What Does an IT Consultant Do?

IT consultants are technology professionals who help design and execute a strategy for better leveraging technology in your company. This includes using technology to streamline operations, reduce challenges and risks associated with your company’s unique IT structure, or help to improve security and ensure compliance.

what does an it consultant do? A network coverage exploration

Implement the Right Software & Technology

Your IT consultant will help you select and implement the right software and technology at the right time. This includes analyzing your current business objectives and challenges, auditing legacy systems, understanding budgetary needs, and contrasting current needs with future needs for the best decision for your company.

IT consultants will also help to implement these systems and ensure your team members are comfortably trained on the new technology.

Streamline IT Infrastructure

IT consultants will also make sure that your IT infrastructure stays running smoothly to ensure technology improves your team’s productivity instead of detracting from it. This means making sure there are systems in place for updating software, solving technology challenges, training or onboarding, automating backups, etc.

Improve Business Intelligence

One reason many modern companies are hiring IT consultants is to help improve business intelligence. With the right systems and processes, businesses can organize and consolidate information more effectively to improve business intelligence and insights. This means making sure the right reports and data are ready at the right time to help inform strategic business decisions.

Oversee Security & Compliance

Many business sectors have inherent security risks or formal regulations they must abide by. However, many companies may not have internal team members who understand these risks or regulations, or how to manage them. An IT consultant takes the guesswork out of navigating these challenges and implements the necessary systems and processes to fulfill your security and compliance needs.

Network Development & Support

An IT consultant will help support and facilitate company growth by implementing, maintaining, and monitoring the business’s network servers. An IT consultant will often start by analyzing your current systems, looking for bottlenecks, observing challenges, and seeing areas for improvement. Then the consultant will design and implement a network solution that will be most successful for your company. If you already have an in-house IT team, offloading network support to an IT consultant frees time for your current staff to take care of more pressing, on-site problems while ensuring network issues are addressed in a timely manner.

Organize Backup & Data Recovery Planning

Regardless of your industry, chances are there’s a lot in your business that rides on documents, records, data, indexes, and so on. If you were to lose all of your data today, how long would it take you to get back up and running? A report by FEMA showed that 40% of businesses experiencing massive data loss never reopen, and a further 25% went out of business within 1 year. An IT consultant provides backup and disaster recovery solutions by putting safeguards and systems in place to reduce the risk of data loss and increase your ability to recover with as little downtime as possible in case of a data emergency.

What to Look for in an IT Consultant

what does an it consultant do? A network coverage exploration

Not all IT consultants are created equal. If your company is ready to hire an IT consultant to help design and implement better systems and technologies for your company, you’ll want to make sure the consultant will provide the greatest benefit for your company.

Look for an IT consultant with specific experience in your industry

It’s important to look for an IT consultant who not only has significant experience in information technologies but also has significant experience in your particular industry. This helps inform better system and software decisions based on experience helps to predict and understand risks and challenges more thoroughly and helps provide better, more educated responses to certain challenges or business objectives.

Look for an IT consultant experienced in business strategy.

The best IT consultants are the ones who not only understand technology but also understand how it all fits into the overall business strategy. Look for an IT consultant who has experience in business operations and organization and who has real-world applications in aligning business strategy with technology.

Look for an IT consultant who is vendor agnostic

Some IT consultants receive kickbacks or commissions when they commit a client to sign up for a particular software or service. This bias makes it difficult for the company to know whether they’re getting the right choice for their company or simply helping to pad their consultant’s bonus check. Instead, intentionally look for an IT consultant who is vendor agnostic—or who has no biased ties to vendors.

Works well with your team

IT consultants do more than just choose the right technology and systems for your company; they also help to implement them. In order to help this part of your IT strategy go smoothly, the IT consultant should mesh well with your existing team. This is especially true if you have an IT team in place. Your IT consultant should be able to provide new solutions, encourage buy-in for change from your existing team, and be able to train the right people to ensure a smooth implementation.

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Do you have any more questions about IT consultants or would you like to schedule a free consultation? Let us know

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What is Cloud Computing?

“Cloud computing” is a phrase many of us hear but may not understand. This is because it encompasses several different systems and services, making it feel ambiguous or confusing.

In this article, we share a simple definition of cloud computing, examples of computing, and discuss why companies use cloud computing.

Simple Definition of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is the use of off-site systems to help computers store, manage, process, and/or communicate information. These off-site systems are hosted on the cloud (or the internet) instead of on your computer or other local storage. They can encompass anything from email servers to software programs, data storage, or even increasing your computer’s processing power.

