Great Lakes Computer Corporation

Managed Service Provider

You are here: Home / Great Lakes Blog

Great Lakes Blog

By

Up and Coming Trends in Cloud Computing

cloud computingIt often seems like trends in the cloud computing industry change overnight. As enterprises increasingly embrace the cloud for a variety of core processes, the industry is shaped by new entrants and forced to adapt to what clients are looking for. Here are some of the trends driving cloud computing right now.

Renewed emphasis on security credentials
As more and more high-profile organizations fall victims to hacking attacks, consumers and businesses are taking a closer look at security protocols. Security has always been paramount for cloud services providers, as you’re unlikely to convince a customer to partner with you if they don’t trust their sensitive information to your security measures. As sensitive data increasingly migrates to digital storage, cloud computing companies must continue to prove their security credentials to all potential partners, and they must maintain an effort to keep up with the latest security practices.

Two-tier pricing environment
Cloud computing is incredibly scalable for many operations. However, that doesn’t mean that a one-price-fits-all strategy always makes sense. While the biggest players in the tech industry are gravitating to a higher pricing tier, room has opened for smaller organizations to provide hosting services at more affordable prices for those who wouldn’t be able to migrate to the cloud otherwise.

Organizations moving more of their operations to the cloud
Some organizations continue to employ a piecemeal strategy when it comes to adopting cloud services. This means that, for some companies that have already moved portions of their operations to the cloud, there is still room for them to discover how their other sectors can benefit from the cloud as well. They will likely continue to migrate more workloads to cloud services as they recognize that cost savings and increased productivity multiply as more operations are moved to the cloud.

Central IT in large enterprises are taking the lead on cloud adoption
Once upon a time, hosting companies counted only early adopters and small, tech-savvy operations among their clients. These companies were generally on the cutting edge of IT services and often unencumbered by the hurdles that stall change in larger organizations. As cloud computing moves into the mainstream, adoption is now increasingly being driven by the central IT departments of larger businesses.

Hybrid cloud computing continues to make inroads
It’s estimated that the majority of enterprises that employ cloud solutions rely on both public and private cloud organizations for various processes. While the quantitative total number of organizations using the cloud is higher for the public cloud, the private cloud takes the edge when it comes to number of functions running in the cloud.

Organizations of all different sizes and industries are discovering how cloud computing can transform their operations. Whether you’re looking to save money on your IT operations, take your company mobile, or take advantage of robust enterprise security measures, our cloud solution can revolutionize your core operations and simplify your data management.
View the Video and Download Cloud Computing 101

By

How Managed Print Services Can Help Your Business

managed print servicesAs a business owner, you try to do it all. But even the most successful business owners know when it’s time to call in the experts. Something like printing may seem like an easy thing to do on your own, but when you rely heavily on paperwork to run your business, it can be overwhelming at times. Managed print services can help you streamline your workflow, save you money, and help you reduce printer downtime. Today, we share an excerpt from an article by Matthijssen Computer Services Group about the value of managed print services.

What Is Managed Print Services?

The definition of managed print services is simple and straightforward: It is the management of document output. In detail, this service monitors and maintains the mechanisms that are used for printing documents, ensures that the documents are kept in an orderly fashion and maintains proper output.

Four Benefits of Managed Print Services

There are several benefits that a business can reap by taking advantage of managed print services. Here is a look at four of those leading benefits.

1. Time Management: In the business world, time is money, and the more time you spend searching for documents, the more money you lose. Thanks to managed print services, you won’t have to waste any more time sifting through piles of paperwork. This service will file, index and tag each and every document in your database, which will significantly minimize the amount of time you have to spend searching for documents – and that translates into more money in your pocket.

2. Increased Security: You will never have to worry about sensitive information getting into the wrong hands, thanks to managed print services. All of those sheets of paper that include your and your clients’ information won’t be sitting around, waiting for someone else to scoop them up and use them in the wrong way.

