Office Document Strategies Blog

Need to setup your remote office?

Working from home and wondering how to get access to your PC?

You can use the technology used by our IT to remotely support our clients. - get unattended access to key computer resources - flat rate setup and remote assistance to connect to the computers that are key to running your organization remotely, while you work from home - your bookkeepers, controllers, or production system or control PC's -

1. 1. up to 150 PC's can be set for unattended access and remote control per user account (only 1 can access at a time but you can purchase additional concurrent seats if needing more) $69.95 /mo including ongoing help desk support plus one time remote setup fee of $95.

Give remote access to your users to their PC's or company network servers or resources:

We can create and configure a VPN (Virtual Private Network) and show you how to connect and enable Remote Desktop access to your Windows PC's using free RDP tools (Remote Desktop Protocol) - control your PC as if sitting right at your desk - We configure your router and up to 10 users and Desktops for $495.

Read More

One of the key parts of any IT technology strategy in a business is having the right kinds and levels of support available to underpin your operations.  The days are long gone where every organization can have the knowledge base and the personnel in place to be able to handle every IT related eventuality. 

When you think of all of the components of the complexity of your IT systems being able to understand who and how your systems are being supported is critical to your design and comfort level.

Software

Every business has several levels of software which are important to the business.

• ERP or business operations software
• Network operating systems with components like backup, email security, data management structures
• Cloud based software pieces including related storage and backup
• Communications software which may also include phone system software

Hardware

• Hardware components including workstations, point of input devices like physical security systems, server components, connectivity components like routers, switches and wireless infrastructure
• Mobile hardware devices including computers and smart tools like tablets and phones
• Scanning hardware whether stand alone or networked
• Print hardware including multifunction print devices and tools
• Related hardware management tools and supplies

Communications

There are several streams of communications systems that every business uses and these include phone systems, email systems, online and in house business transaction systems like shopping stores and inventory management.

Group meeting chat software and tools are also a piece of this area and for some businesses have become the primary ways for widely dispersed employee groups to meet and interact.

The whole network system infrastructure is often a big part of the communication system as cloud based services and tools become more integrated and prevalent.

Production systems

For some businesses a big part of their IT environment is dominated by production related resources.  This is a critical yet specialized part of operations such as manufacturing and other process type industries.

Even in service industries like restaurants, health services, education and others this kind of infrastructure can become a big part of the operation. 

Where is support coming from?

Read More

At one time if a business wanted IT infrastructure it was a process of hiring expertise in house, figuring out what hardware and software was needed to be purchased, decide on a computing platform and then start building it.  The process challenged even the most knowledgeable businesses as the choices to be made and the risks were extremely varied and costly. 

It seemed that it was a never ending road of new purchases, tough deployment and constant training.  I can remember doing an implementation for a client when they were introducing their employees to using a windows based system for the first time )moving from an old green screen package) and they had to get their employees to do some playing with some games software so they could learn to use a mouse for navigation.

Today the options available for a business seem even more challenging as decisions are made on whether to build it themselves or hire out the process to an 'expert' that supports their kind of business.  The range of options are massive with the potential for a business to try to be almost hands off on their IT to being totally responsible and immersed.

While the dollars committed to IT systems continue to grow in businesses the needs for connected services, web support, online purchasing and online communication require an even bigger range of expertise.  Trying to acquire and pay for all of this talent in house has become almost impossible except for very large organizations.

So how well are the offerings available working out?

The story seems to be mixed if recent information is correct.

CanadianCIO Census 2018 reveals outsourcing disappointment is still commonplace

With AWS Outposts, even Amazon acknowledges it’s a hybrid cloud world

These two articles outline some of the thoughts regarding two of the most common ways that businesses have structured use of outside resources to accomplish some of their IT goals.  Reading them shows that all is not perfect and the vendors, even the big ones like Amazon, are finding the need to respond and to provide more options to meet the needs of clients.

As it as always been the world of IT systems support and design continues to challenge businesses as they try to use these systems to support their own goals and operations.  Outsourcing can work, but it can also leave managers wondering whether they have done it right.  In house seems fine but the need to constantly manage upgrades and software changes gets tiresome.  Hybrid models where some is done in house and some outside seem better often, but making sure that nothing falls into the cracks between is important.  

Read More

When we hear about the Internet of Things we usually think about video doorbells, electronic locks, Alexa, Google Home, automated lighting, connected appliances and the many other ways that the world wide web has impacted consumer life styles. 

Read More

Anyone who spends any time at all listening to what happens in the technology and retail fields will know by now that Amazon experienced intermittent outages with the launch of their 2018 Prime Day on Monday afternoon this week.  For anyone who is not up to what is happening at the world's most aggressive online retailer each year they launch a roughly 36 hour promotion day which makes Black Friday in the US and Boxing Day in Canada look tiny.  Estimates are that over 3.4 billion dollars in sales will be produced this year on Prime Day in spite of the glitches which occurred. 

Read More

As the new year starts off it is common to look at what the researchers are saying about the newest trends in IT, technology in general and what may be the flavour of the coming months. 

Read More

Anyone who travels frequently whether on business or for pleasure quickly confronts the challenge of determining the right solution to obtaining online flexibility especially for data. 

Most roaming plans restrict substantially, the level of data that you can use and the upcharges for going over the plan can be large.  For that reason people often start seeking out free wifi in all kinds of locations.  Unfortunately, free wifi can be pretty cumbersome.

I recently experienced this on a personal trip where we were using campgrounds to stay over night.  Virtually all of them offered some sort of 'free' wifi on their site.  The quality and usability of their connections varied substantially and did not equate to the price of the stay.  In fact the poorest connection was in the campground where we paid the highest rate per night and the best connection was in the one where we obtained and end of season discount rate for staying.  Luckily our daily connection needs were pretty low and could be met with a roaming plan on my cell phone which sufficed for our travel planning.  If more intensive needs had been prevalent something different would have been important. 

Read More

A recent article has pegged the value of the internet of things (IofT) as a $300 billion industry. When you think of all the items you can now connect to your home network:

Read More

When you look at your everyday operations it is easy to see that a highly IT connected world, fast performance from devices and quick response from systems and people is an increasing expectation.  

Read More