Posted by Phill Manson on Sun, Jan 10, 2010
If you've recently started up your own business or are thinking about taking the plunge, these are some of the things you need to consider.
1) Get Free IT advice!
When it comes to setting up your IT systems it can seem daunting and there are a multitude of different options available to you. What works for one company may not work for you. For example you could choose to follow a SaaS (Software as a Service) model for which you pay a monthly fee to use a vendors product, this reduces your capital expenditure but increases your monthly costs and over the long term can work out more expensive.
The initial set up of your systems can seem very overwhelming, you need to consider; internet connectivity, network protection, number of PCs/laptops you need, how the users can collaborate locally (server), email addresses and web presence to name just a few!
Another essential piece of the jigsaw puzzle is your phone system, how many lines do you require, do you need geographical numbers, how many handsets do you need, do you want a traditional phone system or a Voice over IP (VoIP) system?
Many IT support companies offer a Free IT consultation. Look for an IT Support Company that will listen to your business requirements and advise on the best technologies for your goals and budget!
Ask the IT company for case studies and references where these technologies have been successful for other businesses similar to yours.
2) Company Domain Name
With the costs involved with setting up a domain name for your company minimal, we recommend you register your preferred (if it is available) as quickly as possible. Your chosen domain name will need to be renewed either yearly or bi-annually depending on where you purchase the domain. Once this is complete you can set up your chosen email address eg. sales@yourcompanyname.co either on your Exchange server or with a hosted provider.
3) Purchase a Server or not?
A server is a combination of hardware and software designed to provide services to end users. Typically it will be a dedicated piece of hardware and will be used to host a line of business applications, Accounts packages or CRM application for example. IT can also be used to provide file and print sharing.
Your server can also allow users to connect remotely and gain access to their email and other services while on the move. By centralising your data on the server you can ensure that it is being backed up, reducing the risk to your business if a local PC fails.
4) Licensing and software
There are a wide variety of software products available to you to help you run your business and many of these products will have both Home and Professional versions. Although Home products may be cheaper to purchase they place unnecessary restrictions on business users (such as limited networking functionality) this can limit collaboration and information sharing in the workplace.
Some companies such as Microsoft offer different products and pricing models for SMEs compared to Enterprise environments, they allow you to purchase yearly subscriptions to use their software instead of having a large upfront capital expense.
Individuals and businesses can face large fines for using pirated or copied software as such we always recommend you purchase genuine software for your use. This also allows you to make use of any technical support provided by the vendor.
You will also need to consider Anti-Virus software for your desktops and servers. Anti-Virus is essential software that provides your network with protection against viruses that can affect your machine and stop you working, and in some cases even steal your confidential data.
5) Backup your data!
Backing up your data can be a bit like car insurance; you really don't see the point and resent the expenditure until you have your first crash! After that it makes perfect sense.
There are many options available to you; manual backup to CD/DVD/NAS (Network Attached Storage), automated backup to tape or offsite storage where your data is backed up to a secure server over the internet.
Each of these options has their own benefits and associated costs so it worth sitting down with your IT partner to discuss your requirements.
Contact us
Posted by Sean Houghton on Tue, Dec 22, 2009
With many small and medium businesses looking to reduce costs due to the 
economic climate, many companies are turning to remote IT Support to achieve these cost savings.
IT Companiesuse remote IT support tools to support businesses from their own offices by securely connecting to PC's, Servers and even phones across the internet.
This benefits businesses in the following ways
- No waiting. IT companies can connect remotely and respond quickly to IT problems
- No travel time. If the issues do not require an on-site support engineer the IT Support can be delivered more cost effectively as there is no associated travel costs.
- Remote monitoring can prevent problems. Rather than waiting to respond to an issue which is already causing problems on your network, good IT companies will have remote monitoring tools which will alert them to potential issues so they can catch them early.
- Less interruption. Because the IT support can be done remotely, many troubleshooting steps can be taken while you continue to work at your PC in the background. It also makes it easy to remotely fix problems out of business hours.
