Page 45 - BusinessWest March, 21, 2022

business operates. We’re just an exten- sion of their business. Our solutions need to be in line with their technol- ogy and business goals. So normally, when we work with a new business, we assess what they have currently and discuss what kind of issues they may be having or sticking points — maybe they’re not able to conduct business as fast as they would like, or their technol- ogy doesn’t work for them.”
Or, these days, they have ques- tions about maintaining and securing remote-work connections. Whatever the case, the high-tech side of the busi- ness world isn’t getting less complicat- ed, highlighting the role that IT firms play for their clients.
“The goal for us is to act like your internal IT department,” said Jeremiah Beaudry, president of Bloo Solutions in Chicopee, and that means learning the ins and outs of a client’s business and how it uses hardware and software, so Bloo can make holistic recommenda- tions about its technology needs.
“Every business is different, and their needs are different. They all serve their clients differently,” Beaudry added. “Not every solution is right
for every business, so one-size-fits-
all packages don’t really work. We
“We’re just an extension of their business. Our solutions need to be in line with their technology and business goals.”
also want to know what tools you’re using now: are there redundancies that overlap, or are there other tools that are more unified and give you a more collaborative, one-pane-of-glass solution?”
Sean Hogan, president of Hogan Technology in Easthampton, recently published a blog post citing a report that worldwide IT spending is pro- jected to total $4.5 trillion in 2022, an increase of 5.5% from 2021.
“This is a monumental amount of growth which can likely be attributed to employers embracing work-from- home or hybrid-work environments, security concerns over cybersecurity breaches, and the world’s desire to uti- lize cloud technology,” he wrote. “For small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs), this means that they will have more access to enterprise-level technology solutions, which will empower them to drive productivity and increase their bottom line, if they position them- selves properly.”
Serve and Protect
It all starts with the basics, Beaudry said, with security topping the list.
“What data do you have now? How are you securing data to keep it out
of bad actors’ hands, while making it easy for employees to access it? Balanc- ing access with security is the hardest part.”
For example, people may dislike retyping a password every time they wake their computer up from screen- saver mode, but there’s a reason for that vigilance. And because passwords need to be complex — and people gen- erally use a lot of them — he stresses the use of a password vault. “We’re get- ting people to adopt them instead of leaving Post-It notes all over their desk, which is a pretty huge fail.”
Bloo is putting more emphasis on end-user access in general, he went on
Jeremiah Beaudry says his goal is
to act like
a client’s internal IT department, in every facet that may entail.
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