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More and more, businesses are starting to realize that managing IT in-house isn’t the best way to get premium service or save money.

There are a lot of reasons for this, but most of them come down to scale and expertise – business owners and managers don’t know enough about IT to hire the right personnel and make the right investments, and even if they did, it would be cost prohibitive to get what they really wanted.

 It’s not surprising, then, that more and more new clients are coming to us for outsourced IT management. You might be considering the same. By using a specialized vendor as your “IT department,” you give your business a few important advantages:

Things Just Work

 This is simple, but it’s more important than a lot of business people realize. When you have the right vendor managing and monitoring your systems, you can stop worrying about the little issues (and accompanying workaround fixes) that suck so much time out of your daily schedule. When things just work the way they’re supposed to, you can get more done without having to worry about issues of hardware and software.

You Stay Ahead of Customers and Competitors

When you have someone who knows technology looking out for your business, they can help spot new hardware, practices, and apps that can help your business grow or save money. That saves you the time you would’ve spent doing the same, of course, but it also gives you the opportunity to anticipate what your customers may ask you for in the future and stay one step ahead of your competitors.

Your IT Partner Fixes Problems Before They Become Problems

With IT management, your vendor can stay on the lookout for potential problems or issues, identifying and correcting them before they affect your business. If you’ve ever lost access to telephones, email, or something else that’s crucial to the day-to-day operation of your company, you know how important it is to prevent these sorts of outages.

You Get to Stop Worrying About IT Staffing

Finding the right technology personnel is hard enough. Keeping them – and keeping them trained – is a whole other challenge, and one that can put a huge dent in your bottom line. With an IT management agreement in place, you can stop worrying about hiring technology staff, paying their bonuses and continuing education costs, or keeping things covered when they are away from the office.

IT management can be a constant headache, or it can be a competitive advantage. Which would you prefer?

Wondering what good outsourced IT management could do for your company? Contact the Kinetik team today and let us walk you through plans and options that might make sense for your business.

With each passing year, more and more organizations are making the switch to managed services for IT – to the point that very few companies would even consider paying traditional hourly rates to technology vendors anymore. And yet, there are still some companies who haven’t yet made the switch.

We’ll admit it: We have to wonder why.

In case you aren’t that familiar with the concept yet (or need a reminder), a managed services agreement is simply one where your IT firm agrees to manage your technology for a small monthly fee, rather than billing you for hours and repairs as they are needed.

This type of arrangement saves IT clients time and money, and makes more sense than ever in 2015. Here are a few of the biggest reasons why:

IT Is Getting More Complex

With server replacements, network security, and cloud computing all changing the face of business technology every year, IT is getting more complex for organizations of all sizes. That means businesses have more needs than ever before, and are spending more on IT hours as a result. With a managed services agreement in place, all those different systems can be monitored, and optimized, without increasing your budget or staff size.

Putting Off IT Service Has Its Own Costs

Instead of switching to a managed services agreement, some companies are simply deciding to call their IT vendors less often in an effort to save cash. That may work in the short term, but it’s going to lead to disaster later. That’s because today’s installation error or network conflict can become tomorrow’s data loss, system outage, or security breach. At best, it’s going to leave you and your employees worried about technology instead of doing your jobs. 

In other words, putting off routine IT service has its own costs, and those costs usually far exceed what you’d spend on good technology help. Having someone work proactively to keep your systems up and running can be virtually priceless in today’s business world.

Organizations Need Predictable IT Budgeting

Under the old model of billable IT hours, technology expenses could be wildly inconsistent and unpredictable from one period to the next. At any given moment, a company’s technology might be working perfectly… or they could suddenly find themselves needing to call an IT vendor for lots of emergency hours and shelling out for new equipment. With a managed services agreement in place, IT expenditures can be forecast accurately. That means no more nasty surprises when it comes to the bill you get from your vendor.

It’s understandable that a lot of organizations were hesitant to make the switch to managed services agreements years ago, but now most companies are simply costing themselves money without getting any benefits in return. Are you spending too much on IT, and getting too little in return?

If you’ve been putting off managed services IT for all the wrong reasons, why not contact Kinetik IT and ask for a free network assessment? We’ll show you if, and how, you can save money on IT while decreasing downtime and improving performance.