3. Easy Sharing: While you don’t want paperwork falling into the wrong hands, there are times that you need to share it. Should you need to share documents with co-workers, managed print services will allow you to do so easily and safely.

4. Boost Efficiency: No longer will you or your staff have to sift through piles of paperwork. Thanks to managed print services, your business will become much more efficient. You and your coworkers will be able to easily locate documents, which means that you will be able to provide better service to your costumers.

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

Great Lakes Offers Managed Print Services

Are your printers out of commission all too often due to supplies or repairs? Are you dealing with a shrinking IT budget? If so, managed print may be for you. At Great Lakes Computer, we examine your current reproduction needs, streamline your work flow, and work to minimize printing costs. To learn more, download our free managed print brochure.

Download our Managed Print Brochure

By

EMV And Your POS System: Repair It Or Replace It?

EMV and Your POS System: Repair it or Replace it?The recent legislation regarding Payment Networks Liability Shift and EMV microchips is designed to reduce credit card fraud, which has been a serious problem for many U.S. merchants for decades. While it remains to be seen what effects it will have on fraud rates, this policy shift has sent many businesses scrambling to update their POS systems to newer versions that will support EMV.

There is still much confusion surrounding the liability shift, as many small business owners are wondering if they are being forced to adopt updated technology, or if it would be beneficial for them to do so. In actuality, the specifics of your business model and transaction base must be evaluated in order to determine if a complete upgrade is necessary. While certain companies will simply not be able to handle the liability shift if they fail to adopt EMV migration, many others may be content with a simple upgrade of their existing platform.

When to replace your POS system
One of the primary reasons to replace your POS system now is if you were already considering a change unrelated to EMV migration. If your current system isn’t meeting your needs, you may as well make the switch to an EMV compliant system now so that you can take advantage of the microchip technology when necessary.

Additionally, if most of your transactions occur with the credit card being present, you will most likely want to move to a new system designed to handle EMV transactions. These transactions are where the liability shift legislation is designed to prevent fraud. If your company receives a significant number of chargebacks, you may find yourself unable to handle the increased liability.

Mobile wallet technology is also gaining support among many consumers, and if you want to take advantage of this trend and offer a new convenience for your customers, replacing your POS system may prove fruitful. Many consumers may choose to switch entirely to mobile wallets in the near future, and if your store faces intense nearby competition, you may lose out by not adopting a new platform.

When to repair your POS system
Increasing numbers of organizations are completing all of their credit card transactions online. If your business model relies exclusively or even overwhelmingly on web-based credit card processing, you will likely experience more costs than benefits from replacing your POS system. The liability shift has no effect on these transactions since the credit card is not present at the time of purchase.

Even if you do process some credit cards in person, it still may not be worthwhile to upgrade before you’re ready. If you traffic in products and services that are already highly resistant to fraud or your risk of chargebacks is so insignificant as to not offset the costs of a new system, then you may be better off delaying the implementation of an EMV compliant POS platform.
Learn more about Great Lakes POS Systems Depot Repair

By

Computer Repair: Are Music and Pictures Slowing Down Your Computer?

slow computer, computer repair servicesEvery once in awhile, you notice your computer running slower than usual. Applications won’t load, it takes forever to open a document, and programs close unexpectedly. When you have a large quantity of music and pictures on your computer, it’s easy to think, “well, that must be the culprit!” But are music and pictures really slowing down your computer? Today, we share an article from A+D Computers on this exact topic.

It’s unlikely [that music and photos are slowing down your computer], but there’s a chance all those photos and songs you’re storing could be making your computer slower than normal. It all depends on your computer. The pictures and music themselves aren’t actually slowing the system down. However, if you’ve collected so many files that you’ve filled up your hard drive, this could definitely be the cause.

