Is your IT services provider a true business partner?

May 25, 2017/in Managed Services /by Export

You should be able to call your IT services provider any time your technology isn’t working the way it should. But do you call your provider when your technology isn’t working the way it could?

If you’re curious exactly what the above statement means, you’re in a good place.

What does the average IT partner offer your business? Solutions and support. Your business needs are met with functional technology and support so you don’t suffer much downtime. While that might meet your SLA, you should expect more from your technology and your technology provider. We’re going to tell you about a few more things you can expect from an IT services provider who is also a true business partner.

A business partner views your success as their success. Simply maintaining operations isn’t enough for a partner. Because your success is their success, your partner should help you set goals for accomplishing great things. Technology has the power to propel your business past your competitors. Is your IT partner creating innovative tech solutions for your business goals? How often do you sit down with your tech guy and strategize new ways to use your IT to streamline processes and create opportunities for growth? If your IT services provider is your business partner, you can expect exceptional technology to support your business needs AND goals.

As an extension of your team, your IT provider should always have your best interests in mind. You run the day-to-day operations of your office, so you might not hear about the latest cyber threat until after you’ve opened that phishing email and your network is down. If your IT company is a partner, they are on top of potential threats. Your partner should be actively training and informing your team about potential risks and preventing lost or stolen information, so your reputation never suffers.

If you’re a growing business, your needs are changing and evolving. What works for your IT today might not work tomorrow. Are your tech resources scalable? Does it break the bank when you have to make infrastructure adjustments to meet short-term demands? Your IT partner should be available to discuss and adjust your technology to ensure you have the resources to flourish as a business. When you hit the busy season, you need scalable solutions available on demand to successfully handle the influx. Your IT services provider, acting as a business partner, should facilitate those resources.

Technology has the power to create opportunities for your business when you choose the right provider. At Cognoscape, we’re dedicated to a true partnership with our clients. When you succeed, we succeed. Contact us today to get started on achieving your business goals.

Using an IT Managed Services Provider to Assist Your IT Department

August 13, 2015/in IT Support, Managed Services /by Cognoscape

In this digital era, it is critical that a business of any size hire IT experts to take care of all their technology needs. When it’s late at night and you’re suddenly dealing with files that won’t open, or there are errors showing up on a black screen, a company needs that IT support in place to keep running efficiently. Otherwise, it is wasted time and money trying to find someone at the last minute to fix the critical problems.

It is always helpful to have an in-house IT team in place, but that situation can be improved upon. Many companies are now supplementing their already existing IT staff with an IT managed service provider (MSP). While initially there can be fear on the part of the in-house team that they are being replaced, the idea is more about forming a partnership to make the business run even better and show more profits. Here are a few of the benefits of using IT managed services to assist your IT department:

Less Risk

Small and medium businesses usually only have the money to hire a small internal IT staff. When the company can supplement with an outside IT Managed Services Provider, it eliminates the dependencies on those individuals. For example, if their in-house IT guy gets sick, the bosses don’t have to panic when a problem arises. Additionally, capabilities and knowledge that are domain-specific can be handled by the MSP who may have more of a handle on them. IT managed services providers deal with compliance and informations security, as well as offer 24/7 monitoring and maintenance of your system, reducing downtime. Your IT staff won’t waste precious time solving every security issue that pops up and your staff won’t have their day interrupted.

An IT Managed Services Provider Helps With Healthy Scheduling

With an IT managed services provider on board, your current IT team will be able to work a regular, 5-day work week and not get burnt out with calls at night and on the weekends. This is because the MSP will be doing that monitoring during non-business hours and take care of them while the office is closed. This makes for a more productive and happy IT team that can focus on other important aspects of the business.

Save Money

Save money by adding more IT support? Yes, it will happen. If your consider the true economics of IT expenses, (vendor, in-house, hidden costs) they are generally much higher than anticipated. When you transfer tasks to IT managed services with best automation, processes and practices, your in-house IT resources can be unburdened and focus on more important activities that help your company grow and increase profits.

