If a customer comes into your bank and says, “I need to transfer money from my savings to checking account because we’re remodeling the house and I have to pay the contractor,” ask her about the remodeling project, and then transfer the funds.

If you’re going to spend time on the phone or on the floor dealing with customers, you might as well have some fun. Better yet, why not make it fun for your customers to do business with you? Make it your personal goal to “make friends” with your customers by showing interest in their interests, praising them, complimenting them, and making them feel good.

“Your children are so well-behaved” you might say, or “Your remodeling project sounds like it’s going to be beautiful,” or “You have such a pleasant voice on the phone.”

When you make these types of statements, you reinforce your customer’s feelings of self-worth. No matter how good your products or marketing may be, business success or failure is often determined simply by how customers are treated. You don’t need to limit your positive statements to just compliments. You can pepper any conversation with language that’s guaranteed to bring a smile to your customers.

Here are more examples of positive statements:

“Mr. Jackson, thank you for being so patient. I’m sorry for the delay because I know that nobody likes to be kept waiting.”

“Mrs. Schmidt, welcome home. How was your trip to Hawaii?”

“Thank you for placing your order with us. We appreciate and value the fact that you choose to do business with us.”

“I’m delighted to hear from you every time you call!”

Avoid communications that serve only to annoy customers. Here are some examples of negative statements:

“We’’re very busy right now. Can you call back later?”

“I’m with another customer, you’ll just have to wait.”

“I don’t know. I don’t work in this department.”

“You’ll just have to be patient. We’re short-staffed today.”

Learn to use positive verbal and non-verbal communication to make your customers feel good about doing business with you and your company. Make customer recognition and praise a consistent element of your service delivery.

Debra J. Schmidt is known as the Loyalty Leader®. She is an author, consultant, trainer and professional speaker who helps companies boost profits by leading the way to greater customer and employee loyalty. Subscribe to her free online newsletter at: www.LoyaltyLeader.com.
  ]]> 0 http://www.emazzanti.net/does-everyone-in-your-organization-get-the-security-agenda/ http://www.emazzanti.net/does-everyone-in-your-organization-get-the-security-agenda/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 21:22:12 +0000 marypeterson http://www.emazzanti.net/?p=3838 Does Everyone in Your Organization ‘Get’ the Security Agenda?
reprinted with permission from Symantec

Summary
End users often understand the need for security only in a general sense, without grasping the vital role they play in maintaining security. This article looks at the steps IT can take to convey the message that all employees must be proactive about adhering to security procedures.

If there’s one issue that keeps IT managers up at night it’s security. According to Symantec’s 2010 State of Enterprise Security Report, cyber security now outranks traditional crime, natural disasters, and terrorism as the top risk at large organizations.

Moreover, the report found that nearly all the organizations surveyed (94%) expect to implement changes to their cyber security efforts in 2010, with almost half (48%) predicting major changes.

That being the case, it may come as a surprise that a lack of security awareness is still a fact of life at many organizations. Research conducted by the IT Policy Compliance Group shows that the number one cause of audit failure within organizations is lack of employee awareness.

This article surveys the current state of enterprise security and then recommends steps IT can take to convey the message that all employees must be proactive about adhering to security procedures.

Why 2010 is different
The 2010 State of Enterprise Security Report offers ample proof that organizations today are operating in a state of constant alert. Primarily that’s because they’re experiencing more attacks than ever before. The report found that 75% of all enterprises have experienced cyber attacks in the past 12 months, with 41% saying those attacks were somewhat or highly effective. And make no mistake, the consequences of those attacks are getting steeper. The report found that a full 100% of the enterprises surveyed had experienced cyber losses in 2009. The most common losses were:

• Theft of customer information
• Downtime of environment
• Theft of intellectual property
• Theft of customer credit card information
   

The most common costs were:

• Lost productivity
• Lost revenue
• Loss of customer trust

In all, enterprises reported that the costs associated with cyber attacks were $2 million in 2009. For large enterprises, those costs were even greater – almost $2.8 million.

That’s bad enough, but the report goes on to find that enterprise security is also woefully understaffed. And this comes at a time when enterprises are rolling out initiatives that make providing security more difficult, such as cloud computing and server virtualization.

Why you need to get the word out to everybody
Needless to say, given this environment, there can be no such thing as “security as usual” when it comes to mitigating cyber risk. Increasing security awareness within the organization needs to be a top priority.

Employees need to be aware that even simple actions, such as surfing websites and clicking a URL or link within an email, can put their company at risk It continues to be the case that employees who inadvertently violate data security policies represent a major factor in the occurrence of data breaches.

At the same time, organizations also need to understand that some employees actively go around security procedures that they feel interfere with their ability to get their job done. According to recent Symantec focus groups, some end users understand the need for security only in a general sense, without grasping (or caring about) their role in maintaining security. For these users, IT security is often seen as hampering innovative business initiatives and having a negative impact on worker productivity.

Stopping data breaches
To protect information from both internal and external threats, organizations should adopt an operational security model that is risk-based, content-aware, responsive to threats in real time, and workflow-driven to automate data security processes. Symantec believes this model can help IT effectively convey the message that adhering to security procedures is the responsibility of every person in the organization. Here are four steps organizations can take to reduce the risks of a data breach using proven solutions:

Step 1: Protect the infrastructure. Today you need centralized visibility across your systems so that you can manage them efficiently and ultimately protect them against emerging threats. That boils down to securing all endpoints, protecting email, defending critical internal servers, in addition to backing up and recovering data securely. Symantec Protection Suite creates a protected endpoint, messaging, and Web environment that is secure against today’s complex malware, data loss, and spam threats, and is quickly recoverable in the event of failure.

Step 2: Develop and enforce IT policies. By prioritizing risks and defining policies across the enterprise, organizations can more effectively enforce policies through built-in automation and workflow. Workflow and automation allow you not only to identify threats but to remediate incidents as they occur or to anticipate them before they even happen. Symantec Control Compliance Suite is the only holistic, fully automated solution to manage all aspects of IT risk and compliance at lower levels of cost and complexity. Control Compliance Suite offers out-of-the-box content on multiple industry regulations, automated assessment of technical and procedural controls, Web-based dashboard reporting, and integration with other Symantec security solutions.

Step 3: Protect information proactively. Yesterday’s security approaches were aimed at securing the network. Today, organizations are taking an information-centric approach to proactively protect their information. By focusing on the data itself, you are able to understand where information resides, who has access to it, how it’s being used, and, even further, how to proactively prevent its loss. With Symantec Data Loss Prevention, organizations gain visibility into policy violations to proactively secure data with automatic quarantine, relocation, and support for policy-based encryption. Symantec Data Loss Prevention enables active blocking at both the network and endpoint to prevent confidential data from leaving the organization inappropriately. Symantec helps ensure the highest level of risk reduction to automatically enforce compliance with data security policies and enable organizations to change employee behavior.

Step 4: Manage systems. Security needs to make your life easier through standardization, workflow, and automation – simple things that you can put in place to make security software do the heavy-lifting, everything from patch management to regulatory audits. Altiris IT Management Suite from Symantec is the industry’s most comprehensive and integrated suite for reducing the cost and complexity of managing corporate IT assets, including desktops, laptops, and servers. IT Management Suite reduces operational costs, increases operational efficiency, and helps you make strategic decisions to secure and manage your IT environment.

Conclusion
Today the risk of a data breach is higher than ever before. Partly that’s because targeted attacks focused on enterprises and malicious code development are at an all-time high. For example, in 2009, Symantec identified more than 240 million distinct new malicious programs, a 100% increase over 2008.3The good news is that targeted attacks and other data breaches can be defeated. But it requires that all employees in the organization know what their responsibilities are. The operational security model that Symantec proposes offers organizations a blueprint for inculcating such a security culture. ]]> 0 http://www.emazzanti.net/assessing-legal-threats/ http://www.emazzanti.net/assessing-legal-threats/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 21:16:21 +0000 marypeterson http://www.emazzanti.net/?p=3820 Assessing Legal Threats
reprinted with permission from HPIf you’re like most companies, as much as 90 percent of your corporate communications and business activities take place electronically. And, like most companies, you must live with the threat of legal actions that could trigger sweeping requests for this kind of information.

Your current records retention programs may not adequately address the creation, management and disposition of all your electronic records. To be prepared for potential litigation and e-discovery requests, your executives must be able to deliver accurate records at any time. This requires an e-discovery program that includes tight records management policies, clearly defined processes that are known throughout your organization, and solutions that enable you to manage your company records throughout their lifecycle.

Building a Comprehensive Program
To create a cross-enterprise program for litigation preparedness, you must bring together the right people, processes and technology that allow your company to manage risks. From a people and process perspective, there are five key steps that should be followed:

• Create an e-discovery team – Establish a team of legal, records management, IT and business unit personnel from across your company. These people must understand the business context of your company data, as well as how and when they use it. This team will define your information management policies and processes and identify the right technologies and solutions for your business. It should be led by a senior executive who serves as chief liaison to top management and your legal team.
• Develop well-defined records retention policies – Create rules that provide clear guidance on document lifecycle policies by document type and the business context of the documents. These policies should focus on data retention and destruction, clearly outlining what records should be preserved, how long they should be preserved, and when and how information should be purged from your systems.
• Design an action plan – Create a plan that outlines what should happen when your company receives e-discovery requests or notice of pending litigation. The plan should include who coordinates your e-discovery activities, who supports those efforts, and the processes and procedures that should be followed.
• Train personnel on data retention policies – Communicate all the information management policies your e-discovery team puts in place across your enterprise. This helps ensure that all personnel understand and adhere to your company’s data retention and destruction policies.
• Know what other companies are doing – Learn what other companies are doing and share experiences and best practices by joining industry groups that focus on e-discovery issues.

Deploying the Right Technology
Creating the right processes and procedures is only part of the equation. That’s because all of your company information – whether it’s a paper document, an electronic document or an electronic record – is discoverable and must be captured on creation and managed throughout its lifecycle. Choosing the right technology to make that happen is key to successfully addressing litigation and e-discovery requests.

There are several steps your company should take to help ensure the technology you use is right for your business.

• Create a records authority – Build a scalable records authority that serves as your organization’s data retention system. It should automatically manage all your data types according to your retention policies and be able to continuously record information. Data should be protected so it cannot be modified or deleted during the retention period, and they should be purged automatically at the end of the period. And, of course, this system should be capable of rapid search and retrieval across millions of elements to produce only those that your lawyers require.
• Include paper records – Create an electronic index of paper records as part of your records authority and label them accordingly. This will help you find paper records and implement a scan-on-demand policy that requires legacy information be digitized when it needs to be retrieved. When your organization receives new paper documents, digitally capture them and retain a copy within the records authority.
• Exploit your corporate memory – Use your records authority for business purposes beyond e-discovery, such as data mining for common product, customer or staff trends. Since your records authority houses and encapsulates business records from multiple systems, it acts as a library of all your corporate data.
• Use sophisticated tools for processing, review and analysis – Choose intelligent software tools that use proven culling techniques to eliminate redundant and clearly unrelated files; to find links between documents; and to identify the information that could be relevant to a particular legal action. These tools will help you reduce your attorneys’ workload and respond faster to requests related to litigation.
• Leverage technology expertise – Work with technology professionals who focus on issues central to litigation preparedness and e-discovery. These in-house or outside specialists can help you create an e-discovery program that is aligned with your broader strategic technology plans.

By following these steps, your company can establish a cross-organizational program that helps you prepare for e-discovery and litigation. Through this work, you can reduce the risks associated with litigation, enable more efficient and effective information retrieval, and exploit your data for other business purposes. ]]> 0 http://www.emazzanti.net/file-storage-how-to-use-it-so-you-wont-lose-your-data/ http://www.emazzanti.net/file-storage-how-to-use-it-so-you-wont-lose-your-data/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 20:30:48 +0000 marypeterson http://www.emazzanti.net/?p=3827 File Storage: How to Use It So You Won’t Lose Your Data
used with permission from the Cisco Small Business Site

File storage systems that provide automated, secure backup and additional storage capacity can play an essential role in your business’s success. The best file storage systems seamlessly help protect valuable data, make it easy for employees to share files, and require minimal maintenance.

You have three main options for file storage systems: external hard drives, online backup/storage, and network attached storage (NAS). Here is a quick look at all three options.

External Hard Drives
In some businesses, an external hard drive may be attached to each computer. The drives serve as backups to a computer’s internal hard drive file storage.

External drives may also provide additional file storage for video, high-resolution images, and other large data files. These hard drives are generally inexpensive and simple to install. However, files stored on them are not easily accessible to others in an organization. Moreover, most external hard drives don’t offer automated, redundant backup to other drives. If a big file is stored on an external drive, and the drive crashes, the data is lost forever.

Online Backup and File Storage
Some businesses backup their files to an online backup and file storage service. These services are often inexpensive and easy to use. But backups — especially initial backups — can be extremely slow. If a computer’s internal hard drive crashes, a business has to wait for the online backup service to send hundreds of lost files on DVD.

Network Attached Storage (NAS)
Network attached storage (NAS) is the ideal system for backing up, sharing and archiving files and getting additional storage space.

A NAS appliance typically includes multiple hard drives and is connected to your network. NAS appliances deliver many important benefits, as they:

• Offer a significant amount of additional storage capacity that is easily accessible to anyone within your organization, at high speeds.
• Provide a central place for shared files.
• Offer various levels of security, thereby restricting sensitive data (such as employee records) to those with permission to access it.
• Can help ensure that your organization meets government regulations regarding data security, such as HIPAA, PCI, Sarbanes-Oxley, and GBL.
• Can store multiple computer backups in one virtual data vault. Your files are backed up as soon as they are updated or created. This streamlines backup management while helping to ensure that you do not lose valuable information.
• Include multiple, redundant hard drives for backup and storage. If one drive fails, the data is available on another.

NAS File Storage Solutions from Cisco
Cisco offers a variety of affordable, secure, reliable file storage systems. Find out about the Cisco Small Business portfolio of network storage solutions.

Cisco Small Business Continuous Data Protection can be combined with Cisco network storage systems. Continuous Data Protection constantly makes synchronized copies of updated files and works unobtrusively in the background. Learn more about Cisco Continuous Data Protection. ]]> 0 http://www.emazzanti.net/maximize-your-virtualization-roi/ http://www.emazzanti.net/maximize-your-virtualization-roi/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 20:28:23 +0000 marypeterson http://www.emazzanti.net/?p=3823 Maximize Your Virtualization ROI
reprinted with permission from HP

Virtualization technology is a great way to increase business agility while reducing infrastructure costs. But it can also add another layer of management complexity, resulting in higher management costs and lower ROI. You need the right software tools to realize the full benefits of virtualization.

Managing virtualization becomes even more critical as virtualization projects move out of the development/test environments and into production. That’s why it needs to be incorporated into your operation management framework. Rather than manage virtualization as its own silo, a better approach is to integrate virtual and physical management—based on proven best practices. Then you can administer resources uniformly to monitor, manage and automate key management functions seamlessly across physical and virtual environments.

The results: dramatically reduced IT costs, improved business agility and the ability to increase IT efficiency. Here are the five key areas to accelerate and simplify the adoption of virtualization in your data center.

Key One: Automate manual process
Virtualization adds complexity to existing processes such as configuration and change management. This complexity can make it more difficult and costly to manage. That’s why automation is fundamental to virtualized service management.

Indeed, virtualization will not be effective without the right automation tools. With a single, integrated management solution, you can easily automate tasks and processes associated with change detection, configuration updates, provisioning and patching. And you gain visibility to all activities and changes in the virtual/physical environment so that you can enforce policy compliance.

By automating daily tasks at the operations level, you can make sure that you are not trading capital expenditure savings for added operational expense. Through automated auditing and reporting for mission-critical compliance issues (SOX, HIPAA, PCI, etc.), you can improve IT governance and reduce business risk.

Key two: Monitor virtual and physical environments
Enterprise-level service monitoring is the second critical component for virtualized service management. Rather than managing virtualization through specialized point products, an enterprise-wide service monitoring approach allows you to visualize the entire technology stack. This means you can detect, isolate and prevent service problems across heterogeneous environments—for physical and virtual servers, networks, applications and storage devices.

Key three: Comply with software licensing contracts
One typical challenge with virtualization is managing virtual machine sprawl and the software licenses that reside on them. The ideal solution is one that automatically discovers, identifies and reports assets—both physical and virtual—throughout the usage lifecycle. Based on this, IT can monitor contracts, track usage and manage charge-backs to help with software license compliance.

In addition to daily monitoring, comprehensive asset management can also provide vital insight. For example, a comprehensive asset management approach can reveal the financial and compliance impacts of software upgrades. IT can also realize savings by identifying over-provisioning. In fact, one organization saved 10% of software license costs by reducing license over-provisioning.

Key four: Protect your virtualized application
When a new virtual machine is instantiated on a host server, it runs backup and recovery to guard against data losses. Conventionally, backup is accomplished by a script-running agent in the virtual machine—quickly expending shared resources and effecting performance.
A better method is to offload backup processing to the storage array. This process increases the number of virtual machines on a given host server without impacting performance. You get a consistent production replica of your virtualized application data that, in turn, allows point-in-time recovery. The result: error-free recoveries that are measured in seconds and minutes rather than hour and days.

Key five: Validate the performance of virtualized applications
Virtualization requires more robust risk assessment tools to proactively detect and correct security vulnerabilities and defects associated with virtual assets. You need end-to-end capabilities for load testing business services in hybrid physical/virtual environments. Plus, you want the ability to quickly pinpoint the root cause of business service performance problems. Finally, you need to test from the end-user perspective to allow you to understand how virtualized business services will perform in real-world environments under peak load conditions.

HP offers software solutions in these five key areas to help you manage virtualization and maximize your virtualization ROI. Through automation, you empower support staff to work more effectively and efficiently. End-to-end infrastructure monitoring supports faster problem detection and remediation.

With solutions that help improve compliance and protect data, you can simplify the complexities of deploying virtualization technology. Most importantly, an integrated approach to virtualized service management means you can lower operational expense (OPEX) and reap the rewards of business agility. ]]> 0 http://www.emazzanti.net/three-quick-and-easy-ways-to-make-google-juice-in-your-business/ http://www.emazzanti.net/three-quick-and-easy-ways-to-make-google-juice-in-your-business/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 20:16:16 +0000 marypeterson http://www.emazzanti.net/?p=3815 Three Quick And Easy Ways To Make Google Juice In Your Business
by Stuart Crawford, Ulistic, Inc.

In our world of constant advertising and marketing, more and more of our small business clients are researching for new ways of attracting their ideal clients. Electing to attract the right type of business versus spraying the market place with message after message that in some instances maybe falling on deaf ears.

One of the mechanisms gaining in popularity among business owners is search engine optimization. The art of creating relevant or pertinent inbound links to your business marketing website is the goal for most business owners looking at increasing their rankings with the search engines. Link building is one on the key focus points with any Google Search Engine Optimization campaign.

However, before you run out and drop your hard-earned dollars on a professional search engine optimization campaign here are some basic things you can do to help with your inbound links to your main website.

A word of warning first, stay clear of any search engine optimization guru’s who promise overnight success, quick results or guaranteed rankings. The search engine world is a blood-red battlefield in some industries and it takes efforts, persistence and the right professional to help meet results not overnight guarantees or fancy software applications. SEO takes hard work to do correctly.

The first step is gaining insight and understanding how your target market searches and the keywords or terms they are using for to find what they are looking for. It is crucial that you make no assumptions and you do your research. Let me repeat! Do not make any assumptions during this phase. The Google Keyword Research Tool provides an excellent representation of what terms the average online searcher uses to find your products and services.

Once you have determined the search terms you wish to use, pick your top three terms and get to work on these first. There will be plenty of opportunity to revisit any other search terms in future campaigns.

Here are some areas you can immediately make an impact with:

Your LinkedIn Public Profile provides the ability to create custom keyword rich links to your marketing website, blog and other online services. LinkedIn Public Profiles get Google’s attention and like any other websites they receive ranking within the search engines. Do you have “My Company” or “My Blog” listed for your websites, if you do then changing your website references to “other” and then adding your search terms will help with inbound links. Have your entire team do this within their LinkedIn profiles.

Next, your company blog offers a “link rich” strategy. Blogs are an essential part of any corporate marketing strategy. A well optimized, keyword rich blog are natural traffic magnets and with the correct focus can create a wealth of new followers and potential fans for your business. The biggest challenge for those businesses looking at generating natural “Google Juice” to their business blog revolves around attracting human readers and optimizing the blog for the best search results. For your business blog achieve maximum results is straightforward. Where you host your business blog is critical, having your business blog on an independent domain and hosted away from your main corporate website will aid in your overall linking strategy.

In addition to your business blog visiting other relevant industry blogs and leaving comments can also help generate inbound links to your business website. The key to a successful blog commenting strategy is to find relevant and high performing blogs that you can engage with. Blog commenting when done correctly serves two key purposes within marketing strategy. The first is to engage in conversations with the blogger you are commenting on and for you to offer your insights with the community and the second is to give a source for links.

Building an effective inbound linking strategy for your business takes work and it must include all members of your team. Link building starts with your business and marketing plan and works back from there. Determining your target audience and the message you are looking to share with aid in a successful link building strategy.

If you need help, our team at Ulistic can offer real-world advice and recommendations to make sure your activities are successful. Call us today at 403.775.2205.

Stuart Crawford is a strategic online communications and IT marketing professional with Ulistic. Ulistic focuses on empowering small business owners globally through education and training. Stuart has worked in the managed services arena for over 15 years as a service professional. Recently changing gears to focus on coaching and mentoring his peers on the strategies he employed as a technology professional. You can learn more about Ulistic at http://www.ulistic.com or through Stuart’s blog at http://www.stuartcrawford.com.
  ]]> 0 http://www.emazzanti.net/6-interview-questions-you-need-to-ask/ http://www.emazzanti.net/6-interview-questions-you-need-to-ask/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 20:13:58 +0000 marypeterson http://www.emazzanti.net/?p=3811 Hiring? 6 Interview Questions You Need to Ask
by Jeff Wuorio
used with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Center

When it comes to interviewing potential employees , you need to ask the loaded questions.

That’s because hiring the right people is central to the continuing growth and success of your business. So you need to use your interview wisely — to identify job skills, target personal strengths and weaknesses and get a feel for someone’s sense of teamwork and cooperation.

But that doesn’t mean you have to wallow in a snooze-inducing “Do you work well with others?” spiel. You can interview like an expert — and get the information asked for in a query and “undercover” feedback that plays a key role in hiring decisions. Give some thought to the following six interview questions, all of which reveal more about the interviewee than you might think — or, for that matter, more than they might want you to know:

1. “If you stayed with your current company, what would be your next move?” A great opener that elicits information on several levels. Not only can you get a sense of what the applicant expects — and, in turn, how that jibes with the position you’re looking to fill — but you might also tap into an underlying reason why the applicant wants to move on. Notes Paul Falcone, author of “The Hiring and Firing Question and Answer Book”: “If the applicant says he wants to be a manager but the person above him has been there for 25 years, you can move on with the interview. But, if he says that he would hope to be promoted in six months, why would he leave that job? You may then get to the real reason why he wants to leave the company.”

2. “What makes you stand out from others?” Another provocative query, great in part because most people get a little uncomfortable boosting themselves. Taking on that question in a reasoned manner may indicate someone with a good amount of self-esteem and some courage. By contrast, a tepid self-description can suggest a lack of gumption, something that’s a handicap if you’re looking to fill a challenging sales position. By the same token, an applicant who launches into a half-hour filibuster of why the Earth and several major planets revolve at his command may have an ego surplus, one that could devastate a business built around close teamwork.

3. Tell me your greatest accomplishment.” An ideal follow-up to question No. 2. An applicant who can recall a particularly satisfying project — and talk about it in a balanced, comprehensive fashion — indicates an employee who has a knack for hanging onto important details. But the question can also hint at an applicant who’s good at thinking on her feet — again, most of us feel weird talking about ourselves. If someone can piece together a provocative anecdote on the fly, they likely will be mentally nimble on demand. As Falcone notes: “Even the receptionist who says she used sticky notes that saved several pieces of fax paper a day has a good sense of what she did to distinguish herself from others.”

4. “Give me an example of a time when you took the time to share a co-worker’s achievement with others.” On the surface, you may be trying to gauge how selfless an interviewee might be, how readily he’ll put others ahead of himself. True enough, but the answer may also indicate if your potential employee is a strong motivator. Anyone who makes a point to boost an employee might also be trying to pump other employees in the process. That’s a skill that’s particularly useful for sales and marketing positions. According to Del J. Still, president of Management Development Systems, a Dana Point, Calif.-based company that offers training in interviewing and employee hiring: “These sorts of questions offer you multidimensional analysis, so you get different kinds of information from just one question. In this case, you get a sense of what actions a person took in a particular situation.”

5. “How many hours a week do you need to work to get your job done?” This question serves as a barometer of an applicant’s work ethic and the hours he expects to put in with your company. Follow-up questions can identify whether someone who stays late is putting in extra time or just working inefficiently. A discussion about work hours also can be a telling indicator of how he might ultimately fit in with other employees. “You don’t want someone with an 8 to 5 mentality working in a place where everyone usually stays until 7,” Falcone says. “By the same token, you don’t want someone working to 7 when everybody else is gone by 5. They’re only going to resent him.”

6. “Do you take enough time to make a decision?” Believe it or not, this last question is one you should pose to yourself, long before the interview is finished. Although it may hint at a business leader who’s able to make sensible choices quickly, it actually refers to the interviewee sitting across from you. Believe it or not, Still says some 95% of all interviewers make a decision whether to hire or not within the first five to nine minutes of an interview. The time remaining is just self-fulfilling prophecy as the interviewer looks for information to justify the decision.

Don’t make the same knee-jerk mistake: “Take lots of notes during the interview and evaluate him or her later,” advises Still. “Don’t ever hire on the spot. Withhold your decision until you can review enough information to make a rational decision. If you don’t, you might end up putting someone in a job where they’re just going to fail.” ]]> 0 http://www.emazzanti.net/15-customer-service-no-nos/ http://www.emazzanti.net/15-customer-service-no-nos/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 20:06:59 +0000 marypeterson http://www.emazzanti.net/?p=3806 15 Customer Service No-Nos
by Monte Enbysk
used with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Center

Sometimes it seems like rude customer service is the rule rather than the exception. But there’s rude — and then there’s rude.

When it comes to getting customer service, what’s your definition of rude? What unprofessional behavior irritates you the most when, as a consumer, you are interacting by phone with another company?

Sometimes, customer service that is perceived as rude is not intentional and often is the result of absent-mindedness or carelessness on behalf of an employee. Either way, bad customer service can translate into lower sales and lost business, says Nancy Friedman, president and founder of the Telephone Doctor, a St. Louis-based customer service training company.

Based on its own surveys, the Telephone Doctor has compiled the 15 biggest sins of customer service employees today. They are listed below, along with Telephone Doctor’s guidelines (in parentheses) on how to do it right.

If your company’s customer service managers and front-line employees are guilty of any of these, it’s time for some action. Otherwise, you may have an image problem that could sabotage your effort to produce and market great products.

1. Your employees are having a bad day, and their foul mood carries over in conversations with customers. (Everyone has bad days, but customer service employees need to keep theirs to themselves.)

2. Your employees hang up on angry customers. (Ironclad rule: Never hang up on a customer.)

3. Your company doesn’t return phone calls or voice-mail messages, despite listing your phone number on your Web site and/or in ads and directories. (Call customers back as soon as you can, or have calls returned on your behalf.)

4. Your employees put callers on hold without asking them first, as a courtesy. (Ask customers politely if you can put them on hold; very few will complain or say “No way!”)

5. Your employees put callers on a speaker phone without asking them first if it is OK. (Again: Ask first, as a courtesy.)

6. Your employees eat, drink or chew gum while talking with customers on the phone. (A telephone mouthpiece is like a microphone; noises can easily be picked up. Employees need to eat their meals away from the phone. And save that stick of gum for break time.)

7. You have call-waiting on your business lines, and your employees frequently interrupt existing calls to take new calls. (One interruption in a call might be excusable; beyond that, you are crossing the “rude” threshold. Do your best to be prepared with enough staff for peak calling times.)

8. Your employees refuse or forget to use the words “please,” “thank you” or “you’re welcome.” (Please use these words generously, thank you.)

9. Your employees hold side conversations with friends or each other while talking to customers on the phone, or they make personal calls on cell phones in your call center. (Don’t do either of these.)

10. Your employees seem incapable of offering more than one-word answers. (One-word answers come across as rude and uncaring.)

11. Your employees do provide more than one-word answers, but a lot of the words are grounded in company or industry jargon that many customers don’t understand. (If you sell tech products, for example, don’t casually drop in abbreviations such as APIs, ISVs, SMTP or TCP/IP.)

12. Your employees request that customers call them back when the employees aren’t so busy. (Customers should never be told to call back. Request the customer’s number instead.)

13. Your employees rush through calls, forcing customers off the phone at the earliest opportunity. (Be a little more discreet. Politely suggest that you’ve got the information you need and you must move on to other calls.)

14. Your employees obnoxiously bellow “What’s this in reference to?” effectively humbling customers and belittling their requests. (Screening techniques can be used with
a little more warmth and finesse. If a caller has mistakenly come your way, do your best to point him or her in the right direction.)

15. Your employees freely admit to customers that they hate their jobs. (This simply makes the entire company look bad. And don’t think such a moment of candor or lapse in judgment won’t get back to the boss.)

In defense of customer service workers, customers can be rude too. And customer service jobs can often be thankless, with little motivation or incentive to do the job right.

But the problem here is that life for customer service employees may not be fair. Customers can be rude and get away with it. Employees cannot — if they want to help their companies to succeed and keep their jobs as well.
  ]]> 0 http://www.emazzanti.net/what-is-voice-over-ip-the-basics/ http://www.emazzanti.net/what-is-voice-over-ip-the-basics/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 20:01:37 +0000 marypeterson http://www.emazzanti.net/?p=3801 What is Voice over IP? The Basics
used with permission from the Cisco Small Business Center.
What is voice over IP? How is it different from unified communications? And how can it help your small business?

What is Voice over IP?
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology lets you use the Internet to make and receive telephone calls.

What is Voice over IP?: The Range of Services
VoIP is available in a wide range of services. Some basic, free VoIP services require all parties to be at their computers to make or receive calls. Others let you call from a traditional telephone handset or even a cell phone to any other phone.

What is Voice over IP?: Equipment
For VoIP, you need a broadband Internet connection, plus a traditional phone and an adapter; a VoIP-enabled phone; or VoIP software on your computer.

What is Voice over IP?: Security and Service Quality
Most consumer VoIP services use the Internet for phone calls. But many small businesses are using VoIP and unified communications on their private networks. That’s because private networks provide stronger security and service quality than the public Internet.

What is Voice over IP?: Versus Unified Communications
Unified communications systems offer more features and benefits than VoIP, yet many are still priced for small businesses. Unified communications brings together all forms of communication regardless of location, time or device. Faxes, e-mail, and voicemail are all delivered to a single inbox. You can integrate your phone and customer relationship management (CRM) systems to improve your customer service, and much more.

What is Voice over IP?: The Benefits
VoIP and unified communications enable you to:

•Reduce travel and training costs, thanks to web and video conferencing
•Easily grow your phone system as needed
•Have one phone number ring simultaneously on multiple devices, helping employees stay connected to each other and to customers
•Reduce your phone charges
•Have a single network for voice and data, simplifying management and reducing costs
•Access your phone system’s features at home or at client offices, in airports and hotels — anywhere you’ve got a broadband connection ]]> 0 http://www.emazzanti.net/the-virtual-office-checklist/ http://www.emazzanti.net/the-virtual-office-checklist/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 19:57:17 +0000 marypeterson http://www.emazzanti.net/?p=3796 The Virtual Office Checklist
used with permission from the Cisco Small Business Center.

Here are some things to consider when choosing Cisco SMB Solutions that enable you and your colleagues to work from anywhere.

Adding a VPN and firewall enables the security you need. The technology behind remote access is called a “virtual private network,” or “VPN,” and it establishes a private, secure network connection over a public network, such as the Internet.

VPNs use secure firewalls and well-tested security measures at every network point of entry, to help stop worms, spyware, or hackers from attempting to disrupt your business network or steal sensitive information.

Here’s the beauty of a VPN: Once it’s installed, you can add as many employees in as many places as you need. You don’t have to worry about expensive provisioning in each branch offices store or site; a PC and an Internet connection will do the trick. The VPN software handles all security and user authentication.

There are several types of VPNs from which to choose. Cisco Certified Partners can help you evaluate your business requirements and present the most appropriate solution for your business needs today and provide a growth path that will meet your business needs tomorrow.

Even on the road, your data is safe. With a VPN, you’re essentially creating a secure private network, or “tunnel,” over the Internet. This way, only valid users can access the VPN, and then only by using industry-proven methods of user authentication.

Meanwhile, strong encryption technologies, which translate information into a secret code, help ensure the data is unintelligible to anyone attempting to intercept VPN communications — even over Wi-Fi networks.

You’ll lower networking costs. Because a VPN provides a direct link to your business network, you don’t necessarily have to install network equipment at each office or location in your business. A computer and Internet-connection can be all you need to access information, applications, and resources if working remotely.