Posted by Sean Houghton on Wed, Dec 16, 2009
While all businesses, (especially SME's) continue to look for ways to reduce their 
costs, for many virtualization has become a key strategy for reducing expenditure.
Virtualization is a broad term but essentially it is the creation of virtual IT resources such as storage, server(s), a network, or even a workstation. For example you can take one physical server and run multiple instances of different operating systems on the one piece of hardware.
It is expected the use of virtualisation technology is set to increase by as much as up to 70% among SME's (25- 100 users) over the next 2 years
Here are 3 ways you can take advantage of Virtualization
Test applications on new operating systems
If you are worried how well your application will work on Windows 7 you can use virtualization to run a test environment. This will allow you to see how your application performs before deploying to the live environment.
Are you running a mixture of Mac's and computers? With Virtualization you can seamlessly run you Windows applications on your Mac.
Reduce your costs
Perhaps many people's favourite.
If you're running multiple servers in your environment over time you will save money on the costs of upgrades, maintaining the servers, rack space and power.
Cost effective disaster recovery
With the ability to transfer virtual machines in real time from one physical machine to another. Virtualization gives you a quick and cost effective way to recover you critical data and servers in the event of a disaster, potentially saving you thousands of pounds on a traditional High Availability solutions or a disaster recovery plan.
Posted by Sean Houghton on Sun, Nov 29, 2009
You may hear the phrase "IT Managed Services" discussed on a regular basis, but what does it mean for you and your business?
Managed Services are typically delivered to your company by a third party IT Company. A Managed Service Provider (MSP) will provide outsourced IT support and management and become your trusted IT Partner not just a supplier.
A differentiator between a standard IT Support company and an MSP is that they are proactive in responding to issues and problems (often fixing them before you even know there is an issue) instead of a standard reactive service where they sit around waiting for you to ring them with an issue.
Typically services include:
- 24/7 Proactive Server & Network Monitoring
- Remote & On-site Server and Computer support
- Network Security
- Managed Anti-Virus & Spam protection.
- Help Desk Ticketing
- Guaranteed response times through SLA's
- Data Backup & Disaster Recovery
Server and Computer Support
An IT managed Service Provider should provide proactive and regular maintenance to Servers and PC's to ensure that they are running at optimal levels whilst also protected against the latest threats. They should be monitoring and applying security patches and updates as required.
An MSPs highly skilled IT consultants will support your business when there are IT issues, and will look to resolve IT problems as quickly as possible. They will often do this remotely without having to come to the customer's office in order to minimise the disruption and downtime to users.
IT managed service providers will also be monitoring your systems 24/7 to detect issues early and check trends to minimise the risk of any downtime and data loss and then advising you of the potential risks and solutions available to you.
Network Security
Small and Medium businesses are often targeted by hackers as they often believe it easier to hack small business networks than that of a larger businesses infrastructure. IT Security should be taken seriously by all businesses. Your chosen MSP should recommend and implement best practices and utilise tools to manage your firewall and protect against threats such as viruses, spam and hacking. The threats against IT don't stand still so your MSP should be continually monitoring your security procedures and solutions and updating them where necessary.
Remote Network Monitoring
Proactive monitoring is critical to detecting and preventing IT issues as well as data loss. A proactive MSP will have tools implemented to alert their technicians (via Email, SMS, automated ticketing systems) to issues often before you are even aware of them.
Data Backup & Disaster Recovery
Business critical data is integral to a company's success, your chosen IT Company should take full responsibility for backing up your data and ensuring it is available for restore should the worse happen.
Many MSPs will offer Off-Site backup solutions (including Online Backups and tape collection services), an online backup solution will replicate your data overnight to a secure Data Centre. This gives your business the ability to recover data from the replicated server should a file or your server become unavailable for whatever reason.
An MSP should also be able to offer you the following services:
- Managed Anti Virus & Anti-Spam
- Guaranteed response times through Service Level Agreements (SLA's)
- IT Strategy Planning
Why should you consider Managed Services?
