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The JMARK Comprehensive IT Services & IT Support Solution

JMARK provides IT outsourcing solutions that really work to reduce complexity of IT for your organization. By properly managing technology specifically to match your business goals our strategy improves your organization's efficiency and profitability.

You need business IT support that increases productivity. We believe that technology should help you generate profit instead of burdening you with cost. By streamlining your IT operations we help you enhance employee performance and heighten customer satisfaction.

We're the technology experts, so you don't have to be. Our IT support services allow you to stay focused on your business and improve your bottom line. We provide round-the-clock monitoring and support services to improve network performance. We keep your data safe and secure which prevents downtime, reduces your business risk, and affords you peace of mind.

Our philosophy and culture build a roadmap for success.

Business profitability, personal customer service, and absolute accountability for every action are at the heart of the JMARK culture. It shows in everything we do, and our clients frequently comment that we've helped them improve their organizations as a result of their partnership with JMARK.

JMARK is selective in both the people we hire and the companies with whom we partner. Most of our employees have over 5 years experience in the industry and have delivered solutions for multiple companies.

We believe in a complete solution to every problem every time, and making absolutely certain our clients' businesses are better as a result of their strategic partnership with JMARK. If you're ready to see a change in the way IT serves your business success, you've come to the right place.

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We pride ourselves on exploring IT and Technology topics that matter to you and your business success.

Four Ways IT Support Companies Drive Us Crazy

Posted by Darren Taff on Fri, Mar 29, 2013 @ 08:15 AM

Poor communication

It’s like those days when you wait, and wait… and wait for the TV repair person to show up.  You planned your day so you could be there at the right time and have people anxiously awaiting your return to the office.  And there you sit, alone, waiting.  We won’t get into the importance of being there on time, but really — how hard would it be for someone, anyone at the company to call and let you know they’re running behind?  Why is it that so many tech support companies will just leave us on the hook while they work their magic behind the scenes?  We don’t always care about the details, but a simple call or email once in a while to let us know how things are going?

Getting things almost done

You’ve taken care of all the paperwork and 5-minute meetings that had stacked up waiting for your attention.  Just in the nick of time the tech wraps up and you are once again able to get back to work — with one exception: you can do everything except that one really critical thing you never knew would break when they fixed the other stuff.  You take a deep breath, go to your happy place, and pick up the phone… again.

Sneaky ninja tech support

You step away from your desk for an hour and come back to a post-it note stuck to your monitor stating everything is fine now.  Huh? “Oh yeah,” you think to yourself, “I think I remember mentioning something about a problem a couple of weeks ago.”  And then you discover that all of your programs have been closed, your previously opened documents strewn to the far reaches of who-knows-where, and you can’t put your finger on exactly how, but things look… different now.  What did we need fixed again?

Over-geeking things

You’ve just been presented with a brilliantly-designed and intricate solution to all of the problems that have ever wasted ten seconds of your time, wrapped up in a nice neat package that took just over three weeks to put together. Can you say overkill?  Surprisingly, tons of IT support companies don’t get this, and spend days or weeks designing solutions we never knew would be so complicated.  If someone would have simply picked up the phone to let us know how things were going, we might have been able to stop the train before it left the proverbial station and saved everyone a lot of time and trouble.  That sounds a lot like the first item on the list.

Here’s wishing you a day free of IT-related insanity.

Which Tablet Best Supports My Business Needs?

Posted by Darren Taff on Fri, Mar 15, 2013 @ 09:58 AM

windows vs ipad for business (Small) resized 600

Tablets have certainly been around for long enough for everyone to have become at least somewhat familiar with them, but with all the options available you may be wondering how to go about finding the right one for you.  Which device is least likely to frustrate you or get left on the shelf six weeks after you buy it?  We think we have a few ideas to help answer that question.

why would i get a tablet i hate my computer

My computer is a frustrating thing to use.  Why would I want one I can hold in my hands?

