MSPNetworks Blog

Your decisions with capital will bleed into every part of your organization, so it’s crucial that you are able to determine the difference between capital expenses and operational expenses. When you know what each of these accomplish, you can do more with the same amount of capital.

The Real Difference Between Capital Expenses and Operational Expenses

Capital expenses are one-time purchases that you make, and they are usually with larger sums of money. You might use them to purchase a solution up-front rather than finance it, like with servers, workstations, etc. The logic here is that if you spend more now, you spend less in the long run.

Operational expenses take the opposite approach. They look at recurring expenses that your company uses to keep itself running, typically on a monthly or quarterly basis. Understanding operational expenses makes for more predictable budgeting rather than unpredictable and costly up-front costs. After all, small, monthly payments are easier to manage than larger payments at a single time, right?

What Are the Benefits of Capital Expenses?

The benefits of capital expenses, particularly for IT strategy, come down to the timing of the purchase and the amount of power you’re trying to get all at a time. Capital expenses are going to be most effective when you are adding considerable power to your infrastructure, whether it’s improving your on-site network or moving to a cloud-based model. Businesses purchase the equipment, then do what they will with it, leading to a fair amount of freedom on the manager’s part. Businesses that anticipate a decrease in IT budget might also consider investing now while the funds are available.

What Are the Benefits of Operational Expenses?

On the other hand, operational expenses are more ideal for organizations that are not able to project so far into the future or have limited funds available at a given time. Operational expenses are becoming more and more accessible, too, in the form of “as a service” offerings for cloud computing, managed IT services, hardware leasing, and so on. Businesses using operational expenses as the basis of their budgeting needs can leverage modern solutions at a lesser up-front cost, and changes can be made more efficiently compared to the large investments and amount of planning needed for capital expenditures.

If you would like to know how managed IT services can fit into your budget, look no further than MSPNetworks. Our trusted technicians can guide you through the process of looking at your own IT budget and how you want to prepare for acquiring new technology solutions. Whether you want to purchase solutions outright or you want to make the more economical decision to go with operational solutions, we’ve got you covered. Just reach out to us at (516) 403-9001 to learn more.

I was meeting with an old colleague the other day. We met over Microsoft Teams to just check in and see how they were doing—no real itinerary, just to check in with a familiar face that I haven’t personally talked to in a few years. They had a little trouble getting into Microsoft Teams, since they were used to Zoom. I patiently smiled and helped them through it, and told them “No worries, it’s always the little differences that complicate things!”

At the time, I said this just to be empathetic. At first, the nerdy computer-geek part of my brain told me that the process to get into a Zoom meeting vs a Teams meeting, from their perspective, is exactly the same. But after the call, I really thought about this small interaction, and you know what? Things have gotten complicated.

Modern Technology is Amazing, But Also Very Chaotic

It’s easy to take advantage of literally anything in our modern world. Take your car, for example. Some of our readers might have a pretty decent idea of how to diagnose some issues with their car, but more likely than not, you probably aren’t going to take apart your engine to replace a camshaft. An even higher number of you will probably just rely on the professionals for just about everything when it comes to your car. And sure, cars have gotten a little more complicated over the years, but the same basic principles haven’t changed much. Still, there’s going to be this layer that you (and the general public) understands, and then a much deeper layer underneath that only a select few understand.

Your computers and your network are the same way. You see and work with one side of it. As a business owner, you might have a little more knowledge when it comes to some of the inner workings—after all, you did have to pay for it. Still, what matters to you is that the outer layer works for you and your staff, and all of the complicated, technical pieces on the inside perform as they are supposed to.

Look at your average desktop, or even your smartphone. Not much has changed in that landscape over the last several years that makes the average user say “Wow, this is so much better than before!” Each subsequent device gets a little better, a little faster, and a little sleeker. Your new phone has a slightly better camera than before, or the stylus it comes with is a little nicer, or the screen is a little bigger. Your new laptop isn’t quite as loud and the battery sure lasts longer, but all in all, any changes just seem arbitrary, right?

I know it seems like I’m saying a lot here, but to get to the point—even as a techy, who eats, breathes, and sleeps IT, I understand where you are coming from.

