Technology is constantly evolving, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is taking centre stage, transforming how we work. Forget dystopian robots; AI is here to empower your human workforce, not replace it.
Curious how your business can leverage AI to optimise processes, boost creativity, and unlock hidden potential? Let’s delve into the top 5 ways AI can supercharge your office:
1. Automating the Mundane:
Say goodbye to repetitive tasks like scheduling meetings, data entry, and email management. AI-powered tools can intelligently automate these activities, freeing up your employees to focus on higher-value work. Imagine the time saved and the boost in productivity!
Information overload is real. AI can analyse vast amounts of data, uncovering hidden patterns and trends that traditional methods miss. Use these insights to make informed decisions, optimise marketing campaigns, and predict customer behaviour, giving your business a strategic edge.
Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all solutions. AI-powered personalisation takes centre stage, tailoring experiences to individual employees and customers. From creating custom learning paths to recommending relevant products, AI fosters deeper engagement and drives better results.
Think AI can’t be creative? Think again! Use AI tools to generate design ideas, write unique content, and compose compelling music. Let AI fuel your creative brainstorms, and free your team to refine and personalise the outcomes, unleashing innovation like never before.
Language barriers can be a hurdle. AI-powered translation tools break down these barriers, facilitating seamless communication across teams and borders. Real-time translation for meetings, multilingual customer support, and even content localisation become effortless, opening doors to global collaboration and market expansion.
Ready to embrace the AI revolution? Remember, AI is a tool, not a replacement. By integrating it strategically, you empower your workforce, unlock efficiency, and drive innovation, taking your business to the next level.
Get started by:
Identifying repetitive tasks that can be automated.
Exploring data analysis tools to gain valuable insights.
Experimenting with personalisation tools to engage employees and customers.
Utilising AI-powered creative tools to fuel brainstorming sessions.
Trying out translation tools to facilitate communication
To us, IT Support don’t end when we close a ticket. We continue to work right alongside you to ensure you have all the insights, the strategies and the tactics to ensure you’re achieving tangible results every single step of the way
Our IT Support Services:
We provide a full IT Support Service for businesses across the North West. From bespoke to c all-encompassing, we’ve got your sorted. We pride ourselves on being ‘that tech support with a personality’, on our super fast response times, our scalability, our innovation knowledge. We’re your IT provider with a difference, the ones you didn’t know you and needed our until you couldn’t live without us
Managed IT Services
We get it, IT can feel like an ongoing headache, that nagging feeling at the back of your mind, that one last point that never leaves your to-do list – until now. your The AGT way means we take the wheel, we manage everything from beginning right through until, well… ongoing! You can concentrate on everything else, confident in the knowledge that your IT is working perfectly in tune with your business.
Supercharged Managed IT Support
Doing IT better We’re the Tech Experts with a heart Here at AGT, we’re not your standard IT Support Company, oh no! We’re the superheroes of the tech world, the elite, the focused, the tech experts with a personality and a heart. We want nothing more than you and your company to achieve ultimate success, and we’re here to help.
You deserve better! When you and your tech partner work together, then your business is improved it’s as simple as that! We take the time to analyse every single aspect of your IT infrastructure and then we make it our mission to uncover any hidden away opportunities to grow the business. Analysis which makes a REAL difference.
You deserve to have an IT support company that’s in sync! Let’s hit fast forward and speed things up. With us, you have a dedicated team of tech wizards, who are pros in having everything up and running as fast as possible. Our cloud-based systems make the onboardIng process super easy and straightforward, in fact rather than wizards, we’re ninjas, you barely notice we’ve been in and out, just your new systems working at effortless speed.
Check out what our existing customers say about us here:
You’ve taken the leap, picked up the phone and decided we’re the ones for you (Hurrah!) So, what’s next? Usually, we hear these three Qs from our new clients:
1. How long will it take to move away from my current provider?
2. How long will my systems be down for?
3. Will it go smoothly?
There are five steps we follow to bring you onboard, it’s pretty straightforward and even better we tend to complete this in just ONE weekend. That’s right, your staff can finish work on a Friday and arrive back on a Monday to everything done, dusted and ready to go! That’s zero downtime and minimum disruption right there.
