A new approach to tough times for smaller businesses

EasylifeIT™ in the Press - Press Releases

By Lindsey Hall. Director, EasylifeIT™

2012 will probably be the toughest trading year many of us will have experienced. Notwithstanding the looming Euro crisis developing over the channel, observers are forecasting negligible growth for the UK in the next 12 months, and some are even predicting a return to recession.

Cash flow will become even more important than ever, and one of the best ways of reducing risk in this area is by converting fixed costs into variable costs that reflect your current trading levels. A quick look at your P&L will show costs that never change or even perhaps increase year on year with no correlation to how much you use the services. Rent and wages are the most obvious examples, but in the short term at least; these are difficult to reduce. A good example of how you can reduce costs is in the area of IT support.

Traditionally, most IT support companies are only really interested in selling you a contract; for much the same reason as you wish to review it. It gives them security of income for a guaranteed period. In theory at least, in return you should receive guarantees of service and response and an annual cost you can budget. In practice however, many Service Level Agreements are constructed to benefit the supplier and are noteworthy for what they exclude and unwelcome additional costs are not uncommon. We often speak to prospective customers who feel that they are being taken advantage of; unhappy with the service levels they are receiving, but are bound into 12 or 24 month contracts.

Reacting to the new realities, at EasylifeIT™ we have begun to adopt a new service model in the past 12 months. PAYG “support on demand” gives back to the customer control of their costs and they pay only for what they use; nothing more. There is no 12 month contract, just a 30 day notice period which keeps us focused on delivering the service. Effectively, we are only as good as our last case which tends to focus minds on exceeding customer expectations and getting the issue resolved. This is as effective as an SLA and delivers exceptional customer service.

So, if you have less than 20 users, and are looking at converting your fixed costs into variable costs without loss of service, then your first call should be to EasylifeIT™ on 0800 043 9186

Office365: Big business IT without the expense

EasylifeIT™ in the Press - Press Releases

Easylife IT become office 365 microsoft cloud partners in Peterborough

A Cambridgeshire based IT company, Sentinel Business IT, have just added the impressive Microsoft Office 365 product to their EasylifeIT™ portfolio. Office 365 brings the “big business” IT features you need, without the expense of a server and all for a small monthly subscription starting at just £4.00 per month.

Having recently become a Microsoft Cloud Partner, they are now able to offer advice on this innovative product from Microsoft. In addition, they can plan and deploy Office 365, and also support you going forward.

“This is another addition to our portfolio for start-up and small businesses. Office 365 is genuinely exciting in that there are no compromises. This really is “big business IT” and allows everyone to use their technology strategically to strengthen their business and responses,” said Lindsey Hall, Director of Sentinel Business IT.

More information on Microsoft Office 365, as well as a 30 day FREE trial, is now available from Sentinel Business IT Ltd. You can contact them on 0800 043 9186 or visit their website at www.easylifeit365.com

Date : 12th September 2011

Target Audience: Small businesses and start-ups in Peterborough, Norwich and Sheffield

Home-workers gain peace of mind with EasylifeIT™ Manager

EasylifeIT™ in the Press - Press Releases

20th July 2011 - Journalism.co.uk

Easylife IT for homeworkers offers peace of mind, to homeworkers and distributed workforces working in home or serviced offices

2011 is set to be a bumper year for the region, as the number of new start ups are on the increase. Creative entrepreneurs are coming up with many varied ideas to make their dreams a reality and it is often the case to keep costs down to a minimum in the early days, many fledgling businesses start from a home or serviced office.

The transition from employment in an organisation to working solo from home can come as a bit of a shock for many.

Notwithstanding the more obvious issues with home-working such as distractions, motivational problems and loss of social interaction with colleagues, you also quickly realise that from the stationery cupboard to IT support, many of the services previously taken for granted are now all yours to organise and source.

Finding somewhere to buy pencils and paper is not difficult, but where business IT support is concerned you may struggle.

The home-working community need no longer be left in a precarious or unsecure position as traditional IT support companies overlook the group for being too small, or not having enough budget to be locked into a contract, since Sentinel Business IT Ltd reached the finals of Peterborough’s Best New Business Idea in 2007, there has been no stopping this team from bubbling over with ideas and their newest idea is just right for today’s new start up business owner.

This ever growing community is now offered a unique package offering prevention, protection and peace of mind all for just £9.99 inc VAT per month from Sentinel Business IT Ltd with their EasylifeIT™ Manager for Home Workers.

So what should the home-worker expect to receive from the package?

Crisis prevention system
Daily maintenance tasks
Managed antivirus
Patch management
A daily report to their inbox

EasylifeIT™ Manager for Home Workers is easily installed by the home worker with basic knowledge in just five minutes, but if preferred Sentinel Business IT Ltd will carry out a full PC Audit for just £50 inc VAT remotely which will include:

System Check – to identify system issues or errors and advice on resolution
Malware Scan – to install and initialise system scan for malware.
Installation – of EasylifeIT™ Manager for Home Workers on a PC or laptop.

If preferred, EasylifeIT™ Manager for Home Workers can be installed remotely by the team at Sentinel Business IT Ltd as part of the PC Audit, making the whole process an easy and seamless one, and one less thing for the home worker to worry about and once installed, should the daily report highlight an issue or error, the home worker can make use of Sentinel Business IT Ltd's, Best of Breed IT Support from, expert and knowledgeable Microsoft Certified Professionals on a pay as you go basis or choose to use another service provider, the choice is theirs to make.

Not only does EasylifeIT™ Manager for Home Workers offer peace of mind at a cost effective price, it is non-intrusive and offers the end user a choice on how their resource is repaired.

For further information please call, Sentinel Business IT Ltd on 0800 043 9186 and sign up today for a free 30 day trial.

ENDS