Businesses should consider Managed IT services as it provides an affordable solution to complex problems allowing small and medium business to focus on their core objectives instead of being distracted from IT problems
Contact Aztech IT
Posted by Sean Houghton on Thu, Nov 19, 2009
It's difficult to miss Microsoft's marketing campaign for its latest Operating System Windows 7. Television adverts are streaming into people's homes portraying that Windows 7 has been designed as a result of end user feedback. Whether this is the case or not, the demise of Vista has been swift and painful for Microsoft.
Many businesses have been delaying purchasing new hardware until 7's arrival and a large majority of those that have been purchasing new PCs have been exercising their downgrade rights to install and continue to run on Windows XP.
So is now a good time to take the plunge and ditch XP? According to Microsoft, Windows 7 will "simplify the things you do every day, work the way you want, and make some exciting new things possible". They then go on to state the following 10 reasons that you should make you think about a move to Windows 7.
- Get quicker access to all your stuff
- Do more and wait less
- Better compatibility
- Share files and printers among multiple PCs
- Stay entertained effortlessly
- Easily create and share movies
- Keep your PC better protected with fewer interruptions
- Touch and tap rather than point and click
- Support more TV, movies, videos and music in more ways
- Manage devices more easily
Most of these compelling reasons seem to be aimed at the home user market and the multimedia generation but it also answers some of the key criticisms that were aimed at Vista - compatibility issues and a complicated interface that led to user frustrations, it also adds native support for the latest touch screen devices.
Initial response from users has been very positive so should you upgrade now, wait for the usual Service Pack updates or stay with the tried and tested XP?
If you're using an older computer running Windows XP, we suggest you first head over to Microsoft's Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. After downloading the free tool, run it to scan your PC for potential issues with your hardware, devices, and installed programs. The tool will recommend actions you should take before you upgrade.
Once you're ready to make the move, get ready to do some homework first. Just like Vista, Windows 7 comes in different editions. Weigh your options and find out which edition is right for you. If you find the process too complicated, don't have the time, or if you're thinking of upgrading many computers, why not contact us?
Aztech IT Solutions are an IT support company based in Milton Keynes and are a Microsoft Gold Partner. We have Microsoft licensing specialist ready to discuss your requirements
Posted by Phill Manson on Thu, Nov 12, 2009
As a Sales Consultant at Aztech IT Solutions, I like to be out of the office as much as possible, meeting existing clients and potential new ones. At the same time in this fast paced world I need to be in contact with the office and my clients, so that means lots of mobile working!
I was thinking last Friday as I drove down the M1 on way down to visit a potential client in London, that the modern way of working means we are never out of contact. Just take a wander around your local town at any time of day and you see Businessmen and women talking into all multitudes of devices from normal phones to PDAs, to BlackBerry and finally the Directors favourite the iPhone.
Sat working from home this evening, I have my laptop, personal mobile, work blackberry and an IP phone all looking at me. It's astounding how many different ways to communicate we can have, voice, email, text and even Video Conferencing via the built in camera on the laptop.
The IP phone works using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) meaning that I appear to be in the office when I'm not, my colleagues can transfer calls to me via the internal short codes as if I was sat at the desk next to them and my laptop is currently using VPN to connect to work's servers so I can access my email and documents on the servers there. To all intends and purposes I appear to the outside world to be at the office!
This is a sight that that would probably shock my Grandfather, who while working for Section v11 [MI6] during and after the war used to install radio devices all around the world! I mean who would have thought a Blackberry could cause so much mixed emotions from people - some never want to be "out of touch" ever again and feel naked when they forget to pick it up and those that moan that they're now never away from the office and feel they have to check emails at home.
Once upon a time it was device reserved for high flying executives and now it's an essential tool for businesses whether you are a large multinational or a sole trader. In today's world we rely on instant communication and are concerned that an individual hasn't replied to an email/text/tweet after an hour.
