5 Facts About Environmental Site Assessments

5 Facts About Environmental Site Assessments

In terms of due diligence, Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments (ESAs) are vital requirements for investors or developers purchasing commercial or industrial properties. Without the benefit of a Phase I SEA, the discovery of adverse environmental conditions after the purchase of a property can potentially leave the new owner fully responsible for decontamination or remediation.

Basics of environmental site assessments

This short blog post explains five basic facts about Phase I and II ESAs, which should be particularly helpful to novice commercial property buyers.

The basic standard for a Phase I SEA is ASTM E1527-13, which was approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in late 2013. Property buyers who wish to reduce CERCLA's liability for contamination They must ensure that any phase I ESA meets this standard.

The basic elements of a Phase I SEA include:

A review of the property registry, which generally includes:

Title string review

Surrounding land use review

Review of all existing aerial photography records

Search agency files

A visual inspection of the site.

Interviews with anyone who may have relevant information on the site.

Completion of a detailed ESA report

Phase II SEAs are physical investigations of the subsoil carried out when contamination tests are identified during Phase I SEAs. In some cases, the investigations may focus on contaminants other than those revealed by the inspection of the sub -ground.

A phase II SEA involves the sampling and analysis of elements such as soil, soil vapor, groundwater, waste or indoor air, based on the results of the phase assessment I.

Performance in evaluation results

Buyers of commercial properties who perform Phase I and II SEAs may require the owner to clean up or lower the offer price based on repair cost estimates (assuming evidence is published). contamination). responsible for cleaning up hazardous materials after purchasing commercial property. Find out all the environmental issues before the fact with an environmental assessment of the ATC site.  Read More - site assessment services

KEY BENEFITS OF OUTSOURCING HELP DESK SUPPORT

1. Reduce operating costs

Instead of paying per full-time employee (FTE), as most technical support operations operate today, outsourcing pricing models offer "pay per ticket", eliminating costly and underutilized human resources. When outsourced, there is no cost to train service representatives, purchase and implement software systems, office space, or equipment and infrastructure to make it all work.

2. Reduce volumes

Outsourced technical support focuses on reducing the volume of support tickets through automation, self-service tools, and predictive demand forecasting, as well as identifying relevant training needs for users.

3. Improve response times

The subcontractor is responsible for responding to specific service levels for ticket response and resolution, among others. Each ticket is tracked and measured, and when SLAs are not met, correction plans are implemented immediately. The subcontractor is responsible for implementing SLAs to avoid fines and is encouraged to keep customers happy so that they can provide long-term referrals and services to potential new customers.

4. Take advantage of existing experience

The technical support outsourcing companies are in the IT sector, they invest and keep their technical support teams up to date with the best training, techniques and service management processes, technical tools and best practices. In addition, dedicated technical support professionals are often more motivated to stay on the job as the contractors they work for have career incentive plans that motivate them to move forward in the service industry IT.

5. Flexibility

In cases where the demand for assistance is greater or vice versa, your business does not have to worry about finding and training more people. The technical support subcontractor is designed to increase or decrease to meet changing demand, while your company only pays for the number of tickets actually processed.

6. Focus on the main mission of the company.

It is not uncommon to see organizations spending a lot of time on non-core business activities when technical problems arise. When this happens, the company loses its strategic focus, resulting in lost revenue and productivity, and ultimately, dissatisfied customers. The company needs to focus on the heart and manage customer relationships using key metrics and predictive metrics provided by the technical support outsourcing partner.

Finally, in today's cloudy and mobile world, organizations must innovate faster and be more agile. To achieve this, organizations must focus on what they do best and add the most value to the organization. Outsourcing support services or other nonessential functions generally save money and free up resources to focus on what's most important to your business. What are you waiting for?

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Benefits of Managed Hosting For Every Business

Benefits of managed hosting

You should consider the 6 main advantages of managed hosting, instead of opting for a self-managed solution.

Reduce your operating costs

No need for additional support staff

Experience and security

Server monitoring

Support anytime, always

Backups

1. Reduce your operating costs

In fact, there are many hidden costs for unmanaged hosting services. Database administrators, system administrators and others must be hired to manage their servers.

