Have you noticed that you don’t see my staff or me driving around as much these days? It’s all about the technology we use now and how empowering it has become for both us and our clients. In the “old” days, we kept an office stocked with technicians, and when you needed any type of support, we’d hop into our car and come to your office or home to solve your problem. However, since 2013, everything has changed as I’ve undertaken a concerted effort to make Portable CIO even more “portable” and modular as we adapt to new societal and technological circumstances.

The reality of computing today is that we work in a vastly different environment than in 2001 when we began serving you. There are many reasons. For instance, we’re all more used to computing, so we’re better users and smarter and savvier than before. WiFi networking is now ubiquitous, and we expect it to be available everywhere we go. Computers are also a lot more reliable and capable than they used to be. Then, consider how the smartphone revolution combined with tablet computing has turned the concept of “information when you need it” on its ear. We’re so connected now that being over-connected has become an issue. Related to this, the sophistication of the tools we at PCIO use to serve you have skyrocketed, making our diagnostic processes much more efficient and powerful.

While the internet is paramount in all of our lives, it is both the solution and the problem for most people. It’s the solution because of the myriad of nifty productivity and entertainment applications and services we use. Our businesses and homes run on these applications. These services make a huge difference in our productivity, ability to make money, and ability to communicate effectively. However, the internet is also the problem for us because through our computers we are inviting people into our lives that we never wanted nor intended to interact with. We are now unwittingly putting ourselves in the presence of people who may be desperate, unethical, or immoral, and who will not blink an eye while swindling you of your resources or hurting you. It is a lot like someone building a train station directly between your home and the worst part of the city, and while the folks at the other end of the line have figured this out, most of us have not stopped to consider it, and that is the problem. Most people are sitting ducks.

Coming back to PCIO, we’ve been seeing these trends develop and have been actively steering our firm to insert us between that unsavory side of the internet and your homes and businesses. We have invested considerable amounts in the tools and best practices to ensure you have the best chance of coming through your computing day unscathed. We’ve identified the core parts of your environment that need help, that are not getting the attention they deserve.

Our experience is that people don’t reliably perform any critical maintenance tasks for their systems. These are the important but unglamorous maintenance tasks that people ignore, much like changing the oil on your car. We’ve found that by managing all of these for our clients, we can give you back that peace of mind and lower your overall IT support costs. Why? Because an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Computing is not free; there is a cost, and actively managing your systems lowers that cost by keeping your systems running well and safe. For instance, none of our managed clients have yet been infected by ransomware. That’s not an accident! It is a direct result of the safe cocoon we’ve built around their infrastructure.

The categories we manage for you are System Management, Antivirus/AntiMalware, Network Security, and Backups. We call the whole of these packaged components “TSP,” or “Total Security Package.” TSP is a combination of the toolset we install, together with our Helpdesk personnel monitoring and managing the alerts and necessary responses. You’re then linked to our Helpdesk (support@pcioit.com / 888-552-7953) and they can swiftly respond to anything that arises. TSP works as well for single computers as it does for a company of 6, 60, or 600. It works on PCs, MACs, and we have components to safeguard and manage smartphones, too. These tools have allowed PCIO to transform from a “drive around” company to one that manages vast numbers of computers more effectively from our offices, increasing satisfaction and lowering costs for our clients.

If you’d like to know more about how to flatten your IT costs and increase your resilience to data loss, we should chat. We’re excited about what the future holds and would love to bring you along with us. You can reach me at info@pcioit.com, or call 925-552-7953, option 1 to schedule a free consultation.