Cyber security is a big topic these days. In fact, hardly a week goes by when you don’t hear about some huge company losing millions because of stolen credit cards, website hacking, and other forms of digital theft.

Because these kinds of issues inevitably make the news, we are hearing from more and more business owners, managers, and executives who are putting serious thought into their own cyber security protection and procedures. Usually, they want to know where the risks are, and what they should be doing to keep their data safe.

Having a consultation with a professional team of technology experts (like the one you’ll find at Kinetik IT) is a great way to get the answers you need. To help get you started, however, here are four things you should know about cyber security in 2015:

1. It’s Not Just for Fortune 500 Companies

For every cyber crime that makes headlines, there are dozens of others that escape the public’s attention. Although they might not involve millions and millions of dollars, they can be absolutely crippling to the smaller businesses they affect.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that only big companies are targeted by thieves. The reality is usually quite the opposite, and that has to do with the fact that most cyber thieves are lazy…

2. Most Attacks Aren’t That Complicated

Just as most cyber crimes aren’t targeted toward huge companies, neither are most cyber criminals genius masterminds who sit in front of enormous computers with 15 different screens all going at once. Instead, most are hackers using simple tools, searching for the equivalent of an open window they can crawl into.

In the digital world, those “open windows” usually take the form of outdated software, easily guessed passwords, and missing security patches. That leads us to our next point…

3. Humans Are the Biggest Security Risk

Since most cyber crimes are simply a matter of thieves looking for easy exploits, the weakest link in your security probably involves yourself and your employees. Skipping updates, forgetting to change passwords regularly, and not maintaining regular backups are all extremely common in small and medium-sized businesses. They are also good ways to invite disaster.

With just a few simple steps, you can make your business much, much safer from cyber crime. That leads us to our final takeaway…

4. The Right IT Partner Can Keep You Covered

You don’t have to be an expert in cyber security to stay safe – you just need a team of trusted professionals who can put the right safeguards in place, monitor your technology, and keep up with backups and updates just in case.

In other words, having the right team on your side is almost always enough to prevent your business from having problems with cyber crime in the first place, and can help you recover quickly in the event that you ever do.

In cyber security for small and medium-sized businesses, there are probably a lot more threats out there than you realize, but they are also easier to guard against than you might think. Why not call our team today and let us show you how easy and cost-effective it is to get the sense of peace and security you and your customers deserve?

In the last few years, managed services agreements have changed the way IT is delivered – for both technology companies and our clients. The result has been a “win-win” for everyone, with companies getting more effective service at a lower price.

But, since some business owners and executives still don’t understand managed services, we’d like to take a moment to give you a quick overview of what you need to know…

The first thing you have to have is an understanding of how managed services actually works in the first place. The basic idea is that, instead of paying for billable hours every time you need technical help, you opt for a managed services plan that covers all of your IT needs for a given period of time. So instead of calling your vendor when you need repairs or encounter errors, you get regular service on an as-needed basis.

Because of that change, two great things can happen:

With Managed Services, You Get Better IT Care

When your IT partner doesn’t have to wait for you to call, they can be more proactive in assessing your hardware and software, dealing with any potential issues before they become problems. That’s a great thing for businesses because it means they can avoid outages and emergency billable hours, and it’s great for us because it means we can anticipate needs rather than trying to make last-minute repairs while under pressure to get a business running again.

Managed Services Lets You Plan Your IT Budget

If there’s one thing business owners and executives hate about IT, it’s the unpredictable costs. When things are running smoothly, you might pay nothing for your technology. But the minute something breaks, your IT budget goes out the window. With a managed services agreement, however, costs are predictable from month to month. That means you can forecast a budget without having to worry about unexpected jolts and emergency IT bills.

Although some business people don’t like the idea of paying for IT care every month when they aren’t used to it, a managed services agreement is virtually guaranteed to save you money over time. Not only is it going to lower your overall IT costs, but it’s also likely to make you and your team more productive than you’ve been in the past because you no longer have to worry about technology problems slowing you down.

To learn more about managed services, and what a customized plan for your business would look like, contact the Kinetik IT team today!

