While quality of care is a major factor when patients choose a healthcare facility, convenience is now becoming another key consideration. Online scheduling, in particular, has become more and more important in selecting a healthcare provider.

Even if the use of smartphones, tablets, and other internet-connected devices has already permeated society, many healthcare facilities have trouble keeping up with the times. But those that have kept up with tech trends have seen an uptick in both the number of patients they take in and the quality of care they are able to provide, while facilities relying on the old ways continue to remain stagnant in both areas.

Online scheduling is one of the simplest and most popular technologies used by forward-thinking health clinics and hospitals. It allows patients to see when a doctor is available and schedule an appointment on your website. Practices that use online scheduling are able to reap the following benefits. 

More potential new patients

Today, people are less inclined to make phone calls, especially if it involves ringing up someone they don’t know. For many people looking for a new doctor or specialist, they will simply keep looking for one that has online scheduling to avoid calling. 

More time for your staff, better care for your patients

Think about how much time your staff spend each day answering phone calls from people making an appointment. It’s probably a lot if you have a busy practice. Online scheduling lessens phone time required so that your staff can better focus and care for patients at your facility. As a result, patients will feel truly cared for and will more likely return to the healthcare facility in the future.

Setting appointments beyond clinic hours 

In the past, patients had to wait for the clinic to open just to make an appointment. With online scheduling, patients can simply log in to your website and see when you are available so they can plan their schedule accordingly around their visit.

Still unsure whether you need online scheduling?

Sure, you probably can get away with not having it at the moment, but eventually, most patients will expect this technology from you. And the sooner you roll out online scheduling, the sooner your staff will get the hang of it, and the sooner your patients can enjoy its benefits. 

Need help setting up online scheduling for your practice? Talk to our IT experts today and we’ll make sure this technology will make things easier for your patients.

The post 3 Benefits of online scheduling appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

Virtualizing your servers, networking devices, and other machines can drastically lower costs and dramatically shorten IT infrastructure deployment times. However, implementing this requires a lot of IT expertise that can’t just be pulled off by regular technicians. Here are three things specialists consider when managing virtualization efforts.

Backing up data can be such a hassle
Incorporating a robust backup system in a virtualized setting can become a huge challenge. This is because you have to determine which data you want to store and how often it should be backed up, then you have to decide whether you should back up all your virtual machines or just some vital ones that have important apps and data.

In short, the amount of data that needs to be backed up can be overwhelming. The only way to overcome this is to integrate a powerful virtual backup solution offered by a reputable managed services provider (MSP).

Ensuring security complicates the virtualization process
Security concerns are more complicated in a virtualized setting since you have to monitor security on a couple of tiers: virtual machine security and physical host security.

If a physical host server is compromised, let us say by someone plugging in an infected USB drive into one of its ports, it will affect every virtual machine running on it. In a similar way, a compromised virtual machine may disrupt the physical server and may affect other virtual machines residing on the same host.

To address this, you need to set up strong network defenses, including firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, antivirus software, and virtual machine security tools. Beyond these, you also need a hardened physical security system comprised of surveillance cameras, locks, biometric scans, and security guards. Of course, if you don’t have the funds to set these up, it may make more sense to leave it to a security-conscious MSP.

Monitoring your systems is resource-intensive
Since your team has to oversee both virtual machines and physical servers to ensure you have a fully operational environment, they’ll experience a couple of pain points.

First, running monitoring software on a physical host server is likely to impede the performance of the virtual machines on that server since the former takes up precious processing power and memory. You’ll practically have to monitor your monitoring system to ensure that it’s not hogging the resources of your servers.

Second, keeping tabs on your virtual machines and making sure they’re secure and running at all times is a full-time job. So unless you have a team of professionals in-house, you’ll definitely need some help from the outside.

Without a doubt, virtualization brings a lot of benefits to the table, but you have to know how it affects every aspect of your business. Let us show you how you can use it to its full potential. Just give us a call today!

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It’s an amazing time to start a business — not only can you take your ideas more quickly to the market, you can do so at lower costs and without the traditional barriers in hiring skilled workers. Talented contractors are now available via the “human cloud” and are ready to help you build and operate your company. Here's how your small - or medium-sized business (SMB) can gain from it.

Foundr Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief and Publisher Nathan Chan started a ‘passion project’ that led him to interview some of the most influential entrepreneurs around the world, which he shared through his monthly digital publication.

