IT Services Consultants for you and your business.
When the Data Protection Act is replaced by the GDPR, what is going to happen to your existing data? Will you need to contact everyone to get permission to hold their data? what about if they don’t respond? Read more
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On May 25th 2018, Regulation EU 2016/679, better known as the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) will come into force in the EU, and will have an impact on organisations worldwide that deal with personal information from EU citizens. GDPR is the successor to the Data Protection Act in the UK, which has been around since the 1980’s Read more
On many platforms the ability to check-in or tag a business is expected by users, and if your business is not already officially listed it could get added unofficially, then you have very little control over what gets posted to that unofficial page.
Just because you don’t own your geo-location data doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
Not having your business listed on search engines and maps means you’re missing out on potential clients, and missing the chance to advertise your special offers to new people.
Many potential customers will search using services like Google maps and Bing Maps without realising it, so not being correctly listed could mean you’re missing out on business.
Keeping multiple location services and maps up-to-date with your business can become a nightmare, missing an important update out from one service could impact on your potential new customers. Some services will scrape in information from other sources to try to present a complete picture of your business, if you’re not in control of all of that information, the information potential customers are seeing could be wrong.
We can help you manage your online locations. We can make sure you appear correctly and consistently, and listed on all the major mapping services and checking-in apps. We can keep all your services up-to-date with images, locations, business contact details and social media links.
We understand that sometimes you need to temporarily expand your in-house IT Support. It might be to assist in delivering a project on time, for additional knowledge, or simply to cover for a period of time.
We can take on the management of your IT department if it’s an existing role or if you’re just setting up your first in-house IT department and want an experienced Manager in charge while the department is established.
We can work alongside your existing support to boost your team just when you need it, assisting or taking over roles as needed and providing additional experience from end user support to full network management.
If you need temporary cover for your in-house IT support team, we can help. It may be for maternity, paternity, medical or holiday leave, we can plan to shadow your existing IT support so we’re prepared to take over the role for as long as required.
Sometimes you don’t know you’re going to need to cover a position until the last minute. Don’t worry! We have immense experience in running busy IT departments and can step in to cover any IT roll you need, for as long as you need it.
We can offer fixable, additional IT assistance to backup your IT department for the times you need it. Adding to their knowledge base and being an extra set of hands.
Contact us today to find out more.
Most people know about social media. In fact last year it was reported that 81% of people will turn to their favourite social media platform to check out a new business before searching for a website for them.
It’s expected by your customers to be able to see information about your business, get contact and opening details, directions and reviews from their social media platform of choice, so not being on social media could be as detrimental as not being on the internet at all.
Social media may be a big platform for business, but it started out and is powered by individual users.
There are some individuals who are out to con unsuspecting users, using any means the can. As with all situations, you need to be weary and on your guard. Unless you can totally and utterly confirm the authenticity of and message or link, treat it with suspicion.
There are a few main platforms that are popular, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. Each one is successful because it appeals to a different audience and has different capabilities.
For a business, you should look at covering two or more platforms to be able to engage potential clients, and as a user you’re likely to be on several platforms depending on your preferences, what your friends and family use and what features you want to make use of.
We can advise you on which platforms might be best for you and give you guidance on using them and on staying safe on them.
For businesses, we can setup, secure and help manage your business profiles, show you how to interact with users and keep your business listings up-to-date. We can also manage your SEO standing (this helps with how high up your business is on google search for example) and help you get listed on Google and Bing maps, and be available for users to ‘check-in’ when they visit you.
It doesn’t matter how how big your server is, without it, some critical part of your network is not going to function correctly.
It might be as simple as a home computer managing connected devices, or it could be a virtual server farm hosting business critical applications.
We’ve seen all sorts of servers over time, from old Unix based boxes, or Windows 2000 desktops, through to Virtual Server farms running on VMWare with multiple host OS’s.
We’ve had some interesting operating systems and setups that don’t usually qualify as a server environment too. But if it’s providing your network with a service, it is a server and it’s important or even critical to your needs.
Like many terms used in IT, the term ‘Server’ nowadays refers to a broad range of devices and applications that serve a resource of some nature to other devices that request it.
Typically we think of a dedicated device or machine that has an operating system that is configured to perform one or more services to other computers (known as clients) on the network.
The services (sometimes called daemons) can be anything from providing information (such as DNS) configuration information (such as DHCP) storage (like Shared files or printers) or resources (such as shared processing)
Some common services you might come across (and are using even if you don’t realise it) are;
There are many other types of daemon/service that are in common use and many many more that are specialised. Some require quite specialised knowledge on how to configure and maintain them, others are more simple or are able to maintain themselves to a certain degree.
We’re experienced in installing, configuring and managing servers of all sizes and varieties. We’ve dealt with some very interesting configurations over time, as some networks grow they inherit peculiarities and creative thinking! so we’re used to dealing with non ‘white paper’ setups and configurations.
We know how networks grow, so don’t be embarrassed if your network is not conventional!
Being able to plan for every eventuality would be a massive undertaking, so complex that you would spend all your time planning for the worst and not actually get anything else done.
But not planning enough could be your downfall if something unexpected goes wrong. So there needs to be a compromise, how much security and planning is enough?
