Blog
National Apprenticeship Week 2020
by Nicki Dowsett in Engineers, General, Helpdesk, IT Support, IT Systems, MPR, National Apprentice Week 2020, Training
National Apprenticeship week is being celebrated this week, an annual celebration supporting and promoting apprenticeships in the workplace.
To celebrate National Apprenticeship week, we would like to recognise Ben and Jacob. Having both joined MPR IT four years ago as apprentices, are now integral members of the team. Since completing their apprenticeships they have worked their way up to 2nd line engineers within the helpdesk team.
Keep up the good work Ben and Jacob, we are proud to have you part of our team.
Some of the feedback received from customers on Ben’s support:
- Ben was great!
- Thanks Ben for your swift response in sorting out the issue, greatly appreciated
- Ben was very professional and took the time to explain what He needed from me so He could carry out the system check to confirm the error and what as needed, which Ben emailed to me to help get the issue resolved.
- Many Thanks for your timely response
- As usual Ben sorted the problem quickly and efficiently
- Perfect service as usual!
Some of the feedback received from customers on Jacob’s support:
- Super quick to assist as usual! Thank you
- Job done quickly with the right result
- Jacob was a very good help
- Excellent service in resolving issue
- Jacob attended to my request quite fast, and I appreciate him considering our time difference
- As always, Jacob sorted out the issue really quickly. Thank you
- Brilliant first class services
For many years, MPR IT has been a strong supporter of apprenticeships and encouraging the progression from full time education to the workplace. Giving young people the opportunity to learn key skills and gain knowledge in the IT industry. We strongly believe that staff development at MPR is important to staff loyalty. Working on several initiatives we support each team member on an individual basis. No member of staff is the same and they each have a different path they wish to take.
Read moreJUST IN – NEW OFFER NOT TO BE MISSED
by Nicki Dowsett in General, Hardware, Helpdesk, IT Support, IT Systems, MPR
- Are you looking to upgrade PC’s in your office due to end of life?
- Are you expanding and need new PC’s for new staff?
- Or are you running Windows 7 but need to update Windows 10 and your current PC isn’t powerful enough?
If the answer is yes then look no further than these two amazing offers currently available. (Subject to availability and stock for new sales only.)
Now that Microsoft are no longer supporting Windows 7 with updates and security patches, it is recommended that you up date to Windows 10. However, before you make the move, it is imperative that you audit your current software systems and hardware. Windows 10 is a powerful operating system and therefore requires a large amount of RAM installed. Our team of experts can audit all of your software packages (e.g Sage) and hardware (e.g RAM, printers and scanners) to ensure these are compatible and where they may not be. To upgrade without taking this into consideration, you may find that it becomes time consuming and more costly to rectify the issues.
We understand that when it comes to purchasing new hardware for your office it can be costly. Whether its due to natural end of life, additional staff members or needing to upgrade to more powerful PC’s, these two offers should not be overlooked.
HP PRODESK 600 G2 SFF at only £499
Refurbished With intel core i5 16GB 360SSD + 3 year warranty
DELL OPTIPLEX 9020 AT ONLY £399
Refurbished With intel core i5 8GB 360SSD + 3 year warranty
Contact our sales team today on 0800 030 20 30 to discuss the options available for these offers.
Read moreMPR Festive Opening Hours
by Nicki Dowsett in Helpdesk, IT Support, MPR, MPR IT Work
MPR would like to take a moment to thank you for your custom over the last year. It has been a pleasure working with you all and we look forward to more of the same in 2020.
Christmas is an extremely busy time of year for everyone, but all the hard-working MPR staff need some time off too so please find below our Christmas Opening Hours. We will of course do our very best to provide our usual outstanding level of service.
- Monday 23rd December 8.30am – 5.30pm
- Tuesday 24th December 8.30am – noon
- Wednesday 25th December CLOSED
- Thursday 26th December CLOSED
- Friday 27th December 8.30am – 5.30pm
- Monday 30th December 8.30am – 5.30pm
- Tuesday 31st December 8.30am – 5.30pm
- Wednesday 1st January CLOSED
- Thursday 2nd January 8.30am – 5.30pm
Wishing all our customers a very Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for the New Year.
Read moreAshford Business Awards
by Nicki Dowsett in Awards, MPR, MPR IT Work
MPR IT Solutions are pleased to announce that we have successfully reached the final round of the Ashford Business Awards for both Customer Services Award and Small Business Award.
Since 2008, MPR IT Solutions has operated with a belief that IT Support could and should be delivered with a focus on Customer Support. We continue to maintain the aim and idea “to never sacrifice our high level of customer service for growth, we hope and believe that through good customer service our business will become the market leader in Kent.”
