Become the IT Hero Your Workplace Needs | Y-Not Tech Services – Lethbridge, AB IT Support

May 13, 2024 by Tony Whitney

Become the IT Hero Your Workplace Needs

As an employee, you’re the backbone of your company’s operations. You understand the ins and outs of your workplace better than anyone. But amidst the hustle and bustle of daily tasks, you may have noticed some glaring IT issues that could potentially jeopardize your workplace security and efficiency.

Imagine this scenario: sensitive information such as patient data being passed around via unencrypted emails, or employees casually taking laptops out and about without considering the implications if the device were stolen. [Read more…]

When Your IT Goes Wrong, Who Do You Call? | Y-Not Tech Services – Lethbridge, AB IT Support

April 22, 2024 by Tony Whitney

When Your IT Goes Wrong, Who Do You Call?

It’s a Tuesday afternoon, and you’ve just sat down to focus on an important project. But suddenly, you notice your internet connection isn’t working. A few minutes later, the printer on the other side of the office starts beeping with an error. Then, a pop-up appears on your computer saying your antivirus subscription needs to be renewed.

You sigh in frustration. Not again! In the back of your mind, you see the notification from last week that your backup failed, but you haven’t had time to look into it. [Read more…]

How MSPs Support Employee Effectiveness | Y-Not Tech Services – Lethbridge, AB IT Support and MSP

October 24, 2023 by Tony Whitney

How MSPs Support Employee Effectiveness

Employee effectiveness is key to business success. When your people can do the right things well, you’ll see improved results. That leads to the question: How can businesses improve employee effectiveness? A managed service provider (MSP) can help your employees meet their goals effectively and efficiently. [Read more…]

Easing the Business Tech Burden | Y-Not Tech Services – Lethbridge, AB IT Services

May 23, 2023 by Tony Whitney

Easing the Business Tech Burden

Keeping up with the pace of business technology change can be difficult. It can feel as if you’re always a few steps behind. Every day brings some new cybersecurity threat, compliance regulation, or tech innovation. But you don’t have to do it all alone. [Read more…]

“Save Me the Money”: Why Work with an MSP | Y-Not Tech Services – Lethbridge, AB IT Support

February 28, 2023 by Tony Whitney

“Save Me the Money”: Why Work with an MSP

The pandemic, a supply-chain crisis, and rising inflation are impacting the economy. In this current climate, your business may be budgeting with caution, and you might question the value of partnering with a managed service provider (MSP). Yet as counterintuitive as it may seem, adding MSP services could save you money overall. [Read more…]

What to Do About the Widening IT Skills Gap | Y-Not Tech Services – Lethbridge, AB IT Provider

February 7, 2023 by Tony Whitney

What to Do About the Widening IT Skills Gap

The importance of information technology in meeting business objectives continues to grow. Regrettably, the shortfall in professionals who can manage business tech is also growing. Learn what the IT skills gap means for you. [Read more…]

What an MSP Can Offer Your Business | Y-Not Tech Services – Lethbridge, AB IT Support

January 10, 2023 by Tony Whitney

What an MSP Can Offer Your Business

It’s not as if the name “managed services provider ” (MSP) is that self-explanatory. You might read that business description and have no real idea what it is an MSP can do for you. We’re providing managed services — OK, but what does that mean? To make things easier, this article outlines the actual IT services an MSP provides. [Read more…]

Prepare Your IT for the Holiday Season | Y-Not Tech Services – Lethbridge, AB

December 6, 2022 by Tony Whitney

Prepare Your IT for the Holiday Season

We all know about the Grinch who ruins Christmas for Whoville. Don’t cast IT as the Grinch of this holiday season. Prepare your technology and systems to reduce downtime risk. You’ll avoid disrupting your customers’ holiday season or employees’ seasonal fun.

Update and upgrade IT

Expecting an uptick in online shopping for the holidays? Apply system updates ahead of time. You’ll want to complete any hardware or software upgrades early to avoid unplanned downtime.

Test your technology infrastructure to ensure that it can handle more traffic. Review system integrations to make sure front- and back-ends can communicate smoothly. Identify any issues or bottlenecks in advance to be able to upgrade or update any IT that needs help.

One in three customers will leave a beloved brand after one negative experience, per PwC. You don’t want to risk a downed website or other IT challenges. Even a few hours of disruption can be costly. In 2019, American retailer J. Crew lost an estimated $775,000 in online revenues over only five hours.

If you do need major IT upgrades or system changes, postpone them until after the holidays. Don’t mess with what works right now if you don’t have to do so.

Safeguard business data

The holiday season means employees will be distracted by festivities or out of the office, yet the cyber bad guys don’t take breaks. In fact, they ramp up for the holiday season. In 2020, the greatest number of daily DDoS attacks in Q4 were on December 31, when 1,349 attacks were recorded globally. So, take cybersecurity action.

Make sure you are protecting systems, detecting threats, and defending against attacks. A security assessment can help determine what you are doing well and could be doing better. This can be internal or done by an external party (with greater objectivity). If you face compliance or regulatory concerns, try an external IT audit.

Test backup and recovery

Ensure IT resiliency by testing your backup and reviewing your business recovery plans.

We recommend data backups in three places as best practice. Back up to a local, on-site computer, to a remote device that requires separate access, and to the cloud, giving you access anywhere, regardless of office conditions.

Test your backup to:

confirm data accuracy;
ensure you can effectively access and use the data;
gauge the time it takes to perform a backup;
identify and address any issues that arise during recovery.

According to the Ponemon Institute, business continuity management policies can nearly halve the mean time to recover and improve cost savings by 50%. That’s more money to spend on the staff holiday get-together! So, call a meeting of your business continuity planning team. Discuss any changes that might be needed and make sure everyone knows their roles. If someone is going on vacation, get someone else up to speed on their responsibilities.

‘Tis the season for IT

Every season you’re going to need IT, yet the holidays see your customers and employees wanting to get things done and get back to family and friends. Keep your technology in tip top shape, and you’ll have a happier holiday season.

Need help maintaining and securing your IT or looking for data backup and business continuity? Give us a jingle to book an appointment:

Small Business Can’t Sacrifice Cybersecurity | Y-Not Tech Services – Lethbridge, AB IT Company

October 25, 2022 by Tony Whitney

Small Business Can’t Sacrifice Cybersecurity

For small businesses, it can be tempting to postpone cybersecurity efforts. There are many common excuses: “There’s so much to do,” “There’s not enough budget,” “Our business is too small to target,” etc. But right now, cybersecurity is a must-have for every business. [Read more…]

Onboarding an IT Provider: What’s Realistic? | Y-Not Tech Services – Lethbridge IT Provider

August 24, 2022 by Tony Whitney

Onboarding an IT Provider: What’s Realistic?

When you hire a managed service provider, you want instant results: you want all your technology to run faster and more smoothly, and everyone to be more productive. And there will be no problems again, ever, right? But that’s not realistic. Managed service providers are pretty great (even if we do say ourselves), but we’re not miracle workers. So, let’s discuss what you might realistically expect when onboarding a new IT provider. [Read more…]