Managed IT Support articles

Data serves as the lifeblood of contemporary businesses, fueling insights, steering decision-making processes, and ultimately moulding a company's success. However, managing data can swiftly become overwhelming in today's information-rich environment. With scattered spreadsheets, isolated databases, and inconsistent formatting, a data management nightmare emerges, preventing the effective harnessing of this invaluable resource. This guide aims to chart a path toward data management triumph. It delves into the challenges of inadequate data management, provides a blueprint for ...

Have you heard of Bankcard? Before VISA and MasterCard, Bankcard was Australia's answer to credit cards. Bankcard dominated the credit card space for several years, with over five million customers at its peak in 1984.  But in 1986, a dispute arose between the major banks on whether to include Bankcard in their introduction of EFTPOS. At the time, several banks were actively promoting MasterCard leading to the start of Bankcard's demise.  The banks' withdrawal of ...

As we enter the pandemic's third year, most Melbourne businesses have adopted remote or hybrid working arrangements.  So whether your employees are commuting into Southern Cross or logging in from Box Hill, keeping tabs on productivity and morale is a delicate balancing act. The majority of companies across Australia now support some remote work, with statistics showing that: 24% of companies are 100% remote 31% support hybrid office/remote working 45% currently don't allow employees to ...

Remember when Zoom meetings were the only way to maintain team engagement during a lockdown? You were stuck at home, with endless Zoom meetings back-to-back…looking for anything to break up the day. So once a week, someone would be nominated to help maintain morale (and bust the boredom) by coming to Friday’s meeting with a quick game or fun fact.  Sometimes it was more complicated than you thought… Well, Microsoft heard all those pleas for some fun ...

Late last year we boldly decided to remove our mobile phone numbers from our email signatures quietly. For a business that is so focused on customer service, removing it could be seen as counter-intuitive (pun intended). However, my argument is it will make for a better customer service experience and streamline support queries. We’ve been able to achieve this because we’ve moved our business phone system to Zoom Phone. Zoom Phone is the business phone ...

Ham. Prawns. Oysters.  Hold on, does your mother-in-law eat oysters? Your sister is bringing her new partner. Why does Coles keep running out of glacée cherries? Hold on, is it going to boiling hot on Christmas Day or a washout? Who is going to Queen Vic on the 24th to get the seafood? Maybe it is easier to get it locally? Your mind is spinning. It’s a stressful time. We have all awakened from a ...

Tripadvisor. Google Reviews. Facebook. OpenTable. Compare the Meerkats. From booking a restaurant to a holiday and buying a new TV, you have more content to sift through at your fingertips to make a buying decision.  It's easy to make informed decisions on your next meal, trip or flick. But with so many reviews, opinions and guides, how do you know what to trust? For example, choosing between a restaurant in Flinders Lane versus riverside dining ...

Managed Services Provider (MSP) (Dry and dull) definition of an MSP OK, let's start with the textbook definition of an MSP, thanks to Gartner. A managed service provider (MSP) delivers services, such as network, application, infrastructure and security, via ongoing and regular support and active administration on customers’ premises, in their MSP’s data center (hosting), or in a third-party data center. What is an MSP in English? An MSP will manage and maintain your IT ...

What's more Melbourne than a green and gold W-class tram heading up St Kilda Road past the Arts Centre? The W-class trams were like a long-lost friend. They greeted you while strolling along Melbourne's tree-lined streets and boulevards for decades.  They carried Melburnians from the footy at the 'G... ...down to Acland Street and out to Coburg.  As the years wore on, the trams showed their age with braking problems. Finally, in 1992 the W-class ...

Laptops (or Notebooks) are great because you can use them anywhere, thanks to the internal battery. However, once your notebook starts getting a little older, or you’ve spent too much time at the cafe, and there’s no power point in sight, battery life becomes a problem… Laptop owners often neglect battery health, and as your battery's lifespan gets shorter, you’ll probably wish you had it serviced earlier. Thankfully, there are several things you can do ...