We all spend hours each week clicking, dragging, and hunting for the right button on our computers. It’s not that we don’t know better; we just fall into habits. But here’s the secret: a handful of simple keyboard shortcuts can shave off precious minutes each day and save you from a lot of small frustrations. Think of this as your 3–5 minute productivity boost before your coffee gets cold. By the end of this read, you’ll have a few shortcuts ready to test drive today. Why Shortcuts Matter Keyboard shortcuts are like the fast track on a busy road. You can drive the long way if you want, but once you try the shortcut, you’ll ask yourself why you never used it before. Just a few keys, that’s it. Use them every day, and the minutes stack up. Weeks later, it feels like hours back in your pocket. So, before your coffee goes cold, here are some quick wins you can try right now. Everyday Essentials Copy & Paste Like a Pro The classics. They’re the bread and butter of shortcuts. Instead of right-clicking, selecting “Copy,” and then “Paste,” just tap these and you’re done. Undo Oops Accidentally deleted half a sentence or moved a file? No need to panic. This command is your instant safety net, like having a rewind button for your mistakes. Redo That Fix We all overdo the undo. This brings things right back without retyping or reformatting. Navigation Made Easy (Switch Between Apps) Perfect when you’re juggling email, spreadsheets, and a browser window all at once. Find Anything Fast Scrolling endlessly to locate one phrase in a document is a mood killer. With this shortcut, just type the word, and it lights up instantly. Snap Windows Side by Side Research on one side, notes on the other. Or chat on one side, report on the other. Multitasking suddenly feels effortless. Minimize Everything at Once This shortcut drops all windows and takes you to your desktop. Handy when clutter builds up. Speed Boost for Text (Select All in One Go) Instead of dragging your cursor across pages of text, just highlight everything in a blink. Perfect for emails, Word docs, or even spreadsheets. Cut It Out Think of this as “copy and delete.” Move text, files, or even entire folders without leaving duplicates behind. Bold, Italic, Underline Dress up your words instantly. If you format text often, this keeps your hands on the keyboard and away from clunky toolbars. Jump to Start or End Skip scrolling. Land at the top or bottom of a document instantly. It’s like teleporting through pages. Screenshots on the Fly (Quick Snip) Instead of cluttering your desktop with full screenshots, highlight only the exact area you need to see. Whole Screen Shot Capture the entire view with one click. Great for saving confirmation pages or error messages before they disappear. Power User Extras (Lock Your Screen) This locks your screen instantly. A must if you’re in an office or working around others. Open New Tab Instantly This shortcut pops open a fresh tab instantly, ready for your next search. Reopen a Closed Tab Closed a tab by accident? Don’t panic. This shortcut is the browser equivalent of time travel. Wrap-Up Tip No need to learn every shortcut today. Start small. Just pick two or three that fit how you usually work, like jumping between apps, copying stuff, or snapping windows side by side. Use them every day, and soon your fingers just do it without thinking. And then you notice it. Things that felt slow don’t feel slow anymore. The work moves smoothly. And those few minutes you save? That’s time for coffee, a stretch, or maybe even finishing a bit earlier. Your Turn So, which shortcut do you use most often? Or maybe you have a hidden gem we didn’t cover? We’d love to hear from you. Just hit reply and share it. Who knows, we might drop it in the next Coffee Break Reads. Till then, finish your coffee. And enjoy those few minutes you just got back.
