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Managed IT Services Increase Operational Efficiency

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MSPs improve efficiencyUnless your organization is a government agency or a nonprofit with a clear mission, the point of running a business is profitability. While increases in sales is a common goal, one of the most impactful ways to improve profitability is through increased operational efficiency – and one of the best ways to improve operational efficiency is through the proper leveraging of managed IT services.

Managed IT services provide your organization access to the most experienced minds in IT without the added expense of another employee. For companies too small to have their own IT department, as well as mid-size and larger organizations that cannot justify the cost of a full-time C-level addition to their teams, an MSP can act as their IT department, work as an extension of their existing IT team, provide strategy consultation, and function as the CIO.

The benefits of managed IT services and partnering with an MSP are quantifiable. Not only can you measurably reduce risk and improve efficiency, but you can do so with a predictable, plannable monthly cost that is scalable as you grow.

Proactive Action

When you wait for network processes to slow down or for something to go wrong with your IT infrastructure, you are forced into a costly cycle of repairs that prevents you from investing and getting ahead. When you work with an MSP, they constantly monitor the state of your infrastructure and network, heading off issues and replacing equipment before it stops your business from operating.

Extend IT Expertise

Even companies with internal IT staff are often taxed beyond their capabilities in their efforts to keep up with demands – from monitoring for risks to ensuring compliance to keeping up with necessary patching – it can be overwhelming to have the responsibilities without the support necessary to stay ahead of the demands. In many organizations, the designated IT person actually has another role on top of their IT responsibilities, making it impossible for them to really meet the needs of the organization’s IT objectives.

Level the Playing Field

SMEs are expected (by their customers and other stakeholders) to maintain the same level of security and governance as their larger counterparts. That can be nearly impossible to achieve without an MSP, which forces SMEs to stretch their budgets and manage the costs involved with meeting compliance and reporting requirements and providing the security necessary to ease customers’ minds.

Remove Distraction

Organizations that are forced to be both experts in their industries, as well as IT experts, are often unable to successfully focus on either area adequately. An MSP frees you to focus on building your business, growing your brand, making sales, and cultivating clients – all while knowing that behind the scenes, your IT infrastructure is humming like a well-oiled machine.

Significantly Decrease Costs

From having to hire less internal IT support people to having a plannable, predictable monthly expense, an MSP is an investment with a measurable ROI. You gain access to state-of-the-art equipment, technology, and talent but without the associated costs.

24/7/365 Monitoring

24/7 monitoring can minimize the risks and help you stay one step ahead of hackers. Having a team of IT professionals on call 24/7 to provide you with the right IT support, products, and services does more than just offer added protection – it gives you peace of mind.

The ITeam’s Managed IT Services are designed to meet the needs of businesses in a variety of industries in Calgary. We act as a virtual CIO, partnering with our clients to help them meet their business goals and remain globally competitive. We assess their requirements, reviewing everything from network security, systems, and application patching, to comprehensive backup and recovery services. We provide fully managed and personalized services designed to meet the needs of virtually any business.

Our team will work with you to customize a cost-effective solution and help you develop a comprehensive IT security strategy that will help you survive any threat, whether natural or man-made. A managed service approach will also provide businesses with comprehensive security, customized backup and recovery solutions, and state-of-the-art cloud storage and hosting. Are you ready to take advantage of the many benefits of partnering with an MSP? Contact us today.

The ITeam named on of 50 best managed it companies in Canada

The ITeam Named One of Canada’s 50 Best Managed IT Companies

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Calgary-based managed services company, The ITeam, named one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed IT Companies

50 best managed IT companiesCalgary, Alberta – February 2019 – We are pleased to announce that The ITeam Ltd. has been recognized as one of the Top 50 Best Managed IT Companies in Canada by TechnoPlanet, who hosted black-tie gala at the Old Mill in Toronto to celebrate the winners.

Top 50 Best Managed IT Companies in Canada is an award of excellence to recognize 50 Value Added Resellers (VARs) or Managed Service Providers (MSPs) in Canada. Of the over 1500 Canadian IT companies that qualified, only 50 were ultimately selected to receive the award.

What It Means to Be One of the 50 Best Managed IT Companies

“The ITeam is honored to be recognized with this prestigious award. I am proud of my entire team for their hard work and contribution to this.” – James Wagner, President of The ITeam Ltd.

This award is based on an analysis of over 200 data points covering 12 different business categories such as sales process, marketing, operations, financial and leadership. The award also takes into consideration an analysis of several public areas, such as the strength of our digital presence including our website, social media, search engine results and marketing campaigns as well as other activities such as charity, community work, customer testimonials and other achievements. Eight judges review and audit each company.

