It’s Monday morning, you have an important meeting in the next few hours which was booked last minute therefore haven’t had time to plan.
You sit at your desk, poised to start your preparations. You start your computer and you hear a loud beeping sound as your computer crashes. All the data you require for your meeting is on the hard drive and there is no back up of these files. Your biggest concern is a failed hard drive which contains your crucial data. 
An IT maintenance contract is an agreement between your business and a supplier to perform necessary maintenance on your IT systems for a fixed monthly cost. This has been proven to be more cost effective than fixing issues when they occur.
VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol facilitates voice communications similar to an ordinary phone. Skype is arguably the most famous VoIP system in the world. Hosted systems, however, offer a range of features that allow you to take calls, providing you have an internet connection. This includes taking calls on smartphones and mobile devices. Providing you have a mobile network you can take VoIP calls while on the move.
Microsoft’s Office 365 is its world-famous office suite of applications made for the mobile age. Since its inception in mid-2013, it has been warmly received by industry, worldwide. Embracing Office 365 will give you more flexibility, productivity, and give you the capability to complete work while travelling. You will increase your business agility and with it, business profits.
Let’s take a look at its considerable benefits.
Computer file encryption viruses such as Cryptolocker pose a very real threat to your business. There are many varieties and when one of these viruses takes hold it can be very difficult to remove them. One of the latest incarnations of viruses is known as ransomware. Here you are locked out of your files or system until you pay a fee, often thousands of pounds.
With this in mind let’s talk about some of the more dangerous viruses that can heap misery on your business.
Every single computer in your office will run on a network, which is controlled by your server(s), which means you must maintain your server if you want your network and computers to run smoothly.
If you don’t maintain your server you can expect slow performing computers, outdated software causing problems to the day to day operation of the network, server crashes or even complete failures, all of which are a nightmare for a small business owner.
If your computer becomes infected with ransomware, this can be particularly vicious. If you haven’t got the correct strategies in place, can have devastating consequences. One of the most common questions we get asked about ransomware is, “What do I do now?”
Server support engineers do not always need to be in house/ on site. Most server support is possible by logging in to your computer remotely. Remote server support is when someone can login to your servers from a different location. Once logged in, they can perform various maintenance and administration tasks including housekeeping, troubleshooting, backups and much more.
Often within our IT infrastructure, we manage our IT issues and frustrations with crisis management rather than a proactive approach. This is frequently the case with data backup and we are quick to find excuses as to why we aren’t taking the best precautions: I’ll do it later; I don’t have time now; it’s too expensive; it’s too difficult; …
Encryption viruses (Ransomware) are on the increase and have become a real problem!
We live in a digital era where we rely heavily on our mobile phones, computers, laptops, tablets and other digital devices to see us through our day to day lives. Recently, the US and Canadian government issued a joint cyber alert, warning computer users about the surge in ransomware attacks.