If this sounds like you but you still want access to your business information, then you’re the reason Apple created the iPad.  Emails and reports — and even books and magazines if you like — look great on an iPad, and with a minimal amount of fuss. The iPad has some of the most flexible and easy-to-set-up email support, and your IT people probably won’t have to spend all day fiddling with the thing to get it working for you.  Chances are good that the day you buy it, you’ll be able to use it and need minimal assistance from the folks in IT. Here are a few of the things you’ll like about using an iPad

  • Low learning curve.  These things are very simple to use.
  • Simple setup.  The folks in IT don’t normally have to spend hours fussing with it to get it to work right.
  • Great battery life.  It will be ready for you to use even after sitting on the shelf for days at a time, and lasts for several hours of steady use on an airplane or in the car.

excel on a tablet

If I were trapped on a desert island with nothing but Microsoft Excel I’d be just fine. If you’re chuckling to yourself, that’s probably an indication that you should check out a Windows tablet like the Surface or Surface Pro.  It runs a version of Windows that looks and works just like your desktop computer, with the convenience of small size and the ability to turn it on and use it immediately at the touch of a button.  Read on if this sounds like the thing you’ve been waiting for.  Windows tablets come in a few varieties:

  • Windows RT Consumer tablets, like the Surface, have the familiar Windows interface, include versions of Excel, Word and OneNote, and connect to corporate email systems like Exchange (although connecting to an old Exchange server may be difficult or impossible) as well as Hotmail and Gmail. Windows RT is not likely to be able to run your standard desktop software.  If you’re looking for that level of functionality, keep reading.
  • Surface Pro and similar tablets.  The Surface Pro runs Windows 8 and can run desktop applications just like a desktop computer, while giving you the convenience of instant-on, small size, and a touch screen.  This makes it a great option for doing anything you’d normally need to do in the course of a day at the office, just on a smaller scale.
  • Laptop-Tablet Hybrids were a big thing at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, with some of the more favorably-reviewed machines coming from HP.  These devices represent the next evolutionary step in laptops, giving us all the things we expect from a standard laptop, but adding in touchscreen interfaces, better battery life, and better wireless and cellular connectivity.

Everything in my house is customized to my exacting standards and that’s the way it should be.  In fact, if this is you then you probably wrote off the first two sections immediately and jumped straight to this part of the article.  You know your stuff and you know how it should work.  In the Android tablet arena the prize goes to a device that offers high performance and access to the latest features.  As this article is being published our favorites are Nexus 7 and Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, with the Asus Transformer series for added productivity and technical use options. Most of the people we encounter who choose android tablets tend to want ultimate control, which is one of the really great things about the Android platform. Here are some of the things people enjoy about their Android tablets:

  • Flexibility.  If you have the patience and technical skill you can make it do nearly anything.
  • Control.  As stated in the last point, you can make it do just about anything, so you don’t have Microsoft or Apple telling you what you can and cannot do with your tablet.
  • Command of your digital world.  Many of the JMARK technicians choose Android devices and use them as miniature digital command centers, controlling all manner of things from home entertainment systems to servers, routers, and firewalls in the data center.

We hope this brief breakdown has helped you learn which type of device is most likely to suit your needs and prepared you for some pleasant shopping.  You can always count on your dedicated support team to listen give you friendly and useful advice.  Even though you may not enjoy digging into technology, it’s what we live for.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Microsoft Decides to Allow Transfers of Office 2013 After All

Posted by Darren Taff on Wed, Mar 6, 2013 @ 06:38 PM

Nevermind-shutterstock_1715235-resized-600

Last week we told you about a licensing policy that had would-be Microsoft Office 2013 customers in an uproar.  Under that policy, customers would have been unable to move Office 2013 to a new computer as was possible in previous versions of Office.

The policy was considered by some to be a hard push toward Office 365′s software-as-a-service licensing model.  This week, the company seems to have reversed the policy, as has been posted to the Office Blog.  The only major stipulation now seems to be that these transfers may only occur once every 90 days per installation key.

Does Microsoft’s policy change affect your plans to install Office 2013?  We’d like to know.  Drop a comment on this article, or look us up on Facebook or Twitter.

As we said in the previous article on this topic: If upgrades are in your future, we encourage you to lean on your dedicated NetCare support team for help making the best decision for your business.

Internet Safety Update

Posted by Thomas Douglas on Mon, Mar 4, 2013 @ 07:28 AM

Even the most prominent websites can be compromised and can create issues for unsuspecting users. On February 21st, WeLiveSecurity reported that NBC.com was compromised in such a way that some anti-virus software solutions were blocking users from accessing the NBC.com site. If users were allowed to go to the site, their computers could have been infected and compromised.

