Advance Business Systems Chosen as a Top 10 Best Technology Solution Provider of 2020 by Industry Tech Outlook Magazine
Advance Business Systems has been named a Top 10 Best Technology Solution Provider of 2020 by Industry Tech Outlook Magazine. The summer edition of Industry Tech Outlook magazine features the top 10 most promising technology companies that are leading the way in their field in 2020. Advance’s proactive and comprehensive IT program matched with a unique approach to training that assures clients they have a business partner instead of an IT provider has ranked them among this elite list of organizations.
The following excerpt was taken from Advance’s feature that originally appeared in the June 2020 edition of Industry Tech Outlook Magazine:
Advance Helps Businesses Achieve their Mission Through Technology & End-User Adoption
Jeff Elkin, president of Advance, stands in the IT Command Center at the business solutions provider’s headquarters in Cockeysville. (Photo by Steve Ruark)
Advance is a people company with an intense passion for improving their customers’ businesses and enhancing their team members’ lives. That is not only their mission, it comes through in everything they do. Advance believes technology can transform an organization, but the key to achieving operational excellence through technology is an implementation strategy, roadmap and technology standardization that is embraced and advocated by the end-users. Far too often a comprehensive plan falls flat because the end-users ultimately impacted did not have buy-in or full adoption of the technology. Advance’s focus on an end-user adoption strategy is truly a differentiator in the marketplace and was what landed them on our list of the 10 Best Technology Solutions Providers of 2020.
Advance offers a range of products and services designed to help their customers do business more effectively, efficiently and securely; such as next-generation hardware, software to improve internal workflow, Managed Print Services, Managed IT Services, and more. Their approach to implementing these solutions is different. Advance takes a deep dive into each organization that they work with to understand who they are, their goals and initiatives, and the unique challenges that they face. Advance then makes a recommendation that addresses those challenges and positions the organization to achieve their goals. This recommendation, paired with Advance’s people-based approach to implementation, buy-in, and ongoing support, allows them to help their clients truly change their organization in a meaningful and lasting way.
Realizing the Benefits of a Proactive Program Amidst the COVID-19 Crisis
A major component in Advance’s Managed IT Solution includes business continuity planning. This incorporates the implementation of technology to allow businesses to continue leveraging a remote workforce should the need arise. When the COVID-19 crisis hit unexpectedly, Advance’s Managed IT customers were positioned to quickly and effectively leverage technology to transition business functions to a remote environment while many other organizations were unprepared and unable to make the transition.
Advance’s Managed IT Services program is fully comprehensive for its partners. The program includes a 24/7/365 help desk for day-to-day technology issues, proactive monitoring of all systems to uphold maximum uptime and strategic planning that ensures each partner’s technology is aligned with their unique mission and tactical goals. An in-depth business continuity plan is an essential part of that strategic planning process for all partners. It is developed at the onset of each relationship that provides step-by-step instructions designed to keep each business up and running should any type of disruption or disaster occur.
As soon as COVID-19 became a threat to our community and organizations, Advance quickly got to work activating each partner’s business continuity plans. Within a short period of time, each organization’s workforce was activated remotely and was able to remain operational without skipping a beat. With each organization’s unique plan already comprised, activation was seamless and executed without downtime.
Even though Advance’s team was already working remotely during this activation, Advance’s people-based approach to implementation, buy-in and ongoing support became the driving force that allowed for such swift and effective change.
Advance launched training sessions for each client and put additional support staff in place to answer any questions that arose during the transition to ensure every end-user was comfortable with the tools in place. With a focus on one-on-one training, end-users were able to leverage Office 365 tools such as Microsoft Team’s video functionality and tools for secure, remote communication and access to files. Through these tools and training, every end-user was able to effectively collaborate with team members and clients, get to the information that they needed quickly and securely, and continue all critical business functions from home. Successfully pairing a high-speed, top-notch technology implementation with customized, end-user training ensured immediate adoption and Advance’s Managed IT clients to be up and running in record time.