The “cloud” is a term that simply means “the internet.” Computing involves the infrastructures and systems that allow a computer to run and build, deploy, or interact with information. In cloud computing, this means that instead of hosting infrastructure, systems, or applications on your hard drive or an on-site server, you’re hosting it on virtual/online servers that connect to your computer through secure networks.

Examples of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is the use of hardware or software off-site that is accessed over networks for computing needs. Examples of cloud computing depend on the type of cloud computing services being provided.

The main types of cloud computing include software as a service, platform as a service, and infrastructure as a service. Serverless computing, also known as function as a service (FaaS), is also a popular method of cloud computing for businesses.

  • SaaS or Software as a Service. SaaS means instead of installing software on your computer, you access the platform online. Examples would include:
    • Square, which processes payments online
    • Google Apps such as Google Drive or Calendar
    • Slack, which allows collaboration and chat between other users
  • IaaS or Infrastructure as a Service. IaaS provides infrastructure components such as servers, storage, networking, security, and moreover the cloud. Examples would include:
    • Dropbox, a file storage and sharing system
    • Microsoft Azure, which offers backup and disaster recovery services, hosting, and more
    • Rackspace, which offers data, security, and infrastructure services.
  • PaaS or Platform as a Service. PaaS provides computing platforms such as operating systems, programming language execution environments, databases, and web servers. Examples would include:
    • Google App Engine and Heroku, which allow developers to develop and serve apps
  • Serverless Computing. Serverless computing (also called simply “Serverless”) is simply using a server on the cloud. This offers more elasticity, easier maintenance, and is often more price effective than hosting servers on-site.

Do Cloud Computing Services Have Physical Servers?

Yes. Cloud computing still needs servers to function; the servers are just “virtualized.” This means instead of your application, system, or processes running off a single on-site server, they use multiple servers often in multiple locations connected to each other and your device over secure virtual networks. This allows the cloud computing service provider to provide services to multiple people—and to scale according to client volume—and deliver the service anywhere with an internet connection.

Why Does Your Business Need Cloud Computing?

Your company is probably already using several cloud computing services. For instance, all hosted email providers including Gmail and Outlook are SaaS cloud computing services. So are popular CRMs and automated marketing platforms such as Salesforce, Hubspot, Mailchimp, and more.

However, for many companies, additional examples of cloud computing services include:

  • Virtual Machines
  • Data Storage
  • Backup & Disaster Recovery
  • Increasing Bandwidth
  • App Development Platforms
  • Cloud-Based Servers
  • Infrastructure Monitoring & Management
  • Build, Host, & Deploy SaaS Services

What are the Benefits of Cloud Computing?

Why should your business consider using cloud computing over traditional brick-and-mortar hosting solutions? This article discusses how cloud computing can save time and money while improving your computing experience.

Benefits of Cloud Computing

10 Benefits of Cloud Computing

Is your company considering moving some of your infrastructure to the cloud? If so, you’re not alone. According to Gartner Inc., cloud infrastructure spending increased in 2018 by 31.3% over 2017.

But why are so many companies making the shift from traditional in-house computing? Below we explore 10 benefits of cloud computing….Read More

10 Benefits of Cloud Computing

Is your company considering moving some of your infrastructure to the cloud? If so, you’re not alone. According to Gartner Inc., cloud infrastructure spending increased in 2018 by 31.3% over 2017.

But why are so many companies making the shift from traditional in-house computing? Below we explore 10 benefits of cloud computing.

10 Benefits of Cloud Computing

Not only does cloud computing help to save time and money in infrastructure building and management, but it also typically yields improved platforms and service.

1 – Reduces IT Costs

One of the main advantages of choosing cloud computing over internally-hosted infrastructure solutions is the reduction in IT costs. This comes from being able to pay for only what your company needs in infrastructure at any given time. In addition, internal computing can be costly when you consider the hard costs of purchasing equipment as well as housing the equipment and investing IT time to manage and maintain the equipment.

2 – Managed by Experts

With the trend toward cloud computing, fewer and fewer IT experts are experienced in maintaining modern servers or other integral infrastructure. In addition, the fast-developing technology means best practices and protocols are constantly changing. When you choose cloud computing, you’re putting day-to-day management in the hands of experts whose primary position necessitates staying on top of the latest technology.

In addition, you’re likely benefiting from a team of experts who manage and maintain your systems giving you the benefit of collective knowledge.

3 – Secure Environment

Cloud computing also typically results in more secure computing. While on the surface in-house computing can mean less room for network breach, it also means increased opportunity for error. With in-house computing, your data is stored in a single location instead of multiple locations. This means in case of natural disaster or theft data and systems are more likely to be permanently lost. It also means decreased monitoring, updating, and management.

