Office 365 for Hospital Group John Munroe

We recently implemented Office 365 and IT Support services for John Munroe Hospital and were very thankful to receive the following testimonial:

I have worked as IT and Communications Coordinator for John Munroe Hospital for four years now. The network was littered with various operating systems and legacy equipment, and the Board decided to take action regarding this situation. I was asked to investigate options for replacing the legacy equipment and also upgrading the system in general.

My inquiries into Microsoft Office 365 and associated HP Equipment led me to Eitex, and I was put in contact with Dean Spencer.

Dean was friendly and approachable, and quickly arranged a meeting to discuss the network requirements and associated equipment required.

We met and discussed a plan moving forward that included a hybrid deployment of Office 365 for our company and the lease of the new PC’s, Laptops and Servers required. Along with Chris Thompson, we started to plan the deployment of the solution.

Chris was there every step of the way during and after the deployment, and Dean was always on hand to answer any questions relating to the finance of the solution and any further solutions available. I enjoy working with Eitex, as being Microsoft Partners they are very knowledgeable regarding the solutions on offer from Microsoft, and their deployment. If they are unsure, they are confident enough to tell you they are unsure, and can quickly put you in touch with someone who does.

The IT Support team are always available, and have responded to any queries or issues I have raised at any time in a timely and concise manner, addressing and resolving the issue to the best of their ability.

I would highly recommend Eitex for any company who wish to deploy any form of Microsoft solution, as they listen to your requirements and act upon them with your interests at the heart of what they offer. They are friendly, approachable and have a no-nonsense approach to IT Support. I look forward to continuing to work with them and a prosperous future together.

Sage 50 Accounts Solution for WFS Farm Supplies

WFS is growing company and as such needed to roll out Sage 50 Accounts to all users to allow them to process orders, produce delivery notes and pass this information to the Accounts department for Profit & Loss, month end accounts and produce VAT returns.

Sage was previously installed on only one computer and to allow everyone to have access a server had to be installed.

As the business suffers from Slow broadband speeds Eitex installed a Small Business Server to minimise broadband usage, manage file shares, email, and of course provide Sage to all users. The work originated from our telephony partner Yorkshire Telecom who provided network cabling and a new phone system as well.

“The service offered by Eitex was fast and efficient, what’s more is that all work was carried out over a weekend to minimise disruption to our business” commented Elizabeth.

As part of the cloud solution Eitex are also offering Pro-Active IT Support.

If you would like to enquire about the products and services offered by WFS please get in touch!

If you would like to see what Sage 50 Accounts can do for your business please contact Eitex.

Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Sage 50 integration for Hygiene Company Branta

Following a company restructure The Branta Group needed to bring their IT up to date to fit with their new dynamic business model.

Branta chose Eitex as they were able to offer everything from hardware leasing to Cloud Solution Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft CRM Online and Sage 50 with full CRM Integration. Both companies are also located in West Yorkshire which is an added bonus.

“We were pleased to be offer a complete solution which was designed by our engineers and senior development team, and all within budget.” commented Dean from Eitex.

As part of the cloud solution Eitex are also offering Pro-Active IT Support.

The Branta Group own the following brands:

If you would like to enquire about the cleaning and hygiene products offered by Branta please get in touch!

If you would like to see what Office 365 and Cloud Computing can do for your business please contact Eitex.

IT Support for Feversham Arms Hotel and Verbena Spa

The Feversham Arms Hotel and Verbena Spa is a luxury hotel and spa located in North Yorkshire. As a growing business the demand on IT has increased over the years and the time had come to review their IT strategy.



Feversham Arms Hotel & Verbena Spa

Ad-Hoc IT Support:

Up until now the hotel had subscribed to ad-hoc IT support calling on engineers as and when needed. Although the approach seemed to be cost effective, at times the hotel felt they weren’t getting enough from their systems and indeed value for money.

- The hotel wasn't informed of new products and technologies when they became available.

- The systems were running ok, but they weren't being managed and optimised around the business’s needs.

- Sometimes an engineer was available, sometimes they had to wait. System downtime was therefore very stressful and costly.

Moving Forward with Pro-Active IT Support:

The Feversham Arms Hotel went to the market in the search of an IT company who could work with them to stabilise their system, and help them keep an eye on the future.

Eitex was recommended by Yorkshire Telecom who provides the hotel with telephony and are also a trusted partner of Eitex.