Over time MPR IT Solutions has become a well-known and respected IT Support provider, not only in Ashford, but with clients throughout London and the UK. No longer relying on offering simple support contracts has allowed the business to develop, and we now offer a wide range of technical solutions, through MPR Technical Services working on large building projects in conjunction with our daily IT support offering.
To be recognised in these two categories as a finalist of these awards is down to the hard work of all the members of our team to carry on this ethos, along with the continued support from all our customers – Thank you
The Ashford Business Awards celebrate businesses within Ashford, Hythe, Romney Marsh, Folkestone, Deal and Dover across a number of categories, including:
- Start up award
- Small business award
- Creative/digital award
- Customer services award
- Innovation award
- Hospitality / leisure and tourism / best food and drink producer award
- Business women of the year award
- Best family business award
- Best Construction Business NEW to 2019
All finalists will be announced on the Business Bunker Radio Show next Tuesday 12th November 2019, on air between 1 pm – 3 pm.
The winners will be announced at Ashford Business Awards Dinner on Wednesday 20th November 2019 at the Ashford International Hotel. Wishing the team at MPR IT Solutions good luck for the night – we are proud of all you no matter the outcome.
Read moreDomain Ownership – Protecting your brand
by Nicki Dowsett in DNS Web Hosting, Domain Registration, General, Helpdesk, Industry News, IT Support, Uncategorised, Web Hosting, Websites
Domain Registration and Web Hosting
Many businesses have an online presence, without one your business can go unnoticed. When a potential customer is looking for a new supplier or product the first place they will turn to now is most likely the internet.
Many of our clients register their domain names through MPR IT Solutions, and it is becoming increasingly commonplace to register a variety of different domain names for websites such as: .co.uk, .uk, .com, .net and .co.
In addition to registering Domain names, MPR IT Solutions also host many of our client websites.
Whilst you only need one website to promote your business, it is possible to have more than one domain name directed to that website. There are many reasons for this, the most common reason being the ability to secure your brand. By owning the different variations it means that no one else can buy these and create fake platforms. This can prove detrimental to your business profile.
With the registration of a variety of domain names you cannot only help to avoid scams but also increase your on-line presence. You are more likely to appear higher in google searches if you have more options for your website to redirect to. Ensuring any potential customers looking for your company can find it more easily.
Protecting your brand
A story from BBC News highlights the importance of retaining domain name ownership, where it has once been linked to your business and how your brand can be seriously affected. In this case a domain name was no longer required by Surrey County Council and released. However it is still referenced by a number of third party websites relating to Special Needs education. The domain, after being released was purchased by a company promoting adult content.
There is nothing that Surrey County Council can do to remove the adult content from this domain as they no longer have ownership of the domain name and therefore no rights to it. Additionally, it is very difficult to monitor which third party websites reference your domain names and this example shows exactly how this could be detrimental to your business brand.
Contact us today on 0800 030 20 30 or sales@mpr-it.co.uk to discuss the Domain registration and Web Hosting options we offer.
Read moreMicrosoft Support Ending
by Nicki Dowsett in General, Hardware, Helpdesk, Industry News, IT Systems, Microsoft, Office 2007, Office 365, Uncategorised, Windows 10, Windows 7
Microsoft will be ending support and updates for two of their platforms in 2020. If you are currently using either Office 2010 or Windows 7, it is important to consider your options now.
Microsoft have recently announced that support for Office 2010 will be ending on 13th October 2020. This means that from this date there will be no further extension of updates on this package.
Whilst Office 2010 will still continue to function it does mean that you will be at risk of potentially harmful and serious security risks. We recommend that you look to upgrading to Microsoft Office 365 as a replacement.
MPR IT Solutions are an official Microsoft Cloud Accelerate Partner and Small Business Specialist. This means we are trained in a number of Microsoft Competencies that directly relate to implementing, migrating and configuring your Office 365 solution. We have vast experience in migrating businesses over to Office 365 and ensure minimal disruption to your daily tasks.
Secondly support will be ending on 14 January 2020 for the operating system Windows 7. Available since 2009, there have been a number of updates since the launch, with the current recommended version Windows 10 now on the market. Please see our earlier blog explaining this.
If you are using Windows 7, either on a personal computer or at your business, now is the time to consider upgrading to Windows 10. However, before you make the move, it is imperative that you consider any 3rd party software programme installed on your pc/laptop and hardware such as printers, scanners etc. as these may not be compatible. You will also need to consider the hardware resources available, as Windows 10 is a powerful operating system and therefore requires a large amount of RAM installed.
Our team of experts can audit all of your software packages (e.g Sage) and hardware (e.g RAM, printers and scanners) to ensure these are compatible and where they may not be. To upgrade without taking this into consideration, you may find that it becomes time consuming and more costly to rectify the issues.
