner. Sometimes you need a reminder of where you are going just as much as your team or customers do. With strategic IT planning, it’s right there ready for you whenever you need it!

Limits Potential Incidents

Any business owner knows that an outage or any IT downtime can be detrimental to the success of your business. In order to meet your goals and continue growing and thriving, you have to be able to reach your documents, converse with customers, process orders, track your labor, etc. Even one small incident could mean the difference between continuing to grow or shutting your doors.

Planning ahead limits the chance of such incidents. With it, you’re able to spot the flaws in your systems and processes ahead of time. When you spot your weaknesses, you’re better able to plan for them. Or better yet, solve them before they even become an issue.

Help Grow Your Small Business with Strategic IT Planning from Net3 IT

You already know that having a stable IT structure in place is vastly important in today’s technology-driven world. This roadmap will give you a detailed view of exactly where your technology stands. It’ll also show what resources you still need and how to bridge the gap to achieve your goals.

Working together with a knowledgeable managed IT services agency like Net3 IT, strategic planning can help you ensure that your IT processes are functioning as one powerful, cohesive unit. When change comes, be it an outage or employee turnover, your strategy will already be in place. This will allow you to get back up and running with minimal downtime or disconnect.

So, what are you waiting for? Contact us today to start your strategic IT planning. Let us help you create the roadmap to success your small business needs. Don’t flounder when disaster strikes. We can help you with technology assessments, IT audits, disaster recovery, and much more. Let’s start planning for your business’s future together.

 

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Managed IT Services and Business Growth: A Match Made in Heaven

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Just like peanut butter and jelly, managed IT services and business growth is the perfect combination your company has been craving. Why? Because managed IT services offer your company everything you need to focus on growing and developing.

By taking the tedious, time-consuming, and sometimes overwhelming responsibilities of IT off your plate and putting them in the hands of responsive, knowledgeable professionals, you’ll not only have more time to focus on your day-to-day role and duties but also the resources to immediately respond to problems or challenges and the tools and technology to keep up with the larger, more complex competitors around you.

What is Managed IT Services?

For small- to medium-sized businesses, the demands, duties, and responsibilities of every individual are immense — and somehow always seem to keep growing! If you are trying to run your own business, manage employees, and continue to grow and expand, you probably don’t have the time to also handle IT support, field tech questions, and constantly upgrade your systems. That’s where managed IT comes in.

Managed IT services are exactly what they sound like — hiring an outside company to handle all your IT needs. Your managed services provider will be responsible for making sure your operations are running smoothly, developing IT strategies and disaster recovery plans, responding to outages, interruptions, or challenges that arise, keeping your systems and technology up-to-date, and much more.

Also, based on your own team’s comfort and familiarity with IT and general workload pressures, you may be able to implement a hybrid IT plan that gives you the freedom to choose which parts of your IT needs you’d like to be outsourced to a specialized, experienced IT firm like Net3 IT.

Whether you fully outsource every aspect of your company’s IT or just choose certain parts for your provider to oversee and implement, managed IT services are the perfect way to keep your business as competitive as it can be without putting added stress on your shoulders.

Save Time & Money Through Managed IT Services

First, outsourcing your IT to a trusted local firm is the best way to ensure that your company continues to meet its goals as efficiently as possible. While you focus on growing your business, your IT provider is in the background consistently upgrading your software, checking for vulnerabilities, preparing for outages or incidents, responding to challenges that arise, and troubleshooting problems.

Instead of spending your valuable time — or that of your employees — on researching, troubleshooting, experimenting, and buying new products or resources to try solving your company’s IT dilemmas, you’ll have experts to give you the right answer quickly and implement it for you while you continue working.

By meeting your IT needs correctly the first time, upgrading your companies efficiency, and letting you focus on your business development, managed IT services save you both time and money. And for any growing business, that’s a must-have!

Responsive, Expert IT Professionals at Your Fingertips

In addition to saving you time and money and keeping your employees focused on their own in-house projects, using managed IT services for your company means having immediate access to IT professionals when a situation arises.

Think about it this way, if your servers go down and you can’t access your company files, what do you do? Without a trained in-house team or managed services provider, you may spend hours trying to research and troubleshoot before solving the problem. However, with managed IT services, your provider will be able to quickly diagnose and solve the problem for you, minimizing your downtime while saving your files and equipment. And as every business owner knows, no downtime is good downtime for your company.

