Business Services

Columbia Computer Consulting provides comprehensive, expert advice and service for Windows-based systems.

My background and experience since the late 1980's has been managing servers and end-user computers for a major interstate gas transportation pipeline.  See my About Me page.

You're in business to make money offering products or services in your area of expertise.  If that area of expertise doesn't include all the details of administering your network and computers, then that's a task best left to someone for whom it is an area of expertise.

Many of the business-specific services I provide are similar to Residential & Business Services, but with additional features that are important to business owners/operators, such as:

Backup and Recovery Solutions
Maintaining current hardware and disposition of obsolete equipment
Rapid response to address problems for minimal downtime
Maintenance of vertical business applications

Backup and recovery solutions
The single most important preventative maintenance item is data backup.  Yet many small companies with small networks consisting of just a few computers often do not have a backup/recovery solution in place.

Although other aspects of preventative maintenance are important, such as service pack installation, patch management, virus and spyware prevention, etc., NOTHING is more important than having a reliable data backup/recovery mechanism in place.

There are a number of avenues to increase network and computer reliability, such as redundant routers, servers, disk arrays, etc.  Some of these solutions may or may not be indicated, depending on the particulars of your company.

But a comprehensive and effective data backup/recovery solution is always indicated, no matter how small or large you are.  This is simply the most important, most cost effective step you can take to help immunize your company against expensive and potentially ruinous data loss.

Following are some aspects of data backup/recovery to consider

Maintaining current hardware and disposition of obsolete equipment
As you know, computer technology advances rapidly, obsolescing your computers in a matter of a few years.  A high performance computer with ample speed and memory purchased today will be middle of the pack in 18 months, back of the class in 36 months, and functionally obsolete in 60 months.  Laptops obsolesce even faster, since technology improvements are much more rapid.

Computer hardware itself doesn't slow down with age, but OS and application upgrades get bigger and fatter, requiring more horse power and memory than before.  Fortunately, new computers are also largely cheaper than the ones they replace.  In selecting new computers, we examine such things as cost, parts availability, and adherence to hardware standards.

Be it servers or workstations, we can replace your existing aging hardware with new hardware, moving all your applications, data, and settings to the new machine.

As a bonus, we will dispose of your existing hardware for you.  Of course, all data will be completely and securely removed, making your old gear safe for disposal.  This way, you are relieved of the environmental costs associated with trashing old computer gear.

Rapid response to address problems for minimal downtime
Do you have a mission critical system that, if down, costs you some serious money?  We offer an optional high priority level of response, guaranteeing response within an agreed time frame.  24x7 coverage is also available.

Maintenance of vertical business applications
If you don't have a dedicated IT person on staff then you've probably had to relegate software maintenance to a random employee, or do it yourself.

With adequate ramp-up time, we'll learn your line-of-business specific applications to relieve you of having to maintain those systems yourself.  We can install patches and fixes, perform upgrades, and other system maintenance to keep your business critical systems functioning.