Everything Under the Hood is Extraordinarily Complicated, And It’s Only Getting More Complex

I’m not talking about computer hardware. I’m not talking about the stuff that you see and touch and use every day. I’m talking about the underlying way that a modern business needs to be set up in order to succeed when it comes to its IT.

It’s complicated.

Ninety percent of this complication is due to cybersecurity. Nothing has rocked our industry (and the business world in general) more than cybersecurity in a long time. Oddly enough, up until very recently, cybersecurity has all but been ignored by most businesses. It’s seen as a luxury—a nice-to-have expense. 

These days, a cybersecurity incident can end up costing a business their reputation, hundreds of thousands of dollars, and can lead to subsequent attacks over and over until the business is forced to throw in the towel. 

10 years ago, the standard practices for defending a business were implementing centralized antivirus, running scans regularly, and having the network logs monitored daily. You could establish decent network policies to make sure people only had access to what they were supposed to see, enforce some strong passwords, and maybe implement a firewall and content filter for added security and productivity.

That’s pretty simple. Today, that’s far less than the bare minimum.

You see, computers haven’t changed much on that top layer that we all interact with, but the inside layer that only a select few understand is wildly different. Unfortunately, a portion of the “select few” who understand technology are using it for illegal and otherwise nefarious purposes. They are taking advantage of businesses and organizations that aren’t properly secured.

Our Role in This Ever-Complicated Technology Landscape

MSPNetworks can serve as your organization’s technical liaison. Our current clients tend to look at us sort of like an internal IT department that just works in a separate office. We’ve truly worked hard to convey this sort of culture over the years. We’re not a service provider who just does XYZ, gets paid, and leaves. We align ourselves with your organization’s goals, and work with you to personalize your IT to make sure it suits your business. On top of that, we handle the complicated inner workings so you can focus on your business.

If you haven’t tried us out yet, we encourage you to give us a call at (516) 403-9001 for a consultation. We’d love to meet, talk shop, and chat about how we can help give you and your business confidence in its technology.

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) have historically been restricted in what they can do with their technology infrastructures. However, there are now options that an SMB can leverage that enable it to accomplish more with their infrastructure - but this requires the SMB to have a plan in place.

What Is Your IT Infrastructure?

In short, your IT infrastructure is everything that contributes to your business’ ability to store and use the data it has collected - including your network, your storage system, and the hardware and software solutions used to access them. In other words, it’s your business’ backbone, supporting your operations and allowing data to be transported where it needs to go.

It should go without saying that your IT infrastructure is a critical consideration for your business’ success. This means that you will need to dedicate the time and energy needed to devise a strategy for your IT infrastructure to follow.

Determining Your IT Infrastructure Strategy

In order to be optimal for your business’ needs, your revised infrastructure strategy should touch on a few best practices.

Simplification

As you’ve needed to improve your infrastructure, it’s likely that it has grown based on the individual needs it had at the time. As a result, there’s a good chance that your IT infrastructure has a mix of technologies in it, which makes it harder to improve and update it later.

When designing your new infrastructure, you should leverage the modern standardization of software and integrations to create a centralized platform that enables data to be utilized across the business. This will help to simplify your IT and improve your workplace experience, often providing more functionality and flexibility for your users.

Flexibility

Speaking of flexibility, information technology is always adapting and changing, which means that your IT infrastructure needs to be able to accommodate these adaptations and changes. Considering your current infrastructure, ask yourself where your biggest speed constraints are, and how they can be rectified. Furthermore, are there any ways that you can consolidate your existing system to further limit your risks while advancing your processes?

Service-Focused

When you really consider it, your IT provides a service to your operations, in that it enables them to happen. While this may be a simplistic view of it, it isn’t any less true. When designing your infrastructure, you need to keep in mind that it will be providing your entire business with the tools that it needs to function. Consider what you need your infrastructure to do, and what you will need it to do in the future, and plan it accordingly.

Why You Should Consider a Managed IT Infrastructure

I want you to think back to the beginning of your business, when it was just you and maybe one or two other people. You may have had a hand in setting up your network back then… so why not do the same again now? Well, there are a few reasons.