Your phone and conferencing system is available to those who may need it the most: remote and mobile employees. Cisco SMB Solutions for voice and conferencing on a data network enable you to communicate easily and meaningfully with out-of-the-office workers, partners, suppliers, customers, and others.

You can expand your recruitment reach. With this kind of flexibility, you can attract and retain employees from any geographic region. You can hire executives or professionals with special skills wherever they live and have them join the company network quickly and easily. According to several human resources studies work/life benefits, such as teleworking and flex time, are among the most valued benefits a company can offer. ]]> 0 http://www.emazzanti.net/two-linkedin-security-settings-you-must-set/ http://www.emazzanti.net/two-linkedin-security-settings-you-must-set/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 19:52:01 +0000 marypeterson http://www.emazzanti.net/?p=3792 Two LinkedIn Security Settings You Must Set
by Stuart Crawford, Ulistic, Inc.

LinkedIn is one of the industry leading social networks and online communities in use today across multiple businesses and industries. LinkedIn’s focus on business-to-business networking and facilitating the sharing of ideas and strategies has won the trust of business professionals globally. Not unlike many of their counterparts, LinkedIn does have privacy challenges according to many CEO level executives. Many organizations are now reviewing their policies related to LinkedIn and how information propagates through this business social network.

More and more business professionals are turning to LinkedIn because of its overall effectiveness in the marketplace. However, many are unaware of the apparent risks to corporate contacts when setting up their LinkedIn accounts. There are many settings that are on automatically allowing for browsing of contacts and also leaving a trace of who visited another profile. Many organizations as part of their social media acceptable use policy are now requiring specific changes to LinkedIn privacy settings be made ensuring business contacts and information are kept confidential.

LinkedIn is built on a community and like many other online networks; they embrace the sharing of information and contacts. How do businesses balance the foundations of LinkedIn with the compliance and confidentiality measures of business today?

The following recommended key privacy settings guidelines ideal for organizations leveraging LinkedIn to make sure a certain degree of privacy remains in place. These settings are accessible through the SETTINGS menu in the top right corner of your LinkedIn page.

►The “Connections Browse” option allows your contacts (those connected directly to you) to browse your LinkedIn connections. Disabling to enable this feature will prevent your connections from seeing who you are directly connected too. This will make sure key vendors contacts and clients connected through LinkedIn remains confidential.

► Profile Views – This setting controls the “breadcrumbs” you leave behind when you visit another persons LinkedIn profile. Engaging this setting will leave information about you when visiting a profile on LinkedIn, your information becomes available to that member. Turning this off disables this information from being left. You can choose to leave your full details; your job industry and title only or simply leave no trace that you were there.

Privacy online is important across many organizations large and small. These recommendations can protect your key contacts and keep your LinkedIn network confidential from those looking at harvesting your contacts line. In addition, you also will protect your identity when viewing the profiles of others.

Stuart Crawford is a strategic online communications and IT marketing professional with Ulistic. Ulistic focuses on empowering small business owners globally through education and training. Stuart has worked in the managed services arena for over 15 years as a service professional. Recently changing gears to focus on coaching and mentoring his peers on the strategies he employed as a technology professional. You can learn more about Ulistic at http://www.ulistic.com or through Stuart’s blog at http://www.stuartcrawford.com.
  ]]> 0 http://www.emazzanti.net/managing-software-assets-pays-big-dividends/ http://www.emazzanti.net/managing-software-assets-pays-big-dividends/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 19:43:42 +0000 marypeterson http://www.emazzanti.net/?p=3782 Managing Software Assets Pays Big Dividends
used with permission from the Microsoft Business Site

Awhile back, we brought you the story of Ted , a CIO at a midsized company who was struggling to get a handle on his software licenses and IT costs. If you haven’t taken a systematic approach to managing your company’s software assets, you might be facing many of the same issues that bedeviled Ted: multiple desktops to support, a variety of licensing agreements to manage, and IT support costs that gobble up too much of your budget.

If those problems sound familiar, you need to meet Ted’s best friend: SAM. That’s capital S – capital A – capital M, as in Software Asset Management. SAM is a vital set of business processes that can help you control costs and risks, optimize resources, and grow your business. With SAM, you save money by using what you have, and you eliminate excess spending by determining your true software needs. What’s more, by adopting processes that help secure your IT infrastructure, SAM helps provides peace of mind about viruses and other threats from unauthorized software. It enables you to optimize your infrastructure, drive automation, and empower employees to increase their productivity. In short, SAM positions IT – and you, as CIO – as a strategic asset and an indispensable partner in your company’s growth.

So, just what is SAM? It’s a set of systematic processes comprised of four basic steps:

1. Take inventory; find out what you already have.
2. Organize all your software licenses and documentation.
3. Create policies and procedures to govern every phase of the software life cycle.
4. Maintain your SAM plan through spot checks, inventories, and employee training.

Let’s take a look at each step in a little more detail.

Take Inventory. This is your first step. You need to know what software your company has installed in your environment, and how and by whom it’s being used. Armed with this information, you can begin to make decisions about which products you really need and where they should be deployed, and you’ll start to see opportunities for saving money. You might even find some unauthorized programs that employees have installed without your knowledge, putting your company at risk of noncompliance and opening the door to a host of nasty malware.

Get Organized. With the inventory completed, you’re ready to find, record, and systematize the licensing and documentation for each software title and version. You’ll need to track down all the documentation and create a detailed license report. For this step, it’s best to get an accurate view of your complete software entitlement by obtaining your current Microsoft License Statement. After you’ve compiled the report, you can compare it to the inventory you created in step 1, and you can readily see where your company is over- or under-licensed with respect to specific software products and versions. This is also known as a gap analysis. This information will help you make cost-effective decisions about your software deployment.

Create Policies and Procedures. Now that you know what software you have and where it’s being used, it’s time to create or revise the policies that will ensure the proper management of your software assets on an ongoing basis. You’ll want to make sure you have procedures in place for every phase of the software life cycle, from acquisition, to storage and disaster protection, to use (including installation and retirement).

Maintain the Plan. Congratulations, you’ve got a SAM plan in place. Now you need to keep it going by committing to the ongoing analysis of your software and planning for anticipated needs. You’ll want to track your software inventory through regularly scheduled updates and spot checks. In addition, you’ll need to institute a regular review of standardized applications and systems, with an eye toward optimizing your assets and educing costs. Finally, you’ll want to implement regular training for employees, so they can get the most out of their IT tools at the least cost to the IT staff.

Sound daunting? It needn’t be. You can contact your Microsoft Certified Partner for Licensing Solutions to obtain a complimentary SAM engagement. During a SAM engagement, your IT partner will use tools to track your current software usage -and compare it to your present licenses. Your partner will then help you analyze and systematize your licenses and make recommendations so you get the most value from your software products, and will assist you in setting up or enhancing your ongoing SAM program.

With SAM in place, you’ll be in a position to rationalize your company’s software assets, ensuring that you have the right programs in the right departments, helping employees achieve maximum productivity. You’ll know which licenses you need to renew and when, and which can be retired or reduced. You’ll have the data necessary to help increase your company’s protection from the unauthorized use of software and the viruses and malware such use can bring. You’ll even be better prepared to meet government compliance regulations, such as Sarbanes-Oxley. You’ll achieve greater standardization of software across the company, which, in turn, will help reduce those costly helpdesk requests.

Perhaps most importantly, you’ll be in a position to use the potential short- and long-term savings from SAM to make strategic technology investments that will help your company evolve in today’s economy. This is critical as we move into the post-recession era, with companies once again willing to invest in IT – provided you can show positive ROI. Moreover, SAM can be invaluable if your company is considering a merger, or if its software enterprise agreements are coming up for renewal. Still need convincing? Then take a look at what SAM did for Interline Brands, a Jacksonville, Florida-based company that markets and distributes maintenance, repair and operations products. Having expanded rapidly through natural growth and acquisitions, Interline Brands found itself in an awkward position. Its IT group was maintaining 120 computer servers, and 2,000 of its 3,000 employees were regular computer users, but the company lacked an automated asset management or inventory tool to track its software assets. Moreover, Interline Brands had assumed ownership of incompletely tracked software assets and multiple licensing arrangements as part of recent acquisitions.

As Dan Oakes, Director of IS Infrastructure for Interline Brands, notes ““We didn’t always know which licensing agreement was responsible for various assets. In some cases, we weren’t sure if certain licenses were available or if they had been deployed and not documented. We knew that trying to reconcile licensing using our manual process was out of the question—it would have taken ages. We needed to find a better way to get things under control and keep them that way.”

Interline turned to Soft-Aid, a Microsoft Certified Partner, to conduct a SAM engagement. After deploying a tracking tool to gather data on which software products were used over a 60-day period, Soft-Aid created a software asset inventory and recommended best practices for managing Interline’s software assets.

According to Oakes, “The results from the SAM engagement not only were immediate, but also had a ripple effect throughout the year, and we continue to see benefits.” For one thing, it made Interline’s migration to Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 far easier, since the company now knew exactly which departments and employees had which version of the software. The migration eliminated version incompatibility problems, and freed up IT resources from the drudgery of supporting multiple releases. “Now, our help-desk employees can focus on building their expertise on one Microsoft Office release,” notes a pleased Oakes.

Moreover, the SAM engagement helped Interline choose the most appropriate licensing plan “After looking at all of the options and crunching the numbers, we chose the Enterprise Agreement. It was great to be 100 percent confident that we were making the best choice, rather than simply guessing,” says Oakes.

If you think Interline Brand’s experience is unique, think again. Check out this new report “ SAM Helps CIOs Get Ahead,” which provides more evidence of SAM’s value to midsized and larger companies. For additional information about SAM, including more case studies, visit www.microsoft.com/sam or www.microsoft.com/ussam.

Eager to get a handle on your software assets? Want to earn big dividends for your company and demonstrate your business savvy as CIO? Then do what Interline did, and contact your Microsoft Account Manager or your Microsoft Certified Partner for a SAM engagement. To learn more about our complimentary Software Asset Management Programs, contact the TeleSAM Advisor Team at samfaq@microsoft.com or 1-866-606-3749, and put your company on the road to effective software asset management.
  ]]> 0 http://www.emazzanti.net/online-safety-for-kids/ http://www.emazzanti.net/online-safety-for-kids/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 19:12:22 +0000 marypeterson http://www.emazzanti.net/?p=3777 Online Safety for Kids
Diana Johnson, Marketing, Wood Networks

Our kids are a special gift entrusted to us to raise, nurture, and teach for about 18 years. They don’t come with an instruction manual and we often forget how different the world is from when we were growing up. One area parents often neglect is the cyber world. As a parent constantly working in the technology arena, I thought I would pass on some tips for dealing with the Internet and the safety of our kids.

Kids Under 9

• Investigate websites that are safe for kids. Bookmark sites you approve.
• Ask your child’s School Librarian what he/she considers appropriate sites. You may not agree, but it is a great place to start.
• Limit the time you allow your child to be online. For this age group limit leisure Internet usage to less than one hour per day.
• Password protect your Internet. If they don’t know the password, they can’t get on without your knowledge.
• Don’t allow this age group to post personal profiles, blogs or emails to public access sites.
• Avoid use of interactive gaming systems like Xbox Live or Wii, where they could potentially chat with strangers or go online unsupervised.
• Only allow your child to use child-friendly search engines, like Ask for Kids (www.askkids.com) or Yahoo Kids (Kids Games, Kids Movies, Kids Music, and More – Yahoo! Kids)
• Rather than trying to block potential bad sites, set Internet controls to only allow acceptable sites, trust me there are a lot fewer of those.

Kids 9 to 12

• Strengthen your filtering. At this age they will need to be able to access more information on a regular basis for school. The days of only allowing particular sites may be gone. Make sure you have a strong filter in place. A good one to investigate- bsecure (www.bsecure.com) . I used this one when my kids where younger. You can set it to the level you need.
• Use antispyware, virus protection, and pop-up blockers.
• Teach your child the golden rule- “Don’t just click, because you can.” I learned the hard way; your kids are always only one click away from installing spyware, malware, or a virus.
• Talk to your kids about online interaction. Make sure they know what an acceptable conversation is and how to disengage from a conversation should they not know the person.
• Make sure your kids understand that they are NEVER to give out any personal information online. This includes full name, address, phone number, email address, age, where they attend school, hobbies, parents’ names, etc.
• Talk about online respect. Respect for others’ feelings and respect for themselves.
• Limit leisure Internet usage to about an hour a day.

Kids 13 and up

By the age of 13, you should assume your child (now a teenager!) has internet access, whether at home, school, or a friend’s house. Also in this age group they begin exhibiting risky behaviors. For some teens it is a matter of not understanding the implication of their behavior while others are drawn to the thrill of the risk.

• Talk to your teens about predators and the danger of meeting in person with someone they have met online.
• Continue to use a filter at home, but loosen the controls. If your teen feels like everything is blocked, he/she will be more likely to try sites at a friend’s house.
• Block all dating and relationship sites.
• Teach your child about online rights and responsibilities. The right to keep information private and the responsibility to treat others kindly and respect their privacy.
• Make sure your child’s email account is linked to yours or that you have the password. Even if you never use it, the thought that mom or dad might be reading will keep many kids out of trouble.
• Talk to your child about pirated software, music, or movies.
• Kids at this age tend to handout their passwords to friends. Teach your teen this is not smart and set a complex password for their email and social media sites.
• Assist your teen in setting up social media sites like Facebook. Often teens do not know about their privacy rights.
• Keep the computer that has Internet access in a central location. If they aren’t sure who might be watching, there is less chance they will engage in risky behaviors.
• Have your teen Google him or herself monthly to see what others are saying about them. Wouldn’t hurt for you to Google them too.

The most noteworthy advice I can give you, is not to leave Internet security to firewalls, filters, and other safety measures. The best security you can have on the Internet is talking to your child about the risks and the reasons you are concerned. ]]> 0 http://www.emazzanti.net/sweeping-out-my-inbox/ http://www.emazzanti.net/sweeping-out-my-inbox/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:16:23 +0000 marypeterson http://www.emazzanti.net/?p=3756  

Sweeping OUT my Inbox by Jane Cage, COO, HTS Do you live in your inbox? I do – and sometimes it gets a little crowded. I find myself using messages as a to-do list and a record of communication. When I can’t figure out where an important piece of information should really live, I email it to myself. There are times when there are more messages FROM me TO me than any other sender in my Inbox. I’m glad to say that Office 2010 is helping me to change all that. What is making the difference? First, Outlook 2010 has some great new features that have made me more productive and more organized. Second, Microsoft OneNote ships with every version of Office 2010. Here’s what makes it all work: First, the Outlook features. Viewing messages by conversation has been the single most helpful feature in wading through my inbox – no longer do I have to follow a thread of emails through many lines. Every related email appears together. Once conversations are grouped together, CLEAN UP comes into play. Clean Up removes “redundant” emails from conversations, folders and subfolders? What is a “redundant” message? If the message is completely contained within one of the replies, the previous message is deleted. Now, I only have to read one email and I know that I am seeing the entire string. Second, OneNote – OneNote is a free-form information tracker that lets you track and store text, images, video and audio. I can clip information from any internet screen and paste it into One Note with a reference link back to the site. OneNote links to Outlook so that I can store meeting preparation notes, create tasks and to-do lists, and lets me organize info in any way that is logical and convenient to me. If you have never used it, you should give it a try. I recently did a 30 minute webinar that highlighted some of these great new features. Take a look and drop me a line at jcage@heartlandtechnologies.com and let me know what you think. I bet you’ll agree that Office 2010 can do the same for you that it did for me!

Be forewarned: While unified communications security incidents aren’t dominating headlines, the potential for vital corporate data to slip out via this technology solution is very real.

“There has been zero recognition of this as being an issue for consumers, but grabbing voice packets out of places like people’s homes can actually be very easy. People would be shocked to know how easy,” said Richard Newman, managing partner and certified information security systems professional for technology solution provider Reliant Security in New York.

The good news is that by focusing on core network security solutions and processes, technology solution providers can diminish the chances that breaches will occur.

“The real threat is sensitive information leaking out of the company, accidentally or otherwise,” said Ali Elahi, practice lead for unified communications (UC) and collaboration at Unis Lumin, a network integration company in Toronto.

UC applications — including instant messaging and conferencing sessions where data is being shared via text, video or graphics — can only be as secure as the underlying network infrastructure, Elahi said. “The rules you would apply to other applications would apply here as well.”

Russell Dietz, vice president and chief technology officer for information security technology company SafeNet, said UC is probably the second-most vulnerable application from a security standpoint, after email — and for many of the same reasons, most of which have to do with broader network security policies.

Dietz categorizes the UC security threats into two buckets. First, he says UC applications offer a good channel for individuals to share information, either covertly or by accident. So, for example, he has heard of companies that have accidentally shared video files or presentations via conferencing sessions that were not ready for primetime. In other cases, individuals have circumvented security applied to email because the same measures had not been applied to their UC applications.

“There is more opportunity for individuals to get around the traditional corporate channels for approval and distribution of information,” Dietz said.

Another, albeit less common internal UC security threat surrounds the possibility that someone could co-opt an employee’s internal caller identity and use it to phish for information they don’t have the right to see or to make outbound calls that they aren’t authorized to make. This is known as a call-hijacking scheme, and it’s something that small businesses using hosted services should be especially diligent about watching, solution providers say.

 Carl Mazzanti, founder and CEO of eMazzanti Technologies, a technology solution provider in Hoboken, N.J., said that aside from costing money, call-hijacking can damage a company’s reputation. He cites the example of a hacker who was using the caller identification associated with a company’s IP phone solution to make unsolicited calls. “We tell our customers that they must treat their IP phones like the intellectual property that they use to run their business,” Mazzanti said.

So what can a technology solution provider do to maintain a customer’s UC security?

Solution providers say protecting corporate UC and collaboration sessions via a virtual private network is one best practice they recommend to any customer considering a UC implementation.

“Generally speaking, if a UC session is running over a VPN, it will be secure,” said Brian Gregory, president of Network Innovations, a networking solution provider in Olathe, Kan., which has been selling unified communications solutions for years. “We always run everything over a secure network.”

Gregory said that some of the key UC vendors are beginning to add encryption to their technologies, although this can introduce undesirable latency into a UC session.

Enforcing a strong strategy for role-based authentication and access control is an approach recommended by Unis Lumin’s Elahi. It’s important to apply the same policies for audit and archiving of corporate information to UC conversations as you would to any other network application. “This will only become more important as UC-enabled collaboration becomes more prevalent,” he said. “Especially when you’re extending outside your own firewall.”

About the author

Heather Clancy is an award-winning business journalist with a passion for emerging technology and corporate sustainability issues. She can be reached at heather@heatherclancy.com.

Upgrading to the new Windows® 7 operating system can make your PC faster and easier to use. Many users fear that the upgrade process itself will be stressful and difficult — but fear not! Following these five simple steps will help you have a smooth and stress-free transition.

1. Check to ensure you meet system requirements
Before you upgrade to Windows 7, your PC will need to have:

1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
For an easy way to ensure you’ve got what it takes, move on to Step 2.

2. Download and run the Upgrade Advisor
Generally speaking, if you’re currently running the Windows Vista operating system, you’ll be able to run Windows 7. But if you’re not using Vista or just aren’t sure if your system is ready for Windows 7, there is an easy way to check.

Once downloaded and installed, the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Beta will run a diagnostic test to see if your PC can run Windows 7 and if there are any known compatibility issues. It can also give you insight into other potential issues, like whether you’ll need to upgrade certain drivers or applications.

3. Upgrading from Windows XP? Do it the right way
The upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7 is different than upgrading from Vista, because it requires a “clean” or “custom” install, which means you will have to completely clear out the PC’s hard disk. You’ll need to back up your current files and settings, perform a custom (clean) installation, and then reinstall all your files, settings, and programs. If you don’t have a lot of technical expertise, Microsoft® doesn’t recommend doing this yourself — instead, seek help from your local IT service provider. Another option is to purchase updated hardware with Windows 7 preinstalled.

4. Be sure to back up your files
Regardless of which operating system you’re moving from, you’ll want to back up all your data in order to keep it safe during the transition. One thing to keep in mind: if you’re using a third-party backup program, be sure to check the manufacturer’s website to see if the program will work in Windows 7. If you aren’t sure if this is the case, just copy all your data files onto CD/DVD or an external hard drive.

5. Get acquainted with the new interface
The user interface (UI) in Windows 7 is quite different from the UI in Windows XP, and it offers a lot of new features. To help you get familiar with the new interface, check out Microsoft’s Windows 7 page. The Windows 7 Features section has a variety of short videos and descriptions, and the Help & How-to section provides step-by-step articles that show you how to install and navigate around in Windows7.

If I ask you right now whether or not you are in sales, chances are you would say, “No, I’m in accounts payable or customer service or marketing.” You might even say, “I’m the CEO.”

No matter what your job is, you are in sales. Every time you interact with a customer, you are selling your professional credibility, the company’s products or services, and the company’s image. So, even if you don’t work in the sales department, read on.

When a customer has a bad experience in shipping, in accounting, in technical support or any other department in your company, you can bet that negative word-of-mouth will follow. That word of mouth reduces sales in the same way that customer testimonials increase referrals and sales. You are selling all the time, so it’s important for you to recognize what your customers want from you.

Regardless of who your customers are, there are 5 key actions they want from you:

1. To have you spend more time listening than talking
Who do you find more interesting to talk with; the person who rattles on and on sharing their wealth of knowledge, or the person who asks you about yourself and then listens to your response? Your customers do not call in order to be impressed. They call because they have a need or a problem and believe your company can offer the solution. But before they decide to do business with your company, they are going to decide if they like you and can trust you. Asking your customers intelligent questions and, then, actively listening to their responses is the best way to build trust and get at the heart of what your customer really needs.

2. To have things explained in a way they can understand
So often, people sell confusion rather than solutions to customers. In today’s high tech world, many products and services on the market are quite complex. I don’t know about you, but I’m technically challenged. So when I contact technical support to get help with my computers or phone system or software, I want to talk to support reps who can clearly communicate the solutions. Your customers don’t want to be insulted by listening to jargon and acronyms that are meaningless to anyone who doesn’t work in that industry. They also don’t want to deal with a condescending employee who sounds exasperated because they’re not catching on.

3. To deal with nice people It’s like a breath of fresh air when your customer is greeted by a friendly voice answering the telephone or a smile as he or she walks through the door
Remember that your customers are most likely bumping into negativity everywhere they go. They deal with traffic jams, long lines in stores, frustrations at work, stress at home and more. When they pick up the phone to call your company, they want to talk to a “nice” person. They need to believe that you are someone who genuinely cares about their concerns. They want you to sound warm and friendly. They want you to treat them like an old friend.

4. To have their time valued . . . not wasted
Your customers are juggling their schedules to make time to contact your company. If they feel their time has been wasted, they are far less likely to return. Classic time-wasters are placing customers on hold, transferring their calls to other departments, not getting their requests right the first time and not dealing with knowledgeable employees who are empowered to make decisions. Take a look at how you’re handling your customers’ calls and identify the situations that waste a customer’s time and eliminate those.

5. To be offered solutions
Your customers wouldn’t call if they didn’t need what your company has to offer. Once they get through, they want to know that you have the resources and the willingness to do everything you can to deliver what they need. This will often mean that you need to go the extra mile to explore a variety of solutions for them. Or, you will need to help them build a relationship with a co-worker who has more expertise than you in a given situation. In other words, don’t cut your customers short with responses like, “I don’t know,” or “We don’t do that in this department.” Instead, commit yourself to being a possibility thinker for your customers.

You are impacting your company’s sales, every time you talk with a customer. Your goal should be to want your customer to leave with a strong positive feeling about you and the company. You can help your customers feel comfortable with the decision to buy by reinforcing their decision. Show enthusiasm for your products or services and sincerely thank your customers for choosing your company. Above all, communicate to your customers that everyone in the company is part of one big team whose goal it is to make them happy.

Debra J. Schmidt is known as the Loyalty Leader®. She is an author, consultant, trainer and professional speaker who helps companies boost profits by leading the way to greater customer and employee loyalty. Subscribe to her free online newsletter at: www.LoyaltyLeader.com.

Market forces, such as the fluctuations of commodity prices, play a role in how SMBs operate and compete. These days, energy is perhaps the most influential of all commodities, and its impact upon SMBs can be tremendous. According to a recent report issued by IBM entitled IT energy efficiency for small and mid-size business: Good for business and the environment, energy costs now represent the single largest operating cost increase for SMBs, regardless of industry.

But as midsized company Oceanic Worldwide discovered, smaller companies can actively counter the impact of outside forces – including energy expenses – and help the environment along the way.

Rising energy prices drive changes in IT planning Concerns about operational efficiency figured largely into plans for growth at California-based Oceanic Worldwide, a supplier and designer of scuba diving equipment. Company management noted the continual rise of IT-related energy costs, and worried that these expenses might eclipse other budgetary matters – as well as contribute to environmental problems.

Oceanic Worldwide was right about IT-related energy costs and concerns. According to its Worldwide Server Power and Cooling Expense 2006–2010 Forecast, research firm IDC says that for every dollar spent on IT equipment, 50 cents goes to energy. By 2010, says IDC in the same report, 70 cents of every IT dollar will be devoted to powering and cooling these devices. To put these numbers in perspective, the amount of money spent to operate and cool a server averages $550 a year. And as companies grow, they typically add more servers, which create larger utility bills and potentially greater environmental consequences.

One of the reasons that energy costs spiral for SMBs like Oceanic can be found in the widespread “one-to-one-to-one” hardware approach, where each server hosts only one operating system that, in turn, runs a single application. Not only are these environments expensive, but they also promote IT inefficiency because multiple servers operate at a fraction of their computing capacity.

At Oceanic, the one-to-one-to-one approach was not only impeding company growth, but the resulting server sprawl made it difficult to keep information accessible. According to Rick Eggleston, Senior Systems Consultant at IBM Business Partner Meridian IT, “Backups weren’t done every night” putting the company at risk for data loss.

Leaner and greener IT reduces operational pressure Eggleston points out that although Oceanic ran its operations on only a handful of servers, the company had more hardware assets than it really needed. For Oceanic, hardware consolidation provided the cure for its IT growing pains.

Using virtualization technology, the company consolidated its servers onto a single blade system, which hosts two operating systems, and runs multiple applications for printing, order tracking, shipping, financials and inventory. This simplified IT environment also reduced energy consumption at Oceanic, as well as cut down the amount of time the company spent administering its IT.

Beyond saving space and energy, consolidating with blade servers also increases data integrity since less hardware reduces technical complexity making it easier for short-handed SMBs to maintain the system. As Eggleston points out, “You have one backup done each night, and you can ensure that everything is getting backed up.”

Other areas where SMBs can be more efficient through green IT solutions include:

• Diagnosing the cause of excessive energy consumption. The authors of IT energy efficiency for small and mid-size business discovered that 40 percent of SMBs in the United States do not know how much their IT systems contribute to overall energy costs. Close examination of existing systems can help SMBs decide which systems may be ready for retirement.  
• Constantly measuring energy usage. Power-monitoring products now available on the market allow SMBs to measure how much electricity is being used in servers and server racks, and some of these solutions automatically detect servers not in use and put them into standby mode.  
• Building new facilities intelligently. The old real estate adage about the importance of location should also be applied to computer rooms and data centers. “A lot of places have one rack facing north-south and another one facing south-north,” Meridian IT’s Eggleston explains. “So you’ve got hot air going out one rack, and then on the other side it’s coming out the other side of the rack – so the air conditioning cannot efficiently control that climate in the room.”

Green IT: Good for business, good for the environment “The nature of our business gives us a firsthand look at the impact of society on the environment,” says Paul Elsinga, chief financial officer for Oceanic. “So the fact that we could make changes in our IT environment that reduced costs while also doing something good for the environment was very important to us.”

Recent research shows that Elsinga’s firm is in good company. According to the IT energy efficiency for small and mid-size business report, 55 percent of firms worldwide plan to make significant changes to how their hardware systems operate; 33 percent say they will purchase more energy-efficient systems; 22 percent plan to consolidate their servers; and another 22 percent intend to evaluate server usage and performance.

All this goes to show that SMBs can take steps today toward incorporating the green technologies that matter – and beat the rising tide of energy-related problems.

Q: I know from past experience that bosses sometimes favor some employees over others based on personal reasons. Now that I’m a business owner, how can I be sure I’m treating my employees fairly and not showing favoritism?

A: You’re right to be concerned about this; it’s a common employee complaint about bosses. Since it’s human nature to like some people more than others (and bosses are people, too) you have to constantly monitor your actions and deeds to make sure you’re not favoring some employees over others. But being fair doesn’t mean everyone on staff gets treated exactly the same. All too often when business owners try to dole out equal treatment, no one benefits.

This is not as contradictory as it sounds.
Of course you cannot discriminate when it comes to salaries and “hard” benefits (medical, vacation, personal and sick days, etc.). But you do have some flexibility when it comes to the “softer” benefits-and here’s where you can tailor your offerings based on the needs of your individual employees.

Let me tell you about a situation I faced several years back. I heard one of my single staffers thought I favored the mothers on the staff since they were allowed to build their schedules around their kids’ schedules. Instead of letting the situation fester, I asked the employee to come into my office to discuss the situation. She (after a bit of coaxing and several assurances I wouldn’t get mad) said she thought it was unfair that the moms got so much flexibility in their schedules. I pointed out that I gave her a flex schedule when she wanted to take some classes (non work-related). And it was as if the proverbial light bulb went off in her head. She realized that she had been treated exactly the same as the moms, just under different circumstances.

As this shows, sometimes it’s not actual favoritism that’s causing the problem but the perception of it.

As the boss, it is your responsibility to know how your employees feel and nip any problems before blossom. You also need to find out what matters to your employees. While flex time may work for some, others might appreciate a comp day or even tickets to a ball game. It’s not important what you do, but that you do something for everyone.

All that said, many bosses actually do like some of their employees more than others. The key is not to show it or you can easily end up with a morale problem. I talked to my sister, the HR guru, who added that in some cases favoritism could be considered a type of discrimination and can lead to legal troubles. She also recommends you have policy and procedures guidelines concerning raises, promotions and perks and make sure you adhere to them.

The key is awareness. You need to know what your employees need and/or want and if it’s possible for you to offer solutions.

More important you can’t sit in your office and wait for the you-know-what to hit the fan. I’m a big fan of managing by walking around. That way you’re more apt to learn if perceived favoritism is causing a morale problem and your staff will feel more comfortable talking to you about their concerns.
 

Did you know that an estimated 90% of data loss incidents are accidental?

That may be surprising news in light of the fact that cyber-criminals have never been busier. But according to a recent survey by TheInfoPro Inc., data loss is “more the result of non-malicious activity as compared to malicious actions.” (“Why Data Loss Prevention?” TheInfoPro Inc., October 2008)

What does that mean for your business? For one thing, it means that the loss of critical data is more likely to result from the actions taken by one of your users in the course of doing business than from someone hacking into your network.

Now consider the findings of another recent survey, which puts the spotlight on a little-known aspect of the current recession: namely, that as companies downsize, data loss risks increase.

According to a Ponemon Institute survey of 945 employees who lost or left a job in 2008, 59% of them admitted to stealing confidential company information. In addition, researchers found that many of these instances of data theft could have been prevented with better data loss prevention policies and technologies. (“Data Loss Risks During Downsizing,” Ponemon Institute, February 2009)

Taken together, these surveys offer a strong and timely argument for re-examining your company’s approach to protecting sensitive data.

This article looks at how a great deal of data loss is preventable through the use of clear policies, adequate controls on data access, and better communication with employees.

Get answers to these critical questions
What can you do to ensure that your company is protected against a data breach? Start by looking at the data itself. You want answers to some fundamental questions. Here’s a simple checklist:

• Where is my confidential data?
• Who are the owners of this critical data?
• How is it being used?
• On a more technical level, do you know which file servers and databases contain exposed confidential data?
• Do you know which laptop and desktop computers contain confidential data?
• Do you know who has unauthorized access to your confidential data?

Your ability to answer these questions is critical, given that employees today have so many options for extracting sensitive information, such as media devices with large storage capabilities, USB storage devices, PDAs and smartphones, digital cameras, and Web-based email.

Data Loss Prevention (DLP) technologies are particularly well suited for today’s midsize companies. An effective DLP solution enables you to discover, monitor, and protect your confidential data:

• Discover. Find confidential data – customer contact lists, employee records, email lists, financial information – wherever it is stored, create an inventory of sensitive data, and automatically manage data cleanup.
• Monitor. Understand how confidential data is being used – whether the user is on or off the corporate network – to gain visibility across your organization.
• Protect. Automatically enforce security policies to proactively secure data and prevent confidential data from leaving the organization.

Perhaps most importantly, DLP can go beyond simply preventing information loss. In the event that information is removed from the system, a strong DLP solution can provide logging and reporting features that identify the user and provide details on what information was removed, when it was taken, and how it was extracted from the corporate system. These forensic capabilities provide you with a great advantage in recovering from the loss of critical data as well as any legal actions that may follow.

DLP is a key component of the new Symantec Protection Suite Enterprise Edition. The advanced content filtering and data loss prevention of Symantec Protection Suite Enterprise Edition help you control sensitive data, reduce the risks associated with data loss, and meet regulatory compliance and corporate governance demands.

