Press Releases

NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 12, 2010
FOR INFORMATION: Therese Clay, XO Marketing Group, (801) 272-8686, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

i.t.NOW ADDS FIVE NEW MEMBERS TO ITS TEAM

Salt Lake City-- i.t.NOW, a Utah-based company that provides information technology (IT) services to small-to-medium sized businesses along the Wasatch Front, has recently hired five new members to join its team. Chris Hubbard, Jeremy Pease, Shawn Thompson, Dauna Thompson and Butch Jentzsch have all been added to the i.t.NOW employee roster.

Hubbard and Pease have been added to i.t.NOW’s Technical Support Engineers (TSE).  Hubbard has five years of experience in technology support.  He will focus on troubleshooting, solving user issues and error identification.  Pease will focus on networking and remote support. He has six years of experience and has managed IT services for multiple businesses.

Shawn Thompson has been hired as the company’s new sales manager. He has 15 years of experience in IT and has managed high-end projects from concept design to production.

Dauna Thompson will be responsible for managing i.t.NOW’s office. 

Jentzsch is the new operations manager for i.t.NOW.  He has over 25 years of experience in senior IT operations support. He also has an extensive background in technology and customer service support.

“i.t.NOW continues to focus on providing high quality service and support to its clients,” said Phil Robinson, CEO if i.t.NOW.  “We will continue to recruit top talent to ensure we accomplish this goal.”

I.T.NOW REMOTELY PROTECTS OFFICE COMPUTER NETWORKS FROM VIRUSES AND MALWARE

Recent SEC pornography scandal prompts businesses to increase Internet security

SALT LAKE CITY--i.t.NOW, a Utah-based information technology (I.T.) company, is helping businesses protect their computer networks from spyware and malware with its Threat Management services.

“These types of computer viruses are generally used to infect networks, illegally obtain a user’s information and damage computers or hard drives, and are often found on suspicious Web sites, particularly pornography sites. Viruses and malware can disable your anti-virus program without your knowledge. Subscriptions can expire and stop updating. We remotely monitor these programs to ensure they’re working properly and install regular updates, sometimes three to four times a day,” said i.t.NOW CEO Phil Robinson.

i.t.NOW incorporates three levels of network protection: Domain Name System (DNS) filtering, resident malware software and resident anti-virus software. Clients can customize their level of Internet filtering, from blocking certain sites to complete filtering and monitoring down to what sites each user is visiting. “Web filtering is key, but we can’t block it all. New sites are created daily, and filtering services are always in catch-up mode. If any malware does get through, we use a background program that constantly monitors for threats,” says Robinson.

Robinson cited the recent story regarding pornography use at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Employees were reported to have spent many hours a day on pornography Web sites. One employee attempted to access these sites up to 16,000 times in one month. Another employee, after hundreds of attempts, used a flash drive to bypass a Google search filter to access these sites. Of the 31 employees cited, 17 were senior SEC officers.

“These SEC statistics are alarming. These sites are notorious for viruses, spyware and malware, and when they infect your computer or network, the result could be catastrophic. i.t.NOW’s Threat Management and anti-virus services help secure your office’s computer networks from spyware and malware, and filter these sites from Internet search engines. Pornography is one of the most popular Internet activities, and Utah averages the most pornography consumers per-capita. Make sure this doesn’t happen at your workplace,” said Robinson.

About i.t.NOW
i.t.NOW provides Utah with professional I.T. services for small-to-medium sized businesses. Since 1992, hundreds of Utah companies have saved thousands of dollars by partnering with i.t.NOW to increase employee productivity, reduce down time and protect computer networks. i.t.NOW allows business owners to focus on growing revenue instead of solving computer problems.

For more information on i.t.NOW call (801)562-8778, or visit www.itnow.net.

i.t.Now is a Citrix Silver Partner. Citrix Partner Page >>

Citrix offers a dynamic end-to-end virtualization system that transforms desktops and applications into on-demand services enabling users to work securely and productively from anywhere. Citrix virtualization revolutionizes desktop management and simplifies datacenter operations.  

Published in Utah CEO

Don’t Take I.T. for Granted

by Phil Robinson

Catching your employees watching YouTube videos or browsing non-work-related websites is frustrating. But, having employees who waste time because computer or network issues prevent them from working feels even worse because then it’s your responsibility.

Businesses rely so heavily on computers and the Internet that even the slightest disruption can bring the gears of workflow to a grinding halt. Something as simple as a bad print driver can take an employee off task for minutes or even hours. Every second an employee sits idle is money lost.

Downtime by the numbers

IT consultant Fabien Papleux estimated that if a sales executive’s computer goes down for four hours, the cost in lost productivity is $2,400. The more senior the employee, the more that number increases.

If your data isn’t sufficiently backed up, the cost may be incalculable. A recent study by Pepperdine University concluded that each incident of data loss costs a company $3,957 with 70 percent of that cost being the value of the data itself. Other companies price each incident as high as $1 million.

Other costs aren’t as easy to measure. When you self-diagnose a computer issue to avoid waiting for or paying a technician, there still is a cost. You can calculate it starting with your salary and the revenue you bring in for that time period. Then, if you fail to fix the problem, add in the cost of the professional help and potential hardware/software replacement. Chances are the number you come up with will be in the hundreds.

The bottom line is that computer problems are more than just a headache. They’re a drain on the revenue your employees are paid to bring in. They can cost thousands of dollars and in some cases, force a business to close its doors.

Beware the hourly technician

One of my clients, Qualified Associates, is a recruiting agency. Employees there constantly e-mail and communicate with candidates and clients. It previously relied on an hourly independent technician to keep its systems running. The tech often was unavailable for two or three days, and often made multiple visits to solve a particular problem. While affected employees waited for a solution, they were either unable to work or were forced to use backup equipment that was so slow as to be counterproductive.

There is a clear conflict of interest here: technicians that are paid by the hour aren’t motivated to work quickly and efficiently. They also have zero incentive to protect your assets in the long term. The more you call them in, the more money they make.

Have a Plan B

Much important data is now stored online. Even phones can be rendered useless when computers are down because of online contact books and CRM systems. To protect your business, take the following steps:

• Integrate IT into your business strategy


• Create a backup hardware plan


• Centralize your data


• Back up your data and critical applications

If you don’t have the right resources to take these steps, hiring an IT professional or an outsourced partner is a great way to keep productivity high and costs low. In weighing this decision, consider not only the cost of help, but also the cost of what could happen if no one is there to help.

To keep your business profitable, you need your employees to do what you pay them to do. It doesn’t have to be expensive, and it doesn’t require effort. All you need is a team of professionals who have your best interests — your employee’s productivity and your revenue — in mind.