At Kinetik I.T., we’ve been in the business of helping people and businesses, and making great things happen for almost 25 years. Basically, we love what we do, and it shows. And in all those years of perfecting our Digital Superhero status, we’ve learned a few things about the (IT or technical) problems our clients face. Here’s a run-down of the problems we see most often. 

Common Problem #1: Lacking (IT or technical) Support

It should come as no surprise that the level of support you have in your office will ultimately determine how well you can function—and no, we’re not talking about the 800-number that’s printed in the printer brochure. Most commonly, businesses either don’t have any technical support in the office or they don’t have enough. And having a catch-all solitary “I.T. guy/gal” doesn’t cut it. Your business is a sophisticated, well-oiled machine—don’t assume that the small town gas-station mechanic can take care of it all alone. 

Common Problem #2: Outdated Technology (& Infrastructure)


Most software and hardware solutions will eventually reach an age where they’ve outlived their usefulness. And while it’s tempting, and seemingly easier, to keep using them despite their dated status, once your machines hit the age of five years old, they’re likely to start needing increased tech support. Dated technology also typically require updates, which can be costly—sometimes more costly long-term than simply replacing the units outright. 

Common Problem #3: Lacking Protection


We buy insurance for everything these days—do you have protection in place for your technology and information? Do you have a G.O.K. (goodness only knows!) protection plan? Whether it’s a disaster plan to deal with a flooded server or having the right equipment to deal with power outages in the office, it’s imperative to protect your equipment and your data. This is your livelihood, after all! 

Common Problem #4: Inadequate Training

Each and every employee can be a Digital Superhero in their own right, with the proper training. Every single person in your office needs to know how to use both the hardware and the software you use on a daily basis. Ensuring that your employees are well trained can prevent many common technology problems. 

Common Problem #5: Poor Security 


U.S. businesses spend billions on the fallout from IT security issues every year, including data theft, client security issues, or hacker attack that renders your equipment completely unusable. Better security means customer trust and higher productivity, but you won’t get there with off-the-shelf solutions designed to protect home computer users—custom commercial applications can defend you against the problems you’re likely to face in this digital age.

The Solution 
Fortunately, we’ve got the solution you’re looking for. Choosing the right IT partner is the first step in safeguarding your business, allowing it to grow and prosper. You want your business to be as efficient as possible, and often that means great technology that performs well. From custom database solutions to meeting your security and storage needs, we can ensure you get the IT assistance you need at every turn.

To learn more about services and products, and to stay up to date with Kinetik IT, visit www.Kinetik-IT.com or follow Kinetik on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.

We have all heard stories about what’s lost during natural disasters – homes, businesses; in cities waterlogged during southern hurricanes, California and Colorado wildfires that consume entire communities. While major events like these, which cause millions of dollars in damage, occur on a limited basis, a different kind of disaster catches businesses by surprise every day: data loss. Seemingly mundane in comparison and you may think that the chance of this occurring may be relatively small, yet this type of disaster can have a huge impact on your business, resulting in loss of time, loss of productivity, revenue and, potentially, clients.

Data loss can occur in any number of ways including human error, computer virus, hardware or system failure, software corruption, data or cyber theft, as well as natural disasters. The remedy is to have a Disaster Recovery and Implementation Plan in place, to ensure data is adequately protected and can be recovered in a timely manner after the system breach.

Your disaster recovery plan is an important part of your business and the consequences of not having one can easily be underestimated. When disaster hits, the question is: Will you be ready?

A How-To Guide

Human beings tend to act like the proverbial ostrich-with-its-head-in-the-sand when it comes to preparing for unpleasant events. But when disaster strikes, regardless of the cause, the feeling of being able to recover data will offer peace of mind and allow you and your team to confidently move forward. What are the first steps you should take? Where do you turn? This quick overview can help.

1. Choose responsible people. You cannot properly get your disaster recovery plan off the ground if you don’t have great people around you to help. As you build the actual plan, be sure you have responsible people in charge of the process.
2. Upgrade regularly. Over time, your company is going to change. As it does, your disaster recovery plan has to change too. Be sure it’s updated as often as is necessary to keep up with your company.
3. Get the right help. Planning for disaster recovery is not as simple as pulling a template off the internet. Instead, choose an IT consulting firm to help.