For Mr. Chan, the launch of this successful project would not have been possible if it wasn’t for human cloud service Elance, a freelancing platform that allowed him to leverage overseas talent and build a solid team of graphic designers, audio/video editors, and writers. All tasks and projects for each issue of his magazine are run via the platform, which also conveniently processes payments for his contractors.

Just like Mr. Chan, many business owners are shifting their labor sources from local to global. According to an online survey by social project manager Wrike, close to 44% of business owners predict a rapid shift to distributed teams within their companies.

They believe technology makes their virtual teams just as efficient as if their members were collaborating in one office. Remote collaboration via the human cloud is indeed a game-changer that benefits companies, such as startups, that are inclined to spend fewer resources to build their business infrastructure.

What is the “human cloud?”

The human cloud is a working platform where staff performs white-collar tasks from any location and on any device. Collaboration, file sharing, or discussions on projects are done in a flexible and productive manner, rewarding team members solely for their output. Although having a virtual workforce comes with a few challenges, overcoming them can yield great benefits for SMBs.

Benefits of hiring on the human cloud

Low cost – The human cloud helps save time and money spent on traditional employment processes. Hiring is fast and easy; you pay for the skills you need on a transactional basis, as opposed to paying a high monthly wage on physically hired talent who may have too much idle time.

No overhead – Hiring on the human cloud requires no overhead for office space, thereby enabling firms to stay lean and profit-focused. By becoming “virtual,” teams can work independently from their homes or anywhere.

Get skills on-demand – Employers can contract for micro-tasks, such as copying text from business cards, to larger tasks like selling products for a fee, to even more complex projects such as software design and programming.

Global talent pool – Today, even startups can be ‘multinational’, i.e., they are no longer limited by geography in finding key talent with specialized skills. A good idea can come from just about anywhere and can be performed and delivered from anywhere.

Easy collaboration – Using an online platform gives SMBs the ability to manage projects through virtual workrooms. Wrike’s survey revealed that collaboration software is extremely important and even mission-critical for remote teams to work efficiently.

As more startups and SMBs become familiar (and comfortable) with the advantages of the human cloud, the future of work means that location is not the most important factor in determining who will contribute to your business’s success. A worldwide network of online contractors is now ready to serve you with the qualifications, skill sets, and shared enthusiasm you seek to turn ideas into valuable products or services.

For more information on how to leverage cloud technologies or collaboration software, please get in touch with any of our cloud specialists.

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A cyberattack or hardware failure can wipe out invaluable personal and work-related data on your device, so it’s best to back them up. This doesn’t just apply to desktops and laptops but to mobile devices as well. Android phones and tablets store plenty of important data, which means they need to be backed up, too. Here’s how to do just that.

Take advantage of cloud services

The best way to ensure your data is safe is to back it up in the cloud. When you power up your Android device for the first time, make sure to sign up for a Google account. This will give you access to 15 GB of free Google Drive storage, with optional additional space for a monthly fee.

Any Google Docs or Sheets file you create on your phone will automatically be saved to your Drive, so if you ever lose your phone, you can retrieve your files by simply signing in to your Google account from a different device.

If you’re not a fan of Google services, you can always opt for other cloud storage services like Dropbox or Office 365.

Backup your device settings

Another great thing about Android devices is you can back up their settings and preferences via Google Drive. These include screen lock passcodes, display preferences, language options, and approved Wi-Fi networks.

To confirm all these settings are saved to your Google account, go to the Backup section in system settings and enable “Back up to Google Drive.” This way, if you ever switch to a new phone or tablet, you can quickly restore all your device settings and preferences by signing in to your Google account.

Save your app data

If you have apps that contain important information, you can sync the data of those apps to your Drive. Simply go to the Backup section, look for App data, then enable the Automatic restore function.

Keep your contacts

Most contacts are saved on SIM cards or on the phone itself. To back them up, check if there’s a cloud syncing option in your Contacts app. If your phone doesn’t have it, install third-party services like Contact Backup, which can be found on the Google Play Store.

What if you don’t save your data in the cloud?

Although we highly recommend cloud services for data retrieval, your phone’s SD card does retain some information after it’s been deleted. You can restore deleted files by connecting your SD card to a desktop computer and using specialized recovery software. But this can be a complicated process unless you team up with Android experts like us.

For more services regarding data backup and mobile device management, call us today. We offer a wide array of solutions for Android phones.

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