By Chris Koroluk

For many of us, working from home has become the new normal. However, some people may find it difficult to recreate an office environment at home without a little technical guidance. Luckily, our IT team is here to help!

While laptops are portable and convenient, the screens are usually small. The small screen will often condense websites and make the text much harder to read. Reading small text for long periods of time can strain the eyes and cause headaches, thus slowing down your work.

Our IT tip: Use a spare TV in place of a computer monitor.

Since most laptops come with an HDMI port and using an HDMI cable, you can connect your laptop to a spare TV! You can use the TV in addition to your laptop screen or make the TV the primary display. Here’s how:

• Once you have your laptop and TV connected using the HDMI cable, press the Windows Key and the P on your keyboard. Then select ‘extend,’ or ‘second monitor only.’
• Adjust size scaling and resolution in the Display settings.

Next, you can change the power settings to keep your laptop on after the screen is closed, which allows you to use your laptop as a desktop PC. Here’s how:

• Go to Settings > System > Power & Sleep—the additional power settings are on the right.
• Click ‘Choose what closing the lid does.’
• Choose ‘Do Nothing’ on either or both ‘Battery’ and ‘Plugged in.’

This is just one way to make your office more functional so you can remain productive throughout the workday! Is there something our IT team can help you with? Let us know in the comments and we’ll talk about it in a future blog post!

By David Baker, Microsoft MCSA & MCITP, CompTIA+ & Network+, CSM

According to the 2018 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report via a Forbes magazine report, more than half of all cyber attack victims were small businesses.

As a Managed IT Services provider, we’ve seen many instances of our small business clients experiencing email phishing, ransomware, or other breaches in security.

Even if your small business uses an out-of-the-box security system, you still need a professional IT organization to help make sure the technology works optimally and is layered with firewalls, encryption, and more.

A Managed IT Services firm can help.

Here are some questions to ask when interviewing a Managed IT Services firm:

1. Do you perform infiltration testing? This involves breaking into your network to expose security holes. Sounds scary, but this is necessary to find the gaps in your system and put together mitigation processes.
2. Do you perform phishing email reaction testing and instruction? Creating a fake phishing attempt to see how staff responds can help identify what should be included in an organization-wide security training plan. According to the 2018 State of Cybersecurity in Small & Medium Size Businesses report by Ponemon/Keeper Security:

Over 80% of small businesses report that malware has evaded their antivirus software.

3. How frequently do you survey digital security readiness? Digital security readiness focuses on preventative measures, as well as the actions to be taken when an incident does occur. Creating a culture of cyber readiness means creating a resilient organization.
4. How rapidly would you be able to recoup basic information? It’s critical that your Managed IT Services firm can quickly retrieve your information from a backup or other reinforcement.

These are just a few questions to ask an IT services firm to make sure they provide comprehensive services to keep your business secure.

Interested in asking us these questions and learning more about how KAI Partners’ IT experts can help? Call 916-465-8065!

About David: David Baker holds certifications in Microsoft MCSA, Microsoft MCITP, CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+ and has extensive experience in server, platform (HP/Dell). Mr. Baker has experience working with developers and supporting their development environment. In his current role, Mr. Baker monitors clients’ backups, active directory, DHCP and DNS, resolves helpdesk tier 1-3 support tickets, and has successfully completed AD migrations from server 2008 to server 2012 and 2016. Mr. Baker has successfully completed VOIP phone migrations, WAN ISP cutovers, network redesign and implementation, firewall replacements and security lockdown, AWS web server build out, AWS helpdesk call center engineering, and more. In his spare time, Mr. Baker enjoys BBQing, photography, and fitness.

By David Baker, Microsoft MCSA & MCITP, CompTIA+ & Network+, CSM

We’ve talked before about how your organization can benefit from our managed IT services. We can help you reduce downtime, improve productivity, and more.

Something else we do is help you reduce the money you spend on IT services.

An IT company that helps you reduce IT costs? Yes! Our IT team is always on the lookout for ways to save our clients money.

We recently completed a phone migration and network infrastructure upgrade for one of our clients. We found a way to decrease their monthly phone bill by half, ultimately saving them well into five figures annually.

Another way to save your organization money? We’re a big proponent of cloud computing—for example, using Microsoft 365 or Google Cloud for your files, emails, calendaring, and anything else you need to run your business.

We know a lot of people are still hesitant to move over to “the cloud,” but here are a few examples of how migrating from in-house servers to cloud computing can save you money and peace of mind:

1. Reduce hardware and electricity bill cost.Cloud computing means you no longer need to use certain computer equipment—you can repurpose the equipment for another use or donate it as a tax write-off. And, migrating your servers to the cloud can save money your electricity bill because you’re no longer paying for cooling costs.
2. You don’t need to pay an internal IT staff. Especially when you take into consideration the hidden costs of FTEs—health insurance, payroll taxes, workers’ compensation, the list goes on—it’s often more cost-efficient to have a team like ours manage your IT needs. Our team handles the security and maintenance, and many other updates are automatic within the cloud.
3. Disaster recovery. In the event of a building disaster, your electronic files are safe in the cloud. You and your team can still perform work duties and access any electronic files you need to. While this is never a welcome occurrence, you have peace of mind knowing your most valuable files are safe in the cloud.

KAI Partners’ expert cloud computing engineers are ready to help you meet your business goals. If you’re ready to let us take care of your IT needs, call 916-465-8065!