The level of security you need to take is completely unique to your business and your needs. But there’s one thing for sure, the security you need can not be bought pre-packed in an off-the-shelf solution, not if you want it to actually work.
What do you think of when you consider the security you need?
For some it’s about personal security, either for yourself or a vulnerable relative, others might think of property security such as CCTV, dash-cams, digital door locks and remote entry systems. Then there’s digital security and that can encompass a wide range of things such as networks, documents, photos and portable devices.
Whatever your security needs, we can design and deliver the solution to meet them.
From home users to corporate networks, we can supply you with the most efficient security solution to help keep you, your company and your precious data safe.
It’s no good dwelling on the fact that you should have had backups of that critical data when the hard disk drive containing the only copy has started making funny noises and is refusing to work.
Hard disk drives have mechanical moving parts just like a needle and arm on a record player (not sure what a record player is? please don’t make us feel that old!!) so at the first sign of something going wrong, stop trying to use the disk. Immediately.
If you know how to, unplug it from the computer and handle it carefully.
Data can probably be recovered from a hard disk with a faulty actuator arm or damaged read/write heads, it can’t be recovered from a hard disk that’s had the heads repeatedly scratched all over the surface of the disk.
Modern solid state drives are a different matter, no moving parts to worry about, but also no physical medium that can be searched for missing data. That’s not to say that your data is absolutely lost, but getting the drive assessed quickly is paramount.
If you have a hard disk that’s stopped working, unplug it if it’s external, or turn off the PC/laptop that it’s in then contact us immediately.
It could be a fault on the power side of the hard disk, and so recovery of the data should be fairly easy, but if there is damage to the internal read/write mechanism, it will need to be opened in a specialised clean room and the platters removed by professionals.
If you’ve accidentally deleted data from a device, stop using it to try to preserve the data, turn it off and then contact us.
We can help try to recover your lost data.
Don’t let your network turn into a notwork. With more and more devices using the network to communicate with each other and the outside world, your network is being put under more and more strain. On an unmanaged network, you’ll soon start to see bottlenecks and network slowdown.
Yes. Well if you’re reading this on our website then you are.
Long gone are the days when networks were restricted to large companies and universities. In one form or another, and of vastly different sizes, we all use a combination of private and personal networks today. Making those networks efficient is essential to being able to get things done.
In your home, the heart of your network is your internet router, from there you might have WiFi or cable connected devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, TV’s, heating systems, Games consoles, PC’s, lighting and so on.
In your business it could be a more complicated network setup involving routers, multiple access points and wider connected elements in different buildings or even different countries.
Getting your network connected safely to the internet is essential for any business, but many people don’t want the hassle of managing the connection and just want the connection to work. We can manage your gateway device and configure it making sure your private network is protected from the public internet.
Your gateway device should be checking all incoming and outgoing data and destinations to make sure nothing untoward is being sent or received by devices on your network.
Some people want to micro-manage their servers, others just want them to work. We can configure your servers to work for you, how you want. From online hosted servers, to in-house servers, both hardware and virtual. We can design, install and manage the servers you need to get your job done.
In an ideal world, internet connected devices should just work. You don’t want a new coffee machine to take 4 hours to setup just so you can make a coffee from your smartphone! But this ‘Internet Of Things’ does still need managing. It might be configuring them to connect to your network or securing them if they have remote access facilities.
Sometimes, if a vulnerability is identified after the product has been sold, the manufacturer will release a software patch, but often these are not applied, we can make sure your IoT is kept up-to-date with security patches as required.
Whatever size or type of network you have, from your home WiFi and internet connection, to a multi-site MPLS connected company, we can help you manage and protect your data, and streamline your network to make it work better for you.
Mobile devices are so much more than just a phone. In many cases, phone calls are the least used feature of a modern mobile. Having access to mobile internet and internet based apps for social media are by far the most commonly used features on them.
Modern smartphones can replace a lot of the functionality of a small laptop, with phone docks giving access to a large HD screen, full sized keyboard and mouse, the ability to hot desk and take your phone/computer with you is making their use in business more seamless.
While smartphones have become a ubiquitous accessory on most people, the tablet has taken it’s place as the replacement of the home desktop PC.
Less portable than the smartphone, but with a bigger screen and a familiar operating system they are easy to get to grips with, and with apps like Microsoft Office being delivered over the internet, there’s less and less need for a traditional home PC or laptop.
With the emergence of powerful personal smartphones and tablets, users began making use of the new mobility and doing a lot more data processing on their own devices. This is great for productivity but can be a security nightmare, how can you guarantee that the users own device is secure and that any apps they install are not going to steal your company data? And what if the device is lost, how can you be sure that the user had a secure and strong password, or that company data was in encrypted storage on the device?
BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is one of the most popular ‘your own device’ technology solutions that is now making its way across the workplace. Other variants such as CYOD (Choose Your Own Device) where the company let the user pick from a predetermined list of devices, POCE (Personally Owned, Company Enabled) where a your company manages the use of your personal device, and COPE (Company Owned, Personally Enabled) where your company supplies you with a device and you can use it for personal use.
We can help you make the most of your mobile device. For personal users, that might mean securing the device against fraudulent activity, and for business it could mean designing and deploying a policy to manage BYOD in the workplace.
Whatever your need, we can advise and implement the security and systems you need to manage your portable devices.