Here’s how we roll in the onboarding process:
Get to know you
We come down to your offices to check out the environment. We find out from you what it is that’s had you throwing your hands up in despair and make a decision to give us a call. We then work with you to decide which would be the best solution for you. We take a look at your phones, servers and computers, we investigate what’s not working and why not and we discuss with you what you want from your IT systems to ensure an awesome streamlined way of working in the future.
As part of our initial process we also take over liaising with your current IT providers, we send them a document to fill in so we can ensure all services and IP are transferred smoothly during the switch over period. If you don’t have a current IT company then we can still gather all this info from your bills and systems and include it in our documentation process (which we cover a little bit further down) That’s one fewer headache for you to worry about then!
2. In-depth
We conduct a full and extremely thorough site documentation. We take a look at all aspects including things such as
• Who you pay for broadband
• Who you pay for website domains
• Who has control of your website and design
• Passwords for computers and servers
• Phones/Phone numbers
Documenting everything as the first job enables complete organisation, accessibility and control for us and you going forward.
3. Clense
This bit for us is like a day trip to a spa, except we’re cleansing your systems instead. Once we know what’s going wrong, we don the proverbial rubber gloves and get down to business. We clean up all the systems, remove any unnecessary applications or temporary systems which are slowing you down and strip everything right back down to the basics.
4. Optimisation
Time to bring things back up to speed. We take a look at your core systems and ensure
they’re working at their top levels. We ensure they’re both quick and reliable, after all time is money right!
5. Advise and teach
Once everything’s complete, updated and switched over, we’re 100% available to teach your staff everything they need to know about the systems, we’re at the end of the phone to answer any questions and provide ongoing support. Educating your staff is crucial to ensure you get the best out of your new IT service, so we’re able to offer training workshops on anything and everything they need to know.
So basically, a switch over to AGT is faster than a Sunday morning jog with Usain Bolt, easier than 1+1= 2 and as straightforward as A to B.
As of this week, lockdown restrictions are beginning to ease slightly and with life after Covid-19 becoming an ever increasing topic of conversation, it’s time to look at what steps you’ll need to take when your business does eventually return to the office.
Plan ahead
The process of working from home proved difficult for some, but by putting plans in place NOW for returning, you’re getting a head start on what could be another stressful process.
Unfortunately, it’s not quite as simple as everyone rocking back up to the office at 9am on a Monday, there’s actually quite a lot to consider…
Your team
It’s looking like there will be a gradual phased end to the lockdown period, in which case the team won’t be returning to the office all at once. You may have people working for you that are at higher risk (or live with someone who is high risk), so they may have to stay home for longer.
There’s also the remote working element – you may have found that allowing your team to work remotely has proved successful and this may be something you want to consider as a long term prospect for some members of the company. It could aid productivity and flexibility across the board!
Your equipment
There are a few aspects to be considered here:
What changes would you need to make to allow home working for any of your team on a regular basis?
Do you need to purchase extra devices or licenses for apps?
How will you manage the safekeeping and return of any company equipment during this process?
Did you or your IT service provider keep a list of what was handed out?
Will your IT service provider need to spend a lot of time with you setting everything back up in the workplace?
Your data security
Ok, we do like to talk A LOT about data security BUT this bit is crucial.
Access to your data has been moved across devices from your workplace to homes, and now needs to come back to the workplace again. Has your data security been compromised in any way during this process?
Of course, if you have a tip top IT service provider (like us!), then this transition will be as straightforward as ABC. If you made the switch to working from home in a rush, then there may be some elements of your data security which have been compromised in the process.
Whatever the case, when people and devices start coming back to your workplace, it’s a great opportunity to update everything, check the strength of passwords, and ensure all data is constantly backed up.
So, if you need a plan in place ready for when we’re given the go ahead, then we’re on standby and ready to get going. Get in touch and we can look at everything you currently have and how to ensure the move back into office life goes without a hitch.
Your IT company should be an extension of your team, they should be the missing cog which enables the wheel to carry on effortlessly turning whilst you crack on with all the other aspects of your business, safe in the knowledge that your IT is secure, protected and working!
If you’re looking for a new IT provider, we’re sure there’s a whole load of questions you’d like to ask, but just to break it down, here’s a few key q’s for your initial meeting…
What’s your on-boarding process?
