Information technology in the modern environment is an increasingly essential element of not only business operations management but also business profitability. Streamlined information technology solutions for your business can make the difference between a logical potential new client pipeline that leads to conversions into paying customers and a confusing and clunky system that encourages potential clients to choose another company.
On the client-side of the IT equation, a smoothly functioning website that allows for the consumer to quickly find what they are looking for can make the difference between repeat visits and ongoing purchases or window-shopping and moving elsewhere.
You may not know what solutions are best for your company, but the IT professionals at Nicolet Tech can advise you on what options will best support your business’s growth.
Cloud Storage Largely Puts Your Data Above the Risk of Destruction
The cloud is essentially the storage of information in a non-centralized network of computer memory provided through servers and network sharing. This might sound like science fiction, but the name of cloud computing comes from the fact that the data is, much like a cloud, basically suspended in thin air.
You can store cloud data in the physical server locations of some companies, however, the data can spread across servers in many locations and may rely on the networking power of computers joined together into a network. What cloud computing means for your business is basically one word: safety.
When you store your data through cloud computing solutions, it is beyond the risk of physical loss should your hardware be destroyed or your software malfunction. In the modern world, weather disasters are increasingly common, and a hurricane or tropical storm could destroy not only the computers you use for your business but also local servers that your existing data storage provider might use.
By employing cloud data storage and incorporating it into your IT management systems, you can rest assured that even with the destruction of your hardware and software, your data will be in a safe place.
Data Breaches Can Cost Your Business the Ability to Operate
Malicious hackers used to be the subject of science fiction films in the 1980s, but today they are common features on the local news and have likely impacted you or someone you know. Malicious hackers gain access to the systems of others without their permission and then use that access to exploit the system for their own gain, or at times their own entertainment.
Whether the hackers enter your system to empty your bank accounts and direct your funds into their own, or simply put lewd images up on your pages, a hacker gaining access into your system can grind your business to a halt.
Hackers can exploit openings in systems by identifying weak sites and systems. Commercial anti-virus software can prevent automated hacking efforts like malware. But in the modern era, malicious hackers are actual human beings employing live efforts to break into systems.
Anti-virus software is helpful to stop software programs from gaining illicit entry into your system, but human anti-hacking efforts are most effective at preventing human hackers from exploiting your systems and hijacking your information for their own gain or entertainment, at the expense of your consumer base.
Cybersecurity Measures Will Help to Protect Your Customers’ Information
One of the most harmful things that can happen to a brand is for consumers to lose trust in it. Overcoming a loss of trust can cost a huge amount of money and resources, and even after investing heavily into public image campaigns and marketing, it can be difficult for consumers to forget such a loss of trust, and it can forever impact the future success of a brand.
In the modern world, one of the most difficult experiences a modern consumer can experience is the theft of their identity. Identity theft can lead to the total loss of all their available finances and credit, the ruining of their credit score, and their total financial destitution while attempting to recover upon their losses. Identity theft is no joke, and if a breach in your system led to the theft of a consumer's identity, they will not think it is funny.
Protecting the security of your systems to keep your customers’ data safe is essential in the modern environment. If you have a poor system in place and an identity thief exploits a weakness, your customers might view you as negligent, possibly exposing your business to liability for your customers' losses. As a business owner, you have a proactive duty to protect your customers’ confidential information, namely, their credit card information. Without the use of effective encryption technology and services, your data is open to exposure, and identity thieves can access your customers’ information.
Data Breaches Can Cost You More Than Just System Functionality
The intrusion of a malicious hacker into your system exposes your customers’ information to the hacker, in addition to your business information. Identity theft does not only happen to individuals but also companies. With access to the right information, credit cards and lines of credit may be opened through your business on behalf of hackers for their benefit, and you might never know until the calls from the collection agencies begin.
When someone breaches your system, it can shut it down, costing you the benefit of business operations during the time it is offline, but the damage to your brand’s image, and the security of its essential data, might not be something your company can recover from.