Julian Lee, CEO and President of the North American technology channel marketing and communications specialists TechnoPlanet, launched the 50 Best Managed IT Companies Awards program to recognize the VARs, MSPs and ITSPs who truly operate their businesses effectively. “The primary goal is simply to help all VARs, MSPs, ITSPs, MSSPs and ISVs to benchmark their best business practices and hopefully improve. Our big mission is to help the entire channel to become bigger, better, stronger and smarter so it may remain vibrant, well into the future.” – Julian Lee, CEO of Technoplanet.

ABOUT TECHNOPLANET & THE 50 BEST MANAGED SERVICE COMPANIES AWARD

TechnoPlanet is an international channel marketing and communications company that specializes in the technology industry. Since 1993, TechnoPlanet has been developing best-practice channel solutions that help technology manufacturers develop and manage their channel partners.

Over 1,800 nominees from 4 countries worldwide were evaluated in their business practices including Business Vision & Strategy, Operations Processes, Financial Management, Leadership & Management, Sales & Marketing Processes, and Customer Satisfaction. Winners were selected based on a rigorous review of the best practices that are used to run their business.

Award winners are amongst the best-of-the-best in the IT Channel in their country when it comes to running their businesses. They have the best business leaders in the IT industry, are poised to have sustainable success in the future, offer superior customer service, and attract and retain the top talent in the IT industry.

Expand Your Capability and Expertise with a VCIO

Expand Your Capability and Expertise with a VCIO

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Expand Your Capability and Expertise with a VCIOTechnical support in today’s world is radically different than it was even a decade ago.

Employing a CIO and staffing an internal IT department is much more complicated and expensive than it was in the past.

But partnering with an organization that can provide the IT support you need and the expertise you must have to navigate today’s security and infrastructure issues is a solid way to ensure excellent cybersecurity and technical management that was impossible only a few years ago.

The Virtual Chief Information Officer: A Solution for Organizations of Every Size

Even independent entrepreneurs typically have an online presence, and their technical needs go beyond simple website maintenance.

The range and complexity of IT issues can tax even large corporations with the need for extensive capital reserves; their impact on smaller organizations (even mid-sized or relatively large ones), however, can be devastating.

Partnering with a Managed Services Provider (MSP) can give you access to a dependable IT department and the expertise of a CIO without the exorbitant costs.

And a Virtual Chief Information Officer (VCIO) can do more than save you money; soft benefits include your peace of mind and the ability to focus attention on business growth and development.

As well, you will no longer need to provide immediate and constant supervision over equipment and processes, nor will you have to constantly address issues that may arise during off hours.

Partnering with External Experts Is Nothing New

Partnering with a Managed Services Provider is more cost-effective in many cases than employing an internal IT department and CIO.

It’s no different than an organization contracting for human resources and legal counsel rather than having their own HR and legal departments.

Companies of all sizes can put their financial resources to better use and partner with experts to provide specific services that are scalable and customizable to each organization’s unique needs.

Combat Threats with a VCIO at Your Side

Having a partner who can help you navigate the complexities of today’s IT world has become one of necessity rather than luxury, particularly as cybersecurity has become such a difficult and expensive business requirement.

Spamming, phishing, hacking, ransomware, and data breaches of all kinds have rapidly and exponentially increased over the last few years, and combatting such constant and sophisticated threats has become an unavoidable imperative.

Companies that specialize in protection against these types of attacks are becoming indispensable to standard business performance, while the expertise and ability to provide solid defences are far less prevalent than the threats.

As technology fundamentally changes how we do business, serve customers, and address security threats, organizations must reevaluate whether their current IT strategy is meeting their needs. The ITeam is committed to helping Calgary- and Alberta-based businesses develop proactive, cost-effective IT strategies that minimize risk and maximize efficiency. Contact us to learn more.

3 Steps To Ensure Continued IT Reliability and Security For Your Business

3 Steps To Ensure Continued IT Reliability and Security For Your Business

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Technology can be a wonderful tool that continually opens new doors.

With it, we have increased productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness, more so than we ever thought possible.

It has truly revolutionized the way we work and the way we play.

At the same time, technology has a dark side, creating vulnerabilities where previously there were none.

Competitors can engage in corporate espionage or otherwise disrupt business operations.

Opportunities are created for hackers to access important data and exploit you or your customers.

To this end, particularly as the holiday season approaches, there are several steps that businesses should take to ensure continued IT reliability and security.

For stronger security, utilize multifactor authentication

3 Steps To Ensure Continued IT Reliability and Security For Your Business

Multifactor authentication (MFA) is a security system designed to reduce the chance of unauthorized access.

It requires multiple factors which operate independently, to gain access to restricted data or areas.

