5 Ways to Improve Your Technology Troubleshooting

A businessman selecting a Troubleshooting button on a futuristic display with a concept written on it.

When you suffer from a technical difficulty, it’s your responsibility to ensure that it is handled in a timely fashion, whether reporting the issue to IT or taking care of it yourself. However, the process of troubleshooting can save you from waiting around while IT tinkers with your device’s settings. Let’s examine the five stages of troubleshooting and how you might try them yourself to improve your technology troubleshooting for your business.

Collect Information

First, you need to collect information that you can use to address the problem. What is the issue, and what is the scope? Is it one little thing on your PC, or is it a network-wide issue? If you collect as much information as you can, you’ll have an easier time talking to IT about it. Chances are they will try to replicate the issue, and all of this information will be invaluable towards this end.

Analyze Your Approach

Next, you’ll need to use this information to determine the best path toward resolving your issue. Is there anything relevant in the data you can fix the problem? You may have to adjust your approach based on your response to this question. It would be best to put a plan that is data-informed whenever possible.

Implement Your Solution

With a solid plan in place, you can implement the proposed solution. You’ll want to be extremely careful, though. You should only implement a solution that you know solves the problem at hand. If you are not confident in your technology, you should do more research until satisfied. The wrong answer could put you at a disadvantage.

Assess the Solution

After implementation, you’ll have to assess whether or not the solution worked. Some of the explanations you might implement are little more than stop-gaps that provide temporary fixes for more significant problems, which is fine in its way, so long as that is how you treat the solution. It’s your responsibility to know when to implement something better.

Document the Process

Now that you have a solid solution in place, you’ll want to ensure that your internal documents have recorded the processes for the fix. This helps others within your organization understand the spot for later on, and it can keep others from engaging in a long and challenging (and now unnecessary) troubleshooting process.

AE Technology Group wants to help you improve your technology troubleshooting and many other technology needs for your business. To learn more, reach out to us at (516) 536-5006.

Start Viewing Your Business’ IT Realistically

Low angle portrait of young man using digital tablet standing by server cabinet while working with supercomputer in blue light

When you get excited to implement a new technology solution for your business, it is easy to let the expectation blind you to the actual value you get from it right out of the box. It’s no fault of your own; it’s human to have expectations that exceed reality. In business, though, you must keep these misconceptions in mind, especially when implementing your technology systems.

The Latest is the Greatest

When a new solution is released and big names in your industry start to implement them, it’s easy to hop on the hype train and implement a solution before thinking it over. The hard truth of the matter is that new is most definitely not better. While it is true that more recent technology has certain benefits over older systems, the extent of this truth will vary wildly depending on your specific needs and current situation.

Be sure to look at your existing infrastructure and ask yourself what problems these new technologies can resolve and whether or not they are worth the price point. It helps to take a day or two to think it through and the perspective of a third party like AE Technology Group. There’s a reason why external auditors exist, after all; having that unbiased opinion can be incredibly valuable when making decisions.

My Staff Know How to Use Technology

This next expectation assumes that your staff will know how to use your new technology. The reality is that it takes more than a simple tutorial to train your team on a new system. It can often take months for them to get caught up to speed and use a new solution in a way that facilitates productivity. In particular, employers tend to look to young people as technology experts, but this is not necessarily accurate.

When implementing new solutions, you should assume that all of your employees have minimal knowledge of the system. You can then build a training program around that minimal baseline.

“It can’t happen to me…”

Perhaps the worst expectation you can have in business is that an unfortunate circumstance such as data loss or a hacking attack won’t happen to you. No company is immune to these fatal disasters that threaten the continuity of your business. SMBs, in particular, are guilty of this thought process, as they assume that they are not high-profile enough to suffer from hacking attacks. All businesses need to prepare for such an event with proactive security measures and data backup systems.

Once you can get past unrealistic expectations for your business technology, it becomes much easier to improve productivity. Let AE Technology Group help you manage expectations and implement any new IT solution for your business. To get started, reach out to us at (516) 536-5006.

Break Your Break/Fix Cycle in 2021

Stressed computer engineer working on broken cables screaming in frustration

There are generally two approaches to technology maintenance. One of them addresses issues as they appear, and the other involves addressing possible issues before they become operational problems. How does your business go about technology maintenance? If it’s the first, also known as “break-fix” IT, then you are going about things the wrong way and leaving a ton of savings on the table.

One appropriate way of thinking about technology maintenance is like imaging IT as your car. When you purchase a vehicle, you try to take care of it as best you can because it is an investment that will hopefully yield a return on the costs associated with it. You want to keep it on the road so that you can keep getting value out of it over an extended period of time.

But what happens when your car starts to make strange noises and inconsistencies with operations start to appear? If these issues are small enough, you might think you can get away with ignoring them for a little while, as the car still gets you to your destination. If you ignore them long enough, though, you might find yourself stuck on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck to bring it to a garage.

From here, the folks at the garage take a look at the engine and try to diagnose your problems. The mechanics find that something serious is causing a problem within your vehicle that must be addressed, and the vehicle simply cannot function until the repairs have been made. You are left with questions about how much the repair job will cost, how long it will take, and whether or not your budget can handle it.

