Helping small businesses.
One of the main reasons I started SNL Tech Services was because I wanted to help the small business owner. Having your tech not work right as a small business can cost you clients and money and no one wants that.
IT Inventory:
One of the first things I always ask a new client is if they have an inventory of their IT assets. It’s okay if you don’t, but you need one for a few reasons.
1.) It’s important to know what IT equipment you have and how old it is.
2.) By having this information on hand, you can create an IT budget.
3.) Having an IT budget allows you to create a replacement plan for your equipment.
4.) Having a replacement plan for each year allows you to replace equipment as needed and keeps you from having to replace everything at once which can become costly as your business grows and your needs change.
Account Logins:
Another question I like to ask is if you have a list of passwords to your accounts. As a business of any size, you should always have the administrator password to things even if you have an IT professional.
It’s also important that these accounts are in your name with your business email.
It can be a nightmare to try and get things changed over.
For a real-life example, I had a client who had an employee who handled all their IT needs, well this employee ended up passing away unexpectedly and their domain expired causing them to not have any email for a week. They had to jump through hoops and fill out a lot of paperwork before they were back up and running. They lost a weeks worth work by not having access to their email, which as a we all know is vital in today's work place.
Trust me when I say that you wouldn’t want to be in a predicament where you couldn’t access your data or email.
Things I like to include for Account logins.
1.) Your Server information if you have one.
2.) Any cloud information (if you use drobox, google, one drive)
3.) Where your Domain registrar is.
4.) Where your website is hosted.
5.) The information to your firewall.
6.) The login information for your ISP.
7.) Your website admin login information.
8.) Any backup solutions that you have.
9.) The login for where your email is hosted.
Those are just a few of the things that I ask about. If your IT person doesn’t want to hand this information over to you freely then heed that as a warning and find a new IT professional.
Have a plan in place for a cyber-attack.
I know a lot of small businesses think that they are not targets for a cyber-attack, but that mindset could cost you your business. News Flash, hackers don’t care what kind of business you have or that you are just a small business, in fact they like to go after small businesses, because you might not have the most robust defenses in place to protect yourself.
Have clear communication.
When you hire an IT professional you are putting your trust in them to help you run your business so communication in a timely fashion is critical to the success of your business.
There is a quote I love. "If you can't explain it simply, then you don't understand it well enough". It's important that when you ask your IT professional a question that they answer you and explain things in terms that you understand. Now, don't get me wrong sometimes it's easy to forget as an IT person and just use technical jargon, but trust me when I say we can tell when we have lost you by the glazed look that is in your eyes.
A good IT professional will be able to break things down and explain it to you in ways that you can understand. For example, computers have motherboards, memory, cpu and hard drives. The motherboard could be described in comparison to the engine of a car, without it, its not going to work. While the cpu could be compared to the gas tank, if your cpu is slow it might be like you're driving on empty.
Let's talk!
If you would like to sit down and discuss my subscription services or create a customized service plan that fits your budget reach out today and schedule a call. I would love to help your small business with its IT needs so you can focus on what's important, growing your business and achieving your goals.
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