Even if you don’t consider yourself a target, small businesses should always have a cybersecurity policy in place. It’s common for small businesses to think that they’re too small to be targets, but they are actually primary targets for cyber-criminals. Many of today’s sophisticated attacks involve coordinated groups of hackers that know small businesses don’t have the staff or resources to stop them. Small businesses can fight back, though, with some basic cybersecurity policies to lower their risks of being the next data breach victim. Authorized Access to Data Only If It’s Necessary It’s easy to grant every employee access to everything to avoid hassles, but this gives an attacker with stolen credentials unfettered access to all your systems without any barriers. Once an attacker gains access to credentials or tricks an employee into installing malware on their local machine, the attacker can then laterally move throughout the network, stealing data without security obstacles. You can minimize a data breach by giving employees access to only the data necessary to perform their job functions. This approach is called the “principle of least privilege,” and it’s recommended by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Let’s say an attacker does steal credentials from an employee, but you’ve followed the privilege of least principle. An attacker would be limited to only the data authorized with the stolen credentials. This strategy does not stop an attacker entirely, but it limits damage. It’s important to note that attackers will likely try to elevate privileges using a variety of exploits and phishing via impersonation, but this creates a hurdle for them. Cybersecurity is built in layers, and limiting data access is one layer of many. A few ways you can better manage user accounts: Disable Unused Accounts After an Employee Leaves Let’s say that you have a system available for employees over the internet. They must authenticate with their business credentials. You might already have two-factor authentication (2FA) installed. These security provisions are rendered useless if you don’t disable accounts when an employee is no longer employed. This lack of action leaves your organization vulnerable to insider threats, which are even more difficult to detect since the ex-employee is using valid credentials. You probably need to retrieve email and data from the ex-employee’s account, so the proper way to manage this risk is to disable the account, not delete it. Disabling the account stops the ex-employee from authenticating in your systems, but it gives you time to collect data and retrieve old email messages to hand off to the next person in charge. You can disable the account yourself or have your IT staff disable it, but you’ll need to do it immediately to minimize risks. A few ways you can ensure account closures: Require Antivirus on All Devices Connected to the Network You might allow employees to connect to the network from their own devices. For example, they might connect to Wi-Fi from their smartphones to make calls or access the internet. Employee laptops might be used to connect to the network and take work home with them. While these are excellent ways to boost productivity, they also open up vulnerabilities and increase your attack surface. Should an attacker gain access to an employee’s personal device, the malware installed could then access your network data. Part of your bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy should be the requirement of antivirus. Antivirus policies should extend to local business devices, also, but small business owners often forget about the threats that might come with personal device connections. Ensure that users have antivirus on mobile devices, and take it a step further by ensuring that any software installed on their devices has the latest security patches. Daily Backups of Data The most secure environments still have their own incidents (Incident Response Plan), but backups reduce the permanent damage done from malware and give you quicker recovery routes. Backups also need to be in a secure environment, and you should follow the 3-2-1 rule to avoid failures. The 3-2-1 rule states: To explain this better, suppose that you have a copy of all the files on drive E. Every night, you make a backup of drive E and store it to a NAS (Network Attached Storage). You should also store a copy on another disk, or if the backups are too large, use cloud storage. The cloud storage route would cover the last rule, which states that a copy should be off-site. The off-site copy is intended for catastrophes like fire or flooding at your office. Having multiple copies also avoids issues with corruption of one copy or should one of your backup disks fail. If one copy is corrupted, you can always restore data from one of the others. Also read: Signs Your Business Has Outgrown Break-Fix IT Email Security Phishing has long been a primary attack vector. The types of phishing attacks are too many for this article, but they come in several forms: You can train employees to recognize the signs, but it still leaves you open to human error. Employee security training is beneficial, but it should be a secondary security layer to email filters. Email filters block suspicious emails that come from known phishing and spam domains. More advanced filters use a combination of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and threat intelligence. Your email provider should have security installed, or you can ask your managed service provider (MSP) to install it for you. Chances are that email security is included with your MSP offer. Case Study: Cybersecurity & Managed IT Services for HVAC & Plumbing Co Managed Service Providers Help with All These Policies and More These top 5 cybersecurity policies are but a few of the layers of protection you should implement. The entire world of cybersecurity is a game of cat-and-mouse, so it can be difficult for a business owner to keep up with the changes. One day you’re protected, and the next day your business software has a known vulnerability, leaving you
