IT Horizons Blog

If you've lost sleep worrying about the technology your business relies on, you're not alone. When a system goes down or security is breached, getting the situation sorted as quickly as possible can be stressful, not to mention costly. For many companies, the solution has been to employ in-house IT support, but as more and more organizations are discovering, the peace of mind that in-house IT affords doesn't always balance the cost of having one or several full-time IT people on the payroll. Some businesses want the peace of mind and someone to perform the updates and monitoring but just can't or don't want to pay a full-time salary. In some cases, internal IT departments spend so much time sorting issues that there's little time left to devote to keeping their skills and knowledge up to date with current best practices. The solution is managed IT services, and this post...

No matter the industry, every business goes through cycles. Some months you can feel like you're run off your feet and scrambling to keep up with all of the new clients, orders and calls, while at other times of the year it can feel like you're doing a lot of thumb twiddling during business hours. It makes sense, then, that there are times of the year when you need the peace of mind that round the clock IT support provides, while having to pay a full-time employee to provide the same level of support when business is slow just isn't cost-effective. Last time, we talked about IT managed services, and specifically, the many ways a business can save money by choosing to go this route rather than having a full-time IT department or using a break/fix approach to manage the technology they rely upon. Well, another advantage is that IT...

In the 21st century, technology rules. There’s no way to get around it, or away from it, regardless of the industry you’re in, or the size of your business. But, just how important is technology to businesses today, and how are they addressing their technology needs? Clutch wanted to find out, so they conducted a survey of more than 400 small businesses to glean their insights. The results support what we already knew: demand for IT services is on the rise, with more companies both hiring more IT support internally and turning to outside vendors and contractors to help meet their needs. Most (69 percent) of small and medium businesses (SMBs) have hired at least one type of IT service provider. And, momentum is continuing to build; 39 percent of SMBs plan to boost their spending on IT services in 2016. The market is moving to more of a managed...

At one time or another, you've probably heard someone say that it's hard to find good help. Maybe you, too, have uttered these words. Well, it gets even harder to find the help you need when the place where you need it isn't located in the same postal code or even the same country. For owners of franchises or big box retail stores in the Peace Region, in or around Grande Prairie, finding quality, affordable technical support and other IT solutions just got easier. The highly trained and experienced team of people at IT Horizons are equipped to satisfy all your IT needs, while our reputation as a dependable leader in the local IT industry provides the peace of mind you need to know that the job will be done right, the first time. Comprehensive IT Solutions Tailored to Suit Your Needs Working with a consultant from our company will...

In my last post, I talked about the rise in crime that's occurred in the last little while in Grande Prairie and the surrounding areas. Whether it's the holiday season that's prompted the wave of break ins at local businesses, or an unfortunate new trend, companies that don't have quality surveillance systems in place are vulnerable. As I mentioned, we at IT Horizons install surveillance cameras from Ubiquiti Networks, in addition to the many other information technology services we provide. Today, I'd like to give you a sneak peek at some of the awesome features that the UniFi Video Camera Pro has to offer. UniFi Video Camera Pro Highlights: Crystal Clear Footage: The downside of lower quality surveillance cameras is that the footage they provide may not be clear enough to make out faces or other details that are crucial to catching the culprits, should there be a break in....