IT Services and Tech Support

We provide technical consulting, emergency response service, and support for small to medium-sized businesses located within a 60-mile radius of Springfield, Illinois. The businesses benefiting the most from our service are those without the need for a full-time IT employee on staff, or those businesses whose in-house IT staff is already overworked.

Your data is vital to your business; protect it by backing up daily with these safety procedures in place.

• Regularly review your backup logs
• Check the management window every backup
• Have spare backup media on hand
• Perform regular backup media maintenance
• Move backup copies offsite and store in a secure location

If your existing backup system is beginning to show its age, then perhaps now is a good time to evaluate other options that were not available previously. For years, backing up to tape was the most reliable, cost effective, and widely used method for companies of all sizes. The cost of hard disk based storage has rapidly decreased in recent years. Therefore, disk based backups are now a more cost effective and efficient means for data backup and preferred over the older tape based systems.

Online backup service providers are a very convenient way to back up your data securely offsite without the worry of rotating tape schedules and lost or stolen tapes. If your business currently utilizes server virtualization technology, you may want to consider looking into replicating your servers offsite to a standby location. Offsite servers can then be quickly utilized to recover from problems ranging from minor data corruption to the destruction of your primary virtual environment.

Vigilance is the key to blocking online attacks with these defensive maneuvers.

• Install a trusted and reliable anti-virus solution
• Install proper firewalls
• Make sure your firewall and operating system are up to date
• Limit administrative access when possible on workstations
• Implement strong password policies
• Provide basic training for your employees to help identify potential malicious activity

Without the proper Internet firewalls or anti-virus solutions, your system can become quickly compromised. We recommend using Cisco^®, Sonicwall^®, or Fortinet^® firewalls, and we can install these to ensure performance and security. Since malicious code is always evolving, it is vital to ensure your operating system and software patches are deployed as quickly as possible. Through our remote monitoring service, we keep a watchful eye on your IT network continuously and receive alerts if anything needs immediate attention.

Our remote monitoring service is peace of mind, it’s that simple. While you focus on your business, we keep an eye on your network while not being directly connected to your network or physically on site at your business. The monitoring system will notify us before or immediately after a problem is discovered on your network. Most of the time we’ll be aware of the issue before you are.

The benefits associated with proper IT maintenance all equate to time and money savings and include the following.

• Reduced IT maintenance costs
• Avoidance of unnecessary repair costs
• Increased speed and reduce downtime
• Adoption of newer tested technologies
• Prevention of problems
• Increased productivity
• An environment secure from viruses and hackers

Implement these four practices to help keep technology current.

• Adopt a 3-year life cycle for IT equipment and computers
• Allocate your budget to replace one-third of your computers annually
• Consider high costs to repair old machinery once out of warranty
• Be aware of invisible costs to productivity like slow boot times and unresponsive programs

Protect your computer equipment by staying aware of technological advances.

• Perform regular checks for service and computer updates
• Prevent problems rather than repair them
• Resolve issues quickly by staying up to date
• Avoid unnecessary costs by staying current

Since security is a priority, use these practices to fend off attacks and security breaches.

• Don’t use default passwords
• Always secure your wireless network with accepted encryption standards
• Always create unique and complicated passwords
• Be wary of using open networks for secure transactions
• Never give out your password
• If you’re unsure of how safe something is, ask a professional