As a business owner, your use of technology can be a determining factor in the success of your business. That makes selecting a company to support your computer systems one of the most critical for your organization. As you evaluate companies, there are several important factors you should look at when making this decision:

• High Level of Customer Service

It is easy to find companies that can fix your PC or install a network device for your company.  The real challenge is to find a company that also understands the value of providing excellent customer service.  Your technology vendor must be able to respond quickly to your requests and resolve issues promptly.  They should be easy for you and your employees to reach and deliver and their promises.

• Understanding Your Business

Without understanding your business, it is nearly impossible for your vendor to correctly provide recommendations for your technology.  A good consultant will be able to look at the intricacies of your company and find ways to leverage technology to help you grow your business, improve efficiencies and reduce costs.

• Provide Strategic Business Planning

This goes hand in hand with understanding your business.  Your technology partner must also clearly understand the direction you are planning to take your company.  This way they can provide solutions that not only fit your current environment, but have the ability to grow with you as well.

• Technical Expertise

While this may seems obvious, business owners can end up selecting products, technology providers and solutions strictly based on price.  Many times, these “inexpensive” solutions end up costing the company more in the long run in either lost productivity or missed opportunities for their business.  A good technology vendor will have the expertise to recommend solutions that are the best fit for your company and the experience to install them properly allowing you to leverage them to the full potential.

• Ongoing Support

Once your new systems are in place or the new solution has been installed you may think all the work is done, but actually this is where the company you select becomes most critical.  In order for these products and your staff to continue to be productive and working effectively, these systems must be maintained.  This is where selecting a company that can also manage these systems on an on-going basis becomes key.  This allows you and your employees to focus on your business instead of becoming distracted with any technical issues related to your technology.

Issues with Google Mail in September, and more recently with Google’s Postini and T-Mobile’s Sidekick data hosted by Microsoft and Danger have brought to light one of the important aspects of using cloud computing: your data integrity and system performance is based directly on the technology partner you choose. These issues are not necessarily a failure of cloud computing, but an example of what can happen when you have poor IT management.  SaaS solutions can be more cost effective initially, but having your data managed by large scale third parties could lead to some dire consequences for your business. As we have seen with Danger, Google, and other SaaS providers, there is no way for you to be entirely sure your data is secure or your systems will always be available.

Today, some of Util-IT’s customers were directly affected by the issues at Postini. Fortunately, because of our monitoring and management solutions we were able to quickly work around the issue, allowing their mail to flow into their inboxes without delay. While they may have lost some of their SPAM filtering features provided by Postini, the important thing was they were able to get their messages. All of our clients have their e-mail hosted locally and manged by Util-IT. This gives them direct control of there data and the ability to react quickly to any issue. And while bringing services like e-mail in-house instead of hosting them with a third party may be more expensive on the front-end, there are clear advantages to having them there if you are working with a knowledgeable technology partner that has a financial responsibility to keep them up and running.

“Content Management” is a phrase that often gets mentioned in technology and business discussions, but what does it actually mean? Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is a technology that allows you to organize and manage important documents, tasks, meetings, e-mails and discussions. The advantage of a content management solution is it gives employees a single place to locate and store critical corporate information. One of the most widely used solutions for Content Management is Microsoft’s Windows SharePoint Services. A 2008 Gartner Survey placed Microsoft in their “Magic Quadrant” as one of the leaders in the ECM space, noting that “of all the vendors, Microsoft has driven the most change in the ECM market over the last 18 months with Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007. By delivering a broad set of functionality… Microsoft has changed the way organizations think about content management and collaboration.”

Are You One of the 100 Million People Using SharePoint?

While many enterprise organizations utilize SharePoint Services, it is also an excellent tool for small and medium sized businesses. According to CIO Magazine, SharePoint is currently being used by “more than 17,000 organizations and caters to 100 million users.” Several small businesses have extensive SharePoint sites and use them for a wide range of solutions. Given its broad capabilities, SharePoint allows your employees to share information in ways they did not have available to them previously.