Small businesses can usually get by with just a “fix it when it breaks” mentality, but scalable IT infrastructure requires a proactive approach. You need hardware capable of handling busy seasons, and you need software that allows for employee productivity without being a hindrance. If both these things are constantly breaking, it’s time to consider a professional approach to your IT. Professional buildouts might have a higher cost upfront, but the savings from productivity loss, angry customers, delays, and downtime are much bigger in the long run. Here are some signs that it’s time to seek out a provider that can help manage, update, scale, and monitor your critical applications. Excessive Downtime Impacts Productivity “Excessive” is relative, but you know when your IT infrastructure fails too much. If your employees have to ask for help for the same issue several times a week, it likely impacts their productivity. Let’s say that Wi-Fi constantly goes down, and you reboot the router to fix the problem. It’s a simple fix, but rebooting a router brings all devices down, including any software or hardware that continually connects to the internet. An IT issue that continually happens with a simple fix but one that interferes with productivity is never the answer. The answer is to figure out the root cause of the problem and have it professionally remediated. Remediation could be anything like: Added Infrastructure is Hacked Together Instead of Meticulously Designed Let’s say you have a small business and host all your hardware on-premise. Do you add the server in a random room with wireless connectivity to a Wi-Fi router? Some businesses even put servers in the lunchroom! It’s a quick fix to solve a scalability problem, but as you can imagine, it’s not a permanent yet alone an optimized solution. A random room leaves hardware open to theft or accidental damage. You might use cloud computing, but even cloud technology can be deployed in a way that doesn’t optimize resources or IT costs. Deploying any valuable resource requires planning, even if the planning is a simple layout to determine physical location of the server and how it will be monitored. In many of these scenarios, the server is improperly configured and isn’t monitored for threats. Computer hardware also requires optimal temperatures, ideally between 65F and 70F, so leaving equipment in a random room can reduce its life expectancy. A few issues you might run into: Keeping IT Compliant is Beyond Your Skillset Compliance should always be a consideration when building an IT environment, but it takes a professional to know how to do it. An inexperienced person could easily miss a configuration or miss important components in an IT design. Some compliance regulations require software setup, like monitoring of the environment or auditing records every time a user accesses them. Regulations are especially strict around personally identifiable information (PII), financial data, and healthcare records. For example, a violation of PCI-DSS –regulations overseeing payment information– can cost $5000 to $100,000 in fines depending on your business and the severity of the violation. An SMB could be put out of business if they suffer from a data breach. Compliance is a huge topic that often requires a professional, but here are a few common requirements you might need help with: You Need Additional Infrastructure to Scale, But Don’t Know What to Deploy When you only have a few people on desktop computers, you might be able to set up an environment yourself. When you get bigger and need more desktops, servers, software, and cybersecurity, it gets much more difficult to manage unless you have experience in IT. It can also limit your ability to scale your infrastructure as your business grows. In IT the saying “you don’t know what you don’t know” is true. You might think you have everything configured with cybersecurity in place, but it’s common for businesses to overlook vulnerabilities. It only takes once for a data breach to cost six or seven figures in litigation, incident response, reputation loss, and compliance violations. A common thought is that an SMB isn’t big enough to be a target, and that’s not true. As a matter of fact, cyber-criminals prefer SMBs for the lack of advanced cybersecurity protections. As you grow, you need software to make your business more productive. Professionals can steer you in the right direction. Here are a few reasons you might need a professional as your business grows: Unnecessary IT Spending When you don’t have professionals deploying infrastructure, you might have unnecessary spending. Optimizing your costs is another area where IT professionals can save you money and frustrations. For example, you might have cloud infrastructure that costs more than you need to spend. It’s common for businesses to have unused IT in the cloud that can be retired. Legacy cloud infrastructure can also cost more than using newer technologies. For SMBs, optimizing costs can be a huge benefit. It’s possible to save thousands in unnecessary spending, especially if you’re unfamiliar with cloud computing. Here are a few more ways professionals can help with IT costs: Where to Go From Here? If you find yourself overwhelmed with IT support or continue to have problems with your infrastructure, it’s time to consider a professional managed IT service provider. A professional MSP like Corporate Technologies can create a secure, scalable IT environment that won’t inhibit your productivity. To get started with your IT infrastructure, contact us today.