Outshine Your Competitors with Access to the Latest IT Tools & Tech

Finally, one of the largest benefits of using managed IT services is that you’ll be able to constantly have the latest technology, resources, and knowledge available to you through your provider.

You know that staying competitive is the most important way for your business to continue to grow and succeed. And with the importance we place on technology these days, keeping up with IT is the best way to stay competitive.

Bandwidth is one of the largest differences between your small or medium company and the large, complex business rivals you face. They have expert in-house IT teams ready to solve their technology needs at the drop of a hat. This means that they have less downtime and keep their focus on their business growth goals.

Well, like we just said above, you can have that too with managed IT services! But you actually get so much more than that. At companies like Net3 IT, we are filled with dedicated, knowledgeable individuals that live, sleep, and breathe information technology. If there is a new trend or tool in the industry, we learn about it. If a new service or piece of technology comes out, we have it. And when you hire us as your IT provider, you have access to everything we do — including our vast industry knowledge!

As you can see, managed IT services are the key to continued business growth in the technology-driven landscape of today. Managed IT services save your company time and money, give you immediate access to IT experts, and allow you to remain competitive by having access to the latest IT tools and technology.

Is your company still craving this heavenly combination? Contact us now for an IT assessment! We’ll be able to quickly tell you exactly how we can help your business continue to grow, expand, and excel through IT strategy and support.

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6 Benefits of Cloud Services

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There are many benefits of cloud services — namely, that they can help your team work more effectively and efficiently while providing a necessary edge in a competitive industry.

While there are several different types of cloud services — some that you may be very familiar with such as Google Cloud or Amazon Web Services — there are many business options that can improve your team’s workflows, productivity, and cost-savings while also helping your operations become more streamlined and adaptive.

What is the Cloud?

If you’ve been on the internet this century, you’ve likely heard of the cloud in some way. After all, anyone with a modern smartphone is very adept at backing up their photos and contacts to the cloud for fear of losing them.

But what is the cloud, exactly? Is it just a virtual holding space for our cat pictures and emergency phone numbers? Well, yes… and no! A cloud is a connected network of computers or servers that can be accessed by users via the internet. So while it can be your personal Cat Picture Holding Zone, it’s so much more than that.

Cloud servers are software and services that you don’t have to host yourself. When needed, you can access them from anywhere that you have an internet connection, saving you valuable memory space.

There are many different clouds, not just one massive space for all to use. Some can be made secure and accessed only by specific authorized users, like those within your company. There are networks and servers all over the world that create their very own clouds. They work for different organizations, educational institutions, government agencies, companies, and more to maintain their data storage and sharing.

The Benefits of Cloud Services

So, a secure, virtual space to hold company data — that sounds pretty good, right? But what exactly are the benefits of cloud services? Why should you be using the cloud? Do cloud services really benefit businesses? Well, you ask some good questions — and here are the answers!

  • Data storage and backup – Cloud storage not only securely stores your important files in a way that is organized, easy to access, and protected but also offers the added conveniences of being flexible, scalable, and collaborative.
  • Host servers and applications – With servers, you can securely store all of your data, applications, and information under the shared resources of the cloud, such as memory and processor cycles, which frees up space on your hardware and protects your files.
  • Content sharing – Sharing documents across different locations and people is complicated, but the cloud makes it simple. Just upload any file and share it instantly and securely with your team!
  • Project management – Because of the collaboration available with the cloud and the ample storage options, managing projects is much simpler and more accessible to all members of your team — a virtual one-stop-shop for all the documents needed in each project!
  • Analytics – Using cloud-based analytics provides faster results, instant reports, and greater amounts of data. It also offers more access to said results through its collaborative nature, which streamlines your processes and reduces operational costs.
  • Automation – Cloud automation services serve as automatic workflows and processes that streamline your company’s operations, reducing the manual efforts and freeing up your team’s time for more important endeavors.

Are You Ready to Switch?

In today’s world, at least some part of your business is virtual — even if you are still a small startup. And one of the largest mistakes that you can make with IT services is using an unsecured cloud server — or worse, no server at all to protect your data and applications. Do yourself, and your company, a favor — plan ahead for the future of your business and switch to cloud services today. Contact Net3 IT now and we’ll show you just how much you and your business can benefit from cloud services!