The same problems occur when small businesses run into technical problems. They might want to address these issues before they become problematic, but they don’t have the budget or the ability to do so. They try to avoid facing the problem until it becomes so bad that it cannot be ignored any longer, a practice that eventually creates more problems later on down the line. It’s better to resolve issues before they become this serious.

Relying on break-fix IT is simply not the best way to approach technology issues, especially when you don’t know what the problem is or how to address it. It’s better to outsource this responsibility to someone who can handle routine maintenance in order to prevent these types of costly breakdowns. That’s where our proactive IT services come into play!

With our knowledge and expertise, we can ensure that your business’ IT systems are monitored and maintained for any signs of wear and tear. We’ll know about weaknesses in your systems long before they impact operations, giving us ample time to address them before they create costly downtime and up-front costs for replacement parts/components. To learn more, reach out to us at (516) 536-5006.

Companies Can Save Time and Money with Remote Maintenance

Remotely access and control desktop of computers or laptop via web internet connection. System administrator helps of customers, employees fix issues, setup software, equipment.

It comes as no surprise that IT maintenance and management is a pain point for small businesses. Perhaps they don’t have the resources to perform in-house maintenance because they lack the funds to hire trained technicians, a practice that leads them to rely on existing resources to make it happen. Unfortunately, this leads to inconsistent maintenance at best, a practice that can be both dangerous and wasteful in the long term. We’re here to tell you that not only is proactive maintenance important, but that remote maintenance is the best way to make it happen.

Why Utilize Proactive Remote Maintenance?

If you don’t take advantage of proactive maintenance, even the slightest issue can cause significant setbacks. For an organization that performs maintenance occasionally but not often, that company’s productivity might range from exceptional to nothing at all, all in accordance with the operational state of their IT resources. If computers crash, productivity can grind to a screeching halt. If a server fails, data loss can happen. If a security threat worms its way onto your network, your data can be compromised. All of this can contribute to situations when your organization cannot function as it is supposed to.

The opposite can also be true. Being proactive with your IT maintenance means that you can identify issues before they become major problems, a practice that allows you to address them before they become too serious. You can replace that computer that sounds like an airplane taking off. You can replace that server unit before it fails. You can keep hackers away from your infrastructure. In other words, you go from being reactive to issues to being proactive, which prevents downtime and the costs that it can accrue.

Greater Flexibility

Remote maintenance is an excellent way to take full advantage of proactive maintenance. You don’t need to wait for a technician to arrive on-premises to get the help you need. Most issues that your IT infrastructure will encounter can and should be resolved remotely. This makes things much more convenient for your company and eliminates a lot of the unnecessary costs associated with on-site visits. Plus, patches and security updates can be applied remotely too, meaning that they can be issued as they are released.

Faster Response Time

Remote maintenance can be performed at a moment’s notice, which is something that might make all the difference when it comes to preventing downtime. This is especially true for issues that demand an immediate response, as technicians can simply remote into your systems to resolve the issue. Downtime is essentially eliminated in this way, meaning that you can dodge that bullet that so often strikes at the heart of businesses all over the world.

Fewer Associated Costs

When on-site visits are unavoidable, you can avoid paying multiple bills. In a sense, you are paying for a technician’s travel time to and from the office, as well as the downtime that occurs as a result of the incident. That’s not even mentioning the time spent by your staff who, by the way, are still on the clock while you are suffering from the technical challenge that has ceased your operations. It’s easier and less costly to just avoid the on-site visit and have the problem resolved remotely.

Get Started with Remote Maintenance

AE Technology Group can help your organization get started with remote technology maintenance and management. To learn more about how we can keep your organization functional with minimal on-site visits and no surprise invoices, reach out to us at (516) 536-5006.

Should You Consider Outsourcing IT Services?

should you consider outsourcing it services

The cost of developing and maintaining an IT department may cause some business owners to undermine the necessity of making such an investment.

You need to understand that IT is part of the vital support services of your firm and accessing the same is not an option. It is a relief for most business owners when they discover that maintaining an in-house IT department is not mandatory thanks to the outsourcing option.

Here are a few reasons why outsourcing IT services can be the turning point that shifts your business in the right direction.

It Boosts The Morale of Employees

The idea of inviting someone from without to offer particular services without proper communication is not welcome among staff working in most companies because it creates a sense of insecurity. As you outsource IT services the understanding among your employees should be that you are delegating non-core functions to an external vendor so that staff can focus on the core activities of your firm.

When your employees discover that you are prioritizing their responsibilities over the IT services you choose to outsource, their morale and output will be on the rise.

Saving on Cost

When you opt to outsource IT services for your firm, the bottom line is that you will reduce cost and in most cases, this is a priority for anyone seeking such services. Some of the expenses you will avoid by opting for an IT services vendor include the cost of hardware, maintaining professionals, establishing a data center, and training your staff.

Providers of IT services buy internet in bulk, which implies that they can pass the savings they realize to their customers, and that will reduce your expenditures as well.

Risk Reduction and Enhanced Flexibility

Internet infrastructures are prone to malware, and if you do not know how to protect your IT installations from attackers, your company may suffer severe losses. Outsourcing IT services reduces the risk of internet scams because the vendor provides and updates the necessary defenses to protect your data.

IT service providers can also promote flexibility by scaling the IT requirements of your company up or down, which makes outsourcing a noble idea. If you need more information on reasons for outsourcing IT services, contact us today!