About Us
Whether you are a personal computer user in need of help, or a small business in need of IT support, Alpha Geeks has the solution to fit both your needs and your budget.
We offer flat rate pricing, free in-store diagnostics, and quick turn around times. Our specialties are computer support/maintenance, Cyber-Security, Hosted VOIP, and Data Backup and Business Continuity.
The products and services we offer
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Products & Services
If you need help removing a virus or spyware, or you just want your system to run like it did when it was brand new, Alpha Geeks can help! Everyth...
Ransomware is on the rise. 49% of all businesses suffered a ransom attack in 2016. Don't be next. We can protect your data and network from a cy...
Are you overpaying for your internet service? Why not take our FREE, no obligation price check? In most cases you can increase your current bandw...
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"Jeff and ATI Physical Therapy come highly recommended from me! He helped me with a shoulder..."
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"Jeff and ATI Physical Therapy come highly recommended from me! He helped me with a shoulder injury and I cannot be more thankful!"
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Recent Activity
First and foremost, hopefully you have a plan in place BEFORE you need to use it. When you talk about systems, what really are you talking about? That word could encompass a lot of different things such as computers (servers and desktops), infrastructure (internet and networking equipment),...
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First and foremost, hopefully you have a plan in place BEFORE you need to use it. When you talk about systems, what really are you talking about? That word could encompass a lot of different things such as computers (servers and desktops), infrastructure (internet and networking equipment), phones, etc. I will try to address several of the key components we deal with here and how we handle them. Internet If internet is absolutely mission critical, you would have to have a router with ISP fail-over. If your main source of internet goes out, the secondary source kicks in. For example, if you have a router that uses either fiber or coax as your main provider and that provider experiences an outage, the secondary ISP configuration would kick in. For our business clients where internet is mission critical, we use a router that supports 4G fail-over. If the main internet source goes down, the 4G service becomes active keeping their internet alive. Speeds may be an issue, but at least they have internet. All other routing/router functions and rules still apply. Phones In today's modern business landscape, there really is no reason NOT to use a quality VOIP service, whether it is hosted or on premises. When picking a VOIP provider, make sure that they offer call continuity and system redundancy.
These features automatically forward calls in real time to designated mobile phone numbers in the event your internet service fails (see above), which helps to ensure that no VOIP phone call is ever lost. At Alpha Geeks we provide a hosted VOIP solution to our clients for $27.95 per month per line, hardware (phones) included, that offers not only call continuity and system redundancy, but over 150 other features as well. Servers Servers are probably the biggest mission critical item within an organizations "systems" that have the highest rate of failure, or at least the highest chance of failure as compared to the other "systems" above. There are many different options when it comes to servers these days, and there is no "one-size fits all" solution. At their core however, all servers have hard drives, which like us, have a 100% mortality rate. It is not a matter of if they will die, but when. Regardless of if you use a physical, hosted, or virtual server, the ability to restore that server in the event of failure is key. In business time is money. The longer your server is down, the more money you lose. For our business clients we utilize a backup solution that takes snapshots of the server at intervals our clients deem appropriate for their businesses. These snapshots are stored locally on a device, and also mirrored offsite. In the event that a server goes down, their entire server can be recreated from these snapshots and launched in a virtual environment in about 15 minutes. All of the endpoints "check-in" to the virtual server as if it were the real thing and business continues. When the original servers gets fixed or replaced, any data that has changed on the virtual server gets exported to the primary server. Misc Other "systems" can include physical computers, software programs, and network infrastructure such as routers, switches, or wifi access points to name a few. For software issues, if a piece of software that a business we manage has a maintenance contract, we require our customers to keep that contract active. We will work with the software vendors tech support team to fix the issues, but ultimately it is the software vendors responsibility to ensure that their software is working properly (that is what the maintenance contract is for). Physical computers, like individual desktops or laptops are backed up either with the same image based backup system we use for servers, or just data only. When it comes to determining what backup system to use, the key question to ask is "How long can you go without your data?" If it needs to be available always, then the imaging software is the solution. If it can wait a day or two, then data only restoration to a new computer is the way to go. All other miscellaneous hardware issues are on a case by case basis. We keep extra networking equipment at our shop and can have it replaced same day if needed. Some of our bigger clients keep extra equipment stored at their facilities. Amazon is also a great source of picking up things really quickly if you live in a market that offers same or next day service. The above mentioned practices are for any size business. We have clients as small as one person, one computer up to multi-state companies with many employees. Size does not matter, disaster prep does. Remember, those who fail to plan plan to fail.
I have 15
HP 560 Wireless Dual Radio 802.11ac (AM) Access Point (J9845A) MRLBB-1304. All pulled from a working environment and all in great shape.
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I have 15
HP 560 Wireless Dual Radio 802.11ac (AM) Access Point (J9845A) MRLBB-1304. All pulled from a working environment and all in great shape.
Any way you can. Physical mail postcards or flyers, email to your customer list, change the signature in your email address and put your new physical address in red, update your website, update your phone message, etc. Every time you have any customer contact make sure you let them know the new...
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Any way you can. Physical mail postcards or flyers, email to your customer list, change the signature in your email address and put your new physical address in red, update your website, update your phone message, etc. Every time you have any customer contact make sure you let them know the new address. An email campaign that is track-able is nice so you can see which addresses bounce. Also, if you have a good relationship with your current landlord you could see about some type of signage at the place you are moving out of letting people know of your new address.
