IT: Critical to All Small Business Verticals By Eric Townsend

Despite which vertical industry a business is in, practically all small businesses rely on technology to make their business function. From education to manufacturing to healthcare, each of these industries requires IT to fit their specific needs to abide by industry regulation and to stay competitive. For example:

• Healthcare: Nowhere is customer data protection more critical than for the healthcare industry. The extreme sensitivity of patient data—and the resulting regulatory environment—make data security top-of-the-list for medical practices, clinics, and hospitals.
• Services: In any service business, access to information determines an organization’s ability to cater to customers, respond to opportunities, and adapt to changes quickly. PC downtime means disrupted access to information, every time.
• Retail: Being competitive in a retail business requires IT tools that are reliable and flexible. Something amiss in a Point of Sale system’s inner workings results in lost sales in-store.
• Government: Government agencies continue to automate more and more services in order to serve citizens better and save on costs. From an IT perspective, government agencies and their partners must comply by security standards as the threat landscape intensifies.

All vertical industries are feeling the pressure of a slowing economy and small businesses can leverage IT to adapt. For instance, as an organization focused on employment development in an economically depressed state, Ottawa County Michigan Works is riding a wave of expanding demand for its services. The government agency has been focused on increasing the use of IT in delivering client services and looking for ways to innovate. Over the last four years, their work load as measured by client visits has increased by 300 percent. Michigan Works has gone from 65 PCs in 2007 to 170 PCs today; increased the use of laptops in client workshops; increased broadband capacity; installed Wi-Fi capabilities; and moved paper-and-pencil registration processes to netbooks.

To develop the agency’s IT strategy and manage the increased demand, Green Light Business Technology provides complete managed IT services to Michigan Works. They run their networks, servers, and PCs day-to-day as well as advise on new tools to help them better accomplish their mission. One of the key elements of Green Light’s managed services is their ability to comprehensively monitor and manage the IT infrastructure through remote technology. Thus, Green Light can reduce costly service visits and repair hardware problems 50 percent faster and software problems 75 percent faster.

Additionally, data security is a paramount concern for Michigan Works, and Green Light Business is able to proactively protect their PCs. Green Light can constantly monitor these PCs to ensure that critical security software is in place and up-to-date, without bothering the PC user. Regular security patches and updates can be done automatically after hours, even to PCs that are turned off – which means that Michigan Works’ PCs receive important patches faster and critical business data is better protected.

In a depressed economy, Green Light Business leveraged IT to help Ottawa County Michigan Works provide better services while keeping up with the demand. No matter what vertical industry a business is in, IT can help businesses cope with new challenges and help them ride out the tumultuous wave of this economy.

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