When you’re ready to get serious about disaster recovery planning, there is no better place to turn than Kinetik IT, where we’ll walk you through every step of disaster recovery planning.

To learn more about services and products – including implementing your tailored plan if and when it becomes necessary – visit www.Kinetik-IT.com or follow Kinetik on Facebook, LinkedInor Twitter.

To ensure online safety, users should start with the basics – whether it’s for business or personal use.  Namely, users should make sure the computer is clean from data compromising software such as spyware before completing any online transactions related to banking or personal information; users need to have a complex password; and, when online, users must verify websites are secure and sensitive information is encrypted by the provider.  For business-specific security, a few more considerations apply.

While tips for business security are similar to those for personal use, businesses need to view things from a more comprehensive enterprise-minded level.  For businesses, it’s imperative not only to have anti‑spyware and anti‑virus software installed, but also maintaining security updates and patches are installed in a timely fashion.  It’s also imperative for businesses to ensure that backups of data are performed on time.

It’s not enough just to back up data, either.  At Kinetik I.T., we recommend trying once a month to restore a file from a backup to verify it was done correctly, ensuring that data is accessible when needed.  “We have often seen it happen where a company, after doing years of backups, has never tried to restore a file. Then, when they lose data and try to restore it, it’s very disappointing to find that all the time and effort they’ve spent on backups has been for naught.  And restoring a file is a quick and simple task – and it can make all the difference,” said Kinetik I.T. president Josette van Stiphout. Businesses should make sure data is backed up correctly, and that the restore is successful.

Businesses can also have a network assessment performed, which, in addition to assessing security, includes ensuring that employees only have access to the appropriate information and files, that the Active Directory is set up correctly, and that external vulnerabilities are being identified and taken care of.

Feel like your company’s online security isn't what it should be? Talk to a member of the Kinetik I.T. Team today to see how we can help.

It could be as big as a powerful weather event. It could be something as small as a car crashing into a power line just a few miles from your business. It could be as simple as an equipment failure. No matter what the cause, though, it all adds up to one thing for your company – disaster. Take a moment to imagine your company without power or access to your data for 12 hours. Multiply that. Imagine your business without access to any of that for 24 hours. 48 hours? It seems like just a day or two of downtime shouldn’t do that much damage to your company, but the simple reality is that it can and will.

Enter disaster recovery planning.

Every single business, no matter how small or large, has to have a comprehensive disaster recovery plan today. That problematic event is literally just around the corner. It doesn’t take much, and learning how to make certain your business will survive is an absolute must.  

Wondering how to get started when you’re already spending each day trying to stay afloat in a problematic economy? It’s an overwhelming prospect, but we can help.

The premiere IT consulting company in Phoenix, we can be here from start to finish. Take a moment to look at the services we offer.

• Planning: Easily the most important phase of disaster recovery, we know that you may not be familiar with how to match your needs with the technology that can help. We’ll help decide what your risks are and how to protect your company, as well as how to budget for those expenses.

• Documentation: You can plan forever, but if you don’t actually document what has to be done, you can’t respond to disaster as well as you’d like. We’ll help you get an inventory of your assets together as well as show what backup technologies are in use and the process that must occur should disaster finally hit.

• Implementation: It can be tough to know what to do once it hits, but we’ll work with your staff members to implement all of your solutions so that what should happen in the event of a disaster actually does happen.

• Testing: You want to make certain that you actually know what to do when disaster strikes, so we’ll help with this phase too. Once things are implemented, we can help you understand how well the backups work and exactly how the data is restored. We can even do this periodically to help test plan updates.

      You don’t want to be left in shambles when a disaster occurs, no matter how small your company or your IT budget may be. To learn more about our IT consulting and disaster recovery planning services contact us at www.kinetik-it.com or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

When a major national retailer is the victim of cyber-attack, it’s headline news.  Late in 2013, Minneapolis-based Target Corporation and Neiman Marcus succumbed to cyber thieves.  It’s now estimated that between November 27 and December 15, 2013 – prime holiday shopping season – the payment card data of 40 million shoppers who bought merchandise in-store at U.S. stores, as well as the personal information of another 70 million customers, was compromised. 