In cloud computing, not only are your data, infrastructure, and services more likely to be spread over multiple servers in different locations, but they also undergo rigorous updates, compliance modifications, and security protocols. Also, a company specializing in cloud computing typically offers round-the-clock monitoring to prevent and rectify issues more diligently than is available from an on-site team.

4 – 24/7 Monitoring

Another benefit of cloud computing is that in most cases this means your systems are being monitored 24/7. This is usually difficult to replicate on-site at a company since traditional employees typically require days off, vacation time, sick days, and aren’t available 24 hours a day. Cloud computing companies often have round-the-clock teams and management to oversee infrastructure and systems.

5 – Less Downtime

Many systems take updating or maintenance to maintain proper operation. In traditional infrastructure and system management, this often means temporary downtime. However, with cloud computing, a benefit is that the system is typically managed on multiple systems meaning the need for full-system downtime is decreased or eliminated.

6 – Improved Speed & Bandwidth

While the on-site location of a server can often mean faster processing, this is only true as long as you have the storage and bandwidth necessary to complete the tasks without overloading the network. With cloud computing, you experience the most up-to-date technology and have access to as much—or as little—bandwidth as you need to support your business.

7 – Improved Time to Market

If you are a technology-based company, you understand the importance of having the proper infrastructure and platforms to build, manage, and deploy your services. Using cloud computing means you’re piggy-backing off existing platforms, helping decrease the time to market by an average of 20.66% according to Vanson Bourne.

8 – Better In-House IT Management

In addition, transferring your computing to a cloud-based platform means your in-house IT team has less day-to-day management and maintenance of systems and infrastructure. This means your team has more time to make improvements and advancements, help facilitate company growth, help with in-house technology challenges, and more.

9 – Scalable/Elastic Services

Another large reason businesses switch to cloud computing is that the services are incredibly scalable and elastic. This means you can upgrade or downgrade your services, storage, bandwidth, etc. quickly and seamlessly. This is especially true for fast-growing companies, seasonal companies, or companies otherwise experiencing fluctuating computing needs.

10 – Accessible from Anywhere

Finally, the last important benefit of cloud computing is that it is accessible from nearly anywhere. More and more employees are working virtually, taking data with them on sales appointments or other offsite needs, and more. While leaving the office used to mean having limited or outdated access to data or systems, cloud computing opens up access anywhere with internet access. Since these networks are secure, you can manage access at the discretion of your company.

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Would you like to learn more about cloud computing services offered by Network Coverage? Send us a message or give us a call.

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Advantages of Outsourcing IT in 2019

Outsourcing IT is sometimes seen as an IT management strategy for small companies to maximize the level of IT service they receive for as little cost as possible. While this is certainly a major benefit of outsourcing IT, it’s not the only reason companies—of all sizes—should consider outsourcing their IT services.

7 Benefits of Outsourcing IT

Outsourcing IT is about more than just covering your bases while reducing employee costs. Outsourcing can also maximize the level of expertise your company can receive while increasing security, ensuring compliance, improving monitoring and support, and reducing hardware & systems costs.

 

it outsourcing benefits

 

1 – Round-the-Clock Monitoring

When you hire an in-house IT manager to oversee your company’s IT, you’re at the mercy of business hours, sick days, vacations, and workloads. However, when you choose to outsource IT you benefit from the round-the-clock monitoring and 24/7 crisis support that can come only from a company that has made it their business to make sure your IT has as little downtime as possible.

 

2 – Increased Expertise

Hiring an outsourced IT company to manage your IT also has the added benefit of improving the level of expertise you experience. When you hire in-house, you have the limited knowledge of one person or a small team of people. While your IT manager may do their best to stay on top of the latest technological advancements, it’s difficult for any single IT mind to specialize in everything IT-related. That’s why outsourced IT companies will have multiple experts on staff with experience in hardware, software, networks & servers, technical support, and more. In addition, outsourced IT companies make it their business to stay up-to-date on the latest technology, trends, security risks, compliance factors, and other details. When you outsource your IT, you get the benefit of all of these experts at a fraction of the cost of bringing similarly-experienced experts in-house.

 

3 – Scalable Services

As a business owner or manager, you know the difficulty that comes with trying to hire the perfect person for the job and everything that job may entail in the present as well as the future. As your company grows, so, too, do your IT needs. Should you hire the IT team now that will support your company through your foreseeable growth stages, or should you hire only what you need now and expect to add additional experience and manpower down the road?

