NEMSYS Blog

Join Us

On Friday September 16th Nemsys will be throwing a party to celebrate our clients and partners.  If it weren’t for them, Nemsys would not be here.  The theme for the party is “you will do better with Nemsys.”  The theme was modified from the Toledo slogan “you will do better in Toledo” from 1913. I love the slogan and what it stands for.  We feel that Toledo businesses will do better with Nemsys because of the values we have.  We strive to have excellent customer service, build relationships with our clients and build partnerships to better our business for our clients.

To showcase our clients and partners, we have asked if a few would speak at the event.  We want to hear how they are doing better in Toledo because of other businesses, organizations and Nemsys.

We hope that you will join us Friday September 16th from 2-6pm.

I would like to publicly say thank you to our clients.  Nemsys has evolved over the last 11 years and our clients have been very loyal.  Over the last year we have made major changes to our service delivery methods.  We did this because we knew it was the best for our clients.  Through that transition, we had our hiccups but our clients were supportive and provided constructive feedback.  We take the feedback very seriously and have continued to make changes based on it.  Nemsys wants to be there for our clients and grow with them for the next 11 years, and beyond.

Thank You!

Katie Rofkar

 

Posted in Client Relations, Nemsys | 2 Comments

How Proper Desktop Workstations can Decrease Costs

Most users do not give any thought to how old their machines are until they start to cause them problems. Most users use their machines 4 to 5 hours per day. This adds up to 25 hours in a work week, 100 hours in a month, and 1200 hours in a year. A slow machine can cause 25% decrease in productivity and lost revenue as the user is not able to work as efficiently. As a whole, new computers double in speed every 18 months so the machine you purchased 3 years ago will be outdated after approx. 2 years.   The average lifetime of a machine is around 3 years before replacement is recommended, and the average cost of desktop replacement is around $750 per machine. If you take all these variables into account the new machine will cost you about $250 a year in upfront costs plus associated maintenance costs.

As an engineer I see machines start to break down and have more troubles after about 2 years, for most users. For the heaviest user, I see this after 1 year. It is a slow process and most users will not even notice the slowdown until it starts to affect their productivity. I have had some users of older machines say that they turn their machines on in the morning and go get a cup of coffee while they are waiting for it to boot up. This translates into lost revenue and productivity.

Using our software, LabTech, we are able to do much of the maintenance that will keep the machines running for their expected lifetime. Over time the hard drives of these machines will wear out, dust will start to build up on heat producing parts, weaken solder joints, and slow down processors and memory.  Also the fans on the machines that keep the parts cool will wear out and slow down. As the fans slow down they cannot affectively cool the parts anymore and the machine itself will slow down.

Buying a new computer may seem unnecessary for an existing user, but if you look into how much time is wasted by using outdated equipment and software, it can easily add up to thousands of dollars a year in downtime and lost production due to slow response of the machine. By effectively maintaining existing machines and replacing them when they reach their lifespans we can keep your company running efficiently and at full capacity.

Jacob Heilman

Posted in Hardware, Nemsys, Productivity | 2 Comments

Your Computer Needs to Rest too

Has your computer ever started to run slow for no reason, have corky little issues, randomly things are not working as fast as they once did?  Well, when was the last time that you restarted your computer?   It is always a good idea to make a habit to restart your computer after installing/uninstalling applications, programs, or games.  Usually these programs will ask you to restart or the application may do it completely on its own.  This is important because some files need to start up or stop being used for the computer to work properly after installing/uninstalling applications, programs, or games.

When you restart your computer it clears out your RAM (Random Access Memory) leaving less items running in the background.  In turn, this will free up available memory that your computer can use.  The more memory that is available the faster your machine will perform.  Sometimes not all programs fully close correctly, or they don’t close down all the files/services running.  This can cause issues when you go to run this program again and sometimes when you start a different program.   So if you find yourself dealing with little issues that may be affecting your productivity or work, you may want to restart your computer.  It’s very simple and there are many different way to accomplish a restart.   It varies depending on the Operating System you are running.  Here is a few ways I find easiest to accomplish a restart.

Windows 7

Located at the bottom of the screen on the lower left hand side you will see the Windows Flag button, click on it.  Then click the small arrow to the left of the “Shut Down”, it will display a menu with several shut down options, Click on Restart.

Windows Vista

Located at the bottom of the screen on the lower left hand side you will see the Windows Flag button, click on it.  Then click the small arrow to the left of the Standby (circle), Lock (lock), it will open a menu with several shut down options, Click on restart!

Windows XP

Located at the bottom of the screen on the lower left hand side you will see the Start Button.  Once the start menu pops up click shut down.  Then choose the restart option all the way to the right.

There are many other ways to restart your computer that I did not list.  Can you think of other ways to complete a restart?  How often should one restart their machine…daily, weekly, or monthly?

