At Computercentric we offer so many services, it can sometimes be confusing to know how and where we can fit into your business and make things easier for you. Here are my top ten tips, and ways that we can help you to make life easier, more productive, and save you money.
Back More Stuff Up
At some point, your desktop, laptop or server will fail, and you will lose data. Be prepared for it. Cloud backup from Computercentric costs from as little as £15 a month, and gives you the peace of mind that everything you need is being backed up securely, and off site.
Don’t Agree to Long Term Contracts
Telephone and Broadband providers like to keep you for 2, 3 or even 5 years. They will often sell it to you by reducing up-front charges, but you often pay more in the long run, and will be tied to them even if their service is pants, or they put their prices up. Computercentric can take over the supply of your phone lines, phone calls and broadband. We’re much nicer to deal with that the big nationals, provide the same service (or better), and for most services, we won’t tie you to a contract either.
Let Us Host Your Website
Computercentric have our own network of web servers. Unlike companies who are just focused on web hosting, we provide lots of other services to lots of other businesses, so we don’t need to charge over the odds for web hosting. We can host your business website for as little as £3 per month.
Look More Professional
Are you still using a free GMail, Hotmail or Yahoo email address for your business? Don’t take it personally, but this makes your business look amateurish, like you can’t be bothered to get your own domain name. That’s what your customers will think anyway. £15.99 is enough to reserve a .co.uk domain name for your business for two years. Don’t worry if you’re not technically minded, we’ll set it up for you at no extra cost.
Use Email Better
Are you still using a POP3 email account? Stop it now. By using Office 365 for only a few quid a month, you can have your email, contacts list and calendar on your desktop computer, laptop, tablet and phone, all fully synchronised.
Don’t Advertise your Business with a Mobile Number
People feel more comfortable knowing you have an office, even if you don’t. Get a landline number from only £2 per month, and have people call that instead. Your calls can still come through to your mobile, or you can divert them to a call handling company so you never miss a call.
Computer problem? Don’t waste your time..
Whatever the problem, we’ve probably fixed it before. Computer playing up, not working as fast as it used to? Don’t waste your time fixing it yourself. Your time is better spent on running your business. Computercentric provide remote telephone support for any business, even if you don’t have a support agreement with us, for only £1 per minute. Call us up, we’ll connect remotely, fix the problem, and send you an invoice. Would you rather pay us £15 to fix the problem in a quarter of an hour, or waste the whole day trying to fix it yourself?
Don’t Use Dodgy Software
So many people use pirated software, we wouldn’t recommend you do. Not only is it theft, and illegal, most pirated software comes with built-in, free viruses and malicious software that will make life difficult. You can pay for most software like Office (Word, Excel etc…) on a monthly payment plan for only a few pounds per month.
Get Proper Antivirus Software
If you’re a business, you are not supposed to be using free antivirus software like AVG etc… Not only is it a violation of their licence terms, it is also not very good. You will get much better protection, and better support from a paid-for, business-grade antivirus system. We can help you make the right decision, and even install it for you.
Don’t be a Cheapskate
Looking to buy a new computer? Deal look too good to be true? It probably is. You always get what you pay for. If you buy a new computer for £200 it might look like a bargain, but you’ve probably just wasted your money. Computercentric only sell decent, branded machines from reputable manufacturers like HP and Fujitsu. In simple terms, the more you spend on a computer, the longer it will last, the less likely it is to fail, and if something does go ‘Pete Tong’, it will be quicker and easier to get repaired.
Watch Out for Cowboys
Everyone likes to think they’re an IT expert. They’re not. Trust me, I’ve met them. Speaking of which, providing IT services is very much built around trust. You trust your IT company to be giving you the right advice. We see so many companies being fed duff information, or misled. Sometimes this is intentional, sometimes it’s just because they don’t know better. If you want a second opinion on anything, drop us a line anytime.
OK, so that’s 11 tips. 11 for the price of 10, that’s a bargain.