The process differs greatly for a home vs. a business user, and also if we are talking data backup or business continuity.
Data backup is just that, a backup of data or files that can be retrieved in the event of hardware failure, fire, flood, theft, ransomware, etc. Usually data backup does...
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The process differs greatly for a home vs. a business user, and also if we are talking data backup or business continuity.
Data backup is just that, a backup of data or files that can be retrieved in the event of hardware failure, fire, flood, theft, ransomware, etc. Usually data backup does not involve imaging a drive, but it certainly could.
Business continuity involves keeping the business up and running during the time it takes to repair or replace a critical business system and restore it's data in case of system failure.
The method you use is really based upon what the customer wants. You need to ask the end user many questions to determine which method is best for them, and while every home or business user has different needs, the best strategy would involve a combination of both data backup and business continuity.
For home/residential users, usually all they really care about is making sure that their data is safe and accessible in case of a system failure. We recommend backups to an external or NAS drive and also use Backblaze for their file based, secure, offsite backup solution. An offsite solution is absolutely an essential part of any data backup plan. If the computers are managed by us as well, we do collect product keys for their various software products and securely store them in our RMM utility.
For businesses, we are a Datto partner and utilize their suite of services based on what is right for the customer. Most of our businesses are backed up using either their Alto or Siris products. Both of them take snapshots (images) of the environment at intervals that we specify (minute, hourly, daily, etc.). In the event of a failure for any reason, a VM can be spun up in about 10 minutes with the most recent snapshot (or any snapshot we choose) to get the business back up and running. Access to vital programs and data continues as if the failed system never failed. Data gets written to the VM and once the failed system is repaired or replaced, any of the data that was written to the VM gets transferred back to the main system. In all, the end user experiences about 30 minutes or less of total down time. The snapshots are stored both on-site in the Datto appliance, and also replicated offsite.
Another nice feature of the Datto solution is that the snapshots are launched in a VM daily as "proof" that the snapshot is valid. A screenshot of the login screen is sent via email to ensure that the snapshot actually was successful and the image is bootable.
I do feel that it is important to note that file sharing and synchronization services like Dropbox and OneDrive, while useful, should not be considered a true backup solution.
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Really depends on what you consider a sale - goods, service, or both? The best kind of sale is one where you make a commission off of the product being sold, and follow up revenue through continued services.
We offer break-fix service in our storefront, but the core of our business is Managed...
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Really depends on what you consider a sale - goods, service, or both? The best kind of sale is one where you make a commission off of the product being sold, and follow up revenue through continued services.
We offer break-fix service in our storefront, but the core of our business is Managed Services. For our MSP practice, I would say that our best "sale" was one of our managed clients ordered 14 new systems through our AlphaCare Platinum program, which is a Hardware As A Service program (basically they lease the systems from us). In addition to the new systems, they also replaced a server at the same time. The project work (setups, data transfer, server setup, etc.) was awesome, but the continued revenue stream from the AlphaCare Platinum program is great. At the end of 3 years, we take back the computers and replace them with brand new ones. Essentially, this locks the client to us for 3 years unless they want to buy out their contract (only happened once for 2 systems).
Business networking is a great resource. Not all networking groups are the same, so do your research. I am not knocking the "home businesses" like cosmetics, clothing, jewelry and the sort, but try to find a group with a brick and mortar presence where the principals are involved in the...
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Business networking is a great resource. Not all networking groups are the same, so do your research. I am not knocking the "home businesses" like cosmetics, clothing, jewelry and the sort, but try to find a group with a brick and mortar presence where the principals are involved in the networking.
Once you do find a suitable networking group make sure you actually network. Set aside some time to meet with the members outside of the network meeting to see what drives their businesses. Strive to get a better understanding of their business and what is important to them as a business owner. These meetings really shouldn't be used a a sales opportunity on your end, rather more like a lunch and learn. Don't speak about your business unless directly asked.
Kevin,
Bang for your buck is really up to you. You have to choose your target market, and find out how to reach them. Whether it is radio, print, social media, etc. you need to engage your prospective customer in a manner that will leave them wanting to take action.
I can say that we have...
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Kevin,
Bang for your buck is really up to you. You have to choose your target market, and find out how to reach them. Whether it is radio, print, social media, etc. you need to engage your prospective customer in a manner that will leave them wanting to take action.
I can say that we have effectively run radio campaigns in the past, but that does not mean that they would be effective for you.
Advertising is all around you, whether you pay attention to it outside your cell phone or not. Take Best Buy for example. Every single week they advertise refrigerators for sale, and you probably don't ever read the ad. Then one day your fridge breaks down, you get a Best Buy ad and lo and behold, they have refrigerators on sale! How lucky are you?
Since you are in the IT business, I would recommend a book by Herman Pool (president of ACRBO) called One Hour Marketing. It can be found on Amazon. Herman is a wealth of information about marketing. ACRBO (Association of Computer Repair Business Owners) is a good resource as well.
1 Reply
We use CDI (http://shop.cdicomputers.com/) and have been very happy with the quality of the systems. You can buy in any quantity, including 1 at a time.
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We use CDI (http://shop.cdicomputers.com/) and have been very happy with the quality of the systems. You can buy in any quantity, including 1 at a time.