Choosing a managed service provider, however, eliminates these additional costs. By hiring a good web host, you can save your money and invest in customer relationships.

2. No need for additional support staff

When you hire a team and train them to help your clients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it can be very expensive. Having professional support means there is no need to train your staff or add additional resources.

They will provide guaranteed 24 * 7 * 365 technical support.

If a problem arises, they solve it without affecting your traffic. You will save money, resources and time in your business.

3. Specialization and security.

Hiring experts allows you to focus on your basic goals and skills. Protecting the website and customer data must be a priority. Your managed hosts will run:

Antivirus scanning

Software firewall settings

Antispam filter

OS updates

Conducting security audits and more.

This way they make sure they understand security issues and have peace of mind. In fact, they will identify vulnerabilities before their servers are attacked.

4.Server monitoring

Managed services enable proactive detection of vulnerabilities and irregularities to ensure that nothing affects the productivity of your business.

So keep your website and server running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Since, if you choose unmanaged hosting, you will need a special skill set or hire a technical team to monitor and manage your servers. Therefore, multiply your operating costs.

5. Assistance at all times, always

A good, reliable host will offer you assistance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and you will be able to communicate with them via different modes: live chat, assistance ticket or telephone.

The support team is trained to resolve issues and avoid minor issues before they become major.

This is one of the most popular benefits of managed hosting.

6. Backups

With managed hosting, you don't have to worry about losing your data.

The backup is done automatically and protected because a trusted managed hosting provider will have disaster recovery strategies to manage the loss, if applicable.

If you don't manage it, you won't be able to back up your data efficiently and you will probably lose some of it. If you lose it, you will be responsible for taking the necessary steps to prevent it from happening again.

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Basics of SAN Design Implementation

The Internet revolution has changed the way of doing business around the world. The most important income opportunities available to businesses today are made possible through e-commerce and e-commerce. The efficient implementation of database applications hosted on a storage area network (SAN) allows an organization to obtain a great return on investment, obtaining a competitive advantage, process efficiency and organizational rationalization.

Since large-scale e-commerce and e-commerce operations must be online 24 hours a day, SAN database applications and the underlying infrastructure that enables them must provide consistent high performance and continuous, scalable operation. For enterprise SAN infrastructures that support these database applications, this means specifying the appropriate product class to meet the application requirements.

The effective implementation of e-commerce and e-commerce SAN applications requires business information to be more accessible, scalable, and manageable. Implementing a corporate SAN provides the consolidated infrastructure and the ability to share the resources necessary to achieve this.

With this in mind, the first part of this two-part article first examines organizational considerations when implementing the SAN. This article briefly describes what experience has been demonstrated: what needs to be done and who should do it. It does not describe how to perform administrative and management functions for central storage or SAN management, but how to organize the staff and teams who will implement and manage the new storage environment. Part II continues with the topic of SAN deployment, briefly discussing other topics for SAN deployment related to backups, clusters, devices, and database applications.

Companies are constantly seeking to implement new storage architectures that allow them to take advantage of current storage technologies. Many of these technologies, such as SAN, Fiber Channel (FC), FCIP over IP (FCIP), SCSI over IP (iSCSI), and network storage (NAS), have common operational problems, although these are different I / O path technologies. S storage. When moving from direct storage devices to shared resources, a common element of shared storage architectures is the change that companies need to adapt and adjust and therefore maximize their investments.

The separation of the directly connected disk and tape from the servers has created some confusion regarding ownership, management and responsibility in companies. It is true that a radical change in storage and access architecture cannot be achieved without adjustments in companies, roles and responsibilities, administration tasks and criteria for the correct execution of tasks.

One of the last things companies tend to consider when implementing SAN is the impact on the organization. This article briefly discusses the technical and operational aspects of clustering or SAN technology and the impact this will have on business. Most risk areas can be mitigated by considering organizational impact early on as part of the SAN design and implementation program.

