Your business is a technology business. And you are not alone. Today, virtually every business is heavily involved and invested in technology. Whether your office is here in Atlanta or anywhere else in the country…or the world…your dependence on technology is in great part linked to how forward thinking you have been over recent years. But please don’t think that dependence on technology is a bad thing. Far from it. Technology is a powerful force that can multiply the effectiveness, reach, profitability and longevity of almost any business.

Let’s look at it from a very simplistic approach. How successful do you think your business would be today if all your employees were using quills and blotters? Fountain pens? Manual typewriters? Electric typewriters? Word processors with magnetic cards that had to be inserted each time they were used? Or a 1988 AppleIIC computer with 128k of RAM (today’s typical computer has 33,000 times as much processing power)? The point is, as much as we may complain about it, we are completely dependent on technology in one form or another, and not many people really want to go in the other direction.

But not only do we, as business owners, want the technology that can power our businesses forward, so do our employees. Studies have shown that millennials, for sure, and even Gen Xers, often look at the technology they will be given to work with before accepting many positions.

However, we also have to face the fact that today’s complex technology, as powerful and rewarding as it can be, doesn’t run itself. In fact, as companies grow, their technology requirements tend to multiply and serious choices need to be made as to how to keep your IT infrastructure at peak performance.

The two most obvious choices are to either hire an in-house IT professional, eventually growing to a full team, or outsource this function to a managed IT service provider. There are advantages to each: an in-house IT person or team puts skilled people at your fingertips. An outsourced IT provider brings a team with a wide range of training and certifications that can handle most any need.

Because each of these scenarios has distinct advantages, more and more growing companies are opting for a hybrid IT management system commonly referred to a co-managed or co-sourced IT, with the in-house IT executive or team, and the outsourced team, working hand-in-hand to give the employer the best of both worlds. Typically, the in-house team will then have the time to focus on high level matters, such as long-term IT strategies, leaving the routine, day-to-day monitoring and maintenance, help-desk, and repair work to the out-sourced people. Certainly, this is not cast in stone and each company can make its own decision as to where each function is best handled.

Regardless of how the tasks are sorted out, companies that opt for this hybrid generally discover several benefits:

Increased Productivity: With co-management, you know that IT support is available 24 x 7. You also know that your IT infrastructure is being monitored and maintained, even if your in-house IT guy is on vacation in Aruba. That means that your sales people can sell and your customer service people can service. When managed by outside professionals, IT "uptime" of 99.999% is the goal, increasing productivity across the company.

Reduced Expenses: Fixed monthly fees let you know in advance what your expenses are going to be and because you are sharing the cost of highly trained IT personnel as well as storage capacity (especially if you choose a cloud solution), companies using IT management companies generally find their expenses less than before.

Minimized Risk: By having the latest technology available, including the latest in security, along with people with the most up-to-date training, your protection against the ever-increasing level of cyber crime is reduced to a minimum, while your ability to recover and restore in the event of cyber intrusion or a network problem is maximized.

Easy Scalability: As your company grows, your IT infrastructure easily grows with it. You also know that the financial burden of maintaining your infrastructure has transferred from you to the IT management service, so you know they are doing virtually everything possible to keep it running at peak performance.

DynaSis has been providing managed and co-managed IT support to the small to mid-sized business community in Atlanta for almost a quarter century. The DynaSis team of 55 professionals, including more than 30 engineers, is highly trained and experienced. We are happy to provide you with a complimentary IT Assessment to help you understand where your IT infrastructure is today, and where it needs to be in the future. www.DynaSis.com. 678.218.1769.

Millennial generation workers...give them the technology tools they need, and your rewards will follow.

With the millennial workforce growing literally by the day, employers need to keep up-to-date with how these people function and think. While you may be thinking, “Why should I adapt to them? They’re going to work for me?” the reality is that they are not alone. Not only are they going to become your workforce, and you want the best of the best, they represent the likes and dislike of the millennials who will also be come your clientele.

Unlike traditional workers, they don’t always believe that work needs to be accomplished during the standard 9 to 5 work day, nor necessarily within the confines of your office walls, nor does it have to be Monday through Friday.

