FEELING LUCKY? Top 7 Qualities to Search for in Your IT Company
Posted on 04 December 2015
Off-site IT support is a growing field, so there is a wide range of choices on the market. It can be difficult for managers and owners to identify the best service for their needs. What sets a company like Catalyst Solutions apart from the herd? Here are the top seven advantages offered by the IT experts at Catalyst Network Solutions:
#1 SERVICE AND PAYMENT CONSOLIDATION
Save big, and reduce complexity.
If you run a business, you likely already have the following services, and are paying for them monthly, or yearly to various vendors:
- E-Mail with Google apps, or Microsoft;
- Anti-Virus with any one of 15+ vendors;
- Anti-Malware protection suites from one of 10+ vendors;
- Backups for servers and critical data, on-site and off-site monthly fees are likely here;
- On-site or off-site IT support with 5+ core vendors, or a mix of both;
- Server hardware support – From Dell, HP, IBM, Lenovo, Asus etc.;
- Server software licenses and yearly fees;
- Phone lines, and phone fees and services;
- Security products like SSL certificates for your external web services;
- Domain fees and security services from vendors like GoDaddy.
Tracking all of that can be a lot of work: you are spending business capital in a lot of different places and every one of them has their own markups. Plus, someone needs to keep track of everything! For some, this can be a nightmare. With Catalyst, we can administer all of this from a single interface and consolidate the payment to one vendor with our NeverRest offering. NeverRest also either
A) includes all of the above services or
B) will allow Catalyst to administer them for you from a single pane of glass, a unified interface.
In short, this means there is one vendor instead of 10+, which means less markup for your business across the board, massive savings on your overall IT spending, and less time trying to administer all of the above services.
#2: LIVE SUPPORT
Catalyst Solutions offers instant tech support… really! 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from the most skilled technicians in the business. We have the training and the certificates and qualifications to prove it. Our competitors don’t show this. Why? The technician you are generally working with doesn’t have them, or they are expired.
If you suffer network or data issues, you will be in touch with one of our friendly, skilled technicians in just a few keystrokes. No matter the day or time, we will be there for you! Also, we have no call trees or auto attendants, no hold times. When you call, you speak with a real person, all the time. No matter when you call. That’s real service.
#3: IT AUTOMATION
There is a lot that Catalyst can do for you. We have written software that helps to take care a lot of the tedious IT items that are sometimes left to the wayside in most small to medium sized companies.
What follows is a quick summary of the key features of our NeverRest IT services. If you want to learn more, be sure to check out the NeverRest page and watch the video!
- NeverRest can outfit your business or organization with a system that is able to maintain itself. For example, all patches and updates will be performed seamlessly and automatically, so you experience no downtime.
- Network documentation is done automatically and sent monthly to key stakeholders and management, and inventory audits are done automatically, saving your IT staff a lot of time.
- NeverRest can be customized to audit and track all hardware on your network, and create geo-fences to prevent from a loss or theft.
- NeverRest can deploy software remotely as well, to help speed installation for new software for all staff.
- Anti-Virus and Anti-Malware are included as well, free of charge.
- You also receive one-click live remote support for all desktops and servers. It’s really amazing stuff.
#4: iTRUST E-MAIL
Email and Phone are the two most important external facing aspects to any business. These services need to be online 100% of the time. A powerful and stable email server is key to any successful network, but many supervisors assume default or bundled email services are adequate for their team’s needs. Without Catalyst’s iTrust service, you could be exposing your infrastructure to wasteful spam and harmful viruses, or even worse; downtime.
Our iTrust protection is included with all of our convenient, comprehensive tiers of email service. So you can rest easy knowing that your email is online and you will never miss a deadline or an urgent message.
#5: iVAULT BACKUPS
Storing data is necessary for all businesses and organizations, but are you prepared for the worst? All of Catalyst Solutions support and hosting plans can be outfitted with iVault-- a revolutionary concept in data protection and restoration which
includes both on-site and off-site backups.Yes
With iVault, your servers and data are secured by state-of-the-art encryption and monitored 24/7 by real technicians.
As a cost saving alternative and to reduce monthly storage fees, you can add a TotalSAFE as well. This is an add-on for iVault, and it has the ability to withstand fire (1550F/843 Celsius, for 30 minutes per ASTM E119), theft, and total water submersion
for up to 10 days at 10 feet. It’s really impressive stuff, and no one else will guarantee it like Catalyst does. We have performed lab tests with our vendors, and can guarantee it will survive a complete disaster, which includes abuse or vandalism
such as someone dumping gas or diesel fuel on it and setting it a blaze. Don’t worry, iVault and TotalSAFE have your data covered with huge savings on monthly fees.
#6: CLOUD HOSTING
Cloud-based computing is the next frontier of IT and networking, especially in an age where businesses need to be agile and adaptable. Invest in Catalyst Solution’s cloud hosting and you will enjoy 100% Canadian hosting, automated upgrades,
remote support and you can cancel anytime.
#7: DATA RECOVERY
Losing data is never a fun position to be in, but when a person or business is faced with data loss, you need someone you can trust with real world experience. It’s more than just running a data recovery application from the web and hoping for the best.
Our expertise is shown in our guarantee:
“If we don’t get your data, you get cash back.”
It’s as simple as that. We have over a 95% success rate with our in-lab services. This is unheard of in the industry. The reason? Other data recovery shops are only data recovery shops. So, they get paid regardless if they get your data or not. Sure, they may offer a ‘free assessment’ but if you want them to start work, that is going to cost you, and there is no refund if they can’t get your data back, because it’s all they do, and they have to pay their staff somehow. At Catalyst, our primary focus is IT support, Data Recovery is an additional focus, which means we are not incentivized by volume, we are incentivized by what matters most, getting your data back. If we can’t do that, you get your money back. Period.
You might be saying: “big deal, does anyone I know trust you?” – Yes! We have an exclusive agreement with one of the best hardware resellers in Canada, Memory Express, and have helped thousands of people get their data back. It’s a serious commitment, and we are serious about it.
Can your current IT Company, or internal IT do all of the above for you for less than you are currently spending? Probably not, but we can!
It’s time to move off-site for your IT services. Call Catalyst today for a free demo and network assessment.