Sliding Doors – 2024

Imagine you’re starting a regular day – a great day like any other day. You’re living the dream. You wake up, sip some coffee to get the motor going, and enjoy a delicious breakfast. Your spouse is happy, your kids are happy, you’re happy. You kiss everyone goodbye and head to the office… where you discover the network is down again and the employees are NOT happy. If, like most of us, you rely on lightning-fast computers and internet communication to accomplish just about everything, your business has come to another grinding, screeching, spark-spattering halt. Everyone has a guess about what’s wrong, but no one can make anything work. On top of that, you start to worry about losing data and losing customers. This snowballs into worry about whether the data has been backed up and whether your systems have been hacked. Your last though before losing consciousness is, “Will we be able to recover . . . ?”

Imagine instead (perhaps in a parallel universe in which you may also have starred in a movie released in 1998) you’re starting that same day – a great day like any other day. You’re living the dream. You wake up, sip some coffee to get the motor going, and enjoy a delicious breakfast. Your spouse is happy, your kids are happy, you’re happy. You kiss everyone goodbye and head to the office… where everyone is happily doing what they are supposed to be doing. After you’ve made your rounds and shared some cheerful greetings and funny stories, someone mentions that the computers and network went down, but the outsourced IT vendor that you wisely hired had fixed everything before anyone even noticed. (Cue the choir of angels performing “Alleluia!”)

If your typical day is more like the one described in the first paragraph, and you dream of enjoying more days like the one described in the second paragraph, you might be interested to meet my friend Greg Skahill with Perfect Cloud Solutions. Greg points out, with keen grasp of the obvious, that most business owners aren’t very good at “IT,” but he adds that they shouldn’t have to be.

In order to live their idyllic lives, Greg’s clients rely on Perfect Cloud Solutions to provide “full-service support” where Greg and his team not only identify needs and find solutions, but also put in place business continuity and recovery plans. Perfect Cloud’s client data security operation center provider helps with security tools for computers and networks that detect and immediately isolate threats as they occur. Coupled with Perfect Cloud’s domestic IT desktop support team that offers timely remote or on-site service, Greg and his team leave little opportunity for potential IT problems to arise

Greg shared that his clients’ biggest computer and data worries are about data theft or loss and persistent, non-stop email phishing scams. He shared that we should all be worried about these things because a large percentage of small businesses that have suffered a ransomware attack couldn’t recover and went out of business. Perfect Cloud’s threat prevention services are end-point monitoring, detection, and backup systems that reside on the client’s devices and are working 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

Perfect Cloud also offers security awareness and compliance training tools to help their clients monitor potential security threats. Greg shared that Perfect Cloud highly recommends that its clients use multi-factor authentication for their devices, and the company can implement additional protection products such as DUO 2 MFA.

Greg highlighted that the Perfect Cloud team has helped many of their clients move away from the nightmare of their “break and fix” processes and to the dream-scene model featuring a proactive monthly service plan (however, a choir of angels is not included).

Perfect Cloud’s team has also helped many clients with their office phone and equipment needs with its newer, state-of-the-art voice over internet protocol (VoIP) service, giving clients more flexibility in the ever-changing remote work environment.

Perfect Cloud’s teams have also designed and built or overhauled the entire IT and communications infrastructure for their clients, with tasks ranging from re-cabling all the way to recommending or replacing switches, routers, firewalls, wireless access points, and security cameras.

If the client employs an in-house IT professional or CIO, Greg’s team is pleased to offer a co-managed IT solution that provides desktop support and handles day-to-day problems. These clients enjoy streamlined operational efficiencies, data protection, and peace of mind by putting in place a business continuity and data recovery plan.

Greg advises, when considering using an outsourced service like Perfect Cloud Solutions, to evaluate the provider’s knowledge and expertise. Also be sure that the provider has a solid operations center. But, Greg says, “the most important thing is to not lose the data.” He’d look for a company that’s resourceful, has a track record of providing results, and knows its limitations and strengths.

When not directly helping clients, Greg is involved in his community. “Community is key,” he says. Greg is a mentor and is involved in charitable work. He also continues to grow personally and professionally, building skills and continually learning.

If you are not hearing choirs of angels performing “Alleluia!” on a daily basis, perhaps you should meet Greg. I’d be honored to connect you.