“What difference does it make where or when I do the work, as long as I get the job done?” More and more, the answer is: it doesn’t…as long as there are proper channels of communication. Enter mobile computing and BYOD (bring your own device) that lets people work from anywhere at any time while staying in touch and having full access to whatever work files they may need.

Right now, more than 85% of millennials have smartphones, whether iPhones or Androids, and it has a major effect on how they communicate with co-workers and superiors. A recent study showed that 41% prefer communicating electronically rather than by speaking over the phone or face-to-face. In fact, 59% said that an important consideration in whether or not to accept a job was whether or not the employer was going to provide state-of-the-art technology. This is so even though many admitted using their own devices right alongside the technology the company supplied. (This writer is writing on his own MacBook right now, which is sitting alongside the perfectly fine computer provided to him. I use both)

If you want to stay ahead of the game, you have to adapt your IT policies accordingly. Modern workers expect modern communications built into a technology ecosystem that may include things like social networking, instant messaging, blogs, wikis, and video on demand. This isn’t for fun and games. These tools are what enable the millennial generation instant connectivity and engagement with co-workers, superiors and customers. Ultimately, they enable these workers to be happier and more productive in their jobs and relate in a more meaningful way to the customers of their own generation. These tools also elevate their creativity and employers who cater to these needs are finding that the real benefit ends up belonging to the company.

DynaSis is an Atlanta managed IT service provider, in business for almost 25 years. DynaSis works with small to mid-sized businesses employing cloud technology where appropriate, and more traditional services when required. We have also been on the forefront of cyber security as well as helping businesses become truly digitized, so they can be the beneficiaries of digital disruption, not the victims.

Manufacturing employee using cloud-based tablet on the floor of the plant

A recent article in Forbes Magazine highlighted how technology is impacting the manufacturing industry. Among the other points it raised, it noted that surveys had found that:

• 55% of manufacturers are using the cloud platforms and technologies to better manage their supply chains.
• 48% are using cloud platforms and technologies to more efficiently manage their new product introductions.
• 64% use the same tablets as consumers use on the plant floor to improve connectivity and communications.
• 40% are building “smart” products right now, or plan to do so within 5 years.

From the survey results, based on the responses of almost 200 manufacturing companies ranging from food and beverage to automotive, it is obvious that the age of “connected” manufacturing, and IT management is here. This connectivity gives them a here-to-fore unavailable agility that enables them to work better with both suppliers and customers. On one hand, this affects management of the supply chain, and on the other, both innovation of new products and quality of existing ones. Interestingly, although we hear so much about the contraction/consolidation of manufacturing in this country, 90% have reported that they have actually grown over the past five year. The Cloud has also allowed more than 10% of the respondents to become actively engaging in “re-shoring”, the reversal of off-shoring…in other words, bringing their manufacturing, in full or in part, back to the United States.

Almost 3/4s of the companies state that use of the “Cloud” is giving them superior insight into their overall businesses and a full 90% say that they now have better access to company data. They are also reporting better communication with suppliers and customers, as well as with transportation vendors. By the end of the coming year, four in ten expect to be using big data analytics, or be well along in the planning stages of doing so.

The majority has stated that use of the “Cloud” improves their ability to deal with fluctuating customer demands and the consequential fluctuating supply chain needs. This allows them to become more customer-centric, something required by the upswing in customer-driven commerce.

Over the next five years, approximately two out of three of these manufacturing companies are looking at cloud-based technologies to: 1) increase connectivity with their supply chains, 2) improve their quality assurance programs, and 3) build upon their communications capabilities between plant and enterprise.

All-in-all, it is safe to say that the age of “connected manufacturing” though IT management has arrived.

DynaSis is an Atlanta based managed IT service provider and has worked with a variety local manufacturers since its inception in 1992. DynaSis world-class data center provides safe, reliable and economical cloud computing service to its clients. www.DynaSis.com. 678.218.1769.

