CIO Solutions Voted Top 3 Best Technology Companies

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Thank You Fresno Customers and The Business Journal

CIO Solutions extends our heartfelt gratitude to our esteemed Fresno customers and The Business Journal for recognizing us as one of the Top 3 Best Technology Companies in The Central Valley. This acknowledgment is a testament to our unwavering commitment to serving the Fresno community with excellence.

Being acknowledged among the best companies serving our local business community by The Business Journal is truly exciting. The organization’s commitment to celebrating business achievements and fostering community spirit through engaging events like the annual Best of Central Valley Business Readers Choice Awards is commendable and we’re honored to be acknowledged within such a dynamic group.

(L to R) Derrick Herdewel, vCIO, Kristeen Paraguas, Director of Service, Maniver Sandhu, Customer Success Manager, Michael Barnes, Senior Engineer

(L to R) Derrick Herdewel, vCIO, Kristeen Paraguas, Director of Service, Maniver Sandhu, Customer Success Manager, Michael Barnes, Senior Engineer

To celebrate this achievement, a few members of our top-notch team (pictured above) took a break from behind the screens to celebrate. This gathering reminded us of the strong community ties we share and the collective success we’ve achieved together.

This recognition isn’t just an accolade for us; it’s a reflection of the trust and confidence our customers have in our services. We’re deeply humbled by the fact that our customers and community took the time to cast their votes for CIO Solutions. Your belief in our services motivates us to continually strive for excellence and push the possibilities of what exceptional IT service means.

Our heartfelt thanks go out to our valued Central Valley customers and The Business Journal for this incredible recognition. We remain steadfast in our commitment to delivering top-notch IT services and look forward to continuing our journey of innovation, reliability, and customer satisfaction.

Business Email: M365’s Exchange Online vs. Exchange

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Microsoft is a dominant player in the business email market. For most businesses, the question isn’t whether to use Microsoft email solutions, but rather “which one?” While Microsoft’s Exchange server solution has been the go-to option for years, the rise of cloud-based solutions has given businesses a more flexible and cost-effective alternative: Exchange Online through Microsoft 365. 

IN THIS ARTICLE: 

The Difference between cloud (M365’s Exchange Online) and premise (Exchange) 

Exchange Online and Exchange are two business email solutions offered by Microsoft. Exchange Online is a cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) solution within the Microsoft 365 suite. In this subscription-based model, Microsoft owns, manages, and secures the infrastructure. 

In contrast, the premise-based solution, Exchange, requires someone to own and manage the server infrastructure that the licensing is installed on. Large enterprises may manage this in-house on their own servers. Smaller businesses often contract with a third party for email hosting services (such as CIO Solutions’ Hosted Exchange). In this case, the third party manages the solution on their own servers.  

Both solutions offer similar features but differ in one major area: who manages and secures the email infrastructure. 

Although the idea of having control over managing their own infrastructure may seem less risky and appeal to many businesses, shifting that responsibility back to the vendor can actually provide significant advantages. 

Benefits of Exchange Online 

With great control comes great responsibility. Managing Exchange servers requires both time and resources. It’s also limited to the capabilities of your business or IT provider and evolves at a slower pace. This can mean fluctuating costs, occasional downtime, and yes, even additional risks for your business.  

Alternatively, M365’s Exchange Online infrastructure is managed and secured by Microsoft. Having the vendor in control of these responsibilities means your business benefits from: 

  1. Consistent Maintenance

    Exchange Online provides built-in enterprise-level security features, high reliability, and regular maintenance, upgrades, and feature updates. This reduces the complexity and burden of maintenance for your business. 

  2. High Availability

    Exchange Online in M365 offers high availability and disaster recovery features. Microsoft guarantees the system’s uptime, ensuring that organizations have access to their email at all times (via the Internet). On the other hand, organizations that depend on Exchange servers may experience potential downtime and data loss in the event of a disaster. 

  3. Enhanced Security Features

    With Exchange Online, businesses benefit from a consistent and robust security framework. Exchange Online offers the latest security features and advancements, with Microsoft implementing advanced security measures and managing the infrastructure in accordance with industry regulations. 

  4. Quick Application of Security Patches

    A major advantage of Exchange Online is that Microsoft swiftly applies security patches when vulnerabilities are detected. This guarantees that your business stays ahead of the latest security threats, with the vendor efficiently and rapidly implementing patches to maintain the highest level of protection.

  5. Predictable Costs

    Exchange Online provides a cost-effective and predictable pricing model as a subscription-based solution. With monthly or annual subscription options, it’s bundled with the rest of the 365 suite and doesn’t have additional costs for managing the infrastructure or maintaining the system. By using Exchange Online, you can avoid unexpected costs such as hardware upgrades, infrastructure costs, or special projects that come with running your own Exchange environment.

  6. Scalability & Integration Capabilities

    Exchange Online plays a central role in the M365 suite. It serves as the foundation for the function and interconnectivity of the entire suite of productivity tools. Migrating email into Exchange Online is the first step for businesses looking to leverage Teams, SharePoint, and other tools in the M365 ecosystem. As businesses continue to embrace collaboration, connectivity, and flexibility, Exchange Online can be a key first step to setting up scalable productivity options in the future.

Considering your Options 

Microsoft 365’s Exchange Online offers several benefits over Exchange servers in terms of flexibility, cost-effectiveness, high availability, scalability, and enterprise-level security and disaster recovery features. As more and more organizations opt for cloud solutions for their ease of use and flexibility, it may be worthwhile to explore whether Exchange Online could be a good fit for your business. 

Are you a current client of CIO Solutions? Talk to your vCIO to continue the conversation!

Not a client yet, but curious about maturing your productivity tools? Let’s talk!

