Message from General Computer Development 

What to Consider when Choosing the Right Managed Service Provider

When choosing a Managed Service Provider (MSP), focus on their expertise, security capabilities, scalability, proactive approach, and customer support to ensure they align with your business needs and can effectively manage your IT infrastructure.

Here's a more detailed breakdown of 6 key factors to consider:

1. Define your Business Needs and IT Requirements

What are your key priorities and how can technology support them? Assess your existing IT infrastructure, including hardware, software, and network, and identify areas for improvement or upgrades.

2. Evaluate the MSP's Security and Compliance

What security measures do they implement to protect your data and systems? Do they comply with relevant industry regulations and standards? How do they handle security incidents and breaches? 

3. Review their Service Offerings

Does the MSP offer a comprehensive range of services that meet your needs? Ensure whether the MSP can adapt to your changing business needs and scale their services as needed.

4. Evaluate their Experience and Expertise

Look for MSPs with experience in your industry, as they'll understand your unique IT challenges and ensure they have the necessary skills and experience to handle your specific technologies and systems. 

5. Evaluate their Customer Support and Communication

How does the MSP communicate with you and how responsive are they to your questions and concerns? What are the MSP's support hours and how do they handle after-hours issues? Ensure that the SLAs clearly define expectations for response times, uptime, and performance metrics. 

6. Analyze Cost and Value

Understand the MSP's pricing structure and ensure it aligns with your budget. Consider the value the MSP provides beyond just cost, such as improved security, reliability, and efficiency.

The more you assess what your business needs, the more you'll need a MSP who understands that not every business is the same. 

We know that and we'll mold your IT infrastructure to only fit uniquely your business!

App Assure puts Security first for Microsoft Outlook Customers

Business today doesn’t happen in silos. Workflows span across multiple apps, from email to CRM to collaboration tools. Outlook add-ins play a key role in keeping teams productive, but they too often rely upon legacy authentication methods that weren’t designed for this new, interconnected world. 

App Assure helps customers and partners embrace change 

Security is at the forefront of everything we do, but implementing change at scale requires collaboration. For many organizations, Outlook add-ins are business-critical tools that integrate email with CRM, project management, and collaboration platforms. If the impacts of this transition aren’t managed properly, businesses could face disruptions in daily workflows.

App Assure is a Microsoft FastTrack benefit that provides application compatibility support for custom apps, ISV applications, and Microsoft products, helping organizations address potential issues during upgrades or deployments, at no additional cost. 

App Assure’s role is to work proactively with vendors, ensuring that M365 apps are not only secure but also continue to deliver value to customers, including:

- Helping customers troubleshoot, root cause and resolve app compatibility issues

- Customers get a direct line of communication to Microsoft product engineering teams

- And the best part- This service is no additional cost!

As a trusted industry partner for M365, we have already made the shift, ensuring these add-ins remain fully functional and secure. We are avoiding last-minute disruptions and providing our customers with the best possible experience!

🤝Did You Hear about our New Referral Program?🤝

It's just a special way for you to earn rewards just by sharing your trust in GCD!

Here’s how it works:

1. Refer a Friend: Tell your friends, family, or partners about GCD.

2. They connect and sign up for our services: Once they sign-up, you both win!

3. Earn Rewards: For every successful referral, you’ll receive incentives such as a free assessment, discounts, and credits. Here's another great part- your friend will receive something great too!

Ready to get started? Simply have your referral mention you and/or your business and we’ll do the rest.

If you have any questions, you know where to find us!

A Final Note...