It has been said that email is a cyber-criminal’s best friend. Email has become a very popular tool for hackers to go after their victims. If you think the day of the Nigerian Prince who is desperately seeking your help and willing to pay you $5,600,000 just for allowing you to use your bank account to transfer his family’s immense fortune into the USA, as long as you send him $5,000 to initiate the transaction, are over, you are sadly mistaken. It just morphs into a slightly different scheme. Earlier this week I received an email from James Comey, Director of the FBI, advising me that the $10.3 million dollars due me and that had been held up by international exchange problems was now being released. All he needed was my banking information, including my ID and password. It came from the email address FBIDirectorCmey@usa.com. And, yes, Comey was spelled Cmey.

While this was an attempt to attack me personally, it is an example (ok, a poor one from the hacker’s point of view) of one of so many attempts that are made every day.

A less defendable technique is the email coming from your very own bank…or your company’s bank…asking for verification of information for your own “protection.” Except that it’s a perfect copy of your bank’s email form but it’s not from them. Unfortunately, very smart people are still falling for this every day, including employees holding sensitive information at companies of all sizes.

Another target has become the business traveler. Spoofers set up travel sites dedicated to the business traveler, whose defenses may be somewhat diminished simply because travel tires you out and when you’re tired, you make mistakes. Say you are in Cincinnati and need to book a car in Omaha. You mean to visit Expedia.com but instead, type “expedia” into your browser, hit return, and Google rewards you with a whole list of choices. You click on rentalcars.expdia.com and reserve your car, giving your company’s credit card number, expiration date, and security code and, voila!, just like that, the cyber-criminal has all your credit card information. He spends the next five minutes racking up thousands of dollars on your card, which no one will discover until the bill reaches your accounting office and someone reviews it and discovers what has happened. This may be weeks after the event. They do the same thing with banking information, personal information, health care information, etc.

This can become particularly problematic when using cell phones. Many people are diligent about email security when setting up controls on their laptops and tablets, but smartphones are harder to protect, partially because the size of the content you are trying to read can be so small.

But one of the biggest problems is simply the fact that as soon as you protect yourself against one threat, another pops up in its place. One email security expert likened it to a game of Whack-a-Mole.

In a short article like this, we can only touch the surface of the problem, but if you would like to learn more, including what you can do to protect your company, check out our white paper on Email Security.

By the DynaSis Team

Although the majority of business owners (87% per one survey) have adopted cloud computing in some form, that doesn’t mean they understand it fully. Every day, we hear from business owners who want to explore the cloud further but are not familiar with the various aspects of cloud computing. What’s Software as a Service, and how does it differ from Infrastructure as a Service? What is the difference between a public cloud and a private one? What are the criteria for selecting a provider?

To help business owners familiarize themselves with these important issues—and to help them choose the right cloud provider—we developed a white paper, Big Cloud Little Cloud, that is available on our website. To pique your interest in learning more, this article will explain the various cloud services—one of the most confusing aspects of cloud computing for many business owners.

The Cloud as a Service

Unless an organization runs its own data center, all cloud “products” are actually services. The company licenses one or more cloud-based elements hosted in data centers run by IT solutions firms and made accessible (served) to the company. The three main categories of cloud service are Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS). There are other “services” that are often add-ons for companies deploying IaaS, PaaS or SaaS.  These are Desktop as a Service (DaaS), Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) and Backup as a Service (BaaS).

Software as a Service: With SaaS, software vendors host their applications on cloud servers and provide access to organizations and their personnel on a subscription basis (usually billed per user or per “seat”). The hosting company handles all licensing, upgrades, IT support and other aspects of the solution. Office 365, Salesforce, and Gmail are all examples of SaaS.

Infrastructure as a Service: IaaS is a hosted solution where a IT services vendor licenses server space in its data center. Organizations use IaaS to store and access corporate files in the cloud as well as to run applications, host websites and more. Some IaaS offerings include email, office productivity and other software, eliminating the need for firms to deploy and manage these solutions.

Platform as a Service (PaaS): PaaS is similar to IaaS, but it is more commonly used by organizations that develop, deploy and manage their own applications. PaaS solutions include hosted servers, operating systems, and other elements of a computing platform. In some scenarios, companies can also run third-party applications and store files and other assets on their PaaS resources, as well.

Desktop as a Service (DaaS): DaaS is often a front-end solution for an IaaS deployment. Personnel access cloud resources through a desktop portal that can be opened on any desktop, laptop or mobile device, eliminating the need for organizations to own and maintain desktop computers.

Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) and Backup as a Service (BaaS): Both DRaaS and BaaS provide hosted backup of an organization’s files, sometimes with selective (file by file) access. However, DRaaS generally creates complete system images that organizations can restore to recover their operations after a major outage. DRaaS solutions also may create backup images more frequently than do BaaS services, but this capability varies widely from one solution to the next.

As you can see, these solutions vary widely in their scope, and the specifics can be dramatically different from one provider to the next. As a result, we recommend organizations work with a qualified managed IT services firm, such as a managed services provider, to devise a plan. We go into detail about selection criteria in our cloud white paper. We hope you will find it helpful.

DynaSis is an Atlanta IT services and cloud computing provider for small and midsized businesses. All of our solutions focus on helping companies achieve the three fundamental IT necessities of the modern business—availability, security and mobility. We specialize in on-demand and on-premises managed IT services, managed cloud infrastructure, desktops and backups, and professional hardware and equipment installation. For more information about DynaSis’ IT support and services, visit www.dynasis.com.

[featured_image]

By the DynaSis Team

With all the news about the wonders of cloud computing, many small and midsized business (SMB) owners may wonder if they are making a mistake by not adopting cloud technology. Yet, they also have concerns, ranging from security issues to availability of offsite resources if Internet connections go down.

Depending on the SMB’s business model, location, and level of technological sophistication, these may be valid concerns. Yet, there is no doubt that cloud computing provides big benefits, and SMB adoption is accelerating. In a round-up of cloud computing “facts and figures,” Forbes noted that the cloud market for SMBs will double between 2015 and 2020, from 37 percent of U.S. SMBs to 78 percent.

The good news is that decision makers don’t need to choose between an off-site cloud and their current on-site systems. With a hybrid setup, they can have both—and they can selectively choose which resources to run in the off-site cloud. With this approach, often called a hybrid cloud, some data and other business assets remain hosted on company servers while others are run and accessed remotely.

The two sets of resources are tied together so that they run as a single, cloud-supported solution, with their on-site resources essentially serving as a “corporate” cloud. Yet each of the components can be configured differently to meet designated security, backup, and other requirements.

To determine if a hybrid cloud is the right approach, SMB owners must evaluate their current needs and future plans, as well as their ability to support on-premise systems. Such an evaluation is often difficult and time-consuming for business owners, who may benefit from the help of an objective, qualified outsider such as an IT solutions or IT consulting company.

If you are currently evaluating your resources for a new or expanded cloud deployment, consider these factors:

All Cloud Solution

• Most cloud-hosted services include updates, backups, monitoring and upgrades at no additional charge, reducing the need for IT staff.
• Cloud solutions generally have lower upfront costs, reduced hardware requirements and less overall maintenance than on-site equipment.
• Cloud-hosted products provide on-demand remote access to all authorized individuals with an Internet connection.
• Clouds are highly scalable (storage can be increased quickly and easily).

All On-Site Solution

• If the firm has a custom setup, such as a database resource that supports a customized application, on-site storage is likely the best solution.
• If the company operates under strict compliance requirements that require sensitive data to be hosted behind a local firewall, on-site may be the only option for those resources.
• If the organization runs software or services that interact with systems not connected to the Internet, the cloud may not work.
• If the company already has a large IT services department with professionals trained in varied roles, the cloud is less attractive.

Hybrid Solutions

If you like the benefits listed under All Cloud but some of the All On-Site criteria apply to your organization, a hybrid storage and delivery model could be the perfect option. With hybrid delivery, for example:

• You can store the majority of your assets securely in the cloud but meet compliance requirements with a secure on-site server.
• If you have a mix of out-of-the-box and customized applications, you can optimize delivery of the “standard” applications through the cloud but maintain your custom ones on-site.

A hybrid solution also allows you the flexibility to test a variety of cloud delivery and storage approaches to find the perfect mix for your firm.

Reputable managed services providers can help you evaluate and make these decisions and can also help you move resources to the cloud safely and securely. Some managed services companies offer ready-made hybrid solutions that include ongoing IT support.

