Service Provider

Announcements, Featured

What Apple’s New San Diego Campus Means For Life Sciences Companies

Apple is continuously innovating and spreading its influence across industries, and its most recent moves focus on life sciences, healthcare and biotech, including its expansion in San Diego with a new campus. With Apple’s new San Diego campus, life sciences companies can expect several opportunities they can leverage. Here are some key aspects to consider:

New Jobs Means New Potential Partnerships

Apple’s new San Diego campus means job creation and partnership potential for the San Diego life sciences market. Within five years, the company plans to create at least 1,000 or more new jobs in San Diego alone. This is just a fraction of the 20,000 new jobs Apple plans to create in the United States by 2023.

Apple’s San Diego campus will most definitely attract more talent in the area, and the company has the opportunity to review thousands of applications from San Diego’s tech-educated population to fill the new positions in IT services.

This access to Apple’s talent can mean opportunities to connect with tech industry leaders and talent who can help life sciences companies accelerate their endeavors.

This expansion can also mean partnership opportunities with life sciences companies to support applications and innovations, including having secure access to patient health records and other vitals with the patients’ permission.

Apple’s foray in the biotech, life sciences, and healthcare industries has resulted in its partnership with several hospitals and electronic records companies across the country to simplify access to medical records so that patients can easily view their records via their mobile devices and future partnerships can result as Apple continues to expand its presence in the region.

Enhanced Access to Quality Resources

Procuring quality resources has long been a challenge for life sciences companies, whether it means finding the right suppliers to help organizations in the life sciences industry support research and development, enhancing operational efficiency or ensuring the integrity of raw materials.

Apple’s interest in expanding in San Diego means that the city is increasingly attractive to technology companies. This can pose as an opportunity for life sciences to expand their options for obtaining high-quality resources.

Apple’s goal to produce more of its products and parts in the United States gives the company better control over the quality of its products. Life sciences companies that use Apple products to improve its operational efficiencies may have better access to the high-quality resources they need that may play an important role in helping them accelerate their speed to market their products or services.

Ability to Achieve Compliance

With a younger and more tech-savvy consumer base, life sciences companies face the challenge of ensuring their devices, products and services can provide consumers what they need while staying in compliance with local and federal privacy laws.

However, achieving compliance is complex as devices, and products, such as smart watches and apps, can both serve customers while collecting too much data with can create a gray area concerning privacy. But Apple’s presence in San Diego can play an important role in help life sciences companies achieve compliance success.

Apple’s expertise in consumer trust and design have made it successful in its pursuits in the healthcare industry. Users of Apple’s apps and devices, such as the Apple Watch, can store and access their medical information securely thanks to its encrypted passcode.

By figuring out a way to keep consumer information private, Apple presents a unique way for life sciences companies to comply with HIPAA and other privacy laws while staying competitive in their fields.

Final Thoughts

With Apple’s new San Diego campus, life sciences have much to look forward to. From potential partnerships to increased opportunities for resources that can help support innovations, life sciences companies can take advantage of the potential opportunities that Apple’s expansion in San Diego will bring.
Education, Featured

How To Choose the Best Life Sciences Managed Service Provider

Life sciences companies must focus their energies on research and development and not be distracted by other business needs such as complex IT services. You deal daily with the intricacies of your industry and bringing breakthroughs in science to the general public. Your IT needs are many, but you may not be able to adequately deal with them in-house without allocating it a chunk of your budget that is best used elsewhere. Life sciences companies should consider outsourcing their IT needs to an expert life sciences managed service provider. Doing so offers you a number of advantages that will enhance the productivity of your company.

Look Toward Outsourcing Your IT

Many companies simply cannot afford the cost of maintaining a full IT staff. IT employees must have a high level of training and update their education continually. When you outsource your IT needs, you have access to a bigger talent pool, one full of the specialists that you need. You get advanced service while lowering your IT budget, and you can feel certain that you’re getting the best service possible. The significant funds you save can better be used for R&D.

Increased Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity threats have mushroomed in recent years, and hackers have grown more sophisticated and effective. So have the number of cybersecurity companies in San Diego. Your in-house IT department may be able to deal with basic security issues but be at a loss when faced with ransomware and especially damaging viruses. A managed IT company trains its employees to meet the dangers of the latest cyber threats at a level your company cannot manage. The cost of cyber attacks can be astronomical, and the life sciences industry is a favored target. Valuable industry secrets are a strong lure for hackers and scammers, so you need the best protection available.