Mobile working is here to stay, the standard 9-5 day is fast diminishing and to keep going in this fast paced world you need to have the connectivity and communications channels that best meet the requirements of your business and your clients!
Talk to us:
Aztech IT Solutions provide cost effective IT Support & IT Solutions in Milton Keynes, London and the surrounding areas.
If you want to talk to us about your mobile working requirements feel free to call us on 0845 370 78 76 or email me phill@aztechit.co.uk
Posted by Sean Houghton on Wed, Oct 28, 2009
Many businesses we work with are always looking to save money by reducing costs, whether they have a large internal IT department or an outsourced IT support agreement the remit is the same... Do more with less. With this in mind you may think investing more of your IT budget on new hardware & software is only going to make you feel the pinch more. However making the right investments in IT will save you money!
Here are just four ways you can save by upgrading your infrastructure to Microsoft Server 2008.
1. Reduce Power Consumption
By upgrading to Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 you can reduce power consumption as it has been designed with energy efficiency in mind. Recent tests found that straight out of the box Windows Server 2008 R2 improved power efficiency by up to 18 percent over Windows Server 2003.
Windows Server 2008 also introduces a 'balanced' power policy. This monitors the utilisation level of the processors on the server and dynamically adjusts the processor performance states to limit power to the needs of the workload. Windows Server 2008 R2 further enhances this power saving feature by adding more granular controls to manage and monitor server and server CPU power consumption. At the same time Server 2008 R2 extends these policies to the desktop via new "power-oriented" Group Policy settings.
2. Improve Branch Office Performance and Management
Many remote offices IT infrastructures have lower bandwidth or smaller ‘pipes' compared to their Head Office counterparts. Slow Wide Area Network or ‘WAN' links can impact the productivity of branch office employees while waiting to access application or files from the main office,
Through Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft has introduced a feature called BranchCache, which reduces WAN utilization and improves the responsiveness of network applications.
With BranchCache, content requested from the corporate network is cached at the branch, either in hidden caches on Windows 7 clients (distributed mode) or on a Windows Server 2008 R2 machine (hosted mode). Clients requesting cached data are authorised at the corporate network, but then download their content from this cache at the local branch, resulting in a more productive network environment for them, while simultaneously decreasing expensive WAN bandwidth usage.
3. Reduce Desktop Costs
Some of the latest buzz words and hot topics that being discussed at the moment are related to virtualization (both servers and desktop), hosted desktop and cloud computing. These technology advances are playing a major role in shaping the way we work both now and in the future.
Not only are they exciting, but the advances in presentation virtualization in server 2008 are also very useful. By utilising RDS (Remote Desktop Service) applications are processed at the server end while the graphical interface is delivered to the user desktop. RDS allow virtual resources (and that includes applications and even entire virtual desktops) to be made available in the same way as applications hosted on your local machine.
This gives many advantages in terms of not requiring expensive desktop hardware refreshes and by allowing IT administrators to update applications centrally and once, thus reducing the costs in deployment to multiple machines across multiple offices).
RDS and VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) have also benefitted from improved protocols, which mean the end user receives a graphical and multimedia experience that mirrors local PC performance.
4. Increased Availability
For some companies the costs for server downtime can run into the hundreds of thousands per hour, for smaller companies in the current economic climate it can mean the difference between survival and failure!
The increasing independence on IT means that there is often little room for scheduled maintenance of servers let alone unscheduled downtime.
With Windows Hyper-VTM Live Migration, you can move Virtual Machines (VMs) from one physical host to another without any disruption of service or perceived downtime.
Live Migration will allow you to reduce costs and increase productivity by allows you to move running VMs to the best physical machine for performance and during times of low demand reduce power consumption by consolidating VMs and then powering off un-used physical hosts.
Aztech IT Solutions are a IT support & services company based in Milton Keynes we save our clients thousands of pounds by advising the on the right IT strategy. To find out how we can do the same for you feel free to contact us to discuss your requirement.
Posted by Sean Houghton on Fri, Oct 16, 2009
Most people, when they hear the phrase "outsourcing" immediately think to the experience they have had when talking to an overseas call centre, however this isn't always the case.
