There is a common misconception among small business IT support professionals about solving IT problems. Many believe that they can fix any issue by identifying which hardware or software is out of date and then update it, or if they’re not virtualized, they just go to the cloud. The reality is that these quick fixes only address the symptoms of a problem, not the root cause. To truly solve an IT problem, it’s important to put proactive planning methods into action.

Poor IT management can cost a company far more than the physical cost of maintaining IT services. It can impact and affect several areas of the company from payroll to human resources.  I have been working in IT for many years and have seen the IT business structure become reliant on reactive, instead of proactive, solutions. These are certainly not my ideas alone, but I have seen enough to believe that the problem is wide spread throughout many businesses.

What makes one IT managed services company stand out from the other 186,000 IT managed services companies?

In many ways, martial arts can be an appropriate metaphor for running a business. For example, there are probably hundreds of thousands of entry-level martial arts studios available for beginning students. It doesn’t really matter what martial art you decide to study, only that you get started and learn whether the art is right for you. However, as you grow in ability and dedication, you find that your needs sharpen and you need a higher level of expertise to guide you along the right path. You need a master.

I was talking to a business owner the other day who asked me “If I’m in the cloud, what do I need IT services for?” Inwardly, I groaned, because this is a question I’m hearing more often these days – and it represents a misunderstanding about the ‘magic’ of cloud services. The cloud is powerful, and has the ability to save companies thousands of dollars on things like the upkeep of a data center, but ultimately it’s just another deployment model. A deployment model with its own set of challenges, risks and questions that need answering.

Small business IT support is typically an afterthought for most owners and/or executives of organizations with under fifty employees.  In some cases the owner is involved in support herself.  In others, a key employee has this responsibility in addition to another important role.  Occassionally, there is a dedicated employee for this activity, but at this size, it is usually hard to justify.  In most cases, the company avails itself of a reactive break-fix IT services company.  The problem is that reactive support yields sub-optimal results.

IT managed services are not new, but most small business owners still do not really know what they are.  Following are five case studies that describe how technology impacts business results and the role of IT managed services in improving those results.

Backup Internet connections in a storm are an important part of a disaster recovery plan as we recently witnessed in Snowtober in the northeast part of the U.S.  Even if you have power, Internet service providers (ISPs) are often dependent on the power infrastructure elsewhere such that you may lose Internet access.  What are the options to restore it to get e-mail and other critical services back?

Virtualization vs physical server management is not particularly more complex and the benefits are well worth the effort.  Following are three simple ways to manage your virtual server environment.

So, you're curious about setting up a Remote Desktop Connection between two Windows PCs? With Microsoft's Remote Desktop Connection software, built into the Windows operating system, setting up your computer for this kind of connection is not at all difficult. Just use common sense and follow these instructions - or, for more complete directions, visit Microsoft's website.