LEVEL UP: NEWS & VIEWS FROM RED LEVEL

Tools & Resources for Returning to Work in Michigan

Michigan businesses have been given the green light to get back to work – but with many new rules, guidelines, and processes to ensure our workforce stays healthy and keeps the novel coronavirus from flaring up again. Enter the free COVID ClearPass app from Red Level which helps organizations fulfill many of these new safety protocols. On Monday, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer released Executive Order 2020-91 – a new order addressing how Michigan business could emerge from quarantine and gradually resume in-person work. While some of these guidelines are specific to requirements for PPE (personal protective equipment) and social distancing, many of the new rules address capacity limits, employee tracking, and emergency communication – all things the COVID ClearPass app [...]

2020-05-21T17:12:02+00:00By Red Level|Application Development, Business Intelligence, business owner|

Work From Home Readiness Checklist

Our current reality has created a big push for people to work from home. There are many applications and services that give organizations the ability to have their employees work remotely. The Work From Home Readiness Checklist consists of three main pillars that you want to be sure you cover when implementing a work from environment: hosted items, access tools, and policies. Hosted Items Software-as-a-service (SaaS) SaaS is any software or application that is hosted on the Internet and is accessible by users either from an organizational device (laptop, phone, tablet) or a personal device. Systems like payrolls services, ERPs, Office 365 fall into this category. Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) IaaS is a managed computing infrastructure that is offered on-demand, meaning computing [...]

2020-04-13T13:33:53+00:00By Edward Aube|Collaboration, Collaboration Solutions, Microsoft Solution Provider|

Microsoft Teams vs Zoom, Which Should You Use?

When the FBI sends a warning to the public, it’s generally a good idea to heed it. The FBI recently issued a notice to the public citing security problems with the Zoom video-teleconferencing platform. The platform has been compromised in such a way, according to the FBI warning, that will make you reconsider the security of the system for things like remote learning of school-age children. That’s exactly what the New York City School district did. The district announced last week, due to security concerns, they will be transitioning to Microsoft Teams for their distance learning. Even SpaceX has forbidden its employees from using the tool. While the Zoom platform has good intentions, it is short-sighted for us to think a company that [...]

2020-04-06T19:12:23+00:00By Valerie Lewandowski|Microsoft Solution Provider|

Emergency Time Block of Helpdesk Services

Our work lives changed so quickly in the last 30 days. The speed of change has left many businesses looking for help. Does your company have the right tools, technologies, and talent to survive and thrive as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic? The Good News: Red Level is here to help. For a limited time, Red Level is offering NEW clients an EMERGENCY TIME BLOCK of 25 or 50 hours of Helpdesk Services to set-up, secure, and maintain these critical technologies for your company and your remote workforce. This one time, no long-term commitment, discounted block of time is simple and easy to use with full access to our helpdesk team. The entire Red Level team is working to keep [...]

2020-03-31T17:33:38+00:00By Red Level|Managed IT Services, Managed Services, Managed Services Provider|

Work From Home Best Practices

The COVID-19 virus has created the new reality of working from home or remotely. We have a few best practices for you to keep communicating and collaborating, from both a technical and practical perspective. Microsoft published a letter from Lily Zheng in their Shanghai office. In this letter, she had three key points for your team and organization. Your Team: Stay Well Exercise every day, make sure you eat, and have a structured schedule Go All In Don’t put things off. Don’t cancel your standing meetings. Do everything remotely. Support your Teammates Check in on people. Instead of stopping by someone’s desk to chat for a second. Ping them on teams or a random video call to chat. Share photos [...]

2020-03-25T19:00:53+00:00By Ryan Charnock|Collaboration, Collaboration Solutions, Microsoft Solution Provider|

Red Level Is Part Of The Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce

As the nation comes together to slow the spread of COVID-19, President Trump, the Coronavirus Task Force, and Governor Whitmer have asked America's to “Stay Home, Stay Safe” and close all nonessential business. Red Level is clearly classified as a critical infrastructure operation by the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and we will stay open AND stay safe to meet our special responsibility to our clients and country. The entire Red Level team is working to maintain commands centers, secure data centers, client service centers, and infrastructure support. We're also helping companies transition employees to work-from-home operations. Red Level is also here to support new clients in need of outsourced IT support – no matter if [...]