The real cost of IT support in New Jersey isn’t just the bill you get. For small businesses in places like Newark, Jersey City, Fairfield, or Princeton, it is more about finding a balance. You pay for support, but what you’re really buying is uptime, security, and peace of mind. Because one slow network, an old server breaking down, or a single data breach can end up costing way more than a steady monthly fee. If you are running a local business in New Jersey, you probably already ask yourself: how much should I set aside for IT support in New Jersey? Or maybe you wonder if managed IT makes sense for a team of 10, 20, or even 50 people. In this guide, we’ll go through what small businesses usually pay, how break/fix compares to New Jersey managed IT services, and the hidden costs many New Jersey companies don’t see until it’s too late. Want to see where you stand? Grab our free IT cost checklist or book a free consultation with Corporate Technologies. How much does IT support cost per month in NJ? The average cost of IT support in New Jersey is $100 to $200 per user per month for New Jersey managed IT services. But that’s not the whole story. Let’s break it: Break/fix support (hourly): Managed IT services (monthly): Example: A 15-person office in Princeton. With managed IT services, the cost is usually steady, somewhere around $2,500–$3,000 each month. That covers everything: monitoring, updates, help desk, and security. You know what to expect, and the budget stays under control. Now take that same office with break/fix support. The costs jump around. One month might be light, just a few minor fixes. The next month, a server crash or a big network problem could push the bill over $4,000. And while the IT team is fixing it, your staff may be stuck waiting, losing hours of work. What Affects the Cost of IT Support in New Jersey? Not every small business pays the same for IT in NJ. It depends on a few things. Some you can control, some you can’t. If businesses that delay upgrades or avoid managed IT usually spend more later. Hidden costs show up as downtime, data loss, or emergency repair fees that wreck the budget. Also Read: The True Cost of IT Downtime for Businesses Break/fix vs. Managed IT: Which One Saves You Money? Break/fix is straightforward. You only pay when something stops working. At first, it feels cheaper. But one serious issue can flip the numbers. A server crash in Jersey City, for example, might take ten hours to fix. At $150 an hour, that’s $1,500 in labor. Add the downtime, lost sales, and wasted work, and the real cost can cross $10,000. Managed IT works on a fixed monthly fee. The team monitors your systems, patches updates, and takes support calls. You pay more up front, but the risks are lower. No surprise bills. For small businesses in Fairfield or Newark, that steady cost brings peace of mind. You know what you’ll spend, and you know help is ready when needed. In the long run, managed IT usually saves more than break/fix. What Hidden IT Costs Do Small Businesses in New Jersey Forget About? Even when it feels like you’re saving money, the truth is there are costs you don’t see on the invoice. They add up fast. So the cheap option often turns out expensive. You just pay in ways you didn’t plan for. Are New Jersey Managed IT Services Worth It for Small Businesses? For most, yes. And here’s why: Small businesses spend thousands fixing the same problem again and again. Managed IT breaks that cycle. It keeps things steady so owners can focus on growth instead of tech headaches. How do you measure ROI from IT support in New Jersey? Measuring ROI is actually pretty simple. Add up everything you spend on IT, hourly calls, downtime costs, penalties, and old hardware. Then compare that to a managed IT monthly fee. Don’t forget the time staff lose waiting on slow or broken systems. For example, a small manufacturing shop in Newark was paying about $5,000 a month on downtime and break/fix IT. They switched to managed IT for $2,800 a month. That’s $2,200 saved each month. Over a year, it adds up to $26,400. Compare that to the total managed IT cost of $33,600 a year, and the ROI comes out to roughly 79%. Plus, staff actually get work done because the systems run smoothly. That’s the real value you can see in the numbers. Suggested Read: How Charter Schools in New Jersey Can Leverage Managed IT Services for Smarter Learning? Final Thoughts The real cost of IT support in New Jersey isn’t just the invoice. It’s downtime, lost sales, and security risks. Whether you’re running a law firm in Jersey City, a clinic in Princeton, or a marketing agency in Fairfield, you can’t ignore IT. Book your free IT assessment with Corporate Technologies today. Get a straight look at what you’re paying now, and what you could save with managed IT. FAQs
Every growing small business goes through IT struggles eventually. If you don’t have the right people and infrastructure in place, your software and hardware could be a bottleneck for business productivity. For many small businesses, this means it’s time to search for professionals to evaluate what you have now and determine what you need to scale for the future. It takes a lot of time and money to change infrastructure, so you need professionals who can architect a design that not only provides current support but also gives you the ability to scale as your business grows. If you search for IT support, you’ll find several managed service providers (MSPs) offering all types of bundles, plans, and subscriptions. Small businesses unfamiliar with the IT landscape can soon be overwhelmed by options. We put together 10 questions you should ask an MSP before you sign a contract. Some questions might be obvious (e.g., “What services do you offer?” or “How much is the cost?”), so we put together questions that you might not have already thought of. 1. What is Your Service Level Agreement? A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a promise to respond and remediate issues within a set amount of time. Usually, a response is set based on the type of issue, and issues are categorized by severity. For example, an outage of critical infrastructure might be a tier 1 and have an SLA of 15 minutes response time with a small window for remediation, promising to get your business productive in the least amount of time. A lower-priority issue might have a longer response time, with several days for the MSP to remediate. 