Outsourcing IT can better bridge the gap between where you are now and where you want to go. Your outsourced IT package will include all of the experts you need at a fraction of the cost of hiring a similar team full-time in-house. In addition, your outsourced IT team can grow with you, adding services and support as your company grows.

 

4 – Reduce In-House Hires

Employee salaries and associated expenditures are one of the biggest expenses of almost any company. Outsourcing IT has the benefit of ensuring your IT needs are met without having to make excessive in-house hires. This is especially crucial when your company is in the early stages of growth and you can’t quite justify the need for a full-time in-house IT manager. Instead of hiring full-time when you only have part-time needs, outsourcing IT means you don’t have to pay a full-time salary for an in-house IT expert when your company isn’t big enough to justify the cost.

 

5 – Maximize In-House Team

If you have a medium- to large-sized company and have IT experts in-house, outsourcing IT can augment your team’s expertise while freeing up time for your in-house team to focus on the most crucial IT components of your business. For instance, an in-house team can provide far greater benefits by being available for advancing company technology or handling issues that need internal troubleshooting as opposed to spending time with monitoring, backup, software setup, basic support, and other mundane but time-consuming tasks that can be handled by an outsourced IT team.

 

6 – Reduce IT Costs

There are a number of reasons outsourcing IT reduces company costs:

  • Pay only for what you need. An outsourced IT package is flexible, meaning its costs can grow or shrink based on your company’s immediate needs, compared to an in-house hire which has significantly less-flexible costs.
  • Reduce in-house hires. By reducing (or eliminating) in-house IT hires, you’re reducing not only salary costs but also costs associated with benefits and bonuses.
  • Reduced equipment costs. You’ll also benefit from reducing the amount of in-house hardware and technology required to support your IT needs.

 

7 – Increase Security & Compliance

Some of the major components of IT include network security, data recovery and backup, compliance, and more. While an in-house hire may have security knowledge and experience, it may be limited to certain industries or components. In addition, putting your security and compliance in the hands of a single individual or small team comes with increased risk in the case of relationship-oriented complications.

When you choose an outsourced IT company to manage your security and compliance, you get not only the benefit increased experience and expertise related to security measures and compliance for your industry, but you also get the benefit of having an entire company whose business success relies on the quality of their security and compliance services.

 

Benefits of Outsourcing IT—2019 Guide

For more information about how outsourcing IT can benefit your company, download our It Outsourcing digital guide.

 

The Difference Between Cloud and Hosted Services

The difference between cloud and hosted services is the location of the servers running the service. “Hosted services” is the general term for technology services using infrastructure located outside the service receiver’s physical location. This can be at the vendor’s physical location or can be hosted on the cloud. “Cloud services” refers to a specific subset of hosted services that utilize a “cloud” vendor.

What are Hosted Services?

“Hosted services” is the general term for technology services with infrastructure located outside the recipient’s physical location. The servers facilitating this service may be on-site at the vendor’s physical location—these are considered “traditional” hosted services—or maybe on the cloud. Cloud-hosted solutions mean the infrastructure is located at a cloud vendor’s data center.

A traditional hosted services provider owns and operates the infrastructure at a private location. These hosted services are accessed by the customer through a direct network connection, such as a virtual private network (VPN), remote desktop, etc.).

Hosted services can include anything from email to SaaS, storage, monitoring, and more. The infrastructure that supports hosted services includes software, network capacity, storage, hardware, servers, and networking components. This infrastructure is used to deliver services to offsite clients.

There is a wide range of hosted services available. Common examples of common hosted services include:

  • Email
  • Software (SaaS)
  • Website hosting
  • File hosting
  • Security
  • Virtual server hosting

What are Cloud Services?

cloud services

Cloud services are a subset of hosted services specifically hosted on the cloud. This means the hardware, network, storage, and composite solutions are from a cloud vendor.

One important differentiator of this classification of hosted services is that these resources are distributed and delivered to multiple users simultaneously. A private server hosted by a vendor and accessed by a client via VPN, then, would not qualify as cloud hosting since the service itself is non-collaborative.

Examples of common cloud hosting services include:

Benefits of Cloud Services

The biggest benefit of cloud services compared to traditional hosted services is the scalability of solutions while remaining relatively affordable. With cloud services, the expenses related to the equipment and maintenance of the data center is spread across hundreds, thousands, or even millions of other clients.

Cloud services are usually incredibly scalable since it doesn’t take the implementation of additional resources or servers for a cloud vendor to accommodate increasing data needs. It only takes allocating additional data to the client.