Of course, technology alone can’t protect your sensitive information. Nor should information security be the job of just a few individuals within your organization. Rather, all of your employees should be educated and empowered to protect company data. This document provides guidelines and recommended best practices for promoting information security. Use these guidelines and best practices to re-engage with employees and improve existing company information security efforts or to develop a baseline information security communications plan.

Conclusion
The explosive rise in the amount of data that companies handle every day has led to a situation where just about anybody can access and distribute sensitive information in unlimited volumes. Increasingly, the loss of sensitive information is having a severe financial and brand-related impact on businesses of all sizes. That impact is multiplied in tough economic times, as employees who leave or lose a job may take data with them via USB and other devices.

As a result, you need to know exactly where your sensitive data resides and how it is being used so that you can prevent it from being copied, downloaded, or sent outside the company. It’s not enough to secure your network. It’s time that you focused on protecting your important data.

Ethics are on people’s minds these days, as newspaper headlines scream about insider trading, companies cooking their books, and other scandals involving business executives at mostly major corporations.

Unfortunately, accounting fraud and other scandals can taint all businesses, large and small. Still, many small-business owners think a written code of ethics is an unnecessary, cosmetic step. Not true, according to various experts in business and academia.

Not only does a code of ethics put your business in a positive, proactive light, they say, but it just makes sense to specifically identify to customers and employees what behavior is appropriate and what’s not.

“People always need to know the rules of the game,” says Ted Sun, business professor at the University of Phoenix. “Imagine a football game without rules. An organization’s the same — people need to know the boundaries of what’s ethical and what’s not.”

A written code of ethics — a tangible overview of those elements that you consider important in operating a business of integrity and principles — can be a definite plus for your business in these times. But drawing up a useful code of ethics means more than scribbling down thoughts at random. Here are eight guidelines to help you.

1. Focus on business practices and specific issues. What actually ends up in a company’s code of ethics will differ from one firm to the next. However, these are things to consider including:  conflicts of interest to avoid, accuracy of financial statements, sexual harassment, workplace safety, environmental standards, and rules and regulations specific to your industry and company. “A good rule of thumb is that ethics codes should call attention to key domestic and international regulations that apply to the organization,” says Diane Swanson, professor of management at Kansas State University.

2. Tailor it to fit your business. Codes of ethics are not cookie cutters  -  one size definitely does not fit all. While you can gain a sense of what your company’s code might include by looking at other companies’, keep your thinking as singular as possible. “It’s really critical that the code of ethics fits the values and mission of the specific company,” says Alice Peterson, president of Listen Up Group, a Chicago provider of services for confidential employee reporting of wrongdoing. “That also means you should never go to somebody else’s Web site and copy theirs.”

3. Include employees in developing a code of ethics. Nothing may be more ineffective than a code of ethics that comes down as an executive mandate. When considering those issues that should be part of your code of ethics, ask others throughout your company what they think is important. Not only will that strengthen the overall scope of the code of ethics, but employees will also be more accepting of ethical guidelines into which they had input.

4. Train your people to be ethical. Even the most thoughtful code of ethics is of little use if a company doesn’t know what it really means. That makes employee training particularly important. Arrange for classes, seminars or meetings to lay out the specifics of your code of ethics and what it means to everyone’s daily activities. “Ethics training should include vignettes and stories that come from the company, so that the subject is real for everybody  -  everyone from the mailroom to the corner office,” Peterson says.

5. Post your code of ethics internally, and set up a reporting system. While you don’t want to encourage a network of snitches
and informants, employees will need a way to let someone know about any ethics breaches they may see. Peterson recommends a two-tier system. First, she suggests a complete open-door policy so that employees know that information is always welcome. Moreover, consider accepting anonymous reports. That, too, may help overcome some employees’ reticence to report ethics code violations.

6. Consider appointing a compliance person. Obviously, a company’s ethics should be of concern to everyone within the organization. But, if it’s feasible, it can be advantageous to appoint a compliance officer whose responsibilities include investigating ethics problems. If nothing else, that can make it much simpler to know to whom employees should pass along suspected ethics missteps.

7. Follow up on any ethics violations you uncover. Just like failing to publicize and promote your code of ethics to your employees and others renders it virtually meaningless, failing to act on ethics violations will disable even the best intentioned of company efforts. When drawing up your code, specify what range of penalties go with certain missteps and violations. Lay out an appeals process. Make sure everyone in your company knows the ramifications of violating the code. “Holding people to ethical conduct is something many people are very poor at,” says Sun. “It requires some confrontation and a lot of leadership skills.”

8. Live it from the top down. It’s critical that no one person in a company ever appears to be above a code of ethics. That means it’s particularly important that executives and top managers also adhere to the guidelines of an ethics code. If managers say one thing but do something else, that’s nothing more than a license for the rest of the company to follow suit. “Good role modeling by top managers is a must,” Swanson says. “Without it, ethics codes can be seen as mere window dressing.”

David never considered himself a gossip. He wasn’t a big computer guy. And as the owner of a profitable business he barely had enough time to spend with his family. But still, he heard all about these social community websites and the need to do online social networking for business and got curious. He decided to check out what all the fuss was about.

The experience wound up almost shutting down his business for two full days. David’s paper supply company employs sixty people. The company was started by his grandfather back in 1922. It’s operated through depressions, recessions and a World War. But never has David’s company faced a bigger challenge than what happened after he started using Facebook.

By now, most of us are familiar with Facebook, MySpace, Linked-In, Twitter and the other popular social networking applications. They attract millions of users every day, posting photos and updates from their daily lives, making contact with friends and business associates, connecting with new people through groups and events.

After years of nudging from his friends and kids, David decided to take the plunge and start his own Facebook page. It was free, he thought, so why not? He created a simple site for himself and began searching and connecting to friends. After a while, other people from his past began finding him too. Before he knew it he had built up a list of more than fifty Facebook “friends”. He found people he once knew but had lost contact with. He checked out girls he used to date to see how mother nature’s treated them. He linked up with family members, including his teenage kids. He was having a good time.

And then something happened that almost shut down his business. While at work, David received a message from a Facebook friend. To reply he was asked to log into his account. This is a pretty typical process, but David thought this was kind of strange because he was already logged into his account. However, he shrugged, like most of us do when some quirky technology thing happens, and logged in again. The page he landed on looked different. And the “message” that he received from his friend wasn’t a message at all, but merely a generic statement. David knew something was strange. And then strange things started to happen. His computer began to act a little funny. Slower. Like something was going on in the background. After a while, it seemed that everything was back to normal. “I hope I didn’t mess anything up,” he thought to himself. But everything seemed OK again, so he shrugged off the experience and moved on to other work.

A few hours later, after business had closed, the chaos began. A virus found its way to his company’s server and started to corrupt files. And not just any old files. It specifically targeted documents, spreadsheets and pdfs. Worse, it also damaged any files it found with an .exe extension. At the same time, the virus spawned other viruses which searched the workstations of David’s employees and corrupted their files too. It searched out email addresses he had stored and started sending out unintended emails to every email address found on his computer.

David’s company routinely stores invoices, quotes, estimates and important analysis files on the infected server. The next morning, after the virus had done its work people started getting error messages when trying to open these files. And then when they tried to get into the company’s order entry and production system they were unable to load the program – the executables (exe’s) had been deleted.

It turns out the Facebook message David received wasn’t a real message. It was a fake one, called “phishing”, hijacked from one of his friends’ accounts. And David was right when he suspected something was fishy. Because when he logged on again, he wasn’t logging on to Facebook, but to another site that immediately downloaded malicious code to his computer. The code stayed dormant until that night. And then it did it’s evil work. It infected local files. And it spread. Even outside of the company because David did not have adequate security solutions in his company’s systems.

This attack doesn’t surprise people in the computer security industry. Recently an industry trade magazine reported on the results of a poll that revealed that “63 percent of system administrators worry that employees share too much personal information via their social-networking profiles, putting their corporate infrastructure — and the sensitive data stored on it — at risk. The findings also indicate that a quarter of businesses have been the victim of spam, phishing or malware attacks via sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace.

The article went on to warn that “Frequent use of social-networking sites makes them a prime target for cybercriminals intent on stealing identities, spreading malware, or bombarding users with spam.”

David shouldn’t be mad at Facebook. The blame is with him. He was the one who cut corners and didn’t have security software in place at his company. And he remembers when this decision was made. It was about a year ago, when he was buying that new server from his computer guy. Anti-Virus software was included in the package and he specifically asked to have it removed to save a few bucks and decided to use the free download software.

Now he’s spending thousands with his computer guy to get the mess cleaned up. He’s praying that his backup systems worked and that his files can be restored. He’s about to suffer significant data loss from the time his last backup was performed to the time of that day’s infection. He’s calling and apologizing for late shipments. He’s forced to hold off on accepting new orders until his systems have been restored.

Oh, and that little virus just kept on giving. Remember those emails it sent out? Many of those went to unwitting customers and vendors. So now poor David is writing letters and making phone calls to hundreds of customers to apologize to them for potentially infecting THEIR systems too. Not exactly the kind of service he was hoping to provide.

It could have been even worse. Some of the same “phishing” incidents that have been known to affect other Facebook and users of social community websites have resulted in the loss of credit card data and other personal information. David could have had his entire personal identity stolen too. Instead, he just lost two days of production in his business. There is similar “phishing” going on with Twitter, and probably with other social media communities.

Now David’s writing some checks. Not just to the computer guy, but also to purchase good security software. Software that will scan every incoming email AND every outgoing email too and block malicious emails. Software that will automatically check with the service provider for new viruses, worms and Trojans and protect against them. He’ll gladly fork over the annual fees for this service too. Good business owners make tons of mistakes. But his company didn’t stay in business for 85+ years by making the same mistakes twice. At least not very often.

David will survive this episode. His business will recover. And with medication, his blood pressure will be brought back under control. He learned his lesson from this experience. He’s not going to stop using social media sites. But he is going to now try to spend more time with his family then on Facebook. He’s now become more wary of the potential risks of these sites. And most importantly he learned that network security for business owner in this era of social networking websites just isn’t an option anymore.

Negativity is the number one productivity problem in the workplace. Signs of negativity include backstabbing, gossiping, power struggles and lack of teamwork. The end result is absenteeism, low morale and turnover. Here are seven tips for improving workplace relationships and reducing negativity.

1. Facilitate Regular Staff Meetings
When done properly, regular meetings provide a forum for listening, problem-solving and honoring peak performance. Meeting mistakes include lecturing instead of engaging the team, inconsistent meeting times, no agenda, and no fun.

2. Institute a DRAMA-Free Workplace
Make relationships a priority and support the relationships with a standard operating procedure and employee manual. Review at least once a year and let the rules be the “bad guy” when it comes to discipline.

3. Eliminate the Open Door Policy
The door should only be open during specific hours and preferably by appointment. This prevents casual visits to vent or tattle.

4. Stop Office Gossip
Sally comes to you and says, “Don’t tell Donna, I said this, but Donna is unhappy with…” Discourage hearsay with a calm question, “Why are you coming to me with Donna’s problem?” Send the message you do not tolerate “rescuing” behavior.

5. Teach Problem-Solving
When an employee comes to you with a complaint, acknowledge the complaint, then schedule the employee to come back with all the facts, and an idea or potential solution.

6. Require Rejuvenation
No rest and recovery equals irritability, impatience, rude behavior and more mistakes. Managing energy is crucial to peak performance and productivity. Make regular breaks mandatory at least every two hours if possible.

7. Be the Change You Wish To See
Master your communication and relationship skills. Set the example: Master your emotions, be fair, listen, have integrity, show respect and have fun. Remember the words of William Penn: “No man is fit to command another who cannot command himself.”

Marlene Chism MA is the founder of the Stop Your Drama Methodology, an 8-part empowerment system to help managers run the office with no complaints, no excuses and no regrets. For more information go to www.stopyourdrama.us 

It has been estimated that more than 76 million “millennials” (Americans born between 1978 and 2000) are ready to enter the workforce throughout the next decade. At the same time significant numbers of the “Baby Boomer” generation will be retiring.

It seems that as these younger workers are graduating and entering the work force, we are undergoing a significant sea change in how workers view and respect sensitive information in the daily course of business. The advent of Social Media tools such as Facebook and Twitter has changed our ability to rapidly access and disseminate information. This makes it more important than ever to be sensitive to our responsibilities to guard our clients’ information. However, the natural approach of management today is to simply put a stop to it.

The good, bad and ugly of Social Networking
 The good of Social Networking is that is a powerful sharing and collaboration tool. Used properly it facilitates and accelerates our ability to communicate, quickly replacing e-Mail as the tool of choice. Whereas e-mail is a one-to-one communication platform and can be managed via encryption and other tools, social media tools are one-to-many, immediate, and there are few if any tools available to restrict or manage their use. Just as we needed to develop Internal Control Procedures to train and convey to employees what were permissible uses of e-Mail, so too must we develop procedures to establish guidelines and limitation on what is allowable uses of Social Networking in our workplace and, what information is restricted and may not be conveyed outside the office as well.

Even though the risks of exposing information via social networking is bad, there are good benefits to creating a Facebook site, or Twitter account for your firm to convey positive information to clients and potential clients. This should be done by employees who are passing positive information on to others.

The bad side of Social Networking is that you cannot stop it. Blocking firewalls and routers from accessing certain sites is, for the most part, a useless endeavor with easy work arounds. Such measures do not affect users who use such tools at home or on the road. It is extremely important therefore to educate everyone in the office to use social networking tools appropriately.

The ugly side is that once you develop good Internal Control Procedures you must enforce them. If an employee, after training, violates the rules appropriate actions must be taken.

Creating Internal Control Procedures
You might consider the following steps to establish policies on social networking published by SHRM Online:

• Get fully informed about the various social networking venues, their thrust and theme, successes and foibles.
• Identify the kinds of social networking conduct by employees that your company wants to regulate.
• Decide the level at which some sites will be filtered or blocked by your company’s computer network.
• Determine the job categories that have inherent, appropriate workplace uses for social networking and grant access to social networks to workers in those groups only.
• Craft a clear, concise policy that can withstand legal scrutiny.
• Ensure that employees read and sign the policy.
  Update the policy annually, based upon policy reviews conducted jointly by HR and other corporate managers, employment lawyers and other experts.
• Make sure managers buy into the policy, and communicate it through multiple channels.

There are a number of web-sites that offer advice on creating your policy. The federal government recently published Guidelines for Secure Use of Social Media by Federal Departments and Agencies.

This document can be found at
http://www.cio.gov/Documents/Guidelines_for_Secure_Use_Social_Media_v01-0.pdf 

IBM has published their guidelines for blogging, wikis, social networks, virtual worlds and so forth at http://www.ibm.com/blogs/zz/en/guidelines.html 

If you want to educate yourself, or your staff on the subject of Social Network Etiquette, read this article
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32691783/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/ 

There is also a sample short Internal Control Procedure at http://www.tsif.com/socialnetworking.htm

First, Do No Harm
What information is proper to share over the Internet and what isn’t, is really not that difficult to understand. Most of the time good common sense can be your guide. Don’t tweet or post a comment about anyone that you would not say to their face! If the information is client related, or is information that belongs to the firm – DON’T POST IT! If your office has rules about what may be written down in the firm, notes, comments and so forth, to include in client files – all these rules apply to cyberspace as well.

Keep your personal Facebook or Twitter accounts personal and do not include work. It really is as simple as that. But every once in a while someone just does a dumb post by accident, exposing sensitive information, it is more likely to occur because you are mad, or upset, or bored. Stop and take a deep breath before you post. It may be better to go home, take a run, or just yell out loud in the woods than post something you will live to regret.

If you are looking for a long and profitable career, pay attention to what you post on your personal posts as well. Now that web based search engines are included social networking posts, your comments cannot be taken back, and they may exist across the Internet for many years to come! If you have pictures on your sites that you would not want your minister or your mom to see – perhaps there are good reasons to take them down.

Dr. Bob Spencer is an internationally recognized author, lecturer, and consultant who has written more than a dozen books on technology in business and can be reached at www.bobspencer.com. Dr. Bob is associated with K2 Enterprises, www.k2e.com and Network Management Group, www.nmgi.com as a consultant.

Randolph P. Johnston (Randy) is one of the founding shareholders of NMGI, having worked in technology for over 30 years. He has written multiple college texts on technology as well as course materials for K2 Enterprises where is also a shareholder. Randy speaks and consults nationally on accounting software, paperless and CPA firm technologies, and is an internationally known speaker.

What’s good for the environment can also make incredibly good business sense. By taking advantage of green IT strategies such as virtualization and server consolidation, midsized businesses can realize immediate ROI in 2010. What’s more, today’s energy-efficient technologies do more than just alleviate power and cooling costs. Green IT solutions can also have a significant impact on company-wide operational efficiency.

Facing the rising costs of business
Running a midsized company today calls for doing more with less  -  while also keeping up with the technology curve to remain competitive. Yet supporting new IT services often means increased costs in hardware, maintenance and power. As time goes on and energy costs continue to rise, many companies start to run out of physical space, or overload the power and cooling capabilities of hardware facilities from small computer rooms to large data centers.

So while many companies pursue green agendas, capacity issues often become the foundation for adopting energy-efficient IT technologies.

Explains Logan Scott, IBM energy efficiency offering manager, “If we keep growing with the current model  -  a very distributed IT model where a lot of companies are running one application per server  -  that is not really going to be sustainable. That’s where we are seeing server sprawl. And even on the storage side it is just becoming too difficult to keep up with the increasing demand for storage capacity.”

Energy-efficient IT for efficient operations
There are many reasons for midsized businesses to go green, according to Scott. “First of all, there is a major opportunity for cost savings,” he says. Energy-efficient IT strategies that focus on consolidated, virtualized infrastructures can help midsized businesses quickly begin seeing a return on investment from reduced power and cooling costs of up to 40 percent.

In addition to these welcome adjustments to the utility bill, energy-efficient technologies also can provide significant operational benefits. In areas such as data availability, productivity and utilization, green IT usually makes organizations more efficient, Scott explains. “Companies are seeing major efficiency…for every dollar they are saving in energy costs, they might see six to eight dollars in operational cost savings,” he says.

For example, consolidated, virtualized environments can reduce demands on power and cooling systems, and this can help eliminate thermal hot spots that often lead to service outages, says Scott. This improved availability and resiliency helps to ensure that business is uninterrupted. And, because consolidated server environments simplify IT management, midsized organizations can also manage more services with fewer resources. This also improves IT staff productivity by reducing the amount of time required to contain server sprawl and battle power and cooling issues.

Companies can also effectively get more out of their IT investments by harnessing energy-efficient IT to improve utilization as much as four-fold, says Scott.  -  Today, in a lot of distributed environments, utilization rates of the server environment might be down to less than 15 percent, so that is a lot of wasted compute power,” he explains. “By implementing virtualization you can share workloads on the same equipment and drive much higher utilization rates, and likewise get a lot more efficiency  -  including energy savings.”

Going green for lower costs and ROI
The first step in energy-efficient IT for midsized business is to learn more about how they currently use energy, which can be difficult to discover. At some organizations, for example, utility bills are passed through a facilities department, which effectively masks energy costs from IT teams that may be unaware of how much power information technology consumes.

“Working with the facilities department,” Scott explains, helps in “understanding the overall energy consumption for IT and then putting the capability in place to monitor and manage the energy consumption.”

Doing so can often be easily achieved by downloading freely available basic energy-monitoring software applications  -  while more advanced solutions allow businesses to control and cap energy usage by setting server-based policies. These tools also can lay the groundwork for measuring energy ROI as midsized businesses progress further down the path to greener computing.

For Scott and many other IT energy experts, understanding energy usage requirements should be followed up by consolidating physical servers onto less hardware with a virtualized infrastructure  -  regardless of the size of the facility. Scott says of this environment, “I think that is one of the biggest levers for improving the efficiency of the overall IT operation, which is going to likewise reduce the facilities overhead in cooling that environment down.”

As Scott recognizes, some smaller businesses may not yet be ready for virtualization. Still, these businesses can also benefit from consolidation and more efficient server designs. As an example, he suggests that simply transitioning from traditional rack-mounted servers to energy-efficient blade servers can cut energy costs by up to 40 percent. Similar benefits can be found in the storage environment.

“Implementing a tiered storage environment with information life-cycle management policies  -  where you’re optimizing where data is stored in the hierarchy and you are taking advantage of slower-spinning disks and tape  -  that can really have dramatic improvements in energy efficiency,” he notes.

Framing the future of green IT
Virtualization and consolidation are just starting points in making technology greener and more cost-effective. As business and environmental goals converge, advancements in energy-efficient technology will drive more savings  -  and operational efficiency, according to Scott.

“I think we will see more energy management functions built into servers and storage hardware,” he explains, and then lists areas such as cloud computing and software as a service. These advances, he says, are poised to further extend the benefits of green IT for midsized businesses by increasing utilization rates for hardware, and allowing hardware devices to run more workloads with less power.

But in the meantime, Scott and other IT energy experts believe there is no time like the present for midsized organizations to go green. Because what’s good for the environment also makes good business sense in 2010  -  and beyond.

In the current business environment, the old adage “time is money” applies now more than ever. So what happens when everyday operations are disrupted? According to the U.S. Labor Department, more than 40 percent of all companies that experience a disaster never reopen – and more than 25 percent of those that do reopen after a disaster occurs will close down for good within two years. But even if your company doesn’t go through a major disaster, chances are high that it will experience the negative consequences of unplanned outages that make business as usual impossible.

The problem is amplified in challenging economic times, says Warren Sirota, a segment executive with IBM Business Continuity and Resiliency Services. “If the business is already suffering from lower revenue because of the economy and a significant outage occurs, the impact can be much more dramatic than during good times,” he says.

Downtime quickly becomes revenue loss
Even though a crippling outage is almost certain to hit most companies someday, many executives running midsized organizations adopt an “it won’t happen here” attitude. They would be wise to think again. A business may not be located on the coast where hurricanes strike, but power outages can still occur. According to Infonetics Research, most companies suffer between 300 to 1,000 hours of downtime a year.

“Resilience is the ability to take a blow and keep on going.” Wildfires may not be prevalent where a business operates, but no company is exempt from the risk of a building fire. And while Mother Nature is responsible for many outages, downtime can also be caused by air conditioning failures, coffee machine malfunctions, bursting pipes, human error, insects, roof cave-ins and vandalism.

No matter the cause of a disaster, the accompanying costs quickly add up. In some industries, says Infonetics Research, downtime costs can equal up to 16 percent of revenue. And according to the analysis firm Meta Group, every hour of downtime carries an hourly cost of more than $200 for every employee on staff.

Unfortunately, many routine security and business continuity precautions are of little help once disaster strikes. For example, a high-availability server system is a great investment for protection against many types of outages. Yet if all of its components are located in the same area as the cause of an outage, it too will go down.

Understanding business recovery essentials
“Avoiding lost sales is the most significant benefit of having a good recovery plan,” says Sirota, who suggests that understanding the importance of the five essential elements of business recovery can help midsized businesses stay afloat amid outages large and small. These five areas, he says, make up the most important parts of operating a business: people, facilities, information, networks and technologies. Planning for inevitable disruptions requires an understanding of the essentials of each of these five elements:

1. Keep people busy with business as usual
Planning for employees, business partners and customers makes up the most critical aspect of business recovery planning, Sirota says. Depending on the nature of the outage, you may need to figure out how and where people can continue working. For a brief period of time, everyone may need to work remotely, but you’ll need to have these contingency plans ready, along with automatic notification to tell employees to work at home.

2. Make accommodations for facilities
Facilities make up an important part of business recovery planning. According to the U.S. National Fire Protection Agency, 35 percent of businesses that experience a major fire are out of business within three years. So, if having everyone work at home is not the best option for your business, recovery vendors can provide interim workplaces such as prefabricated mobile offices or buildings designed specifically for use in times of crisis.

3. Secure information before the storm hits
Data can make or break a business. According to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 80 percent of companies without well-conceived data protection and recovery strategies go out of business within two years of a major disaster.

Backup tape and storage testing services can help ensure that critical data will be available after a major outage. Ideally, says IBM’s Sirota, backups should be performed offsite, preferably at a facility far away from everyday operations. “The best way to protect the information for a small business is to use a remote data backup facility, which actually transmits the data either overnight or at scheduled times to a remote site where it is stored.”

4. Prepare alternate networking routes
Can you keep networks open – or restore them quickly? What happens if you don’t have local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) connectivity for an extended period of time? Or phone connections and e-mail? In the worst-case scenario, your business may not have access to any of these vital services.

LAN and WAN contingency plans can include services such as remote data access so critical information can be managed and administered from any location. A failover system for e-mail is also highly recommended by Sirota, who notes that keeping in touch with partners and customers can make all the difference in remaining in business. These solutions can be activated in seconds, but keep in mind that these systems need to be in place prior to an outage.

5. Keep technology up-to-date and aligned with recovery plans
Keep tabs on how technology is applied within your organization. This can be as simple as making sure a security patch has been correctly applied. Otherwise, recovery plans can be easily derailed when new software and hardware is added or upgraded without testing the potential consequences of changes to business technology. That’s why experts like Sirota recommend routine system checkups, as well as longer-term business continuity and resilience planning services. “Resilience is the ability to take a blow and keep on going,” he says.

Regular checkups provide the best results
Sirota suggests that business recovery plans be tested annually. “Plans go out of date very quickly,” he says. “Exercise your plan once a year. People find that’s when they realize what they really need to do to improve their plans.”

Many of these activities are best done with the assistance of an outside specialist company, Sirota explains, “A small business doesn’t have the staff and the in-depth expertise available to do a full-blown plan.” He adds. “Obviously they have some people responsible for their IT infrastructure, but typically those people are focused on the day-to-day operations and not all the ins and outs of what could happen in a disaster scenario.”

But when the ins and outs of continuity planning are taken seriously, midsized businesses can bank on being competitive – which beats flirting with disaster when it comes to the inevitable periods of unexpected downtime.

Making changes to your printing and imaging systems is an easy way to reduce your environmental impact and show measurable cost savings. Selecting the right imaging and printing tools and implementing responsible in-office practices are crucial to developing a cost effective environmental strategy. Here are six key steps to getting your organization on the right track.

Six smarter printing strategies:

Calculate your carbon footprint. Use the HP Carbon Footprint Calculator for Printing to benchmark your printer fleet is today. Then, compare your existing fleet to new, optimized fleets. Finally, determine the right number and mix of energy-efficient devices to maintain your ideal work team productivity.

Consolidate and replace outdated equipment. Replace stand-alone print, fax and copy machines with multifunction printers that require less space and fewer instances of power use. Look for energy-efficient equipment labeled with the ENERGY STAR or EPEAT label. When purchasing new equipment, factor in energy costs to calculate the total cost of ownership. For example, HP printers with HP Instant-On technology can reduce power consumption by up to 50 percent.

Power down. Turn off equipment that isn’t in use, especially after hours and on weekends. Equipment that remains turned on (even plugged in) still consumes energy. HP Web Jetadmin power-save mode makes this easy by allowing you to pre-set sleep and wake modes.

Print double-sided. If purchasing new equipment, choose printers with a duplex capability. That way the machine handles the paper reversal, so you don’t have to do it manually. Set duplex printing as the standard for your users

Digitize paper-based and document-intensive workflows. Capture and deliver documents electronically to speed document-based workflows, eliminate faxing and reduce paper usage.

Recycle. Office paper, toner cartridges and even old printing equipment are all recyclable. Make it easy for office workers to recycle paper by setting out plenty of bins to collect it. Designate a specific location for workers to place used printer cartridges that need to be recycled. Use HP’s free print cartridge recycling program for recycling HP original ink and toner cartridges. And finally, set up a process for recycling office equipment that is being replaced. HP, for instance, can help manage and recycle technology products responsibly and efficiently, and will even reclaim the materials in recycled printers or put the product back into use after using standard processes to help destroy confidential data.

This six-step approach can help you transform your organization for greater energy and cost savings. And it’s never too late to start. Taking a thoughtful, strategic approach to your day-to-day office functions can show big results, while also promoting your green agenda

Data deduplication is a storage technology for managing explosive data growth and providing data protection. There’s a lot of talk about the technique, but little clarity on details and practical applications.

What is it?
Data deduplication is a method for eliminating redundant data from storage, especially from backups. It works by saving a single copy of identical data, replacing any further instances with pointers back to that one copy.

Here’s a simple example: Say 500 people receive a company-wide e-mail with a 1 megabyte attachment. If each recipient saves that attachment locally, it is replicated 500 times on desktops around the network. During backup, a system without data deduplication would then store the data in that one attachment 500 times — consuming 499 MB more backup space than necessary.

Data deduplication backs up just one instance of the attachment’s data and replaces the other 499 instances with pointers back to that copy.

The technology also works at a second level: If a change is made to the original file, then data deduplication saves only the block or blocks of data actually altered. (A block is typically tiny, somewhere between 2 kilobytes and 10 KB of data.)

So let’s say the title of our 1 MB presentation is changed. Data deduplication would save only the new title, usually in a 4 KB data block, with pointers back to the first iteration of the file. Thus, only 4 KB of new back up data is retained.

When used in conjunction with other methods of data reduction, such as conventional data compression, data deduplication can cut data volume even further.

Now extrapolate that scenario beyond e-mail to thousands of gigabytes of data every month or year. That’s a lot of storage that data deduplication could help you to free up, allowing you to retain more backups for a longer time on a given amount of space. And the benefits can go even further. Data deduplication can also help:

• Save money with lower disk investments
• Free up bandwidth
• Rely less on tape backup
• Recover faster after an outage

A little myth-busting
It might seem that squeezing more data into less space would mean there’s more room to cram in new data, but that’s not how data deduplication works. Because the technology uses pointers to locate repeated data, the ratio of data you can store increases with each backup you make.

However, adding more unique data doesn’t take advantage of the space savings pointers. Therefore, the technique makes it possible to store more backups for a longer time in the same amount of space.

That means a faster recovery when you need an older version of data (as opposed to retrieving a tape from a remote site). But it doesn’t necessarily translate into freeing up room for more unique data.

Comparing technologies
When it comes to data deduplication, one size does not fit all. That’s why it is important to consider a solution’s approach from the following three levels before making a decision:

• Where does data deduplication occur? Does it occur at the source (a server, for example) or at the target that stores the data (a virtual tape library, for example)? A source-based approach results in less data being sent across the wire for backup, potentially shortening backup windows. A target-based approach is well-suited for a virtual tape device and therefore can replace tape backup and speed up data retrieval processes.
• When does deduplication happen? In target-based implementations, data can either be backed up first, then deduplicated (post-process), or deduplication can be executed during the backup process (inline). Each method has pros and cons: Post-process deduplication may result in a faster backup, but inline can be replicated immediately after a backup concludes.
• How does it happen? Object-level differencing reduces data by storing only the changes that occur, while hash-based chunking products locate global redundancies that occur among all files in a backup. Some technologies even difference at the file level, a technique with so many drawbacks there’s little point in considering it here.

Which approach is best for my organization?
The best approach to data deduplication depends on your size and backup needs.

• Deduplication for enterprises: Object-level differencing, or accelerated deduplication, is a good choice for enterprise customers because it focuses on performance and scalability. It delivers the fastest restores, as well as the fastest possible backup by deduplicating data after it has been written to disk. You can scale up to increase performance simply by adding extra nodes.
• Deduplication for midsize businesses and remote enterprise sites: Hash-based chunking, or dynamic deduplication, is a good choice for small and midsize businesses or large enterprises with remote sites because it focuses on compatibility and cost. It delivers a low-cost, small footprint in a format-independent solution.

The importance of options
Some companies offer only one method or the other — object-level differencing or hash-based chunking. However, the two technologies offer different strengths and weaknesses in differing environments. That’s why HP now offers both options in configurations tailored to the needs of different business environments:

• For enterprises, HP’s Virtual Library Systems family of products offers accelerated deduplication on a proven platform that integrates into existing backup applications and processes to accelerate backups in complex SAN environments, all while improving reliability.
• For small and midsize businesses (and remote enterprise offices), HP delivers dynamic deduplication in simple, self-managing, reliable and low cost solutions: the HP StorageWorks D2D Backup System family.

No matter your needs, HP puts a range of data deduplication options at your disposal, not just one that’s been scaled up or down.

In today’s competitive global market, businesses need technology that enables flexibility and cost-effectively adds value to their organization. Internet-based hosted services provide a way to meet these objectives. They deliver feature-rich productivity tools to users while helping to relieve the burden of managing and maintaining business systems — freeing up IT departments to focus on initiatives that can deliver true competitive advantage.

Microsoft has a long history of developing and delivering innovative software and services for businesses and individuals. Designed to meet your unique business needs, our software-plus-services vision brings together the best of rich on-premise applications and flexible online services to give you ready access to the latest messaging and collaboration tools – without costly deployment and time-consuming maintenance. Microsoft® Online Services reliably delivers 99.9 percent scheduled uptime and carries a financially backed service level agreement.

Let Our IT Resources Work for You
Microsoft Online Services gives your business the powerful productivity capabilities of Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server, Microsoft Office Communications Server, and Microsoft Office Live Meeting — all hosted online and all up and running quickly and easily without the upfront costs of an on-premise deployment. The suite of productivity tools enables your workers to communicate and collaborate effectively, while enabling your IT team to focus on more business-critical tasks. And with services hosted by Microsoft, you can have peace of mind knowing that experts are managing your IT and that your services will be available when you need them.

