IT support service providers help to relieve various business challenges, enhance the efficiency of your network, ramp up productivity and increase profitability.
There are various services that will help you reach your goals, but the crux of IT services assess, review and monitor your IT infrastructure, detect issues with the system that will cause downtime and proactively prevent disruptions to your business.
Economists estimate the UK economy loses somewhere in the region of £35bn due to issues with IT infrastructure. A slowdown or complete disruption of business operations costs UK firms an average of £6000 a year.
The initial consultancy we have with our clients typically involves discussions around the various IT services we provide that will improve the efficiency and productivity of operations. Our senior consultants will then discuss strategy and goal-focused outcomes.
But IT support service providers not only help you to implement systems that boost productivity. You should also be looking for solutions and strategies that enable you to grow and scale up easily and quickly.
Today’s IT technologies provide businesses with powerful resources that give your business more agility – both to expand operations and to adapt to changes in the market.
In an age where technology consistently changes the business landscape at a rapid rate, competition is becoming more fierce and economic uncertainty lurks behind every corner, teaming up with competent managed IT support service providers enable you to digitalise your business in a way that gives you a competitive edge.
Microsoft 365 Productivity Tools
Providing your staff with tools that facilitate communication and collaboration helps to improve productivity. This is the case regardless of whether you intend to base your entire team in the office or deploy a distributed workforce.
Microsoft Office 365 delivers a full suite of tools that facilitates remote working, enables synchronised workflow, and gives your employees the freedom to create, collaborate and present content across multiple locations and devices.
When you subscribe to Office 365 business plan, you automatically get access to over 25 productivity tools that work together to help you work smarter.
Effective communication is crucial for driving productivity. Microsoft 365 combines powerful communication apps including Outlook, Teams and Yammer that enable team members to stay connected, engage in real-time from remote locations and work in tandem from a central cloud hub.
In addition, Planner helps team managers and project managers to coordinate schedules, organise workloads, eliminate disruptive meetings, and track the progress of projects in real-time. And feedback from your team members can easily be collected via Forms.
Stable IT Network
Two of the most important factors for boosting and maintaining productivity levels are system efficiency and processing speeds. Our experienced system architects and proactive IT engineers deliver high availability – averaging a 99.999% availability for client systems using proven strategies.
- Careful planning
- Elimination of single points of failure
- Testing of technologies such as load balancing
- Distributed resources
- RAID (redundant array of independent disks)
- Comprehensive health monitoring
- Effective backup strategy
- High-speed recovery
Successful implementation of these technologies will result in fewer interruptions to business operations and improved efficiency of staff. High availability should ideally be part of the business growth plan you have agreed with your IT support service provider.
Fast, Reliable Wi-Fi
Working with cloud technology relies on secure and fast internet. However, internet service providers are failing their customers because standard broadband infrastructure is inadequate.
When this happens, the only remedy is for IT support service providers to step in and fix it.
Even “superfast” broadband contracts do not deliver the speeds you are paying for. It is estimated that the UK pays over £804 bn for a broadband service they are not receiving. The move to 5G should improve broadband speeds but our guess is that you will still need some jiggery-mockery from talented IT professionals to improve Wi-Fi network speeds.
In addition, the 1Gbps broadband service the government promised would be available in 2025 has been pushed back to 2030.
Can you wait five years?
In a business environment, slow WiFI can stimmy productivity. A single router sent by your IT provider is unlikely to deliver a strong signal to every user in a large office. You may also encounter devices that impact performance across the network. In order to prevent isolated incidents, the quick solution is to implement bandwidth management which identifies issues immediately. Which means they can be fixed immediately.
Fast internet speeds require a high frequency. However, the Wi-Fi range of traditional routers may not reach every corner of your office. One solution is to lower the frequency so the signal penetrates barriers such as walls. But lower frequencies mean slower connection speeds.
Large offices can easily improve broadband speeds by installing a range of extenders or utilising mesh networking. Assessing the building layout, identifying possible sources of interference, and installing hardware that provides fast and reliable connectivity is often the most simple solution to improve performance.
But getting the most out of existing WiFI infrastructure is only one solution. As technology improves, IT support service providers will move towards intergalactic solutions.
Nooo, not aliens, but the innovative uses of satellite networking.
We expect Satellite Broadband systems to replace traditional WiFi infrastructure. Elon Musk’s interstellar satellite broadband program, Starlink, for example, is tipped to be a game-changer that not only provides remote workers with secure and stable internet access but also breaks the monopoly on existing broadband providers that do not have the infrastructure to deliver the service their customers are paying for.
Starlink satellite could actually be an immediate solution for companies with a distributed workforce. It’s no secret that home Wi-Fi networks are not always reliable, particularly for employees that live in the countryside and other rural areas where internet connections and slow and unstable.
But even employees that live in urban areas are experiencing a slowdown in their broadband service which impairs their ability to maintain productivity performance levels.