Cloud services are also more likely to be up-to-date in speed and security measures than traditional hosted solutions. Since cloud vendors rely on a large number of clients to drive revenue, they must take extra care to ensure the safety and security of their client’s information. This is often one of the best ways to ensure your technology is protected from potential threats.

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Would you like to learn more about how cloud services may speed up the speed and reliability of your hosted services, helping to increase your business productivity and security? Contact Network Coverage today for a free cloud assessment.

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Many people feel they have an understanding of “managed services,” but find they struggle when asked to define it. What, exactly, are “managed services” anyway? What does it mean to receive managed services, and what does a managed services provider (MSP) do for you?

What are Managed Services?

“Managed services” most commonly refer to an outsourced IT service provider overseeing and managing your IT solutions. IT solutions overseen and managed by a managed services provider (MSP) typically include networks and servers, software and technology infrastructures, data backup systems, and overall network security and risk management.

Outsourcing management of these systems through “managed services,” otherwise known as managed IT services, means you receive more extensive round-the-clock monitoring and support without the cost of a comparably-devoted internal hire.

 

What is Included in Managed Services?

Each managed services provider offers a different range of services, so it’s important to look over your agreement carefully to make sure you have an agreed-upon understanding of what is expected of your managed services expert. These services may include:

  • Network testing and monitoring
  • Overseeing network security & risk mitigation
  • Connectivity and bandwidth
  • Providing data storage
  • Managing installations and upgrades
  • Suggesting and implementing software patches
  • Providing web hosting
  • Network provisioning or virtualization
  • Performance monitoring and reporting
  • Providing help desk technical support

 

Why use Managed Services?

what are managed it services? a network coverage exploration

Managed services help to improve operations and cut expenses by offloading general management and monitoring duties from an in-house team to a better equipped external team.

Since it would be costly to hire an in-house individual for round-the-clock monitoring and systems supervision, managed services provide 24/7 IT system monitoring without the cost of a comparably-vigilant in-house hire.

It also improves security by taking the overall security of your network and data from the hands of a single person and putting it into the hands of an entire team with strict systems and protocols. While it’s easy for a single individual to let certain aspects of your IT security and monitoring fall through the cracks, a managed services company is specifically structured to oversee all aspects of your robust systems, monitor for potential or impending threats or malfunctions, and mitigating potential risks as quickly as possible—often before the risk becomes an actual problem.

It also frees up the time of your internal IT team. Monitoring and managing information technologies is time-consuming. Passing this portion of IT management on to an external team means your internal IT team can be more focused on day-to-day challenges and more strategic big picture thinking.

 

The Benefits of a Managed Service Provider (MSP)

The benefits of hiring a managed services provider range based on the actual professional you hire, but often include:what are managed it services? a network coverage exploration

  • Better cost efficiency. Receive round-the-clock monitoring without the cost of a 24/7 in-house team.
  • Greater expertise. Instead of relying on the knowledge of a handful of in-house individuals, you’re benefiting from the expertise of a robust outsourced managed services team.
  • Increased security. Using an outsourced managed services provider typically means a higher degree of security due to round-the-clock monitoring and preventing “putting all your eggs in one basket” with a single internal hire.
  • Predictable pricing. Emergency response purchases, such as those typically experienced by an in-house IT team undergoing unplanned or urgent IT repairs, almost always cost more than preparation and planned management by a managed services provider.
  • Reduced risk. With an external managed services team, you typically have a more well-versed team, better checks and balances, and more streamlined processes than you can see in an in-house team.
  • Detailed service agreements. Instead of a salaried in-house employee who is at the mercy of whatever emergency is loudest and most urgent, managed service providers have a detailed list of deliverables that are rarely—if ever—matched by a full-time employee.
  • After hours and holiday support. Just because your employees are gone for a weekend or holiday doesn’t mean your technology and servers are put on hold as well. A managed services provider provides 24/7 monitoring and support—even on weekends and holidays.
  • Higher standards of certification. Since managed services represent a host of technology vendors, they typically have to hold more up-to-date certifications in the constantly-evolving IT products and services than an in-house IT expert would require. This means more informed decisions and expertise.

 

Do Managed Services Include Design & Implementation of IT Services?

Some people wonder if managed services also means the design and implementation of IT services. While traditionally “managed services” has meant the management of already-implemented IT systems, some managed systems providers (MSPs) offer design and implementation services as well, serving as more of a one-stop-shop for IT service needs.

 

How can we Help?

Are you interested in learning more about managed services or would you like to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation? Let us know!

 

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