Outsourcing your IT Support can bring many wide and varied benefits to an organisation of almost any size. The benefits can include a reduction in IT investment, holiday & sickness cover and allowing internal resource(s) to focus on strategic issues.
It can provide organisations with predictable monthly costs, access to best-of-breed IT and the latest helpdesk applications - all without the costly and pain-staking need to overhaul your IT systems.
Delivering and maintaining effective networks requires specialist skills and resources that many businesses are finding difficult to provide in-house. Opting to use an outsourcing service is just one way to ensure that your business meets its expectations.
A good IT Support Company should have expert people, processes and tools, which allow their clients to experience maximised system up-time through real-time, pro-active server monitoring, root cause analysis, and work flow service automation. These results help lead to increased revenue growth and increased employee productivity; reduced risk; redeployment of company resources; optimised communications applications and network
performance.
Benefits of Outsourcing:
- Reduced IT costs
- No staff training costs
- Additional resources at your disposal
- Allow you to focus on your core business
- Save on infrastructure
- Holiday and sickness cover
- Access to expert services and best of breed technology
- SLA support
A good outsourced IT Support Company shouldn't just be a supplier to your organisation; they have to be an integral part of your business to help with its continued growth. A good IT Outsourcing provider will come to you with recommendations to help you reduce downtime, minimise costs and improve your infrastructure not sit around waiting for the phone to ring.
Aztech IT Solutions provide cost effective IT Support in Milton Keynes, London and the surrounding areas.
Our IT Support packages are at the heart of our business. Alongside this our experienced Consultants, Engineers and Project Managers provide professionally delivered; IT Projects, IT Consultancy, IT Security, Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity planning and Unified Communications projects to SME's across the UK.
Download Outsource IT Support cost comparison
You can contact Aztech on 0845 370 7876 or via email info@aztechit.co.uk.
Posted by Sean Houghton on Sat, Oct 03, 2009
It can be very daunting when tasked to find an IT Support Company, there are so many different solution providers offering different types of IT support agreements.
Here are 10 things to check before you sign any agreement!
- Are they break fix or managed services?
Typically IT companies are either reactive (break-fix) or proactive (Managed Services) and some will offer a mix of both. However you must decide which model is right for your business. If you have five or more computers it is probable that you have a high dependency on IT and a fully managed service solution will be the right choice for your business.
Are they qualified?
An IT company is only as good as the staff they employ. Does the Helpdesk and on-site technicians hold the latest market leader accreditations such as Microsoft MCP, MCSE or MCTIP & Cisco CCNA, CCNP? Are they a Microsoft Gold Partner or Cisco Certified? You can usually check the status of their partnerships via the Microsoft Partner website. - What tools & systems have they invested in?
To fully outsource an IT support desk certain tools are essential to ensure your support requests are dealt with in an efficient manner. Does your chosen company follow ITIL procedures? Can you track the status of your tickets in real time via a customer portal? Can your provider connect to your pc or server in minutes or even seconds? A good question to ask is what remote tools to they use to support their customers? Have they paid for these or are they using free versions that can have limited functionality?
- Will they proactively monitor your servers & desktops?
With the right monitoring tools in place potential issues can be caught before they become a serious or critical issue. Will your Servers & PC's be monitored 24x7? Is this service included within in the price you have been quoted? If it is included, what will be monitored and what will happen once a problem is found?
- What response times will they offer?
Many companies will offer 4 hour or 8 hour SLA but in today's business environment that just doesn't cut it. Can you afford to wait this long? A good managed service provider should be able to respond to critical alerts within 15 minutes, high alerts within 30mins and while not all these issues may not be resolved 1st time you should look for a company with an above 85% 1st time fix.
- Do they keep up with the latest technologies?
IT is constantly changing and evolving. What you know today means nothing tomorrow (well not quite but you get my point). Does your IT Support provider have a continual investment program for their staff? What is their business roadmap? Will they suddenly have the desire to switch technologies vendors in pursuit of their own agenda?