For Gordy’s’ Lakefront Marine in Fontana, WI, their SharePoint site has become a key part of their business. Much of the staff at Gordy’s is seasonal and owner, Steele Whowell, needed a simple way to distribute staff schedules and HR information, as well as developing a centralized location to keep everyone informed of corporate wide events and programs. Additionally, they were opening up a second facility in Fox Lake, IL and it was critical that the employees at this location keep all of their shared documents in sync and current with the staff back in Wisconsin. Steele noted that “by putting our staff schedules and important information in one spot, it was easily accessible to everyone. We opened the SharePoint site up on the internet as well, allowing employees to keep themselves up to date without having to call in or come by the office. They can simply download any forms or information they need right from home.” Because of the strong emphasis Gordy’s places on its brand, Steele went as far as titling the site “GNet” to add a corporate touch the employee interaction. Steele felt that for the SharePoint site to be successful, “it was important that everyone knew it was out there and by calling it ‘GNet,’ we could easily refer to it and create awareness within the company.”

Chris Gilmartin, owner of Lever Interactive, uses his SharePoint Site for several key aspects of his business. “For us, having a knowledge base to keep track of customizations for our search clients is critical, as is having a single location to store all of our client information. This keeps everyone on the same page as we manage projects and search campaigns, allowing us to give consistent information to our customers and keeping the entire team aware of what is happening with every client. The other advantage of using SharePoint is the integration with Outlook.” noted Chris. “Contacts, tasks, e-mails, and project schedules within SharePoint are easily accessed right from our Outlook client.”

When your staff is communicating and collaborating, it can only lead to improved productivity. Time is not wasted looking on network shares for various documents, schedules and tasks are easily viewed by the entire organization, and information regarding customers and projects is at everyone’s finger tips. In both Lever and Gordy’s cases, it was extremely important that these companies had an advocate supporting the SharePoint project as well as an organizational commitment to use the solution. Once in place, having a single location for all of this information greatly improved their business processes as well as their internal and external communication.

What Does It Cost?

Given the power and complexity of this product, you might anticipate that this is an expensive solution, but for the small and medium-sized business owner, the price is ideal: free! Windows SharePoint Services can be downloaded directly from Microsoft and it does not require the purchase of any client access licenses. And depending on your current hardware, there may not even be a need to buy additional equipment. The only thing it will take is the time to have a Microsoft Specialist set up the software and a few employees to get things implemented. One of the easiest ways to leverage this solution out of the box is by using the built-in document and picture libraries, team calendars, group task lists, and organizational wide contact lists. But before installing a SharePoint solution, it is extremely important to take the time to talk to your technology partner and critical people within your company to develop a strategy for a successful implementation. From there, it is up to you to take this solution and your organization in a completely new direction.

Over the last ten years, THz3 had a difficult time getting our customers to remember our name and understand what THz3 symbolized. I bet there are many of you right now that still do not know what THz3 means. After a decade of confusion, it was time to make a change and that became the new company name: Util-IT. Util-IT does a much better job of describing who we are as a company and better defines the service we provide to our customers.

“This is an exciting time for us as a company,” noted Util-IT President, Stephen Swan. “We have a new name and identity that speaks directly to our customers and better defines our business. We are looking to use this new identity to strengthen our marketing and brand awareness. At the core, we are still the same company. We have the same employees and ownership, and provide the same high levels of customer service and technology expertise. The only difference is the name on the door and our new marketing direction.”

To further advance Util-IT’s marketing initiatives; Keith Lukes has assumed the role of Vice President, Business Development. Stephen added that “over the last eight years, Keith has gained a keen understanding our customers’ needs and been an important catalyst in acquiring new business. With his new role, we expect to leverage new opportunities and avenues we were unable to explore in the past.”

Keith went on to further define what the Util-IT brand will mean to their customers. “When you arrive at your office every morning, you expect your ‘utilities’ to be working: your lights to be on, your phones to have dial tone, and your water to run. When you work with Util-IT, you can expect those same levels of always-on service from your technology: your computer systems will be working, your files will available, your e-mail will be in your inbox, and your internet will be up. The Util-IT name helps put a distinct identity on our services.”

On top of these organizational changes, Util-IT also moved into new offices within the historic Boyce Building located in the River North Area of Chicago. With a much better view and new facilities, it has been a great transition for the entire staff. Our Technical Assistance Center overlooks several iconic architectural buildings, including the Sears Tower, Marina City, the IBM Building and Trump Tower, making it a very scenic working environment for everyone. Our new neighbors, Chicago Fire Department Engine Co. 42, are heading out regularly, so if you hear sirens going off while talking to our staff, it is likely Chicago’s Bravest and not an alert from our Monitoring Systems in the Technical Assistance Center.

And if a new office and company name were not enough, we have also given our website a complete makeover. Check out our new sections: Our Work which includes Case Studies and Testimonials from our clients and The Util-IT Learning Center which contains information about our solutions and the latest information regarding small business and technology.