Features and Benefits
Microsoft Online Services makes it easy for you to leverage and rapidly deploy familiar Microsoft server products as flexible services. These hosted services—our Business Productivity Online Standard Suite — include the following:

Exchange Online
Provide employees access to e-mail, calendar, and contacts from virtually anywhere, at anytime, on desktops, laptops, and mobile devices — while helping to protect against malware and spam. Exchange Online can be rapidly deployed, flexibly expanded, and is designed to be securely administered using a powerful yet easy-to-use Web-based console.

SharePoint Online
Share documents, contacts, calendars, and tasks in a single location. Based on Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007, SharePoint Online delivers rich collaboration capabilities that enable team members to flexibly and efficiently collaborate, find organizational resources, search your intranet site, and manage content and workflow.

Office Live Meeting
Connect with colleagues and customers through real-time meetings, training sessions, and events using only a PC with an Internet connection. Hosted Web conferencing services from Microsoft Office Live Meeting give your employees the power to collaborate wherever they are, to set up project meetings, brainstorm ideas, and collaborate on whiteboards without the cost and hassle of travel!

Office Communications Online
Enable users to find and rapidly connect with the right person from the applications they use most. Office Communications Online provides streamlined access to rich presence and instant messaging capabilities that are centrally managed by IT and work seamlessly with a range of Microsoft Office system programs.

How It Works
Each Microsoft data center, located strategically throughout the world, houses a highly reliable complex of equipment that provides seamless connectivity to the Microsoft Online suite of services. This global network of geo-redundant data centers provides around-the-clock access to your business-critical collaboration services, and helps keep your data safe.

With Microsoft Online Services, your IT staff retains control over the services offered to your end users. Microsoft Online Services work seamlessly with Microsoft Active Directory®, so you can continue to manage user policies centrally and control which services are available to your existing users. A single administrative panel — with consoles for provisioning, usage, monitoring, and support — enables simple and centralized management. And your users can enjoy the convenience of a single sign-on to access all their hosted services.

To save money on equipment and time on system maintenance, more and more businesses are deploying virtual servers. Reduced overhead and simplified management can free up resources that can be applied toward innovation and other valuable projects that sharpen the business’ competitive edge.

But virtualization does have its pitfalls. Creating new virtual servers haphazardly can easily lead to out-of-control server sprawl. Stacking too many applications on one host can leave them competing for resources. And managing your virtual resources among your physical machines can get complicated, especially for IT staff accustomed to managing only one application per physical server.

Realizing the benefits of virtualization hinges on good planning, properly balancing your resources and employing the right skills and experience. Here are a few tips to help you avoid some of the more common challenges of virtualization.

Set expectations In a traditional server environment, business units can come to expect full use of an entire server box, which usually provides more than enough capacity, making it seem like a bottomless resource. But the dynamic nature of virtualization means that resources are shared, as well as the cost of managing or acquiring them. Without clear guidelines and support from the rest of the organization, you may get conflicting requests or even refusals to virtualize certain assets.

Get business stakeholder participation and buy-in early to help you manage the transition to virtualization and ensure that it aligns with overall business goals. Be proactive about educating all affected stakeholders and users about how resources will be allocated and shared. Also explain the business benefits of moving to virtualization.

Balance resource needs A major benefit of virtualization is increased resource utilization. But too many applications vying for the same resources may leave those applications competing for inadequate RAM, processor capacity, disk I/O or network bandwidth.

Before moving anything to a virtual server, take stock of your applications and their computing requirements. In particular, identify those that experience heavy spikes in demand for specific resources. Some of these applications may be better suited for traditional servers. Group the rest of your applications that don’t rely heavily on the same resources. As a best practice, distribute your applications strategically across your virtual servers so that each has what it needs to perform well.

Don’t overload physical servers Getting your virtual assets to run smoothly and play well together is one thing. But keep in mind that they still reside on a physical host server, which also requires periodical maintenance and upgrades. If you’re running multiple physical hosts, be sure to distribute your mission critical applications strategically, so that taking a single host server down for maintenance doesn’t disable multiple mission critical applications at once.

Also keep in mind that virtual servers, like physical servers have cyclical resource needs that can spike dramatically when business processes are most demanding, whether that be weekly or once a quarter. Make sure you plan for these spikes when allocating resources for your servers and applications.

Clustering physical servers and virtual servers is another way to avoid physical host server overload. By freely mixing virtual servers with physical servers, clustering can help you address resource spikes and make sure that mission critical applications are appropriately balanced across multiple servers (be they physical or virtual). Clustering also minimizes risk, because your resources aren’t restricted to one physical machine and one single point of failure.

Prevent virtual server sprawl Virtualization’s scalability is one of its greatest strengths, but if mismanaged, can wreak havoc. Creating new virtual machines can be done so easily and quickly, that it can feel like a free and endless resource. When too many virtual servers are added, they can quickly max out the capacity of your physical hosts and turn server management into a complicated mess.

Establish standard practices and requirements to justify and control the creation of new virtual servers. Standards will help prevent virtual servers from proliferating out of control, while helping you more easily track and manage your virtual assets.

Don’t go in solo Getting started with virtualization isn’t always simple or predictable. Not only do you need new skills and tools, you also need a whole new way of viewing your IT infrastructure. Luckily, virtualization standards and best practices have evolved. And selecting an experienced partner that knows how to put them to work for you is an important first step.

HP has a full suite of services to help you make the most of your virtualization efforts. Having implemented virtualization solutions for thousands of customers of all types, HP has the experience and tools to help you meet your virtualization goals, from planning to implementation to ongoing management.

Learn more about HP’s Virtualization Services or contact HP to get started on your virtualization path right away

Change, whether it is wanted or unwanted brings out our best and worst. The Stop Your Drama Methodology incorporates 8 principles and multiple tools for navigating change or reinventing any part of your life or business.

1. Clear the Fog
Where drama is, clarity is not. If you feel like you are shoveling coal in the boiler room instead of navigating the ship, then you have a clarity issue. When you are clear, your decisions are easy and emotions are steady. Clarity helps you handle the winds of change and life flows. First get clear about your values and vision. Everything flows from there.

2. Identify the Gap
The distance between where you are and where you want to be is the gap. The bigger the gap, the more potential for drama. If you can identify those times when you are moving faster than your resources allow, or when what you want seems too far out of reach, find a way to shorten the gap, by taking only the next right step. When you learn how to identify the gap, you can shorten it instead of suffering.

3. Tell Yourself the Truth
Drama is often the result of undisciplined thinking, manifesting as over-reaction to some imagined problem, regret about the past, worry about the future, or denial about the present challenges. To stop your drama, learn how to separate fact from feeling. Knowing your feelings won’t change the facts, but knowing the facts can change your feelings. Consciously changing your thoughts and feelings is the beginning of stepping into a new truth.

4. Reinvent and Realign
When your actions do not align with your values and beliefs you will experience an integrity gap. The integrity gap is when your desires are in conflict. You have the power to reinvent a new you that aligns with your values so that your life is congruent and you are not pulled in opposing directions.

5. Stop Relationship Drama
Where you struggle, you will find a relationship problem. Besides the relationship you have with yourself, there is the relationship you have with others. Then there is the relationship you have to the situation, to your past, your imagined future, to time, money, food and everything else in your life. If you want immediate change, change your relationship to the area where you struggle.

6. Master Your Energy
Down to the smallest unit, everything in the universe is energy. The five types of energy are physical, environmental, emotional, spiritual, and mental. Since even thoughts are energy, remember that negative thoughts drain your energy and can contribute to illness. Slow down and make decisions from inspiration rather than from desperation. Take charge of your energy by mastering your environment, your physical health, your emotions, spirituality and thinking.

7. Release Resistance
Resistance is an energetic state in the form of non-acceptance to what is. Before you can make any change you must quit fighting the current by blaming, excusing, and judging. Accept where you are, then be willing to do what is required to make the shift.

8. Become a Creator
Instead of waiting for things to happen to you, initiate change. Become fully responsible for the contents of your life. Entertain the possibility of what you want by asking, “What if.” Until you consider another reality you cannot create a new one.

BIO
Marlene Chism is the founder of the Stop Your Drama Methodology, an 8-part empowerment system to help leaders run their office with no complaints, no excuses and no regrets. To get more information visit the web at www.stopyourdrama.com 

For many small businesses, a key hiring challenge is finding the right person to care for your computers and networks.

These folks usually carry the title of network or system administrator. And as your business grows, you may need someone (or two) on staff full time to make sure your network and PCs are always functioning properly.

Frankly, I have not had good luck with this. But here are three lessons that I have learned. If you heed them, you might be able to avoid making the same mistakes.

1. Make the hire, but still maintain a close watch over everything. That brings me to Joe (not his real name). Joe was one of my
early system administrators. He was in his mid-20s, deeply into computers and the holder of paper certifications that proved he knew his stuff. At first, things seemed to be OK. It took some time for Joe to figure out the servers’ configurations and the way our Web site worked. But I expected the learning curve, so I wasn’t concerned. Several months after hiring Joe, I went to the server room to make a configuration change. As I mucked around in a server, I found Web sites there for things I had never heard of. Apparently, Joe had set them up for friends. And there were e-mail addresses on the mail server for people I did not know. Then I remembered my computer. I had found oddities on it, too, and now I suspected someone was using it. I set up a camera in my office. Sure enough, at 5 a.m., the culprit walked in and got on the computer. Need I tell you that it was Joe? When I had amassed all the evidence, I confronted Joe. He readily acknowledged everything. I sent him packing. The breaches were bad enough. But most disturbingly, he saw nothing wrong with what he had done. The server space was available, so he used it. Not anymore.

2. Realize when an administrator is in over his or her head. We have a fairly complex setup, with four T1 lines coming into the building and a mountain of routers as well as Web and file servers to handle it all. I thought that I had found a perfect addition to the staff with Steve (again, not his real name). He had his degree, came with great references and appeared to be a real team player. What I did not know was that he had never really worked on a system alone. He relied on a string of people in his past job at a major corporation to keep the systems running. So he had to learn on the job. In doing so, he made system changes that invariably brought the network and the servers to a screeching halt. But he would not just make one change. He would make three, four and maybe 10 at once — so when the system failed, he was not sure what caused it. One morning after two weeks of this nonsense, I walked into the server room. There, I found him sleeping on the floor with a book resting near his head.

The book was titled something like “Hacking Made Easy.” I woke him up and asked him, “What’s going on?” Steve proceeded to tell me that he was up all night working desperately to get our networks operational for the day. He determined that our inability to connect with the Internet was not with our routers and firewalls. It was with the Internet service provider’s T1 lines. And then he explained that the ISP would not acknowledge the problem, so he was going to hack into their corporate offices and fix it himself. Now, I was scared. Steve was terminated that day.

3. Establish company rules and make sure every employee knows them. Some time ago, I read about a 19-year-old who pleaded guilty to stealing sensitive data from DirecTV. The young man was working for an imaging firm that had a contract with a law firm. The law firm was doing work for DirecTV. The information stolen concerned DirecTV’s customer access card. DirecTV is in a constant battle with hackers to keep its data secret. This information was so sensitive that DirecTV kept it encrypted on its own computers. The young man who stole it didn’t do it for money. He apparently was looking for validation from his peers. He posted the information on the hacker sites.

My guess: He didn’t even consider the fact he was stealing someone else’s property. I don’t know about the corporate fallout of his actions. I’ll bet the imaging company lost that contract. There are many, many people on the Internet these days who think nothing of taking intellectual property. Millions of people swap music files electronically. So how does this apply to you? If your employees have access to the Internet, they could be misusing it. They could be swapping files from their desktop computers. If you have a server with Internet access, be careful. You should learn to explore that server to check for contraband. Some poorly socialized character could be setting you up for problems with customers. Worse, you could have legal problems. It’s not just music files. Someone downloading pornography could create a hostile workplace.

Software counterfeiting also is big. Recently, the government busted a large ring of people swapping illegally copied software. They were using corporate computers, primarily. Since many people have trouble distinguishing right from wrong when it comes to the Internet, you should lay it out. Part of your computer policy should include a ban on misuse of the computers. Be specific. Don’t assume anything. That would be a mistake. This goes double for system administrators. These are people who’ve been entrusted with access to every employee’s computer. And they know the system inside and out. If you don’t watch carefully — and sometimes even if you do — you may not realize there’s a problem until the sheriff appears at your door.

Skeptics suggest an economic crisis will stall sustainable business practices. They cling to the myth that going green costs more money. But many businesses are discovering green habits save big money, especially when it comes to information technology.

The savings are many: Reduced power consumption, IT maintenance and hardware procurement costs. This can lead to increased productivity.

You say your technology strategy isn’t sophisticated? No worries. Here are five ways you can make it greener and budget friendly.

Tip 1: Adopt a power management strategy

The simplest way to kick start your green IT strategy is by embracing technology policies for energy consumption, not just software and security updates, says Jennifer Mazzanti, president and cofounder of eMazzanti Technology, an IT services company in Hoboken, N.J.

Windows Vista, for example, has features that shut down system resources when they’re not in use. Windows 7 goes even further. In tests of these features, Mazzanti was able to extend the life of a battery on an older laptop from 4.5 hours to 6 hours.

There are plenty of third-party software applications available to set up and manage power policies, such as shutting down all desktop computers after they’ve been idle for a specific amount of time or turning them off after hours.

What’s more, Microsoft is encouraging hardware and software vendors to accommodate this more easily, Mazzanti says.

Why is saving power such a big deal? By some estimates, there is roughly $2.8 billion a year wasted in the United States on electricity being sent to unused or under-utilized IT equipment. Aside from increased productivity, such as the extended battery life, energy policies can save an average of $36 a year per desktop computer, according to some estimates.

The best way to get a handle on what you can save is understanding what your company uses now. The simplest way to do this is by investing in a power strip that monitors electricity usage and provides a report on trends, says Rick Talbot of Baudry Cybernomics, a green IT consulting company in Toronto.

John Smart, principal at Host2Help.com, an Internet hosting company in Eugene, Ore., has taken things a step further by enabling low-power settings in all the hardware across his organization, even his phones. Also, he has invested in power distribution boards that help his company make sure that peripherals associated with an idled or power-down computer are also shut off. Electronics can use from 25 percent to 40 percent of the power they use at full capacity when they are shut off.

Some power strips sense when the computer is off and power down monitors, printers and drives accordingly, preventing them from drawing electricity in their idle state. These strips usually cost more, but the return on that investment is quick, Smart said.

Tip 2: Consolidate servers

Power considerations also apply to servers your business uses for applications such as e-mail or client databases, Talbot notes.

The good news is one of today’s biggest technology trends, server virtualization, can have a profound impact on improving energy efficiency.

As an example, Canadian retailer, Roots, has reduced its server power consumption by about 400 percent by moving away from buying a new dedicated server for every database application and instead installing virtualization software, which allows the company to run several different applications on one physical piece of server hardware.

Often, when a server is dedicated to just one task, it can sit idle and waste energy. Yet, even while idle, servers use between 70 and 80 percent of the electricity consumed when fully utilized. So, it’s in your company’s best interest to look for ways to use existing servers more productively before going out and buying new ones. Virtualization software can help.

Tip 3: Discourage printing

Many businesses rely on fax machines and printed materials. This negatively impacts the environment and budgets, too.

Ponder what it takes to send a traditional fax. First, you print out a document. Then you beam it to the recipient where it is spit out on paper. Two pieces of paper are used just to send one simple page.

FaxCore, a company that sells faxing software, has calculated that between the cost of postage, paper, envelopes and processing (i.e. the humans stuffing and preparing the envelopes), you can save $830 a mailing per document by opting to go electronic. (This assumes the average communication is roughly two pages in length.)

Energy Star, the government agency that tracks power consumption for electronic devices, rates fax machines among the most energy-intensive machines. Mostly, they sit around turned on doing nothing. The same goes for printers.

Host2Help’s Smart bought a new printer when he upgraded to Windows Vista, Although he wasn’t strictly thinking green, the new Hewlett-Packard printer that he bought has power management options and other features-such as automatic support for double-sided printing-that have helped him save up to $40 per month on his electricity costs.

Smart also encourages his staff to cut back on unnecessary paper waste by posting “Think before you print” signs near printers and he is buying recycled paper for everyday use. Recycled paper costs more, but the difference can be made up in double-sided printing.

Tip 4: Consider lifecycle when purchasing equipment

Philosophically speaking, small-business owners interested in adopting green practices need to begin applying “green math” to their technology budgets. So instead of looking at the price tag for a piece of equipment, you should ask questions about power consumption, materials used to assemble it, and basic recycling or asset disposal policies offered by the vendor. This will be your true cost of ownership for a piece of technology.

Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool is a great source for ratings. Energy Star is working on criteria for more sophisticated equipment, including server hardware.

Sometimes, the price tag for a “greener” piece of equipment is higher on the surface, but when these other factors are considered, it is more cost-effective than less-expensive options. “There is a range of price for every product. You just need to know your price range,” says Diane MacEachern, founder and CEO of Big Green Purse and author of “Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener World.”

No one is suggesting that you buy new equipment. Sometimes energy savings from a new piece of hardware may not justify the purchase, says Bob Houghton, president and CEO of Redemtech, an IT asset disposition company. Sometimes the best strategy for a small-business owner may be to extend the lifecycle of some equipment while swapping out the least energy-efficient machines.

“You need to evaluate the whole footprint of your business,” says Anand Pallegar, founder and president of atLarge, an Internet advertising agency in Sarasota, Fla., that put in place a “Be Green” environmental pledge in 2008 when it moved into a new facility.

Now atLarge has embraced a large spectrum of green policies. It uses an Internet hosting provider that buys only the greenest servers, prints on both sides of a sheet of paper, uses whiteboards in its conference room to capture ideas and share them digitally and is looking at replacing traditional hard drives with solid state storage options to cut power consumption.

None of these practices, by themselves, cost more than traditional alternatives, especially when you take into account factors such as power consumption and ongoing management. But taken together, they have a huge impact on the environment and bottom line.

Every business deals with risk. But medium-sized businesses, with smaller IT staff and tighter operating budgets are often more exposed to risk than larger companies. This reality is never more evident than in a down economy: When the repercussions of a business disruption are as grave as they are, how do you insulate your business from risk?

“For mid-sized businesses, the financial impact of business disruptions is tremendous,” said Anil Miglani, senior vice president, AMI-Partners. “We estimate that through security breaches and data loss alone, medium-sized businesses worldwide lost approximately US$4.7 billion in 2008.”

According to strategy consulting firm AMI-Partners, in 2008 medium-sized businesses worldwide lost approximately US$4.7 billion due to security breaches and loss of data.

However, taking the right precautions with your IT infrastructure can help you steer clear of danger. Here are four steps you can take to mitigate risks to your revenue, your reputation, and your investment – all the things that keep you awake at night as you wait for this storm to pass.

1. Reduce the probability of downtime
Your order system goes down, leaving your e-commerce customers unable to place orders. In addition to lost revenue, this downtime can derail employees, leading to productivity loss. While you’re focused on fixing the problem, your competition has a chance to poach your customers. Worst of all, failing to detect and fix the problem means it may happen again.

High availability of critical systems is the medium-sized business’s highest IT priority, and it’s attainable with a few key changes:

• Invest in reliable servers. Look for servers that have been extensively tested and certified to run on the latest operating systems. Couple that with a comprehensive set of server management tools.
• Virtualize. Virtualization can improve application availability, reduce costs and simplify IT management.
• Build redundancy into your network. Look for routers and switches with virtual router redundancy protocol (VRRP) to eliminate single points of failure.

2. Protect your data
Data breaches might not happen as often as network and application downtime. But when they occur, they can be catastrophic. Implementing a few key protections can greatly minimize the chances of data loss.

• Replicate and use deduplication. Look for a storage backup solution that lets you cost-effectively replicate data for quick recovery. Deduplication helps ensure that you don’t waste bandwidth, disk space and effort backing up multiple copies of the same data.
• Encrypt the data you back up to tape. If you don’t encrypt your tape data, anyone can walk off with your tape and access its data. Hardware encryption that comes with the Linear Tape-Open update (LTO-4) for tape drives, will give you the added security you need.

3. Secure the network

• Prevent security breaches. Deploy a solution that has automated threat detection and offers a single-screen view of the network. It should allow you to map, configure and monitor both wired and wireless networks.
• Don’t forget printers and PCs. Improve your data security with print security solutions that can prohibit unauthorised users from accessing information and documents.

4. Reduce disruptive changes
If your own planned maintenance and management tasks are the biggest cause of downtime, opt for automated solutions. Automation simplifies management so you focus on the business.

• Automate routine server and PC management. Management software can minimize complexity and lower risks of downtime. As for PCs, it can accelerate installations and deployments of software and operating systems.
• Delegate. If you don’t have in-house IT staff who can monitor your systems around the clock, consider outsourcing that function.

How HP can help
You may not be in a position to deploy every possible solution to prevent every conceivable business risk. But when a bad economy narrows your margin for error, you can’t afford unnecessary exposure to business risks.

We all make mistakes. It’s the damage that really counts.

Not long ago, Twin Partners, a Rochester, N.Y., advertising agency, signed on a media behemoth as a client. During the agency’s first media buy for the project, it switched to a less-expensive freelancer. And the results showed.

“She didn’t use the proper software. When we showed our work, we were told that it was not representative of what we said we would do,” recalls agency owner John Galbraith.

The giant fled, taking nearly a quarter million dollars in revenue. But Twin Partners has rebounded from the experience, in large part from lessons learned from the gaffe that cost it the job.

I was just sickened, but we learned from then on to take the high road,” Galbraith says. “We’ve done well because we learned not to cut corners.”

Businesses of all sizes and types are subject to devastating missteps. So what do you do about it? If it doesn’t mean the end of your company, you spend some time doing whatever it takes to get the anguish and misery (and incompetent employees, if necessary) out of your system. Then you pick yourself and your business up and move on.

However, you must know what steps are necessary to recover — and what message you can squeeze from the mishap so it doesn’t happen again.

Here are six to consider:

1. Know the what, the how and the why. Start by identifying precisely what went wrong — as Twin Partners did in pinpointing the cut-rate freelancer who lacked the necessary software. That achieved two closely related objectives. It earmarked the problem and also suggested a solution that has since fueled the company’s resulting growth. “We learned that we need to spend more now and expect a return on that investment over the long run,” Galbraith says.

2. Admit your mistakes (and your willingness to learn from them). Making a mistake is one thing. Denying responsibility — particularly when all evidence points to your culpability — can only make things worse. If the mess is of your own doing, be ready to acknowledge the error and stand ready to do whatever’s necessary to repair any damage. That demonstrates integrity and a commitment to right all that went wrong.

3. Go beyond what you have to. If you’re the one at fault, don’t just correct the mistake — mollify it by offering more to make sure a client sticks with you. If that means a print job that’s been fouled up, dangle a 20% discount for the next project. “If the company merely reprints the order, apologizes and delivers the order, the customer has no incentive to come back because they’ve handled the problem the same way any other printer would have,” says Lisa Kanarek, an author and business consultant.

4. Don’t accept the blame if it isn’t warranted. Clients and customers have a penchant for approving things, only to double back later and scream they never said anything of the sort. Here, your tack depends on the situation. If the client has been a pain and you can swallow the loss, cut yourself free. As a compromise, split the difference of whatever cost may be involved. But don’t be afraid to stand your ground if the matter is significant and you can justify your position. This illustrates the importance of having clients sign off at every point possible to acknowledge their approval of what you’re doing, says author and home-office expert Jeff Zbar. “Be tactful. But don’t be afraid to fight for something if there’s enough money involved or if it’s a real matter of principle,” he says.

5. Be creative in resolving and recovering from problems. Not only can that move you past a simplistic duck-and-cover reaction, but you can also transform a train wreck into more of a fender-bender. Business coach Joyce K. Reynolds cites a manufacturer which had to cope with a Hindenburg-sized bombshell — hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of unwanted custom fabric. Rather than simply eating the losses, the business tried to make the most of the marketable value of the material. “We determined that there was a promotional item that could be made out of the fabric,” Reynolds says. “It went a long way toward reducing the cost of the error. It shows the importance of not panicking and getting creative.”

6. Be smart and savvy in dealing with foes and saboteurs. One of the most potentially damaging elements of a big mistake is the talk after the fact, such as a disgruntled ex-customer who’s bad-mouthing you to anyone within earshot. Don’t turn a deaf ear. If you know someone is running down you or your business unfairly, write a letter asking them to stop. If it continues, contact an attorney; slander may be involved. Equally critical is how you approach prospective clients and customers who may have caught wind of such talk. It’s generally a good idea to acknowledge any differences you have, but not that you have made every effort to resolve the problem amicably. Make sure you have references from satisfied customers at the ready. One malcontent versus 10 happy campers suggests a rare problem that is out-of-character for your business. “Be honest, explain what happened and what you did to resolve it,” Kanarek says. “Then, share a list of references for the [prospective customer] to call. Someone may want to seek revenge, so no matter what you say, you can’t win. That’s when you let others do the talking for you.”

The security of your computer and data is crucial for you and the success of your company. Lost or stolen information can reveal company secrets, or expose your confidential or personal information. The more you do to keep your computer secure, the safer your information will be. Use these 10 tips to learn ways you can help protect your computer, your data, and your company’s network.

1. Work with your IT department Make sure that you install all of the patches and updates that your IT department recommends. In addition to installing Windows and Office updates, your IT department might require you to install additional security software, such as a firewall or custom software to help you connect from remote locations. Making these regular installations will keep your computer and your company’s network as secure as possible.

Learn more about ways to manage your computer and devices at work.

2. Use strong passwords Passwords provide the first line of defense against unauthorized access to your computer, and a good password is often underestimated. Weak passwords provide attackers with easy access to your computer and network. Strong passwords are considerably harder to crack, even with the latest password-cracking software.

A strong password:

• Is at least eight characters long.
• Does not contain your user name, real name, or company name.
• Does not contain a complete dictionary word.
• Is significantly different from previous passwords. Passwords that change just slightly—such as Password1, Password2, Password3—are not strong.
• Contains characters from each of the following groups: ◦Uppercase and/or lowercase letters. ◦Numbers ◦Symbols (!,@,#,$,%, etc.)

Learn more about how to create strong passwords.

3. Don’t enable the Save Password option Make it mandatory for you—or someone else trying to access your computer—to enter your password on all operating system or application settings. If a dialog box prompts you about remembering the password, rather then requiring you to enter it, just choose no. Allowing the password to be saved negates having the password at all.

4. Use network file shares instead of local file shares Rather than opening up your computer to co-workers, use network file shares to collaborate on documents. And restrict access to the network file share to only those who need it. If you’re working on a team, you have lots of other options—such as using Microsoft Office Groove 2007 or Microsoft Office SharePoint 2007.

5. Lock your computer when you leave your desk If you’re going to be away from your desk for a while, make sure your computer is locked.

To lock your computer: 1.On your keyboard, press CTRL+ALT+DELETE at the same time. 2.Click Lock this computer (Lock Computer if you’re running Windows XP). 3.To unlock your computer, press CTRL+ALT+DELETE and enter your password.

6. Use password protection on your screensaver Sometimes you’re away from your desk for longer than you unexpected. Plan for those situations by setting up your computer so that it locks itself after a specified amount of time.

To establish Windows 7 screensaver password protection Right click an empty space on your desktop. Click Personalize, and then click the Screen Saver section. Change Wait time to 10 minutes or less. Select On resume, display logon screen. Click Apply.

To establish Windows Vista screensaver password protection Right click an empty space on your desktop. Click Personalize, and then click the Screen Saver section. Change Wait time to 10 minutes or less. Select On resume, password protect. Click Apply.

To establish Windows XP screensaver password protection Right click an empty space on your desktop. Click Properties, and then the Screen Saver tab. Change Wait time to 10 minutes or less. Select On resume, password protect. Click Apply.

7. Encrypt files containing confidential or business critical files You keep valuable and sensitive data on your computer. You might have sensitive information about your company or clients, or your personal bank statements on a laptop you use at home and work. Encrypting your data keeps it as secure as possible. To help keep unauthorized people from accessing your data — even if your computer is lost or stolen — you should encrypt all sensitive data. In the Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista, you can use BitLocker Drive Encryption to encrypt the entire volume. In Windows XP and all editions of Windows Vista, you can use the Encrypting File System (EFS) to protect important files. We highly recommend that you learn how to encrypt a file or folder to keep it safe.

Learn how to encrypt a file in Windows 7. Learn how to encrypt a file in Windows Vista. Learn how to encrypt a file in Windows XP.

8. Don’t open questionable e-mails If an e-mail message just doesn’t look right, it probably isn’t. Forward the e-mail message to your IT administrator to verify before you open it.

9. Encrypt e-mail messages when appropriate If you’re sending confidential or business-critical information, encrypt the e-mail and any files attached to it. Only recipients who have the private key that matches the public key you used to encrypt the message can read it.

Learn how to encrypt your messages using Microsoft Outlook 2007. Learn how to encrypt your messages using Microsoft Outlook 2003.

10. Use the Junk E-mail Filter in Outlook Receiving spam, or junk e-mail messages, isn’t just annoying. Some spam can include potentially harmful viruses that can cause damage to your computer and your company’s network. The Junk E-mail Filter reduces the amount of junk e-mail messages, or spam, you receive in your Inbox. Good news — if your junk mail filter is already active. But you can always change the settings.

Learn more about handling junk mail in Outlook 2007. Learn more about the Junk E-mail Filter in Outlook 2003.

Technology is in the early stages of a big shift, one that will transform how companies and individuals access information, share content and communicate. This next wave will be driven by a new model of computing: people and businesses will use their Web browsers to access a wide range of “cloud services”–computing services available on demand, over the Internet.

Imagine services that are intelligent enough to anticipate your needs, based on a real-time understanding of your location, time of day and preferences. In this next phase of computing, the search for information will be done for you, not by you. You will have a seamless, consistent experience across all the devices you own, and all the on-demand services you care about.

What’s needed: New core building blocks
Think about the cloud as a platform for creating new services and experiences. It requires a new set of core building blocks – smarter devices and more intelligent networks with software as the critical element that powers these new services and shapes the quality of the user experience.

At HP, we call this “everything as a service.” Individuals and businesses will have full control to customize their computing environments and shape their experiences.

The true power of the cloud happens when there is continuous interaction between your device — your smart phone, notebook computer, TV — and the network, and they jointly act on your behalf.

Here’s a simple example: Say it’s 2 p.m., and your calendar shows you’re booked on a flight to Toronto at 6 p.m. Your device should anticipate what information you’ll need for this trip and proactively gather it for you — a weather forecast for the Toronto area, a status update on your flight, a recommended route to the airport based on up-to-the-minute traffic conditions, and so on. In this scenario, the big step forward is the pervasive, proactive and highly personalized nature of cloud services.

Five trends to watch
As we move to a lifestyle where everything will be delivered as a service, there are five trends that are worth paying close attention to:

1) The digital world will converge with the physical world. Cloud services will be increasingly aware of the context you’re in, right down to details such as the time, the weather, where you’re headed, and which friends or business colleagues are nearby.

2) The era of device-centric computing is over. What you really want is the ability to use any number of devices and have them all provide easy access to the services and content you care about. Devices will continue to play an important role, but in the next phase they become interchangeable — and the cloud services become the focal point.

3) Publishing will be democratized. A global Internet population of 1.2 billion people now has the tools to produce everything from books and magazines to music and videos. You will soon have the ability to print on demand any book ever published.

4) Crowd-sourcing is going mainstream and will change the rules of the game forever. Fortune 50 companies will access top talent across the globe via the Internet, saving millions of dollars in professional services, from fields like accounting, advertising, law and engineering. One example of this shift to crowd sourcing is HP’s Logoworks service , which is transforming the graphics design industry.

5) Enterprises will use radically different tools to make key business decisions. A merger is taking place between the structured data that fuels business intelligence and the unstructured data of the Web. At the same time, market-based systems that enable companies to accurately predict the future

As “everything as a service” evolves, the technology industry has an opportunity to reshape the computing industry forever and, more importantly, create more dynamic services that enrich our everyday lives and improve how we do business. To realize this potential, the technology industry must innovate by building a higher level of intelligence into the next generation of devices, networks and software.

Is “walking the talk” a tired old cliché or a bold new concept? Very few managers today are receiving formal management training. As a result, many are poor communicators and weak in their delegation and leadership skills.

According to a Gallup poll, 25% of U.S. employees would fire their bosses if they could. Why? Because many managers set high service standards for their employees, yet fail to abide by those same standards.

If you are a manager, you are in an excellent position to lead by example. Your employees will only respect your authority if they observe your excellent customer service skills on a daily basis. Customer loyalty must be a top-down initiative.

Here are five ways you can earn greater respect and increase employee loyalty:

1. Always give performance reviews and salary increases on the promised dates. Employees have those dates memorized. They won’t feel valued and will resent you if their review dates are postponed or forgotten.

2. Have empathy for your employees. Show compassion by being flexible with hours and time off so they can tend to family emergencies or illnesses.

3. Be a mentor and coach by sharing your knowledge and experience. Explain to them how business decisions were made, especially when it involves them.

4. Trust your employees and be willing to delegate projects based on their strengths. If you tend to be a control freak, learn to let go and get out of the habit of micro-managing people.

5. Let your employees know they’re valued. Smile at them, be approachable, remember the names of their family members and sincerely thank them every chance you get.