 

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Effective Backup Solutions for Your Business

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In the complex, ever-changing world of IT, effective backup solutions are the foundation of any successful business. It may not be fun or exciting to think about and plan for a disaster and the loss of company data — in fact, it’s a rather scary scenario for most. But for any business to thrive, it’s vital to plan for any situation that may occur, and that means having a strategy in place in the event of data loss.

Because customer and company data is at the heart of your business’s success, you know that any downtime in retrieving those records — or worse, permanent loss to them — is detrimental. An unforeseen, and unplanned for, disaster, such as a fire, employee error, cyberattack, or power outage, can set your business back months or years.

Oftentimes, especially when it comes to our IT planning, we become complacent when things are working smoothly, and choose not to think about the “what if” scenarios that could cause harm to our systems, processes, or data. But data losses happen, often. And leaving your network, data, and infrastructure vulnerable could bring irreparable damage to your company.

Instead of waiting for a data loss to rob you of precious time and valuable records, plan ahead with effective backup solutions and a thorough disaster recovery plan to protect your business.

Why You Need Backup Solutions

Natural disasters are not uncommon, and they don’t usually give you warning beforehand. Similarly, a bad actor isn’t going to call your business and tell you when they plan to attack. You need to be prepared for any situation in order to prevent your business from suffering profit-crushing downtime.

Fortunately, through strategic planning and disaster recovery processes, you can keep your business and workforce up and running without losing momentum through carefully implemented solutions you and your IT provider agree upon.

And, if you are worried that you don’t have the time or manpower to implement backup solutions, system checks, and recovery plans on your own, a managed services provider (MSP) can step in and stabilize your IT infrastructure and expand your company’s capabilities, freeing up your own time for more lucrative endeavors.

Additionally, one of the many features included with managed IT services is that your MSP will manage your backup monitoring and administration. This is important because even if you already have a backup strategy in place, it may not be running as it should, it could go down unnoticeably without warning, or it could be inadequate.

Effective Methods for Backing Up Your Data

Generally, there are three kinds of backup solutions small-to-medium-sized businesses turn to when looking to protect their data:

  1. Onsite or local backups
  2. Cloud storage and solutions
  3. A hybrid of both cloud storage and local hard drives

Onsite hard drives and local servers have traditionally been the industry norm for backup solutions. In fact, in the not-too-distance past, companies relied on tape for all their backup and storage solutions. These days, however, we have much more efficient, reliable methods, such as hard drives. With a hard drive, you can backup loads of data in a short amount of time and keep it safely with you, ready for use whenever you need it. Unfortunately, considering that natural disasters strike without warning and a flood or fire could destroy that hard drive in seconds, an onsite solution alone may not be enough to protect your company.

Similarly, while cloud storage is effective and useful for email archiving and file storage, organization, and sharing, it is not a comprehensive solution to data breaches and disasters because Software as a Service (SaaS) providers could go down or be breached themselves, can lock companies out through malfunctions, malicious attacks, or human errors, or do not possess backup and restore functionalities at base levels.

Because of the gaps within each of these solutions alone, a hybrid of the two is the most effective method for truly ensuring the safety of your information. By backing up your data both to a cloud option and to a local server or hard drive, you will be able to access your information and recover your data even if one or the other should be attacked or destroyed.

With a hybrid method, you are also creating redundancy or additional copy of your information. Think of it like making two copies of your mortgage agreement, one for yourself and one for your bank. If your copy is destroyed, the bank still has the information safely stored with them and you can retrieve it again. Storing your company data in multiple places, such as on two separate hard drives plus on a cloud service, you will always be able to retrieve it in the event something happens to one of your solutions.

Backup Solutions and Disaster Recovery

In order to ensure that your business runs as smoothly as possible, you need plans in place for any possible disaster, and that includes a plan for recovering your data in the event of a loss. Once you do have an effective backup solution in place, you’ll need to work with your IT team on a recovery process so that the data is retrieved in a timely manner by a trained professional. After all, you certainly wouldn’t want to suffer a data breach only to find that you aren’t sure how to access your backup solutions!

In this instance, an MSP could be vital to the quick recovery of your company because your provider would manage the recovery process for you, taking the burden off your shoulders and freeing up your team for other important matters.