This is an everyday example of how important it is that every computer have the proper protection in place. The unfortunate reality is that one solution isn’t good enough for businesses to rely on for complete protection. While it’s true that some A/V packages did block users from accessing NBC.com, many did not.

online securityBusinesses should deploy a network-based firewall solution that has the ability to perform content management, and should also deploy the typical A/V solutions that are centrally managed.  Without this type of protection in place, it is highly likely that the business will be compromised and could be unaware of the issues for days or even weeks. Many of these malicious applications will remain relatively hidden while capturing large amounts of data from users through keyboard logging and screenshot grabbing processes where the keyboard logs and screenshots are transmitted to the developers of the malicious software. This enables the developers to filter through the keyboard logs looking for times when the user types a bank name, a vendor name or other secure website. With the full logs, the malicious software developers would gain access to the secure websites as the logs would contain something similar to www.bankname.com, username, password, because that is the order in which a compromised user would type the information.

A proper firewall deployment would significantly reduce the likelihood of a compromise, because it would not only have a much greater chance of preventing the compromise. In the event a workstation was compromised, it would also evaluate data leaving the network, and could block the keyboard logs and screenshots from being transmitted to the developers of the malicious software. If you have questions on how to best design your network, please contact us.

What is NetCare?

The Microsoft Office Feature More Annoying Than Clippy the Paperclip

Posted by Darren Taff on Tue, Feb 26, 2013 @ 08:41 PM

update: we have released an update to this article since Microsoft has revised their policy on activations of Office 2013.

clippy

Bloggers and consumers are roaring about the licensing model Microsoft has introduced with Office 2013. After reading the releases, blogs, and following link after link on Microsoft’s website, it’s no wonder.  While we aren’t asking anyone to like the new rules, we do want everyone to be aware of them in hopes we spare some of you some headaches and grief.

No more transfer tickets
When a computer failed or was retired for a new one, older versions of office could often be moved from the old machine to the new one (provided it was not the ultra-low-cost OEM version, which was not transferrable).  Not so with Office 2013.  Even at its full price, Office 2013 is sworn to monogamy.  The only allowed exception is when a PC fails under its warranty period.  In that case Microsoft will grant you the ability to activate your existing key on a different computer.

What does that mean to you?  Well, here are a few scenarios to help bring it to light.

  • You sell your PC to another person or business.  Office goes with that PC.  You may not keep a copy for yourself.
  • Your computer dies and you need to buy a new one.  Instead of transferring your Office software to the new machine, you need to buy a new copy for the new computer.
  • You upgrade to a new machine but keep your old hard drive, or image it to save yourself the expense and trouble of reinstalling from scratch.   You guessed it – you’ll likely need to buy a new copy of Office to reinstall on your existing hard drive.

No more multi-install boxes
Some editions of previous versions of Office allowed users to install on multiple PCs, making it an economic way to get quality Office software on home and student machines.  Office 2013 has a similar option, but only under Microsoft’s Office 365 cloud offering.  For $100 per year you get the ability to install on up to 5 PCs or Macs (Office 2011 on Macs), provided you keep handing that Franklin note over each year you continue to use the software.

Don’t lose that receipt and product key!  
prodkey
According to a recent ZDNet article one Los Angeles-based company last year paid $137,500 to settle out of court when Microsoft claimed it could not back its Office installations with keys and receipts to match.  As Microsoft continues to pursue companies who aren’t keeping proper track of their licenses, it makes great sense keep detailed records about which license keys went on which machines.  If you’re a law firm, long-term healthcare facility, bank, or other business where Office is used, this is especially important to you!

The good news?  We’re here to help.

We know, you’re probably as upset now as everyone else who hears this for the first time.  The ray of light in all this gloomy news is that at JMARK, we’re here to help you understand the rules, avoid the headaches, and get the most for your money.  We’ve partnered with Microsoft through years of licensing changes, and we have your business interests in mind every day.  If upgrades are in your future, we encourage you to lean on your dedicated NetCare support team for help making the best decision for your business.

Your New PC Might Not Work with Your Email Server

Posted by Darren Taff on Tue, Feb 19, 2013 @ 07:26 AM

We’ve been learning and — mostly — enjoying Microsoft Office 2013 around the JMARK offices.  There are some great new features, but we’ve also noticed there are a few surprises we thought you’d like to know about before they became problems.  Here are some of the big ones:

One major problem our email experts have noticed is that Exchange 2003 is not supported in Outlook 2013.  Go here for a list of the dated features they’ve left behind in the new version.  If your email server is running Exchange 2003 you may want to look at updating it before moving to the new Office version.

New PCs will come with Office 2013, not Office 2010.

New PCs with Office 2013 cannot be downgraded to Office 2010 (see next bullet).

An available — although very expensive — version of Office 2013 that allows you to downgrade to Office 2010 is available.  Let us know if you need it and we can help.

But here’s what you can do in the new version of Office.