The only times that employees can successfully challenge your authority is when they see that you are not practicing what you preach.

Keep in mind that your employees are your primary customers. Treat them with the same respect and caring service that you deliver to your external customers. Remember that you set the tone for your entire department. Your employees are watching you!

Debra J. Schmidt is known as the Loyalty Leader®. She is an author, consultant, trainer and professional speaker who helps companies boost profits by leading the way to greater customer and employee loyalty. Subscribe to her free online newsletter at: www.LoyaltyLeader.com.

Forget the research evidence, the dozens of pages of documentation and the years of prodding by communications consultants. Do your own survey right now. Pick up your telephone and call ten companies or businesses in your area that provide some sort of customer service, such as banks, brokerage firms, business equipment or insurance companies. Ask to speak to “a manager.” If you get through, explain that you called to evaluate their telephone techniques. Then give the manager a brief report, hang up, and record your findings.

Chances are your research will prove that the most common errors you encounter in telephone answering are among the “dirty dozen.” Here they are:

1.  Letting the phone ring too long.
2.  Not identifying the company name or department.
3.  Inability to transfer calls properly.
4.  Disconnecting calls.
5.  Asking the caller to repeat requests more than once.
6.  Leaving the line without an explanation.
7.  Not using the caller’s name.
8.  Leaving someone on hold too long.
9.  Sounding like the caller is being screened.
10. Getting angry at irate callers.
11. Irritated or annoyed tone of voice.
12. Anything that wastes the caller’s time.

One major service organization interviews over 50 applicants before selecting the one they hire to answer their phones. They know that their telephone receptionist is going to talk to more customers than any salesperson or manager ever will!

In this day and age of impersonal voice mail, isn’t it even more important to invest the time, effort and money to ensure that your organization is making the best impression possible? Why not call your own main number and see what happens!

Here’s what you can do:

1. Have your phone answered with an unhurried and clear statement of your company name, the receptionist’s name, and an offer to help… “Hello, thank you for calling ABC Corporation, this is Debbie. How may I help you?” or “Good morning, ABC Corporation. How may I help you?” Much better than just “ABC!” And the “HOW may I help you?” not “CAN I help you?” promises the caller some kind of action or result.

2. Don’t leave a caller on hold for more than 90 seconds. It’s the most people can handle comfortably. They get fidgety after 45 seconds, so be sure someone breaks in every 30 or 40 seconds and explains the delay or what action is going on. If the delay is prolonged, offer to take a message and have them called back.

3. There’s no excuse for getting angry or annoyed at any caller, especially at someone who is rude or irate. Just be glad you don’t have to live with that crabby individual every day!

4. Smiling will improve your tone of voice immensely. A smile can actually be heard over the phone, so remember to smile—no matter who is calling!

© JOEL H. WELDON & ASSOCIATES, INC.
http://www.SuccessComesInCans.com

Technology can go a long way in helping your business stay competitive, meet customer expectations and improve operational efficiencies. But most small businesses simply don’t have the resources to evaluate technologies and aren’t sure where to find the right technology partner. That’s where a value-added reseller can help.

A VAR enhances an existing product, such as hardware, with additional features, such as software, and then sells it as an integrated package often tailored for specific industries. VARs add further value to the products they sell through consultation and design, training, implementation, and ongoing service and support.

The right VAR can serve as a small business’s IT advisor and help it deploy the same technologies that larger companies use, such as CRM software and IP communications. You can then use those tools to enhance customer experience–a key step in growing customer loyalty and the bottom line.

A VAR can also offer the following benefits:

•One-stop shopping. A single VAR can provide an integrated solution involving technologies from one or more vendors, as well as a single point of contact for both deployment and problem resolution.

•Broad expertise. A VAR can provide you with expertise in a variety of technologies.

•The big picture about small business. Many VARs cater to small businesses and are small businesses themselves. They’re positioned to understand your challenges and to deliver a solution that’ll fit your business now and in the future.

•Customized solutions. Many VARs•specialize in particular industries and have experience with industry-specific solutions. In addition, they often have relationships with niche players and can utilize them as needed.

Finding the Right VAR
So how do you find a VAR that’s the best fit for your business?

•Shop locally. Do an internet search to find out which VARs in your area specialize in the particular technology you’re interested in, such as CRM or IP communications. Another option is to visit a network or other hardware vendor’s website, which often offer tools you can use to find qualified, certified VARs.

•Ask around. Ask colleagues, customers or others whose opinions you trust to recommend a VAR, keeping in mind that your specific requirements are probably different than theirs.

•Look within your industry. Try to find VARs that specialize in your industry by looking through industry publications and exhibitor lists at the top trade shows.

•Ask plenty of questions upfront. Schedule appointments to meet with representatives from the VARs you’re considering. Interview them
•as if you were interviewing job candidates. Ask them about their recent successes, particularly with customers in your industry or field. Find out about their specialization, as well as any professional certifications and industry-specific experience. Ask which niche players they partner with for applications that may be standard for your industry. You’ll also want to know how long the technology deployment may take and what training, if any, will be required. In addition, they should be able to give you sample project plans and at least three customer references.

•Pay attention to the VAR’s motives. The right VAR will give you the sense that it’s•partnering with you to make the best technology decision for your company, rather than just trying to sell you hardware and software. They should take the time to understand your mission and future goals and should be able to tell you how the proposed solution will improve your relationship with your customers.

•Find out who you’ll be dealing with. Most likely, the VAR will dedicate one or more staff members, such as a project manager, to the technology deployment. Ask to speak to them before making a commitment. The goal is to ensure you’ll be working with someone who understands your business’s needs and objectives.

•Decide on the level of support you need. Will your business need the VAR to supply a comprehensive service plan that covers nearly all IT concerns for an annual fee? Or do you want per-incident support that you pay for only when needed? Keep in mind a turnkey support contract might provide a better return on investment over time, as IT emergencies on a per-incident pricing plan can quickly become expensive. Make sure the VAR provides the level of support your business needs, such as 24-hour assistance. You should receive a service-level agreement that details specifically what your VAR will–and won’t–provide.

•Talk money. Have the VAR thoroughly explain the costs your business will incur in as much detail as possible. Also, ask them to help you determine what the return on investment is likely to be.

•Ask about financing. Any new technology deployment can be costly for a small business. Your VAR may offer financing options or resources to make it more affordable.

As with any technology initiative, it’s important to review your business goals and objectives before proceeding. Examine whether the technology you’re considering is the best platform for the current and future size of your business. Be clear on which business problems you hope to solve, what results you want to see and when you want to see them. This information will help you better explain your business needs to a potential VAR. In turn, they will be in a better position to supply the technology and support services needed to help your small business grow.

To the surprise of the nonprofit sector, Internet technology is enhancing good works.

Relief agencies such as the American Red Cross have demonstrated how effectively online systems can speed cash donations to tragedy-stricken parts of the world. Smaller nonprofits have found the Web to be a blessing for locating discounted items and organizing people to support causes. Foundations and charities have found success with e-philanthropy — the securing of pledges and donations over the Web — and made it a vital part of their fundraising strategies.

“Technology is, in many ways, a necessary evil for nonprofits doing business today,” says Joni Podolsky, a technology consultant to nonprofits and the author of “Wired for Good: Strategic Technology Planning for Nonprofits.” “You need it now just to stay competitive.”

The nonprofit industry is indeed competitive, and not just for donations and volunteers. If your business is a nonprofit, you need to compete for grants and other resources, staff talent, community loyalty and simple awareness of your organization and its mission. Bottom line: As with most businesses today, you need a technology plan for your nonprofit agency or organization — a plan that shows how you can put the Internet to work for you.

Yes, technology can be expensive. No, the economy is not a strong as it has been. But your plan is more than a simple wish list of hardware, software and Internet services you’d like to have. It’s a strategy document, helping you think through what your organization needs and how it can be obtained with the resources you have.

And you’ll find your work worth the effort. A well thought-out technology plan can help you:

Increase efficiency in your daily operations.
Manage your budget and spend money more effectively.
Build an online community and boost fundraising efforts.
Give donors more confidence in your organization.
Protect your organization from the impacts of employee turnover.

What’s in a nonprofit tech plan?
Here are the seven components critical to a technology plan for nonprofits, as outlined by TechSoup, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that provides technology advice and assistance to other nonprofits:

1. Establish leadership and support for your technology plan.
By setting up a technology team,and involving management and staff in establishing goals, you can unite the entire organization behind your technology plan.

2. Assess your current resources.
Analyze your existing technology system for how well it is working, what you can save and what you can build on.

3. Define your needs.
What new technology solutions do you need, and what can they help you do that you can’t do already? How can the Internet improve your operation? Clearly defining your needs will help you in developing an effective technology plan. See the article, “The Planning Process: Define Your Needs,” at TechSoup (www.techsoup.org) for more information.

4. Explore solutions.
Now that you’ve defined your needs, what are your technology options? What Internet services are cost-effective and could make your jobs easier? The search for appropriate Web services, such as site management, online fundraising management and the like, may require that you call on an Internet consultant for some assistance.

5. Put your plan in writing.
Your written plan should document your current resources, needs, solutions and planned uses, as well as your budget. It should be a plan of action, concisely written and specifically tailored to your organization. See “The Planning Process: Write the Plan” at TechSoup for more information.

6. Develop a funding strategy.
Your technology plan will guide you in determining how much money you need to raise, and perhaps how to raise it. Many nonprofit leaders today recommend following a 70/30 rule for spending: For every dollar budgeted for technology, 30 cents goes to actual hardware and software purchases and the remaining 70 cents for training and support.

7. Implement the plan and a timeline.
By setting a timeline, assigning responsibilities and evaluating your progress, you will make your technology plan a reality. See “Implementing Your Technology Plan” at TechSoup for details.

The nonprofit e-presence — benefits becoming clear
Gary M. Grobman, a nonprofit expert and author of the book, “The Nonprofit Organization’s Guide to E-Commerce,” estimates that well more than half of the registered U.S. nonprofits today have a Web site. (More than 1 million U.S. nonprofits have registered for tax-exempt status with the IRS; countless others exist but are unregistered, he says.)

In his 2000 book, Grobman outlined why he strongly believes nonprofits should also utilize e-commerce — for printing materials, buying supplies and raising money through online auctions and charity malls as well as generating donations. But he recognizes that because of lack of familiarity, security and privacy concerns, the image of dot-com greed and other emotional factors, many nonprofit leaders are still reluctant to embrace e-commerce.

“That means there are a lot of good opportunities with online auctions and online shopping malls that nonprofits are passing up,” he says. “I believe it is a matter of time before things change. In the next five years, e-commerce will be the primary way nonprofits do business.”

With a tech plan, you’ll discover a little goes a long way
TechSoup, a staunch advocate of technology planning for nonprofits, recognizes that many smaller nonprofits (those with annual budgets well under $1 million) don’t have the marketing funds to justify implementing e-commerce systems for fundraising and other transactions at this time, says director Matt Florence.

TechSoup urges nonprofits to spend money wisely on technology, he says. In many cases, that may mean using less-expensive solutions such as e-mail newsletters and “Donate Now” buttons available through Helping.org. (These buttons are a simple form of e-commerce; Helping.org supplies the technology and collects the donations for you.) If you’ve done your homework and have laid out a simple technology plan, you can sort out what is best for your organization.

And while you’re working on that plan
Here are some additional tips to use as you finesse your tech plan:

Check out the Web sites of TechSoup, Helping.org and other nonprofits offering free services, product discounts and helpful technology advice to fellow nonprofits.

Take advantage of software distribution programs to nonprofits offered by Microsoft and other technology companies. For details, click on the “software” link at CompuMentor (www.compumentor.org),  TechSoup’s parent organization.

Research your database options extensively. Most nonprofits need database software, but can’t afford a pricey solution. For more information, see the “database” link at TechSoup.

Whether you choose a simple “Donate Now” button or some other e-commerce system, allow people to donate online. Assure your visitors that it is safe and easy to do so.

Most business people receive dozens, even hundreds, of e-mails each day. Without question, e-mail is now the primary means of communication in the professional world. That’s why it’s very important to create messages that effectively communicate your point while presenting a professional image. Here are eight helpful tips for writing e-mails that achieve both goals.

1. Set clear, concrete deadlines. If you’re sending a task or a request for more information, don’t just say, "Hope to hear from you soon." Make it clear by what time or date you need a response and write the deadline clearly, for instance: "Please respond by next Thursday, January 15th."

2. Use proper spelling and grammar. Poorly spelled or grammatically incorrect e-mails make you appear unprofessional and reduce the effectiveness of your communication. Always double check your e-mails before sending them, making use of spelling and grammar check tools.

3. Think (and read) before you write. In our haste to respond to all our e-mails in a timely fashion, many of us neglect to fully read the mail we’re answering and thus may overlook crucial bits of information. This can lead to even more e-mails in order to clarify what was overlooked or misunderstood. So before you send a response, make sure you’ve completely read and understood the original e-mail; if not, ask for a clarification to avoid further confusion.

4. Be polite. E-mail is a convenient way to communicate, but convenience shouldn’t be an excuse for overlooking simple etiquette. When you’re communicating with clients or superiors, don’t overlook basic courtesies. Address the recipient with a greeting like "Hello" or "Dear," and be sure to include a closing salutation like "Regards."

5. Use subject lines effectively. Your subject line should be a concise synopsis of the content of your e-mail. The recipient should immediately know at a glance what the e-mail contains or what the request is – for example," "Follow-up from meeting next Friday, January 16th."

6. Limit the use of the To:, Cc:, and Bcc: fields. Most of us already have a problem with inbox overflow. Help cut down on unnecessary e-mails by limiting the number of people on your e-mail distribution. It’s tempting, especially when working on a group project, to include every member of the team on every e-mail. A better approach is to make sure everyone you “cc” is someone who needs to review or respond to the mail.

7. Keep it brief. Long, rambling e-mails are time-consuming to write and to read. Keep it concise, including only the most important details, and be sure to get straight to the point. If an in-depth discussion is needed, schedule a phone call rather than trading lengthy e-mails. It’s usually more efficient.

8. Use the journalistic ‘inverted pyramid’ format. Busy people want to get the point quickly. To make sure your critical information or request isn’t lost or overlooked in a sea of less-important details, use a journalistic technique known as the "inverted pyramid". In this format, the most important information (who, what, where, when, why and how) is contained at the beginning of your e-mail and the least important information at the end.

When you make the effort to write the best e-mails possible, you improve your professional image as well as your efficiency on the job. Better communication always creates better results.

It is really too bad, but the reality today is that we can’t be too trusting any more. It seems like there is some criminal around every corner ready to dupe us into giving up personal information and then stealing us blind. The only solution is to be vigilant, and sadly, a little paranoid.

The latest of the schemes already has a name. It is called “vishing.” If that doesn’t sound descriptive, don’t worry, it will make sense soon. Many of you may remember hearing of a technique called “phishing”, a play on words that basically names a social engineering technique used to steal your identity, or at least parts of it. The phishing technique relied on an email sent to you, apparently from a trusted source, such as Microsoft, eBay, or a major bank, asking you to follow a web link to “reactivate” or “update” your account. The email, link, and everything was cleverly disguised to look very legitimate. However, the link, of course, led to a site that happily collected your personal information directly into a criminal’s database for later sale on the black market. The term “phishing” then was coined as a nomenclature for the practice of fishing for credit cards, social security numbers, bank account numbers, and the like.

The newer technique continues the older theme, but takes advantage of Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP telephone technology; hence the term “vishing.” This is a clever one, and honestly, to me even scarier. Consider the following scenario: You receive a voicemail or text message on your cell phone from a “national bank”, coincidentally, the very “national bank” that you use. The message informs you that your account is on hold because of some suspected fraud activity and urges you to immediately call a certain toll-free number to clear up the situation. When you call the number, you are greeted by a very professional-sounding menu system from “national bank” with message prompts that instruct you to enter your social security number, account number, credit card number, expiration date, and security code from the back of the card, or some combination of the above. Thinking you have just averted a disaster, you hang up the phone. Meanwhile, somewhere in Eastern Europe, counterfeit credit cards are being printed with your name and card number and being sold on the Internet. Your identity has just been stolen.

With current VoIP technology, it is very easy and inexpensive for a criminal to set up a toll free number, and a computer system to take the calls and accept the data entered directly into a database. Other variations on this technique involve emailing you a message that asks you to call a number or sending you a text message to call the number. With each technique, the costs are low, the results are good, and the whole process is very difficult for authorities to track.

Don’t let it happen to you. This message is not meant to be fear-mongering, but we do want to get your attention. Dan Larkin, chief of the FBI’s Cyber Initiative and Resource Fusion Unit recommends greeting a phone call or e-mail seeking personal information with a healthy dose of skepticism. The bottom line is this, if you get a text message, email, or voicemail requesting you to give out personal information, do not do it. No legitimate organization is going to ask you for personal information in such a way.

More resources: If you feel you have been victim of a fraud, immediately report it to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at http://www.ic3.gov/. If you are concerned about the security of your corporate knowledge, or your employees’ personal information, give eMazzanti Technologies a call. We won’t ask for your social security number!

When Mobile Systems Fail

The deployment of mobile technologies has transformed today’s small businesses, fueling tremendous productivity gains. Even so, many of these organizations are at a loss when their mobile systems fail. This article looks at how to speed the recovery of the mobile client.

For most of today’s small businesses, "going mobile" is a given. According to research from International Data Corp., two-thirds of the U.S. workforce will be considered mobile by the end of this year. But while the deployment of mobile technologies has transformed many small businesses, fueling tremendous productivity gains, many of these organizations find themselves at a loss when their mobile systems fail. This article looks at what small businesses can do to speed the recovery of their mobile Windows systems.

Two ways to recover
Do you remember what restoring a failed laptop used to entail? Besides the days of effort it took to get the system up and running again, there would inevitably be some accompanying loss of data.

That doesn’t cut it for today’s small businesses, which can’t afford that kind of downtime. As the Data Mobility Group, a storage industry research firm, put it in a September 2005 Research Note, "There are two ways to recover servers, workstations, and laptops-the hard way and the easy way. The hard way requires you to piece together the operating system and applications. The easy way allows you to recover . . . to any previous state with one command."

When mobile systems fail, you need a solution that eliminates the need to reinstall, reconfigure, and repatch operating systems and applications (not to mention system settings). Moreover, you need a solution capable of a full restoration in just minutes. The logic is simple: Anything that disrupts the safety and accessibility of information creates downtime, and downtime costs money. When disruptions do occur, you need to restore to the "last good" state, as rapidly as possible, without risk of repeating the same failure.

Increasingly, this is being accomplished through the use of so-called snapshot technology, which captures and encapsulates all files and configurations in one, easy-to-manage recovery point (also known as a "system image"). This also enables you to create full and incremental recovery points throughout the day – without interrupting user productivity or application usage. Certain events can trigger an automatic recovery point, such as when a user logs on or logs off, or when stored information exceeds a certain amount of space.

Restoring to any device
When a mobile system does fail, some recovery solutions allow users to restore laptops to their previous states but with one important restriction-they can only restore to hardware with the same configuration as the hardware that had been backed up. That means you’re required to maintain duplicate hardware, which is a costly requirement. But chances are that you don’t routinely have a "clone" on hand that’s ready to be boxed up and shipped out as a replacement.

That’s why you must be able to recover any Windows laptop to any other Windows laptop, independent of hardware configuration. Users should be able to recover from an HP laptop to a Dell laptop, for example, including restoring to machines with entirely different motherboards, mass storage devices, network interface cards, video adapters, etc. Eliminating the need to purchase identical hardware means you can restore more quickly and effortlessly.

IDC has characterized today’s computing environment as "a large, distributed, and complex infrastructure of servers, desktops, and laptops [that are] constantly changing to stay current with the needs of fiercely competitive businesses." In addition, you may have employees who are frequently on the road. A system failure could cost an organization thousands of dollars in productivity losses. Clearly, manual recovery is no longer a viable option.

A superior recovery solution eliminates the need for in-person visits to perform a full recovery. Moreover, when a system fails, you want to eliminate the need to reinstall, reconfigure, and repatch operating systems and applications. One-step restoration greatly improves recovery speeds and enhances system availability.

Conclusion
Today, more and more small businesses are starting to view rapid recovery solutions as essential for their laptops and desktops. Such solutions not only enhance system availability but they also help organizations protect against risk events and ensure the integrity of their information. Given today’s volatile computing environment, that makes them a must-have resource.

From symantec

DO YOU SUFFER FROM FEATURE FATIGUE?

If so, you’re not alone. Most of us do. What’s feature fatigue? The phrase was coined by Roland Rust, a marketing professor at the University of Maryland, and it refers to the feeling most of us get when we confront the range of possibilities today’s technology presents. Do we really need to watch a television program on a cell phone, for example? Is global positioning a viable solution for men’s refusal to ask directions?

As an example of feature fatigue, Rust, in a recent interview on National Public Radio, pointed to his mouse pad. We all know what a mouse pad is supposed to do—provide a comfortable, slightly resistant surface for the mouse to roll around on, right? Rust’s mouse pad, however, comes with a calculator, an alarm clock, and a radio, to name only three of its features. At what point does multi-tasking in a mouse pad reach the point of absurdity?

Manufacturers will say that they are responding to public demand: the more features, the better. On the other hand, recent trends reveal that customers in general are victims of feature fatigue, and they do not want a multitude of possibilities to compromise usability. Rust cites the Mercedes-Benz Corporation, which has reduced dashboard features in its automobiles, as an example. He also points to the success of Apple’s iPod, a device that Rust says does only one thing but does it extremely well.

Whether you’re a techie who delights in all the options electronic devices present, or a feature fatigue fatality, bemused, bedraggled, and bewildered, it’s good to know there’s someone around to help you sort through what’s out there. That’s your HTS representative, of course—the person who helps YOU make IT happen!

Your small-business network may be protected by firewalls, intrusion detection and other state-of-the-art security technologies. And yet, all it takes is one person’s carelessness, and suddenly it’s as if you have no network security at all.

Let me give you an example. In March 2006, a major financial services firm with extensive network security disclosed that one of its portable computers was stolen. The laptop contained the Social Security numbers of nearly 200,000 people. How did it happen? An employee of the firm, dining in a restaurant with colleagues, had locked the laptop in the trunk of a SUV. During dinner, one of the employee’s colleagues retrieved an item from the vehicle and forgot to re-lock it. As fate would have it, there was a rash of car thefts occurring in that particular area at that particular time, and the rest is history.

The moral of that story is clear: No matter how secure your network may be, it’s only as secure as its weakest link. And people–meaning you and your employees–are often the weakest link. It’s important to note that poor security puts your business, as well as your partners, at risk. As a result, many enterprises and organizations, such as credit-card companies, now specify and require minimum levels of security you must have in order to do business with them.

So what can you do? Here are nine ways to minimize the risks that people can pose to the security of your company’s data:

Password-protect your computers and mobile devices–particularly laptops. One basic step toward defending data is to require a password to launch Windows on a PC. It’s not bullet-proof, but it’s a start, and it’s a particularly important first defense for portable computers.

Don’t store passwords in unprotected areas. The more complex a password is, the easier it is to forget and you may want to record it somewhere. But don’t store your passwords in, say, a basic Word or Excel file or on a sticky note on your monitor. Instead, there are inexpensive software programs available that let you manage and secure multiple passwords.

Consider laptops with biometric security. If you’re in the market for a new laptop, consider one that comes equipped with a biometric fingerprint scanner. The scanner reads fingerprints and only allows access to files on the computer to a user with an authorized fingerprint.

Encrypt confidential files. Another way to protect sensitive data is to encrypt the files containing that data. Encryption scrambles data so that only an authorized user can access it. You can encrypt files using built-in tools in Windows XP Professional (but not XP Home), though some third-party applications offer more–and sometimes stronger–encryption tools.

Whenever possible, don’t carry confidential data on a portable device or removable media. For maximum security, keep sensitive data off laptops, PDAs, BlackBerrys and other portable devices. As illustrated by the financial services firm example, if the device is lost or stolen, so is the sensitive data the device contains. If you must physically transport sensitive data, consider storing it only on an encypted flash-memory USB drive. Store the drive in your pocket and not in the laptop bag, so that you’ll still have it if the laptop is stolen or lost.

Lock your laptop when traveling. Like bicycle locks, laptop security cables (costing $20 and up) allow you to physically secure your portable computer to a post or other stationary object. Most current laptops have a standardized security slot, into which you insert a locking device, which in turn is attached to the cable. For example, if you’re leaving a laptop in a hotel room that doesn’t have a safe, you could insert the locking device into the portable PC’s security slot, then wrap the cable around the narrow base of the bathroom sink. Portable laptop alarms are also available that emit a loud sound when your laptop is moved, which is helpful when waiting for the plane or other crowded area.

Stay up to date. Keeping apprised of new tools and technologies can help you continue to bolster the security of your business’s data. For instance, new software utilities allow you to remotely erase all data on a lost or stolen smartphone just by sending a text message to the phone. And in recent months, new laptop hard drives have become available that automatically encrypt all data.

Be vigilant. Above all, you and your employees must stay on guard to protect sensitive data. To help keep everyone on their toes, post signs above shared printers and fax machines, reminding users not to leave sensitive documents lying around. Place paper shredders near recycling bins or other common areas and encourage employees to use them.

Create and enforce a security plan. Last, but not least: Your business should have a detailed, written security plan for employees that includes specific policies and procedures–including many (if not all) of the steps listed above. If security procedures aren’t in writing, it’s far too easy for employees to use the "I didn’t know" defense. And a security plan only works if it’s enforced and kept up-to-date.

To devise a security plan, you may want to consult your trusted IT advisor. Also, your network vendor may provide online tools that can help you create a security plan. For example, Cisco Systems offers the Cisco Security Policy Builder , an online tool that can help you create a security policy tailored to your business’s specific requirements. Based on your answers to questions posed online, the tool will create a customized security policy template as a Microsoft Word file and e-mail it to you.

The Alternatives? Lost Business, Lawsuits and More
Does all this sounds like a lot of trouble? Of course it does. But imagine what would happen to your business if all your customers’ credit-card information was stolen–simply because an employee left a laptop containing that data in an unlocked car? At a minimum, you risk angering and losing customers.

Also, many small businesses, particularly those in financial and health-care services, must comply with regulations that mandate information security. One stolen laptop, and your business could be faced with heavy penalties due to non-compliance.

In short, better safe than sorry. So get on the phone with your trusted IT advisor and start creating your detailed security plan today. You’ll sleep better tonight.

The traditional desktop PC computing model is an endangered species, at least in the corporate world. Desktops are expensive ― Gartner estimates that the annual cost of a typical desktop installation runs from $4,000 to $6,000 a year. Maintenance is a chore and security is a constant nag. And, by most measures, the user experience is another pain point, although that’s not a part of the trinity of time, cost and security that goes into the IT department’s calculus. Still, it’s enough to make IT managers look back fondly on the days of mainframes and dumb clients and try to recreate that simpler, more centrally controlled environment.

 For many organizations, the solution to this cost-time-security-user conundrum is Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), also known as hosted desktop virtualization. Much like the model in the mainframe days of yore, VDI relocates the desktop to the data center, which becomes home for user applications and data. Users have a monitor, keyboard and pointing device and connect to their desktops over a network, usually through a terminal service protocol such as Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) or Independent Computing Architecture (ICA), using a device called a thin client, essentially a stripped-down PC without moving parts such as hard drive and fans.

 The solution works well for most user-case scenarios. It addresses IT concerns about time, security and cost and provides users with their familiar desktop environment, albeit accessed from afar. “From the user perspective, the experience looks no different,” says Jennifer Mazzanti, president of eMazzanti Technologies, a computer network solution provider based in Hoboken, N.J. “You log into the network the same way. Your session comes up and it looks like any desktop you’ve ever had. Once you’ve installed terminal services, you can access your network from any machine anywhere.”

 Unlike dumb terminals, which historically only had the capability to handle text, today’s thin clients have graphics capabilities and can be customized to add computer-like functionality. “Thin clients do more than a dumb terminal,” Mazzanti says. “You can put custom applications on a thin client. The thin clients we sell probably have 512 megs to 2 gigs of flash ROM. It’s just enough to put Skype or the Adobe plug-ins or a browser on the local machine.”

 “Thin client is any operating system that runs at the server level versus the desktop level,” says Bob Venero, president and CEO of Future Tech Enterprise, a $100 million end-to-end IT solutions provider based in Holbrook, N.Y. “Does that mean the client itself has to be a thin-client box? No, not necessarily. There are a lot of organizations that are very invested in their PC architecture. What you can do is take that PC and turn it into a thin client. You don’t get the complete ROI, but you get to utilize the asset.” Future Tech’s clients include JetBlue, the NY Stock Exchange and Barnes & Noble.

 The primary drivers for the adoption of the thin client model are cost, ease of maintenance and security. Gartner estimates that 49 million desktops in North America alone will be virtualized by 2010. “How much money am I going to save?” is the first question he has to field from clients, Venero says.

 Because everything is centralized, he adds, patch management, software upgrades and virus control are easier. “If you look at the amount of support touch points necessary in the desktop, it’s just tremendous,” Venero says. “When you go with a VDI initiative it really takes a lot of those touch points away to the point where you can have one individual supporting thousands of users.”

 “The thin client has a lot of appeal to IT,” says Eric Croswhite, worldwide marketing manager for HP’s Thin Client Portfolio, an extensive line of mobile and desktop thin clients. “The bulk of the CPU horsepower is on the server. Because of that we can get by with much smaller form factors, much less compute requirements, less storage, less fans. Because there are no mechanical features in a thin client they tend to be more reliable, they cost less to maintain, cost less to support and last longer. Because the thin client model hosts all the data locally and centrally on the server, it’s much easier to manage, it’s much easier to back up, it’s much easier to secure. You can more quickly deploy new users.”

 “If someone gets a virus, I can delete the desktop and spit out a new one within 10 minutes,” says Dave Nadler, assistant director, Information Systems, for Henry County Hospital in New Castles, Ind., which has deployed 104 thin clients. He estimates the cost savings per thin client compared with a PC as $300 to $400.

 Unlike PCs, thin clients don’t require constant expensive upgrades. “In a decade of selling thin clients,” Mazzanti says, “I could probably count on one hand the number of people who decided to upgrade the thin client.” The primary driver for upgrades, she adds, is the graphics card, as widescreen displays become more common in the workplace.

 In addition to data security, thin clients offer property security as well. They’re pretty much worthless if someone steals them. “You don’t have the same loss-prevention problems with computer equipment when you use dumb terminals,” Mazzanti says. “If someone steals it and brings it home, it’s totally unusable. It’s like a fancy coaster; there’s nothing you can do with it.”

 Maritta Horne is the CIO/director of the Pike County School System, which serves a population of more than 10,000 K-12 students in the eastern tip of Kentucky. One quarter of the students comes from families that fall below the poverty line. Rolling out thin clients throughout the system has enabled the school system to realize actual cost savings of nearly $1 million a year. But more importantly, she says, it has enabled the system to do more with less.

 “We have little to no funds, making it very difficult to acquire new work stations and new technology at the rate we need to,” Horne says. “For the last five years I’ve been working with IBM to find a solution that will help us develop an environment for our students that they’ll see when they go out into the world or when they go back home. When you’re testing every child online, it’s very difficult to give everyone access. For us, the cloud was the answer to providing equity.”

 That solution involved repurposing the district’s old Windows 95 PCs as thin clients. “A lot of the machines are so old they don’t have a hard drive,” she says. “We use CD-ROMs or USBs to boot them to the cloud.”

 The school now has 1,500 repurposed PCs serving the students and plans to roll out another 500 this year. “Before they had four machines for an entire class,” Horne says. “Now they’ve more than doubled that. More students have access in a class period. They’re able to do more work online.”

 The VDI has also improved the working environment for the teachers. “It’s alleviated a lot of teachers’ work grading papers to assess performance,” Horne says. “You can put students on the different programs and it actually tracks their performance. That’s what the cloud helps us do. It doesn’t matter where the students are. No matter what school they go to ― we have some transient students who move around a lot ― they still have their files saved into their home directory. All their information is still available to the new teacher.”

 But thin clients are not for everyone or for every operation, particularly graphics-intensive use cases. “The types of users typically targeted for pure thin-client-based computing tend to be more task users, not the power users who have huge spreadsheets or CAD applications,” HP’s Croswhite says.

 And while thin clients can be customized to accommodate personal preferences in applications, browsers and add-ons, customization is dependent on a company’s IT policies. “The IT administrator can give control to the user to download add-ons and applications and choose their own browser,” Croswhite adds. “More often than not, though, what we see in thin clients is that IT is working to control and manage the client desktop. They’ll do as much as they can to lock down the environment and minimize the things users can change.”

 Like many areas in IT, thin clients can also be tantalizing targets for the addition of features and functionality. HP, for example, makes some high-end thin clients equipped with USB ports, local storage and browsers. “A lot of our customers are using thin clients for an Internet access device,” Croswhite says. “We have customers who are using the thin client not in terminal services or a traditional server-based computing mode. They buy it because it’s small, it’s low-power, low-heat and relatively inexpensive. It comes with a browser, hook it up to a network and, voila, I can get Google, I can get to any Internet-based applications out there.”

