Two key relationship trends we’ve watched for years between EasyStreet and our customers are mentioned in a study Mercer Management Consulting did recently with 300 senior IT executives in seven countries. (Mercer did the study for IBM, and even though it was global, nearly everything they found holds true for us here in the Northwest.)
Here’s one: “While growing revenue is a top priority, an uncertain economic climate is forcing executives to cut costs in the very area — IT — they have come to depend on to optimize business processes, increase flexibility and productivity, accelerate time-to-market and fuel profitability.”
And here’s the other: “The relationship between clients and their (IT) outsourcing provider is much more strategic in nature — reflecting a preference for collaboration and partnering.”
In fact, the Mercer study concluded that the key to successfully outsourcing your IT depends on having the right type of relationship with your service provider.
As EasyStreet approaches 15 years as an Internet and Managed Services Provider, we can add another key conclusion of our own:
Having the right kind of relationship with our clients rests on the quality of communication between us.
Because our technical team and our customers are local, we have extraordinary capabilities to help with your IT infrastructure. It always helps to know where we can help. That’s the only way we can really be your IT partner both at the tactical data-center level and when it comes to your longer range IT strategy.
I thought this was cool so decided to post it. It seems the first prototype of “a futuristic computing system” was demonstrated by Douglas Engelbart on Dec. 9, 1968 at the Fall Joint Computer Conference at Stanford University. The system, called “NLS” or “the Online System,” included a roughly crafted gizmo that was the mother of all mice. You can read the ITWorld article here.
In Customer Support, we frequently hear questions about internet slowness. Many times, people are uncertain about how fast their connection should be, or they believe that the internet “feels slow”. Fortunately, we have some tools, and some advice for you.
The first thing you want to do is to test the speed of your internet connection. There are many speed testing sites available on the internet, but for the most accurate information, you will want to use a test that is local to you. This will rule out any interference from other sites or servers that may affect your results. So, go to http://speedtest.easystreet.com and click on the “Begin Test” button. When the test is completed, you will see results for both your upload speed and download speed.
The historical results of this test are avilable to us in the Customer Support department as well, and we can use them if you need help troubleshooting a slow connection. These results will be less than your provisioned line speed. This is due to overhead used to run the test, as well as any other applications on your computer that may be using some bandwidth at any time. A good speed test will typically be about 80% of your provisioned speed. So if your line is configured for a 1 Megabit connection, you will probably see a result around 800 Kilobits/second.
If your results are low, then you will want to take a few steps to verify that this test was accurate. First, you will want to reboot your computer, and make sure that any applications that use the internet heavily, such as download managers, or peer-to-peer file sharing clients, are shut down. You should also make sure that every other computer that may be using your network is completely powered off. After making sure that all of your bandwidth is available to the speed testing application, try it again. Your results are likely better than your first test, and if they are acceptable, your slowness might have been caused by heavy internet usage by applications on your machine, or other machines on your network.
If your results are still low, reboot your DSL modem, and unplug your router, if you have one. Plug your computer directly into the DSL modem. At this point, you may need to call support, since there may be some configuration that needs to be done on your computer. Now, with nothing but your computer, plugged directly into the DSL modem, test one more time. This is the most accurate test you can possibly do.
If your results are still unacceptable after this test, it is time to give us a call. We may have some tests to run, in order to determine where the problem lies. No matter what steps you take, the first step is always the Speed Test.
P.S. Your questions and comments are always welcome. Feel free to include suggestions for future topics! – Derrick D.