First of all, consider your responsibilities. With any luck, your attention is commanded by the duties that your position leaves you responsible for. Can you really say you have the time to properly strategize your infrastructure, let alone maintain it once you’ve done so? Secondly, there is no denying that technology has changed. Would you rather try and tackle it yourself, potentially creating an issue, or would you rather entrust someone with experience to take care of your organization’s infrastructure?

MSPNetworks can manage your infrastructure on your behalf, ensuring that it is optimized to your business’ particular requirements so that your efficiency can be improved. Reach out to us at (516) 403-9001 to learn more.

Businesses have a lot of technology to manage. While some organizations have an in-house IT department to manage it, many small businesses are limited due to location factors, budget concerns, and countless other variables. In the past, organizations would turn to break-fix IT management for all of their technology issues, but trends in IT maintenance have given rise to a more popular and more sustainable way for small businesses to get the technology maintenance and management they need.

Break-fix IT management was largely considered a waste of resources, as it would mean your organization was waiting until your technology was already failing before seeking assistance. This would mean experiencing downtime while waiting for someone to resolve the issue, which further adds to the cost of the incident.

Preventative managed IT provided by a managed service provider, or MSP, is the better alternative, as it means you are effectively preventing IT issues from becoming problems in the first place. What this does is that it mitigates the possibility of downtime, along with all of its expenses. The problem is that this kind of IT isn’t possible unless you have a team dedicated to making sure that your technology is operating as intended.

Outsourcing this responsibility to a managed service provider is a great way make up for a deficit in your IT management. Some of the services offered by a managed service provider include, but are not limited to:

• Server hosting
• Cloud hosting and management
• Data backup and disaster recovery
• Email hosting
• Network maintenance, monitoring, and management
• Security monitoring and deployment
• And more!

Simply put, a managed service provider manages anything technology-related you want them to. Whether it’s something as complicated as deploying a new software or hardware solution or a task as simple as setting up an email account, you can bet that any managed service provider will be able to provide stellar assistance with any of your business’ technology issues. In many ways, a managed service provider is a company that provides even further solutions, as you’re leveraging the expertise of trained, professional IT technicians who understand fully the amount of trust you are placing in them to manage your technology behind the scenes.

MSPNetworks can be the managed service provider that is right for your business. To learn more about the services we offer, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.

More small businesses today depend on their IT. If that technology isn’t working as intended, it can really stymie an organization’s ability to be effective. Our strategy of managed IT support and services can do quite a bit towards keeping a business running efficiently. Today, we’ll take a look at managed IT to see how proactive monitoring can deliver enhanced efficiency to businesses.

Managed IT
With technology playing a big part of the modern business, ensuring its consistency is essential to keep the business running efficiently. Furthermore, with the security issues that all types of organizations have to deal with, being proactive can be the most solid strategy to keep them from having an effect on your business’ operational integrity.

It doesn’t matter how much you paid for your organization’s IT, the unfortunate truth is that every piece of technology fails. To get the most out of it, you’ll need to help it along by keeping it maintained. At MSPNetworks, that’s what we aim to accomplish with our remote monitoring and management service. By having eyes on your network and infrastructure, your IT remains functional and running optimally.

What’s more, that along with our state-of-the-art RMM tool, our certified technicians know exactly what inconsistencies to look for to keep your IT stable and running as designed. Our expertise with information systems allows us to utilize the powerful management program to ensure that every one of our clients sustain a positive ROI for their technology management investments.
RMM Really Helps a Business
Our RMM platform is so powerful that it produces many benefits for your business. These include:

• More uptime: Your IT remains stable and working efficiently, keeping disruptions to a minimum.
• Around the clock maintenance: By cutting the need to take the hardware someplace to get it fixed, our RMM provides value. With our around-the-clock hardware and software maintenance services we ensure that if components are going to fail, we exhaustedly find solutions that will work to keep your business up and functional longer.
• Streamlined performance: Your business’ IT will perform, period. With this enhanced performance, higher levels of productivity are inevitable.

MSPNetworks can help your business get started with RMM solutions and managed IT services. For more, call MSPNetworks at (516) 403-9001 today.