 Pano Logic takes issue with that approach. Based in Menlo Park, Calif., Pano has developed a zero-client VDI solution that completely eliminates the processor on the client. Its product was commercially launched in 2008 and has already won 200 customers, including the Henry County Hospital, and has another 300 in pilot. “The thin clients are increasingly becoming chubbier,” says Parmeet Chaddha, Pano’s executive vice president.” The whole promise of the thin client wasn’t just that you removed the hard disk. The whole promise of the thin client really is that you have no processing or close to no processing at the end point, thereby minimizing the amount of management burden IT has to contend with at the end point. Thin clients have clearly taken a view lately that they need to show high-end graphics, high-end rich media, and video streaming and so on. In the process they’re continuing to abandon the whole motivation for thin clients by sticking more processing into the end point. That’s where the departure comes in terms of what Pano is doing.

 “We’re actually proud to say our end point is dumb as it gets. But, this is a dumb terminal that will give you a full, rich Windows experience,” Chaddha says.

By Ned Smith

The traditional desktop PC computing model is an endangered species, at least in the corporate world. Desktops are expensive ― Gartner estimates that the annual cost of a typical desktop installation runs from $4,000 to $6,000 a year. Maintenance is a chore and security is a constant nag. And, by most measures, the user experience is another pain point, although that’s not a part of the trinity of time, cost and security that goes into the IT department’s calculus. Still, it’s enough to make IT managers look back fondly on the days of mainframes and dumb clients and try to recreate that simpler, more centrally controlled environment.

For many organizations, the solution to this cost-time-security-user conundrum is Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), also known as hosted desktop virtualization. Much like the model in the mainframe days of yore, VDI relocates the desktop to the data center, which becomes home for user applications and data. Users have a monitor, keyboard and pointing device and connect to their desktops over a network, usually through a terminal service protocol such as Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) or Independent Computing Architecture (ICA), using a device called a thin client, essentially a stripped-down PC without moving parts such as hard drive and fans.

The solution works well for most user-case scenarios. It addresses IT concerns about time, security and cost and provides users with their familiar desktop environment, albeit accessed from afar. “From the user perspective, the experience looks no different,” says Jennifer Mazzanti, president of eMazzanti Technologies, a computer network solution provider based in Hoboken, N.J. “You log into the network the same way. Your session comes up and it looks like any desktop you’ve ever had. Once you’ve installed terminal services, you can access your network from any machine anywhere.”

Unlike dumb terminals, which historically only had the capability to handle text, today’s thin clients have graphics capabilities and can be customized to add computer-like functionality. “Thin clients do more than a dumb terminal,” Mazzanti says. “You can put custom applications on a thin client. The thin clients we sell probably have 512 megs to 2 gigs of flash ROM. It’s just enough to put Skype or the Adobe plug-ins or a browser on the local machine.”

“Thin client is any operating system that runs at the server level versus the desktop level,” says Bob Venero, president and CEO of Future Tech Enterprise, a $100 million end-to-end IT solutions provider based in Holbrook, N.Y. “Does that mean the client itself has to be a thin-client box? No, not necessarily. There are a lot of organizations that are very invested in their PC architecture. What you can do is take that PC and turn it into a thin client. You don’t get the complete ROI, but you get to utilize the asset.” Future Tech’s clients include JetBlue, the NY Stock Exchange and Barnes & Noble.

The primary drivers for the adoption of the thin client model are cost, ease of maintenance and security. Gartner estimates that 49 million desktops in North America alone will be virtualized by 2010. “How much money am I going to save?” is the first question he has to field from clients, Venero says.

Because everything is centralized, he adds, patch management, software upgrades and virus control are easier. “If you look at the amount of support touch points necessary in the desktop, it’s just tremendous,” Venero says. “When you go with a VDI initiative it really takes a lot of those touch points away to the point where you can have one individual supporting thousands of users.”

“The thin client has a lot of appeal to IT,” says Eric Croswhite, worldwide marketing manager for HP’s Thin Client Portfolio, an extensive line of mobile and desktop thin clients. “The bulk of the CPU horsepower is on the server. Because of that we can get by with much smaller form factors, much less compute requirements, less storage, less fans. Because there are no mechanical features in a thin client they tend to be more reliable, they cost less to maintain, cost less to support and last longer. Because the thin client model hosts all the data locally and centrally on the server, it’s much easier to manage, it’s much easier to back up, it’s much easier to secure. You can more quickly deploy new users.”

“If someone gets a virus, I can delete the desktop and spit out a new one within 10 minutes,” says Dave Nadler, assistant director, Information Systems, for Henry County Hospital in New Castles, Ind., which has deployed 104 thin clients. He estimates the cost savings per thin client compared with a PC as $300 to $400.

Unlike PCs, thin clients don’t require constant expensive upgrades. “In a decade of selling thin clients,” Mazzanti says, “I could probably count on one hand the number of people who decided to upgrade the thin client.” The primary driver for upgrades, she adds, is the graphics card, as widescreen displays become more common in the workplace.

In addition to data security, thin clients offer property security as well. They’re pretty much worthless if someone steals them. “You don’t have the same loss-prevention problems with computer equipment when you use dumb terminals,” Mazzanti says. “If someone steals it and brings it home, it’s totally unusable. It’s like a fancy coaster; there’s nothing you can do with it.”

Maritta Horne is the CIO/director of the Pike County School System, which serves a population of more than 10,000 K-12 students in the eastern tip of Kentucky. One quarter of the students comes from families that fall below the poverty line. Rolling out thin clients throughout the system has enabled the school system to realize actual cost savings of nearly $1 million a year. But more importantly, she says, it has enabled the system to do more with less.

“We have little to no funds, making it very difficult to acquire new work stations and new technology at the rate we need to,” Horne says. “For the last five years I’ve been working with IBM to find a solution that will help us develop an environment for our students that they’ll see when they go out into the world or when they go back home. When you’re testing every child online, it’s very difficult to give everyone access. For us, the cloud was the answer to providing equity.”

That solution involved repurposing the district’s old Windows 95 PCs as thin clients. “A lot of the machines are so old they don’t have a hard drive,” she says. “We use CD-ROMs or USBs to boot them to the cloud.”

The school now has 1,500 repurposed PCs serving the students and plans to roll out another 500 this year. “Before they had four machines for an entire class,” Horne says. “Now they’ve more than doubled that. More students have access in a class period. They’re able to do more work online.”

The VDI has also improved the working environment for the teachers. “It’s alleviated a lot of teachers’ work grading papers to assess performance,” Horne says. “You can put students on the different programs and it actually tracks their performance. That’s what the cloud helps us do. It doesn’t matter where the students are. No matter what school they go to ― we have some transient students who move around a lot ― they still have their files saved into their home directory. All their information is still available to the new teacher.”

But thin clients are not for everyone or for every operation, particularly graphics-intensive use cases. “The types of users typically targeted for pure thin-client-based computing tend to be more task users, not the power users who have huge spreadsheets or CAD applications,” HP’s Croswhite says.

And while thin clients can be customized to accommodate personal preferences in applications, browsers and add-ons, customization is dependent on a company’s IT policies. “The IT administrator can give control to the user to download add-ons and applications and choose their own browser,” Croswhite adds. “More often than not, though, what we see in thin clients is that IT is working to control and manage the client desktop. They’ll do as much as they can to lock down the environment and minimize the things users can change.”

Like many areas in IT, thin clients can also be tantalizing targets for the addition of features and functionality. HP, for example, makes some high-end thin clients equipped with USB ports, local storage and browsers. “A lot of our customers are using thin clients for an Internet access device,” Croswhite says. “We have customers who are using the thin client not in terminal services or a traditional server-based computing mode. They buy it because it’s small, it’s low-power, low-heat and relatively inexpensive. It comes with a browser, hook it up to a network and, voila, I can get Google, I can get to any Internet-based applications out there.”

Pano Logic takes issue with that approach. Based in Menlo Park, Calif., Pano has developed a zero-client VDI solution that completely eliminates the processor on the client. Its product was commercially launched in 2008 and has already won 200 customers, including the Henry County Hospital, and has another 300 in pilot. “The thin clients are increasingly becoming chubbier,” says Parmeet Chaddha, Pano’s executive vice president.” The whole promise of the thin client wasn’t just that you removed the hard disk. The whole promise of the thin client really is that you have no processing or close to no processing at the end point, thereby minimizing the amount of management burden IT has to contend with at the end point. Thin clients have clearly taken a view lately that they need to show high-end graphics, high-end rich media, and video streaming and so on. In the process they’re continuing to abandon the whole motivation for thin clients by sticking more processing into the end point. That’s where the departure comes in terms of what Pano is doing.

“We’re actually proud to say our end point is dumb as it gets. But, this is a dumb terminal that will give you a full, rich Windows experience,” Chaddha says.

Where’s the latest client services contract? What’s the medical history on this patient? Where is the case filing from last year’s lawsuit? Why can’t we seem to find the documents we need?

If you’re like most small to midsize businesses today, you can recall a time when you had to rummage through thousands of files — just to get your hands on the one you needed. And if you’re a company in the highly regulated accounting, finance or healthcare world, you may encounter this frustrating scenario almost every day.

Worse yet, the amount of data produced and retained by companies continues to soar — with no real end in sight.

So how can your company become more effective at organizing and locating important documents and files — while reducing the headaches and risk associated with lost documents?

One great place to start is with an automated document management solution — a solution that dramatically increases accessibility, security and cost savings.

If you’re like most SMBs, however, you’re intrigued by the idea of switching from traditional paper to digital documentation — but view the process as a daunting, and perhaps costly, task.

The good news is that reduced pricing structures and new product innovations can eliminate many of your worries. Consider the five reasons why now may be the time for your company to adopt a document management solution.

1. Declining Hardware and Software Costs
Historically, document capture and indexing has been a time-intensive, manual process that ultimately costs businesses large amounts of money.

Recently, however, document management solutions are more affordable than ever, thanks to new market trends, increased competition between manufacturers and a renewed focus on the SMB market. Furthermore, the number of product choices available — and the quality of features offered in each solution — are further driving the demand for these systems.

As costs for document management hardware and software continue to decline, more SMBs are discovering the tool that many Fortune 500 firms have had for years — an easy-to-use document management solution that helps keep their businesses on the fast track to efficiency.

2. Increased Awareness of Regulations
If your company is in a highly regulated industry, you may also turn to document management solutions to help address the growing number of government regulations.

As compliance with such legislation as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which regulates corporate financial disclosures, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which addresses the privacy and security of medical records, becomes a mandate, the need and demand for electronic filing grows.

With document management solutions in place, you company can improve its data quality, assure regulatory compliance, and reduce costs by making sure that up-to-date information is easily accessible by the right people.

3. Surge in Popularity
The availability of document management solutions designed and priced for SMBs, coupled with declining hardware costs, have contributed to an increased demand among midsize companies, which, like larger firms, want to find better ways to drive efficiencies through increased automation and comply with government regulations surrounding document archival and retrieval.

If your company is thinking about jumping into the document management game, you’re certainly not alone.

As a whole, document management has grown about 20 percent in the last five years, and industry analysts expect the market to grow even more — especially in the SMB niche. Why?

Document and information management technologies can have a dramatic impact on enhancing internal business efficiency and customer service.

According to the VARBusiness Market Insight Report, which polled more than 600 midmarket and enterprise IT managers, document management solutions rank among the top five solutions buyers cited as spending priorities for the next 12 months. More specifically, one-third of midmarket IT decision makers say document management systems are high on their priority list for the next 12 months.

Survey respondents say document management solutions — printers and scanners integrated with storage and archiving systems — are an essential component to three other major goals: streamlining business processes (66 percent), backup and disaster recovery (45 percent), and regulatory compliance (33 percent).

4. New Product Innovations
In the last 12 months, the market has witnessed several new advancements in document management technology that can now bring even more functionality to SMBs like yours. Consider the following innovations:

One-Touch Scanning
Many of today’s low-cost scanners offer one-touch scanning, which makes it easy for SMBs to digitize paper documents. These scanners are designed so that pressing one button takes the user all the way through the scanning task, instead of only launching the program. Advanced users can quickly learn to customize the buttons for even more power.

Some scanners also offer high-speed USB 2.0 interfaces, enabling them to deliver extremely fast imaging — scanning a full-color page at 300 dpi in less than 15 seconds.

Plus, many devices also feature patented scanning technologies, 2400 x 4800 optical resolution, two-way scanning, robust image management and editing software — all to provide a powerful scanning solution at an equally incredible value.

All-in-one Devices
These devices, often called multifunction printers (MFPs), have been around awhile, but many now offer enhanced networking capabilities and processing speeds that boost their popularity as front-end document capture devices.

Not only do these devices offer small business owners a one-stop resource for document faxing, scanning, printing and copying, they can also become easy-to-use methods of moving information between the paper and digital worlds.

For example, some devices now offer double-feed detection capabilities that reduce the likelihood of duplicate document imaging. Other devices offer one-pass duplex scanning technology, which enables both sides of a document to be captured at the same time. Plus, some drivers improve the image data appearance in documents by letting users combine two or four pages of scanned documents to create a single image or divide them into two separate images.

Built-in Software
Many desktop scanners now deliver increased value for budget-conscious SMBs by including built-in management and image-enhancement software. This software enables users to scan, convert, capture and import documents quickly and easily — with no additional cash outlay.

Recent applications even help users import documents into their databases — a feature that simplifies document indexing by intuitively recognizing and extracting keyword fields, bar codes, and handwritten text. Furthermore, wizard-driven software can also make it easier for SMBs to maintain and customize solutions after the initial installation.

In addition, cost-effective software suites now offer comprehensive solutions for managing paper and digital documents — and often include productivity-enhancing features such as automatic workflow and version control.

If your company is ready to jump in the game with document management, we can help you consider all your hardware and software options — enabling you to take advantage of the growing market selection and decreasing cost. Call us today to get started.

What Is Document Management?

Document management systems are computer systems used to track and store electronic documents and/or images of paper documents. Typically, they are comprised of a number of layers:

• an optical scanner and optical character recognition (OCR) software to convert paper documents into an electronic form
• a database management system to organize stored documents
• a search mechanism or data management interface to quickly find specific documents

When a document is scanned in using an optical scanner, the OCR software coverts the document into a searchable PDF file that is than stored in the database management server library or archive system and is searchable using an interface or search mechanism.

 Recently I’ve been doing some work with a nonprofit organization. Somewhat to my surprise, I’m discovering that many of the money issues confronting this nonprofit are similar to those faced by small, for-profit businesses. Things like:

 Understanding and keeping track of how much is really spent on various programs.

• Connecting expenditures to the revenues that result.
• Coping with basic cash issues (in its early years, the organization relied on loans from the people who started the group to carry it until money actually started to come in).
• Determining whether fundraising efforts actually cost more money than they generate.

All of the above have to do with knowing, or being able to find out quickly, where the money is coming in and where it’s going out. If you add in the profit motive, you’ve got what may be the fundamental — although simplistically described — day-to-day concerns of small businesses.

So I’m reviewing some of the financial measurements that businesses can use to get a clearer sense of how they’re doing. You can learn how to do these calculations by hand, calculator or by computer. You can also invest in a good accounting program that does most of the work for you.

One note: You won’t find any "preferred" ratios or figures in this article — ratios vary from industry to industry, and many of the so-called standard ratios that are used to measure the success of large companies often don’t work very well when applied to the smallest businesses.

And . . . attention, all nonprofits: While there are some characteristics that separate nonprofit and for-profit enterprises — like not paying income taxes — many of the basic principals for keeping track of your finances are similar.

Start at the source: What’s your cash flow?

Time and again, accountants and consultants who specialize in small businesses say that such enterprises don’t pay enough attention to cash flow, which is the measure of how much money you really have in the business.

"Small entrepreneurs wind up taking big orders that get them in trouble," says Ronald Lowy, a professor in the Department of Business Administration at Eastern Connecticut State University. "They want the big contract, but they’re not getting enough money at the front end of it and they don’t have the cash reserves to pay workers and pay other bills while they’re waiting to get paid themselves. They might show a profit on an accrual basis, but from a cash-flow standpoint, they don’t."

Judith Dacey, a CPA in Summerfield, Fla., calls a cash-flow statement "probably the most important thing in telling you if your business is on or off target." She describes how board members of a nonprofit group in Jacksonville, for example, were not looking at their cash-flow statements.

"They were hiring people and spending money on membership campaigns, and doing all of these things based on money they thought they had from looking at the profit-and-loss statements," Dacey says. "They didn’t realize that the profit-and-loss statement was an accrual statement, which basically means you are including paper promises of payments to come, not money that you have
in the bank."

The nonprofit board became aware of the difficulty only when the organization bounced a check. Employees had to be laid off, and belts were tightened several notches.

"That could have been avoided if they’d ever seen the cash-flow statements," Dacey says. "A cash-flow statement tells you that, hey, we know what the pretty numbers on the P&L say but here’s the cash that has actually come in and that you can work with."

A statement of cash flow starts with the bottom of your profit and loss statement — the line that shows your net income. Several adjustments are then made to that number, including reducing the income by invoices recorded as income that have not yet been paid, adding back depreciation, adjusting for bills that your business has not paid, and several other adjustments. I’m not going to go into the details of the cash-flow statement —a good accounting program that does a P&L and a balance sheet will also calculate this statement for you.

Tracking the big 10

If you’ve established a way to track cash flow, then you can go on to organize and track 10 financials for your business. That’s a sizable list, but don’t panic: As with profit and loss statements, you can take advantage of software programs to automate tracking for many of the following:

1. What are your assets? Yes, yes, we all know that assets are the things that a business owns. Tracking your equipment, furniture, real estate and other holdings should be easy. But to have a true idea of the value of your business, you also have to track changes in the value of those assets. More than one small business has found itself located on a piece of land that’s worth more than the business itself. (Yeah, we should all have these problems.) Similarly, you also will want to track the declining value of assets such as computers and office furniture.

2. What are your liabilities? Again, on the face of it, this is easy — liabilities are what you owe. But what you owe isn’t always as obvious as a bill from your landlord. Payroll taxes are a liability that you might be able to put off on a monthly or quarterly basis, depending on the size of your payroll. Loans are a clear liability, but in repaying them you’ll want to be able to track how much of a payment is applied against principal and interest.

3. What’s it costing you to produce what you sell? If you’re buying a finished item for resale, this is relatively easy. It’s trickier if you have to calculate all the factors, such as labor, that go into manufacturing a product.

4. What’s it costing you to sell what you sell? Advertising, marketing, labor, storage and the catchall category of overhead — it’s useful to know how much it costs you getting a product out the door as well as what it costs you in creating it.

5. What’s your gross profit margin? This is calculated by dividing your total sales into your gross profit. If your gross profit margin is staying consistent or trending upward, you’re probably on track in terms of adjusting your prices appropriately to reflect changes in what you pay for what you sell or produce. Being able to track a declining margin can give you a heads-up that you must adjust your prices or your costs. In the worst cases, of course, your gross profit and your profit margin disappear altogether. At that point, you’ll be like the fellow who lost money on every sale but figured he could make it up in volume. Don’t go there.

6. What’s your debt-to-asset ratio? This ratio can let you know how much of the stuff you have in your company is actually owned by someone else — your lender. Having this ratio climb can be a bad sign — it can happen as part of a major expansion, but it can also indicate that you’re getting in over your head.

7. What’s the value of your accounts receivable? This is the money that you are owed. Value of being able to track it: If accounts receivable are on the rise, you may be getting a warning that the folks you sell to are starting to stumble. That’s especially true if your accounts receivable, as a percentage of total sales, are increasing.

8. What’s your average collection time on accounts receivable? This is probably one of the most aggravating pieces of information for cash-strapped businesses, because it tells you how many days you’re acting as "banker" for the people who owe you money. To calculate it, you’ll need to know your average daily sales and then divide that number into your accounts receivable.

9. What are your accounts payable? The flip side of accounts receivable. An increase in your accounts payable may merely reflect a policy of taking a little longer to pay bills, or of a larger amount of purchases overall. But an increase that hasn’t been planned or managed can be an internal warning that your company’s financial strength is waning.

10. What’s happening with your inventory?
There are occasions, even in this just-in-time business world, when building up a significant inventory can be a good thing. If prices for items you sell or use in production are relatively low, putting some of your money into inventory may make sense. Personally, I wish I’d stockpiled an "inventory" of a full tank of home heating oil last spring, when the price was around $1 per gallon. Being able to track your inventory, and how long it takes to be sold or turn over, can tell you whether business is increasing or slowing down. It also tells you how much money that might be used for other payments or investments is tied up in this unproductive asset.

Although tracking the big 10 and knowing what’s up with your cash flow is essential to your business, don’t be afraid to turn to professionals and outside services for help.

Patty LaPeters and Lori Siragusa started a business out of their homes in 1995. Today, they run Inline Technology Marketing, a full-service marketing agency based in Maitland, Fla. The most valuable thing they say they did to allow themselves to focus on acquiring new customers and growing their business: They outsourced all of their accounting and legal needs.

Seeing is believing, at least when it comes to your customers.

Put another way, it’s one thing to know your clients — to have a detailed profile of each one in your records. It’s another to actually see them. Unless you’re taking reliable sales data and plotting it on mapping and analysis tools, experts say you could be missing out on valuable opportunities to increase sales and expand your business.

"Mapping helps you focus," says James Chung, president of Reach Advisors, a Boston marketing strategy and research firm. "If you map, you can find your customers. And once you’ve found them, you can reach them."

Representing data visually used to be an expensive proposition for a small business. The applications that did it were pricey; the consultants that helped you run the programs were unaffordable. But the Internet, and applications such as Microsoft MapPoint, have made it easier — and cheaper — to get the job done.

When I think of mapping, I imagine military leaders stooped over a giant map of a battlefield. But modern-day mapping is nothing like the War Room — or even pushpins on giant paper charts. Today’s mapping systems are inexpensive, and, yes, they’re even user-friendly.

Here are four tips for successfully integrated mapping into your business strategies.

1. Begin with reliable data.
"You can’t do any kind of forecasting unless you start with good sales data," says Joel Schneider, an independent management consultant and founder of Liberty Technology Advisors in Northbrook, Ill. How do you know if the data you’re collecting is adequate? Your back-end accounting system should have several years of sales history. Depending on the kind of business you run, it should include a customer’s phone number, mailing address and e-mail address, at a minimum. Preferably, you also should have sales history so that you can project demand from the client. If you aren’t capturing that data, now is a good time to start, Schneider suggests.

MapPoint has numerous tutorials that allow you see what kind of data is useful for mapping purposes and then help you prepare your data before you import it into the program. There’s also a sample file that’s helpful for getting an idea for the different ways in which data can be categorized. In Windows Explorer, browse to C:Program FilesMicrosoft MapPointSamples, and double-click the SampData.xls file

2. Start picturing it differently.
Once your data is there, get creative about the ways in which you start displaying the information. Sure, you can plot sales by geographic area, including ZIP code, county, and state. But think outside the lines, and you’ll start to see other possibilities — like drawing a map by telephone area codes and prefixes, number of orders, or value of the client relative to your marketing costs. Try segmenting the data further by demographics, including gender, age and race. When you start getting the picture, you begin to see where you’ve been as a business. Maybe you see missed opportunities, but you’ll also see other opportunities you haven’t yet missed.

Many organizations offer resources on their membership that can be combined with your sales data and used for mapping purposes. Colin Milner, the chief executive for the International Council on Active Aging (www.icaa.cc) , says his organization offers data that helps companies market to his demographic group, which accounts for $50 billion in annual spending in the United States. "We want people to understand our members," he says. "So by offering to help, it helps all of us."

3. Go to the map to develop a short-term strategy.
Taking good data, slicing it and dicing it in several different ways and displaying it on a map, yields immediate results when it comes to a near-term business strategy. (In MapPoint, most of this can be easily achieved by using the Data Mapping Wizard function.) "If I know that 90% of my customers are from Missouri, then where do I advertise?" Jack Mackey, a vice president for Service Management Group, a customer research consultant in Kansas City, asks rhetorically. He says that with mapping tools it’s a no-brainer. "You see it on the map. You do it." Smart businesses, of course, already know where their customers are, but a map can help you pick out the details — drilling down to ZIP code or census track so that you know exactly where the prospects can be found.

MapPoint also allows you to create customized territories with its Territory Manager. To show the Territory Manager pane, click Territories on the Data menu. Or click on the Territory Manager on the Standard toolbar. You’ll be prompted to either create a territory from your own data set or manually.

4. Remember, the map can help you forecast your future, too.
By representing your data visually, you don’t just spot obvious trends and react to them. Scott Schroeder, the president of Cohorts Inc., a Denver database marketing firm, says that you can get an edge on your competition by projecting sales and marketing strategies well into the future. "When you start projecting your data, you really begin to understand not just where your customers are coming from, but also where they’re going," Schroeder says. "And that helps you understand where you need to be in the future, as a business." For example, mapping your sales by primary trade areas and secondary trade areas, and then combining that data with market research surveys, can help a small business decide where to expand. "You know where the highest concentrations of your customers are going to be," he says.

In MapPoint, you can do more than superimpose information on a map, by region. You can also create pushpins based on the data, which allows you to zero in on particular areas of interest. These are useful for identifying patterns that in turn could help you devise a long-term strategy.

Mapping can be a valuable tool for devising a business strategy, whether it’s a deciding whether to buy an insert in next week’s newspaper or where to open a new store next year. You don’t have to hire a pricey consultant; all it takes is the right applications, reliable data, and a little creativity.

In today’s economy you need every advantage in your sales kit. Prospects are scrutinizing all requests for their time and each purchase decision. You want to pass their piercing investigation but the sales tools you’ve used in recent years aren’t cutting it. You need something more, and testimonials are the answer. They can be the difference maker in not just winning opportunities but also in attracting attention in the first place.

Testimonials are your clients’ stamp of approval. They provide an independent perspective that gives prospects insight into how you work, how effective your solutions are, and the results others have experienced through engaging you.

Recently, a client we’ve worked with over the past 5 months was at a conference where I was speaking. He’s highly respected among the community and people stop and listen to his suggestions. He’s been so pleased with the sales training and consulting support we’re providing his sellers and managers, that every time he saw me, he walked up and expounded on it to the people nearby. He went on and on about his team’s comments and results he’d seen. He ended by telling people that they needed to hire us, too.

The business his testimonial drove was huge, all because of his effusive endorsement. You can get the same results by exposing your prospects to your delighted clients. They’re dying to sing your praises, and see you and your company excel, if only you’d ask.

Here are 4 Quick Steps to adding exuberant testimonials to your sales kit:

QuickStep 1: Identify those key influencers who are happy with your offerings
Everyone has access to unending stores of information about you: from your own press releases, annual reports and websites to social chatter in Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, FaceBook, iReports, Plaxo, LinkedIn, and blog postings.

Getting through prospect filters requires building their confidence in your past successes and current promises. Use your delighted customers to tell their stories, share the results they’ve experienced, and promote the value of working with you.

QuickStep 2: Capture quotes and examples, validate, and gain approval to use them
Beyond their satisfaction, current customer testimonials will help you build your credibility and protect your reputation. During client meetings and in email exchanges, watch and listen for expressions of their pleasure with a project and ask to quote them.

With emails, I’ll frequently respond to a client with thanks for their kind words, then ask if I can quote them. I’ll let them know how I want to use the quote, and if it isn’t clear, will paraphrase the quote I’d like to use.

Consider capturing quotes for email signature lines, podcasts, webcast stories, article bi-lines, press releases, blogs, and social networks as you use them.

QuickStep 3: Integrate testimonials into your sales kit
Now that you have testimonials, don’t forget about them! Incorporate them into your selling activities throughout the sales cycle. Go beyond including them in proposals or offering them as references during the decision process. Rather, use your client’s voice and share the good word to attract and win new prospects!

Mention them in a first meeting to demonstrate credibility and create interest. Introduce a specific testimonial or two early in conversation when you recognize similarities between a client and a prospect. Use them as examples to help uncover potentially hidden needs. The next time your prospect mentions an issue they’re grappling with, you’ll be able to say, “You know, we helped a client just like you save $x by . . . ”

QuickStep 4: Leverage your testimonials to attract new prospects
Put a plan of action in place to maximize their power and get the message out there! Think about how you can communicate your testimonials in your prospecting activities.

Add them to emails, cold calling scripts, marketing materials, or an upcoming event. Make one or two an offer after a webcast. I often refer to testimonials during prospecting calls, picking out the results or a good quote. They become my stories when I’m delivering a webcast, and examples when I talk about how we help other clients.

Strong testimonials make prospects long to engage you – especially when times are tough and companies are cutting expenditures. They see you as the answer to their prayers. Add them to your sales kit and you’ll soon find prospects asking you to engage with them.

Kendra Lee is author of the award winning book “Selling Against the Goal” and president of KLA Group. Specializing in the IT industry, KLA Group helps companies rapidly penetrate new markets, break into new accounts and shorten time to revenue with new products in the Small & Mid market Business (SMB) segment. Ms. Lee is a frequent speaker at national sales meetings and association events. To find out more about the author, read her latest articles, or to subscribe to her newsletter visit http://www.klagroup.com or call +1 303.773.1285.

With Microsoft Office Word 2007, you can quickly and easily turn a plain-looking document into one that looks professionally designed. Use styles to quickly format major elements in your document, such as titles, subtitles, and headings. Start with predefined, coordinated designs and then customize to suit your needs. As you work, you don’t need to apply formatting and then do it again until you have what you want — just point to a style in the dialog box to see a preview in your document. Not quite right? Point to a different style and see what it looks like.

Watch the demo to see how easy it is to give a plain document a professional-looking makeover, and then give it a final polish with headers and footers and a cover page.

Cherie Kerr knows how PowerPoint can be both provocative and persuasive in a business meeting.

She’s also aware that precisely the opposite can occur.

"It can be the very best friend you have," says the Santa Ana, Calif., public relations consultant. "But you have to use it right."

Kerr’s two-sided view of Microsoft’s popular presentation and graphics program mirrors a debate coursing through business and academia. While many embrace the values of PowerPoint as a potent business tool, there are others who contend that it’s a drag on effective interaction — that it confuses, distorts and even strangles communication.

But, as Kerr points out, any discussion of PowerPoint’s merits and miscues merely illustrates the importance of using the program to best advantage. Here are 10 ways to use PowerPoint to help make your business look brilliant, not brainless.

1. Hold up your end with compelling material.
In a way, PowerPoint’s ease of use may be its own worst enemy. However simple and engaging it can be to build eye catching slides and graphics, bear in mind that PowerPoint isn’t autonomous. The audience has come to hear you, not merely to stare at images tossed onto a screen. Build a strong PowerPoint program, but make sure that your spoken remarks are no less compelling. "PowerPoint doesn’t give presentations — PowerPoint makes slides," says Matt Thornhill, president of Audience First, a Midlothian, Va., business that offers presentation training. "Remember that you are creating slides to support a spoken presentation."

2. Keep it simple.
We’ve all likely seen PowerPoint and other presentations where the speaker seemed ready to propose to the program. After all, it was clear that he fell in love with every wrinkle, special effect and other bit of gadgetry available. But the most effective PowerPoint presentations are simple — charts that are easy to understand, and graphics that reflect what the speaker is saying. Some authorities suggest no more than five words per line and no more than five lines per individual slide. "Don’t gum up the works with too many words and graphics," Kerr says. "Do you really need to have everything up on the screen?"

3. Minimize numbers in slides.
PowerPoint’s lure is the capacity to convey ideas and support a speaker’s remarks in a concise manner. That’s hard to do through a haze of numbers and statistics. For the most part, most effective PowerPoint displays don’t overwhelm viewers with too many figures and numbers. Instead, leave those for a later, more thorough digestion in handouts distributed at presentation’s end. If you want to emphasize a statistic in PowerPoint, consider using a graphic or image to convey the point. "For instance, when I once was talking about the prevalence of Alzheimer’s patients, I used a photograph of an old woman rather than just throwing up a number on the screen," Kerr says.

4. Don’t parrot PowerPoint.
One of the most prevalent and damaging habits of PowerPoint users is to simply read the visual presentation to the audience. Not only is that redundant — short of using the clicker, why are you even there? — but it makes even the most visually appealing presentation boring to the bone. PowerPoint works best with spoken remarks that augment and discuss, rather than mimic, what’s on the screen. "Even with PowerPoint, you’ve got to make eye contact with your audience," says Roberta Prescott of The Prescott Group, a Connecticut-based communications consulting firm. "Those people didn’t come to see the back of your head."

5. Time your remarks.
Another potential land mine is a speaker’s comments that coincide precisely with the appearance of a fresh PowerPoint slide. That merely splits your audience’s attention. A well-orchestrated PowerPoint program brings up a new slide, gives the audience a chance to read and digest it, then follows up with remarks that broaden and amplify what’s on the screen. "It’s an issue of timing," Kerr says. "Never talk on top of your slides."

6. Give it a rest.
Again, PowerPoint is most effective as a visual accompaniment to the spoken word. Experienced PowerPoint users aren’t bashful about letting the screen go blank on occasion. Not only can that give your audience a visual break, it’s also effective to focus attention on more verbally-focused give and take, such as a group discussion or question and answer session.

7. Use vibrant colors.
A striking contrast between words, graphics and the background can be very effective in conveying both a message and emotion.

8. Import other images and graphics.
Don’t limit your presentation to what PowerPoint offers. Use outside images and graphics for variety and visual appeal, including video. "I often have one or two very short video clips in my presentations," says New York technology consultant Ramon Ray. "It helps with humor, conveys a message and loosens up the crowd."