Position Your Business for Success with IT Roadmapping

Position Your Business for Success with IT Roadmapping

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By Eric Egolf, CEO

Planning, budgeting, and prioritizing for IT can be a complex process. Big-picture, strategic planning is a critical part of maturing a business’s IT operations. But many businesses don’t know where to start with this type of planning. Even if they do, many encounter the pitfalls of not including the right stakeholders early enough in these IT planning processes. 

To help businesses create a clear picture of what IT activities to budget for, at CIO Solutions we use a process called “IT roadmapping”. In the following article, I will explain what we mean by “IT roadmapping” and how it can help your business get a better handle on your technology planning and improve your interactions within your organization and with your IT provider. 

What does an IT Roadmap look like and what does it include? Article: [Components of an IT Roadmap | IT Budgeting & Strategy] 

Defining IT Roadmapping 

IT roadmapping is, in essence, shorthand for “budgeting and planning for IT projects and IT asset maintenance.” In the IT roadmapping process, we itemize costs and activities (including projects, subscriptions, software, and services) into a timeline-based spreadsheet. 

Condensing strategic and ongoing IT expenses like this allows your business to get a better handle on planning and budgeting. It simplifies complex concepts, creates a clear picture of what’s coming up, and helps you understand the CapEx and OpEx requirements of maintaining and maturing your IT. 

IT roadmapping organizes all these activities into a plan while at the same time translating it into something that can easily be understood by everyone, from operational to financial teams. This can be a game-changer for getting your organization on the same page internally when it comes to the future of your IT. 

Who Needs to Be in The Conversation? 

It’s important to note that this tool shouldn’t interfere with or replace your normal budgeting methods. It should instead be a useful addition to them. Depending on business maturity, this type of IT planning can be fed into your organization’s regular budgeting process.  

Much like other planning and budgeting conversations, IT roadmapping sessions should include all the key stakeholders, particularly financial decision-makers. Without financial stakeholders in the room during the planning discussion, an IT roadmap won’t be a reliable tool.  

The goal of an IT roadmap is to create a proactive approach to planning. Without the direct input of these key decision-makers and financial stakeholders, any plan that is created will become more of a wish list to be approved or denied rather than a collaborative go-forward plan. It will have been built on unconfirmed assumptions that may later be rejected, making the roadmap less valuable. 

By including these key decision-makers early in the planning process, the resulting plan will be realistic and understood across internal groups. With active input from these parties upfront, this can be instrumental for breaking down barriers to maturing and properly maintaining your business IT. 

Big-Picture Planning Capabilities 

In addition to improving a business’s cross-departmental collaboration, IT roadmaps are also a great tool for transforming the relationship between a business and its IT provider. Holding these planning sessions helps to drive regular, strategic conversations between your business decision-makers and your IT expert. 

These opportunities for big picture planning give the IT expert permission to do what they do best: be forward-thinking. In the IT roadmapping conversation, the IT expert can lay out what they have identified as being most important for the business over the next 1 to 3 years. This helps everyone plan accordingly with a clear and manageable path forward which is way better than the alternative: reacting to sudden IT demands and writing unexpected checks month after month. This helps move the approach from reactive to proactive and puts everyone in a better position with more control. 

Barriers To Effective Planning 

While IT roadmapping can be a highly beneficial tool, the process is only as good as the business’s commitment to it. Here are a couple of things that commonly get in the way of a roadmap’s effectiveness. 

  • Surprise projects 

If a business has a habit of coming up with surprise projects, the roadmap will be ineffective. The process of creating an IT roadmap should dig out all the known and planned projects. If it doesn’t, in our experience, this issue is often a sign of ineffective communication between various stakeholders in the business. Unless it is addressed, a roadmap will lose its value. 

  • Rejecting recommendations 

It’s important to embrace the recommendations made by your IT expert. Rejecting these recommendations can dampen the value and effort put into roadmapping. The point of IT roadmapping is to allow the IT provider and the businesses to be proactive and methodical. However, when items on the roadmap are constantly pushed off or rejected, it reverses the value of roadmapping. 

To make IT roadmapping truly valuable, having the right mindset is important. If the motivators for rejecting recommendations are due to being overly frugal or non-committal, then the roadmap becomes unless. If surprise projects keep popping up, the same is true. IT roadmapping should be seen as a collaborative tool to help provide clarity and move the business forward through strategic investments. 

Moving Your Technology Forward 

IT Roadmaps are a great tool for long-term strategy, consistently maturing IT, improving internal stakeholder expectations, and leveraging the forward-thinking capabilities of your IT expert. This tool can move planning conversations and IT management posture from reactive to proactive, giving everyone more control and providing a clearer, more manageable path forward. 

However, this is not a one-and-done magic bullet. It’s a process that needs to occur at regular intervals. It requires a commitment by all parties and a willingness to collaborate on the big picture goals. When done effectively and with the right mentality, an IT roadmap is one of the most effective tools for maturing a business’s IT into a strategic tool. 

What does an IT Roadmap look like and what does it include? Article: [Components of an IT Roadmap | IT Budgeting & Strategy] 

 

Are you a current client of CIO Solutions? Contact your vCIO or Client Success Manager to continue the conversation around your IT strategy!   

Not a client yet, but curious about maturing your IT solutions? Let’s talk!

Eric

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eric is the CEO of CIO Solutions, a multi-regional IT services company that provides IT management and cloud computing. He has managed his firm through 3 major industry paradigm shifts, all of which disrupted the service and economic models that were at play.

In his role as CEO, he leads the company in adapting to the ever-changing world of Information Technology. With a growth mindset, he guides the organization as they grow into new challenges, take on shifting market dynamics, and re-invent their approach as technology changes.

Components of an IT Roadmap | IT Budgeting & Strategy

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By Eric Egolf, CEO

IT roadmapping can have a major impact on moving a business IT strategy from reactive to proactive. It is the process of itemizing IT projects, subscriptions, software, and services into a timeline-based spreadsheet to better understand upcoming costs, projects, and overall strategy. 