A system shutdown during your peak season could lose the lion’s share of a year’s profit. Knowing that your system is secure and that you can depend upon it to function when it is needed most is invaluable, and it highlights the value of working with an experienced IT management firm like Nicolet Tech to cover your IT needs from software to data security and everywhere between.
While Storage Is Often Virtual, Businesses Still Need Hardware, and We Have It
Through proper cloud computing and data storage, you can minimize or even eliminate the risk of losing your data. What you can’t put into the cloud and outsource to other companies is the hardware you and your employees need to conduct your business. You’ll need computers, printers, scanners, and while email is almost the total norm, many businesses and industries continue to prefer the use of fax machines.
You should always network these computers and accessories together both physically and virtually to support your business, instead of making them into complications and logistical nightmares.
While establishing the hardware needs of your business might seem as simple as a visit to Best Buy, this is not the case. Enterprise hardware solutions are different from solutions for the everyday consumer, and the functionality and system parameters you’ll need to support your business will vary depending upon what your business does and what your goals with it are.
While Best Buy has the Geek Squad, they might help repair a MacBook a teenager spilled a soda on, but not know how to advise you of what system is most effective for a business with a point-of-sale system in addition to mobile sales kiosk units.
Hardware Repairs Must Incorporate Into Your Existing System
The decision to go with an IT professional to establish your hardware system and network for your business will help to ensure the effective building of a system to support the unique needs of your business. When elements of the system fail, it helps to use the same professionals who established the system to ensure that repairs properly integrate into the system and determine when repairs are a sign it is time for an upgrade.
Sometimes the cost of repairing old hardware and programming old software exceeds the cost of upgrading to more modern, more effective technology. Well-informed IT professionals can ensure that they build and optimize your system to keep providing value to your business.
Reach out to Nicolet Tech to discuss how an IT management company can help your business determine what hardware and software it needs to optimize operations and the benefits of purchasing the hardware and ongoing management and maintenance from the same company. We are here for our customers from the conception of their business to the conclusion and everywhere in between.
With the right hardware and software custom-tailored to your business alongside a robust security system, you can support the success of your business while we handle your hardware and software management and upkeep needs.
Data Management Systems Can Remove the Stress from Your Life
You can simplify and streamline your organization's data management if you simplify your operations. Here, an IT professional can help you establish a solid foundation upon which to operate. When your data management systems are more complex, it can take time out of your business to manage the ongoing data needs and issues that might arise within the company.
When you contract with an IT system provider to cover your data management systems, you don’t have to worry about it, and if issues arise, the professionals can take care of them without the need for your involvement.
A key element of business success is focusing on the core competency of the business and knowing when to delegate tasks to others with better qualifications to handle them. When it comes to IT management, many businesses have little relation to the field and no interest in tackling such problems themselves. Outsourcing your data management systems needs is not as expensive as you might think, connect with Nicolet Tech now to discuss your options on how to remove data management from the stresses of your day-to-day business life.
If You Had a Disaster, We Can Help You Recover
It happens to everyone at some point with their technology - when your morning coffee somehow finds its way onto your smartphone or laptop, the screen flickers, and everything shuts down. You’ve had a system failure, and it won’t turn back on, no matter how deep you bury it in rice or how carefully you dab the interior parts with alcohol swabs. When your computer or smartphone dies due to destruction, whether through a spill, a drop, a crash, or whatever else, it might not mean the end of the world for the data that you stored on your device.
While it is not possible in all situations, Nicolet Tech can recover your essential data whenever and wherever possible. System destruction need not destroy your essential data, and if recovery is possible, we will get it for you. Connect with a Nicolet Tech expert to discuss the disaster that has struck your system, and we’ll let you know what we can do to help get your data out of danger and back into the hands of your business.
Connect With Wisconsin IT Management Company Nicolet Tech Now
The unique IT needs of your business will depend upon your present position, future goals, and resources available to commit to employing IT to support them. A great many options on the market can support your IT needs. Some of them are essential while others are nominal at best.
To determine what will work best for your business, schedule an appointment with Nicolet Tech today at our Hudson office at (715) 227-3310 to explore what IT solutions might best support your business goals. Our professionals assist many high-powered companies and organizations with all of their IT needs.