News and Case Studies

Get Your IT Back Into Shape

Get Your IT Back Into Shape

Get your IT back into shape

Did your business go into “survival mode” like many others, leaving your IT systems neglected? Are you now struggling to find the capital to get your IT back into shape?

A few months on from the last (hopefully!) COVID-19 lockdown and we see it all the time. Clients who used to be completely on-the-ball with regards to keeping their systems up-to-date now find themselves with a business which is still fighting to recover, and 3 or more years’ worth of system renewals to catch-up on, all at the same time!

As part of our Computer Management and Fixed-Price Support services, we regularly review our customers’ computers and offer recommendations for upgrades and/or replacements to keep staff working efficiently. Lately, the lists of “needs replacing” seem to be getting longer and longer and, of course, that means forking-our more of your hard-earned and precious capital.

So, do you hold-out for now and hope that the economy, your customers, and your business all recover before your systems grind to a halt? Or, do you empty the bank and cross your fingers that a bunch of new computers will boost efficiency enough to weather the storm?

We can help you get your IT back into shape with very competitive deals offered through our finance partner. That means you get those shiny new computers and increased efficiency now, but at a pre-agreed, predictable monthly cost and, at the end of the term, you own all the equipment.

If your computers are holding you and your staff back, why not get in touch with us and see that those replacements aren’t as out-of-reach as they might first seem.

Is Your Remote Workforce Secure?

Is Your Remote Workforce Secure?

Is your remote workforce secure?

More and more small businesses are choosing to break free from the traditional office-based environment, allowing or encouraging their staff to work from home instead. In fact, there’s plenty of evidence to show that doing so can lead to increased productivity, improved staff wellbeing, and removal of many of the traditional stresses of running a business (as long as it’s done properly, of course!)

But… if this is an approach you’re considering or have already taken, is your remote workforce secure?

It might come as a shock to learn how easy it is to gain access to the data stored on many business computers. And we’re not talking about “hacking” or guessing passwords here… No, we’re talking about using tools which can be used to gain access to the data on a computer within a few minutes. Many of these tools are freely available on the internet!

When your computers are locked in your secure, alarmed, CCTV-protected office, and they never go off-site, these things all help to keep your data safe. But those layers of security all disappear when your office becomes a coffee shop, train, pub, or even just a staff member’s home.

That’s where a combination of strong password policies and full-disk encryption comes in. It becomes infinitely harder for an unauthorised individual to gain access to your computers, if your using both of those tools in a properly configured manner. What’s more, they’re not particularly difficult to set up and often don’t require any additional hardware or software acquisition.

If you’re talking to Renaissance about moving your data to the cloud, or any kind of remote working, keeping your data safe is our number one priority. We can’t stop someone from stealing one of your laptops, but we can make sure that the physical loss and inconvenience is as bad as it gets!

Give us a call and discuss how we can implement a secure remote working environment for you!

Cheapest or Best Value?

Cheapest, or Best Value?

Cheapest or Best Value?

When you’re looking at a new IT purchase, what’s more important to you: Cheapest, or Best Value?

A relatively new customer to Renaissance called up to complain of a burning smell coming from their comms room. When one of our engineers attended site to investigate, this is what he discovered inside the customer’s server!

The server was installed and maintained by one of the customer’s previous IT suppliers. At some point, it had obviously needed a wiring extender to supply power to an additional bit of hardware. For whatever reason, the installer used an inferior quality extender with noticeably thin and under-spec’d wiring. Ultimately, these wires melted under load and shorted out, causing the charred mess in the photo.

Amazingly, the server didn’t seem to suffer any damage to any of its other components, meaning we were able to get it back online and operational before very long at all, but… how much worse could this have been?

The fact that the server didn’t suffer any further damage is almost unbelievable; this could easily have led to a fire in the occupied office, extended loss of business, or even developed into a life-threatening situation. All for the sake of a sub-£10 bit of wiring,,,

This is why we’re not interested in being the cheapest option over here at Renaissance. Sure, we could cut corners here or there, to do things cheaper, but at what cost? Instead, our aim is to provide our customers with great value products and services, because that’s what really transforms your IT systems from a “necessary evil”, into a true investment in your business.

New website launch!

The new Renaissance Website is live!

Website

We felt it was time that our old (and tired) website got a facelift, so, here we are!

Normally, websites are one of the few things we don’t do in-house here at Renaissance, since we have some specialist partners who can do a fantastic job much quicker than we can. Plus, if we were all busy designing websites, we wouldn’t be able to offer such a great support service! 😉

In this case, some of our requirements were quite specific, in terms of integration with other platforms and systems we use in-house, so it seemed to make sense to “give it a go” ourselves, and call in the experts when if and when we get stuck. Also, if we’re being completely honest, we quite enjoy the geeky stuff… so a bit of HTML and CSS coding bits made for a new challenge!

We’ve got lots of ideas for things we’d like to add to the new site, and there’s more work to be done on what’s already here, but we think it’s already better than the old one, so why wait to share it?

Interested In Learning More?

Why not take a look at our other services or, even better, have a chat with one of our experts?
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About Us

Established in 1997, Renaissance Computer Services has been providing IT Services to local, small to medium-sized business for over 25 years. Following a general shift towards cloud-based computing, the company developed itself into the MSP sector and has spent several years developing a solid portfolio of high-quality Managed Services. We only employ staff who are passionate about computing and technology and many of them use the same solutions we sell, in their own homes: That’s how we know we’ve picked the right solutions for our customers.

Simple.  Effective.   Reliable.

We bring a “no-nonsense” approach to IT Support: When something goes wrong, we’ll fix it first and ask questions later. The priority is always to keep your staff and business operational and running as efficiently as possible. The “How can I help?” mentality is a core quality we look for in all potential employees.

In everything we do, we try to strike the right balance between security, performance, and reliability. Often that means going back to basics: Listening to what you and your business really need, and finding the right solution for your scenario, rather than trying to make something else fit.