2. Do You Support Patch Maintenance Patch maintenance keeps all your software and firmware (software for your hardware) up to date. Outdated infrastructure leaves you open to known vulnerabilities, and it can be a source of serious data breaches. For example, the infamous Equifax data breach, where private information for 148 million Americans was stolen, stemmed from outdated software. Servers were breached after a known vulnerability remained unpatched for only a couple of months after the vulnerability was made public. You need software updated, especially if it’s a patch for a security vulnerability. 3. Do You Follow Compliance Regulations? If you have a business under compliance regulations (e.g., HIPAA, FINRA, CCPA, SOX, PCI-DSS), it’s critical that you hire an MSP with a firm grasp of requirements. Infrastructure must be configured and deployed in certain ways to avoid hefty fines. Your MSP will guide you in the right direction. For example, healthcare data must be stored in encrypted form even on mobile devices, so you need an MSP that can configure your hardware to ensure that you follow HIPAA compliance. 4. What Hours is Tech Support Available? You might think that you won’t need support during closed business hours, but what if your website suffers an outage in the middle of the night? What happens if a server fails, and that server is necessary for productivity in the morning? You need a help desk line to call. Ask an MSP what kind of off-hours support they offer, including holidays and weekends. 5. What Kind of Incident Response Do You Offer? Incident response is the process of detection, containment, and eradication of a threat. The faster your incident response, the less damage a threat can do to your data. Incident response is a crucial step in dealing with a data breach, so make sure you have an MSP educated and experienced in protecting your data. They might also offer a collection of evidence if you need to report the incident to law enforcement. 6. Do You Offer Disaster Recovery? Disaster recovery is a step in incident response. It’s the last step after a threat is eradicated from your network. After a threat is eradicated, you need a professional to restore your data and infrastructure to operational status. MSPs will create a disaster recovery plan and help restore data after an incident. You want an MSP that can ensure the lowest amount of downtime with as little data loss as possible so that you can return to productivity. Disaster recovery services often include backup, so ask the vendor what types of backups they perform to safeguard your data. 7. Do You Offer Security Awareness Training to Staff? Phishing and social engineering are primary attack vectors for cyber-criminals. They’re incredibly effective on unaware employees. Not every MSP offers security awareness training, but you should ask if they do and take advantage of the offer. Cybersecurity training is one way to lower human error and email-based data breaches, including ransomware. 8. Does Your Service Include Monitoring and Detection? How do you know your network is compromised if you don’t have monitoring in place? Some compliance regulations require you to have monitoring installed. An MSP should have monitoring included with their cybersecurity to reduce the amount of time a threat can persist in your business environment. Monitoring might also include the detection of failed hardware or hardware that might not be configured properly. Ask an MSP what type of monitoring is included with your coverage. 9. Am I Tied to Any Vendor with Your Infrastructure Deployment? It’s possible that an MSP might set up a cloud-based environment for you. You should know if you’re being tied to any particular vendor. Most corporations are tied to a vendor, but should you take over support for the cloud environment, you need to know if it’s AWS, Azure, Google Cloud or another vendor. If you want to change vendors, it could be difficult to switch especially if you’re integrated with proprietary cloud applications. Ask the vendor which cloud provider will be set up so that you are familiar with their applications. Also, a cloud vendor has their own SLAs that you can review. 10. Does Service Include Onsite Management? Most IT-specific service can be done remotely, but some MSPs offer onsite service too. If you have local hardware, an MSP might offer onsite
