Datalyst Blog

The last year and a half has ushered in many valuable lessons, and for many smaller businesses, the takeaway was the importance of good people and reliable technology when it comes to making major shifts to how a business operates.

From the technology side, many businesses struggled to obtain normality in a world that suddenly shifted to remote. If you managed to do it on your own, we applaud you. We saw the struggle and were able to assist with our clients through technologies we had been using for years, and for the most part, it paid off.

When an industry is as steeped in tradition as that of legal services, it can be challenging to associate it with the kind of modern IT that many other industries famously rely on. However, this impression is a vastly mistaken one. In fact, members of the legal industry can benefit greatly from a relationship with a managed service provider. Let’s go into how the services provided by an MSP can assist a legal firm with its mission.

What makes a small to medium-sized business so different from a large, enterprise-sized one? The amount of people and moving parts, of course, but if you really consider it, there isn’t all that much. This is why when looking to control your small business’ IT support costs, choosing managed IT services is a good option. This month, we thought we’d take a look at some of the other benefits managed IT can bring your organization:

We realize that it’s one thing for us to tell you how important it is to update your software. After all, we’re tech guys, so we worry about that kind of thing all the time. Hopefully, it’s quite another matter when Homeland Security does it, which is why we’re really hoping that you take heed of this warning and update Google Chrome.

Your business’ technology is extremely important to your business’ success and ensuring that it is functioning as designed has to be an ongoing priority. This can be harder than you may think. Today, we’ll go over how you can actively confront this challenge and keep your IT running as it should. 

We are proud to announce that, for the third year in a row, Datalyst has been awarded a spot in the coveted MSP 501 list. Compiled each year by Channel Futures, this year had the most competition ever, making this accomplishment even bigger.

When you feel under the weather you visit the doctor, they examine you and prescribe a remedy. It’s a pretty simple process; and a relationship that is important to maintain your health. A managed service provider functions the same way for a business. Let’s take a look at the similarities.

With more people than ever working from home, their ability to receive the support they need to keep their devices in top working order is crucial. As a result, many businesses have turned to managed IT service providers to maintain their employees’ computers. MSPs like us utilize a tool called remote monitoring and management software (RMM). Let’s discuss what it is and why it is so useful for managing your company’s IT. 

It is important that you have a handle on the technology that your business utilizes, which will require you to maintain comprehensive documentation regarding it and its support. Here, we’ll go through what a managed service provider includes in this documentation, as well as how it is used.

As much as we hate to admit it, the first thing that many people still think of when they hear the term “tech support” is the experience that comes with an antiquated approach to technology services: the break/fix method. Fortunately for us, we are seeing many businesses make the better decision, and turn to the clearly superior option, managed IT.

Technology is a requirement in today’s businesses - but just having technology isn’t nearly enough. You need to make sure that you are performing the proper maintenance activities as well, to prolong the useful life of your solutions. Here, we’ll review a few basics to keeping your technology solutions ready for your use… and how we can help with that.

When it boils down to it, there are really only two ways to operate a business: proactively, or reactively. While many businesses still rely on their reactivity to deal with their technology issues, the opposite approach is demonstrably more effective for the modern business. Let’s explore some of the effects that a proactive and reactive strategy can each have on your operations.

While information technology is an important part of the modern business and its processes, it isn’t always the easiest topic for the average business user to figure out. In this series, we’ve been exploring how a managed service provider can add value to your business and its IT. Here, we’re focusing on how the managed service provider can serve as a knowledgeable consultant.

In order for one methodology to replace another, it has to provide more value than the one that came before. In terms of IT support, managed services can deliver far greater value than the familiar break/fix method. In this series, we’ll explore the value that managed services contribute to a business, starting with their proactive nature.

Here at Datalyst, the fact that we can successfully help businesses achieve success by relieving them of their technology hassles is a perfectly sufficient reward. Having said that, it is always nice to receive recognition for our accomplishments. For instance, we were happy to be named to the Channel Futures MSP 501 list.

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) have historically been restricted in what they can do with their technology infrastructures. However, there are now options that an SMB can leverage that enable it to accomplish more with their infrastructure - but this requires the SMB to have a plan in place.

Businesses today understand that competition is fierce, and in order to avoid being the little fish in their respective pond, they need to be capable of more than ever before. Fortunately, there’s the “as-a-Service” model that enables a small business to leverage services that they simply couldn’t have afforded previously. These services, referred to as “managed services”, can provide a business like yours no small amount of value.

Managed IT services have risen in popularity, largely based on the merit that they can bring to a business. However, those new to the concept may have a tough time grasping how it works and how that adds to its benefits. Today, we’ll try to resolve that.

For a moment, I want you to stop and consider something: Who do you turn to when your business’ toilets suddenly stop working? Who do you call for when the lights stop working? Most likely, an expert… so if you turn to the pros for these needs, why would you do anything different for your IT?