This is extremely useful in making complex IT plans easy for everyone from operational to financial teams to understand. With that in mind, let’s go through the components that make up an IT roadmap. 

How can IT Roadmapping improve your interactions within your organization and with your IT provider? Article: [Position Your Business For Success With IT Roadmapping]

The Anatomy of an IT Roadmap

Whatever the priorities are of the organization, an IT roadmap strategically maps out those initiatives and costs to provide a clear picture of upcoming items in various degrees of detail. 

It’s very important to note that in IT roadmapping, costs, and numbers are still general estimates. The actual costs will fluctuate depending on several factors. Working with estimates at this point keeps the planning conversation on track at a strategic level. It is dangerous to use actual quotes at this stage of planning for several reasons: 

  • The project scope at this stage is conceptual. The realistic scope hasn’t yet been well investigated and understood. 
  • In IT, costs are always fluctuating 
  • Drilling down into detailed costs is distracting from the big picture and is a waste of everyone’s time as it relates to IT roadmapping. 

In the screenshots below we’ll go through the components that make up this useful planning tool with a real-world example. Keep in mind, the priorities of a business’s IT roadmap will vary depending on its specific needs. In this example, the business is prioritizing replacing outdated workstations and amping up security with strategic projects.

Component 1 – Timeline

The highest level of an IT roadmap is the timeline. This component is an overview of all key IT projects and expenses laid out over a set time frame. 

In this example, the timeline is focused on planning for upcoming projects that have capital costs or additional monthly costs (rather than existing OpEx that have already been budgeted for).

Timeline

You’ll see that the vCIO has mapped out a few things in this timeline:

    • A workstation replacement strategy- scheduled every 6 months
    • Security project recommendations
      • A vulnerability management software project (Qualys agent)
      • An anti-phishing protection project (Graphus for email)
      • An evaluation project (for a new ERP system)

Component 2 – Detailed View

The Detailed View drills down into more specifics. The information in this view is what drives the timeline above. Here you’ll find cost estimates for hardware and software, services, and even monthly recurring expenses (reminder, these are estimates for planning, not final costs). 

Detailed View

In this example, you’ll see the cost estimates for the workstation replacements and some estimates for the security additions.

You’ll notice that an ERP evaluation (ERP Eval) is listed as a placeholder with no cost estimates. At this early stage, there are a lot of unknown financial details for what this project would require. Examples of those unknowns include licensing requirements (which vary by vendor), necessary evaluation teams (which may include the business and the IT provider), possible server upgrades, the scope of data migration effort (which may involve the business, IT provider, and a 3rd Party), and options for ERP Partner (which solutions are available).

Including this placeholder on the IT roadmap lets both the IT provider (CIO Solutions) and the customer know to expect future discussions for this item. At this point, financial details are undefined.

Component 3 – Budget Planning

The last component is the Budget Planning view which summarizes the cost estimates by quarter and year. This view brings all CapEx and OpEx pieces together. It includes the estimated budget for these roadmapped projects as well as the expected recurring monthly costs. 

This data is extremely useful for feeding into the business’s normal budgeting process. It helps to inform when funds might be needed should the business do cash flow planning as well. The longer we do regular and thorough IT roadmapping, the more accurate this data will be.

Budget Planning Monthly Budgeting

Bringing All the Components Together

Here is the complete IT roadmap; a one-pager that brings all these components together in one place. This makes for easy review and distribution of important information to the right people.

Bringing All the Components Together

What To Put On A Roadmap

Now that you have an overview of the components and framework of an IT Roadmap, the next question is “what should and shouldn’t go into the roadmap?”

Here are some examples of items that many businesses include:

  • Lifecycle Assets 

These are assets that have a defined lifecycle after which they are replaced. Replacing them doesn’t present new functionality, require additional user training, or cause user adoption issues.

Examples: Switches, firewalls, wireless access points, servers, workstations

It’s important to replace these things before they reach their official End of Life. Article: [Upgrade Your Tech BEFORE the End (of Life)]

  • Updates and Enhancements

These are items that would present an improvement. They typically have an additional cost, end-user impact, or both.

Examples:

    • Installing a vulnerability management tool- this is transparent to end-users but has an additional monthly cost
    • Upgrading the Office suite- this may require labor costs and additional end-user training
  • Subscriptions*, Annual, and Monthly Costs

These are significant recurring (annual or monthly) costs to be aware of and monitor.

    • *It may be worth including SOME software subscriptions to your IT roadmap, especially if they are material in cost or need to be reevaluated.
    • The rule of thumb is to only put them on this as a reminder to have a discussion around them.
  • Strategic Projects

These are projects at the organizational level that are important for the IT provider to be aware of. These are typically much harder to budget for as, often, the scope isn’t well understood early on. They should be on the roadmap as discussion points.

Examples: Office moves, new applications, new business lines, company acquisition potential

Best Practices for a Valuable IT Roadmap

The general rule is to start small and build upon it. Start by roadmapping something that will supply value and clarity right away, such as lifecycle asset refreshes. In this example, the target is to map lifecycle asset replacements over a 3-year period. With this initial roadmap in place, meet to review it every 6 months to a year. Add other items to continue growing the IT roadmap maturity over time. 

It’s important to note that, even following best practices, an IT roadmap alone won’t provide maximum value. To get the most out of this tool, keep in mind that the right stakeholders (including financial decision-makers) need to be included in the planning discussions. In addition, try to avoid too many surprise projects. The IT roadmapping process is intended to dig out all known projects in order to be a truly valuable, proactive planning tool. It is also important to embrace the recommendations made by your IT expert. This type of planning allows them to do what they do best- be forward-thinking and strategic about your IT future. Rejecting these recommendations can dampen the value and effort put into roadmapping. 