How do you find out?
Click START on your PC (or on your file folder icon if you have Windows 8). Select “My Computer,” or just “Computer” depending on what version of Windows you have, and click on it to display the different drives in your computer. Find the section that says “Local Drives” or “Hard Disk Drives” and look for one that is named “(C:)”. This is the default location where most computers store photos and music, as well as your “My Documents” folder and other files that run your computer’s programs.

Now, hover your cursor over the (C:) drive and RIGHT CLICK.  A menu will pop up, and you’ll want to LEFT CLICK on “Properties,” which will display a window with a pie chart.

Pink is GOOD, Blue is BAD
The pink piece of the pie chart represents free space in the drive, which is good. The blue section of the pie isn’t “bad” so much as it shows how much of your (C:) drive is full.  Here’s something to keep in mind: Computers need space in the (C:) drive to “think” and to run your programs. So, if there isn’t a ton of space your PC slows down.

How much space does the computer need?
If at all possible, you want for there to be more pink than blue. But, if you have a lot of used space, make sure there is at least 15% free “thinking” space. When you dip below 15%, you’re asking for trouble.  At that point, your computer won’t have enough space to function and will begin to get slower. This is when your PC can start generating errors and crashing.

Should I click this “Disk Cleanup” button?
Please be careful when cleaning out your (C:) Drive. If you delete or move the wrong files and/or folders, you could create even more problems. We don’t recommend using the “Disk Cleanup” button unless you know exactly what you are deleting. Within this tool there are actually a couple of ways you could make your computer even slower.

What if I have plenty of free space but my computer is still slow?
If you have more pink than blue in your (C:) drive but your computer is still sluggish, something else is causing the problem and you’ll need to have a professional take a look at it.

Great Lakes Offers Computer Repair Services

Even the best PCs require computer maintenance and repair from time to time. Great Lakes Computer offers computer repair services for all major brands of servers, storage equipment, computers, printers, plotters, and POS equipment. Our certified repair technicians provide peace of mind and the highest quality service and can help you with all of your computer repair needs.

Click Here for a FREE Hour of PC Repair!

By

The Pros and Cons of Contract Maintenance Agreements

contract maintenance agreementIf you run an office, school, lab or any other establishment that requires a sizable number of servers, computers and printers, you might be wondering about the best way to keep your equipment up and running.

The two main approaches are to sign a contract maintenance agreement with a provider who will routinely service your machinery or to simply call in a time and material provider for repairs as necessary. Below we’ll break down the pros and cons of contract maintenance agreements to give you a better idea of whether that system might work for you.

Pros
You and the Service Provider Are on the Same Page
One thing a contract does very well is lay everything out. That means costs and time frames for projects are usually very clear, and you’re not stuck with a bill you didn’t expect or waiting for weeks for a repair when you thought the turnaround time would be a few days.

Routine Computer Server Maintenance Helps Prevent Costly Damage or Surprises
When you work on tight schedules or provide services to a large number of people, unexpected breakdowns can end up being a real headache. A contract maintenance agreement can do a lot to help prevent these by addressing issues before they become major problems. Plus, regular maintenance of servers and other IT infrastructure can help keep you up and running all year roun because no one part ever wears out to the point that it can compromise the system.

You Form a Working Relationship
Of course, you can also form a working relationship with time and material providers, but they are less likely to come when you need them and more likely to go where the money is. That makes it harder to develop the kind of connection that results in truly great service.

Cons
You May Spend Unnecessary Money
The truth is, any time you pay for ongoing maintenance, it means you’re sometimes paying for your serviceperson to discover that absolutely nothing is wrong. However, what you’re really paying for in this case is peace of mind. Even if they don’t “do” anything when they come in to service your equipment, at least they’re ascertaining that you don’t need to do anything either, and that’s a service many are willing to pay for.

Maintenance Agreements May Make Change Hard
A hardware maintenance agreement does, after all, have the word “contract” in the title. This means that if the nature of your operations suddenly changes, it might be difficult to get the flexibility you need, and you may lose money. Many good providers, however, will try to work with you if this is the case.