- Can you obtain references for existing or past clients?
If there's nothing to hide then this should be no problem asking for references ask their clients the following questions:
Are they reliable?
Do they deliver what they promise?
Have you ever had problems getting hold of them?
Do they bill accurately?
Are they approachable or do they just speak IT geek talk?
Do they offer additional services?
- Will they be able to offer you additional services such as consultancy for project work, off-site backup, disaster recovery solutions, VoIP installation services and software licensing consultancy?
Will this be offered at a reduced rate if you are a fixed contract client?
- Will a dedicated account manager be appointed?
Having a great helpdesk is one thing but you will also want to be kept up to date with the newest technologies to see if they can fit in with your business and either improve efficiency, save costs or both!
A good account manager should not only deal with any day-to-day requirements you might have but also have an excellent understanding of your business and have the experience & knowledge in the IT industry to recommend solutions that are right for you. They should not sell you a product that achieves nothing for your business except putting a dent in your budget!
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Why such a long term contract?
Many companies will try and tie you into a one year or two year deal (possibly three). Ask why? By agreeing to a long term contract what benefits do you receive? Look for a company that offer you the flexibility that best suits your business.
Want to find out more? Contact Aztech IT to discuss your current IT Support arrangements
Posted by Sean Houghton on Fri, Oct 02, 2009
Not a day goes by without another suspected or confirmed case of swine flu hitting the news, however many businesses are still under prepared should the worst happen and their workforce become affected.
Swine flu is expected to cost the UK economy up to £50billion in lost earnings due to absenteeism and many businesses are implementing remote working solutions to minimise the impact of staff being unable to physically get to the office.
Prevention is better than cure
The snowstorms in February that brought London and the South East to a standstill highlighted the need for remote working solutions to be implemented for as many employees as possible. However, many businesses have still not implemented any infrastructure to ensure that key staff can access systems from home.
According to Government estimates up to 12% of workforce is likely to be hit by the H1N1 virus by September, forcing at least one in eight workers to stay at home. Gartner puts the figure higher at 40% at the height on the pandemic and is urging businesses to be prepared.
What does this mean for me?
Large businesses with a well established IT infrastructure are expected to cope reasonably well, but for many SMEs the threat of swine flu is greater.
Many smaller organisations do not have remote working capabilities and may not have budgeted for this investment to take place this year. With 80% of UK companies falling into the SME category, there will be a large amount of pressure on these organisations if their staff or their supplier's staff fall ill. Deadlines may be missed, which can have adverse affect on the cash flow of smaller companies who are most at risk in the current economic climate.
Planning for the future
Gartner advises firms to identify key skills and begin cross training staff to ensure they can cover critical business operations. Firms should also make sure that retrained staff are given access rights to relevant IT applications, as provisioning often causes delays and disruption.
Gartner advises businesses to use wireless broadband to allow employees to work remotely. Organisations should consider buying mobile broadband adaptors with built-in wireless capability.
"It is also probably a good idea to spread your purchases across several networks, because if there is a pandemic or epidemic, some may become overloaded," said analyst Nick Jones.
To further safeguard day-to-day operations, businesses should identify which functions are mission critical and create a plan that will allow them to operate their most important processes with minimal staff. In the event that a large number of staff are unable to get to the office they should look to implement this plan as quickly as possible.
Organisations can then look to implement which remote services they require including; Voice over IP (VoIP) to allow users to access phones as if they were in the office, network file shares, email and access to key applications.
Aztech IT Solutions regularly work with businesses across all sectors to identify their remote working requirements. At all times we are focused on delivering value for money solutions that accurately meet the business requirements of customer.
What measures can businesses quickly adopt
- Encourage workers who are ill or think they may be ill not to come to work
- Have mobile numbers for your staff available in case you need to close the office at short notice
- Ensure your staff are aware of the company stance and procedures relating to swine flu
- Cross train staff to cover for ill colleagues