A Clear Path Forward

IT Roadmaps are a great tool for planning and maturing a business’s IT with strategic initiatives over time. It can help a business get better control over their solutions and put them into a proactive rather than a reactive position. Technology is always changing, and as your business grows and evolves, so will your needs. This type of planning needs to happen regularly, with the right people in the conversation, and with the right mindset for collaboration and growth. 

When done right, the components that make up an IT roadmap can provide a clear and manageable path forward for a business to mature its IT over time. 

How can IT Roadmapping improve your interactions within your organization and with your IT provider? Article: [Position Your Business For Success With IT Roadmapping]

Are you a current client of CIO Solutions? Contact your vCIO or Client Success Manager to continue the conversation around your IT strategy!   

Not a client yet, but curious about maturing your IT solutions? Let’s talk!

Eric

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eric is the CEO of CIO Solutions, a multi-regional IT services company that provides IT management and cloud computing. He has managed his firm through 3 major industry paradigm shifts, all of which disrupted the service and economic models that were at play.

In his role as CEO, he leads the company in adapting to the ever-changing world of Information Technology. With a growth mindset, he guides the organization as they grow into new challenges, take on shifting market dynamics, and re-invent their approach as technology changes.

Email Safety | 5 Ways to Spot a “Phishy” Email

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Quick Tips & Best Practices

We rely on email for many functions of business today. This makes it an excellent tool for bad actors to exploit. Email is one of the quickest and easiest opportunities threat actors have at their disposal.

Threat actors have gotten good at using our busy days and frequent use of email to trick users into providing information, making mistakes, or taking actions. That may look like tricking an Accounts Payable employee into wiring payments to a different account number or getting a user to enter login credentials by pretending to be a well-known company and sending a fake “response required”, “unusual activity”, or “update account details” email.

In the busy day-to-day, here are a couple of tips to keep in mind for practicing email safety both in your work and personal life so you don’t fall victim to these manipulation tactics.

5 Signs an Email Is Suspicious

Bad actors find success when their targets are busy, hurried, and accept things at face value. When you get a suspicious email, PAUSE and check to see if any of these signs are present:

P Passwords or sensitive info requested Pay attention to what the email is asking you to provide (passwords, social security numbers, account information, credit card info, etc.). This information shouldn’t be shared via email.
A Attachments you weren’t expecting Don’t trust attachments you didn’t ask for and avoid opening invoices, Word docs, and any other attachments that you didn’t request or weren’t expecting
U Urgency or intensity in the tone Notice the tone- is the sender requesting secrecy, stating something is past due or urgent, and generally trying to make you react quickly?
S Sender name & domain don’t match Check if the sender’s display name and email address don’t match, (name shows as John Smith, but the email is ra4azeu526@gmail.com) or if the email address domain is unfamiliar (usually from @company.com but this email is coming from @business.com)
E Errors in spelling & grammar Particularly from reputable, large companies, pay attention to spelling and grammar mistakes

Best practices if you think an email is suspicious:

  • HOVER, don’t click
    • Don’t blindly trust the display text, use your cursor to hover over links. This will display what the embedded link address is and give you more information. When in doubt, don’t click.
  • DELETE, don’t engage
    • Err on the side of caution and delete the email from your inbox rather than unsubscribing or engaging with it at all.
  • VERIFY, use a different method of communication to verify the source
    • Don’t respond to the email. Call, text, or chat with colleagues/vendors/executives to verify that email requests are from them.
  • LEAVE, go directly to vendor websites instead of through the email
    • Open your browser and go directly to the company’s website to log in to any accounts, change passwords, etc. Don’t go from any links in the email to reset passwords.

When it comes to email safety, be extremely skeptical.

This is an area in which it’s good to be hesitant, exercise extreme caution, and be wary. Email is quick and convenient, but now more than ever it’s important to slow down, stay vigilant, verify often, and change up communication methods.   

 

Are you a current client of CIO Solutions? Contact your vCIO or Customer Success Manager to continue the conversation around your IT security and anti-phishing education tools!   

Not a client yet, but curious about maturing your IT solutions? Let’s talk!

IT Support & Services – Santa Barbara

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IT Support & Services | Santa Barbara

Finding the Right Fit

 

When evaluating your options for an IT support & service company in Santa Barbara, it’s important to start with the right questions.

It seems obvious to jump right in with the specifics. What’s the company’s IT service delivery process? What do the pricing and agreement terms look like? Before even getting to this point, first, it’s important to see if the company offers the right type of IT services and is a fundamental fit for your organization. After all, if all goes well, your business will be relying on this IT provider for all your information technology needs for years to come. You want to make sure it’s a good match!

Is the company’s model break/fix or IT Management?

Many IT service companies operate under a break/fix service model. With this type of relationship, when something breaks in your environment, you would reach out to the service provider to fix the issue. In this model, services are provided on an as-needed basis and the IT company’s revenue is typically at an hourly rate. This can make costs unpredictable and is a reactive model of managing IT.

Another IT provider approach is the Managed Service Provider model. In this type of relationship, the service provider takes on IT management tasks to proactively handle your technology, typically for a fixed monthly fee. The Managed Service Provider proactively handles a range of IT services including security, network management, backup and recovery, data center management, tech support, and IT strategy. This model focuses on addressing both the proactive and reactive requirements of managing business IT.

It’s important to first understand which model makes the most sense for supporting your business technology. Then, you will want to make sure the prospective firm offers that model of IT support and services.

Many small businesses start off engaging IT providers with a break/fix model to handle their technology needs. While this can be a good option, especially for organizations with fewer than 10 employees, it’s often not sustainable as the business grows.

When a business’s technology needs become more complex and they have more users to support, Managed Service Providers are a good option for supporting the business IT.

Does the IT Service Provider have a local presence in Santa Barbara? If so, how many employees and what are their roles?

To determine how essential the answer to this question is for your business, first consider how often you have the need for in-person support. If you have modern Cloud solutions that don’t require frequent in-person support, for example, this may not be a critical factor in your evaluation.