Business Manager Janet said 'As part of a managed service Eitex now monitor our systems around the clock and are working closely with us to ensure our IT fits our business needs. Also someone is available at the end of the phone should we need to speak to someone. Their partnership with Yorkshire Telecom means our IT and telephony work together effectively and without fuss.'

To make a reservation at the hotel visit The Feversham Arms Hotel & Verbena Spa website

To discuss your IT Support requirements visit Eitex IT Support

IT Support and Disaster Recovery Yorkshire

Recover your systems FAST with Eitex.

IT is fast becoming the lifeblood of business. When systems and servers fail, businesses are at risk of failure too! In fact server failure is one of the most expensive incidents a business can endure.

Here at Eitex we realise this which is why we have invested significant time and money developing managed backup and disaster recovery solutions.

Whether you are backing up to tape, USB hard drive, network device or remotely via the cloud, we have tried and tested solutions to get you up and running in hours.

With the ability to spin-up failed servers in a virtual environment means that we could get you back up and running quicker than ever before, and often before your server is repaired.

All backups are monitored on a daily basis too by trained engineers on our IT Support helpdesk.

If you’re concerned over your Disaster Recovery strategy, or even if you have a Disaster Recovery plan at all, get in touch now!

What are your thoughts on Disaster Recovery? Have you ever had one? What would you do to get by?

Microsoft CRM Yorkshire

Eitex has teamed up with FusionCRM to offer Microsoft Dynamics CRM customer relationship management software.

The partnership allows customers to receive IT Support, IT Solutions and Microsoft CRM support all from the same place.

• Manage Opportunities and the Sales Pipeline
• Organise Marketing and Lead Generation
• Enhance Customer Service

For a free 30 day trial, or a demo please get in touch!

IT Support for Charity AfPP

Having taken an overview of the charity’s computer systems, network and IT requirements Yorkshire based charity AfPP - (The Association for Perioperative Practice) made the decision to outsource their IT support.

CEO Dawn Stott said “we have such a diverse requirement with regards to IT support, Web, CRM and Cloud Computing that when an opportunity arose we decided that the challenges which come from many different directions on a daily basis, would be best managed externally.”

Having reviewed the market AfPP found Eitex who were able to offer Outsourced IT support services, Cloud Computing with Office 365, and also offer Microsoft CRM Support if required.

Furthermore AfPP have saved around 50% on their annual IT Expenditure which for any business or charity is fantastic news!

What are your thoughts, could IT Outsourcing save your business or charity money? Please feel free to post your comments below.

Eitex Success Story

Our success as an IT Support business is dependent on a number of factors such as great customer service, our technical expertise and our back office solutions, which when combined enable us to provide the level of support demanded by our clients.

But there are other factors involved in running a successful IT Support business and our Eitex Blackburn Regional Director was recently interviewed by the Lancashire Enterprise Trust.  For his insights see their article entitled “My Success Story – Eitex”

Eitex wins IT Support Contract for Wakefield based Engineering Company.

Yorkshire based CEM Engineering went to market in search of a new IT Support provider. As a rapidly growing business CEM needed fresh ideas to take their IT infrastructure to the next level. Having spoken with a number of IT companies in the area CEM chose Eitex.

CEM commented “We deal with world-class businesses on a daily basis, it is imperative that all aspects of our business are world-class too. Eitex seemed to offer everything we needed; their enthusiastic approach addressed existing issues, as well as ideas for moving forward including Microsoft BPOS. Our systems are now continually monitored and the service is backed by a dedicated helpdesk.”

Eitex recommended moving certain aspects of their IT into the cloud, whilst keeping other elements on-site to allow CEM to achieve the highest possible performance levels, productivity, stability and resilience.

Eitex owner Dean Spencer commented “We would like to thank CEM for their business and look forward to forming a long and lasting relationship to help them get the best from their IT on a continual basis”

If you would like to speak to CEM regarding their products and services click here
Take a 360’ virtual factory tour at CEM

If you would like to speak to Eitex regarding IT Support and services click here

National IT Support Company Helps East Lancashire Graduates

Eitex, a national IT Support business with offices in Nelson have improved the prospects of at least one local graduate by utilising the services provided by Pendle Borough Council’s Graduate Placement Scheme.


The scheme is designed to help local graduates find employment with local businesses, ensuring skills and experience is retained in the region whilst boosting the local economy.


Lee Hezzlewood, the Regional Director in charge of the Lancashire side of the business said “Although our Lancashire IT Support services are new for the organisation, we had a requirement to take on additional resources.  There is a growing demand in the region for quality IT skills, particularly as more and more businesses attempt to make use of technology to improve their effectiveness and profitability.”


