Problems We Solve
Our team has become known for providing creative and “crafty” solutions to tough problems, yet providing a professional experience. If you’re experiencing any of the following problems and are willing to do what it takes to fix them, then contact us today!
HAVE YOU HEARD OF, OR SAID, ANY OF THESE STATEMENTS?
“Our internet is slow sometimes, and sending large files takes forever”
We see this a lot. Clients are paying good money for fast internet but aren’t getting what they are paying for. Or, speeds are sporadic. Or, some parts of the network are faster then others. Or, wireless has random disconnects and weak signal strength. Between our business grade firewall/wireless solutions and our senior network engineers’ deep understanding of network issues, we can quickly sort this out.
“Our files are all over the place, in our CRM, Dropbox, File Server, NAS, USB drives, Email and more.”
Today, there are so many places to store data that many companies have zero control over their data. It’s unorganized and stored in many locations. Files are stored on traditional file servers, personal Gmail accounts, various cloud file services, on the local computer’s hard drive, on USB drives and more. Data can easily get lost this way. Files are duplicated, versions get confused, or files are hard to find, leading to massive inefficiencies to all users. On top of that, there are huge security risks due to the lack of centralized management, permission controls, and encryption. We can work with you to find a good file storage solution, cleanup permissions, and manage it moving forward.
“VPN problems – we get error messages or remote access and file transfers are slow”
VPNs can have so many issues. Expensive licensing, not setup properly, different passwords, hard to connect, slow internet, lots of commands and special instructions to remember and more. We solve this using by using business grade VPN solutions, configuring them properly, and then monitoring them to ensure they stay running. For remote users, we recommend setting up integrated authentication for higher security and reducing the number of passwords you need to remember.
“We have been infected by ransomware and almost were victim to a bank wire fraud attempt”
This happens very often today! Even the RCMP and other authorities are reportedly being compromised. Most virus, ransomware and fraud incidents can be prevented. There is no single proverbial “silver bullet” to prevent these of course; it requires comprehensive dilligence through tools, monitoring, and user education. At the end of the day, it’s impossible to guarantee perfect security, so it’s critical to have a very strong Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity plan in place, along with a robost cybersecurity insurance policy. We help facilitate all of this.
“Our file permissions are a mess – we have no idea who has access to what anymore”
Especially with Windows file servers, over a period of years, the file folder structures and permissions can have slowly slidden into an unmanageable mess. It may have never been setup properly to begin with, or perhaps was OK many years ago, but with people coming and going it has deteriorated. When people can’t find files on the server, they end up emailing them to each other instead. Or, they don’t know where the original file was saved (or don’t have access to that folder), so save it somewhere else, causing duplication and further confusion. Often the solution involves simplifying everything by having a fresh look at the top-level department folders and resetting all the permissions so they are sane and understandable.
“We think we have server backups but haven’t tested them in a while”
The rough general statistics are that 100% of organizations think they have backups. Maybe 70% have actual working backups. Perhaps 50% of organizations can actually recover a file. Perhaps 10% of organizations could recover from a major failure such as a hard drive failure, virus infection, ransomware, motherboard failure, major human error and so forth. And even for those 10%, most take at least a week to recover! Should something bad happen to your server, how confident are you that someone could get everything back up and running by tomorrow morning?
“I’m not sure if ‘Cloud’ is a fit for our organization”
There can be many questions about Cloud. We start with defining what it means, understanding your true needs, and finding the best solution. That might be a pure-cloud solution, or Hybrid, or an on-premise solution. It really depends on a lot – but we’re here to help navigate that with you.
“We are too dependent on a single technician (in-house or external)”
Especially for organizations with 30+ users, it can be advisable to have an on-staff person who really understands the people in your team, your business processes, clients, and unique business software. However, a common challenge is that this person is given tasks that are beyond their training and skillset. They get stretched thin, don’t have time to do proper research and learning. It’s tough for these inhouse people as well, without a team culture, mentorship and so forth. Everything becomes “their fault” even though they weren’t setup for success. We work directly with (not against!) these in-house team members to provide the tools, expertise, and IT security and best practices that are needed. They can focus on using their strengths to provide the highest value to the company and clients.
We also often speak with organizations have have been working with a contractor/freelancer. While the skill level of an owner/operator-style contractor is higher then of a typical multi-purpose in-house IT member, they typically are weak on security, documentation, and are overworked. Availability and response rate is typically much slower then partnering with a team.
“I can’t unplug and relax on vacation”
This is a common complaint of inhouse IT teams. Since they are THE GUY, everything sits on their shoulders. They need to keep their smartphone and laptop nearby 24×7, even on vacations, to be ready to assist with all sorts of issues. This is just unhealthy. Or, they can be living in fear that the server or network will crash.
“We work with several technical teams and nobody wants to take responsibility”
It can happen, for various reasons, that different parties are used for different roles: IT, phone systems, servers, network, business applications, websites, integrations, network security, Linux vs Windows, database management and so forth. As we have a deep understanding of most of these areas, we can either just take care of it, or take on the co-ordination/orchestration between all the parties. For example, we can work your webmaster on server hosting issues, with your VoIP provider, and your software vendor to just figure out issues without lots of blame games and finger pointing. Throwing an issue over the fence is rarely productive – we all need to work together.
“Our Linux servers are a mess”
We see this so often, and have created a dedicated Linux team to properly manage Linux servers! Click through to https://www.craftypenguins.net/problems-we-solve/ to learn about the problems that our Crafty Penguins team can help with.
Do You Need a New IT Support Partner?
Is your business reliant on technology? Don’t wait for a technical issue to occur before finding a great IT support partner.
Download our free guide to choose the right one for you.