9. Distribute handouts at the end — not during the presentation.
Some people may disagree with me here. But no speaker wants to be chatting to a crowd that’s busy reading a summation of her remarks. Unless it is imperative that people follow a handout while you’re presenting, wait until you’re done to distribute them.

10. Edit ruthlessly before presenting.
Never lose the perspective of the audience. Once you’re finished drafting your PowerPoint slides, assume you’re just one of the folks listening to your remarks as you review them. If something is unappealing, distracting or confusing, edit ruthlessly. Chances are good your overall presentation will be the better for it.

When people think of disasters, they generally envision hurricanes, tornados or floods – catastrophic events that devastate communities. But for a business, a disaster can be something as small as a failed switch or computer virus. These seemingly minor events can have a shocking impact on a business, often bringing operations to a standstill.

“The impacts of an interruption can be stunning,” says Bob Boyd, President and CEO of Agility Recovery Solutions, the industry leader in mobile business continuity solutions for small to mid-sized businesses. “Statistics indicate that about 60 percent of the businesses affected by a disaster will not survive because they do not have a recovery plan in place.”

Creating a basic, executable business continuity plan is one of the most important steps you can take to protect your organization and assure business as usual – no matter what the scenario. Below are five key steps to help you get started.

1. Assess your critical business functions.
Evaluate and document how your company functions and determine which processes, employees, equipment and materials are critical for your daily operations. Critical business functions include such things as billing, payroll and service fulfillment. List these functions and determine a process for restoring them in the event of an interruption.

2. Plan for an alternate location.
What would you do if your building were inaccessible tomorrow? Where would you go to continue basic business operations? Review your site requirements and determine a plan for recovery. Alternate site options include your home, a branch or second location, the site of a similar business, or a vendor that provides mobile recovery.

3. Back up your data and plan to restore your technology.
In today’s highly technical economy, information is more valuable than ever. Having an automated, daily back-up system for important data is crucial. Make sure to store your data in an offsite, safe and secure location, preferably 50 miles or more from your site. Regularly verify that you are able to retrieve your data. Outline a plan to replace PCs, software, servers, printers and fax machines should your office be destroyed.

4. Create an employee, vendor and key client communication plan.
Create a 24-hour phone tree for all employees and their spouses or closest relatives. Make sure your employees know ahead of time how to exchange or obtain information should standard lines of communication fail. Also, compile a list of your critical clients and vendors and store it in an offsite location. Determine a process for contacting them should your systems go down.

5. Take a look at your insurance coverage.
Is your insurance coverage adequate? Sit down with your agent to assure that you are insured for potential risks. Consider business interruption insurance, which may compensate you for lost income should you experience a disaster. Make sure you keep photos of your building, equipment lists and policy information stored in a safe and secure offsite location.

***
“Over the years, we have successfully recovered hundreds of businesses who’ve taken the time to prepare,” says Boyd. “And we’ve also seen businesses with no plan in place that are powerless to resume operations. There is no worse feeling for a business person and no worse fate. The ability for your business to survive depends on preparations made today.”

We hope you have have successfully weathered the summer storms. Now is a good time to check your UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) devices and surge protectors because there is a good chance they have taken some voltage hits and suffered power outages.

Larger UPS devices, otherwise known as Battery Backups, may have power indicators that tell you how much battery capacity is left. Smaller devices may not have such indicators. If they are connected to a computer, chances are good they came with some software that gathers that information. Opening the software can give you some general idea of the overall health of your UPS. Either way, you can’t always believe the lights and software; the best test of a UPS is to periodically unplug it fromt the wall and seeing how long the items plugged in still run. Most UPS devices will beep until power is restored, so this is normal behavior. If your computer is plugged in to one of these, please make sure that all applications are closed before trying this! If you want to test the capacity of the UPS, you can leave the unit unplugged and time how long it is until your connected devices begin to power off. If the time is short, you can purchase a newer, larger device, or plug fewer items into the UPS; the more devices a UPS has to keep powered during an outage, the shorter the duration it will last. One important note: many UPS devices have outlets that are not protected by the battery, and in the event of a power outage, anything plugged into one of those outlets will simply shut off. We have seem many instances where a client has plugged devices into the wrong outlet. I was a client earlier this week where they unplugged a router and computer to move a desk. When they plugged everything in again, the router and cable modem were in surge-only protected outlets. Please read the UPS labeling carefully to ensure you are using the correct outlets.

Surge protectors fail over time as well, especially as they are subjected to the constant fluctuation in voltage. Most modern surge protectors have a light when power is running through it. If the light is steady, the surge protection is still functioning. If the light is flickering, you have minimal protection and should replace the surge protector. If, when power is still running through the surge protector, the light is off, then you have nothing more than an extension cord and anything plugged in is not protected at all, so these should be replaced immediately.

HP wants to make maintaining an environmentally conscious workplace a reality for businesses everywhere. Adopting a more environmentally responsible workplace doesn’t mean your company has to undergo a major reorganization of its daily operations. In fact, HP has a few tips that can lessen the waste your company produces and improve energy efficiency, all the while potentially reducing your overhead costs.

Increase your printing efficiency
There are techniques that your business can employ that increase the efficiency of paper, ink and toner usage. Merely ask yourself the following before printing a document:

• Is this document laid out efficiently? Formatting your documents resourcefully is a painless way to save paper when printing documents. Reducing font size a couple of points and reducing margin settings can trim a document’s size without taking away from the quality of the document. It is also very efficient to print on both sides of the paper. You get the entire document while using half the amount of paper!
• Is this material recycled? Generally speaking, using recycled materials helps save resources and minimizes waste. Recycled materials can be used in the products themselves or in the packaging. For example, HP incorporates recycled material into the packaging of both its printers and printer cartridges, as well as offers HP Office Recycled, a printing paper made up of 100% post consumer waste product. You can even recycle HP branded printer cartridges through the free HP Planet Partners program.
• Do I really need to print this? You may be used to printing out documents for review, but word processing programs and other software come with document-tracking capabilities that allow comments to be added electronically. Also, if you just want to check the formatting of a document, the print preview function in word processing software can give you a look at document while saving you paper and a trip to the printer. Finally, if you need to work collaboratively in Microsoft Excel, it’s easy to ‘share’ spreadsheets electronically so more than one person can work on the same document at the same time rather than print it out each time you wish to work on it as a group

Reducing your waste
Printing documents is a reality that businesses can’t simply give up. This is where adopting a recycling plan in your office can help your company achieve a greener printing environment.

• The most obvious step in creating a culture of recycling at your workplace is to collect all of your unwanted print-outs and other paper for recycling. Create recycling stations that are easily accessible to all employees and remind them how best to use these new recycling systems.
• Reusing unwanted single side prints for internal note taking or shredding unwanted documents and using them for packing material are two easy way to repurpose paper before sending them off for recycling.
  Purchase products that utilize recyclable packaging. For example, HP packages their products in material that can be easily recycled alongside normal paper.
• Use the free HP Planet Partners program to quickly and easily return your empty HP print cartridges for recycling. Check the print cartridge box for a postage-paid return envelope; or go to the product recycling page to order your free, postage-paid return envelopes.

Become more power efficient
All of your office equipment uses power when it is switched on or in stand-by mode. There are a few of things you can do to minimize power consumption. Consider the following and you could save both energy and company overhead costs:

• Encourage employees to completely turn off their desktop printers when they leave for the day. Also, make sure that equipment that is rarely used is left off rather than on stand-by mode.
• Choose products that are ENERGY STAR® qualified. HP offers 1,000 models of office products today that are ENERGY STAR qualified.
• Each employee doesn’t necessarily need their own printer in order to have a productive environment. Instead, HP recommends a balanced deployment of multifunction products (MFPs) and single-function devices as a better approach. This strategy can improve printing efficiency, cut costs and dramatically increase device utilization.

Science-fiction fans have long wished for life-sized communication devices that create a real-time image of the person/alien/robot you are talking with. Recently, holographic video technology has begun to surface, although at present the price means it’s restricted to only the wealthiest companies. More realistic options when you want a face-to-face with clients across town (or the galaxy) are video conferencing and telepresence setups, like HP’s Halo solutions.

Soaring fuel prices, and our growing awareness of our carbon footprint, are encouraging the fast adoption of video conferencing among big and small companies. Some businesses have even taken the line that if a video conference is possible, they won’t travel long distances for a meeting.

The advantages of video conferencing are obvious. As the old saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words”. By being able to see each other, participants benefit from improved understanding and communication. Productivity goes up, travel costs are removed, and the time spent driving or flying to meetings is slashed dramatically.

The next stage
The benefits offered by video conferencing are soon to be taken to a new level by technologies like motion tracking, facial recognition and simulation, intelligent audio technologies, handheld and full-scale holographic devices, 3D monitors, stereographic camera setups, and entire-room display technologies. Recent months have already seen the introduction of digital projectors into mobile phones. Whilst many of these technologies sound quite far-fetched, a lot of them will be available for regular business use in the near future. And like most technological breakthroughs, with time many of them will also find their way into our homes. Friends and family living overseas could virtually walk in and talk with you – or share their living rooms in full detail.

Enhancing collaboration today
While holograms and other such technologies are still out of reach for most, video conferencing systems like Halo are helping organizations hold more engaging long-distance meetings that lift productivity while reducing costs. The top-end products can include life-sized screens, crisp pictures, surround sound and even operating technicians.

A far more attractively priced option is one of the latest notebook PCs. The sleek HP Compaq 2710p Notebook Tablet PC, for example, makes video conferencing affordable for smaller businesses. With a dual-microphone array and built-in webcam, you will quickly and easily set up time-saving face-to-face meetings. Collaboration and communication can be improved effortlessly, travel costs removed in an instant.

New technologies will soon revolutionize the way we communicate, but in the meantime, video conferencing can offer your business a great advantage.

Most companies spend time anticipating and planning for disasters. But in a global economy, where opportunity and risk go hand-in-hand, other events can be as devastating to the unprepared as any hurricane.

The corporate landscape is dotted with potential landmines that can take a toll on businesses:

• Skyrocketing energy costs and environmental mandates are forcing cuts in energy consumption.
• Security audits can distract IT staff if the organization is not sufficiently prepared.
• E-discovery requests can hijack resources and negatively impact productivity.
• Loss of key personnel can be a setback if a company doesn’t have a succession plan in place.
• Lost storage media, like a stolen laptop, can lead to tarnished reputations and lowered revenues if removable media isn’t encrypted and digital keys well-managed.

Many executives believe their chance of suffering a disaster is slim and operate their businesses accordingly. In enterprises with multiple locations, however, natural disasters and human-generated events are very likely, says Rob Enderle, principal analyst with technology analyst firm the Enderle Group. “While the incidence of disaster is slight locally, when the entire world is factored in, a major problem is not only certain, it is a recurring event.”

Disaster preparedness plans help minimize downtime, keep employees focused on their core responsibilities, and safeguard against the loss of revenue, customers and reputation. “You must have plans for each type of threat ready to execute at a moment’s notice,” Enderle says.

1. Prepare for disaster
A computer infrastructure is the central nervous system of a business, and companies can’t afford for it to cease functioning. Downtime affects employee productivity, alienates customers and negatively impacts company reputation.

To ensure continuity and availability, conduct a business impact analysis to determine which services are the most crucial to protect and which have the highest priority to restore. The analysis also should assess the likelihood of types of risks to the business, and prioritize goals: generating revenue, supporting customers or providing services to employees? Create a plan and test it regularly.

2. Combat high energy costs
Rising costs and environmental mandates have companies examining ways to cut energy consumption. In many cases, computers can help. Reduced energy consumption can be achieved through alternative forms of cooling, virtualization, and replacing energy-hogging servers with newer models engineered to use less energy. The IT staff can learn how to leverage technology assets to cut energy consumption.

3. Plan for an audit
In some sectors, companies face periodic audits to ensure they’re complying with regulations such as the U.S.’s Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the European Union’s Data Privacy Directive. Audits can be targeted at financial record-keeping, data privacy, security or legal compliance. Any type of audit can disrupt a business if IT isn’t prepared. Companies must learn what steps they can take to prepare for these events.

4. Anticipate e-discovery requests
The process of legal discovery, which uncovers relevant information before going to court, now relies heavily on electronically stored data. Both the content and mismanagement of e-mail, instant messaging and other electronic records have led to fines, judgments and convictions.

As a result, companies that do business in the U.S. (or that have U.S. partners or subsidiaries) are now subject to stricter standards for preserving and producing electronic business records. Using software tools and a records-management process can help manage and automate the process of electronic discovery, or e-discovery, in case of lawsuit.

Even if a company doesn’t do business in the U.S., however, the level of organization required for e-discovery preparedness can help it prove it is following privacy laws or other electronic information regulations now common across the globe.

5. Plan for succession
Companies invest heavily in IT leaders, yet they seldom have a plan for a handling the transition caused by the unexpected departure, resignation or death of an IT executive. Succession planning helps minimize the impact of an abrupt departure in leadership by grooming future IT leaders, preserving institutional knowledge and smoothing transitions.

6. Secure removable media
Every organization that handles confidential information of any sort is well aware of cases where a single laptop theft or the improper disposal of hard drive has lead to embarrassing and harmful data breaches. That’s why removable media are increasingly encrypted, or locked, using digital keys. Unfortunately, as digital keys proliferate, the chance of losing, misplacing or accidentally destroying them is growing, too. A global key management system can help keep digital keys safe, organized, replicated and audited.

Simple to use and cost effective, VoIP (Voice over IP) solutions have taken the communications world by storm. But with this increase in popularity come serious security issues.

The problem with VoIP calls is the very thing that makes them so popular: they travel over the Internet. Because of this simplicity, VoIP calls can be intercepted at two points: the call setup and the call data flow. Tapping into the call setup provides the intruder with information on who called a particular number, and if they listen, what was said on that call. All that’s needed to hack into a call is a packet-sniffing program that can be easily downloaded from the Internet and a tiny piece of hardware that taps into a physical wire undetected.

So just who might be spying on you? Anybody from business competitors, employees, your boss, your spouse, organized crime, the government, and nosy-tech-snoops can all listen to outgoing and incoming VoIP calls.

If your paranoia is now shooting off the charts, here’s the good news: there are lots of ways to secure VoIP calls at both the network and the individual user level.

Security at the network level
First of all, both business and individual users should look for equipment that incorporates Wireless security standards such as Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), WPA2 and IEEE 802.11i. Make sure your network devices utilize at least one of these technologies.

Security installed on network routers and gateways can protect VoIP-call confidentiality by encrypting both the call setup and the audio stream itself. Businesses and individuals subscribing to a hosted VoIP service like Skype can take advantage of the encryption that is incorporated into the software.

Businesses using a VPN (virtual private network) can utilize the technology’s built-in encryption for gateway-to-gateway VoIP-call protection. This security is automatically supplied to all VoIP users – even traveling employees connecting to the VPN from a laptop. Internal VoIP security can be further enhanced by running the technology on the company network, allowing the infrastructure’s usual safeguards to keep calls safe from snooping.

Finally, a well-configured firewall will block hackers trying to enter a company’s VoIP system through a wireless device.

Security at the user level
Various IP-based features allow users to isolate themselves from unwanted callers and to protect their identity.

• Anonymous call rejection allows users to reject incoming calls from people who have blocked their phone number and name, thereby screening out telemarketers and anyone trying to hide their identity.
• Outbound-caller ID blocking allows the user to hide his or her identity – but be aware that this can also result in the call being blocked by the aforementioned anonymous call rejection.
• Call blocking enables users to screen or reject calls from specific phone numbers.

There are other simple precautions you can take if you are concerned about personal privacy when using VoIP. The most important one would be not to leave sensitive information like your credit card details or date of birth in voicemail messages. These messages will reside on a server somewhere and would therefore be more vulnerable than a regular voice call. As we mentioned earlier, encryption hardware and software is already available from some providers, so ask your provider about their encryption capabilities.

Social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter connect millions of like-minded people every day through the Web. But did you know they also can help your small business connect with customers?

"Social networking can help promote a small business in two ways," says Susan Barnes, a professor and associate director for at Rochester Institute of Technology’s Lab for Social Computing. "Loyal customers can create small networks and provide testimonials for the business and employees can share information with each other through social networks."

More than half of all small-business owners believe social networking sites have a place
in the business world, according to a 2008 survey by SurePayroll. And one in five companies has generated business from a social media site.

What’s the appeal of social networking? There are practically no barriers to entry, for starters.

"Facebook does not charge a fee, nor does MySpace or LinkedIn," says Shaun Clancy, owner of Foley’s NY Pub & Restaurant, a small business located across from the Empire State Building in New York that has tapped social networks to increase its business. For example, it uses its Facebook account to promote special events, such as a Frank Sinatra-themed evening. "If someone is going to offer marketing opportunities at no cost, why not accept the offer?"

(In fact, none of the social networking sites charge to join, although some, like LinkedIn, have premium levels that are not free.)

Another reason: it’s where customers are. Nearly 7 in 10 of American adults visit online blogs, communities or social networks, and one-third of those surveyed say they visit these sites to read up on product reviews to help them make purchasing decisions, according to a 2008 MarketTools report.

The promise of this emerging technology is simple. As web strategist Lorrie Thomas puts it, "Small businesses can dominate if they embrace social networking as part of their marketing strategy."

But how? Here are seven tips:

1. Choose your social network carefully. There are dozens of popular sites where a small business can set up shop. Pick yours with care. "LinkedIn is the gold standard for business," says Joe Procopio, president of Intrepid Media, a management and technical consulting company based in Chapel Hill, NC. His company uses it for hiring, sales insight, and monitoring changes in the business landscape. Another good bet for a small business is Facebook, which lets "friends" within your network know what you’re working on and what you’re interested in. "Facebook is a personal PR machine, and its hooks between networks allow you to reach people you’d never be able to reach on your own," adds Procopio.

2. Set realistic goals. Any small business that tries to participate in every social network will quickly become overwhelmed. Experts say a little planning is important. "It’s all about quality, not quantity," says Mary Ellen Tribby, co-author of the book "Changing the Channel: 12 Easy Ways to Make Millions for Your Business." She says having a clear objective is a key to success in social networking. "Why are you using a social network?" she asks. "To create buzz? To build a list? To sell a product? To build relationships? Or for feedback?" Depending on how you answer, you can set your sights on building the right relationships with the right people on the right social networks.

3. Find your audience. Social networking is all about segmentation. So once you’ve decided where your customers are, chances are you’ll have to dig deeper to contact them. Do they hang out in a chat room or do they belong to a particular group? Kel Kelly of the Boston Web marketing consultancy Kel & Partners, says the search may lead you to other social networks that are out of the mainstream. "As an example, if you are selling to moms, you should leverage sites like TheWiseMommy.com," she says. "If you are trying to reach a well-educated, older demographic, sites like Gather.com would be a great choice. And if you are trying to reach an affluent consumer, a site like Spire.com would serve you well."

4. Be a good netizen. Joining a social network may cost nothing, but there are rules that have to be followed ? and a price to be paid if you don’t. A social network isn’t another venue from which to broadcast your press releases or new product announcements nonstop. Social networking guru Shel Horowitz says the customers you’ll meet online expect you to actually be a part of the network. "Be helpful," he suggests. "Share information and resources, especially those that demonstrate your expertise." He also recommends posting to a network regularly – at least a few times a week.

5. Open up . . .  Part of what makes social networking an effective tool is that you can easily meet new people. Keeping an open mind is important. "When you join any social network, you need to be an open networker," says Jorge Olson a San Diego-based social networking expert and author of the book "The Unselfish Guide to Self Promotion." So what’s an open networker? It’s someone who accepts invitations to "connect" or become "friends" with anyone. "This sounds very simple, but it is not," he adds. "Many people are still afraid of networking, posting their photo or giving their e-mail address online. This defeats the purpose of networking." Another bonus: Being an open networker is a tip-off to other experienced networkers that you’re in the know. Result? Better leads.

6. ? but not too much. Assume that any information you post on a public networking site will be read by everyone you know. Even if you think they’re private (for example, if you "protect" your updates on Twitter, the microblogging site). "Even if you create a profile as an individual on a non-business oriented network like Facebook, keep in mind that colleges and potential customers may come across the information you post there," says John Enright, a vice president for LimeLabs, a Web application development company. Think twice before posting details such as your political affiliation, personal beliefs and jokes. "They may seem completely appropriate among friends," adds Enright. "But they could be interpreted as offensive or unprofessional."

7. Listen more than you talk. It’s a natural tendency to log on to a social network and start spreading the word about your product and service right away. But you might consider doing more listening ? at least in the beginning. "Small business owners should seek out blogs, key industry leaders and forums in their market to become aware of the social media environment for their industry," says Clate Mask, the chief executive of Infusionsoft, a Web application developer in Gilbert, Ariz. When is it OK to get chatty about your company? If you participate in the social network, it will become apparent when you can begin talking. Often, another member of the network will ask you a question about your product. That’s a sign.

With a little planning and research, and by learning the rules of the game, you can boost your business with the help of a social network. Remember: Social media isn’t like anything else. "It’s about having a conversation with your market," says Alec Saunders, the chief executive of the Ottawa, Canada-based social networking company Iotum. "By engaging customers one-on-one, you lead to conversations, which lead to word-of-mouth. And word-of-mouth is what you want."

Ideas to Help You to Use SharePoint Effectively in Your Business
Top 20 ways that SharePoint can solve your common business needs. And I want to emphasize that these 20 are only a few of the many ways to utilize SharePoint.

1. Store all your emails on a secure and centralized Website for easy archive.

2. Keep a central task location for assigning tasks to team members. These tasks will automatically show up in your team’s Outlook 2007 To-Do List. Those tasks will also link to your projects so you can easily find out what tasks are still open for each project.

3. Organize large events and store the related documents, assigned tasks, and generally post anything and everything related to the events. It will also integrate with Outlook for added efficiency.

4. Collaborate with team members on all documents and stay on top of who did what. Earlier versions can easily be restored in case someone has made too many mistakes. Projects can also be linked to related documents.

5. When tasks are assigned to team members they’ll automatically be notified that they’ve just been assigned a new task. Alerts are sent when there have been updates to the tasks.

6. Use SharePoint as a robust, but simple project management solution for your organization or team allowing them to manage tasks and documents in a single location.

7. Use the efficient check-in / check-out management feature to manage your documents.

8. Implement a help ticket resolution for your organization or team without breaking the bank.

9. Start a private company blog to communicate and share ideas with your team that’s viewable only by those you give access to.

10. Gain more control over your company’s documents with the approval workflows or content approval functionality.

11. Offer training materials to your teams, clients, and/or partners in a password-protected Website that can be accessed anywhere in the world.

12. Offer a secure and private place to share documents and other information with clients and/or partners.

13. Access and work with your data using your Internet-enabled mobile phone for added convenience while traveling or out of the office at client meetings.

14. Create better team communication and brainstorming sessions where everyone can participate when their schedules permit.

15. Centralize where company and team project announcements are posted. Everyone will receive a notification via email or mobile phone automatically, anywhere in the world.

16. Take the project tasks, team discussions, company contacts, centralized calendars, team blogs, and files offline. and then sync the updated information later on.

17. Create "central" documents (and synchronize), so all team members, clients, and/or partners are able to work on the same document and make changes. Updates are accessible with a click of a button. Everyone can then sync back to the "central" document and have all edits merged into that single document.

18. Easily add custom fields to any area and capture the information that’s most important to your company, all without the help of a web designer or IT person.

19. Pull up and update Microsoft Access 2007 database from a local desktop and sync information to a central location that can be accessed from anywhere at any time.

20. Create a project dashboard where on one page you can view and filter on common project elements, such as: project details, project documents, project tasks, project issues, project calendar, project milestones, project lessons learned, project risks, project change orders, and more.

I’m always looking for a new reason to connect with a prospect that hasn’t yet responded to my emails.

Clearly triggering events are the number one message to center on, but what if they haven’t responded? After 3 or 4 emails I find myself trying to establish my personality so the contact will begin to feel as if he knows me and want to reply.

However, that’s hard if all I ever talk about are issues they might be facing and how I can help. It starts to sound repetitious and boring. If I don’t mix it up a bit, my email will hit the contact’s delete barrier before it’s ever opened!

Add some fun to your communications as it gets later in the email prospecting game. You’ve received St. Patrick’s Day and Thanksgiving cards, of course. But what about sending a quick email that says something like this?

Friday’s No Socks Day! Can you believe it? Someone actually came up with a day for not wearing socks. Apparently if we all skip our socks for one day it reduces laundry and helps the environment. Go figure!

It’s a fun little tidbit I read and thought you might find amusing. As hard as we’re working, we all need a few extra laughs right now!

I’d still be interested in speaking with you about… now mention the triggering event… Can we set a time to talk next Tuesday at 3pm?

Let me know. I look forward to your reply – and enjoy No Socks Day!

You may say to yourself that there’s no way you could ever send this email , but think about it for a minute.

Your objective is to catch the attention of your prospects. They haven’t responded to the business issue you presented. You want them to start to get to know you, seeing inside you personally, enticing them into reading your emails more closely – maybe even responding.

Sending a fun email that’s still professional and gives a bit of insight into you might do the trick.

First, though, we have to get them to read it. That means the subject line has to be unique, too. “No socks day” really doesn’t sound professional enough, even for me. And, using the triggering event sounds too much like what I might already have used.

Boring. It needs some spice.

I’d probably go with something like: “A fun tidbit to share.”
Sometimes contacts don’t feel a need to respond to what are obviously sales emails. The moment you add something unusual, not completely business related, you’ll find they do read and reply. You’ve given them a different reason to write back about.

I’ve received replies like, “Guess I’ll go free Friday! Thanks for the laugh. No need right now, but stay in touch.” Or, “Enjoyed the tidbit. Yes, we should talk. Give me 2 weeks then let’s schedule something.”

Bingo! I got through.

Everybody wants some fun in their day and that increases my odds it’ll get opened. Pick a quirky morsel that fits your style. Perhaps it’s National Karaoke Week. Email your tough prospects and check-out how it works for you.

By the way, No Socks Day is Friday, May 8. That leaves you plenty of time to plan your communiqué!
For a list of other fun reasons to contact your prospects, check out my Quirky Prospecting Calendar.
 

Excel Tip:  Excel on the Road
reprinted with permission from the HP Small Business Center

We all know Excel is a powerful application. But what about Excel Mobile? Does Excel’s functionality translate to the spreadsheet’s mobile version for use on your smartphone?

The answer is yes and no. Excel Mobile can only offer a subset of Excel’s features. This is, however, enough for viewing and editing spreadsheets so that you can stay productive on the road, even with a non-touch screen phone.  

Not to be overlooked is also the fact that, in its portable form, Excel takes on versatile new roles. It’s not just a spreadsheet application any more, it’s also a sophisticated calculator, an electronic to-do list, a portable data manager – you get the idea. 

Here we share some tips and tricks to help you get the most out of Excel Mobile for Windows Mobile 6 Standard. After finding your way around Excel Mobile, you may just discover that it’s indispensable.   

Different viewing modes
When you open an Excel file on your device, you will see the spreadsheet in Full Screen view. In this default view, menus and scrollbars are removed in order to maximize your viewing space. The two main menus can be seen by pressing the soft keys: the right one for Menu and the left one for the View menu. 

In the View menu, you have the option to switch between Full Screen and Cell Text views. In Cell Text view, you’ll see the contents of a particular cell and the cell name (A13, B9 etc.) in an enlarged, highlighted, easy-to-read format. Another view option is Overview, which zooms out to give you a thumbnail shot of the entire sheet, allowing you to navigate around the spreadsheet to quickly find the parts you want to view or edit.  

How to edit
To add or edit content, go to Menu > Edit to enter edit mode. Highlighting and selecting a cell will open the text box at the top of the screen. When you are done editing, click on Done. You can select multiple cells for editing with the Select option in the Menu. Many of the standard Excel menu options, such as File, Edit, Insert and Tools can also be found in the edit Menu. For example, under Insert you’ll find Function just like in Excel. Some things have been shuffled around: for example, Find is located under Tools. When you click on Menu > Close File you will be prompted to name and save your file.    

Beyond view and edit
Excel Mobile for Windows Mobile 6 Standard does not allow you to create a new spreadsheet. However, there’s a way to get around this.  Simply create a new worksheet in Excel and save it with a generic name like “New worksheet” or “Blank sheet” and mark it as read-only. Then open it with Excel Mobile on your device, save it with a new name, and you have basically created a new worksheet that you can “edit” as you need.  

While creating a new data-heavy spreadsheet on your mobile phone might be painful and not to be recommended, it is, however, perfect for creating simple spreadsheets to keep track of information throughout your day. For example, you could use it to keep track of your gas usage and mileage or your business travel expenses. There are many ways to use Excel Mobile, and with some exploration, you might just find your own specific use for it.   

Need a calculator that’s more advanced than the basic one built into your phone? Don’t forget that with Excel Mobile you can create formulas and functions to calculate a simple to complex string of values. 

Those who need to do intensive data entry while on the go may find the extended functionality available for Excel Mobile with Windows Mobile 6 Professional and a touchscreen display even more useful. 

Microsoft and Excel are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.

The HP 2133 Mini Note brought new levels of configurability and portability to the business notebook PC world. Now the second generation HP 2140 Mini Note ups the ante with:

• A bigger 10-inch diagonal screen
• Up to six different operating system choices
• Three different hard drives
• Several wireless configurations [1]
• Intel® Atom™ processors

The 2140 Mini Note provides this enhanced functionality and configurability without adding to the weight or dimensions of the notebook.

Configurability is key
The standout feature of the Mini Note is configurability. With many of these new MiniNote or “Netbook” products, there’s only one flavor – you either like it, or not, but you don’t have many choices. The HP 2140 Mini Note offers a wide range of options, allowing you to choose the operating system, hard drive, and wireless configurations you need to work most effectively.

New features, even bigger possibilities
Intel® Atom™ processors, available for the first time in the 2140 Mini Note, help your notebook run cooler, use less power and improve battery life. These tiny, micro-architected processors pack a big punch when it comes to powering your business on the go.

The new 10-inch diagonal screen is significantly larger than the previous generation, all without sacrificing weight and overall size. When you’re on the go, you’ll be able to work more easily with business productivity suites and on the web.

Built for Business
The 2140 Mini Note is designed to be the ultimate business travel partner. The light weight, compact design allows you to take it anywhere, but there are several features that pertain particularly to business users:

• Easy to dock with optional USB docking station and access company networks
• The tough, tamper-proof anodized aluminum
• The keyboard is 92 percent full size, making it easy to operate
• HP Fast Charge technology allows you to charge the internal battery up to 90 percent in 90 minutes when the system is off.
• HP Professional Innovations, including:
  • HP ProtectTools, a suite of powerful software products designed to help you safeguard your data
  • HP Backup and Recovery Manager, a simple way to keep your valuable data safe
  • HP DuraKeys, which are designed to resist wear even with intense use
  • HP 3D Drive Guard parks your hard drive when it senses an abrupt change in position, keeping your data safer in the event of a
  • Visit the “What makes a great notebook PC?” site to learn more about Professional Innovations

  We all need our business notebooks to stand up to rugged use. HP quality testing puts notebooks through over 95,000 hours of testing to deliver superior quality and reliability. Throughout 50,000 test steps and 240 industry-standard hardware and software compatibility tests, HP helps ensure that your Mini Note will work as hard as you do.

Your portable presentation machine
Perhaps you already have a notebook PC as your primary business computer, but when you’re traveling and presenting on the road, you find yourself weighed down. The HP 2140 Mini Note is the ideal second machine – you just load it up with your presentations and spreadsheets, and hit the road! At 2.6 pounds [2], you won’t even feel it.

The HP 2140 Mini Note has always been the ‘small wonder’. Now discover even bigger possibilities than before!

Prices start at just $499 [3]

[1] Wireless access point and Internet service required and sold separately. Availability of public wireless access points limited.
[2] Weight will vary by configuration
[3] Pricing is HP direct and subject to change without notice. Reseller pricing may vary.

Holding a Web meeting? 5 pitfalls to avoid
by Christopher Elliott
reprinted with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Center

Think hard now. Can you remember your first virtual meeting? For many of you, it was in the latter decades of the 20th century, and you likely called it a "teleconference." If so, chances are you can recall how simple — but expensive — the technology used to be.

Well, virtual meetings aren’t expensive anymore.

But they’re still relatively simple, even if you’re talking now about meetings held via the Internet instead of by phone.

In fact, getting up and running with Web conferencing software today is so easy that virtually anyone with a PC and an Internet connection can do it. For example, it took me less than two minutes to sign up for Microsoft Office Live Meeting’s free 14-day trial.

If it’s that easy, how much harder can holding a Web conference be?

Careful. That’s not as easy (as getting high-quality Web conferencing software). You can make mistakes. And blowing a Web meeting can cost your business money — either in lost sales (if it’s a sales presentation) or in lost productivity (if it’s a staff meeting).

There are a plenty of surveys today on how a Web meeting can boost your bottom line, but few, if any, that address what happens when those Web meetings bomb. And that’s no surprise, because no one likes to talk about their slip-ups, virtual or otherwise.

So, before you jump into a Web conference, let’s review some of the most common Web conferencing errors, and discuss what can be done to prevent them.

