IT Support Companies in Texas

What is IT Support?

Information and Technology or IT is the study and use of computer systems for tasks such as storing, retrieving and sending information. So naturally, IT Support would be the process of assisting others in this pursuit. Clearly, this sounds easier said than done. Especially with the highly advanced systems we are now working with. We will explain some of the challenges faced in this field and solutions available to face those challenges.

Computer Support

By now, we have all used computers hundreds of times over in our lives. With the endless line of mobile devices we interact with, comes that every once in a while computer problem or device meltdown. For these times, a computer technician is needed but unfortunately, we don’t all have a computer whiz brother named Tom.

What Options Are Left for Businesses?

Typically these days, we have changed the identity of these computer specialists from computer nerds to managed service providers. Nowadays, computers are so common that managed service providers have popped up all over the country. Clearly, with this boom in the industry, they are not all created equal. Finding a great managed service provider to cover all your computer and network needs can be a very daunting task.

It is very common practice for these IT service providers to come in and hold a company hostage of their own computers by making every problem seem infinitely hard to solve and giving attitude when reports are requested. This is one particular industry that has lost the hard-working ethics of the past. Doing hard work, staying honest, open and committed to the client is far from the normal practice out there in the information and technology industry. This has become the norm and is unfortunately accepted as the standard by many.

Understanding our basic values in commitment, it becomes much easier to start working on the computer problems at hand. Find teams of highly respectable and committed computer technicians, not only have the skills to fix computer problems but the ability to help people and understand their technology problems.

Network Administrator

Any company using computers connected together or connected to the internet probably has what most refer to as a network. Networks can be complicated and difficult to keep secure so most established businesses have a network administrator to keep up with these repetitive company tasks. That administrator must perform a multitude of steps to keep everything running correctly on a large network. After the local area network cabling has been installed, a computer technician would have to setup all the PC’s on the network by plugging in, naming and securing each one on the network.

Once all of the devices are correctly setup on the network, a network admin would configure all the internet, firewall, router, switches and WiFi access point devices. A large number of companies take the plug and play approach by plugging it all in and then they are done. This is a bad method because it leaves many items vulnerable to failure without a quick recovery or even attacks. This plug and play model leaves firmware versions of devices at the factory levels which may have security risks or problems. Then there is never an update procedure set in place to keep them up to date.

Other problems faced when not setting up devices properly is legacy passwords on devices. These were noted by a former national security director as the number one best method for the NSA or other countries hackers to access companies data because most people forgot to change them upon setup. Then there is setting up Quality of Service or QoS. This is extremely important to prioritize traffic on the network so someone watching YouTube doesn’t take priority over a phone call or security camera thus taking those services down because of a cat video.

Obviously, that is a bit extreme but you get the picture. Quality of Service in a router can keep the most important traffic flowing and puts lower priorities on other traffic that is not as critical to the business survival. Not being able to accept a credit card due to excessive network traffic can take a business offline. Having a network administrator can help in setting up these critical services on a network to help secure its survivability on a daily basis.

Computer Consultant

Some companies struggle with deciding on which technologies or systems to use within their company processes. An IT consultant can provide unbiased guidance or a clear path on which computer, software or equipment purchases to make. Once those computer services decisions have been made, the IT consultant can assist in selecting IT services to accommodate the hardware purchased.

Once the hardware has been selected, the process has only begun and more decisions must still be made on which services to use. Sure a company might have selected Cisco VOIP phones but which service will they use to activate them? There are about a hundred options of VOIP providers and all are not created equal. Some of the largest providers out there are also notoriously the worst providers out there; so who has the knowledge on which ones won’t roll your company? Computer consultants have experience working with many varieties of computer companies like Dell, HP, Mac, and IBM. With the absolute sea of options out there for choosing computers or networks, there are many companies who have sunk thousands into systems that were outdated or didn’t solve their needs. Using creative and highly innovative IT professionals to assist in this selection process, can assure the right decision is made the first time. ‍