Today we’re offering an opportunity to grab some free advice and recommendations from our staff who have a combined total of over 40 years’ experience across support and development.

Let’s start with Tom Angus, our Operations Director.  Tom oversees the day-to-day running of Workflow Solutions.  He has 15 years’ experience in IT, starting out as an on-site engineer then working his way up through the company.  See what Tom has to say below:

“In the small time I have been in my career (15yrs now) - I have noticed a huge difference between a regularly looked after PC compared to a neglected one, which is often left on too long at a time, has old software and is clogged with dead apps & links. I cannot stress enough the benefits of a good health check on your PC. It really helps clean up the nooks and crannies of your PC by clearing your cache, internet downloaded images, and cookies which are useful and make our life easier on the web, but not when it's the same cookie for a few years. Your PC / Laptop will love you for it. Most web browsers have built-in cleaning tools to tidy up your internet side of things. 

Ccleaner is a good free piece of software that runs on Windows 10, grab it from the links at the bottom of this blog, and get started with looking after your PC. Of course, we do offer such a service, again you can find the information on Workflow Health Checks below. Thanks =]”

Our next bit of advice comes from Jonross, our SysAdmin.  He takes on jobs that involve “plug and play” hardware, installs for servers, disaster recovery, and much more.  Take a look at his recommendation:

“One particular system that has continually impressed me over the last couple of years, is the Synology NAS. Every NAS I have used previous to a Synology has been very difficult to use and navigate, and never does exactly what is needed. Synology, however, seem to have mastered the user experience while keeping a single interface that is capable of scaling from a single home user who wants to keep their personal photos safe, all the way up to a 30+ user company using it to host their domain environment, email, shares and web services. For a small to medium business, I find myself recommending a Synology over a traditional server more often than not. 

Setting the user experience and scalability aside, what really impresses me is the range of plugins that Synology have released. One in particular that I find myself using more and more is their Cloud Sync plugin. This software allows us to do a bi-directional synchronization between cloud services like Google Drive and Microsoft SharePoint directly on to the NAS Shares. This is something that previously, could set a company back thousands. This then means that for any customers looking to move over to the Synology from a cloud service or setup a Hybrid Personal Cloud, we can now run their migration several days in advance and all their files would already be synchronized. This massively reduces the amount of time we need to be on site and more importantly reduces the amount of down time a company would need in order to do a traditional Server Migration.”

Let’s now see what Josie recommends.  Josie is our graphic designer and also has started taking on new responsibilities as joint marketing coordinator.  She does a lot of customer-facing work and has been looking at ways to improve communication.  See how Josie has done this below:

“After many years of working as a graphic designer I have learnt that receiving feedback from a customer and then updating a small part of their design can be time-consuming.  The most essential piece of software I use is ProofHq, it has minimised the constant back and forth between customer and designer.  ProofHq is a reviewing platform where customers and designers can easily give feedback on artwork.  It provides a way for our clients to show me exactly what they want to change by highlighting the area that would like to be altered; they can leave comments and approve the design online.  The feedback can be given in bulk and they can add comments whenever they choose to.  The software makes communicating with the client flow more smoothly and clarifies exactly what they are hoping for with fewer misunderstandings.  My job has become easier when I need to get information on specific parts of a design or the whole concept, as it massively cuts down the time chasing customers for approval.  I would highly recommend it to upcoming graphic designers.”

Finally, let’s round off this post with a great recommendation from one of our Directors.  See his advice below:

“My suggestion for today's businesses would be to embrace the Cloud, but not in the shared and public context. All computer systems go down (offline) for a whole multitude of reasons. The problem with Public Cloud is that there is no communication route direct to the engineering teams responsible for getting a system back online. While the Cloud service is down, your business is down. Recently, a VOIP telephony company was attacked, their service was unusable for 3 days, that means their customers had no calls for 3 days. The Cloud coupled with Remote Desktop Services is an amazing tool for today's distributed & mobile workforce.  It’s also quickly becoming the best way to maximise your control and minimise downtime by using Private Cloud whilst building a relationship with the provider. 
This is why we have expanded our Data Centre services to include Private Cloud for a full remote working experience without the cost and complexity normally associated with Private or Hybrid Clouds.”

We hope our bits of advice help you to make some additions to your IT.  For more information, check out the below links.  Alternatively, give us a call on 01322 787080 or drop us an email to info@workflowsolutions.co.uk for advice tailored to your business.