I Need Technology For My Business, But …
For so many businesses, technology is not what matters most. More than likely you offer a service or sell a physical product. You run a medical clinic or a dental office or perhaps a law firm.
You know technology is needed but don’t have the expertise yourself. So you do what business owners have done for decades, you hire a Managed Services Provider (MSP). They promise to set you up with the latest hardware, software and teach you best practices so that you may be left alone to run your business.
We’ve all heard this story – so why so often are business owners ultimately unhappy?
The Problems
Here are the problems: Most MSPs lack true “expertise” because there is no barrier to entry for I.T. professionals – anyone can call himself an “I.T. professional”. They charge hourly rates for services that are excluded from the contracted services. They also act as “Authorized Resellers” to sell you manufacturer-specific hardware and software.
The impact? They make more money by going slowly and by buying more stuff. Most MSPs are good people with good
The Fix
NextStep Technology Solutions, LLC is different. Unlike MSPs who offer a specific menu of services and then try to fit your business needs into that menu, we tailor our services and fees to meet your specific needs. We are as motivated as our clients to get the right work done in the least amount of time.
We are not affiliated with any manufacturers, allowing us to be completely impartial in the decision-making process, nor do we earn anything on hardware or software you purchase from your distributors. We work for you – to work with the distributor and your I.T. staff in design, price negotiations, teaches, install and support. In short, we are not brokers.
We remove the confusion and bridge the gap between the business and the technology, along with enhancing security and regulatory compliance for your company.
articles
Your security technology configuration could expose your clients private data
A data breach is estimated to cost your company $3.9 million dollars and by 2021, Cybercrime damages are estimated to reach $6 Trillion globally. In response, companies are spending an estimated $90 Billion in security products in 2018 alone to attempt to minimize the multitude of attacks.
But is purchasing new technology enough?
Your Security Risk Analysis Could Cost You Millions
Your practice could be at risk for public embarrassment and substantial fines that could reach into the millions for not adhering to your policies and procedures, a commitment to ongoing employee training and investing in your infrastructure to continue to protect your patient’s data.
Our Services
END USER Training
NextStep can provide end-user training sessions as part of employee orientation or part of a quarterly, semi-annual or annual training.
Training topic examples:
Identification of security vulnerabilities (e-mail phishing, etc), review of legal requirements (HIPAA, PCI, State Privacy Laws, etc)
I.T. Governance
We provide an exhaustive review of the current state of affairs and develop a roadmap towards good governance. Owners need to understand whether their systems and equipment are sound; and if not, what are the gaps to be addressed.
Budget Creation/Review
Technology at its best should increase employee output. Most companies view their IT department purely as a cost driver. What if via technology, employees could produce more with less? We partner with senior leadership to identify technology capital and operating expense specifically designed to boost revenue per employee.
Policy creation/review
As businesses mature, questions arise such as who should be permitted to access what systems? How should we address a departing employee? What should we do in a worst case scenario? We will not only craft best in class practices from data access to disaster recovery, but will train key personnel.
Vendor Management
We are product independent and will work with multiple resellers to negotiate the best price on your behalf. We receive no financial benefit from any vendor transactions. We will source the best vendor for the service or equipment in need, negotiate
I.T. Talent / Third Party Evaluation
NextStep offers an array of talent management services. We interview prospective hires, deliver performance assessments of in-house staff, lead recruiting efforts, etc.
Project definition and management
We have over 20 years of managing I.T. projects ranging in size from $5k to $5M. With our proprietary project management framework, we’ll get the scope right, relentlessly hold all stakeholders accountable and ensure timely delivery.
outsourced cio
We install an outsourced CIO to serve as your advocate and business strategist. This expert will align your business needs with technology solutions.
Specialty Services
I.T. curriculum planning
Technology is ever evolving and changing at breakneck speeds. Investing in human capital to support the very systems that your company depends on yet not re-investing in on-going training leads to a break down of your systems and the very question of ‘why doesn’t our system better support our company?’ We review your current I.T. infrastructure, understand your future objectives and will tailor an I.T. Training Curriculum to ensure that both your I.T. Staff and your company is on the roadmap to success while retaining your I.T. talent.
outsourced hipaa security officer
Most acting HIPAA Security Officers (office manager or practice administrator) do not have enough technical knowledge to speak intelligently with their I.T. resources, which results in a much higher risk to your patients’ information, leading to crippling financial fines and embarrassment to your practice. We assume this role for you, and through constant research and communication, direct your I.T. Staff to make its ‘best effort’ in safeguarding your patients’ information within a reasonable budget.
disaster recovery planning
Every business relies 100% on their technology to provide services to their clients; E-mail, bids, documents, ePHI, drawings, financials, phones, etc. and when any one of these pieces of technology is not working correctly, the pain is significant. Yet, if everything failed, A.K.A., a disaster, it’s crippling. The loss of revenue per hour and the sunk costs can run high and quick and in some cases, shut down businesses for good. Even though this is known and we’ve all heard this story before, a server crashed and the backups were not valid, no documentation leads to confusion of how applications were integrated together, who has access to information, etc., why do businesses continue to turn their back on a disaster recovery plan to reduce the time to restoration of services and minimize the sunk costs? At NextStep, we have over 20 years of helping businesses define, test, and execute disaster recovery plans. From Fortune 500 to Small Businesses, we tailor a disaster recovery plan that meets your business’ size and budget, along with reasonable timelines to recover services. This should not be viewed as a ‘ this will not happen to us’ but a ‘when will this happen to us’ question.
PCI Infrastructure guidance *
Accepting credit cards is a way of life for almost every business but are you meeting your contractual obligation with the processor as well as the law? Most companies are not properly securing the PCI data, either because they did not read the agreement in full or their I.T. Staff is not properly trained in network security measures, ultimately putting their business at risk. With over 20 years of Network Infrastructure Security experience, we can properly scale the necessary security for your organization within a reasonable budget, virtually eliminating the risk of taking credit cards
* NextStep Technology Solutions, LLC is not a Qualified Security Assessor who has been validated by the PCI Security Standards Council
hipaa / hi-tech risk analysis and audit services
As a covered entity, an annual Risk Assessment is mandated, along with a review all of your HIPAA / Hi-Tech policies. Failure to perform these basic functions can result in significant fines to your practice, as well as, public embarrassment. NextStep removes the political barriers often found in these projects and will perform the technical audit of your practice, identify the risks, provide the necessary roadmap to properly mitigate and safeguard your patients’ information. Finally, we execute the roadmap in conjunction with your I.T. Staff to ensure that the risks identified were indeed mitigated.
About Us
NextStep Technology Solutions, LLC was started with the premise that I.T. support vendors focus on maintaining the existing environment and providing upgrade services when required but often fall short of providing technical guidance based on your business’ needs. The reason is often because there is no ‘barrier to entry’ into technology, which leads to unqualified support staff providing recommendations without understanding the customers’ business.
At NextStep Technology Solutions, LLC, we “bridge the gap” between the business divisions and the I.T. team to improve business efficiencies and improved regulatory compliance. We integrate with your business teams to truly understand how your business model and processes, which allows for your business divisions to leverage the needed technology while having confidence that the solutions are protecting their assets and customer information. We are not affiliated with any manufacturers, which allows us to be ‘solutions agnostic’ with our recommendations.
Our resources have worked with Fortune 500 companies down to small businesses with only five employees. Regardless of the size of your organization, our approach to your changing business needs and how technology can provide value is the same.
To learn more, please contact us.