Andy Fleck

Posted in Hardware, Nemsys, Productivity | 1 Comment

Client Satisfaction

You may have noticed lately that we have been boasting a little about our Client Satisfaction scores.  Last month we hit 100%, this month it looks like we’ll finish around 99%.  Some of you may be skeptical as to how we come up with these numbers and think it may be a little far- fetched.  To tell you the truth, when I was new around here, I was skeptical too!

However, my responsibilities here at Nemsys focus solely on our clients’ satisfaction, so I watch these numbers VERY close.  I can honestly tell you that they are true and legit.

You may be wondering how we do this, and how we can truly know.  Let’s start with the simpler answer, how we know.  Every time you, our client, submit a ticket you receive two emails.  The first email tells you that we received the ticket.  The second is a “Close Ticket Request.”  When you receive the “Close Ticket Request” it asks you to fill out a survey.  If you agree that the ticket has been resolved and is no longer an issue, you click on a link and it takes you to a survey.  The survey asks you a few simple questions, you click submit, and you go on your merry way to whatever work awaits you at your office.

This survey that you just answered, we take it very seriously.  Every morning myself and the other managers at Nemsys look at these results.  If we see even one survey that shows a client may not be fully satisfied, we instantly start looking into what the problem may be.  One of us calls the client to see what we could have done to make them happier, then we instantly take whatever steps necessary to make that happen.

Now, to answer the question on how we achieve such great results.  It’s because we listen to you.  What you may think is idle chatter about your email running too slow, is not to us.  We hear you say something like “bear with me, my computer is so slow” and we think, “what can we do to fix this?”

Here at Nemsys we ask you for a lot of feedback.  We have you fill out questionnaires every quarter asking the most basic of computer questions.  These questionnaires have created numerous tickets for problems you probably didn’t even know were problems.  If you’re used to having to reboot your machine every day, you may not realize that there might be something deeper that requires that reboot.  Without that questionnaire, we may have never known about it.  Then something major happens and your forced to quit working for a day or two or three or who knows how long until the problem is fixed.

What I’ve told you here barely touches the tip of the surface as to what all Nemsys does to keep you happy.  As I said, my 40 hour work week…is 100% dedicated to our Clients’ Satisfaction. We know that your time is precious and if you can’t work, and if you’re not happy with your computers, then in one way or another it’s going to eat your profits and your productivity.  We’re here to see that your revenue grows, your IT costs remain steady, and your computers leave you as stress free as possible.  Based on the survey results, the time I’ve spent with you, and the feedback we receive in many other various ways, I truly believe that our clients are 100% satisfied.

What is one time with our company, or with any other, professionally or personally, that you were 100% satisfied?  Tell us what happened, and what that person or company did to make you so happy that you remembered it and told us about it.

Holly Lockhart

 

Posted in Client Relations, Nemsys | 6 Comments

Passwords and You

While growing up as kids, the only password or passphrase we needed was if someone other than our parents were picking us up from school.  Today, we have at least one password for everything in our lives.  A password is needed to access an ATM, your checking information, log into your personal computer, your office computer, your cell phone, your voicemail, your personal email, your work email, school email and the list goes on endlessly.  Everything we do today requires some sort of password or phrase to get connected.  For each of these accounts you have to worry about remembering numbers, letters and symbols for the password itself.  Then the problem is remembering which password goes with which account, and the user name associated with that account.  And to top it off, you are forced to change your password every so many days…REALLY?  Is all of this really necessary?

Unfortunately, the answer is yes.  Security is a major factor in keeping your personal and company information private.  Choosing the right password is important to maintain security.  Simple format passwords are easy to remember but are easily hacked…ABC123, easy right?  Creating the same password for every one of your accounts is not the ideal solution either, even though it makes remembering them very easy.  If someone were to gain access to your single used-for-all-accounts password, it would be very easy for him or her to access all of your personal information, and all of your accounts.

Creating a good strong password that is also easy to remember can be challenging.  But let me give you some suggestions…

  1. Take passwords that you normally use and add a couple of characters to them.  Passwords should be a minimum of 7 characters and should include numbers, symbols and letters.
  2. Make a sentence or two, for instance “all computer guys are sexy”.  Then take the sentence and combine it, “allcomputerguysaresexy”.
  3. Take it one step further and make it super secure, but still fairly easy to remember, by changing letters into symbols or numbers, “a11c0mput3rguy5ar3s3xy”.  Now that is a complex password, but still pretty easy for you to remember.

But I wouldn’t recommend using this password, because this one is pretty obvious since everyone already knows that computer guys are sexy!

Other tips for keeping your information secure.

  • Change your password frequently
  • Do not share your password with anyone.
  • Don’t be the person who keeps all of your passwords on a post-it note stuck to the side of your computer!

A little extra effort taken to create and maintain strong passwords can save you a lot of headaches by preventing someone from hacking into your information.

Mike Cotton

Posted in Best Practices, Nemsys | Leave a comment

Why to lock your PC

IT professionals always recommend locking your PC when you are away. Every employee has access to sensitive data, their own or the company’s.