2020-03-24T20:47:13+00:00By David King|Managed Services Provider|

Microsoft’s Response to Education Institutions

Technology can play a vital role in reducing the impact of COVID-19 on people and organizations. Many schools and universities have moved to online courses to ensure everyone is still receiving an education during this time. Microsoft has introduced extended free trials and resources for clients to use to maintain collaboration, productivity, and security. Here is Microsoft's response for education institutions: New, Extended Free Trials for EDU Customers Office 365 A1 – Free versions to all educational institutions: This version provides unlimited chat, built-in group and one-on-one audio or video calling, 10 GB of team file storage, and 2 GB of personal file storage per user. You also get real-time collaboration with the Office apps for web, including Word, Excel, [...]

2020-03-19T19:18:16+00:00By Microsoft|Microsoft, Microsoft Partner, Microsoft Solution Provider|

Achieve More with the Office 365 Cloud Immersion Experience

We’ve all been there. We've had technology dumped on us, sometimes with no explanation. What we hear most often from our clients is that they have rolled out Office 365, but people are not adopting the technology. How do we solve that? People don't embrace technology, but they embrace solutions. Office 365 Offers Many Powerful Tools In the Office 365 environment, we see all these different opportunities to work with tools inside of the product. However, that can be overwhelming, and who has time to be overwhelmed in the workplace? “Empower & Inspire peopleby creating an immersive experience where they discover for themselveswhat’s possible in a Microsoft-powered organization.” Provide a Direction with an Office 365 Cloud Immersion Experience This Office 365 Cloud Immersion Experience is a chance for your users to become empowered. It’s a hands-on session to explore how to [...]

2020-03-20T19:52:14+00:00By Valerie Lewandowski|Cloud Technology Services, Microsoft|

Top 7 Microsoft Exclusive Quick Starts

We developed a series of Microsoft Exclusive Quick Starts to help answers our client's everyday questions on Office 365 and Microsoft 365. Some of the biggest and most frequent questions are around: Where do I start? What do we need to do first? Where should we go from here? We've just bought Office 365, we've just moved to Teams, or were moving to SharePoint, what do we do first? Based on these questions, we developed a series of “quick starts” to help provide answers. Office 365 Immersion Experience Quick Start Office 365 is way more than just email. Office 365 is cloud storage, integrated voice, integrated messaging, file sharing, document collaboration, video sharing, and so much more. This quick start is perfect for anyone who is looking at Office 365 and wants to make sure that it’s the right fit for them. It is also ideal for [...]

2020-03-03T14:56:59+00:00By Megan Testani|Microsoft, Microsoft Partner, Microsoft Solution Provider|

Red Level Named to 2020 Managed Service Provider 500 by CRN

Red Level, announced today that CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company has named Red Level to its 2020 Managed Service Provider (MSP) 500 list in the MSP Pioneer 250 category. This popular list identifies North American solution providers that deliver operational efficiencies, IT system improvements, and a higher rate of return on investments for their customers. These accomplished MSPs work tirelessly to guide their customers and create solutions for complex IT issues. This annual list is divided into three categories: the MSP Pioneer 250 who are focused primarily on the SMB market; the MSP Elite 150, large data center-focused on- and off-premises; and the Managed Security 100 made up of off-premises-focused, cloud-based IT security services. Red Level expanded our managed service offerings in February of 2019 through the strategic acquisition of a Grand Rapids, MI-based business and technology consulting C/D/H. Our new offerings include custom application development, business analytics, and collaboration services. It also allowed us to [...]

2020-02-18T19:33:40+00:00By Kristy Mossoian|Awards|