Specializing in managed IT services and network security, Atlanta based DynaSis has been supporting small to midsized business for almost a quarter century. Among the services we provide are cloud computing through the DynaSis Business Cloud, 24 x 7 x 365 helpdesk support, and real-time monitoring enabling us to deal with “issues” before they become problems. For more information, please call DynaSis at 678.218.1769 or visit www.DynaSis.com.

[featured_image]

By the DynaSis Team

We have watched with interest what could be called “Storage Wars: Cloud Edition.” In this production, treasure hunters aren’t trying to outbid each other for locked storage containers. Instead, companies are working to figure out how the cloud can help them store and access files for better productivity and mobility. Although the cloud can be powerful for many reasons, one of its greatest benefits is its “anytime, anywhere” nature, which enables remote file access, transfer, storage and backup for personnel using any device with an Internet connection.

Despite this fact, there is no consensus among business decision makers about cloud storage solutions. Adoption of the big mass-marketed services—Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive—is nearly evenly split (Dropbox leads, at 33%). However, many firms are uncertain if they should trust these services and don’t know if there are other, potentially better, choices.

Here is the scoop: There are numerous options for cloud storage, including custom solutions developed and administered by IT services firms. Some but certainly not all of these are more flexible, intuitive and/or configurable IT solutions than these “Big Three.” Many organizational leaders might assume that all these solutions are similar and use the same basic setup and logic, but that is not true. They differ in cost, security, ease of use, operating design and other variables. As a result, the search for a storage solution can be complicated and should be thorough.

Storage Selection Should Not Be Taken Lightly

Even apparently minor differences can make it more likely that one service creates greater risk exposure than another. File sharing is a prime example. Windows has a built-in mechanism for file sharing that, while not exactly easy to use, optimizes sharing for security over convenience. In short, only administrator-level owners of a folder can configure sharing, and they also decide who can access the folder—and what actions they can take with it.

One of the “Big Three,” which we won’t name, does not work that way for all versions. Its “business” solution has fairly robust sharing controls. However, its “basic” version handles sharing in a messy, risky fashion.

In this version, the folder’s owner (the effective administrator) does not have the ability to customize access. Anyone given access can share the folder with anyone else for viewing or even editing. Those users can take actions, such as moving folders that they do not own, that have serious ramifications. A simple drag and drop action, for example, can automatically break the connections that support folder sharing and synchronizing (populating file changes to all shared members) and no one is the wiser. Undoing the action does not fix the problem, and resending sharing invitations does not repair the synchronization damage.

Yet, 78% of employees in a corporate survey admitted using this version of the service outside of IT approval—and many businesses adopt it organizationally as a low-cost storage solution.

Decision Time

In summary, methodologies for sharing, as well as two other “S Words,” security and synchronization, are very important aspects of file storage. Unless they are configured effectively, they can put corporate assets at risk, not only of data theft but also of damage or loss—a function of data protection, which we talked about last week.  As a result, we urge organizations to work with a reputable IT consulting or IT support company to evaluate, determine and configure the most appropriate storage solution. We don’t have room to provide specific recommendations now, but we’d be happy to “share” them with anyone who gives us a call.

DynaSis is an Atlanta IT services and cloud computing provider for small and midsized businesses. All of our solutions focus on helping companies achieve the three fundamental IT necessities of the modern business—availability, security and mobility. We specialize in on-demand and on-premises managed IT services, managed cloud infrastructure, desktops and backups, and professional hardware and equipment installation. For more information about DynaSis’ IT support and services, visit www.dynasis.com.

The Challenge

With his IT vendor unable to support his company’s needs or ensure the uptime his workers required, Courtesy Finance President William P. Anderson knew his firm needed a change. One of Anderson’s top concerns was the security of the sensitive financial and customer information that his firm stores—and for which it must meet strict regulatory compliance – so an important requirement was the restricting of access to corporate resources, making available to each employees only that information needed to perform their jobs.

Having previously spoken with DynaSis's Vice President of Managed It Services Chas Arnold, Anderson decided to give DynaSis a call.