However, if your employee and technology are locally based and you require hands-on, in-person technical assistance on occasion, this is a key question to ask. If this is the case, you may want to prioritize firms that have “critical mass” locally in Santa Barbara. The provider you choose should have technical resources available to serve clients in the area. When evaluating your options, consider how large the local SLO office is and what types of employees make it up.

What are the service provider’s IT consulting capabilities?

The information technology industry is always evolving. Because of this dynamic nature of the industry, it’s important to partner with an IT company that can support your technology needs today and help you strategize for the future.

When considering your options, it’s a good idea to understand what ongoing and future IT consulting services the company will provide. You may be currently focused on finding an IT provider that can solve your immediate issues and handle all your current needs.

This is important of course. But it’s also a good idea to consider what services that IT company offers that will help you evolve and mature your operations over time.

Do they offer modern solutions like cloud computing solutions?

Regardless of whether you are considering moving to the Cloud or not, be sure that the IT service providers you’re considering offer modern solutions like Cloud computing. As your organization looks for ways to improve productivity and reduce maintenance costs, it’s critical that the provider you choose can offer and support modern solutions that can enable that evolution.

A good IT support company will not only provide flexible, modern solutions like this, but they will also be able to educate you on your options and what’s right for your business.

What is the IT service provider’s company culture?

This question may seem a little unnecessary. Why should it matter if the IT provider you work with has a good company culture? They’re handling your computers. However, this is more significant than you may think for ensuring a good long-term fit with an IT service provider.

Since they hopefully have a local presence in Santa Barbara you may want to take a peek at their office. In our experience, nothing tells the story of an organization’s culture like seeing it in action.

Company culture can make a huge difference in the relationship your organization will have with your IT provider. Take time to see how their IT support team works, what their core values are, and how their departments work together. Working with a team made up of people who are not only committed to their work but love what they do can make all the difference in the quality of IT support and services you receive.

 

About CIO Solutions

As a premier Managed Service Provider, CIO Solutions takes the burden of managing IT off of our clients they can get back to focusing on their businesses. For over 30 years, CIO Solutions has been simplifying relationships with technology, while at the same time transforming it into a strategic asset to propel businesses forward.

Through full-service IT management (including daily technical support, ongoing maintenance, and strategic IT consulting) and modern solutions (including private cloud services), CIO Solutions supports businesses across industries and sizes throughout California and beyond.

Get control of your IT solutions and get back to business

 

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How to ride a wave of ravenous demand for products and services

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By Russ Levanway, President

Last year, so many of us had to cope with things we never even considered would happen. I don’t have to go into detail, of course — we all lived it. From working remotely, to COVID protocols, to people getting sick or losing a loved one, to isolation, and the commingling of personal and work life, the social fabric of humanity most definitely frayed.

But humanity is resilient. We came into 2021 with new hope and good momentum. You can see that momentum in people’s pent-up demand for goods and services after living without for a year. We want to travel again. We want a new car or a new home. The demand is enormous, and it’s created a strain that we haven’t really witnessed in recent memory.

More, more more

Underlying all this is a supply chain bottleneck. The supply chain is impacted whenever factories shut down, shipping becomes tapped out, trucking companies can’t find enough drivers to hire, and a thousand other factors. It’s all driving up inflation to levels we haven’t seen since the 1970s, and at an astonishing rate.

The strain has hit every kind of business, including ours. Core infrastructures like switches and servers are much more difficult to find and cost significantly more than they have in the past. The strain has also hit our employees with high prices, myself included. I’m not just referring to the ridiculous increase in home prices; I’m talking about the basics. Everything just costs more.

Whether it’s a temporary or long-term change, I won’t attempt to predict. But, as a company, we don’t want to be caught flat-footed in this new reality, however long it lasts.

The benefits of being nimble and scrappy

How do we begin to support our employees and clients under price and availability limitations? We start by keeping close track of our team composition, recognizing that financial difficulties and high inflation are real considerations, and taking steps to help our employees out.

We’ve also become really creative with buying and procuring equipment. Our procurement team scrounges around on random websites for a laptop here, a switch there. Often, we can’t go with Plan A, so we come up with a Plan B or even Plan C. Sometimes, we just have to tell the client that we can’t get them the piece they want — or at least not yet. In certain cases, we can provide loaner equipment; I’ve watched employees raid the e-waste pile for a temporary switch that will do for our client until the permanent switch comes in.

Baked-in flexibility

How have we been able to stay creative and adaptable? I think we handle change well because it’s been in our DNA from the beginning. Long before COVID struck, we built our company to guard against rigidity or strict adherence to doing things only one way. We fostered a very innovative problem-solving culture. Those measures and methods we set in motion years ago have served us well.

In this time of unprecedented new challenges, have you been flexible and adaptable? Many organizations have evolved while others have fallen by the wayside. And then there are those organizations that hung on tight to the belief that everything would go back to “normal” when COVID ended: everyone in the office again, packing the conference room, meeting up for a happy hour at 5 o’clock, etc. They believed (hoped?) that COVID was just a rude interruption.

I don’t believe that’s true. Are you an organization that has embraced adaptability in your culture? That will be critical to retaining your employees and coming up with innovative solutions for your customers. Start now, if you haven’t already; this might be our new normal.

WFH Minimum Standards

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Work from Home Standards

Recommended Minimum Hardware & Software Standards

Working from home can be as productive as working from the office in many circumstances. Having the right equipment can make the difference between a great and a poor experience. These recommendations are based on years of experience working with a variety of businesses using a variety of applications.

While they are a good guideline for acceptable minimum standards, these solutions are NOT one size fits all.

Talk to your vCIO or Account Manager about what’s right for your environment and needs.

Workstation Guidelines

Workstation Hardware

Workstation hardware should be “business grade” from a reputable manufacturer (HP, Dell, Lenovo, Microsoft).  These machines will typically have higher quality components and come with a standard 3-year warranty term to back them up.