Boise continues to outperform as a hub for small business expansion. With a small business growth of 7.83% year-over-year, it stands as the fastest-growing medium-sized metro in the U.S. The metro boasted a population of over 845,000 in 2024, marking an influx of 81,134 new residents since 2020. Boise is moving fast. Tech, healthcare, finance, manufacturing, call centers. Every small and mid-sized business feels it. Some serve big names like Micron or St. Luke’s, or others are just local shops trying to grow. But both need the same thing. A partner who understands Boise managed IT services. Like, who gives proper IT support in Boise? Who answers the phone at night with 24/7 help desk support? And who also knows how to keep things compliant, without making it a headache. Here’s a detailed guide of key questions you should ask IT providers to ensure alignment with local needs, technology demands, and your business’s growth trajectory. Ready to find a trusted IT partner? Corporate Technologies is here to help you get started. 1. Do You Have Experience Working With Boise Businesses? Providers familiar with Boise’s business landscape adapt faster. Look for good ones who already work with Treasure Valley clients in healthcare, tech, retail, finance, and even manufacturing. Always ask for proof. Case studies, reviews, anything real Look around Boise, and you see the big employers. St. Luke’s has thousands of staff. Micron, too, is close behind. Then Saint Alphonsus, Boise State University, Albertsons, J.R. Simplot. These names shape the city. They also demonstrate the type of IT support and compliance that most industries in this region deal with daily. 2. What Cybersecurity Protections Are Included? With tech investment and workforce migration surging, according to WIRED, applications to Boise tech roles jumped 116% year-over-year, and cyber threats are equally growing. Your provider should bundle endpoint protection, SIEM/IDS, encryption, incident response, and disaster recovery. Supporting industry-specific compliance, HIPAA for medical practices, PCI-DSS for retail, or NIST standards for manufacturing, is a sign of a credible partner for managed IT services in Boise. Employee cybersecurity training should also be included. 3. Is 24/7 Help Desk Support Available? Business in Boise doesn’t pause after 5 pm. Problems come at night, weekends too. A good provider gives real 24/7 help desk support, not just a promise on paper. They should have clear response times, ways to push urgent issues higher. And ask if the support is here locally or sent offshore. Also best to hear real examples of how they handled after-hours problems. 4. How Transparent Is Your Pricing? The best providers keep pricing straight. Flat rates, no tricks. They show exactly what you pay for: onboarding, hardware replacement, monitoring, and even compliance tools. That way, you don’t get a surprise bill later. For Boise businesses, this kind of clarity means steady IT support in Boise without the stress of guessing costs. 5. Can You Help With Industry Compliance? Yes, the right IT partner should handle compliance from the start. It can’t be an afterthought. Healthcare in Boise has to follow HIPAA rules. Finance and payment systems need PCI-DSS. Big manufacturers like Simplot and Micron deal with NIST or ISO standards. Tech companies face their own checks, too. If your provider builds compliance into the service, you save both cost and risk. No scrambling later, no extra bills for “add-on” compliance. Ask clearly if it’s included in their package or sold as an extra. For Boise businesses in different sectors, built-in compliance means less stress and more focus on growth. 6. Will Your Services Scale as My Business Grows? A good IT partner should scale without trouble. More users, new offices, bigger cloud setups, it should all fit in as your business grows. They need to handle cloud migration, license management, and even guide you on future tech needs before they become problems. Growth in Boise is real. Between 2023 and 2024, the city ranked high for net migration, adding more than 72,000 new people BVEP. Micron’s $15B fab project alone is expected to bring around 17,000 jobs by 2030. With so much change, your provider must keep pace. If they can’t scale smoothly, you’ll feel it in downtime, missed opportunities, and extra costs. 7. What Is Your Reputation in Boise? Check reviews on Google, Yelp, or local directories. Look for real stars reviews, not just words. Ask for clients they worked with, or quick stories of how they handled problems. That way, you see if they really deliver and aren’t just all talk. 8. Do You Provide Proactive Monitoring and Backup? Downtime is costly; the average SMB loses $5,600 per minute of unplanned downtime. Your IT partner should offer: Proactive support prevents headaches, keeping your IT infrastructure resilient and your business continuously operational. 9. How Do You Balance Onsite and Remote Support? Remote help fixes most stuff, but not everything. If a server dies or the network goes down, you need someone on-site. Check if they have local staff in Boise and how fast they can get there. Also, ask if visits cost extra or are included. 10. How Do You Communicate With Clients? Strong IT support is more than just fixing issues. It’s about keeping you in the loop. A good provider gives you a dedicated account manager, shares monthly reports on system health, security alerts, and resolved tickets. They also check in regularly, not just when something breaks. Boise Growth That Shapes IT Needs The numbers tell the story. Small businesses in Boise grew by 7.83%, the fastest rate in the U.S. That’s huge. The metro population passed 845,000 in 2024, with over 72,000 people moving in since 2020. Idaho now has 207,670 small businesses, giving work to 386,078 people, more than half the jobs in the state. Tech is rising too. Applications for Boise tech roles on Handshake jumped 116% in just one year. And Micron’s massive $15B expansion is set to bring about 17,000 jobs by 2030. Conclusion Boise is growing fast, and your business needs the right IT