Office can store files in SkyDrive and Office 365 online storage.

outlook

Microsoft has improved integration with Facebook and LinkedIn.

Like every version of Outlook, power users will love the new features. Here’s a quick start guide. Here’s a quick-start guide for Outlook 2013

Excel has some interesting and useful new features, such as flash fill.

Office 2013 has much better multi-monitor support.  It is now much simpler to run Excel and other Office applications on separate monitors.  Comparing documents is much easier now than it was with version 2010.

PowerPoint adds a nice dashboard mode when presenting.  With features like showing you the next slide or bullet point, and how long you’ve been on the current slide, this is very helpful if you do a lot of presenting.

powerpoint

One tool you may not have been using will be more prevalent as the Surface and other touch-enabled devices become mainstream.  Microsoft OneNote is used heavily in the JMARK offices to keep track of and share notes between colleagues.  Here’s a video demonstrating how it works on a tablet. The video is a bit dated (from before the Windows 8 release) but you’ll get the idea of where Microsoft is headed with touch support in the future.

All told, Microsoft Office 2013 is a great product, and has been beneficial in our environment at JMARK.  Our technicians are up to speed on the new features and changes.  If you need to make sure your office is ready for Office, your account manager and support team can help.

JMARK Experts Take a Look at Macs

Posted by Logan Roberts on Thu, Dec 20, 2012 @ 07:28 AM

Apple, Inc. may have dropped Computer from its name, but the Cupertino, CA company still produces a world class product that many people overlook. With only 8.5% of worldwide market share, the Mac is technically Apple’s underdog product. Many people are quick to discount the Mac as a professional business machine, but here are a few reasons you may want to give it a second look.

Software and Hardware: Made for each other

Every Mac is designed from the ground up to take advantage of all of the features of Mac OS X, Apple’s operating system. Likewise, OS X is built to leverage all of the technology built in to each Mac. Features like Power Nap allow you to stay up to date with all of your email, calendar events, software updates, and instant messages all while the computer is technically asleep. Multi-touch gestures are built in to OS X to allow for a new way of interacting with your content. Built-in sensors allow for extreme battery life, many times in excess of 10 hours!

Because OS X is designed specifically for the Mac, there are none of the dreaded driver issues that many PC owners experience right out of the box. Next generation I/O like Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 are standard on most Macs, allowing for the fastest data transfer available. Additionally, with the Retina Macbook Pro, Apple has produced the absolute best displays available to consumers. OS X was designed with these features in mind.

World’s Most Advanced Operating System?

Apple advertises Mac OS X as “The World’s Most Advanced Operating System”. Is it even possible to make this claim? Windows 8 has just been released; Linux versions are in a constant state of updating and advancement; What exactly makes OS X so special? As it turns out, several things. Mac OS X includes several features not seen in competing products. First, Mac OS X is built on a UNIX foundation. This a time tested, and industry recognized standard of stability and compatibility. In addition, application sandboxing protects your data and software from malicious software. Full disk encryption with FileVault meets and exceeds industry standards.

Built-in software like FaceTime and Messages allow you to communicate instantly with millions of people worldwide, all without installing a single piece of extra software. Adding a printer is painless because OS X automatically detects and installs the correct software. PDF creation and editing is built-in with Preview, and Exchange support is built into Mail without the need to purchase third party software.

Macs Don’t Do Real Work …Right?

One of the largest misconceptions about Macs is that they do not work in a real business environment. People believe they Macs won’t work with existing printers, scanners, or even other computers. This cannot be further from the truth. Most printers will work without any intervention, just plug-in and go. Built-in scanning software bests many third party options in both features and quality. Macs can authenticate to Windows desktops for file sharing, and can even be associated with Active Directory for user management. Additionally, Exchange support is built-in without any additional purchases. Macs can open Word and Excel documents without any document conversion, and can share them as well. If your business requires a specific app that only runs on Windows, you can install Boot Camp and run Windows directly on the Mac or use a solution like VMWare Fusion that allows Windows apps to run side-by-side next to OS X.

Wrap-up

It was with these reasons in mind that I took a leap and changed my primary computer from a Windows 7 laptop to a brand new Macbook Pro. I am one of the only users at my office to do so, and I have no major issues to report. I run my Windows-only apps in VMWare Fusion, right alongside my email in Mail, web in Safari, and documents in Pages and Numbers. I regularly share documents with Windows-based coworkers, and have no issues. In fact, I have noticed an increase in productivity, and a decrease in my time spent fighting my computer to preform as expected.