The Solution

After evaluating the situation, the DynaSis team recommended a cloud-based model, and Anderson liked what he saw. To secure his corporate assets against accidental exposure, the team recommended the DynaSis Business Cloud, through which users access cloud-hosted apps and data through a secure online portal that works on any browser. The plan called for DynaSis technicians to migrate the resources to cloud servers hosted at DynaSis’s state-of-the-art, redundant data center. The technicians would also upgrade eight firewalls to increase network security from all office locations and transition the firm’s hosted Exchange email to the secure environment of Microsoft Office 365.

To ensure uptime and robust support for company personnel, DynaSis recommended deploying 24 new desktop PCs to replace older equipment at Courtesy Finance’s nine locations in Tennessee and Georgia. DynaSis would also provide 24/7/365 user support and network management, ensuring continuity and uptime in the offices. To showcase the new solution, DynaSis generated a mock version of the Business Cloud portal and invited company personnel to try and break through. When his employees were stumped—Anderson was ready to proceed.

The Implementation

DynaSis engineers created a parallel environment so Courtesy Finance users could experiment with the system before the actual migration. DynaSis then performed the live cutover at night, switching everyone to the virtual server and deploying the new portal on all the PCs in a single effort, resulting in virtually no production downtime at all.

The Result

Anderson says he’s glad he made the switch. “We are a customer-facing company, and when customers walk in the door, we cannot help them if the computers are down,” he says. “With the new solution, our prior issues with support and reliability have gone away. Atlanta has a lot of IT providers, but many of them are just not that great. I have had a great experience working with DynaSis.”

After the migration was complete, users worked through the learning curve quickly and now “everyone likes it. We have had no major problems and minor issues are fixed remotely by the DynaSis support team, or they quickly talk our people through it.”

With the new solution, company personnel have total working flexibility when they travel. “We don’t need laptops anymore when we travel to our different offices as everyone can sign on to any computer at any office in our company.”

A final benefit, Anderson notes, will be the savings he anticipates. “We already knew we had to replace the old PCs, but because we were migrating to DynaSis’s Business Cloud, the new PCs cost a lot less and are expected to last years longer. And with DynaSis’s fixed pricing, we are also saving money on a monthly basis.”

The Future

DynaSis is currently helping Courtesy Finance move to a virtual telephone system, Fonality, and Anderson says he is considering bigger projects for the future. “We are already talking about virtualizing our corporate office,” he says. “We could get it down to just a firewall and a switch!”

The Challenge

When solar cell and module manufacturer Suniva made the shift from the Atlanta Technology Development Center (ATDC – a technology incubator) to a full manufacturing plant with 24/7 operations, having robust IT support in place was critical to not losing momentum because leaving the ATDC behind meant losing the built-in IT support the technology incubator provided its protégés.

Suniva company principals understood that the transition from ATDC to stand-alone operations would be a real test for the future of the new firm and decided on a course of action for IT infrastructure and networking support that would be based on on-demand, outside specialists. This decision let them side-step the sometimes lengthy process—and higher fixed-cost expense—of hiring in-house support.

Suniva began its operations with one production line and approximately 40 employees, Suvina CFO Jim Modak reports. Even with its small footprint, the firm had a broad reach with a global market for its solar cells and modules, resulting in 80% of its product exported to companies abroad in 2010. Because of this expansive customer base and the 24/7 operations model, achieving the best possible uptime for the network was a cornerstone of operating success.

The Selection

Modak interviewed candidate firms for on-demand IT services looking at the breadth and satisfaction of their customers, and the skills of the individuals who were going to be servicing their account, and he selected DynaSis and its managed services program. “We test drove DynaSis for awhile and had a very good experience. They met the criteria, had the right team, and we had access to their executive management,” he says.

Suniva soon discovered that DynaSis was a perfect fit. That was several years ago, and both Suniva’s business and the relationship continue to expand.

The Solution

DynaSis initially provided help desk support and ongoing monitoring, maintenance and patching, and continual analysis of the network to ensure proactive prevention of system failures. As Suniva’s business exploded from 40 employees to 180—and its IT requirements expanded dramatically—DynaSis kept pace with them.

“We established a broader set of criteria that we refined over time as we expanded to make sure DynaSis could still fulfill our needs,” says Modak. “We broadened the “laundry list” based on every-day performance criteria we could measure.”