According to available data, the Target mishap is one of the country’s largest recorded data security breaches. Considering the scope of this crime, it’s easy to assume a heist the planning and implementation of which would rival those of a modern-day thriller. To the contrary, the security breach is believed to have been the result of that most innocuous of daily trifles: phishing emails.

According to recent research, while the amount of phishing is decreasing, the methods employed are more targeted, with cyber criminals becoming more skillful. And harmless as it may seem when it appears in the inbox, one of the most effective subject lines, as determined by cyber-security experts at Websense of San Diego, is an invitation to connect on LinkedIn. And if the first and second emails don’t draw in the prospect, data indicates that the third email will finally get them to click a link or open an attachment – though these may not always prove malicious.  Phishing emails proved to be Target’s downfall, when an employee of third-party contractor Fazio Mechanical Services Inc. of Sharpsburg, PA clicked through from a “malware-laced e-mail phishing attack.” Unfortunately, the company’s detection software simply wasn’t capable of protecting the company’s network from the threat.

This kind of incident leaves a business owner to ask, "What can I do to make my company data more secure?"  The best place to start is with awareness.

Security is not a one‑size‑fits‑all approach, because each business is unique, with different network and data challenges. Security measures also depend on the size of the company, the amount of business, on what data is at risk.  

Employees can also be a threat to cyber‑securing the business. The data breaches can occur by simple human error – as with the Target breach, and more recently with Kickstarter, the popular online crowd-sourcing website. This type of error can be related to many factors, among them poor decision‑making, or the consequences of someone else's decision‑making, and not understanding security policies and procedures.

Understanding existing security policies and protocols is imperative, and assembling a security matrix to addresses internal organization risk is a great place to start.  Begin by assessing and assigning appropriate levels of access and security on email servers, employees' tablets or mobile phones. 

When cyber attacks are in the news, it’s important to maintain perspective. Small-to-medium-sized businesses will have less to worry about than a major like Target, or a site with the online reach of Kickstarter.  While keeping data safe should be of concern to every business, the level of security should be appropriate to the size and scope of the individual entity and specific data or intellectual property to safeguard. 

To learn more about services and products, and to stay up to date with Kinetik I.T., visit www.Kinetik-IT.com or follow Kinetik on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.

What is innovation?  It can be a nebulous idea, hard to pin down, expressed differently depending on the person.  Simply defined, it is “the act or process of introducing new ideas, devices, or methods,” though in today’s vernacular, in an age when apps and electronics dominate our daily activities, innovation has taken on a loftier meaning.

When determining companies for their annual report on the world’s most innovative, Forbes measures the value of a company’s existing business, based on expectations of future innovative results, such as new products, services and markets. On a list like this one, the companies are big.  What about the smaller companies, the start-ups? 

On the smaller end of the spectrum is where – often out of necessity – true innovation happens. Innovation of this type takes shape organically, to address a need, to fill a gap, to provide a workaround without which progress cannot be made.  There are both pros and cons to this type of innovation, as catering to a specific niche or audience may neglect addressing pressing needs in another sector of the population, ignoring the diversity that exists within society.  In addition, in the current start-up culture which values near-immediate turnaround, companies may be too quick to create, without putting in the necessary amount of research and deliberation about which products are truly viable.  This devil-may-care type of innovation may lead to overall failure.  Finding a balance between the extremes, while still allowing natural advancement is the key to successful innovation. 

Innovation has always been paramount in our work at Kinetik IT.  We write software for clients based on how they do business, learning how a client interacts with software (usability), catering to their specific needs, and developing new systems to further their efficiency, productivity, and reach.  Our end goal is to make the important work our clients do easier, more intuitive. We do this through the development and implementation of:

• custom software and web application development, database design and programming solutions
• creative web site design and SEO online internet marketing solutions
• professional online-web storefront, e-commerce and b2b commerce solutions
• full range of IT and computer network services

We spend the time and acquire the resources to stay on the leading edge of information technology software, database, internet and network solutions, so our clients can focus on business and leadership. We implement software, web applications and database systems that work for the client, the way they do business, while providing the necessary resources to keep clients on top of their game. Our innovative ideas and solutions help simplify operations while increasing productivity and enhancing competitive edge.

To learn more about services and products, and to stay up to date with Kinetik IT, visit www.Kinetik-IT.com or follow Kinetik on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.