Month: May 2019

When it comes to placing your IT in the right hands, you have two choices: either keep it in-house or hand it over to a third-party outsourced company. Chances are if you are reading this, the first option hasn’t worked. And it should be no surprise. You are either spending too much time or too much money (or both) on IT and not enough time on your core competencies. This can be especially damaging to your business when all your time is spent managing IT.

So, the question now becomes which IT Services Pittsburgh provider you are willing to trust with your most valuable digital assets. After all, there are several issues at stake, such as security, workflow efficiency, cost, business continuity, and scalability.

IT Services Pittsburgh businesses regularly trust have the following characteristics:

Proactive IT Solutions

If you’re going to make the investment and build a long-term relationship with an IT company, then your top priority should be to find a company that understands the long-range value and purpose of IT implementation. Thus, there are some key questions that every qualified IT consultant should ask before implementing any IT strategy:

• How will this strategy prevent issues (security or otherwise) from arising?
• Will this strategy help or hinder business growth?
• What is the ROI of implementing this new hardware or software?
• Does this strategy meet core organizational needs?

If you are going to trust an IT service to handle your entire infrastructure including all computers, network, cloud platform, sensitive data, cabling, communication, and hardware, then the IT professional must think proactively about every decision and its short and long-term impact on the organization.

By thinking proactively, an IT specialist can prevent problems long before they endanger any component in the network. They anticipate that problems will occur — as they always do — and put a plan into place that either prevents the issue from actually happening. Or, they can respond to any problem immediately to keep your business operations flowing smoothly.

Responsive Customer Service

And speaking of response, if IT is at the center of your business operations, then you have to trust your IT service provider to be there when you need them in cringe moments. Think about it this way: How many times were you in the middle of a time-sensitive project, and your computer or network suddenly went down? How long did it take to get everything up and running again so that you continue? Now think about this: What if all you had to do is pick up the phone, call your IT consultant, get someone on the line quickly, and get the problem fixed within minutes?

The reason the problem was fixed in minutes is that the IT provider anticipated that your problem could arise (probably because they’ve dealt with this problem a million times in the past) and already knew how to handle it. You now trust your outsourced IT company because they picked up the phone quickly, understood your issue, responded quickly, and fixed it remotely without having to drive to your location.

That is what trustworthy IT customer service looks like. That is what IT services Pittsburgh businesses look for.

Multi-Layered, Preventative IT Security

The one area of IT that you should never compromise on is security. Neither should your Pittsburgh IT company. If your IT company has a bare-bones IT package with outdated solutions, then look elsewhere. Any IT company that isn’t willing to invest in your security is putting your company at risk of a massive data breach.

IT security should be multi-layered. In other words, it should contain multiple strategies for preventing a security breach from happening, not just responding to one and dealing with the fallout.

What does multi-layered IT security look like?

• Ongoing network assessment and testing to identify leaks or vulnerable areas in the system
• Encrypted end-to-end email protection so that messages cannot be deciphered
• Data storage and backup so that your company never loses sensitive data
• Combination of essential security tools such as firewall, antivirus, spam filtering, two-factor authentication, identify verification, and internet traffic monitoring — these are all essentials
• Complete network and Wi-Fi security in areas where cyber threats are the most likely to occur

Your Most Trusted IT Services Pittsburgh Provider

If you are looking for IT services in Pittsburgh, then contact Right Hand. We offer complete managed IT, cloud-based services, IT security, and 24/7 Help Desk services. To schedule a consultation with an IT specialist today, call us at (412) 254-4448 or fill out a quick contact form.

Right Hand Ranks 46th In The Channel E2E Top 100 In Manufacturing

Right Hand in Pittsburgh, PA recently made the Channel E2E Top 100 Vertical Market MSPs List for 2019. We ranked among the top vertical market MSPs in the Manufacturing Industry.

The Channel E2E Top 100 Vertical identifies leading managed services providers (MSPs) in healthcare, manufacturing, financial services/banking, retail, transportation, government, education, legal/law firms and more.

The annual list identifies and honors the top 100 managed services providers (MSPs) in manufacturing, healthcare, government, financial services, legal, not-for-profit, and other vertical markets.

How Is The Channel E2E Ranking Conducted?

The Top 100 Vertical Market MSPs rankings are based on ChannelE2E’s Q4 2018 and January 2019 readership survey, and ChannelE2E’s vertical market industry coverage. MSPs featured throughout the list and have extensive vertical market expertise.

ChannelE2E tracks every stage of the IT service provider journey — Right Hand was chosen for our service to the Manufacturing Industry in Pittsburgh, Western Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

This year’s research revealed several key MSP market trends. Among the Top 100 Vertical Market MSPs for 2019:

• Honorees generated a combined $699.1 million in vertical market annual recurring revenue (ARR) for 2018, up from $277.3 million in 2017. The surge involved organic growth combined with aggressive merger and acquisition (M&A) activity.
• Honorees are managing nearly one million devices.
• The most successful vertical market MSPs are zeroing in on financial services and healthcare, while manufacturing, legal and not-for-profit vertical activities are accelerating.