Marc McKinlay is the lucky graduate who was snapped up by Eitex, and Lee continued, “Marc has a range of skills and experience, which when added to his qualifications, bring significant benefits to our business and will enhance the quality of service we provide to our clients.”


Marc joined Eitex on the 1st of March and, after spending a couple of weeks training at Eitex’s UK Support Centre in Batley, Leeds is now fulfilling the role of 2nd line local support for Eitex customers across Lancashire and providing remote support to customers across the rest of the UK.

New IT Support Contract won for Riverside Cards

As an long standing member of the Greetings Cards Industry, we place great value on our IT infrastructure and with this in mind we went into the market and received proposals from a number of IT Support companies.

The company which ticked all the boxes was Eitex. Riverside Cards’ IT co-ordinator Andrew Linley commented “We chose Eitex as their staff are skilled and friendly. Suggestions made were explained in plain English which made the company directors feel at ease. Eitex are also Microsoft Gold Partners which for us added credibility”.
We are looking forward to working alongside the friendly and professional team at Eitex.
Eitex will be implementing Microsoft BPOS and providing IT Support services. We will also be looking to migrate to Office 365 when it becomes available.

New Contract won by Eitex Bradford

Donald Race and Newton Solicitors.

Today is a good day for Eitex Bradford. We are proud to announce that we are now supporting Donald Race and Newton Solicitors who have offices in Burnley and Colne.

They were looking to get the most out of their IT and came to Eitex for advice on how to go about this. As a result over the next few months we are going to be implementing some pretty exciting projects with them which should see them really benefitting and getting the most from their IT.

If you want to see how you can get more from your IT then simply log onto www.eitex.co.uk and find your nearest Eitex office and get stress free IT.

Movember – Final Push

Some of the support technicians here at Eitex have been growing moustaches in aid of Prostate Cancer as part of the Movember charity foundation. Finally on Wednesday Andrew, Lee & Chris will be allowed to shave again!

Andrew shaved his beard of 10 years off specially for this event and Lee and Chris continued growing the “mo” despite derision from their friends and peers.



Please help change the face of men’s health by donating using one of the following links:

• Andrew’s Mospace: http://uk.movember.com/mospace/519508/
• Chris’s Mospace: http://uk.movember.com/mospace/519600/
• Lee’s Mospace: http://uk.movember.com/mospace/522514/

Eitex win contract for VIDA architects

Huddersfield based VIDA architects were looking for an IT Support package, and a telephone system. Instead of choosing 2 companies (one IT Support and one telephony) as traditionally required, Eitex were able to offer both.

Having IT Support and Telephony all under one roof offers great advantages. Support calls for IT and phones are all placed via one support number, there is no 'blaming the IT company', or 'blaming the telephone company' when something doesn't work as expected. Everything is taken care of in one place.

Eitex offered VIDA Pro-Active IT Support, and VoIP telephony.

Senior Partner Andrew commented "We first met Eitex following a recommendation from a business colleague. A superb first impression was made. It was clear that Eitex were able to offer us the cost effective proactive IT support we required and technical advice we needed to get our new business up and running in terms of IT infrastructure and telephony solutions. As well as all the technical know-how, what we really liked was the level of relevant reporting we will now get on the performance of our systems. All the Eitex team that we have dealt with have been very pleasant and helpful and we have a great feeling of developing a strong and trusted, long term business to business relationship."

If you would like to discuss any of the services Eitex offer, please get in touch.

Windows Shell Vulnerability Fix

Microsoft have now released a security update to fix the Windows Shell Vulnerability issue. 

If you are an Eitex Pro-Active IT Support customer then this update has now been installed on your machine. In order to display your icons correctly you must now reverse the workaround which was applied previously. The reversal tool is easy to run and can be found by clicking this link http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9738981. A system restart will be required.

If you are concerned that your machine is not receiving automatic updates from Microsoft the security fix can be found here http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS10-046.mspx

This fix must be applied before reversing the workaround.

As usual, you use any of the information here at your own risk. We are not responsible for any issues relating to this blog. Existing customers can of course contact us on the Helpdesk. If you are not a customer and require assistance on this matter it will be provided free of charge (Business users only). Please feel free to contact us about our IT Support packages.

Windows Shell Vulnerability

At the back end of last week a major security flaw was found in all currently supported versions of Windows whereby potential malware could be executed on your PC via Shortcut Files, Internet Favourites, USB Memory Sticks, Network Shares and WebDAV Folders.