It may not be the dominant force in the industry, but the Mac deserves a second, or even a first look. I encourage everyone to at least give one a test drive and see how it can enhance their workflow and increase productivity. You may be pleasantly surprised.

About the Author

Logan Roberts joined JMARK on April 23, 2012.  He previously worked for a health care solution focused MSP in Southern Florida for two and a half years.  The five years prior, Logan was a Mac Genious/Business Consultant for Apple, Inc. and also earned his BA in Theology/History. His certifcations include ACMT, ACSA, CompTIA A+.

JMARK’s Favorite Windows 8 Features

Posted by Thomas Douglas on Wed, Nov 28, 2012 @ 09:13 AM

In the JMARK NOC our technicians have been testing Windows 8 and reading everything we can find so we can support it when it comes to your network. One article we found especially interesting was one written by InfoWorld’s J. Peter Bruzzese. It covers several intriguing features about Windows 8. We have highlighted a few below.

The charms barWin8Start resized 600

The charms bar is basically a shortcuts bar that exists on the right side of the screen in Windows 8. An example of a shortcut available to users is that by clicking “settings” then clicking “power” they can put their computer to sleep. The charms bar has several settings for searching, switching to the Windows 7 desktop, if you liked that better, and for sharing.

Retrieving lost files

Loosing a file is the worst. Luckily, Windows 8 has a couple ways for you to protect your documents. You can recover lost files or different versions of the same file. If you are familiar with OS X’s Time Machine utility, the feature in Windows 8 works much the same way.

Windows on the go

Here’s a particularly nifty feature: With the Enterprise Edition of Windows 8, users can put their entire Windows environment on a USB drive and then take it with them. They’re able to then pull it up on any PC that is compatible with Windows 7 or 8.

Spotlight: Three New System Administrators

Posted by Stacie Brown on Tue, May 1, 2012 @ 08:02 AM

The JMARK Team added three new System Administrators in the last half of April 2012.  We would like to welcome Ryan Popp, Logan Roberts and Zack Rosa to our team.

Ryan Popp started his career at JMARK on April 16, 2012.  He has past experience in system administration in an MSP environment and working with Sonicwall solutions.  His certifications include MCP, MCTS, A+ and CCSA.

Logan Roberts joined JMARK on April 23, 2012.  He previously worked for a health care solution focused MSP in Southern Florida for two and a half years.  The five years prior, Logan was a Mac Genious/Business Consultant for Apple, Inc. and also earned his BA in Theology/History. His certifcations include ACMT, ACSA, CompTIA A+.

Zack Rosa began working at JMARK on April 30, 2012.  Before joining JMARK, he was a level 1 help desk technician for Heartland Services, spent five years on the Geek Squad and repaired laptops/desktops for Apple Inc.

JMARK Ranked 113 Globally & 90 in North America

Posted by Stacie Brown on Sun, Apr 15, 2012 @ 08:08 AM

JMARK Business Solutions, Inc. has landed on Nine Lives Media’s MSPmentor Global Edition and 200 North America Edition.  Both are distinguished lists/reports identifying the world’s top managed service providers (MSPs).

All of the honorees can be found by visiting http://www.mspmentor.net/top-100-msps

“For the JMARK team to be recognized Globally and Nationally on the MSPmentor list at a higher rank year after year is exciting,” said Thomas H. Douglas, President/CEO of JMARK.  “JMARK was ranked 142 in 2008, 137 in 2009, 124 in 2010 and now 113 in the world, as well as a new ranking of 90 in North America this year. I am proud of what JMARK has accomplished and excited about what the future holds for our company.  Those rankings did not include our new Arkansas and Colorado offices that were opened this January.  Hopefully the additional growth will further improve the quality of services we provide and help us break the top 100 global rankings next year.”

The MSPmentor reports are based on data from MSPmentor’s global online survey, conducted October-December 2011. The MSPmentor reports recognizes top managed service providers based on a range of metrics, including annual managed services revenue growth, revenue per employee, managed services offered and customer devices managed.

“Nine Lives Media and MSPmentor congratulate JMARK Business Solutions, Inc. for its leadership position in North America,” said Amy Katz, president of Nine Lives Media, a division of Penton Media. “In the fiercely competitive IT services market, these MSPs represent the best of the best.”

“MSPs on this year’s North America 200 list lifted their annual recurring revenues 25 percent to US$1.05 billion, an impressive feat,” said Joe Panettieri, editorial director of Nine Lives Media. “Those MSPs are now managing 4.1 million desktop and mobile devices for customers, up 33 percent from 2010.”