An example of this would be requiring an employee to swipe a badge as well as enter a code to enter a restricted area.

Online, an example of MFA is to require a password as well as providing a pin sent to your phone via Microsoft Azure’s MFA service.

MFA is a great way to protect against situations in which an employee may accidentally divulge a password or provide other means of access.

By requiring multiple factors for access, businesses utilizing MFA can maximize their security.

Enhance your strategic planning with flat-rate IT services

IT security costs money; there’s no way around it.

However, if a business uses flat-rate IT (as opposed to paying IT professionals an hourly rate to work on a given issue), costs can be normalized.

Adopting flat-rate services also curtails the temptation to skimp on IT security and infrastructure improvements simply to save money.

When it comes to the cost of IT security, predictability is a good thing.

As such, adding a flat-rate IT service is a step that makes sense and – in the long run – saves money.

Work with an expert to assess your network

If you don’t know about potential security weaknesses in your IT network, you cannot address them.

Given the complex technology utilized by today’s IT networks, it takes a trained eye to spot weaknesses and other issues.

One of the best investments you can make is to have a professional IT services company perform a thorough assessment of your network.

Then, armed with the knowledge of those issues you may encounter, you can plan cost-effective ways of addressing them.

The holiday season is almost here.

With it comes an increase in cybersecurity issues.

By following the above steps, you can position your business to survive and thrive this holiday season.

The ITeam is dedicated to helping Calgary- and Alberta-based businesses avoid cybersecurity challenges. We do this by providing essential IT support and customized services designed to meet the needs of your business. The ITeam will work with you to develop a cost-effective and comprehensive IT strategy that will help you thrive. Contact us for a free consultation or schedule a network assessment today.

The Benefits of Flat Rate IT Services

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The Benefits of Flat Rate IT Services

Before Managed Service providers became a common resource, an organization was faced with calling in a tech service provider every time something went wrong with the IT infrastructure.

This usually required paying charges based on the hourly rate of the technician and the cost of the equipment necessary to make the repairs.

And until the service call was made, there was no way to know how much it would cost to get the network back up and running.

An organization could be quite literally held hostage to exorbitant costs because without the repairs, they were unable to service their customers.

Those unpredictable costs, however, meant that managers on tight budgets would often wait to call, avoiding the issue until it was unavoidable, thereby making the costs even higher.

Today, Calgary and Alberta businesses who work with The ITeam benefit from flat-rate, fixed-cost IT services in a variety of ways.

Predictable Repair Costs

One of the biggest benefits of a flat-rate IT department is predictability.

Rather than pay an hourly rate to a technician, or suffer an unknown cost for equipment replacement costs, the organization pays a monthly fee that doesn’t change, regardless of how often services are required.

That predictability allows the organization to operate in confidence, knowing that their own customers will not be without some level service.

Better Planning

For the organization that is trying to remain competitive, agile, and capable of continued growth, turning IT costs into a predictable, monthly utility cost instead of a capital expense is significant.

Not only can you avoid unexpected capital expenditures during your fiscal year, so that you can invest in growth, marketing, and other business needs, but you can also plug IT into your budget with confidence.

Many organizations who use a flat-rate IT service are able to not only have more money for investing in attracting talent and growing their organization but also are able to have access to better, more customized IT solutions.

Flexibility

As we have seen here in Alberta, we’re all impacted by the economic downturn.

But one of the benefits of flat-rate IT is scalability. If your business grows quickly, you can handle that growth by scaling up your services. I

f you lose a big contract and need to tighten your budget, you can likewise scale back your services as needed.

Reduced Downtime

Hiring a flat-rate IT department to provide support to your infrastructure reduces downtime.

Downtime costs you and your business, not only in dollars but in loyalty.

Managers with tight budgets are more likely to call for help when they need it because they know the cost will not change, and the organization experiences less overall downtime as a result.

As well, your flat-rate IT service provider is motivated to keep everything running in peak condition to make sure you don’t have to call them unexpectedly.

The main benefit of flat-rate IT services is to your bottom line.

When your organization no longer has to worry about unpredictable IT bills costs, while at the same time increasing the reliability and functionality of your systems, it’s easier to focus on other aspects of the business that keeps you competitive.

At the same time, you have a team of experts – a strategic partner – to work with you to ensure you are able to leverage technology in ways that strengthen your organization and improve your ability to meet your customers’ needs.

The ITeam is dedicated to helping Calgary- and Alberta-based businesses remain competitive, flexible, and ready to face whatever challenges come their way. We do this by providing essential IT support and customized services designed to meet the needs of your business. The ITeam will work with you to develop a cost-effective and comprehensive flat-rate IT strategy that will help you thrive. Contact us for a free consultation.

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