For more information and to discuss your options to upgrade either of these Microsoft products please contact our team on 0800 030 20 30 or email sales@mpr-it.co.uk
Read moreMPR IT are recruiting again
by Nicki Dowsett in Engineers, General, Helpdesk, IT Support, IT Systems, Recruitment
After our previous recruitment drive we are pleased to welcome on board several new members of the team, however as a very busy summer draws to a close, the time has come for MPR IT to recruit again
The vision at MPR IT Solutions has always been to never sacrifice our high level of customer service for growth. To enable us to provide the high level of service, that our clients demand, we are currently recruiting a number of positions to our Helpdesk.
We are looking for hardworking, experienced individuals to join our ever-growing team. We require team members with a variety of skills that will allow us to maintain the exemplary service we already provide. Interacting with customers will be required daily via multiple forms of communication, including on the telephone and through email, so excellent communication skills are essential.
2nd Line Support Engineer
The role consists of providing technical IT support to a wide variety of companies and will require someone who can adapt to different situations and changing demands using their skills to work through issues in a methodical and dynamic manner.
Daily tasks will include customer liaison, processing tickets for support requests using remote access tools and sometimes on-site visits, being the escalation point for the 1st Line team whilst managing their own workload. Strong investigative and technical skills are critical for this position within a fast paced and sometimes high-pressure environment role.
3rd Line Support Engineer
The position of a 3rd Line Support Engineer covers the more complex areas of design, configuration and support of Windows server environments and networks.
You will be liaising with clients as a technical lead, supporting new client onboarding, future planning of client IT systems; including system design, deployment and maintenance, whilst also providing ongoing 3rd line support as a key member of our Helpdesk team. The successful candidate must show a diverse mindset and hard-working ethic with exceptional verbal and written communication skills. You will be able to manage your own workload, be an integral team player and have a genuine passion for IT.
For more information and full job descriptions please email: Claire@mpr-it.co.uk
Read moreExclaimer Cloud – Email Signatures for Office 365
by Nicki Dowsett in Exclaimer Cloud, General, IT Support, IT Systems
Exclaimer Cloud – Email Signatures for Office 365
MPR IT Solutions are pleased to announce that we are now authorised partners with Exclaimer Cloud – an email signature management service used in conjunction with Office 365. With a cost just £0.99 per person per month (plus initial set up and configuration costs) – Exclaimer is a simple straightforward service that means professional email signatures can be designed, managed and are automatically added to all emails sent from any device in one easy place.
Key Features & Benefits
- All Office 365 users get a full, dynamic and professional email signature when sending from every device, including smartphones, tablets and Macs.
- Email signatures designed and created using the cutting-edge Office 365 signature editor or choose from a variety of different template designs designed by the market leaders in dedicated email signature management solutions.
- Individual personal contact details taken from your Office 365 Directory, guaranteeing that every user has the correct information in their email signature. Then, we can personalise each user’s signature with a photo image or anything else you decide is pertinent.
- Easily add additional email signature elements like social media icons, promotional banners, legal disclaimers and more.
- Ability to create internal, external or departmental signatures and allow your users to choose an Office 365 signature in Outlook as they compose a message. They’ll also see the signature on messages in their Sent Items folder!
- Option to amend and add marketing campaigns to run over a time period you decide upon.
- Email signatures are ‘stamped’ by Exclaimer’s regional Azure servers, passing email messages back to Office 365.
- Built with the highest levels of security and control in place, this service has been awarded the ISO 27001:2013 Certification.
Options available:
- Once MPR IT have completed initial configuration and set up, we can offer a days training session so you can create your own your email signatures and control changes as you require.
- Through the Exclaimer Portal you can design your email signature with a standard template alternatively if you have a design in mind Exclaimer can create a new template for you.
- MPR IT manage your email layout design and create the email signature for you. When you wish to make any changes or add promotional banners we can make these changes for you.
(all subject to additional costs)
Please contact MPR IT Solutions on 0800 030 20 30 option 2 or email us: sales@mpr-it.co.uk for full detailed information and pricings based on the number of employees and set up/configuration costs.
Read moreBlolite Fibre training from Leviton
by Nicki Dowsett in fibre optics, IT Systems, Structured Cabling, Training
Many Thanks to Tony Simmons and Chloe Barnard from Leviton for taking time out to visit our new Office in Henwood Ashford and update MPR Technical Services engineers, Brad, James, Chris and our new Project Manager, Dave Thompson on the latest Blolite Blown Fibre IM2000 installation equipment in preparation for some upcoming Blown Fibre installation projects. Installing Blolite MicroDuct is a fantastic way for our clients to futureproof their Sites and Buildings for current and emerging technologies in fibre systems, saving unnecessary CAPEX costs that installing Dark Fibre incurs. Our clients won’t have to pay for their fibre requirements until it is actually required.
For more information on how MPR IT can install fibre cabling and future proof your business please contact us 0800 030 20 30 or see our website
Read more