Baltimore businesses don't have to go it alone when it comes to gaining the technology support your business needs. Take a moment to learn how managed IT can give your organization the tech support it needs to remain on top.
The Maryland Technology Council Is Investing In Baltimore Businesses
In March, the Maryland Tech Council launched two new regional satellite chapters to focus on the burgeoning technology sectors in Greater Baltimore and Prince George's County. Maryland Tech Council (MTC) is Maryland's largest technology and life sciences trade association with more than 450 members. According to reports, Baltimore will be one of two regional councils and the first sub-chapters launched by the organization.
When discussing the benefits of MTC, Martin "Marty" Rosendale, CEO of the MTC, noted that MTC created the regional chapters "to intentionally unite and empower stakeholders through local advocacy, outreach and growth." Investing resources in technology makes sense as Maryland often leads the nation in regards to being a technology-friendly state. Yet ironically, as the pandemic has shown, many small to medium-sized businesses lack the resources (financial and expertise) to take full advantage of the benefits technology has to offer.
What The Maryland Tech Council Represents
Maryland is often ranked in the top five of technology-friendly locations, offering a wide-range of support for businesses, ranging from enterprise-level organizations to start ups. However despite this recognition, there are pockets in Maryland which haven’t been able to capitalize on the technology revolution benefiting other parts of the state.
The Maryland Tech Council recognizes this issue and is focusing on allowing businesses, for example in Greater Baltimore, access to the resources needed to better utilize the technology their operations depend upon. However, the reality is many businesses don’t have the experience and institutional knowledge to know what technology they need to invest in.
This is where managed IT can help.
Four Ways Managed IT Can Benefit Baltimore Businesses
- 1. Remote Monitoring and Maintenance
Downtime can be a profit killer regarding the technology your business depends upon. Moreover, if your system fails, it will happen at a time when no one is in the office. There's nothing more disrupting than having your systems crash over a long weekend with no technician in sight. Remote monitoring and maintenance prevent issues from affecting your business before it has a chance to do so.
With remote monitoring and maintenance, most problems can be resolved without waiting for a technician to arrive on-site or ship your hardware out. When you don't have to worry about maintaining your systems, you're free to focus on your business while you offload the maintenance of your systems to your managed IT partner.
Some benefits of remote monitoring and maintenance include the application of patches and security updates, proactive cybersecurity reaction, and minimizing downtime.
- 2. Securing Your Network
Phishing and the resulting ransomware attacks have become one of the biggest threats businesses face. Managed IT brings a wealth of cybersecurity protections, allowing your business to better secure sensitive data. These protections include team training, spam filtering, and data backup and recovery.
Cybercriminals continuously change their tactics; it takes someone well-versed in their tactics to defend against them. Your managed IT partner has access to a wide range of experts who are constantly upping their skillset, enabling them to protect your business from bad actors.
- 3. Cloud Hosting
Migrating to the cloud provides businesses with a wealth of benefits. In today's 24/7, always-on business environment, cloud computing is something most companies should consider. Migrating to the cloud benefits your business by allowing your team to work remotely and transforming your paper documents into electronic ones. Even your video security systems can benefit from transitioning into the cloud.
- 4. BDR (Backup and Disaster Recovery)
As we mentioned earlier, cybersecurity should be a primary concern of all businesses, regardless of size. When deciding whether or not you should invest in cybersecurity, you should ask yourself, what would you do if you lost access to your data? If you're like most organizations, the loss of data could result in the loss of your business.
Disaster recovery is designed to help your business recover from data loss, regardless of its cause, such as hardware failures, natural disasters, and cyberattacks. Your data is your business' greatest asset, and if you are unable to recover it in a timely fashion, you're losing money.
Baltimore Businesses, Are You Investing in Your Technology?
As we can see, there is considerable investment being made in Maryland and Baltimore in particular, which means your organization doesn’t have an excuse not to do the same. When it comes to the technology your business relies on, the question isn’t whether or not you can afford to invest in it, but whether or not you can afford not to.
Managed IT offers a wealth of benefits to a business, regardless of its size, via predictable monthly rates, making it easy for your business to budget. Call Dresner Group today at (410) 531-6727 to learn more about managed IT and how its flat-rate fees allow your business to have access to the same level of technology as larger enterprise organizations at a fraction of the cost.