24-Hour Protection

Your company can experience IT difficulties at any time of the day or night. In fact, if something is going to go wrong, it will probably happen at 3 am. By the time you discover the issue the next day, you may have lost valuable data as well as hours of time. A managed IT company will monitor your company’s IT status and take immediate action if there is an outage, cyber attack or other issues. They will limit your company’s downtime, which can save you hundreds of thousands of dollars. And you’ll be able to sleep better at night knowing that you are protected.

Cloud Computing

A managed IT services company offers you cloud computing, so a break-in or natural disaster will not be catastrophic for your research and client data. Even a devastating flood will not completely close down your business. You can simply have employees use laptops off-site to gain access to their files, which are safely kept online. While you might lose computers, you will not lose expensive servers or be forced to shut down for days or even weeks.

Software as a Service

Your company will also benefit from Software as a Service (SaaS). Instead of purchasing individual licenses for software and installing them on each office computer, a managed IT company will offer SaaS. You are then charged on a subscription basis, paying monthly for the software you need. A managed IT company will help guide you toward the best programs and make certain that your business stays up-to-date by offering you the latest software.

Your employees save time and effort with this arrangement. The software is already configured and can be easily installed from the cloud. The IT company will arrange for automatic upgrades as well. If you are currently managing your software in-house, you know how frustrating and time-consuming that process can be. Outsourcing your IT also frees you from a number of other software worries.

Faster Troubleshooting

A managed IT company has the resources to develop a sophisticated ticketing system and highly trained customer service crew so that your employees do not have to wait endlessly for help. Many companies who try and keep their IT in-house are stretched thin and don’t have the personnel to deal with the many issues that can arise in your business each day. The life sciences industry, in particular, cannot afford delays during their complex processes.

Outsourcing your IT means that problems will be prioritized and help quickly dispatched. Problems are less likely to fall between the cracks because you will be working with an extensive team with the time to devote to your critical issues.

Life Sciences Companies and centrexIT

For many companies, outsourcing their IT department makes a great deal of sense. Your company will benefit financially and be better able to keep up a high level of productivity. The life sciences industry is a demanding one, and you need to focus on the research and development aspect of your business. Maintaining your servers, software and security is time-consuming and difficult unless you outsource those tasks to the experts.

You can find the IT knowledge that you need at centrexIT. Our experts offer you a true IT partnership while delivering the latest in security measures and cloud operations technology. The work you do is too important to leave your data to anyone except the experts. For more information, log into the website and take our free assessment.
Featured

How Much Should You Be Spending on IT Support

When you’re running a small business in today’s digital world, you can’t leave out IT support. But IT support can quickly take up a small business company’s budget. According to research by IDC, small businesses spent $568 billion in 2017 on IT. Much of these costs can be attributed to labor. Thus, it’s vital for small businesses to be aware of the different costs associated with hiring the right team to take care of their IT-related issues. There are different rates that IT companies charge their clients, and much of it depends on who will be doing the work and what services they will be provided. Here is a guide you can use to help streamline the process of knowing what you should be spending on your IT support.

In-House IT Staff

It’s not uncommon for small business owners to hire an in-house team dedicated to handling IT-related issues. But this is also one of the quickest ways to add expenses to the business and consume your IT budget. You’ll need to fill roles that will be crucial to resolving both short- and long-term IT-related issues and goals, such as network administrators, software engineers, system managers, chief information officer (CIO), web developers and computer support technician. But these roles can each be very expensive. According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, network administrators made an average annual salary of $81,000 per year in 2017 while computer and information system managers can cost $139,2220 on average. You also have to consider that to attract these in-demand workers that you will need to offer attractive benefits, too. In fact, benefits are responsible for a 50 percent increase in payroll expenses and cost as much an average of $11.31 per employee. Some of these benefits can include the cost of fully- or mostly-covered health insurance for the workers and their dependents, tuition reimbursement, life insurance and a generous vacation package. Some small firms and startups are even offering beyond these costs with options

Freelancers

One way to alleviate the high expenses of an in-house IT team is to get the help of an outsourced or contracted worker. Freelancers can prove to be resourceful in this case because they help small businesses save on costs for fringe benefits, such as healthcare, worker’s compensation or life insurance. However, freelancers can command the same rates as in-house staff or even more. Moreover, if you’re not careful and don’t find a way to vet the freelance worker, you can run into issues if they don’t really have the experience or level of expertise you were expecting. There is also no way to monitor what your freelancers are really doing. This is part of why 85 percent of the 2,200 companies surveyed in a 2017 Manta study did not have intentions to hire freelance workers.