If you run a small business, you know that staying lean with expenses leaves you with more capital for marketing and growth. IT support and cybersecurity are two areas where many SMBs trim as much “unnecessary” fat as possible, but it often comes at the expense of cybersecurity and business continuity. With 93% of small businesses’ cyber-incidents resulting in a data breach, it’s clear that having experienced and competent IT support is crucial for SMBs, especially when costs to remediate incidents can put them out of business. Risks of Letting Family Manage IT It’s tempting to cut costs by hiring family or friends to support a small business. You could cut costs this way and give an up-and-coming IT person their first job. When you have only a few PCs to support, you might also think the job is easy and doesn’t require the help of a professional. For simple support, your family might be a good resource. Trouble comes when infrastructure is configured with vulnerabilities, or they don’t perform necessary maintenance to stop vulnerabilities. A common theme in cybersecurity is “you don’t know what you don’t know,” and this issue becomes apparent only after a cyber-incident. Let’s take an example. Suppose that you decide to use Amazon Web Services (AWS) for cloud storage. Cloud storage at AWS is known as S3 or S3 buckets, which are similar to the directories you see on your PC. A common issue with S3 buckets is that they are often misconfigured to allow public access to data. The issue is so common that anyone can simply download an S3 scanner to find vulnerable buckets. When an inexperienced person misconfigures an S3 bucket, all your data is exposed to the open internet. You wouldn’t be alone. As recently as December 2024, two large cybercriminal groups, ShinyHunters and Nemesis, stole over 2TB of data, including source code, credentials, and secrets from misconfigured S3 buckets. It should be noted that the recently stolen data could be used in future attacks that these businesses won’t even see coming unless they take mitigating measures immediately. As you can see from this example, the simple act of having family or friends manage your IT could snowball into a larger issue where your small business is managing cyber-attacks targeted at your vulnerabilities. The savings on IT support can turn into six or seven-figure costs in remediation, litigation, and reputation loss. Some other risks you might not realize without a professional: Why Professional IT Support is Now Essential for SMBs Poor cybersecurity isn’t the only risk of DIY IT. Scalability and deploying tools that you can use now and in the future are also important. Let’s say, for example, that you want to deploy a server for file storage. You need a solution that not only supports the speed and space you will use currently, but also a solution that scales. Deploying too many resources is a waste of your IT budget, but too few can be a bottleneck in your productivity. Compliance is another issue. An inexperienced IT person would not know how to design infrastructure to follow compliant requirements. As an example, a small doctor’s office might not need many computers configured, but HIPAA has specific requirements for the way the internal office handles data and the network environment. You must keep office guest Wi-Fi separated from the internal network, employees must never connect to guest Wi-Fi from work computers, and strong encryption must be configured on the Wi-Fi router. Requests for data should be logged, and any protected health information (PHI) must be stored in encrypted form. Just like the consequences of a data breach can be long-term costs, having an inexperienced IT person set up a network without taking compliance and scalability into account can be an expensive mistake. The cost of HIPAA violations varies widely from $141 to $2 million per violation. More serious consequences include criminal penalties. Professional IT support is more important than ever, as any mistakes come with a high price tag. Ensuring infrastructure is configured correctly, deploying infrastructure that scales with your growing business, staying compliant, and managing infrastructure after it’s deployed are some common ways managed service providers can help. To properly manage resources, you need someone with the experience of a professional and people who have seen different issues for quick resolution when you need help. Here are a few other ways IT professionals can help: Managed IT vs DIY: What’s the Real Cost? DIY IT support is arguably the most cost-effective, but the real costs come from mismanagement of your infrastructure. Every company has a unique environment, so you can use our managed IT services calculator to estimate your costs. Costs depend on the number of users, computers, servers, compliance concerns, offices, and the services that you want. IBM reports that the average global cost of a data breach is $4.4 million, so the true costs are in failed IT support. Using managed service providers might seem like an unnecessary expense, but it can benefit you in the long run. Should your organization see massive growth, professionals at an MSP can still support expansion to new offices, hundreds of new employees, and computers, and an increase in data. Do you think your IT is in good shape? Take our free three-minute IT readiness quiz to find out. FAQs
