►When You Wish Upon "The Cloud"
by Erin Griffin
used with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Website

It seems that every networking event this year, every tech magazine issue, and every vendor worth its salt is talking about “the cloud.” The cloud, in one of its many forms – public, private, or mixed – has become ubiquitous! I’ll confess: I started off my cloud gazing with little interest and several doubts, but I’ve learned a lot over the past year about the potential benefits of obtaining software, platform, and infrastructure as cloud services. I’m not quite ready to “drink the kool aid” yet, but it’s starting to look pretty tasty. Still, I have five wishes that need to be granted before I can consider a major move into the cloud.

Wish #1: Service Comparable to What I Provide Now.
When our CEO says jump, well . . . you get the picture. As CIO, I have to provide the level of service that our senior management and board expect from the IT team. So, how do I create SLAs that really ensure that a cloud provider will meet these demanding standards? When a cloud provider doesn't meet the SLA, the reimbursement is generally a partial rebate of the provider's fee. When the internal IT staff doesn’t meet the SLA, the "price" can be much higher.

Read more
 

Gratitude consists of being more aware of what you have, than what you don't.

Author Unknown
 

►Just for Laughs

As we continue to look forward at the IT landscape nothing is growing faster than virtualization. The last 4 out of 5 projects completed by us have all involved creating a virtual strategy for our clients. I know this number does not appear to be "staggering" or "earth shattering" but it is a rapidly growing trend in business. Here are a few reasons we are encouraging our clients to move to a virtual server environment for their infrastructures:

Read more

VARs have a variety of perceptions about them. Some of these perceptions are right on. Some of them completely miss the mark. The truth is the right VAR can help most businesses more than they realize. Can the right VAR help you?

Technology is critical to run almost every business today, and in most cases, can offer both competitive and strategic value to your business. The problem is many businesses don’t think about their PCs, printers or servers as providing a competitive advantage or as strategic business tools. Even as a fundamental business tool, many think that there is little difference in the basic capabilities across the huge variety of technology devices on the market today. Having been in the industry for almost 20 years now, I can tell you that there are many differences worth noting when comparing computing products. I can also tell you that when used appropriately, there are both competitive and strategic advantages to be gained from technology.

Read more

Worried about hackers, viruses and malware? Are you concerned that your employees can't access their data when they're on the road?

These are common concerns among small-business owners. The average annual loss reported by United States companies more than doubled in 2007, to $350,424 from $168,000 the previous year, according to the CSI Computer Crime and Security Survey. That ended a five-year run of lower reported losses. Average losses dropped somewhat in 2008 but remained alarmingly high, at $289,000 per respondent.

And a recent survey of 400 small-business owners by Hewlett-Packard found that small businesses place mobility high on their priority list, because nearly one-third of their time is spent outside the office.

It's possible to address both of these issues with a single solution: upgrading your company's computers from a peer-to-peer network to one that's managed by a server. A server is a dedicated computer that stores and manages information and acts as a hub to connect other computers and devices.

Here's how a server can answer the concerns of your small businesses, when it comes to safety and mobility, including:

Read more

►Business Continuity Tip
Be decisive.
Too often during interruptions, we see businesses take a wait-and-see approach to executing their established disaster recovery plan. If your plan calls for you to "pull the trigger" within the first 12 hours, but instead you second guess yourself and wait, you put your business at risk. Delays in executing your recovery plan can set in motion a cascading series of failures that are difficult to stop once they've begun. During a disaster, the domino effect is magnified.

We understand that putting your recovery plan in action is not an easy decision; the manpower, resources and expense can be intimidating. But that's where the benefit of planning and testing shines. A detailed plan will help you make a solid rational decision in a very emotional time.

Trust your plan. It'll save your business.