Dell Optiplex, Dell Precision, HP Prodesk, HP EliteDesk, HP “Z” Products, Lenovo

Thinkstation

Dell Latitude, Dell Precision, HP Probook, HP EliteBook, HP ZBook, Lenovo “T” series, Lenovo “X” Series, Lenovo “P”

series

  • Workstations should at a minimum have an Intel Core i3 or Ryzen 3 processor.

A Core i5 or Ryzen 5 is preferred for improved performance.

  • It is recommended that all workstations have a minimum of 8GB of Memory (RAM).

 

  • All workstations should be equipped with a Solid State Drive (SSD), preferably an NVMe SSD. 

250GB is a reasonable Solid State Drive capacity.

Workstation Software

Workstation Software should be “currently supported” by the vendor

At a minimum, employees should be using Windows 8 or Windows 10.

  • Ideally, Windows 10 Professional, which will give you the best blend of performance and compatibility.
  • Note: Windows 7 is no longer supported by Microsoft and should not be used for business purposes at this point.

At a Minimum, employees should be using Office 2013 or Higher (2016 or 2019).

  • Ideally, using the subscription-based Office 365 will allow employees to install the newest version of office on up to 5 total machines inside and outside of the office.
  • Note: Office 2010 is no longer supported by Microsoft and has stopped receiving security updates. 

At a minimum, employees should use Acrobat Standard DC 2015. 

  • Ideally the subscription Adobe “Document Cloud” allows employees to have the newest version of Adobe software installed on both their work and home computers.
  • Note: Acrobat Pro 11 is no longer supported by Adobe.

Workstation Security

AntiVirus Software should be installed.

  • At a minimum, Windows Defender (the included AV in Windows 10) should be enabled.
  • Ideally using CIO Solutions Managed Antivirus software (Webroot) allows us to provide the highest level of security, support, and automated scanning.

Windows Updates should be enabled.

  • At a minimum Windows Automatic Updates should be enabled on your Windows 10 workstation.

 

  • With Windows 10 PRO-
    • Ideally installing the CIO Solutions tools allows CIO to test updates and roll them out on your employees machines automatically.

Peripheral Guidelines

Peripherals & Suggestions

Peripherals can really make or break your ability to work from home. Items like docking stations and multiple monitors can transform productivity and enable an employee’s home to be come an extension of the office.

If your employees have Laptops for portability, a Docking Station can be a great way to transform a laptop into a “Desktop Replacement”.

With a single cable connection docking stations can connect up to 3 Monitors, Wired Network, Webcams, Speakers, Headsets, Charging, and a Keyboard and Mouse.

Consider This:

  • Most laptop manufacturers make docking stations designed for their laptops.
  • We have good experience with universal models from Startech and Plugable.

Your vCIO can work with you to verify compatibility with your laptop.

Having multiple monitors on your desk has been shown to increase productivity tremendously.

Most employees will benefit from having 2 monitors on their desk and most modern computers will support them.

Consider This:

  • Our recommended minimum size for a monitor is 22”.
  • The monitor should be FHD (Full HD) resolution of at least 1920×1080.
  • Dell, HP, Acer, Viewsonic, and Benq are some of the more reputable brands.
  • Many workstations will need an adapter cable for the monitor to connect to the port on the back. 

Our vCIOs can help you determine if you need these adapters.

These are one of the easiest things to customize.  Keyboards and mice have a wide compatibility and will almost always work with just about any machine.

Find one that is comfortable for you!

Consider This:

  • We recommend models from Logitech and Microsoft.

Having a webcam can allow you to video conference from your PC using applications like Zoom, Teams, goto Meeting, or Slack.

Consider This:

  • Logitech makes great webcams that are compatible with just about every computer.
    • The C525 and C920 are popular models that work extremely well.
  • Many laptops also have built in webcams that can function with conferencing tools.
    • It is important to note that many built in webcams may not be functional in a docked mode. 

Speakers will enable employees to hear the other participants in video conferences.

Consider This:

  • Something like the simple Logitech S150 work well and are relatively inexpensive.
  • Logitech makes some other models with higher fidelity and a matching price tag.

Many of our customers would rather a headset for conferences as it allows them to block out background noise in their home environment.

Consider This:

  • The Logitech H390 headset is a great option for these users.
  • Additionally, most headsets designed for “pc gaming” will work with a majority of conferencing products.

Supporting Devices

Printers and Scanners

We prefer HP Printers, because they have a great reputation for performance, cost, and compatibility with a variety of machines.

Our recommended models start with the LaserJet Pro M200 series and extend to the 400 series for more demanding tasks (higher volume).

Consider This: 

The choices below all support direct connection, wired networking and wireless networking connectivity options making them good options for most home offices.

    • Black and White – M203DW
    • Color – M254DW
    • Multifunction BW – M227fdw
    • Color Multifunction – M281fdw

Most of our customers will use scanners that are part of a multi-function printer. However, in some cases In the cases a separate desktop scanner is preferred for high volume or high speed tasks,

Consider This:

  • The Epson DS-530 is our go-to desktop device.
    • This is TWAIN complaint and works with many medical billing and other software that require direct scanner access.
  • In environments where a wireless scanner is needed (non-typical) we would recommend the DS-575W.

Routers/Wifi

Consider This: 

  • A majority of our customers utilize business class firewalls from Sophos, Meraki, or Watchguard to keep their corporate networks safe.
    • These providers also make small “telecommuter gateway” routers that can be utilized in the home.
    • The great part is that they can establish a VPN connection directly to your office and maintain high levels of connectivity.

Reach out to your vCIO for more information on what would be compatible for your situation.

How to Choose an IT Provider

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Choosing the best IT provider for your business can be a daunting task.

While there is no single foolproof indicator, if you do your homework and ask the right questions, you can make a well-informed decision.