The Result

Today, DynaSis supports all of Suniva’s network and infrastructure. When Suniva was ready for server virtualization, it turned to DynaSis, and Suniva has also ramped up from an on-demand to an in-house contract., DynaSis has consultants onsite at Suniva five days a week providing both network and desktop support for the firm. During evenings, night-time and weekends, DynaSis provides on-demand support for the company and its employees, no matter where in the world they might be. “DynaSis has grown along with us,” says Modak.

“We’re 24/7 operations, so keeping the network up 24/7 is number one. Number two is keeping our desktops properly operating. That is why the on-site support helps quite a bit,” says Modak. “It is full touch as opposed to remote touch support for employee and customer issues.”

“Having support for remote network access outside of regular hours is critical,” says Modak. With DynaSis on the job, Suniva can focus on growing its global, industry-leading business, knowing problems will be resolved wherever and whenever they occur.”

All property management firms, no matter their size, play the game of "connect the technology dots" between the corporate office and remote locations. More than a decade ago, multi-family apartment management company HMI Property Solutions, Inc., won that game with help from the ITility by DynaSis Solution' "anytime, anywhere," remote access technology. Today, ITility by DynaSis has become more valuable than ever, and company management says they cannot imagine operating without it.

"At the time we began working with DynaSis, we had property management software running at eight remote locations," says HMI Enterprises, Inc. President Hugh M. "Don" Inman, Jr. "The software worked fine in its own silo, but the team in our corporate office didn’t have access to the data except through printed reports. DynaSis developed a solution that brought the data into the office so the corporate team could access it. This streamlined our ability to operate."

Far-Reaching Benefits
What began as a solution to centralize isolated data has grown into a fully hosted solution that also enables HMI employees to work from other locations, as well. Today, DynaSis manages and maintains all of HMI's applications, including the original property management software. DynaSis handles all software updates and license renewals, as well as monitoring and maintenance of any solution-related hardware located at the HMI office. For this service, HMI pays a preset monthly fee, per user.

Employees at all HMI-managed or owned properties access data and applications via a secure, dedicated interface, not only at the corporate or remote offices but at any location, any time they choose. This enables work-shifting, letting employees access email, applications and other data outside of office hours and locations to facilitate performance of their jobs.

"ITility by DynaSis gives us the ability to work with our employees and their schedules," says Inman. "One employee in our corporate office works from home on Fridays due to childcare-related issues. If I can’t get into the office, I can just pop onto my home computer and not have to lose a day of work. It affords us incredible flexibility."

Superior Performance
Inman says ITility by DynaSis not only expand HMI's functional footprint; they also make company operations—and his work day—more productive. "I can measure the success of our relationship by how infrequently I have to speak with them," Inman says. "It’s seamless. We are heavily reliant on the system being up and available and that has never been an issue. They provide all of the support and the virus scanning and backups—everything. It’s great because I don’t have to worry about it."

Inman also reports that adding and removing users is a breeze. "In our industry, there is a fair amount of turnover among workers at the site level. When a new employee comes on board, one call sets that person up, and if he or she has any familiarity with computers, the solution is straightforward and simple. We don’t have to worry about that user not being ready to go as soon as they hit the ground."

Ready to Work, Now and in the Future
"Because of our remote locations, If we had to bring applications and data hosting and management back in-house today, it would be a train wreck," Inman says. "We don’t have the technical expertise or scale to have an internal IT department. I don't need to know what DynaSis is doing, and that is the beauty of it."

DynaSis is currently helping HMI expand its use of technology to better communicate with tenants and the public at large. The ITility by DynaSis solution is providing the hosted access platform for other solutions that will invite tenants to send maintenance requests to leasing offices and pay rent online, and enable prospects to view apartment pricing for various floor plans in real time.

"We have been very pleased with the ITility by DynaSis solution, and we would highly recommend them," says Inman. In fact, he says he has already given other companies good reports regarding the firm. "I am in a position to give DynaSis a very positive reference," he notes.

"I’m in the business of running a business, not of being an IT expert," Inman concludes. "With DynaSis, this is one of the aspects of running a business that I don’t have to worry about. And, if I did have something to worry about, I would know who to call."