MSPs

You can also consider the savings you can take advantage of by hiring a managed service provider or MSP. MSPs offer a great deal of savings for small businesses in need of IT support thanks to their ability to leverage the economies of scale. MSPs often have long and strong relationships with a variety of vendors that can help them provide critical IT support when their clients need them. For instance, MSPs offer a wide variety of services, including 24-hour support, virtual Chief Information Officers (vCIOs) and data backup using on-premise or off-premise cloud servers. MSPs also can provide these services at a discounted rate compared to an in-house team or even a freelancer. MSP costs can vary depending on the services needed but are not the same as funding a full-time employee each month, with rates averaging anywhere between hundreds to thousands per month per user ($200-$2000).

Proactive vs. Reactive

Another important factor that you should consider when choosing among IT support providers is the type of service they provide. MSPs can offer proactive managed services and reactive managed services. With proactive managed services, you can expect to take advantage of preventative measures that anticipate IT-related issues. That means you can expect your IT support team to have a mapped out plan to respond to and prevent disasters and disruptions, such as data loss due to a tropical storm or a data breach. On the other hand, reactive managed services are typical of IT support companies or personnel who act only when a problem arises. The problem with reactive managed services is that it does not take preventative measures that can save small businesses big money. Small businesses stand to save as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars when choosing proactive solutions over reactive managed services, considering that the average cost of damages to IT assets cost businesses $879,582 in 2016.

Final Thoughts

Finding the right IT team or stakeholders to help keep your company operational and efficient is crucial when you’re selecting IT support. Consider the costs associated with each type of provider but don’t forget about taking into account their capabilities. The IT support team that you choose should be able to handle your needs in the most efficient way.
Education

How to Choose a Legitimate Healthcare IT Support Provider

Proper IT management of healthcare information can be a matter of life and death. Most patient information is now kept on private servers or on secure cloud storage providers. While written records still exist, getting patients the treatment they need depends on fast access to accurate digital information. If your IT company isn’t knowledgeable about HIPAA, network security and disaster recovery, people won’t just lose money. Their health can be affected. Not all IT management companies can properly handle the healthcare industry, so do thorough research before you hire one.

HIPAA Adherence

HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which was passed in 1996 to protect individual’s insurance and healthcare information as well as allow individuals to keep their coverage if they lost their job. Any company dealing in health information must follow government regulations to secure and protect the confidentiality of protected health information (PHI). This act pertains to all forms of information, including electronic data. Breaches in HIPAA can lead to fines and other legal action.

Your managed IT service needs to have experience in protecting this information, making certain that it cannot be misused in any way. Unless the firm knows HIPAA rules backward and forward, they are not the right company for you.

Network Security

You will need an IT service that provides flexible solutions for security. Of course, your information must be safeguarded from hacking by malicious third parties, so you need to choose a company that keeps up with the latest in security trends such as incorporating AI, protecting against ransomware, and dealing with the Internet of Things.

Your IT management company should provide the option of a Hybrid Cloud, a system that lets you keep some things in the cloud while maintaining other information, such as that protected by HIPAA, on site. Healthcare providers and insurance companies benefit most from the use of this hybrid system since it gives them the storage they need and protects patient privacy.

Disaster Recovery

When a disaster strikes, natural or otherwise, all types of businesses suffer, but none more than the healthcare industry and their patients/clients. During a hurricane, for instance, you deal with injured people who desperately need to reach their healthcare provider or get information from their insurance company. Any problems with data at that point can have serious consequences.

An excellent IT management company can offer you a HIPAA compliant backup and data recovery plan. Having backup is a different process than actual recovery. Backing up data simply means all data is copied and stored in another location from the original. Recovery means retrieving this backup information, even under the most difficult of circumstances.

Because healthcare data is so sensitive, your IT management firm will have to complete audits regularly to prove that they maintain HIPAA compliance, especially during and after a natural or man-made disaster.

Cloud-based recovery, as well as on-site recovery, is necessary to keep large healthcare facilities running after a ransomware attack, flood or power outage. To ensure that their system is adequate, your IT provider will need to conduct regular testing.

Storage Capability

Healthcare data is exploding, both due to patient records and increased use of digital tools. As a result, initial and backup data requires a huge storage capability. Before choosing an IT management company, make certain that they have this capability and the ability to expand as necessary. Also, find out how much such an expansion in data storage will cost your company. You will need more storage, so plan for this reality now.

Data Integrity

Data integrity simply means that your company’s information is kept safe and private from anyone who should not have access to it. Obviously, the more people who have access, the greater chance of a security or ethical breach. A recent Forbes article suggests that you ask the following questions of IT companies.