Microsoft has confirmed the flaw does exist and is as serious as first reported:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/2286198.mspx

There is currently no fix available and it is quite likely that Microsoft will release an out of cycle fix once one it is available, however they have release a “Fix it” that should workaround the problem for now:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2286198

The workaround does however disable icons on all affected files, so all shortcuts in your Start Menu, on your Desktop, in Favourites, etc will show as just a blank white icon.

 

 

Understandably this workaround could be quite annoying, so, the choice is yours, functionality or security, until a proper fix is released. It is also worth mentioning however that this workaround can be disabled again using another “Fix it” on the same page (above) if you find it too annoying.

On the flip side, the vulnerability is pretty serious and does not even need you to execute the shortcut file / internet favourite, just simply opening a folder with it in could be enough!

As usual, you use any of the information here at your own risk. We are not responsible for any issues relating to this blog. Existing customers can of course contact us on the Helpdesk. If you are not a customer and require any assistance though please feel free to contact us about our IT Support.

Acknowlegement to Steve Gibson and TWiT

Microsoft Support end of lifecycle for Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista (without any SP)

Everybody should note that Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (and of course all previous version) and Windows Vista (without any Service Pack) is now no longer supported by Microsoft. This means that they will no longer be producing security updates.

Given the prevalence of malware we would strongly suggest that everyone use a version of Windows that is currently supported by Microsoft and have Automatic Updates enabled.

To check which version of Windows you are running right click on My Computer (or “Computer” as it is now labelled in Windows Vista and Windows 7) and go to Properties.

If you are running a version that is now unsupported you can check the following Web Site on how to update to a supported version.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/help/end-support-windows-xp-sp2-windows-vista-without-service-packs?os=xp

As usual, you use any of the information here at your own risk. We are not responsible for any issues relating to this blog. Existing customers can of course contact us on the Helpdesk. If you are not a customer and require any assistance though please feel free to contact us about our IT Support.

How to disable the PDF /Launch feature that can be used by Malware to infiltrate your PC

A feature within the PDF format is currently one of the potential ways malware is able to bypass your PC security to install itself.

The feature, know as /Launch allows attachments hidden within a PDF file to run when you open the PDF.

This feature is not required for everyday PC usage so we at Eitex would therefore recommend everybody disable the feature by going into Edit –> Preferences –> Trust Manager and turn off the checkbox on PDF File Attachments –> Allow opening of non-PDF file attachments with external applications:

 

As usual, you use any of the information here at your own risk. This worked fine for me, but we are not responsible for any issues relating to this blog.

If you require any assistance though please feel free to contact us about our IT Support.

For further information please see Adobe’s Blog post about this: http://blogs.adobe.com/adobereader/2010/04/didier_stevens_launch_function.html

Acknowlegement to Steve Gibson and TWiT

Eitex win new Engineering Contract

Due to growth and ongoing expansion, Leeds based mechanical engineering firm Beddis Kenley's PC dependency has grown significantly.

Part owner Terry Beddis said "We were at a stage where we needed to outsource our IT, it simply became too big for us to manage. We shopped around and found many IT companies to choose from, Eitex were the first ones to respond. Admittedly we didn't know who Eitex were, but their professional approach made us feel at ease. They took time to analyse our requirements and several improvements were highlighted straight away. These changes could be made with minimal or no cost. Their knowledge and positive customer feedback gave us confidence to proceed with their IT Support service"

Eitex are looking forward to a good working relationship with Beddis Kenley.

If you would like to benefit from Eitex's outsourced IT Services, please call 0845 508 3238 or complete our Enquiry Form, and a member of staff will be in touch.

My BNI 60 Second Song

I'm really enjoying this being creative with my 60 seconds in BNI Utopia.

This week I did a parody of Don Mclean's American Pie. So put the tune in your head and sing along.

Long long time ago, back in seventeen ninety one
A man named babbage had a dream
He designed and he built his first computer it was a hit
And he hoped that it would change the world
Then in 1975 a small company came alive,
Called Microsoft and as we know, they proceeded to grow

But! that dam software don’t deliver
This stupid computer makes me quiver
Why has it just frozen
The backups all are broken

I cant remember if I cried
When I heard that the hard disc was fried
I just need some help from outside
The day the hard disc died

But no more computer stresses for me
Cos I found Eitex and they helped me to get computer stress free
With their IT support and their clever approach
Now I use my works computer with glee
Cos I find I’m now computer stress free