About David: David Baker holds certifications in Microsoft MCSA, Microsoft MCITP, CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+ and has extensive experience in server, platform (HP/Dell). Mr. Baker has experience working with developers and supporting their development environment. In his current role, Mr. Baker monitors clients’ backups, active directory, DHCP and DNS, resolves helpdesk tier 1-3 support tickets, and has successfully completed AD migrations from server 2008 to server 2012 and 2016. Mr. Baker has successfully completed VOIP phone migrations, WAN ISP cutovers, network redesign and implementation, firewall replacements and security lockdown, AWS web server build out, AWS helpdesk call center engineering, and more. In his spare time, Mr. Baker enjoys BBQing, photography, and fitness.

There are many paths to success and while not everyone takes the same path, we often manage to arrive at the same destination. In our KAI Partners Staff Profile series, we share interviews and insight from some of our own employees here at KAI Partners. Our staff brings a diversity in education, professional, and life experience, all of which demonstrate that the traditional route is not necessarily the one that must be traveled in order to achieve success.

Today, we bring you the journey of David Baker, a Systems Engineer providing Managed IT Services. Our IT services provide organizations the benefits of an internal IT department at a fraction of the cost of staffing one themselves.

The role of the Systems Engineer within IT services is critical. On any given day, Mr. Baker’s responsibilities include troubleshooting advanced security technologies such as Single sign-on and Multi-factor Authentication, managing IT initiatives, collaborating with clients, providing strategic advice on using technology to achieve goals and objectives, supporting new technology implementation, training users, and more.

Today we’re excited to share more about Mr. Baker’s Managed IT background and his current role.

KAI Partners, Inc.: How did you get into your line of work?

David Baker: My troubleshooting skills caught the attention of an instructor of mine who had just started a software training/consulting firm. He was impressed at my ability troubleshoot and reconstruct the computer. He was also looking for someone who loved computers and tech. I was able to work summer days and nights while going to school and increasing my technical knowledge. IT was fun, and I love playing video games, so it led down this road.

KAI: Are there any certifications or trainings you’ve gone through that have helped in your career?

DB: I have a certification through Microsoft—the Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP)—as well as CompTIA’s Network+ and A+. I am also currently working on a certification with Amazon Web Services.

KAI: What is your favorite part about your line of work and why?

DB: My favorite part about my line of work is creating new networks for clients. Completing a project gives me a sense of satisfaction. I take pride in knowing that I have created something that will help a client meet their goals.

KAI: What is one of the most common question you receive from clients and what counsel or advice do you give them?

DB: The most common question I get from clients is how we can save money on IT. I tell them let’s look at your environment and streamline it. For example, I once moved a client from physical servers to a virtual environment, which saved them money on cooling and electricity use.

Now that we’ve learned more about David’s Systems Engineer work, here’s a little more about him!

Quick Q&A with David:

Daily, must-visit website:  www.techcrunch.com

Preferred genre of music: Blues

Best professional advice received: Never give a firm time to resolve an issue in IT. You do not want to set an expectation that you cannot meet due to Murphy’s Law or other outside factors.

Book you can read repeatedly: “Who Moved My Cheese?”

Most-recent binge-watched show: Dear White People

About David: Mr. Baker has 11 years of experience in IT ranging from help desk to network/systems engineer and working with different technologies such as Cisco, SonicWALL, Dell, VMware, and Microsoft. Mr. Baker currently works for KAI Partners as a Systems Engineer, helping clients meet their IT needs. For fun, Mr. Baker enjoys enjoy BBQing, photography, and fitness.

Interested in learning more about how David and the Managed IT Services team can help your organization? Call 916-465-8065!

By Steven Duart

As a small business, you have enough going on to make sure your business succeeds. Managing your IT systems shouldn’t have to be yet another item on your to-do list.

So, what exactly does our managed IT team do for you? Think of it this way, if it has an on/off switch—server and networking equipment, desktops, tablets, phones, and copiers, basically everything you need to run your small business—we can manage it for you.

In short: We are your IT department.

We provide all the benefits of an internal IT department at a fraction of the cost of staffing one yourself. Here are a few other benefits of our managed IT services:

Comprehensive Network Confidence. A critical part of your success as a business is your computer network and making sure it runs predictably, optimally, and securely. You need to be able to focus on your organizational mission and not your IT network, which is why our fully managed services are the ideal solution to provide the utmost in network reliability and quality service.

Improved Productivity. Continuous insight into your network lets us reduce the business impact of IT failure by shortening the time from network failure to issue resolution.

Decreased Downtime. Through our service management service, we perform preventative maintenance activities that keep your network operations up, and we reduce the number of incidents and downtime that you encounter.

Tailored IT Plans. Every organization is unique and has unique needs. We provide customers with tailored recommendations that align with your business vision and strategy. Through a comprehensive IT assessment, our team identifies essential business criteria and develops a strategy to create tailored IT plans.

We provide remote and on-site support, monthly network health reviews, security and backup management, and more. We do all this to give you the time and energy to focus on what’s important to help your business grow—and most importantly, to give you peace of mind.

Need support on your next project? KAI Partners can help your organization implement the software development methodology that works best for you and your needs.

Interested in getting a quote or learning more about how Managed IT Services can help your small business? Call 916-465-8065 or email kaipsales@kaipartners.com

About the Author: Mr. Duart is a Managed IT Services expert who has been integrating people, process, and technology and providing comprehensive technology solutions for businesses and outstanding support for over 13 years. Steven is dedicated to striving to make a difference in the local community by offering Non-Profits CIO-Level consulting at a fraction of the cost. Steven successfully started his own MSP firm and partnered with KAI Partners to expand Managed IT Services offerings in California. Steven holds a Master’s degree in Computer Information Systems and graduated with honors from St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas and is currently working on his PhD.