How do you keep proprietary and candidate data safe? Ask for specific examples.

If applicable, are you GDPR compliant? GDPR is the new European Union law that regulates data privacy and imposes severe fines for non-compliance.

What are your certifications that apply to data privacy? Have them show you proof of specialized training, awards, etc.
You should also add any questions you have that pertain to your particular business.

Healthcare-related businesses require more from an IT management company than businesses from other industries. The privacy issues involved are more sensitive and carefully legislated. Failure to maintain data privacy has severe consequences. The firm’s focus has to be on HIPAA compliance as well as data backup and emergency recovery. A business can lose millions of dollars from even a short period of computer/internet downtime. A healthcare facility or insurance company outage will harm the business financially, but, more importantly, may endanger patient health.

Carefully interview any managed service providers to make certain they can handle your security and storage needs before contracting with them. Inquire about their experience in this particular field and ask for customer testimonials. When it comes to healthcare, your IT management service cannot be less than perfect.
Education

10 Questions To Ask When Selecting A New IT Services Provider

Most small and mid-size companies need outside tech help in order to be successful. Maintaining your own full-service IT staff is expense and often not practical. Still, in today’s business world, no company can function without professional, cutting-edge IT services. That means you must find the right IT services provider to keep your company competitive. You need to be cautious and well-informed before you sign on with a new company. Before entering into a contract, ask their representative the following essential questions.

1. Can I visit your facility?

The answer to this question should be an enthusiastic “Yes!” A professional, up-to-date IT service provider will be happy to introduce you to their staff and show you their facilities. You should view the servers and other tech hardware for yourself. While you may not understand how everything works, you will be able to judge how well the facility is maintained and how helpful the employees and management are. You will also gain insight into their work culture. You’ll want to join forces with a happy workplace.

2. Do you work with any other companies in my vertical?

When you work in a vertical market like banking, insurance, or educational software, you need an IT services company that knows your business. An IT company with no experience in your industry will be less effective in recommending the right software and in helping you comply with federal and state regulations.

3. What is the first thing you’ll do after taking over our account?

An IT company shouldn’t offer solutions until they understand your company’s needs and problems. In fact, they should offer you a free assessment before you even sign up with their company so that they can present you with an informed strategy. Once your sign on, the staff should address whichever issues you both agree is the most pressing.

4. Do you have any examples of how you document a network?

While all IT service providers will provide network documentation, some do it better than others. You should ask to see how they map the network, keep records of past problems, and maintain software information, etc. Without proper documentation, your IT provider will stumble when trying to address any network issues.

5. Who will I work with if we sign up with you?

Although you should be happy with the entire IT services team, you will need a solid connection with a specific point person who makes your business a priority and who works well with your staff. Don’t sign the agreement until you know who your representative will be and you’ve had a chance to interview them.

6. How will you report to me on our account?

Your IT company should employ a variety of communication methods, including video calls, IMs, formal reports, and in-person meetings when necessary. The best companies will modify their methods to suit your needs. Tell them how you wish to receive information and see if they are willing to adapt.

7. What does your response time and service level agreement (SLA) look like?

You should ask to see an example of their SLA so you will know what level of service you can expect. A detailed SLA explains how service will be measured and how violations of the SLA will be addressed. If it doesn’t look good on paper, the actual service will be lacking.
The SLA will spell out response time, which should be measured in minutes. No business can afford to wait long for service. Even a short period of downtime can cost companies millions of dollars every year. If the IT company won’t provide reasonable guarantees, their response time may hurt your company.

8. How long have you been around?

Startup companies can be excellent service providers, but their record of success is inevitably short. A company with years of experience should have a proven and lengthy track record and clients willing to offer good reviews. Don’t bet your company’s success on a company with little experience.

9. What are your core values?

IT providers should have and demonstrate core values just as any other business should. They must be proactive and make the customer’s needs their own. If an IT services company can’t quickly articulate their core values, look elsewhere.

10. What do you understand about my business?

An IT company should specialize in research, so they should be able to expertly discuss both your industry and your specific business. Before you sign an agreement, the company should do an assessment of your needs and explain how they will address them. If the IT company does not demonstrate this knowledge, they are not the team for you.

Finding the right IT services provider takes a little time and digging. Don’t hesitate to sit down with their team and go over these ten questions and more if you need additional answers. You need to understand their strategy, their services, and their values before you enter into a contract. In business today, nothing is more important to your success than expert tech help, so give your search the time and attention that it needs.