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Network Administration

Does Hardware Last Forever?

I think we all know the answer to this.  No, no hardware lasts forever, but having the expertise to know when the appropriate time to upgrade or replace is will not only keep your IT budget under control, but it will keep your employees happier.  There are questions you need to know answers to before you toss a piece of equipment out. 

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Is the problem temporary, due to an update somewhere in the environment? 

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Is the problem due to a configuration or a software related issue? 

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Can a different application accomplish the malfunctioning task? 

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For workstations, can yearly or biannual hard drive reformats extend the lifetime of a device? How do we plan for this? 

 

There's a lot to know, and people who don't do this day in and day out may just throw their printer in the garbage the first time it stops printing.  And when it comes time to actually upgrade or replace, we know which brands have frequent problems (looking at you, HP) and which give our clients the least amount of heartache.

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When working with Koala Networks, you have a partner who will help you source the best equipment your budget can cover.  As it stands today, the market is wildly volatile with many hardware sellers praying on the average consumer's depth of hardware knowledge, or lack thereof.  While most people understand what things like RAM or hard drive means on a basic level, small details will have a considerable impact on the lifespan of two identically priced employee workstations.  Additionally, we have the experience to source equipment appropriate for the individual need.  Because we do not resell equipment, we are always comfortable recommending equipment that is appropriately powerful regardless of the price.

  • What SLA Does Koala Networks Offer?
    We have a 15-minute initial response time guaranteed with a best-efforts SLA after that. Emergency events are handled on a case-by-case basis, and with a 15-minute initial response time plans for remediation begin formulating immediately.
  • What Contract Terms Does Koala Networks Offer?
    Each client is signed on a 30 day auto-renewing contract and you can cancel any time with have no penalties. We try to make it easy for our clients to leave us-they just never do!
  • I have a full MacOS environment. Can Koala Networks service me?
    Yes, about 20% of our clients are full mac shops and we help them manage their mac devices as well as their Apple Business Managers and Apple Business Essentials accounts. For clients with office 365, we also create and manage the federated authentication between the two services.
  • Focus on Security
    We have a strenuous minimum security standard that our clients must abide by. While the onramp to this standard can seem daunting, it's not without reason-Koala Networks shares in the liability of the data on your network and we are incredibly invested in keeping your data secure.
  • 24/7 Network Analytics and Alerting
    Our remote monitoring system allows us to have a constant pulse on everything happening in your network. That includes what devices enter and leave our network, outages, downtime, and realtime health reports of our work devices.
  • Emergency On-Sites
    Most of our clients request that we carry a key to their office in the event that critical network equipment goes down. In the event that our system detects an outage and alerts us, we notify you the client and begin organizing a plan for remediation so that the work day is unimpacted. Ultimately, our goal is to keep our clients making money.
  • Training-and Learning-is an Ongoing Session.
    The initial training session(s) for any kickoff or go-live will never be the sole piece of information to empower 100% of your employees to do their job perfectly. Our company is accessible 10 hours a day, 5 days a week to ask questions any time they need help.
  • Which Format is Best for User Training?
    Ultimately, it depends on the size of the company and the best way your employees learn. Sometimes email guides work best, sometimes in-person group training sessions are best, and often virtual group sessions with a screen share can provide the best benefit. We have documentation as well as expertise to get your employees trained both in group and one-on-one environments.
  • Remote Access (for Help Desk)
    80% of all tickets can be solved through our remote help desk within day of submission. In the event they can't be, vendor contact, follow-up remote support, or on-site service is scheduled.
  • Remote Access (For Hybrid Workforces)
    Not only can we support you remotely with our RMM tool, but we can lend this access to your employees so they can access their work devices from any web browser. This can bypass the need for a VPN or other similar paid service.
  • Numerous Ways to Request Help
    There are a number of ways to request remote support through our system. You can submit an email to our ticketing system, initiate a chat session, call our support line, fill out a ticket form through our RMM, and generate a ticket through either of our online portals. We aim to be highly accessible!
  • Taking Advantage of Your Warranty
    Most devices and device components have at the minimum a 1 year warranty through the manufacturer. Some components like certain RAM from Crucial even has up to a 10 year or lifetime warranty. However, your business's primary function likely isn't checking component level warranties on your computers. Let Koala Networks do that leg work and save you money.
  • Upgrades in Stages: Spare Your Cash Flow
    A slow computer often doesn't need to be immediately replaced. If proper purchasing is being exercised, we can breathe entirely new life into otherwise sluggish user devices with simple upgrades like RAM or hard drives and these upgrades often cost less than 1/10th of the cost of a new device.
  • Will Koala Networks Repair Chip Level Components?
    Koala Networks does not operate a computer repair shop. While we can do component swaps like replacing a failing hard drive with a new one, we will not repair boards. Anything that requires a specialized repair will need to be either sent back to the manufacturer or brought to a computer repair shop.
  • MacOS Product Upgrades
    Unfortunately, due to the manufacturing decisions of Apple, their products can not be opened without high specialized equipment and Koala Networks is unable to do normal major component replacements on them. That being said, we are able to help MacOS shops set up their Apple Business Managers as well as get their devices enrolled in Apple Business Essentials, which will take care of all warranty work.
  • How Challenging is it to Attain a Basic Level of Security?
    Fortunately, technology is evolving as quickly as criminals do. We provide endpoint security for your managed work devices, and if your business operates on major platforms like Microsoft, layers of security are baked in such as email filtering. Additionally, implementing practices like MFA, single sign-on, and password complexity requirements can prevent would-be attackers from gaining access--even with cracked user credentials.
  • How Serious is Cybersecurity in 2022?
    We take the 24/7 nonstop global assault very seriously. As a matter of fact, we have minimum security standards and give new clients a 3 month onramp to meeting those standards before terminating service. As previously mentioned, we share in the liability of clients' data and are required to secure a client's network.
  • One of the Best Forms of Security is Having a Backup Plan
    When we say backup plan, we mean literally having multiple forms of backups. Let's say worst case scenario happens and all company data is encrypted. How do we quickly get all systems back online, lossless, and in the quickest manner? Having good backups that are regularly tested is one of the best ways to remediate a successful cyber attack.
  • Who's Job Should it Be to Change Passwords?
    If you don't have an internal IT team, who do you task with the daily 5 minute interruptions of things like account updates, permissions levels, temporary passwords, admin access, or any other small request a user has to get access to or change their user configuration in a work managed software?
  • Hiring? Firing? We Got You...
    How do you set up your newest hire for success right out of the gates? How you minimize a recently fired employees access to company files as they're let go? Let Koala Networks handle the logistics for you. We can highly minimize what a disgruntled employee can do fully remotely.
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