Author Archives: thrivewpengine

Every company is aware that the proper data protection measures are of utmost importance. Yet many businesses still utilize older methods of data backup such as tape systems, costly onsite backup methods, and offsite systems that may mean several days until recovery takes place.  These methods consume resources and pose more risks of failure in addition to being complex, costly, and labor intensive.

New data backup and recovery technologies eliminate (more…)

In the current economic downturn where IT budgets are declining and the demand for IT resources is increasing, the expectations for many companies are you must accomplish more with less. As a result, many businesses and enterprises are working to find ways to cut costs without compromising productivity while remaining competitive.  With all of these pressures and responsibilities how do you ensure ongoing growth while meeting compliance requirements and your service level agreements?

The answer to this dilemma is the incorporation of new technologies into your IT infrastructure.  Although this may sound like you are increasing IT capital expenditures you are actually cutting costs while increasing productivity in response to the ever changing market.  Here are some thoughts on how to reduce costs while still maintaining the competitive advantage. (more…)

Cloud computing provides many companies with the ability to reduce IT infrastructure costs while improving productivity and responsiveness.  This allows company staff to focus on getting results instead of monitoring and maintaining the infrastructure that supports critical business applications.

According to Gartner, an IT technology research and advisory company, cloud revenue is expected to (more…)

Regulatory compliance can take on different definitions according to the industry in which you are applying the policies.  Since compliance means incorporating standards that conform to specific requirements, regulatory compliance is the regulations a company must follow to meet specific requirements.

When you apply regulatory compliance to IT, the regulations apply to two different aspects of company operations which include the internal requirements for IT and compliance standards that are set forth by external entities.  Both types of regulatory compliance affect IT company operations and can potentially restrict (more…)

For many companies, desktop and end user support can be costly and time consuming. Especially if you have multiple computing environments with a variety of desktop applications and PCs of different models and ages.  Although desktop PCs are relatively inexpensive the cost for maintenance and end user support can be as much as five times the cost of the computer.

In the early years of computer technology, costs for desktop and end user support were reduced through (more…)

Anticipating the IT resources that are necessary for current and future company requirements is an ongoing and challenging responsibility for IT professionals.  The most difficult part of implementing new applications is the knowledge that your existing server environment may or may not be able to accommodate them.

If servers are utilized efficiently then implementation may be possible.  However, the challenge you face with an older server infrastructure involves (more…)

For companies that are currently utilizing a Blackberry server many are considering switching to Active Sync with the greater demand for iPhones and Android platforms.  What exactly does this mean for your business?  Many employees have had a great interest in purchasing an alternative platform to Blackberry so let’s take look at how you can also integrate Active Sync into your environment and the advantages/disadvantages you will need to consider.

One of the biggest advantages to Active Sync is the change in infrastructure that would take place in your environment.  Less hardware is actually required to run Active Sync, instead of maintaining a stand-alone server as is required for a Blackberry server, you run Active Sync from your Exchange server.

Active Sync allows you to (more…)

I have a lot of passwords. In fact I have 194 of them.  But remembering 194 of something is tough, and we typically don’t make our passwords something that can be remembered easily.  One way we try to make this easier is to use the same password for multiple accounts.  But this is not secure.  If someone hacks your Facebook account, they now have the password to your email account, and probably your bank account too.

So how about making a list of all your passwords?  Maybe a post-it note on your monitor, or on a piece of paper that you hide under your keyboard.  This sounds pretty clever but (more…)

Virtualization has been rising in popularity during the past few years due to its ability to provide a viable solution for companies to increase productivity while reducing IT infrastructure costs.  By switching to virtualization, companies have been able to control workloads in data centers while reducing energy consumption and IT infrastructure.

Before we discuss the specific benefits of switching to virtualization let’s first define what virtualization (more…)

Network monitoring is an essential responsibility for businesses of all sizes.  Medium-sized and large companies typically have a network monitoring system in place either onsite or offsite in the cloud but what about small businesses?  This is exactly what hackers are asking when they are seeking to breach a network.

In the last few years small businesses have become (more…)