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Help Desk Outsourcing Evolution

IT outsourcing is a huge category, and technical support is only a small but essential part. Other forms of IT outsourcing may include transferring entire data centers to third parties or perhaps limited to third parties that may cover corporate networks and applications. Technical support is often one of the first service companies to outsource and sometimes acts as a pilot for outsourced tracking services. It is also important to note the often blurred difference between outsourcing, which simply means that third parties provide a service and outsourcing, which specifically indicates that the service is provided by a company abroad, presumably with significantly higher labor costs.

At the same time, the cloud is interfering with traditional definitions of outsourcing. Desktop as a service (DaaS) and other types of cloud-based virtual desktops represent new ways for non-traditional players to offer services that overlap with traditional technical support. Gartner Inc. recognized this in its latest Magic Quadrant report on the subject. Gartner's influential Magic Quadrants position providers along the x and y axes to show the strength and relative breadth of multiplayer.

In its 2013 report, Gartner consolidated the Magic Desk and Help Desk quadrants to reflect changes in support services. In the text of the quadrant report that Gartner now calls the "Magic Quadrant for End-User Outsourcing Services, North America," Gartner analyst David Ackerman and two colleagues highlighted the primary sources of development for the category.

"An evolving workforce model, more mobile and more virtual than ever will continue to challenge traditional work models and IT service delivery approaches," said Ackerman and co-authors William Maurer. And Bryan. Britz. “The net impact will be increased demand for call center features and continued growth in support for mobile devices. These factors will also drive the growth of cloud printing and storage services. We see that BYOD is accelerating. .. quickly in North America over the next three years. "

A modest moment

External technical support or other IT functions do not necessarily reflect a trend that every organization must adapt to be competitive. Gartner sees average single-digit increases in the coming years for the entire IT outsourcing industry worldwide. From a revenue base of approximately $ 287 billion worldwide in 2013, Gartner predicts a compound annual growth rate of 6.5% through 2017.

The use of an external assistance service also tends to decrease and decrease. The 2014 Computer Economics Outsourcing Statistics report, released this summer, including a chart that tracked the use of desktop support by organizations with incomes above $ 50 million and already using some form of IT Outsourcing. The percentage of use of desktop computer support increased from 30% in 2010 to 24% in 2011, falling to 39% in 2012 and again to 32% this year.

John Longwell, vice president of research at Computer Economics Inc., calls the cloud trend. "I think it shows that some IT organizations that have increased their internal resources by outsourcing office support due to hiring freezes are beginning to fill those positions, resulting in a decrease in the number of companies outsourcing office support. the office, "says Longwell. "This does not necessarily mean that the market is shrinking because it does not report how much work is being outsourced. Companies that were on the sidelines and simply increased internal resources have never done so much outsourcing to begin with. Organizations that have adopted a strategy, the decision to outsourcing the most significant part of your IT support, will continue to do so. "

Some influential outsourcing consultants suggest that one of the pivotal moments of outsourcing, particularly about outsourcing services, is coming to an end.

In a widely cited article in 2012, "The Death of Outsourcing," KPMG's partner, Cliff Justice, argued that a new IT business model was emerging as some of the cost savings fell from the system.

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Steps to Success with Managed IT Helpdesk Services

If organizations are struggling to find a quality system that provides technical support to end-users, it is time to consider using a managed IT technology support provider. To achieve the resolution expected of end-users, quality support with 24/7 support is essential. Implementing technical support can open the door to higher quality, revenue, and growth and take your company to the next level.

Unfortunately, many organizations lack the internal support needed to achieve these goals, which has led to frustration when users search for answers. Many companies are reluctant to invest in the right resources, but the benefits outweigh the costs. The following eight reasons highlight these benefits:

1. Improve efficiency

IT support services are constantly gathering information to help solve current and future problems. This process is completed by operating a reporting activity. This provides a visual representation of the material and tends to be challenging to achieve at maximum performance. Technical support services also track past problems with your organization's computers and help provide a solution before the same problem occurs again. These alerts also give organizations time to troubleshoot and replace systems before failure occurs.

2. Problems

Solved management IT supports offer simplified access to processes that tend to be complicated and time-consuming, minimizing the time a team spends on solving problems quickly. A quality IT solution has the advantage of addressing identical or similar issues beforehand, allowing you to solve problems remotely and go straight to the root of the problem.