Bottom Line
No one can tell you which approach will work better for you. It all depends on what you need. If you routinely experience problems that need addressing, a contract agreement makes a lot of sense. If not, you may be better off hiring someone on a case-by-case basis.

Interested in learning about cloud computing and what Great Lakes Computer can do for your business? Download Cloud Computing 101
Download Cloud Computing 101

By

Why EMV May Not be Reason Enough to Upgrade your POS System

EMV chip, POS upgradeNow that October 2015 is behind us, many merchants with POS systems who didn’t jump on the EMV bandwagon are feeling the pressure to upgrade. Aging Point of Sale systems that cause constant headaches are not fun and could be a good reason to upgrade, aside from the other benefits of security and chargeback liability that EMV provides. But what if your system works well and just needs a minor POS repair? You may be aware of the benefits of EMV, as well as the advantages of adding new capabilities such as mobile wallets to your POS environment. But it may not be reason enough, nor in the budget, to make the switch. Today we share a great article “Top 7 Reasons NOT to Adopt EMV:”

    1. You only accept transactions in a Card Not Present (CNP) environment In web based transactions and mail order/telephone order (MOTO) transactions, where the physical card is not present, the need for upgrading to EMV is moot.  The EMV Chargeback Liability Shift only pertains to card present transactions, since the technology is in the chip embedded in the card.  With EMV cards, every time a transaction happens, the chip creates a unique code that never gets used again – but only if the chip reader is used in a card present scenario. If you never use a card present machine to process orders, then EMV adoption is not necessary at the moment.
    2. The cost to support EMV is greater than chargeback risk

      If your customers don’t typically dispute for fraudulent reasons, and your chargeback risk is extremely low, even if you do a good number of face-to-face transactions, the cost of upgrading your POS equipment may outweigh the costs incurred with chargebacks.  A very low risk that you are willing to take.
    3. You know your customer base Some merchants know their customer base very well.  Perhaps they have many repeat customers, or a small customer base.  Perhaps credit card usage is limited to just a handful of business clients who they have had a relationship with for many years.  In this case, chargebacks have not been a concern and for the foreseeable future will not be a concern, and a migration to EMV terminals is not deemed necessary. If you do not know them, ask for a form of identification if you feel any possible risk. Problem solved.
    4. Issuing banks are slow to roll out EMV chip cards With less than 1/3rd of US cards being chip enabled, customers aren’t demanding, nor are they able, to make their transactions via EMV terminals yet. While this may be a reason to delay the adoption of EMV for some merchants, banks are ramping up their EMV issued card shipments, and these numbers will continue to rise.  This can be seen as a reason to perhaps delay EMV adoption, but certainly not a longstanding reason to never adopt.

    5. The product or service you sell is not in high demand by fraudsters (unlike consumer electronic equipment) If you cannot fathom a fraudster trying to resell your products to other criminals, your risks are pretty low. Only you can ascertain those risks.
    6. Upgrading involves a costly integration with your Point of Sale solution It might make sense to wait and adopt an additional “know your cardholder” procedure (such as checking identification or asking for the card to verify the last 4 digits) until you make the investment .

    7. You operate in a hybrid environment with both card present and CNP transaction, but those that are card present are on low ticket items where chargebacks are not a huge concern. So even if you do have card present transactions, the majority of your sales are Card Not Present,and the items you are selling in person (at trade shows or events for example) are on lower ticket items.

Great Lakes Offers POS Equipment Repair

Great Lakes Computer ensures peace of mind with POS Systems uptime through our specialized on-site POS repair services. We fix the problem the first-time and avoid costly interruptions to your business. We carry on-site spares to secure a quick and cost-effective response to your POS Systems repair needs. Our POS Depot Repair Services will provide you with a substitute POS System to keep you going while your POS equipment undergoes repair.

Learn more about Great Lakes POS Systems Depot Repair

Contact Us