C3 Blog

The death of the desktop may or may not be imminent (we’ll leave that one for people with more time on their hands to think about) but one more argument for continuing to invest a hefty chunk of your small business budget in powerful desktop computers is quickly becoming irrelevant.

You don’t need to waste your money on powerful desktops—jam-packed with the latest processors and highest capacity hard drives—just to run that one software application your business couldn’t live without.

Advancements in cloud computing now make hosted applications a viable choice for small businesses looking for simpler, more affordable ways to equip their employees with their most critical software tools.

Hosted applications are just what they sound like: applications that run locally on your computers, laptops, and terminals, but that “live" on remote server space hosted by a trusted IT partner.

Uptime is probably the single most important part of your IT setup - because downtime cost you your company's time and money.  Depending on your company, maybe your team could survive a whole day without email access (it might be a pain in the butt, but it could be done).  But what if you don't have that tolerance when it comes to response time? What if even going an hour without functioning email would grind everything to a halt?  Think of the same scenario, but this time it's a server that's gone down - how long can your team continue to do their jobs without access to any of their files?

Odds are: not very long.

So what can you do to prepare against the dreaded downtime? We've compiled a checklist to help you evaluate your IT environment.  All of the components below are essential to maximize uptime and keep your business running smoothly - without them, even a small bump in the road could leave you without the technology you need for hours.