Here are some of the questions you should keep in mind as you evaluate your options. A qualified Managed Service Provider should have clear answers to these questions and more.

1. Do they ask the right questions to understand your needs? More importantly, do they listen to your answers?

One-size does not fit all when it comes to IT. A good provider will assess your needs and create a solution that addresses your unique business requirements.

Our Answer:

We pride ourselves on providing the technical expertise you need with the customization your business deserves. We make it a priority to truly understand your business structure and goals, then work with you to design the best solutions for your current and future technology needs.

We realize that businesses and their workflows are unique, so your technology solutions should support that. Only by collaborating with you to understand your business can we recommend a truly fitting solution.

2. Is their IT management approach reactive or proactive?

Many managed service providers still approach business IT with a break/fix mentality. Often, this is offered as a “managed IT solution”. The intent is good, but the method is not the most effective as it is geared to firefighting; something breaks, they fix it- managing your IT by reacting when something goes wrong.

Responding with a fix when something breaks is of course a necessary piece of supporting your IT, however it is only one part of a much larger picture. This purely reactive method leaves your organization in a constantly reactive state, unable to use your technology as a strategic tool.

Our Answer:

CIO Solutions employs a holistic approach to your IT. We proactively anticipate and resolve issues through consistent monitoring and maintenance, implement updates to optimize your solutions, map out your immediate and long-term IT strategy with technology experts, and offer consistent and reliable support for any IT issues that arise daily.

3. What is the size and competence of their team?

If the team is too small, you will frequently have to wait for support because resources are busy with other clients. Small teams are limited in their knowledge (a single engineer cannot know everything about every technology).

In today’s world, IT engineers need to have some level of specialization. When those experts pool their knowledge with other experts, it creates a team that can design and implement the most comprehensive and effective solutions.

Our Answer:

CIO Solutions clients benefit from the collective expertise of over 50 technical resources who are experts in their specialized role. Our organization is strategically designed to enable innovation, collaboration, and execution of quality solutions.

With dedicated technology directors charting the innovation of our solutions, specialized teams mapping out the processes for execution, projects teams implementing new technology, and support teams dedicated to customer service needs, our team is not only diverse in skill and experience, but divided in a way that maximizes the benefit of these resources to our clients.

4. Is the team local? Will your business have access to in-person support when you need it?

Often, large IT firms will branch into new regions by setting up a satellite office in your area. This may be fine until your hardware needs physical attention. If that happens, you want to know that there is a capable team nearby who can show up and fix the problems, not just a salesperson or single resource stationed in your area.

Our Answer:

One of the concerns that businesses often have when considering working with a multi-regional IT provider like CIO Solutions is: will you have enough resources in my area to properly support my business?

We are proud of our three full offices servicing Fresno, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara.

Each office includes the resources necessary to effectively support clients: project engineers, support agents, and field technicians who are nearby and ready to serve your business in person.

5. Do they have long-standing customers like you (similar in size of company, industry or mix of technology in use)?

If they have strong, lasting relationships with customers whose needs are like yours, there is a good chance they can satisfy your needs.

With IT providers, the longevity and quality of the relationship is important. You want a partner who understands your industry and who can facilitate the continuing needs and growth of businesses like yours.

Our Answer

Fresno, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara are community-centered cities. In these regions, reputation is everything and CIO is proud that most of our new business comes from client referrals.

We have long-standing relationships with a diverse range of businesses in different sizes and industries across the Central Coast and Central Valley of California.

6. How reliable and mature are the processes they have in place for providing ongoing strategy and technical support?

Most IT providers have a small staff of technicians who provide support and consulting as needs arise. They may do this via remotely accessing your computers and servers or visiting your office.

The support and consulting structures in place tend to be geared toward quick fixes that produce incomplete resolutions. If a support system is too simple, issues will consistently reoccur because the root cause does not get resolved. Likewise, hasty consulting will produce fragmented and inconsistent IT solutions.

In the constantly evolving world of IT, the organizational structure of an IT provider needs to be constantly reevaluated and adapted to ensure effective outcomes.

Our Answer:

We regularly evaluate our organizational structures to ensure that our processes maximize consistency and reliability of service.

CIO has developed a world-class help desk with technically proficient, experienced and helpful agents who are experts in managing and maintaining IT networks. This team is organized into dedicated roles that are structured to work together to address all possible support needs whether that’s complex resolutions unique to your environment, quick fix issues, or onsite assistance.

Our Strategic Client Services Team is responsible for the technical consulting and guidance of our clients. This team is comprised of vCIOs (dedicated technical consultants assigned to each client) and Account Managers (who also work within the support structure).

We organize our teams in a way that maximizes expertise while facilitating collaboration across teams. CIO Solutions not only has the resources needed to resolve any issue, but the processes in place to deliver consistent and effective services.

7. Is the IT company a cultural fit with your operations?

The sales process can tell you a lot about how the provider views their relationship with you as a client. Is the focus more transaction focused, or collaborative with an emphasis on the developing a partnership?

The values of the company and their view of their relationship with clients will help you determine your fit. Entering into a partnership without ensuring the right fit and cultural match can create negative energy and be toxic for both organizations’ employee culture.

Our Answer:

It is much more important to us that customers end up with the right match than to simply win business that isn’t a good fit.

90% of our customer relationships last more than 7 years and many longer than 15.

We consider our relationships “partnerships” and dislike the term “vendor relationship” which tends to marginalize the value derived from each party.

Our Brand Promises

First Contact Resolution
We designed our support team to emphasize resolving your issue on the first call

Complex Problem Solving 
We encourage creative problem solving and are constantly developing our technical talent

Operational Efficiency
We continually research and implement ways to support our clients faster and more consistently

 

Our Approach

 

As you search for the right IT provider and consider CIO Solutions, it is our practice to work with you to address these questions with more than just words. We take you through our processes, introduce you the innerworkings of our organization, and strive to answer all these questions and more to illustrate how we will be successful together.