Case Study “I’m impressed with how quickly I can get hold of someone from Corporate Technologies locally.” — Chris Ellis, IT Coordinator, KKT Architects Project Details Service: IT Managed Services Timeline: Jan 2015 – Ongoing Budget: Confidential Download the full IT Managed Services Case Study for An Architectural Firm in Tulsa (PDF) Project Summary Corporate Technologies provides managed IT services for an architectural firm. The team has monitored and updated the client’s IT infrastructure, performed backup and disaster recovery off-site preparation, and set up laptops. The Client Role: IT Coordinator Company: KKT Architects Industry: Design Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma I’m the IT coordinator for an architectural firm. The Challenge Being a one person operation we were needing some additional help to backfill areas I didn’t have time for or expertise with. We needed help with IT services. Client Rating Overall: 4.5 Quality: 5.0 Schedule: 4.5 Cost: 4.5 Would Refer: 5.0 The Approach Scope Corporate Technologies provides managed IT services and handles the more complex and tedious IT tasks, including monitoring and updating infrastructure, servers, routers, switches, WAPs, and VPNs. The team performs backup and disaster recovery offsite preparation and sets up new laptops. They perform weekly checks and reports on servers’ status, make necessary changes to the NAS, and push firmware and software updates to infrastructure devices as needed. Team Composition Three or more teammates from Corporate Technologies, depending on the project. Vendor Selection Corporate Technologies was already in the pipeline when I started working at my company. They’ve done a good job, so I see no reason to change them. Status The engagement began in January 2015 and is ongoing. The Outcome Corporate Technologies keeps me informed of any changes to our infrastructure or laptops, and they fix things in a timely manner. I get weekly updates about our server conditions and any service provided to users via email tickets. Project Management Michael (Senior Systems Engineer) and Josh (Senior Systems Engineer) can hop on a call, whether scheduled or not, to review situations or projects in process so we’re all on the same page. That’s really helpful versus playing email tag. We primarily communicate via email. What Impressed the Client How quickly we can get hold of someone from Corporate Technologies locally. Areas for Improvement They have been great. If I ever have an issue I can jump on a call and it’s addressed in a timely manner; changes are made quickly and to my satisfaction. Contact info@gocorptech.com • 952-715-3600 • gocorptech.com
Case Study “I was impressed by their professionalism.” — Aaron Vanden Berg, VP, Advantage Mechanical-Refrigeration, Inc. Project Details Service: IT Managed Services, Cybersecurity Timeline: Oct. 2021 – Sep. 2025 Budget: $50,000 to $199,999 Download the Cybersecurity & Managed IT Services case study for an HVAC & Plumbing Contractor (PDF) Project Summary Corporate Technologies provided cybersecurity and managed IT services for an HVAC and plumbing contractor. The team completed a project called Secure Advantage, which aimed to protect the client’s data from hackers. The engagement reduced IT-related issues, improved service responsiveness, and earned praise for professionalism and customer care. The Client Role: Vice President Company: Advantage Mechanical-Refrigeration, Inc. Industry: Construction – HVAC/R & Plumbing Mechanical Contractor Location: Cedar Springs, MI Advantage Mechanical-Refrigeration provides HVAC/R and plumbing services for large projects, construction, and service contracts. The Challenge The company needed Corporate Technologies to manage IT needs so the business could stay focused on core operations. A top priority was keeping company information secure from hackers. Client Rating Overall: 5.0 Quality: 5.0 Schedule: 5.0 Cost: 5.0 Would Refer: 5.0 The Approach Vendor Selection Corporate Technologies was chosen after a sales visit due to high ratings, budget fit, cultural alignment, and strong company values. One primary employee was assigned, supported by additional technicians when needed. Scope of Work Corporate Technologies acted as IT provider, completing the Secure Advantage project to strengthen cybersecurity. Ongoing services included IT management, data protection, and rapid support for user needs and infrastructure changes. The Outcome The partnership resulted in fewer IT-related issues and faster response from qualified technicians compared to the previous provider. Quote turnarounds were quick, and projects were delivered on schedule. Project Management Corporate Technologies managed the engagement effectively with email and messaging as the primary communication channels. What Impressed the Client The client praised Corporate Technologies’ professionalism, noting that engineers and support staff treated them as though they were the only customer. Areas for Improvement Tier 1 technicians had struggled at times, though performance has improved over the past six months. After-hours dispatch could improve communication, though the client acknowledged their own call center challenges.
Case Study “The 24/7 protection and assistance were a big factor in switching to Corporate Technologies.” — April Wood, Corporate Finance Director, Western Tel-Com Project Details Service: IT Managed Services Timeline: Jul. 2024 – Sep. 2024 Budget: $10,000 to $49,999 Download the Fiber Optics IT Managed Services case study (PDF) Project Summary Corporate Technologies provided managed IT services for Western Tel-Com, a fiber optics installation company. The engagement included 24/7 help desk support, proactive cybersecurity, and continuous system monitoring to protect operations and reduce IT-related disruptions . The Client Role: Corporate Finance Director Company: Western Tel-Com Industry: Construction – Fiber Optic Installation Location: Holland, Michigan The Challenge Western Tel-Com needed Corporate Technologies to deliver 24/7 protection, proactive IT maintenance, and reliable support. These services were critical due to employees working around the clock and requiring seamless system uptime . Client Rating Overall: 5.0 Quality: 5.0 Schedule: 5.0 Cost: 5.0 Would Refer: 5.