The Foundation Beneath Innovation: Why Infrastructure Matters to Muskegon’s Future
GMED’s Beyond Boundaries event highlighted the connections between regional infrastructure, business growth, and the technology we depend on every day. By Brent A. Raeth, Managing Partner of CatchMark Most of us begin the workday assuming the essentials will work. The lights will turn on. Water will flow. Employees will arrive. Our internet connection will carry […]
Tech Files: Microsoft 365 vs. Home — When the Wrong License Becomes a Business Problem
A new employee starts Monday. Their laptop is ready, their email address has been created, and they just need Microsoft Office. Easy enough, right? The employee already has Microsoft Office on the computer, so everything appears ready to go. But once they start working, the problems begin. They can’t access the same tools as the […]
Tech Files: Who’s Watching Your Business When You’re Not?
It’s 8:15 on a Tuesday morning. Accounting is processing invoices, employees are answering emails, someone is working remotely, and another employee just received an email that looks like it came from Microsoft asking them to verify their password. Nobody walked into work thinking about cybersecurity. They’re thinking about customers, deadlines, projects, and everything else that […]
Built for Tech: Building a Business That Can Scale
Growth creates pressure. That is not always a bad thing. In fact, growth is often the goal. More customers. More employees. More locations. More revenue. More opportunity. More complexity. But growth does not only reveal what a business does well. It also reveals what the business has outgrown. The informal process that worked with five […]
Tech Files: What Does a Managed IT Service Provider Actually Do?
It’s Monday morning. One employee can’t log into their email. Another computer is running painfully slow. The conference room Wi-Fi isn’t cooperating, and an important meeting starts in 20 minutes. Someone asks the inevitable question: “Who do we call?” For many small and mid-sized businesses, the answer is a Managed IT Service Provider, commonly called […]
Tech Files: The New Employee Who Couldn’t Get Anything Done
Monday was a new employee’s first day. Their desk was ready, their computer was set up, and they had already met some of their new coworkers. Everything seemed to be off to a good start. There was just one problem. They couldn’t log into anything. Their email account wasn’t ready yet. They didn’t have access […]
Built for Tech: The Best Technology Plans Start With Better Questions
Most technology conversations start too late. They start when something breaks. A system goes down. A device fails. A platform becomes too expensive. A security concern appears. A process becomes too frustrating to ignore. A business leader finally asks, “What do we need to do about this?” At that point, the conversation is already reactive. […]
Tech Files: The Ultimate Wi-Fi Fiasco That Ruined the Meeting
The meeting was supposed to take about 30 minutes. Everyone was in the conference room, the presentation was ready, and the team was about to begin. Then the problems started. The presentation wouldn’t load. Someone disconnected and reconnected to the Wi-Fi. Another person restarted their computer. After several minutes of troubleshooting, someone finally asked: “Is […]
Behind the Ticket: Downtime Is More Expensive Than It Looks
Why “it was only down for an hour” is rarely that simple. Every IT ticket tells a story. Sometimes the story starts with urgency. “The internet is down.”“Email is not working.”“We cannot access the system.”“The phones are offline.”“The server is not responding.”“No one can print.”“Our payment system is down.”“The application we use every day will […]
Tech Files: Tech Files: Did We Shut Off Their Access?
Friday was an employee’s last day. They returned their laptop, handed over their key, said goodbye to the team, and headed out the door. Everything seemed handled until Monday morning, when someone asked a simple question: “Did we shut off all of their access?” Their email account had been disabled, but what about the shared […]