SpireTech Blog - Category: Business
Articles related to business, management, marketing, employees and so on.
2020 was a year of fairly flat growth at SpireTech. We imagine this has a lot to do with economic uncertainty related to Covid. We’re hoping that the floodgates will open for new business as the vaccine becomes available, businesses re-open, and pent-up demand for work that has been put on hold will get things moving again. We feel for all the small business owners that were forced to close or restrict activities during this time.
Review of 2020 Business Activity
We spent a lot of the year focused on improving security, moving to the cloud, and enabling work from home. Some of the areas we worked on include:
- Rollout of new services supporting and installing M365 business voice
- New M365 Security Pack service offering designed to increase client tenant security
- Increased service desk staff to reduce response times
- Increased focus on training – each staff member is encouraged to spend 10% of their time each week on continuing education and skill development
- Implementing EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) business management processes
We’ve also been continuing to attend conferences and quarterly IT business peer group events (virtually) to keep up on current trends and best practices. Read more...
When businesses seek help with their technology, many consider simply reaching out to a generic IT company or specialist. But there’s a wide range of available IT services that can provide a more tailored fit for your business, and managed IT services are one of them.
You may or may not have heard of the term “Managed Service Providers” or MSPs, which are professional companies who offer managed IT services. We’ve put together a definitive guide to managed IT services—including what MSPs do, why the managed services model was developed, and what the benefits to using an MSP are—to help you learn more.
History of Managed Service Providers
Prior to outsourced managed IT services, small and medium-sized businesses often faced expensive technology issues because they didn’t have the enterprise-level solutions large businesses had access to. For example, an Internet outage could cause an SMB to lose an entire day’s worth of productivity because they didn’t have a team to quickly restore their network.
Did you know we offer self-service payment options using our portal? Of course, it is fine to call us if you prefer – but anyone who receives an invoice from us can login to the portal using the link in the email. You can view payment history, invoices, and make payments. If you do not know your password, there is a forgot password function you can use to create a new password using your billing email. Read more...
The tax man cometh, and things tend to get busy at SpireTech during November and December. This year-end appears to be no different. Oftentimes, equipment availability and delivery times get extended – so plan ahead! If you are considering some year-end upgrades, please let us know soon so we can get your projects estimated, scheduled, equipment ordered, and installed.
Thanks! Read more...
SpireTech recently introduced a way to monitor customer satisfaction by including voting links at the end of a ticket closure email. So far, the feedback has been that we are doing an excellent job, and that customer satisfaction is very high, an average of 9.91 out of 10.
Unfortunately, a very small percentage of you respond – it only takes a few seconds. We would love it if more of you can let us know how we’re doing! At the end of the survey, the tool will offer you a chance to leave a Google review – positive public reviews help our search ranking – it would be greatly appreciated if you can also complete a Google review!
Thanks in advance! Read more...
Last month, we wrote that this new service from Microsoft promised to be a disruptive technology. We’ve since learned that discounts will soon be announced on your first year of service. While we aren’t able to disclose those numbers or timing yet, let’s say the traditional telecom and PBX vendors should be quaking in their shoes, because the savings before the discounts are substantial.
The convenience of being able to use your bluetooth headset with your computer, the Teams app on your phone, or a compatible desktop phone to make/receive business calls from anywhere without being tethered to the office promises to be a game-changer and key enabler for WFH moving forward. Since it’s integrated with Microsoft Teams, you don’t need to change your mode of working from one communication device to another.
We’ve already had several clients express interest in moving to Microsoft 365 Business Voice, and projects are starting soon. If you want to learn more or get on the list, get in touch!