Waypoint Technology Solutions Blog

You're at a crossroads with your current "IT Guy" or Managed Services Provider (MSP) because you're spending money and continually having problems. Well, you're not alone... When looking for an IT partner, you're looking for competence. Someone who can speak to your industry and your business, help translate the IT talk, and keep your systems running while helping guide you into the future.

How do you decide what type of IT partner you need?

Selecting the right Managed Service Provider (MSP) for your business is a crucial decision that can significantly impact your operations and overall success. A study found that over 90% of MSPs generate less than $1 million in annual gross revenue, which implies that many of these providers consist of just one or two individuals. At the same time, this may seem appealing due to the potential for personalized service or the false perception of a lower cost. A small team often lacks the resources and expertise to consult, guide, and implement comprehensive solutions tailored to your business needs. The single "IT Guy" MSPs do have a purpose; they mainly work on the "break-fix" model, which means you call when something breaks, and they fix it. They work well in boutique businesses, say a Dentist's office or a Retail store, where they don't need to be an expert but just technical enough to keep their clients running. These guys may not fit your needs if you're in a more technical, regulated, and process-driven industry.

When considering larger MSPs—with 15 or more employees—weighing the pros and cons is essential. Larger firms typically possess a broader range of expertise, rigorous processes, and greater scalability, allowing them to handle complex IT environments effectively. However, many larger Managed Services Providers (MSPs) are service teams in a more prominent technology solutions company. These companies can be $50-500 million dollar organizations that work in the enterprise organizations and are owned by venture capital companies. These organizations tend to be more sales-focused and often operate nationally, meaning a team member in a different state could address your issue when you call for support. Depending on the provider's structure, this can lead to delays in service and a lack of personalized support or tribal knowledge of your business. Additionally, they often must restrict service to increase profitability and rarely act in your best interest.

Then there is Waypoint. At Waypoint, we focus on service, value, and customized IT solutions that fit your industry, strategy, and budget. We don't consider ourselves your IT Service Provider but an extension of your team, looking out for your best interests and focused on a long-term relationship built on trust. We have experienced IT experts in many fields and a network of consultants across the globe.

When choosing an IT provider, it's not about how large or small the company is; it's about competence and resourcefulness.

Windows 11 features a robust desktop environment with a lot of neat tricks and customizations to work more effectively. Controlling your Windows desktop experience can enhance productivity and streamline the way you interact with your computer. In today’s blog, we give you four tips to help you customize and manage your Windows environment more efficiently.

Over 25 percent of data breaches target small businesses, and the impact can be huge. To protect your business, you need the right technology and smart strategies. In today’s blog, we go through some key steps to help safeguard your business from digital threats.

“I don’t need to worry about cyberattacks… my business is too small to be of any interest.”

This brief rationalization is one of the most dangerous fallacies a modern business can make concerning cybersecurity, and shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how modern cyberthreats operate. If this has been your mindset, we urge you to read on so we can help set you on a more realistic path.

It’s natural for businesses to rely on their tools, like IT, to achieve success, but if you don’t take care of your systems, it could lead to downtime. You can bypass many of these challenges with the right approach to technology maintenance. We want to highlight some of the proactive methods you can use to keep downtime to a minimum.

Being a green business is certainly not a bad thing. Not only does it help boost your company's environmental friendliness, but it can often attract customers and clients who prioritize the environment. Less mentioned, however, is how being greener can actually give your business an advantage in the right circumstances.

Artificial intelligence is everywhere, and it is making data more valuable than ever. This is because AI platforms rely heavily on data to function effectively. Many platforms and services collect data from their users to fuel these algorithms. LinkedIn has recently been found to do this—by default—without properly informing its users or updating its terms of service.

“Toxic” is a buzzword that is often used nowadays, but when it is used to describe a business’ work environment, it needs to be treated with deadly seriousness.

If a workplace is a place people don’t like to be, many drawbacks will ultimately impact operations. Therefore, it is to your benefit to keep your business as positive a workplace as possible.

Let’s discuss how to tell if your company has a toxic workplace and, if so, how to resolve it.

Both the router and modem are crucial components of any wireless network, yet many people are unsure about the distinct roles they play in a personal or organizational Internet connection. Let’s break down the function of each device and how they work together to support your network.

File sharing is a big deal. When you try to send your friends a meme or share a video with them and it doesn’t send… that can be extremely frustrating. When it comes to business file sharing, miscommunication can cost quite a bit. Today, we will look at two concepts in small business file sharing and how they help a small business.

One of the many tasks undertaken by the United Nations is to protect human rights around the globe while also working to create more sustainable and climate-friendly development. As such, the UN has recently taken a healthy interest in the development of artificial intelligence, hoping to develop guidelines that allow us to get the most value out of AI without creating more significant problems.

Security awareness training is a critical process for modern businesses to undergo to have any chance of success. Unfortunately, as much as security software or policy can help, it can only do so much. You also need your team members to be on board, knowledgeable about what they need to do, and motivated to do it. 

In light of this, let’s talk about security awareness training and what it needs to involve.

We all depend on the Internet. For most of us who have been using it since the mid-90s, we’ve seen a massive change in its use. Today, silent continuous connectivity has replaced the dial-up tones of the late 90s and early 2000s. In today’s blog, we thought we’d discuss how Internet connectivity speeds have changed over the past 30 years. 

Moving is already difficult, but when you factor in your business’ IT, it becomes twice as frustrating and time-consuming. You can make it easier by preparing for the job ahead of time. Today, we want to cover what you can do to prepare for a business IT move well ahead of the scheduled date.

AI has become a major tool all throughout the modern economy. Businesses are using technology with built-in AI, and that’s because it improves operational efficiency. Let's take a look at some of the benefits small businesses can take advantage of with AI.

Telephone systems are a crucial part of any business. Voice over IP, or VoIP, takes telephone systems one step further by making the service more accessible, flexible, and affordable for SMBs. Today, we want to highlight some of the benefits you can expect from using a VoIP system.

Sextortion scams are scary. The scammer contacts the victim, claiming to have gotten access to their computer and captured video footage of their target partaking in some private and decidedly adult activities, as well as the content that was onscreen at the time. The threat: pay up, or I send the footage to all of your contacts.

Lately, however, hackers have added another layer of “proof” to these claims, now referring to victims by name and including pictures of their homes. Let’s walk through what one of these scams looks like and what you should do if one appears in your inbox.

A business experiencing a network bottleneck is having a bad day, especially since the ability to share data is so important to many industries today. That said, today’s resource-intensive technologies can easily eat through an organization’s bandwidth and create these kinds of network slowdowns.

Let’s talk about what can be done to reduce these bottlenecks, if not eliminate them outright.

Data breaches remain a constant threat, capable of causing serious disruptions for businesses and potentially creating widespread issues for customers. In today’s blog, we’ll highlight some of the largest and most impactful breaches of 2024.

Digital storage has exploded, in no uncertain terms, over the last few decades. While hard disk drives (HDDs) were the predominant storage format for most of that time, today’s faster and hardier solid-state drives (or SSDs) are becoming more affordable and popular.

However, there are still plenty of HDDs out there, all far more prone to breaking than their more advanced counterparts. So, how can you tell when a hard drive failure is pending?