3. Quality improvement

Usually, the outsourcing of help to the support team has remote access, so you can control the system without physically attending. A remote approach dramatically improves response times, identifies and resolves immediate problems, and reduces transportation and labor costs. Improved response and resolution times minimize downtime and allow end-users to focus on revenue initiatives. This quality will enable clients to receive help when they need it and has a high impact on the entire organization.

4. Strengthen your reputation

Your reputation is the right way; be sure to provide high-quality support to your end-users. IT support solutions increase satisfying employment and maintain a profitable and stable relationship with current and future customers. In a competitive market, your reputation is the key to winning new customers, and word of mouth is the best compliment.

5. Optimized communication

Managed IT technical support services provide a single-source solution for the end user support and assistance and help organizations become industry leaders with a simplified approach to technical support solutions. A single-source platform that addresses all relevant IT issues ensures that end-users always have an immediate and consistent response. Internal IT support solutions generally have slow response times, because support is insufficient to deal with the sequence of the problem that may arise at any given time. Without trust in the quality system, end users are often frustrated and frustrated with the organization.

6. Save time

Internal employee time is scarce. Obtaining advanced, managed IT support service providers and integrating them into this time-consuming system enables the IT team to focus on more profitable IT initiatives. Adding a full-time employee to deal only with technical support issues seems to be a viable option, but it ends up being very expensive and offers additional administration space.

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The Advantage of Outsourcing your IT Service Desk

Fast-growing tech companies are in a fierce race for goals. The changing world of production, M&A, and digital transformation is changing the landscape. There can be no problem. Pressures your team to fly high, and you cannot risk a weak match. However, providing one of the essential IT elements - a high-performance ITHelp service center to meet the needs of employees - is increasingly difficult in today's environment, where growth, disruption, and competition consume resources.

There is no downtime in this game. Downtime is costly: The Ponemon Institute estimates it averages $ 5,600 per minute, and an IHS study determines the cost to American companies at $ 700 billion. Dollars a year due to computer problems.

IT downtime not only affects the bottom line, but it also affects employee morale. Today, many people recognize that user satisfaction and an effortless experience are the new measures of success, and factors that hinder the knowledge of their employees can reduce loyalty and participation.

The ITHelp Service Outsourcing (ITSD) feature reduces IT downtime costs while improving the employee experience, making your staff more efficient and innovative. The right third-party supplier becomes a trusted partner, providing continuous service to your employees, whose IT no longer needs to languish in the purgatory of fines.

Its external support center offers the right solution the first time, improving first call resolution (FCR), increasing the credibility of the entire department, and instilling confidence in employees.

When looking to outsource their call center, growing companies want a partner with experienced and trained agents and the experience to deploy quickly. For example, Genesys approached TELUS International as it prepared for a new acquisition; They needed to upgrade an ITSD to double their IT support for extended operations while controlling costs.

Outsourcing can solve many business problems. In addition to reducing costs, it also offers a quick way to manage mobility.

IT outsourcing is a high category, and technical support is only a minor but essential part.

Technical support is usually one of the first services that companies outsource.

Outsourcing helpdesk frees up time for your IT staff, allowing them to focus on strategic operations and revenue-generating ideas, rather than fighting support fires.

Needs to outsource help desk services

Unfortunately, many organizations do not have a fully equipped technical support solution; their budgets simply ignore costs.

This generally leads to overworked and overworked IT support professionals who respond to e-mail calls and questions from employees and customers with IT problems.

When customer service is at a loss for words, customers are irritated, and this translates into great success for their business.

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Outsourcing technical support is the solution to this big problem. Outsourcing of IT technical support makes it possible to hire people of lower level and

Outsourcing technical support is the solution to this big problem. Outsourcing IT technical support allows you to hire smaller people and therefore pay less for IT support in general.

Therefore, there is a need to outsource their technical support services to third parties, and they can bring several benefits to your business, from reducing costs to reducing the burden of stressed employees.

Before you say no to the plan, think about all the benefits of outsourcing the necessary customer support operations.