Here are the four key IT challenges that businesses need to meet in terms of their IT provision, if they are going to increase productivity and decrease costs.

Harnessing the expertise of a team of IT professionals has so many advantages for your company. Streamlining the way that you do business, enhancing you and your colleagues' productivity, and keeping all of your company's vital information secure are some of the key benefits that you can enjoy with professionally managed services for your IT infrastructure.

Everyone knows what role in a company CEO stands for - but what about the CIO?

In the past IT service was a matter of infrastructure: networks, devices, servers and so on. The internet was slow, the applications were often clumsy and sometimes unusable, and these systems were not interconnected. That was the first wave of IT. The good news is the free market has driven solutions to those challenges - and we’re all glad it did.

As a hotelier, you've probably noticed that what hotel guests expect when traveling away from home has changed considerably over recent years. Whereas an en suite bathroom, for example, was once considered a luxurious ‘extra’, most hotels now provide this facility as standard. By the same token, Wi-Fi is now an expected feature of a hotel stay and most guests would be surprised (and more than a little annoyed) if an efficient guest Wi-Fi service was not provided.

Stay Secure My Friend... More Hackers Targeting SMBs Many SMBs don’t realize it, but the path to some grand cybercrime score of a lifetime may go right through their backdoor. SMBs are commonly vendors, suppliers, or service providers who work with much larger enterprises. Unfortunately, they may be unaware that this makes them a prime target for hackers. Worse yet, this may be costing them new business.

Three Steps To Fix IT Management for SMBs Small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) tend to have a more difficult time managing IT than larger enterprises. Despite being as technology dependent as larger enterprises, SMBs have tighter budgets and fewer resources to devote to IT management. This leads to a more reactive "break-fix" approach to their technology that never does any smaller company or organization any good.

Understanding Managed Services and How They Benefit SMBs Small to medium sized businesses (SMBs) receive a lot of calls each day from slick sales people peddling the next technology trend that's going to save them money and revolutionize how they do business. They're all too quick to caution that if you don't listen to them, you'll fall behind the times, and eventually be swimming in a sea of debt and out of business.

Are Managed IT Services Right For You? A Few Things to Consider How do you get a small business to recognize the value of manages IT services? In the start-up environment, we encounter an eclectic bunch of personality types. There is a reason people become entrepreneurs or C-level execs. When we meet the owners or decision makers at smaller companies and organizations, we can tell right away why they're where they are. They're visionaries. They're risk takers. They're competitive. They want to be in charge. Therefore, they aren't always quick to place the fate of their business technology in the hands of a third party. They've come as far as they have by being in control and they're hesitant to give up that control. But we've learned a few things along the way. For example, the Type A personality is highly independent but also very competitive. So we tap into the competitive advantage that managed IT services gives them. The Type B personality is creative and doesn't like static routines. But their ears perk up when they hear terminology like "cutting-edge" and we can then paint the big picture for them once their listening. But anyone we do business with has to be committed to the efficiency, security, and stability of their business technology to see our value proposition. And they have to recognize that managing their IT infrastructure is an investment they cannot take lightly. So here are a few things we commonly have to address before any deal for managed IT services is signed. Is my business large enough to even consider managed services? There is an old adage that size doesn't matter (ahem... we're talking about in a fight) but SMBs must always think big to get big. The truth is, any company, regardless of its size or the number of people they employ, will run more efficiently if its technology is monitored, maintained, and managed properly. These are facets of your operations that drive profitability and give our Type A personalities that competitive edge they crave. And they can rest easy whenever business is booming because their technology is built to sustain their growth. That's the big picture that our Type B personality can appreciate. How is making another IT investment a cost-savings move for my business? There are still many SMBs who feel a greater focus and investment should go towards their core operations or marketing and sales. They only worry about technology when it breaks, figuring they'll just call a service technician to come to the office and fix whatever the problem is. Or buy some new hardware at Office Depot. There are some very obvious flaws to this strategy.

The Sky's the Limit for SMBs Taking to the Cloud There has been a lot of hype about cloud computing transforming the way small-to-medium sized businesses do business. Proponents of the cloud say that cloud computing has leveled the playing field, allowing SMBs to finally compete with bigger companies despite their limited financial resources and staffing.