“Manufacturing is central to our economy, and it has recently come under attack by cybercriminals,” said Jason Vanzin, CEO, Right Hand. “It is the backbone of every great nation, and we are pleased to be recognized 4 years in a row for servicing and protecting the industry. We look forward to continuing to partner with top manufacturers to help protect and grow their businesses.”

Has Right Hand Received Other Honors?

Right Hand is a four-time honoree and has also been recognized by the following awards:

• CRN MSP 500 2017 & 2018
• MSPMentor MSP 501 2016, 2017 & 2018

How Does Right Hand Help Manufacturing Companies Succeed With Technology?

The world of manufacturing is evolving, along with technology. And things are changing at such a fast rate that many small manufacturers have a hard time keeping pace. Below, we go over 5 major issues that manufacturers grapple with when it comes to technology.

1. Regulatory Compliance

Manufacturing regulatory compliance covers a broad range of issues, and it exists in all areas. It includes things like business systems, environmental issues, health, safety and IT. If management doesn’t create an environment that ensures manufacturing compliance or doesn’t document the steps to achieve it, the manufacturing company could be held accountable for compliance breaches. This includes data breaches.

Compliance, including IT compliance, must be integral to day-to-day business operations. It’s important to configure and execute IT compliance surveys, certifications, and assessments based on pre-defined templates; and to also schedule automatic assessments based on predefined criteria. For issue remediations, they need to adopt a systematic process to document, investigate, and resolve IT compliance and control issues.

Manufacturers must also ensure they have complete visibility into supply chains so they can prove not only their own compliance but also that of their suppliers. Regulations also require tracking where specific items have been used and to trace materials used in its manufacture.

To do this requires a structure of the overall IT compliance hierarchy, including processes, assets, risks, controls, and audits, and to map controls to compliance regulations and policies, to enable an integrated approach to ongoing activities and IT compliance. And all of this requires up-to-date, reliable and secure hardware and software.

2. Keeping Technology Up-To-Date To Lower Manufacturing Costs

Many small manufacturing companies function under stringent budgets. This means that they often don’t have the finances to purchase the latest technology. Technology innovations change at a dizzying pace, and small manufacturers struggle to keep up.

But this is important to do. Up-to-date technology can help to lower manufacturing costs. Up-to-date technology reduces errors, the need for manpower, and lowers energy costs—And it improves productivity. When employees can work with the best computers, applications, etc. they can get more done.

It helps manufacturers check if the production process is lagging or increases the time to market. With the right technology, they can benefit from more systematic processes and innovation rather than leaving this to chance.

It’s also essential to keep technology equipment functioning at optimal levels. Regular preventive maintenance is the key. And software programs and hardware must be updated regularly. Routine proactive maintenance of technology equipment prevents costly breakdowns and keeps employees working.

More manufacturing companies are relying on IT services like HaaS (Hardware-as-a-Service). Rather than purchasing technology, they rent it for a monthly fee. The hardware is managed and maintained by the IT service company and replaced when it becomes out of date.

3. Overworked IT Staff

With manufacturing companies growing, increasing technology demands can overload IT staff. And when they need to implement new projects, their technicians may have to work overtime. This is not only expensive when they have to pay them for overtime, but overworked techs can make mistakes that can cost even more.

There’s a great solution to this, and it’s inexpensive and straightforward to implement: Contract with an IT service company to bring on an outsourced tech.

An outsourced tech can come in and work solely on the project or help with mundane tasks. Their job is to work alongside existing in-house IT teams to get everything done each day. IT personnel won’t be replaced — They’ll receive the help they need, so the manufacturing business doesn’t suffer.

4. Lack Of IT Talent

The number of tech employment opportunities is expected to increase by 12% by 2024. This means an even more competitive hiring environment when looking for IT employees. And in-demand tech skills will result in higher salaries to get the best tech professionals onboard.

An IT service company that specializes in serving small manufacturers can often provide the talent needed to deal with this shortage. They’ll know what skills a manufacturing company needs and can provide the outsourced help to overcome challenges of IT talent shortage. This saves time and all the costs associated with hiring IT employees. Partnering with an IT service company can help small manufacturers ramp up quickly and maintain the competitive advantage they need.

5. IT Uptime

Unlike with other industries, uptime results in value-added goods for customers. This is because when uptime is high, the production line is making money. Downtime can create significant damage to manufacturing businesses. Every minute that operations aren’t up and running, there’s a chance that they’ll lose revenue.

Downtime can be caused by technology issues that interfere with production. It can also be caused by scheduled maintenance or unscheduled stoppages. Unplanned downtime can be debilitating to manufacturers who rely on their technology to stay competitive.

This can be solved by using an IT service company that monitors and maintains technology 24/7. With remote monitoring and management, they can prevent IT downtime and increase uptime.

What’s The Answer?

Manufacturers deal with issues like these every day. From compliance to improving uptime, using the right technology and having the professionals on hand when you need them will help you improve throughput at a lower cost.

In addition to manufacturing businesses, Right Hand helps all of our clients succeed and grow their businesses with the right technology. We do this by providing expert technology services and solutions to make their jobs easier and to help their employees be more productive.

Stay up-to-date on what manufacturers and other businesses need for reliable and secure technology today. Check out our Blog.