Your data is the lifeblood of your company. Keep it safe with effective backup solutions and a disaster recovery process that you can trust. And if you need help implementing a new solution or learning your backup options, contact us! We’re here to help you prepare for a disaster and keep your downtime to a minimum should one occur.

 

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How Managed Service Providers Support Disaster Recovery

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Technology is the fuel that keeps our companies running, and any business owner knows that when that tech is down, you face loss — loss of time, loss of customers, and loss of money. That’s why a strategic IT plan — complete with cloud solutions for back-up and planning and a full disaster recovery strategy — is more vital than ever to all companies, regardless of industry.

Do you have the time, or IT industry expertise, to put together such a comprehensive plan yourself? Most companies don’t! And, aside from hiring a full-time, in-house team of IT experts, who could be expected to?

Fortunately for you, and millions of small- to medium-sized businesses just like you, Managed Services Providers (MSP) like Net3 IT, specialize in just that. As an integral part of the managed IT services provided by MSPs, planning, backups, and disaster recovery are managed entirely by an outside team of experts dedicated to maintaining your company’s IT security and recovering valuable information assets after a breach.

Data breaches happen, how you recover defines your company.

With an MSP, you can have peace of mind knowing that your company is well-prepared for the event ahead of time and that a disaster recovery plan is in place so that your business can survive the interruption with minimal downtime.

What is disaster recovery? A plan to follow in the event of a breach that ensures the integrity and safety of your company’s data. And it’s integral to the success of any company in any industry.

Allowing your managed service providers to strategically plan and implement disaster preparedness and recovery plans will not only streamline your company’s tasks and efficiency but will also improve your overall image to potential and current clients, employees, and stakeholders by demonstrating your proactive approach to IT security. You and your MSP will be able to work together to better identify the risks and potential losses, as well as opportunities for improvement in your IT structure and prepare your staff for the event of an interruption.

Disasters can strike your company at any time and without warning. Some are malicious, such as a bad actor performing an intentional hack or sabotage, while others are not, such as a fire or flood or even a power outage. But having a proper IT recovery plan with data backups and specific instructions for each employee is the best way to keep your company safe from the inevitable outages.

Working with experts in the IT industry, such as your managed service providers, is the only way to prepare for incidents that can cause significant company loss — and these are commonly overlooked by those not specially-trained to look for them. A few examples of potentially devastating interruptions are:

  • Employee accidents
  • Sabotage, hacks, or cyber attacks
  • Natural disasters
  • Power outages
  • Communications failure

Your Managed Service Providers can help you prepare.

Having managed IT services from an MSP means that your IT services are managed by an outside expert. They’ll be responsible for your IT service and equipment and they will work with you to build custom solutions that fit your company’s needs.

Among the many things streamlined and managed by your MSP, an industry expert will manage and maintain the following:

  • Firewalls
  • Servers
  • Switches
  • Wireless networks
  • Workstation Services
  • End-User Services
  • Telecom
  • Backup Monitoring and Administration

This means that all the time, energy, and effort of maintaining your own IT services will be transferred to an expert service provider, and they will be able to monitor the vulnerabilities and opportunities for improvement for you. They will also already be the team of experts in your corner for an inevitable breach and will begin immediately implementing the disaster recovery plan you’ll have agreed to put in place.

In the event of an interruption, making sure that you move as quickly as possible to remedy the situation is of the utmost importance — so you can see why having a team of experienced experts at the ready is all the more vital for your company.

Ideally, your business will never need to implement a disaster recovery plan, but considering how many unforeseen circumstances are out of your control — and just how many things can affect the IT security of your company — do you really want to risk it? Your managed service providers can offer you the experience and training to keep your business prepared and ready to get back to productivity as quickly as possible.

In the event of a data loss or breach, your ability to stay productive and profitable will depend on the tools and plans you have in place ahead of time. Your disaster recovery plan will make all the difference in how you recover — and your MSP can be there to support you along the way, making the journey that much smoother.

At Net3 IT, we specialize in just that — helping local businesses meet any technological challenges that are thrown their way and ensuring they come out stronger on the other side. Our audits and disaster recovery planning will help you review your assets, network, and infrastructure while learning how to protect them. Call us today to learn how we can become the MSP you need in your corner in the event of an outage or interruption.

 

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