►Thinking About Hiring Your Own Internal IT Staff – Think Again!
Outsourcing your IT brings additional business value
by Stuart R. Crawford, V.P., IT Matters, Inc.

Businesses today wrestle and grapple with the thought of hiring their own technology support staff to support their daily need for IT support without fully understanding the risks and the costs associated with having their own team of technology professionals.

Business owners, C level execs and Managers are attracted to the idea of having a team or a consultant readily available within shouting distance down the hall, basically having an IT resource committed to them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, many of today's business owners across the country are not aware of the total risks their business is exposed to by electing to bring their technology support in-house.

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All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like and trust.

- Bob Burg

►Just for Laughs

Few things are as critical to your business as a phone system. Even with the sky-rocketing percentages of people using social media and the steady rise of email correspondence; people still use the phone as a critical business tool. A phone call allows instant communication and response time. With a phone call you can pick up the subtle nuances of speech and timbre that do not translate in electronic communications. All the emoticons in the world can’t clarify the simple things you can pick up on a phone call. There is also something comforting about talking to a live person. You know they understand your need and that they are willing to meet that need.

The problem is that so many businesses are using outdated or home-use phones in a commercial environment. There are many options out there for Business Class Phone Systems. Remember all phone systems are not created equal!

When selecting a Business Class Phone System ask the following questions:

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Carole Martin has a marketing expert upon whom she relies for sharp ideas and provocative sales angles.

What's interesting about this is that the two have never met face to face. Their business relationship is truly "virtual."

"It takes many skills and personality types to run a business, even a small business. You really can't do it alone," says Martin, a Burlingame, Calif., writer and coach. "It's a strange world we live in."

Strange, but increasingly common. Yes, welcome to the burgeoning world of the virtual office, where businesses have a mission and focus — but have personnel as far flung as the planet allows.

On top of the usual challenges that businesses face, a successful virtual-office business requires a whole new set of strategies.

But here are seven ways to help make one work.

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As a business decision maker (BDM), you have a lot of tough choices to make, whether they are based on intuition or extensive research. Knowing what your peers think about business trends and what your IT staff says about new technology solutions can help you make sound decisions.

Along these lines, Microsoft recently commissioned a survey on cloud computing that lends some insight into how IT decision makers (ITDMs) can examine the benefits of cloud computing and how it might help their businesses. Conducted by 7th Sense Research, the survey found that ITDMs across the U.S. strongly agree that cloud solutions present a strategic opportunity for businesses and concur that the cloud is "an engine of growth."

Additionally, more than 35 percent of the 2,211 ITDMs surveyed are currently or are planning to implement cloud-based solutions within their organizations sometime in the next year. The larger the company, the more cloud computing projects they have planned or in process.

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