This one is key, the process should be incredibly straightforward at every step of the way. A fine tuned on-boarding process allows for minimum downtime for your staff.
What’s the downtime during the switch over?
As we mentioned above, down time should be at an absolute minimum. We work over the weekend which means staff leave their computers on a Friday and return back on a Monday with everything done and dusted, as if like magic. A good IT company should be able to work quietly behind the scenes over a weekend to ensure there’s no ‘servers down, staff waiting around’ issues for you.
What will you need from me? The discovery stage is crucial, this is the bit when your IT provider should sit down with you and collate all the info required in one go. This should include things like: -Who you pay for broadband -Who you pay for website domains -Who has control of your website and design
-Passwords for computers and servers
-Phones/Phone numbers
Your IT provider should also visit your office to check out the environment and discuss with you what’s working, what’s not and come up with a plan on how this can be solved.
Will we need to switch systems and servers?
Once your new IT company has visited your office and checked out what your current server and systems look like and how they’re working, then a decision can be made. However, we’re big fans of moving clients from dusty old servers to super awesome cloud based servers. Take a look at why and how we’ve made the switch for one of our clients recently
How do you ensure we have maximum security?
Once again, this should be tailored to you and your individual requirements. Once your IT company has completed their discovery phase, they should then provide a complete run down on your best measures to retain complete security.
Do you provide training to our staff?
Once your new IT set up is complete, your IT company should be on hand to assist staff with any queries or problems in the day or two immediately following. Further to this, training workshops should be provided for an even smoother transition over to any new system.
Who’s my point of contact?
Gone are the days of IT nerds and dark basement rooms (think Channel 4, IT Crowd?) Your IT company should be approachable and friendly, and you should have a face to a name, for example: take a look at this bunch of IT genius’
What’s your response times?
This should be outlined from the very beginning. No false promises of immediate response times if they can’t meet their words. Exactly how do they prioritise and how long can you expect to wait for each level? What are the different response times for a complete IT failure versus an email switch over? This all needs covering, so make sure they tell you what your options are
Of course, we have all the answers to these, and so much more! Fancy a chat? Here’s how to get in touch
If your business still runs Windows 7, then you need to take urgent action.
It reaches the end of its life in January. Along with a load of other popular Microsoft software. And once Microsoft no longer supports the operating system, it becomes irresistible to hackers.
This is the 2020 problem. Half of all UK businesses are affected. And the time to take action is NOW.
Don’t leave it till the end of the year… you don’t want to have to put in place an emergency fix. Better to plan a replacement program now.
To help you out, we’ve created the following guide to see if you or your business has been compromised. This guide is free for all business owners and managers – download your copy here.
Contact us anytime on 01253 808 472 if you’d like to discuss things further
Do your staff use WhatsApp to discuss company business?
That might seem secure, but it means you’re not really in control of what data is where. How do you wipe company data from someone’s WhatsApp when they leave the business?
There is a better tool – and you probably already have it. Microsoft Teams is a real game changer, for helping your staff communicate and collaborate.
It’s included free in Office 365. And we’ve just written a brand new FREE guide to Microsoft Teams, to help you get the most out of it.
The guide is free for all business owners and managers. Download here
Maintaining your IT infrastructure is an essential requirement – but understanding what to upgrade (and when) can be a real challenge.
Many business owners and managers put off upgrading for as long as possible. Yet for anyone determined to provide the best possible service to their customers and stay ahead of the competition, failing to upgrade simply isn’t an option.
Letting your business plod along with an outdated infrastructure is a huge risk. Not only will it inevitably lead to the kind of performance issues that can either slow down or completely stop operations, it also makes you an easy target for hackers.
Old software and operating systems present huge security risks, leaving business-critical data wide open to cyber-crime.
We’ve written a new guide about upgrading your IT. To help you get to grips with all of the issues.
We come down to your offices to check out the environment. We find out from you what it is that’s had you throwing your hands up in despair and make a decision to give us a call. We then work with you to decide which would be the best solution for you. We take a look at your phones, servers and computers, we investigate what’s not working and why not and we discuss with you what you want from your IT systems to ensure an awesome streamlined way of working in the future.
Your business is at risk right now. Hackers are targeting businesses all day every day.