Financial IT challenges
Financial and professional services have been transformed by IT and are heavily reliant on technology to function. Digital records and electronic storage have created the paperless office, and the instantaneous electronic transfer of funds and access to client’s financial systems is now commonplace.
However, with the benefits of financial sector IT systems come new risks and challenges. Notably, data security is more critical than ever, as electronically stored data is easily accessible and exploitable. The security of networks and increasingly popular cloud services are of ever-growing importance, as is managing the risks presented by employees who work from home.
How Step Fwd IT can help
Step Fwd IT can manage an office’s transformation from paper to digital or cloud-based storage practices. Before a sequenced migration from obsolescent IT hardware to new, managed virtual servers, Step Fwd IT identifies IT challenges and ensures solutions match the business reality of the client. This results in an IT solution that is specific to business needs and tailored to fit within budget constraints, while still being safe, secure and accessible 24/7. Step Fwd IT ensures businesses are protected from data loss thanks to its proven, high-speed Disaster Recovery Plans, allowing financial institutions to continue serving their clients without disruption.
Automotive IT challenges
Today’s automotive sales and repairs industry is one of the largest marketplaces in Australia. With compressing margins, dealerships need to do more with less, which means making smart choices around IT.
Businesses within the sector are often faced with outdated network infrastructure and no connection between multiple dealerships. Network security is generally non-existent, which means private information on staff, clients and business operations is at risk. This lack of central data storage often means that there is no effective disaster recovery plan in place. In addition, many businesses use Dealer Manager Software but are not exploiting its capabilities across stock control, electronic filing, business operations, accounting, and servicing. Dealerships are also largely unaware of the exciting possibilities offered by cloud storage.
How Step Fwd IT can help
Step Fwd IT helps dealerships create effective solutions across information systems, document management, software, and reporting. This specialist consultancy provides friendly engineers to resolve any issues on-premises, in the cloud, and in the increasingly popular hybrid cloud.
Step Fwd IT works closely with dealerships to manage and maintain existing server infrastructure to extract maximum value from their DMS providers. The expert team can assist with cloud migrations and strategies, and work in partnership with owners to establish best practice solutions across backups, network design, internet connections, filing, and security. Most importantly, Step Fwd IT works to put in place proven disaster recovery plans that enable dealerships to be back in business after minimum disruption.
Education IT challenges
The widescale adoption of BYOD in education has seen an enormous increase in the demands of school IT systems. Digital teaching is dependent on managing a wide array of platforms, a task that falls to a school’s often underfunded IT department, whose aging systems must cope with as many as 3.5 devices per student. In addition, schools require 100% uptime, as delays negatively impact learning outcomes and the class environment. To meet the expectations of students, using both their own and the school’s IT resources, friendly and knowledgeable support is a necessity.
How Step Fwd IT can help
For Step Fwd IT, the education sector is one of the most challenging, yet exciting, that it works in. Schools are assisted by the consultancy’s development of BYOD programs that produce 1:1 learning outcomes thanks to cutting-edge teaching and learning technologies. Through planning and analysis of requirements, Step Fwd IT can install infrastructure that permits ‘Anywhere, Anytime’ learning, while teaching outcomes are aided at school by fast response and resolution times. Schools now have the opportunity to implement Step Fwd IT’s true BYOD solutions by putting in place a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) backed by Citrix XenDesktop to create a level playing field for all students.
Education Client Case Studies:
Salesian College Sunbury - Transforming IT to Empower Education
Sholem Aleichem College - Building Trust Through Technology
Sholem Aleichem College - Upgrading School Security Systems
St Joseph’s College - Hybrid IT Support (Internal Team + Outsourced Partner)
Real Estate IT challenges
Real estate professionals need instant access to critical data and up-to-date information at their fingertips to maintain a competitive edge in the industry. With a substantial amount of business conducted away from the office, secure ‘anytime, anywhere’ information is essential. Many businesses are unaware that privacy, data sovereignty, and statutory compliance regulations vary from country to country, and that property information in the cloud should be kept within a defined geographic jurisdiction. With an increasing need for accessible and secure information, directors and owners of businesses require more from their IT to stay ahead.
How Step Fwd IT can help
Step Fwd IT helps businesses to implement functionally rich and reliable IT environments. The consultancy begins by leveraging existing IT assets and rationalising telco expenses before recommending necessary infrastructure upgrades. This could include hardware or software that supports establishing new, streamlined systems and tools for the business.
A key feature of Step Fwd IT’s approach is to show businesses, through strategic proactive consulting, a better way to understand and control their IT spending. The consultancy can assist with moves to cloud services with proven disaster recovery plans that enable practices to recover information within seconds.
Step Fwd IT can also help address the challenges of having multiple locations finding new ways to apply and use technology to enhance productivity.
Real Estate Client Case Studies:
Fitzroys - Redefining Reliability in IT
Healthcare IT challenges
Modern-day practices rely heavily on computer systems to support both staff and patients with Patient Management Systems (PMS) offering a complete end-to-end solution including patient information, records, history, and results. While many businesses and organisations are experienced in leveraging their technology, their overburdened hardware needs to be carefully managed or migrated to new systems.
While many PMS providers have developed excellent onsite PMS solutions, modern and mobile practices need to be “anywhere, anytime”, as businesses often work across multiple locations. Practices are also extremely busy workplaces, requiring systems to run smoothly at all times. Pauses or crashes will lead to long patient queues and costly delays.
How Step Fwd IT can help
Step Fwd IT is a specialist consultancy that works closely with healthcare practices to identify underlying hardware issues and optimise existing infrastructure to create secure and seamless systems. The team works with doctors, practice managers, and directors of nursing to provide long-term IT strategies that support and protect each practice for years to come.
In addition to working with management, Step Fwd IT caters to staff members with varying levels of expertise, from early adopters to those with a more traditionalist approach. The consultancy communicates effectively and transparently with all staff to ensure any issues are resolved in a timely manner with minimal impact on daily operations. Whether it’s working on-premises or in the cloud, Step Fwd IT helps healthcare to develop 21st-century practices that support better health.