Leaving your PC open while you are not able to attend it creates a security risk and makes your machine vulnerable. You may not be worried about fellow employee’s jumping on your machine in the typical sense, but here are some things they could be tempted to do with your unlocked machine:

  • Browse websites on your machine and possibly infect the machine from viewing certain web sites with malware or viruses (unintentionally of course).
  • Send out emails under your name.
  • View emails.
  • Visit web sites using your logon information if you have website logon saved, such as Banking sites, Personal email, Credit card, Facebook, etc.
  • View company data that you may be privy to that they may not be, such as, financial data, employee pay, confidential drawings, employee files, HR files, etc.

Not to pick on Co-workers as there are many other people. Leaving your machine unlocked allows them to have access, such as Guests that are visiting the office, Children that may be around (They like the delete key), Cleaning Personnel, etc.

Locking your machine is easier than most think, and takes a split second. This simple recommendation can save hassle, data loss and money.

Here are a couple ways to lock your PC. There are others, I feel these are the simplest.

1: Hold down the (windows key) and hit the “L” key.

2: CTRL+ALT+DEL key and then click “Lock” or “Lock this computer”

I cannot stress the need to lock a machine when you are away. I have a method to train people in our office to lock their machines. When found unlocked, we replace their background with a picture that is not pleasing to the eyes, usually after a single occasion the machines never go unlocked again.

Most people would not want to think that their fellow co-workers (friends) would do anything to harm their position in the company, but things can change.  A lapse of judgment can cause people to do something out of the ordinary. It is always best practice to remove that possibility. I have personally seen time and time again where someone has left a machine unlocked and something did happen.

I hope you find this informational and start to keep your machine locked while you are away, if not for anything but to control that risk and vulnerability of your network infrastructure.

Have you or someone else had an occurrence where a machine was compromised? What is your method of training others to lock their machine?
Comment below.

John Crabtree

Posted in Best Practices, Nemsys | 1 Comment

Getting the Most Out of Your Customer Service

We are committed to “changing the way IT is done,” in doing this we want to make sure that our customers are getting the best possible service and increasing their productivity. The easiest way to make the most out of customer service is to utilize all of the tools that are available to you as a client such as: the Nemsys “n”, tickets, support@nemsys.com, customer portal and quarterly visits with Customer Relations & Engineers.

The Nemsys “n” has many features grouped into one central location that allows you to access all tools. Most importantly, it provides a quick way to send in a ticket from your computer anytime that you run into an issue. This process is as simple as going to the “n”, taking a snap shot of your screen then following it up by a ticket explaining the issue that you encountered. The snap shot helps us see what is going on at that moment on your computer; it is especially helpful if you are getting an error message.

Another way to send in a ticket if you do not have access to the Nemsys “n” is by emailing support@nemsys.com with a short email about what issue you are having. At Nemsys we have many skilled engineers that excel in a variety of areas, sending in a ticket allows us the opportunity to have the issue resolved by the engineer that would be the best suited for the task.

The customer portal is an additional tool created for monitoring and organizing all the information we provide you. You can access the customer portal through the Nemsys “n”, the nemsys website (www.nemsys.com) or at http://cw.nemsys.com/v4_6_release/services/system_io/Portal/Default.aspx . By visiting this site regularly you will be able to send and follow up on the status of your tickets and read information for upcoming webinars/events, etc.  Administrators of your company can view account information, agreements, and invoices.

Lastly, you may have noticed that we are now doing quarterly meetings which rotate visits to your office from Customer Relations, Engineers, VCIO and Network Operations. These meetings are a great opportunity to learn more about what is going on with your account and will give you an opportunity to ask any questions.

Make sure that you are getting the most out of the service that we offer to all of our managed service clients. There are so many tools available to help increase your productivity and allow for as little downtime as possible.

Remember time is money, don’t let technology get in your way!

Marisa Kitzmiller

 

Posted in Best Practices, Client Relations, Nemsys | 1 Comment

Changing the Way IT is Done

Over the last few years, Nemsys has invested heavily in the tool that we use to support our clients, Labtech.  We actually created it!  As well as investing in Labtech we have also invested in our engineers.  By doing so we have really revolutionized how support is provided to our clients.   We have changed from having to remove the end user from their computer to provide support, to remotely working on their computer while they still are on it, for most issues. This allows our clients to stay productive.

This is great!  Although, the issue that this presents is that we lose that relationship with our clients, and we miss that.   So, to continue to grow those relationships we are becoming more active in social media.  In addition to social media, we are starting this blog.

Our clients ask great questions and have great conversations with the Nemsys team but that information is only passed between that one client and that team member.  We think that the information shared is useful for all our clients; however, to disseminate that information to everyone would be difficult.  The additional value is, this helps us create conversation around the topics.

Nemsys is going to use this blog to share ideas, start conversations with our clients and to listen to the needs of our clients.  Then this beneficial knowledge will be out there for everyone!

We are very excited to start our blog! This is an interactive blog and we hope that you help drive the conversations.

Just another way we are changing the way IT is done. Stay tuned!

Katie Rofkar

 

Posted in Nemsys | 1 Comment