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Your Current I.T. Systems Are... How Should We Say This...?
In our own experience as business owners, we've found that the I.T. Systems available to the SME (Small Medium Enterprise) sector are:
- Complex
- Unreliable
- Expensive
- Non secure
- High maintenance
- Time consuming
- Limited in Functionality
The Common Problems
The problems usually start with some small issue: moving office, spam, expansion, multiple office operations, home office access, mobile access, adding new users, servers crashing without any good reason, backups failing, hardware failures, software updates, security, virus updates - do we really need to go on?
The typical SME runs in a lean fashion - there is not much scope for a full time I.T. administrator, so the responsibility falls on the shoulders of the most technical staff member. This poor unfortunate becomes the helpdesk trouble shooter and all-in-one I.T. administrator, usually with the assistance of an outside contractor (provided they are available) when there is a problem.
I.T. is complex and rapidly changing - it's very challenging for the typical SME owner/manager to stay up to date on technology and oversee the management of the company computer systems in addition to all the other responsibilities that come with running a business.
When the I.T. consultant announces that the company needs an expensive upgrade or fix to its computer systems - the owner usually finds it difficult to assess how necessary the work really is, let alone negotiate a lower price with the consultant.
What's The Solution?
Maintaining complex I.T. systems is very expensive and time-consuming for an SME, so the best approach is to simplify without sacrificing capabilities or functionality.
Just offload all the complexity onto I.T. on Tap. Don't own or manage any computers - use ours instead. You can get on with running your business while our technical specialists manage and maintain the I.T. systems in our professional-grade datacentre.
About Our Service
The I.T. on Tap service is based on technologies that are widely used in large corporations, though the cost and complexity of the infrastructure required has kept it out of reach of SME businesses.
Now, for the first time, the SME sector has access to I.T. on Tap by paying only a low monthly subscription for each employee using the service. With no fixed term contracts, SME clients avoid being locked in and can instead increase or reduce their usage as the size of their staff changes.
Clients can also cancel their service at any time and subscription charges cease immediately, which makes using the I.T. on Tap service risk-free.
How Do I Get Started?
The I.T. on Tap concept is new to most SME business owners, so we recommend using our no-obligation, free trial of the service as the best way to assess the capabilities and ease of use of the service for yourself.
Next our migration team will assess your existing I.T. systems, particularly the software in use and the data stored on your PCs and servers, then prepare a plan to move it across to the I.T. on Tap platform.
How Much Does It Cost?
Once we have the details of your numbers of staff, software in use, amount of data that you have and a few other details, then we'll provide an exact quotation for your monthly subscription to I.T. on Tap. We guarantee there will be no surprise bills later; whenever fixes or upgrades are needed, I.T. on Tap staff will handle that at no cost to you.
SMEs who manage their own systems and implement basic I.T. "housekeeping" (e.g. tape backups, virus scanning, all software legally licensed etc) will likely find the I.T. on Tap service delivers cost savings of 35% to 65%.
Your monthly subscription cost will vary only when you make changes to your usage of the service, e.g. if you increase or decrease your number of staff, add or remove optional features etc.
Staff Training And Use Of The Service
After the migration your staff will notice very little difference in how they work, other than no longer having the clutter of desktops etc around them. Each member of your team simply logs into their account each day through a secure web page, using their email address and a password. All of the Windows and Linux software they are using today will be easily accessible - little to no retraining will be required.
Software Applications
Our migration team will bring any Windows or Linux software that your business wants to continue using across to the I.T. on Tap platform. Microsoft Exchange email server and Outlook are included as standard in the service subscription, and in addition to a range of open source applications provided complimentary to all I.T. on Tap subscribers.
Collaboration Features
The I.T. on Tap service offers as standard several features that enable your team to work together as effectively as possible, especially if your staff are spread across multiple offices, if some of them travel regularly or sometimes work from home.
- Regardless of their physical location, all of your staff will be accessing a single set of data files. That means no need to email files back and forwards, no confusion about which is the latest version of a file and no problems with two people editing the same file at the same time.
- Your team has access to shared calendaring to co-ordinate meetings quickly & efficiently. They can also use the shared public address book to ensure fast & efficient customer service followup. A shared Customer Relationship Management (CRM) database can be implemented for a small additional cost.
- Your organisation will receive its own private Wiki which only your staff can view and edit. You can use your Wiki for anything you want; among other things we suggest that it's the ideal place to:
- document your policies & procedures
- store operational and staff manuals
- display company-wide announcements and news
- record the output from brainstorming and planning sessions
...or to save any other information that you want to capture and disseminate amongst your team. The easy-to-use, collaborative nature of Wikis makes it easy to get your whole team involved and contributing their knowledge, while you as the business owner retain final editorial control.
The Next Step
Contact us today to discuss the productivity benefits and cost savings that I.T. on Tap can deliver to your own business. Register for a free trial account and get instant access to the service.
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