We want prospective clients to understand our operations; how customer inquiries flow through the system, how we ensure that someone is always available to support your business, and how we utilize our army of qualified IT professionals with varying specialties to tackle any situation that may occur.

We focus on ensuring a great match of our services and culture to the needs and culture of our customers. This includes office tours and meeting with executives on both sides of the table. This ensures that the company vision and direction of each organization is understood. We find that the more we understand the customer’s business and direction the more our advice and guidance can have a lasting, bottom-line impact.

These are some of the criteria that can help you select the right IT partner. We are passionate about connecting businesses with the solutions that are right for them. Give us a call now at 1.888.662.9084 and see how we stack up.

 

Why A Managed Service Provider

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When it comes to IT, businesses have a few options for handling their needs. Common methods are:

  1. establish a relationship with a local IT Consultant (or repair shop)
  2. hire in-house IT
  3. designate an existing employee to handle IT issues on top of their current role or
  4. partner with a managed service provider (MSP)

Your choice will depend on many factors, one of which being the role you see your IT playing in your business.

Do you view your technology simply a means to an end, or as a strategic tool that is instrumental in growing and developing your business?

Many SMBs believe that their technology solutions are crucial to improving business outcomes and running the business better.  If this is true for your business, consider a managed service provider over an individual IT provider- here’s why.

 

An Individual Provider & Your Business’ Productivity

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Many businesses assume that the way to ensure their provider has the most in-depth understanding of their business and network is to work with a single individual. Having one point of contact may seem like the quick, efficient, and dedicated option. This causes businesses to lean toward individual provider options: hiring in-house IT, designating a current employee as an IT resource, or contracting with a small single-person IT company.

However, relying on one person can have the opposite effect. It can limit your access to quality solutions and leave your company at a strategic disadvantage.

Benefits of working with an individual provider

  • Qualifications are often enough to manage current needs
  • Understanding of the company’s infrastructure
  • Perception of a dedicated relationship due to familiarity

Disadvantages of relying on an individual provider:

  • Restricted by the limitations of one individual’s experience and knowledge
    • No team to rely on for collaboration, specialization, and experience
    • Knowledge of best practices and evolving technology limited
    • Single perspective resulting in narrow set of options for your business
  • Increased demand=slowed response & quality of solutions
    • Your business may not be an IT Consultant’s priority
    • Influx of requests overwhelms individual’s capacity and results in halted productivity for your business
    • Increased demand results in hasty solutions rather than long-term solutions addressing the root cause of an issue
  • Their absence can be detrimental to your business
    • Knowledge resides with one person- they can leave whenever they want. Typically, do not leave behind reliable and thorough documentation
    • When that individual takes a vacation or sick time, your company is left without access to support

 

Relying on an individual can leave your business vulnerable to productivity losses, limit your ability to grow and access the most modern and effective technology solutions, and potentially leave you floundering if that resource ever leaves.

A managed service provider offers SMBs access to entire teams of specialized resources, robust support and documentation structures, and collective expertise from a range of expert perspectives. A good MSP also structures these teams in a way that establishes a familiar relationship with your team so you get the benefit of both: the intimate understanding of your business and the expansive tools that only come from a multi-person team.

 

Cost of Individual Provider vs. Value of Managed Service Provider

 

Another reason SMBs may find a single provider enticing (single IT consultant, in-house IT, or an existing employee) is the perception that this is a cost-effective strategy for managing IT. Small and medium-sized businesses typically can’t afford to hire an entire IT team (and even if they could that probably wouldn’t be the most advantageous allocation of funds).

Due to this, it’s a common perception that paying one person is a more economical way to handle your IT. However, this does not factor in the many unanticipated risks and costs, not to mention actual value of what you receive.

Costs of Individual Provider

      • Higher personnel costs (In-House IT): salaries, benefits, insurance, office supplies, training, management, etc.
      • Decreased productivity: existing employee splitting role, employees unable to work due to delayed support, productivity losses due to recurring issues
      • Risk of costly security breaches due to lack of proactive planning
      • Additional costs for after hours work, changing rates, salary increases

Value of a Managed Service Provider

Managed service providers offer SMBs the benefit of working with an extensive team of experts that would otherwise be outside of their scope financially or strategically. An MSP presents SMBs with the unique access to a full team of resources that solves the gaps that working with a single provider would leave while providing better quality solutions, comprehensive IT strategies, reliable and consistent support, and dependable documentation to ensure continuity of your business IT solutions.

 

Why CIO Solutions?

 

CIO Solutions clients benefit from the collective expertise of over 50 technical resources (support, projects, strategy, etc.), and the familiarity of dedicated resources designed to be intimately familiar with your business and your environment.

Clients of CIO Solutions benefit from:

24/7 support access with fast response and resolution times

  • Field services technicians, rapid response agents, and dedicated client services team (with in-depth familiarity of your business’ technical environment).

Strategic IT planning and budgeting

  • Strategic client services team with a dedicated vCIO and Account Manager assigned to each client. Focus on aligning your IT strategy with your business objectives, keeping your operations up to date, and cultivating an intimate understanding of your business needs and workflows.

Proactive maintenance & monitoring

  • NOC team to managing efficient monitoring, reporting and resolution

Industry experts in specialized roles

  • Dedicated technology directors, support agents, technology strategists.

Diverse experience and compliance standards

  • Serving over 300 clients in a range of industries empowers our team with diverse experience that all clients benefit from (modern technologies, software, workflows, hardware, compliance standards, etc.)

Flat monthly rate of service

  • Easier to budget around, IT becomes a monthly bill rather than an unanticipated cost that fluctuates when something comes up.

Performance audits

  • Independent performance audits verify that appropriate procedures are in place and standards are met. CIO Solutions is certified SOC Type II.