Best of Both Worlds

Whether your company is growing or not, your in-house IT employees have worked closely with your business and have a very good idea of how it runs. You have established personal relationships with them, and they have a firm understanding of your customer base and how you market. That type of relationship cannot be duplicated. It offsets the fact that the MSP team will provide standard IT knowledge, without the personal touch. This lets the company direct their existing IT staff in more useful and necessary directions.

Contact us with any questions you have about adding IT managed services to your company and one of our knowledgeable team members will give you all the information you need.

Special thanks to TriDigital for our custom IT marketing

4 Critical Ways IT Support Improves Your Business

March 19, 2015/in IT Support /by Cognoscape

If you’re afraid that IT support is going to be more costly for your business than without it, think again. The ways that companies do business with one another continuously changes as technology rapidly advances. In order to keep up, you need to be up to date with your servers, computers, phone systems, Internet connection and mobile devices. IT support from a company like Cognoscape with their CognoCare services will benefit your business by taking the burden off of in-house tech “experts” so you can focus on making a profit. To understand the benefits better, here are 4 critical ways that IT support improves your business.

Increase Your Profits

IT support will allow your business to make more money in several ways. First, the hardware that is offered with the support services will save you from having major expenses upfront. You will instead pay a flat fee monthly that is affordable, because you will only be receiving what your business requires. Second, your IT team can help your business centralize everyday tasks to one location, making for better economic efficiency. An example of this is to have a department, such as billing, able to work from one location instead of having several areas set up, reducing employee costs. Using email support or online chatting may be cheaper than customer service calls for support. Your IT team will make it possible for your employees’ productivity to flourish and produce more revenue by applying the best technological strategies to increase your company’s efficiency.

Less Stress

Unless your are extremely tech savvy, it can be stressful to try and figure out what has gone wrong when a system crashes, devices are not compatible, or you need a network update. With an IT department’s support, they will handle it all, and make sure you’re current with security and equipment updates. This way, you can focus on your company and making money.

Affordability and Scalability

IT solutions, such as CognoCare will sit down and decide exactly what your company needs, so you’re not paying for any unnecessary extras. If a piece of equipment breaks, you won’t be forking over hundreds or thousands of dollars for a new one. Instead, the IT support team will take care of it for you at no extra cost above your monthly flat rate. As your business grows, you will need your technology to grow too, so that your whole team and company can keep up with the expansion. IT support will be there to help you blossom and give you the technology you need when the time comes so you can keep up with increasing demands.

Less Downtime

Without IT support, you’re stuck wasting your time trying to either fix it yourself, or find someone who can. When you have CognoCare, you know that it will be handled immediately, and you won’t have that down time trying to get it repaired. In business, time is money, and you’ll be increasing your profits when you don’t have to spend it servicing your technology yourself.

Managed Service Providers Benefits

January 24, 2014/in Business Continuity, Featured, Information Security, Internet Speeds, Mobility /by Cognoscape

Managed Service Providers can decrease the overall IT support costs of small to medium sized businesses (SMBs) by as much as 30% to 50%. While a managed service provider can most assuredly assume full responsibility for IT operations, and operate as a remote IT department if desired, they can also be a valuable asset to an in-house technician or team. MSPs can support existing internal IT staff by taking on the more routine proactive and reactive daily responsibilities. Many of which can be automated. This allows in-house IT personnel to focus more on the company’s business needs and revenue generating projects. Download the E-Guide – THE VALUE OF A HELPING HAND – Reducing the Business Costs of Network Failure with a Managed Services Provider In This E-Guide You Will Learn: How to once again focus on core business operations with a managed service provider monitoring and securing your network. The advantage of breaking away from a sure-to-stay-small break/fix mentality with the support of a team of experts helping you accelerate growth The benefit of having access to the expertise, best practices and world-class tools and technologies offered by managed service providers

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