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Network Support for Small Businesses
IT Consulting Services for Florida |
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Overview:
For small businesses and startups with 10 to 50 network users, ACTS IT outsourcing services free you from dependence on an individual freelance consultant while giving you affordable, reliable access to enterprise-class technical expertise. By delivering professional know-how when you need it, providing specialized expertise in key applications, offering unique services such as automated server monitoring, and charging only for services you use, ACTS gives you an affordable way to maximize the business value of your network. ACTS is the smart way for small businesses to build and maintain a reliable and secure information system and to have fast access to the skilled support ordinarily available only to businesses who can afford a large internal IT organization.
Why ACTS Makes Sense for Small Businesses
ACTS staff size, breadth and depth of technical expertise, and familiarity with enterprise IT allow small businesses to avoid the pitfalls associated with excessive reliance on smaller service organizations or independent freelance consultants. |
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- Avoid Dependence on Individual Freelance Consultants
For IT support small businesses often rely heavily on independent freelance consultants. Although freelance consultants carry less overhead than larger support organizations and can afford to charge marginally less, they are often stretched too thin to respond quickly to urgent situations. If an independent consultant is busy with another client, sick, on vacation or in training, the lack of backup personnel may force your business to wait for help during an emergency. As your small business grows, network downtime or problems with critical applications become more costly. The money you thought you were saving on a freelancer can be eaten up quickly by lost productivity.
- Have Access to Expertise in Complex IT Solutions
Many small service organizations or freelance consultants focused on small business IT support may excel at providing "connect-the-dots" solutions but lack the experience to deal cost-effectively with complex IT infrastructures with features such as multi-office connectivity, VPNs, mobile workforces, telecommuter support, integrated financial and operational applications, eCommerce, and custom software. ACTS enterprise experience can be valuable to your small business because enterprise environments are inherently complex, integration issues require in-depth knowledge in many IT disciplines, and achieving a high level of stability, reliability and security requires enterprise-proven best practices.
- Build a Solid Foundation for Seamless Growth
Small businesses often start with an IT system implemented on a shoestring budget. Lacking a proper foundation, a series of band-aid fixes often get piled on top of a weak foundation. As a business grows, stability and scalability issues can hinder the success of the organization. Such environments need proper assessment, intelligent strategic planning, and broad-based expertise to upgrade to an IT infrastructure that will provide the solid foundation to meet critical business needs and ease future growth.
- Work with Solution Providers, Not Product Resellers
Small businesses require guidance and education to navigate through an increasingly complex maze of technology options available for accelerating business growth and improving efficiency. They do not need an IT consultant who is trying to sell them a product. ACTS avoids conflicts of interest by not selling any products. This allows ACTS to align technical expertise with the best interests of clients. IT consulting and product selling can lead to a situation where the proposed solution is built around a predetermined technology rather than the genuine needs of a small business.
Unique Advantages of Working with ACTS
As a Microsoft-certified consulting firm, ACTS is expert at the core system software and office productivity applications used by most small businesses. As a Cisco-certified partner, ACTS also offers expertise for an increasingly complex array of infrastructure technologies including firewalls, switches, routers, voice-over-IP solutions and wireless connectivity. In addition, ACTS CISSP-certified consultants and CISM-certified security professionals offer a company-wide perspective on network security.
The breadth and depth of ACTS consulting expertise brings a unique set of advantages to companies trying to maximize the business value of their IT network within a reasonable budget. These advantages include:
- Best Practices
ACTS’s staff of Microsoft and Cisco certified consultants average more than ten years of real-world industry experience, in the trenches of IT support, performing a wide variety of technical projects for a broad range of clients. Each consultant brings a set of personal best practices from this extensive industry experience, and these are further refined by the company-wide best practices training that ACTS instills in its consulting staff. This means you get not just expert technical skills, but a consultant with proven methods for how to apply those skills to solving real-world business problems successfully and in a repeatable fashion. Find out more about ACTS best practices for network consulting.
- Value Pricing
ACTS charges a competitive hourly rate for services. Clients are not forced to waste money with retainers or minimum commitments that may result in paying for services that are never delivered. ACTS does not add a surcharge for after-hours or emergency service, and does not charge for travel time except for emergency support where on-site time is less than 4 hours. Find out more about ACTS value pricing for IT outsourcing.
- Full Documentation of IT Services
ACTS has developed a sophisticated service reporting system that records and archives detailed documentation for all delivered services. Unlike freelance consultants who often provide scant documentation or details of services performed, every service provided by ACTS is accompanied by comprehensive documentation. Every ACTS staff member has full access to the service reports generated by every staff member to every client. The discipline of documenting and storing service records results in more efficient service and avoids a variety of common and unfortunate scenarios such as when a service customer is effectively held hostage to a consultant who won’t release the keys to the kingdom. Find out more about ACTS documentation of IT outsourcing services.
- Knowledge Transfer
ACTS is committed to knowledge transfer from ACTS consultants to customers. By teaching clients to deal with problems that are within their comfort zone, ACTS can focus on providing high-value services by helping clients resolve complex problems and facilitating the adoption of leading-edge technologies. ACTS often helps clients hire internal, front-end support staff, such as desktop support technicians, once clients grow to the point that outsourcing these functions is no longer cost effective. Find out more about ACTS knowledge transfer services.
Service Delivery Options Available for Small Businesses
To suit the needs and budgets of mid-size businesses, ACTS offers a variety of options for delivering support, troubleshooting and consulting services. Find out more about ACTS service delivery options for mid-size businesses.
IT Outsourcing and Network Monitoring Packages
As a result of years of experience supporting small business IT networks, ACTS has developed a variety of IT Outsourcing and Network Monitoring Packages designed to provide an affordable way for Florida small businesses maintain information systems that feature high availability, performance and security. ACTS’s IT Outsourcing and Network Monitoring Packages are based on the proactive problem solving capabilities of Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM), a next-generation network management software platform that monitors the availability, performance and security of your information system and identifies problems before they can disrupt your network. ACTS IT Outsourcing and Network Monitoring Packages also feature network assessment, security audits, Help Desk Call Center support, and the establishment of safe remote connections between your network and ACTS’s support experts. Find out more about ACTS IT Outsourcing and Network Monitoring Packages for cost-effective IT support outsourcing.
For concise information about about ACTS network support packages, check out ACTS Datasheets for IT Outsourcing and Network Monitoring Packages, available in Adobe Acrobat format for easy printing.
For an example of how Microsoft Operations Manager helped a Florida business achieve enterprise-class network management, read the Microsoft Operations Manager Case Study.
For more information about ACTS Network Support Packages, call 1-(904) 317-2140 or send an email to info@ACTSolution.net .
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