IT Horizons Blog

Depending on the industry you're in, keeping track of the assets that are vital to your business can be significantly valuable to you internally, but it may also be a necessary step in meeting various security or compliance regulations. Accountability is an important factor in many IT environments, but depending on how your IT solutions are delivered or by whom, there may actually be little in the way of updated or clear documentation for you to draw on. In the last couple of blog posts, we've been talking about managed IT services and, specifically, the immense value that this type of arrangement can have for small and mid-sized businesses. This week, I'm going to discuss yet another benefit of managed IT from IT Horizons - greater accountability. Consistency & Transparency Sometimes, when IT solutions are provided in-house, knowledge is internalized rather than clearly and regularly documented. When it's time to...

No matter how you cut it, taking preventative measures will always save you time and money, not to mention hassle. Nothing could be more true when it comes to IT, and yet, many companies continue to rely on a break/fix approach that often leads to delays, stress and potentially costly repair bills. Today's post is the last in our mini-series on managed IT services. If you haven't had the chance to read the previous posts, be sure to check them out. You could discover that this is the solution your business needs to save money and work smarter. Now, we've been talking about the many ways businesses benefit from entrusting our qualified team to perform the ongoing maintenance, monitoring and upgrades that are required to keep assets in top form. We've also described how we provide everything from strategic planning and consulting to technical support, data management and more -...

If you've lost sleep worrying about the technology your business relies on, you're not alone. When a system goes down or security is breached, getting the situation sorted as quickly as possible can be stressful, not to mention costly. For many companies, the solution has been to employ in-house IT support, but as more and more organizations are discovering, the peace of mind that in-house IT affords doesn't always balance the cost of having one or several full-time IT people on the payroll. Some businesses want the peace of mind and someone to perform the updates and monitoring but just can't or don't want to pay a full-time salary. In some cases, internal IT departments spend so much time sorting issues that there's little time left to devote to keeping their skills and knowledge up to date with current best practices. The solution is managed IT services, and this post...

No matter the industry, every business goes through cycles. Some months you can feel like you're run off your feet and scrambling to keep up with all of the new clients, orders and calls, while at other times of the year it can feel like you're doing a lot of thumb twiddling during business hours. It makes sense, then, that there are times of the year when you need the peace of mind that round the clock IT support provides, while having to pay a full-time employee to provide the same level of support when business is slow just isn't cost-effective. Last time, we talked about IT managed services, and specifically, the many ways a business can save money by choosing to go this route rather than having a full-time IT department or using a break/fix approach to manage the technology they rely upon. Well, another advantage is that IT...

We think the term 'thoughtfully applied technology' is a pretty accurate way to describe our approach to every new IT project. While some IT companies offer pre-packaged IT solutions, we take the time to learn about the companies we're working with and their technological needs. Strategic IT planning is a fundamental pre-requisite for implementing technological systems that can and will have a positive influence on the way you do business. Strategic IT Planning with IT Horizons When you work with us, the discovery process is how and when we learn the ins and outs of your company. Taking the time to talk about and discuss the way you do business today and what your goals are for the future is the only way to design an IT strategy that will enhance work flow and minimize issues, all the while being the best possible solution for your company, both now and...