Why a Chromebook Can Be a Great Investment

Why a Chromebook Can Be a Great Investment

Chromebooks have provided businesses with a different option for their computing needs, if it fits with their practices. Here, we’ll explore the different factors that make Chromebooks a good choice, and some of the more appealing features that they can provide.

Chromebooks Can Be Affordable

Depending on the intended use and required stats of a particular purpose, you can get a perfectly decent device for a relative steal. While there are some advanced, fancier options available at a higher price point, there are many more that are friendlier on the budget than the average Windows laptop.

Chromebooks Can Do More Than You Think

Admittedly, the earlier Chromebooks were somewhat limited by the exclusivity of the Chrome OS and the need of an Internet connection to do, well, just about anything. However, as they have improved, many Chromebooks are now able to leverage some Android applications, including the Android version of Microsoft Office.

Furthermore, Chromebooks have many apps that can serve as a reasonable stand-in for popular software titles, like Adobe’s Photoshop. One downside: none of them are able to edit a .PSD file.

“Offline” Doesn’t Mean They’re Useless

While many of the apps that Chromebooks can utilize require an Internet connection, there are many that can be used without. With the addition of Android apps for some, that number will only increase.

In short, the Chromebook is slated to only keep improving, which means that there will possibly be even better options in the near future. If you’re still having a hard time deciding, turn to WheelHouse IT. Our professionals will be able to put you (and your technology) on the path to success. Call us at (877) 771-2384 to learn more.

How Your Cash Flow and IT Are Linked

Modern IT

In order to remain open for any considerable amount of time, a business needs to have an inbound cash flow. This can be accomplished with the help of some clever IT solutions. We’ll discuss how, but first we have to get a deeper understanding of what makes a good cash flow.

Examining Cash Flow

There are three parts to any successful cash flow:

● New money is coming into the business
● Money is coming in faster
● Less money is going out than is coming back in

Simple, right?

Putting Theory into Practice with Technology


Well, as easy as it is in theory, implementing these parts can be a challenge without the right tools. Fortunately, there are plenty of solutions that can help you to encourage all three with the help of information technology.

Let’s break down the three parts again and define what they mean in terms of technology and IT solutions.

● New money is coming into the business
● Money is coming in faster
● Less money is going out than is coming back in

This can be rephrased to say:

● More clients are being signed on to services
● Billing is made more efficient and easier
● The business is making more than it is spending

Leveraging IT to Accomplish These Goals

There is an incredible amount of technology in the world today that can benefit a business through multiple avenues, although there are a few specific tools available now that can assist with each of the parts of your business’ cash flow.

New money is coming into the business
More clients are being signed on to services

This is how your cash flow is initially generated, so it is a crucial part of the process. In order to make money, you need to find people who are willing to pay you to provide them with some good or service – and perhaps more importantly, keep them and the rest of the people important to your business organized.

A customer relationship management system can help you do so. These programs are designed to fulfill that very need for business organization, keeping you from juggling your crucial data and allowing you to make better inferences that inform your actions. A good CRM platform will allow you to track your progress and responsibilities, allowing you to act proactively and optimize your business strategy.

Money is coming in faster
Billing is made more efficient and easier

The vast majority of businesses were formed with one goal in mind: to make money. This is accomplished by selling goods and services. However, these sales need to be tracked in order for payments to come in accurately, yet in a prompt manner. Moreover, customers and clients may need to be reminded that they have a balance to settle. There is no shortage of tools and systems to assist you in this regard.

Whether your CRM also includes a baked-in finance management tool, you use another service, or you even keep an impeccably organized spreadsheet, you need to make sure you know where your funds are coming from and where they are going.

Less money is going out than is coming back in
The business is making more money than it is spending

This is the kicker – the final, crucial piece of profitability: are you actually making a profit?

One of the keys to this is to spend your budget wisely and take advantage of the capabilities that modern technology offers. Which scenario sounds like it would be more expensive, struggling with the same IT issue day in and day out, hiring someone to come in and fix it every time it drives you too crazy (only to have it pop back up later)… or have experienced professionals monitor your IT remotely, identifying and actually resolving issues like those–before you even knew they were there–all for a predictable monthly fee?

Successfully budgeting your business is the cornerstone to making it profitable, and the more predictable costs you incur, the better your budget will work for you.

WheelHouse IT can do all of this for you, and more.

Reach out to us at (877) 771-2384 to learn about our other services, or more about something mentioned above.

Why a Proactive Stance is Best for Your Business IT

Why a Proactive Stance is Best for Your Business IT

When it comes to proactive IT, Managed IT services are a great way to make your small business take advantage of a smaller budget while still getting all of the services that are critical to everyday success.

One of the best ways you accomplish this is by using proactive maintenance to ensure unforeseen issues are accounted for. If a managed service provider only solved issues after they appeared, then it wouldn’t be any different from your typical break-fix IT solution. We take proactive measures to save your business in the long run.

What is Proactive Maintenance?

Proactive maintenance happens when an issue is resolved before it needs fixing. Since computers and other network components are extremely complex devices, it helps to have experts working on this technology so that you can focus on day-to-day tasks.

When you don’t have to worry about technology maintenance, your business can focus more on keeping its workers productive, but the primary benefit of it is that you’re basically foreseeing a future in which your technology fails, and you respond before it happens. If you can think of issues before they happen, you can effectively prevent them or respond so quickly that they don’t cause trouble for your organization.

Proactive maintenance can begin as soon as you work out your service level agreement with your MSP. Our technicians are certified and able to offer your organization the best managed services out there–all of which can help your business work more efficiently.

We can automate services for you or provide remote monitoring to ensure that your technology operates as intended, and we can use this knowledge to address potential issues before they cause downtime.

The Cost of Downtime

In order to understand just how much downtime can influence your bottom line, you’ll need to understand just what it affects and how it costs your business. Consider how much money you spend on keeping your employees in the office.

Be sure to include information like utility costs, the amount of money you spend on keeping your business running. Now add all of that together and add it to the amount of potential revenue lost by your employees not being able to work as intended. You might be surprised by this cost.

Since your organization basically eliminates downtime, our services ultimately wind up paying for themselves over time. We can assure you that it’s not uncommon at all for WheelHouse IT’s managed IT services to provide a significant return on investment for your organization.

How Proactive Maintenance Works

Our proactive maintenance system works through a remote monitoring and management tool that we provide for your organization. Our software will sift through your network to find any potential issues that need to be addressed. If any irregularities appear, we handle them before they become a major issue. Here are some of the ways your organization might inadvertently be sinking its own productivity:

  • Operator misuse: When equipment isn’t used properly, it can have a big effect on the hardware issue.
  • Skipped maintenance: When an IT department is overextended, it can look to save time by neglecting some standard maintenance.
  • Unusually heavy utilization: Like humans, when machines are asked to work hard for extended periods of time, they risk breaking down faster.
  • Faulty replacement parts: When parts are swapped out, they may work for a time, but after a while, they cause the system they are working in to prematurely fail.
  • End of lifecycle: While you can extend most equipment with solid maintenance, eventually, like everything else, it fails.

Does your business need a monitoring system to prevent downtime?

The answer is always a resounding “Yes.”

To learn more, reach out to us at (877) 771-2384.