IT Archives

IT Capital Expenditure vs. IT Operating Expenditure: Which makes sense for your business?

Well, what should it be – buy or lease your IT infrastructure? Two titanic strategies are fighting it out for supremacy, and there can be only one winner. CAPx This is the way it’s always been done, and the concept is straightforward enough: you pay up front to purchase all the hardware, software, and peripherals that you’re going to need, planning for a specific lifecycle. You handle installation, configuration, and day-to-day management. Outside of limited (usually very limited) warranties, you take responsibility for whatever breaks, and you have to fix it. You pay more up front, but you maintain absolute ownership and control, in the most immediate hands-on sense, of all aspects of your IT infrastructure. The gear you buy shows up on your balance sheets as a company asset, and you might even gain tax benefits too, through purchase or depreciation. OPx This upstart strategy is gaining traction in a lot ...

Red Level2023-02-16T16:01:54+00:00

THE TECH 248 MESSAGE: TAKE SECURITY SERIOUSLY

There’s an unfortunate tendency I see all too often in some businesses: An inclination towards thinking that when it comes to data security, “good enough” is good enough. It really isn’t. The reasoning is understandable: Companies think that they’re too small or too obscure to be noticed by hackers. Or they think that bought-and-paid-for security measures they took a year ago remain airtight. Or they reckon that threats are overstated, and are largely a means of selling security products or services they don’t really need. All of these arguments are great ways to put off investing in up-to-date security measures. Unfortunately, none of these arguments are true. Tech 248, Oakland County’s program to support the growth of the technology industry in the region, understands that, and they take security seriously. Yesterday’s Tech 248-sponsored Sans Institute training session underscored the point that security threats are real, regardless of company size, and that organizations that take a ...

Robert Tessanne2023-02-16T16:01:55+00:00

6 Ideas for Making Your Business Better in 2016

Every New Year's Eve, Americans vow to earn more and weight less. As business owners, we're often challenged to to do more with less resources every year too. We asked a few of the talented technologists, consultants and innovators at Red Level to put aside their personal and professional resolutions for a bit and look at how business technology can help us accomplish more with less stress. Collaboration software? A technology backup plan? Working remotely? The Red Level team ofters six quick technology resolutions any business can implement to make 2016 their best year yet. Enjoy the video and Happy New Year from everyone at Red Level.

Red Level2023-02-16T16:01:56+00:00

IT- Not Just Infrastructure Solutions and Services

Rethink IT- and Really Put it to Work What does technology do for your business these days? Without a doubt, it does a good job handling a variety of essential, routine functions: record keeping, reporting, communicating. You might ask yourself, though, if it is fulfilling it's potential in actively working for your business-and getting it to do so might require a bit of rethink. Forrester Research has already done a lot of deep thinking about exactly that. They advocate for the title of "Business Technology" (BT) as a replacement for " Information Technology." The idea is that IT no longer simply supports business activities, it has become a vital business activity in itself, and has an essential role to play in winning, serving, and retaining customers. The Forrester "Business Technology Agenda" is Red Level's road map for successfully making that transition. Like all modern companies this requires a shift-from traditional IT infrastructure and services into ...

David King2023-02-16T16:01:57+00:00

Crystal Clear Communication: Five Easy Tips of IT Pros

Do you ever feel misunderstood? Well, the bad news is that you might be. If you’ve been an IT professional for any length of time, you’ve probably seen the signs when you’ve dealt with non-IT colleagues. No matter how patiently you try to get an idea across, it seems like the other side just doesn’t get it. Chances are, they probably don’t, and that can lead to problems. Imagine being plunked down in a foreign country where you don’t understand the language. Well, chances are good that your non-IT colleagues feel like that sometimes when they’re dealing with IT people and issues. IT people are a special breed. Being successful in this field means that you’ve spent a lot – a lot – of time immersed in topics, technologies and language that the Average Joe hasn’t made any effort to know about, let alone understand. Along the way, you’ve probably ...

Red Level2023-02-16T16:01:59+00:00

Technology Takes The Lead In Detroit’s Rebirth

As we all know, Detroit has taken its share of hard knocks in the last few decades. Not so many people know, though, that Detroit’s resurgence is already well under way. In fact, there is a special group led by my friend @terrybean called 313DLove that is coming together today to celebrate all things Detroit. Technology-based businesses are also helping lead the resurgence of Detroit. Through our sponsorship of the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Detroit Regional Policy Conference 2015, Red Level was able to get a firsthand look at how a host of technology-driven companies are creating jobs and economic growth in Detroit and throughout Southeast Michigan. At the conference, we were able to demonstrate how some of the leading-edge technologies we work with can empower local governments and nonprofit organizations – and we were able to see the important contributions that local universities, organizations, and other companies were bringing to the table. The Chamber describes the Detroit ...

Red Level2023-02-16T16:02:00+00:00

IT: What To Know Before You Grow

Your business is growing? Great. That's always a good thing, right? It is- until you suddenly find that the work you've got on your plate has gone beyond your capacity to perform it. Even boom periods create challenges for upcoming companies. You may suddenly find you need more people, more equipment, and more space to handle that welcome upward trend. But apart from investing in laptops or workstations for new personnel, many companies don't factor in the need for new technology, until the point that they abruptly learn that they need it. The truth is that company can outgrow its tecnology infrastructure in the same way it outgrows its physical premises. What was “just right” for a five-person shop is unlikely to be adequate for fifty, let alone five hundred. While you may be able to get by with a too-small office for a while by having people work at ...

Edward Aube2023-02-16T16:02:00+00:00

Game-Changing Technologies: Here Comes The Next Wave

If you’ve been in the workplace for any considerable length of time, you’ve already seen how technological changes have had the power to rapidly and radically transform the way business is done. No matter your age, chances are a multitude of sweeping changes have already taken place in your lifetime. Some have been immediately and obviously significant and transformative – and others have taken place almost unnoticed. Think about it for a moment: Twenty years ago, fewer than a third of America’s small and medium-sized businesses had adopted email. Your “powerful” new desktop computer – if you had one - probably had eight megabytes of RAM and a 1-gigabyte hard drive. If you sent an email, you probably did it through a dialup connection to America Online or CompuServe. As primitive as these things sound now, they were game-changing technologies and they had enormous ramifications for business. If there’s anything ...

David King2023-02-16T16:02:01+00:00