During the lockdown, internet companies reported a 75% increase in daytime traffic. Whilst we don’t expect to see networks having to handle lockdown levels, it is inevitable that the increased number of employees working from home will place more burden on broadband towers that service towns and cities – particularly if zoom meetings become a trend.
The knee-jerk reaction to boost internet speeds for home networks has typically been to source hot spots for remote workers. However, hot spots are not always the best solution. The issue may be that internet service providers do not have the capacity to maintain fast service because of the increase in usage.
Cloud Storage
It’s well documented that cloud computing can help improve employee productivity in a variety of ways. From streamlining communications, facilitating collaboration and improving network availability. If you need more information about the benefits of cloud storage solutions, refer to our earlier article titled “What can you expect from cloud computing“.
Cloud technologies also support hybrid working and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trends. With access to one-click, cloud-based apps and services that can be accessed from anywhere on any device, employees typically raise productivity levels during work hours because they address emails and additional reading during commutes or whilst they’re at home.
It should also be noted that cloud computing platforms enable the integration of third-party software and legacy applications. Promotional content claims that is so users can seamlessly switch between mission-critical tools with little time wasted.
However, that claim is not always the reality. Trying to blend opposing cloud technologies can create a conflict that throws spanners and disrupts operations. Needless to say, thrown spanners can put a dent in productivity output.
Legacy software doesn’t always play nice either. As a matter of fact, legacy applications will probably need replacing at some point. Decision makers have to recognise that software designed for your business five years ago, may not be the best solution now.
In addition, there will come a time when businesses that still rely on old versions of software have to switch to the latest version. The time to move is before the manufacturer stops providing security updates, otherwise, your business network will develop vulnerabilities which can be exploited by hackers.
You may have already experienced complications following a software upgrade. Companies with a unique operational process tend to invest in “custom-made” software they are reluctant to let go of. But customised software can cause persistent problems every time a cloud application or the operating system receives an update.
To overcome these types of issues, IT support service providers are moving into cloudOps – an innovative strategy designed to optimise the performance of your IT network by effectively enabling the path between legacy systems and cloud technologies.
Access to IT Security Specialists
Cyber attacks against businesses come in many and varied forms. There is little doubt that the threat of a data breach can force SMEs to close their doors. If hackers don’t steal all your funds, data privacy laws will.
The damage of a security breach can impact the continuity of a business. There will most certainly be a significant financial loss during the downtime involved as the issue is fixed.
Fines dished out by the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) under the powers of GDPR will inflict further damage, although, with a maximum fine of only 2% of your annual revenue, most businesses will survive the penalty.
The killer usually comes due to the obligation to report a security breach to affected parties. This basically means you have to inform your customers if their email address is stolen. It is the loss of confidence from your customers that ultimately buries most businesses.
Working with IT support specialists that provide solid IT Security strategies should not be understated. In order to protect your business from a multitude of threats, IT support service providers will take a holistic approach to cybersecurity.
Our IT professionals begin by performing a risk-based audit after which we can secure vulnerabilities with powerful tools. A combination of anti-virus software, 24/7 monitoring, patch management, and cloud backup is standard practice. Educating your employees about where threats come from on how to recognise them should also be a priority.
Although IT Security solutions may sound expensive, we always implement solutions that match your budget – and most significant cybersecurity solutions are not that expensive.
Performance Audits and Operational Reviews
Performance audits and operational reviews can improve most IT infrastructure. With insightful data to hand, IT support service providers can implement effective solutions that minimise potential security risks and maximise a return on investment.
The goal of IT audits and infrastructure reviews are to identify and implement solutions that improve the efficiency and effectiveness of operations together with the management and administrative performance of your organisation.
Performance audits primarily add value to your business by helping to increase profits and reduce costs. However, audits and reviews can also provide valuable insights that assist decision-making at all levels of management.
In some instances, there is also scope for identifying ways to seize opportunities by improving the quality of front-facing services. This can help you to acquire more customers and increase cash flow by eliminating bottlenecks, payment barriers and other weaknesses that prevent customers from hitting the buy button or getting in contact.
Conducting an objective IT audit involves several steps. Firstly, our specialists examine your existing system and collect information. With this data to hand we can assess the existing control structure and processes to determine how your systems work. The third step is to evaluate the audit data and create a strategy that improves the overall performance of your business network.
IT Support Service Providers in London
IT support services providers work with the most advanced cloud technologies and software because cloud-based tools are proven to enhance productivity performances in the modern environment.
Whether your entire team is stationed full-time in the office, completely working from home or dividing their time between the office and remote working, our IT support service providers in London have a solution for every scenario.
If you want to boost productivity in your business, contact our IT specialists today. Our senior consultants will create a strategy that will help to increase efficiency and profits – and you also get access to our award-winning IT support team in London.