1. You’re having a Web meeting —but you probably should have had a face-to-face meeting. A Web meeting isn’t a substitute for every kind of meeting. The No. 1 mistake small businesses often make is thinking that this newly affordable technology will actually eliminate their travel budget. "It’s a good way to maintain a relationship," says Addison Schonland, chief executive of Innovation Analysis Group in La Jolla, Calif., and an experienced Web conferencing user. "It’s not a good way to start a relationship. You can’t read the expression on the participants’ faces; you can’t see their body language." But even if you’re certain that a Web meeting is appropriate, Schonland advises caution. Solicit questions from the audience. Pay attention to the little things, like the breathing on the other end. "You may have blown the sale without even knowing it," he warns. Live Meeting participants can indicate their "state of mind" (for instance "I need help" or "I have a question") by using buttons in the application to change their "seat colors." That allows participants to give feedback without disrupting everyone. Pay attention to little things like that when you’re the moderator.

2. You don’t have an effective presenter or facilitator. "Delivery of the meeting is an area in which small businesses still lack experience, good reference models and tools that facilitate the effective management of a live online meeting," says online meeting expert Robin Good, publisher of MasterNewMedia.org. "The ability to provide appropriate visuals, supporting information, clear objectives and interaction with other participants are of the essence in making such meetings successful. "In fact, many Web meeting experts say that, frequently, the weakest link in a Web meeting is a poorly trained or unprepared facilitator. Live Meeting offers a series of free resources for presenters that can make your Web meeting more effective.

3. You’re using the wrong technology. It goes beyond the right software and hardware, according to Web meeting experts. And not to downplay the importance of those, because having the right equipment makes a big difference. But often it can come down to something as simple as bandwidth. "Make sure that meeting participants have appropriate connectivity," advises Richard Nicholas, chief executive of E Solutions Corp., a Tampa, Fla., data center and application development firm. "Dial-up  connections generally do not work very well."Although most Web meeting software, including Microsoft Office Live Meeting, can run on a connection as slow as 56 kilobits per second (Kbps), it goes without saying that a faster connection is more desirable. Make sure your participants are appropriately connected.

4. You’re not using the technology effectively. OK, so there are things you can’t do during a Web meeting — such as look out into the audience to see if anyone is snoozing. But there are other things you can and should do.  "Use polls, ask questions, engage the audience through the interactive features available to you," advises Mark Organ, chief executive and co-founder of Eloqua, a Toronto provider of marketing effectiveness solutions. "Your meeting participant will appreciate the attention and you’ll be able to gauge effectiveness and share results in real time." Live Meeting offers features such as interactive polling, application and desktop sharing, a Q&A feature, and white board slides. If you use the Microsoft Office System, you’ll find them easy to use, and the latest version of Live Meeting offers even tighter integration with other Office applications — so it’s that much easier to learn.

5. You fail to follow up. Web meeting pros such as Good say that after every Web virtual pow-wow, a facilitator should do his or her due diligence. And what is that?" Offer attendees a meeting summary consisting of zipped files of the presentation or content shown, indexed recordings, and chat logs," Good advises. That’s particularly important for sales meetings, when prospective customers may have additional questions about your product or service. Don’t leave them in the dark after the session ends. Live Meeting’s RegistrationPro tool allows you to conduct evaluations, quizzes, send thank-you notes, and solicit opinions about future event recommendations by way of follow-up.

Your next Web meeting can be a success, as long as it’s carefully planned, takes advantage of your technology, but also appreciates the limits of the Internet. Stay in contact with your participants even after your session has ended, and your Web meeting will have proven to be a success.

One of the most common complaints heard by IT helpdesks is: “My computer is running too slowly – what can I do?” There are actually a number of reasons why this could be happening, and luckily, a number of ways to solve the problem. Here are our top five recommendations to help boost your desktop or notebook PC’s speed and performance.

1. Clean up your hard drive
A typical hard drive is crammed full of files you really don’t need. The less stuff that’s on your hard drive, the faster your computer will be.

The best way to free up space on your PC is with the Windows® Disk Cleanup utility. To access it, go to Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup. You might need to specify which drive you want to clean.

In the Disk Cleanup box, scroll through the content of the Files to delete list and check the items you want to remove. If you’re not sure what to get rid of, the safest bets are temporary Internet files and programs you’ve installed that you no longer use. When you’re done, click OK.

If you don’t want to delete files altogether, such as things like photos and music or video files, consider moving them to an external hard drive.

2. Get rid of visual effects
Windows Vista® comes with some cool visual effects, but they can drain system resources. Disabling some will speed your system. To do this, click on the Start button, and then Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Performance Information and Tools.

Click on Adjust Visual Effects. You may be asked to enter an administrator password. Then click on the Visual Effects tab, and select Adjust for Best Performance. Then click OK.

3. Scan for viruses and spyware
One of the main culprits of sluggish PC performance is malware: viruses, spyware, Trojan horses, worms, and other kinds of malicious unwanted software. If you don’t already have some kind of antivirus protection installed, you should do so right away! Consider using Microsoft Windows Defender, which is included in Windows Vista, and is available as a free download for Microsoft XP SP2. Make sure to schedule an automatic virus scan at least once a month. You should also always keep a firewall running to help block malware from getting to your PC in the first place.

4. Add more RAM (the easy way)
Adding system memory (also known as random access memory or RAM) can be a good way to improve a PC’s performance. However, upgrading memory can sometimes be difficult and costly. Windows Vista now offers Windows ReadyBoost, which allows you to add memory without having to install anything. It allows you to use a flash memory device, such as a USB flash drive or a secure digital (SD) memory card, as an additional memory cache.

5. Run a defragmentation utility
Disk Defragmenter is a Windows utility that consolidates files and folders on your computer’s hard disk so that each occupies a single space, which in turn speeds up reading and writing to the disk.

To defragment your hard drive, go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter, then select the drive you want to defragment. Then go to Settings and make sure there’s a tick beside the two options in the section When defragmenting my hard drive, then click OK twice to begin. When the defragmentation is done, you’ll probably have to reboot your computer.

After following these tips, you should notice an improvement in your computer’s performance.

Your small-business network may be protected by firewalls, intrusion detection and other state-of-the-art security technologies. And yet, all it takes is one person’s carelessness, and suddenly it’s as if you have no network security at all.

Let me give you an example. In March 2006, a major financial services firm with extensive network security disclosed that one of its portable computers was stolen. The laptop contained the Social Security numbers of nearly 200,000 people. How did it happen? An employee of the firm, dining in a restaurant with colleagues, had locked the laptop in the trunk of a SUV. During dinner, one of the employee’s colleagues retrieved an item from the vehicle and forgot to re-lock it. As fate would have it, there was a rash of car thefts occurring in that particular area at that particular time, and the rest is history.

The moral of that story is clear: No matter how secure your network may be, it’s only as secure as its weakest link. And people–meaning you and your employees–are often the weakest link. It’s important to note that poor security puts your business, as well as your partners, at risk. As a result, many enterprises and organizations, such as credit-card companies, now specify and require minimum levels of security you must have in order to do business with them.

So what can you do? Here are nine ways to minimize the risks that people can pose to the security of your company’s data:

• Password-protect your computers and mobile devices–particularly laptops. One basic step toward defending data is to require a password to launch Windows on a PC. It’s not bullet-proof, but it’s a start, and it’s a particularly important first defense for portable computers.
• Don’t store passwords in unprotected areas. The more complex a password is, the easier it is to forget and you may want to record it somewhere. But don’t store your passwords in, say, a basic Word or Excel file or on a sticky note on your monitor. Instead, there are inexpensive software programs available that let you manage and secure multiple passwords.
• Consider laptops with biometric security. If you’re in the market for a new laptop, consider one that comes equipped with a biometric fingerprint scanner. The scanner reads fingerprints and only allows access to files on the computer to a user with an authorized fingerprint.
• Encrypt confidential files. Another way to protect sensitive data is to encrypt the files containing that data. Encryption scrambles data so that only an authorized user can access it. You can encrypt files using built-in tools in Windows XP Professional (but not XP Home), though some third-party applications offer more–and sometimes stronger–encryption tools.
• Whenever possible, don’t carry confidential data on a portable device or removable media. For maximum security, keep sensitive data off laptops, PDAs, BlackBerrys and other portable devices. As illustrated by the financial services firm example, if the device is lost or stolen, so is the sensitive data the device contains. If you must physically transport sensitive data, consider storing it only on an encypted flash-memory USB drive. Store the drive in your pocket and not in the laptop bag, so that you’ll still have it if the laptop is stolen or lost.
• Lock your laptop when traveling. Like bicycle locks, laptop security cables (costing $20 and up) allow you to physically secure your portable computer to a post or other stationary object. Most current laptops have a standardized security slot, into which you insert a locking device, which in turn is attached to the cable. For example, if you’re leaving a laptop in a hotel room that doesn’t have a safe, you could insert the locking device into the portable PC’s security slot, then wrap the cable around the narrow base of the bathroom sink. Portable laptop alarms are also available that emit a loud sound when your laptop is moved, which is helpful when waiting for the plane or other crowded area.
• Stay up to date. Keeping apprised of new tools and technologies can help you continue to bolster the security of your business’s data. For instance, new software utilities allow you to remotely erase all data on a lost or stolen smartphone just by sending a text message to the phone. And in recent months, new laptop hard drives have become available that automatically encrypt all data.
• Be vigilant. Above all, you and your employees must stay on guard to protect sensitive data. To help keep everyone on their toes, post signs above shared printers and fax machines, reminding users not to leave sensitive documents lying around. Place paper shredders near recycling bins or other common areas and encourage employees to use them.
• Create and enforce a security plan. Last, but not least: Your business should have a detailed, written security plan for employees that includes specific policies and procedures–including many (if not all) of the steps listed above. If security procedures aren’t in writing, it’s far too easy for employees to use the "I didn’t know" defense. And a security plan only works if it’s enforced and kept up-to-date. To devise a security plan, you may want to consult your trusted IT advisor. Also, your network vendor may provide online tools that can help you create a security plan. For example, Cisco Systems offers the Cisco Security Policy Builder , an online tool that can help you create a security policy tailored to your business’s specific requirements. Based on your answers to questions posed online, the tool will create a customized security policy template as a Microsoft Word file and e-mail it to you.

The Alternatives? Lost Business, Lawsuits and More
Does all this sounds like a lot of trouble? Of course it does. But imagine what would happen to your business if all your customers’ credit-card information was stolen–simply because an employee left a laptop containing that data in an unlocked car? At a minimum, you risk angering and losing customers.

Also, many small businesses, particularly those in financial and health-care services, must comply with regulations that mandate information security. One stolen laptop, and your business could be faced with heavy penalties due to non-compliance.

In short, better safe than sorry. So get on the phone with your trusted IT advisor and start creating your detailed security plan today. You’ll sleep better tonight.

Nearly all current HP business desktops are ENERGY STAR® 4.0 qualified, but those standards will soon change. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will introduce new ENERGY STAR® 5.0 requirements on July 1st, 2009. What’s going to change? What do you have to do to meet the requirements? Relax, it’s easier than you think – HP can give you a head start. Even if you’re a small business or not concerned about compliance, you can still save money on power and cooling by implementing ENERGY STAR 5.0 qualified desktops from HP.

Why were new standards introduced by the EPA?
The ENERGY STAR 5.0 program was designed to drive innovation in improving energy efficiency. 5.0 is also intended to periodically re-set limits so that only 25% of the products in the market will qualify.

ENERGY STAR 5.0
There are two changes from the current ENERGY STAR 4.0 program to the ENERGY STAR 5.0 that will have decided benefits for your organization should you choose to implement the new standards:

1.  High efficiency power supplies option has gone from 80% up to 87% on new products.
2.  Minimum 2GB of memory, up from 1GB.

The difference between ENERGY STAR 4.0 and 5.0
ENERGY STAR 4.0 was concerned with 80% Efficient Power Supply. The current Standard Power Supplies offered for desktop computers range from 65-75% efficiency. ENERGY STAR 5.0 is raising the efficiency percentage to 87%. The higher the efficiency, the more energy a computer saves, the more computers with a higher rating purchased for small business, the more money saved.

When a power supply converts AC power from the wall to the various DC voltages that the computer needs, there is always a loss of power. The power loss varies with how busy the computer is. An 80% efficient power supply is guaranteed to lose less than 20% of the AC power at 20%, 50% and 100% loads.

The lower idle specification plus the 87% efficient power supply together provide big benefits to your business beyond simple compliance:

• Increased power supply reliability due to greater efficiency
• Decreased system maintenance due to increased reliability
• Lower TCO due to reduced maintenance and longer equipment life
• Improved worker environment with less noise from the PC
• Potential reduction in cooling bill due to less heat being generated by PCs

HP Business Desktops, ENERGY STAR 5.0 qualified today
There is no grandfathering with the new requirements – as of July 1st, 2009, you’re either ENERGY STAR 5.0 qualified, or you aren’t qualified at all. And even if you’re not worried about compliance, you don’t have to wait to reap the rewards that an ENERGY STAR 5.0 product can bring you.

Select HP 5000, rp5000 and dc7900 series Business Desktops meeting ENERGY STAR 5.0 standards are available right now. You can get a head start on meeting requirements as well as saving. Find out more about HP business desktops that are ENERGY STAR 5.0 qualified:

HP 5000 series Business Desktops
HP dc7900 family Business Desktops
HP rp5700 series Point of Sale System

As a first time dog owner, he failed. He would call, “Ginger!” but Ginger wouldn’t respond. She continued wandering and sniffing bushes, as dogs are wont to do, and only return when she wanted to, which was neither soon nor quick enough to suit him. And when she did come back, he was furious. He would grab her collar, shake her and yell, “BAD dog! You come when I call!” But she gradually became even less inclined to respond and he grew more frustrated, until one day he left the dog on a friend’s farm where she could run free.

Enter dog number two—Dusty. By now our friend, the misguided dog-lover, had matured such that he remained calm even when Dusty ignored his commands. He just waited until Dusty did respond, then he lavished praise and affection upon her. He would hug her and pat her and say, “GOOD dog, Dusty!” Thus Dusty quickly learned that being obedient was a pleasant experience, and she became an exceptionally obedient dog, which made her master a happy dog-owner.

The difference? It wasn’t the dogs. It was the way they were treated—one negatively, one positively. And if positive reinforcement worked with Dusty, wouldn’t it be equally effective with people?

Behavioral scientists answer that question with an emphatic YES, saying that when a person does something and is immediately rewarded, he or she will tend to do it again—consciously or unconsciously seeking further positive reinforcement.

You can test this theory by asking yourself how you feel when someone tells you . . .

“Your report to the committee was excellent. Thanks for being so complete, yet so concise.”
Your office is a haven for the confused. It’s always so neat and well-organized.”
“Your quick action saved that account. We’re grateful to you.”

How do you feel? Naturally, you feel pleased and proud. You feel more commitment to those who recognized and rewarded you for your effort —and your inclination is to work even harder.

That’s nothing profound, of course. You’ve known about the benefits of positive reinforcement all your life. But now that you’ve been reminded of them…

Here’s what you can do:

Look for opportunities to give positive reinforcement. If a loved one doesn’t keep in touch as often as you’d like, don’t complain. Instead, wait until he or she does call, then say, “It’s great to hear from you! Your phone calls brighten my day!”

Next time you watch a football game, notice how teammates pat, hug and praise each other when they perform well. Likewise, whenever those on your “team” perform well, give them the positive reinforcement they deserve.

Timing is important. Be quick about it! Saying to your mate, “You looked wonderful last Thursday night,” is of no value.

And don’t forget yourself. Actress Ruth Gordon said, “An actor has to have compliments and positive reinforcement. If I go long enough without getting a compliment, I compliment myself and that’s just as good—because at least then I know it’s sincere!

Every small business owner knows that new technology can be pricey.

But technology can also pay in the form of significant savings-particularly over the long haul.

Savings from technology isn’t just a matter of plugging in a new gizmo and watching the cash roll in. You have to evaluate your priorities and choose the right technology that meets your operating and budgetary requirements.

With that approach in mind, here are seven ways that technology can save your small business money:

1. Cut down on paper use. Not only is excessive printing expensive, it’s a needless waste of a valuable natural resource. To cut down on printing costs, Andre Preoteasa, IT director at Castle Brands, a New York City importer of premium spirits, suggests investing in a duplex printer: "It can print on both sides of the page-you cut your paper use in half, thus half the cost. It’s particularly valuable when printing draft documents."

2. Advertise on the Internet. In years past, companies placed hard copy ads in newspapers and hoped someone would notice. From a budgetary standpoint, that’s far too cavalier an approach to take now. A cost-effective option is advertising on the Internet, which allows easy tracking of results to readily identify what works and what doesn’t. Advertising that simply isn’t pulling its own weight can be eliminated. "We have a measurement tool that can tell where our clients’ leads are coming from and which form of their advertising is working," says Devin Davis, director of marketing for G5 Search Marketing in Bend, Or. "We have a client in the self storage industry. As a result of their Web presence and online marketing efforts, they have significantly cut marketing costs. In Hollywood, for example, they have cut four separate phone books they were previously advertising in, saving about $100,0000 in just that one market."

3. Communication above all. With small business, staying in touch is essential and can save money. To illustrate: if yours is a delivery or on-sight service firm, equipping drivers with Web access phones allows immediate contact with your business. Rather than wasting time and money coming back to base only to head out once more, one quick phone call alerts them to stops they can see while they’re in transit. The same holds true for sales staff, service personnel and others who routinely work away from the office.

4. Don’t buy software on a piecemeal basis. Software of all sorts is essential to the health and growth of any business. Buying it randomly not only adds to the cost, the question of compatibility comes into question. One way to counteract that is to use programs such as Microsoft’s volume licensing purchase arrangement. Here, you buy licensed software in bulk-cutting upfront costs as well as discounts on upgrades and other follow up services.

5. Make sure your technology is adequately protected. The financial impact of spammers, hackers and other illegal intrusions on companies’ technology networks is virtually incalculable. There’s human resources lost to fixing the problem, not to mention the expense of repairing and replacing damaged or lost data and files. Make certain your firewalls, anti-spyware and other measures are as current and effective as possible: "That way, you won’t spend tons of money fighting viruses and other problems," says Preoteasa.

6. Encourage telecommuting. Saying gas has dropped in price lately is akin to saying that, since your broken leg feels better, you don’t have to bother setting it-neither is a long-term solution to a pivotal problem. One way to address the issue is through telecommuting. To ensure productivity and cut costs managing off-site employees, look into a unified communications system which allows workers to answer incoming calls, conference and collaborate no matter where they happen to be working.

"Conferencing and collaboration tools are no longer (just for) large enterprises," says Kevin Johnson, director of marketing for Mitel, an Ottawa, Canada communications firm. "Teleworking helps improve accessibility, and saves employees time and money in travel."

7. Can’t afford it? Meet it halfway. Talking about the savings inherent in cutting edge technology is one thing-paying for it is another issue. Fortunately, it’s not an all or nothing proposition. If you can’t afford a completely new form of technology, investigate updates and other cost-effective improvements that let you operate more efficiently. Then, invest in the most current technology when your budget allows. "Products such
as fixed wireless terminals that serve as a bridge between analog and digital communications can be installed quickly and easily with very little impact to overall business operations," says Shawn Welsh, vice president of marketing at Telular Corp., a Chicago manufacturer of wireless technology. "Once the business is ready to move to new technologies, the bridging devices can be easily swapped out with little expense."

Jeff Wuorio is a freelance writer, author and speaker based in southern Maine. He writes about small-business management, marketing and technology issues.

Hardly! Outsourcing is as American as Mom and Apple Pie! A lot of people believe that outsourcing is the problem with America’s economy today. For the most part they equate outsourcing with sending jobs overseas (off-shoring). The fact is that outsourcing started long ago when production lines where first formed to manufacture everything from nails for building to autos for driving.

Yes, outsourcing has gotten very sophisticated over the last decade or so. Yes, we are competing on a global scale for jobs, especially in certain sectors. But the fact remains that small businesses can help themselves grow and thrive by outsourcing tasks that are:

1. Difficult to master quickly
2. Better done by someone at a lower overall (more efficient) pay scale

For example, you can do your taxes yourself, or you can hire an accountant. I don’t hire an accountant to add the numbers up for me on a form (Turbo Tax can do that just fine). I hire an accountant to make sure the numbers are in the right boxes, that’s outsourcing. It would take me months (or years) to gain even the slightest competitive advantage on my accountant, so I rely on him and his firm to do the best job possible.

In another example, when you are thinking about moving your business, are you going to go to a commercial realtor an expert on getting the best deals in the market or are you going to wing it on your own? Wing it and the odds are strong that your new space will cost you more than if you had used a professional.

Think about it, we all outsource every day, whether it’s educating our children, going to the gym, having our car repaired or eating out for lunch or dinner. We rely on the expertise of others to help us get through the day.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat with business owners, they might be educated as an engineer, doctor, lawyer or an architect, who will say to me, “well I can do that task myself, why do I need you?” My comeback is always the same, why would you pay $100 for something that can be easily had for $20? AND I’ll give you a better result 99.999% of the time, guaranteed!

Think about the use of your time, it is your most valuable asset. We all get 24 hours in a day, that‘s it. Whether you are Warren Buffet or the person in the mirror, we are all limited by this. Winners in business, and in life, are very good at managing their 24 hours and they do this by focus and delegation. How else can you run a successful business, or anything else for that matter?

I just finished the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. He makes a very good case that to be a true expert you need 10,000 hours of experience in your chosen field (Read the book for the details). Focus on the things you do well, and Outsource (delegate) the things you don’t. You’ll move forward faster with better results!

If you have listened to the radio recently, you may have heard commercials regarding the illegal installation of software. The Business Software Alliance (BSA) is a non-profit trade association supported by its vendor partners in an attempt to advance the goals of the software industry – specifically it promotes the legal and safe distribution of software as intellectual property. As companies have downsized and laid off employees, the BSA has been running radio spots encouraging individuals to turn in their employers and ex-employers who they believe are not in compliance regarding software purchases and copyright laws.

Now is not the time you want your current or previous staff members to turn your company in to the BSA. The repercussions to your company can include heavy fines, require you to become compliant at full list pricing, or legal action against your company. Plus the downside to installing software purchased illegally can be unwittingly installed viruses, no technical support from vendors, and possible incompatibility.

Don’t become a victim. Monitor what software you and your employees install on systems that fall under your responsibility. Keep invoices of purchases in a compliance folder – the BSA will want to see proof of purchase not merely the license agreement. And finally, consider distributing a written company policy forbidding installation of software for which your company does not have a legal license.

Fair warning: This is not fun. It’s exactly the part of running a business that entrepreneurs love to hate.

And that’s undoubtedly why so many otherwise savvy business owners end up sidestepping COBRA regulations — a decision far from smart.

COBRA, of course, began as the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act signed into law in 1985 by President Reagan. It requires employers to offer qualified individuals the option of continuing their group health plan coverage when they’re about to lose it.

Contrary to the popular notion that COBRA was created to help workers, many experts point out that the law was designed, as it says, to "reconcile the budget." That is: To shift responsibility for health-care coverage from the government to employers. So this is about raising government revenue, not sustaining workers. That perspective might help you understand COBRA’s annoying bureaucracy and layers.

As a result, COBRA compliance nowadays means staying current on a continually changing hydra-headed monster of updated laws, amendments and court rulings, some as recent as 2005. Plus, most states have passed baby or mini-COBRA laws that regulate the continuation of coverage in areas exempted or ignored by federal rules.

COBRA laws are so complex that even the courts don’t always agree when judging infractions and lawsuits. Yet if you aren’t careful and consistent about complying with the rules, the penalties can be costly.

Who and what qualifies

Generally, according to Gary Kushner, a benefits consultant in Kalamazoo, Mich., "employers of 20 or more employees must offer to continue health coverage to qualified plan participants who were covered on any given workday in the preceding six months." At the time of employment, employers must provide a written notice to employees of their rights, spelling out qualifications and other details. Letters must also be sent within a specified time frame after a "qualifying event," which includes:

• Layoff or termination, voluntary or involuntary
• Reduced hours — from full time to part time, for example
• A covered employee’s death
• A covered spouse’s divorce or legal separation
• An employee who becomes entitled to Medicare
• A change of status for a covered dependant — for instance, reaching an age no longer covered by the health plan
• Active military duty, when the employer doesn’t continue coverage
• An employee who doesn’t return to work from family or medical leave — assuming she or he was covered before leave began
• Bankruptcy, but only if coverage continues for all employees, which usually means a Chapter 11 reorganization rather than Chapter 7 liquidation In most cases, the employee pays 100% of the premiums, while employers are allowed to tack on 2% more to cover administration fees. Rules shift for disabled staff and some dependants. The length of coverage also varies, typically 18 months, but also up to 29 or 36 months, depending on circumstances.

In the penalty zone

It can become very expensive if you’re caught doing the wrong thing. Regulatory penalties for COBRA are usually charged per violation, per person, per day for the entire period of noncompliance. I told you this wasn’t fun.

For instance, if you don’t properly inform qualified people about their rights to continued coverage, you can be fined $100 per day per individual and up to $200 a day with dependents. You might be forced to pay present and future medical expenses that would otherwise have been covered by insurance. One employer had to cough up $1 million in medical claims for twins born prematurely when COBRA coverage was accidentally cut off.

Violations may cause you to lose the federal income tax deduction for health-plan costs. So not only will you then foot the entire bill, but if any of your firm’s highly-compensated employees are involved, they will probably have to declare the health-coverage costs as taxable income.

Or you could be on the hook for crippling legal fees and expenses. For example, Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company and the Texas Municipal League once spent $600,000 fighting a $30,000 claim.

It really pays to be COBRA compliant.

Given the time demands and the mind-numbing details, most companies outsource their COBRA needs. Rates are affordable, typically between $1,000 and $2,000 a year for 50 or so employees. There are dozens of services such as Infinisource (formerly COBRA Compliance Systems) and FlexAmerica that will handle tracking, notification, billing, reporting and record keeping. To find a service you trust, quiz your human-resources manager, accountant, insurance broker or health-plan administrator, or try an online search.

Make sure you get ironclad references. Employers remain liable no matter what the service or plan administrator may or may not do.

There also are inexpensive COBRA administrative software programs that can walk you through the process should you really want to do it yourself. Just remember those state laws.Many programs only cover federal regulations.

Some COBRA myths

If you’re one of the hundreds of business owners who don’t pay attention to COBRA, start focusing. To get you going, here are a few of the most frequent misconceptions.

"I don’t have to worry because COBRA only applies to companies with 20 or more employees." That’s true for federal COBRA. But many states have passed laws designed to cover smaller companies, exactly because federal COBRA doesn’t. Better check in with your state insurance office.

"I’ve beefed up the company health plan to offer more options, but that has nothing to do with former employees on COBRA." Yes, it does. Whatever you offer current employees and whenever you open the plan for enrollment or election changes, you must make the same offer to all COBRA-covered employees.

"The employee who quit told me that he didn’t want COBRA coverage, so now I don’t have to think about it anymore." Not so. He can change his mind at any time within the election period, usually 44 days.

"I don’t have to offer COBRA because the employee was terminated for ‘misconduct.’" Regulations exempt you from offering COBRA benefits to employees who leave for reasons of "gross misconduct." But the law does not define that term. Financial irregularities have met the bar for "gross misconduct" in past rulings, while incompetence, violations of confidence and resignations have not. Do you want to slug it out in court?

"I don’t want to get stuck with the bills. The day he misses paying a premium, I’m cutting off coverage." A dangerous policy. Covered employees are permitted to pay premiums within 30 days of their due dates.

There are lots of other mistaken notions about what’s permitted or forbidden under COBRA rules. There are also many variations, depending on the employee and your particular plan. The best way to make sure you become compliant — and stay complaint — is to begin the process. Now.

In the not-so-distant past, the choice between a desktop and a laptop computer was simple: do you want portability, or not? There were a few other clear-cut differences, too. Desktop models offered more power and features and were less expensive, while laptops were portable, but also more costly, and less ergonomic.

While some of these differences remain, advances in technology make many of them insignificant. Laptop prices have fallen, and the machines now offer even more power and features. Desktop models are less bulky than they used to be, and with the proliferation of devices like USBs, portability of data is not such a big issue. So how do you choose?

Here are a few points to consider.

What’s your workspace like?
Space is a big factor to consider. If you have limited space on your desk or workplace, you might consider a business laptop that can easily be put away to make room for other items. Otherwise, you could look into the smaller form factor desktop PCs and a flat screen monitor in order to conserve space.

Where do you use a computer most often, and what do you use it for?
If you use a computer mainly for word processing and Internet purposes, a laptop might be a practical choice when travelling. However, hard-core gamers, video editors or graphic designers may require additional memory and storage, which could in turn potentially increase the cost and the weight of a laptop PC – so much so, that it may no longer be practical to lug it around. In that case, you might as well purchase a desktop computer or workstation which you can cost-effectively and easily equip and add on to, without worrying about weight.

On the other hand, if you’re often on the road and just want a portable computer for basic e-mailing and word processing, you might find that some laptops are more than what you need. In this case, consider one of the Ultralight Laptops that can be an inch thick and weigh just two or three pounds.

How much storage do you need?
Because laptops have physically smaller drives, they can only offer so much storage space. If you have extreme storage needs – like lots of music files or an extensive video library – a desktop is usually the best choice, unless you are also willing to invest in additional external storage devices.

What about ergonomics?
Early laptops had cramped keyboards and small, dimly lit, hard-to-read screens. Nowadays most of these issues have been resolved, but for certain users, desktops still may be the better choice to help prevent injuries and discomfort. Because a desktop’s monitor and keyboard are separate, you can move and adjust them as needed, and desktop monitors can be purchased in much larger sizes than what is available on a laptop. A laptop’s setup, with an attached keyboard and monitor, provides less flexibility. It is however possible to set a laptop up in a way that’s ergonomically similar to a desktop (with an additional keyboard and monitor), but the extra equipment required might negate the entire purpose of having a laptop.

For more information on the benefits of desktops versus laptops and visa-versa, read this related discussion in HP Community forums. You can also expand your horizons by looking into the amazing new HP TouchSmart and the Tablet PCs.

There’s little doubt that the Internet has been a real benefit to organizations – providing instant communication capabilities and an almost bottomless source of valuable, up-to-date information on just about any topic.

However, many employees won’t think twice about accessing the network for personal use, perhaps to download music or to shop online. Not only does this put a strain on the network by reducing the bandwidth available for legitimate use, but it also makes it easier for criminals to access sensitive company information and for viruses to enter the network.

From an IT standpoint, it’s a hassle to deal with employees downloading unsafe material on the one hand, and complaints about how slow the network is on the other.

So what’s the best way to effectively limit employees’ network use and keep the network safe, without hampering productivity or creating distrust? Here’s a list of do’s and don’ts to help you put together a network usage policy.

1. Don’t block access to things like IM applications or YouTube without consulting employees. Not only will it cause resentment on the part of users, but such things could be necessary to their work – e.g. to communicate with clients, for research or to watch instructional videos.

2. Do develop and implement a written ‘acceptable use’ policy with a statement of purpose and clearly laid-out rules that define exactly what is allowed or not allowed. It should also highlight the consequences of violating the policy.

3. Do understand how employees use the Internet for research and communication purposes, and do involve those affected in drawing up the policy. When proposing websites and applications to block, make sure users have a say in the matter. If you have to revise the policy because of an oversight after it’s already been signed, then both you and the document lose credibility.

4. Do regulate and control employee use of the Internet with firewalls. Once a list of restricted URLs and other conditions of use have been set, use firewalls and filtering, and monitoring software to prevent employees from accessing inappropriate sites.

5. Don’t neglect to use antivirus software – deploy VPN and use other security solutions to keep the network safe from hackers and viruses.

6. Do consider using thin clients instead of desktops or workstations. Thin clients put the normal local functions of a PC onto a server for centralized management, increasing security and enhancing control over user PCs.

7. Do conduct regular employee training sessions to inform them of why an acceptable use policy is necessary. Many employees assume that because they have Internet access at work, they are free to use it however they wish. They may not know how their actions can negatively affect the company (lawsuits, risk to sensitive data, etc.) and be cause for dismissal.

Once a set of rules for acceptable use of the network is in place and employees are aware of their responsibilities, you’ll have more time to deal with real IT and business issues. You’ll also spend far less of your day slaying viruses and fielding complaints.

Traditional paper business cards are a time-honored and effective way to get business and contact information out to current and prospective clients.

But these days, a lot of business is done in e-mail. So how do you make sure that people know how to reach you?

Try an Electronic Business Card (or EBC), part of the Contacts feature in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.

An EBC is simple to create and you can easily give it professional polish or personal style by adding your company logo or a picture of yourself. And when you use an EBC as part of your e-mail signature, customers and friends will see it in a format that looks good and is easy for them to save.

Watch the demo to see how easy it is to create, customize, and share an Electronic Business Card.

How often do you see it? An IT project team starts out collaborating well, showing great thought leadership and proactive management, only to end up in firefighting mode three months later, constantly laying blame on others and treating contradictory points of view as direct assaults. The team starts complaining and falling apart.

Is it poor project management? Dig deeper and you’ll find the ugly side of too much stress.

More employees are in a constant state of primitive fight or flight response today than ever before. Corporate problems are more complex, cycles of information and change are faster, there are fewer managers yet more to be managed, and day-to-day pressures are greater. Factor in the popular view that stress is a badge of honor–the more pressure you face the more important you must be–and instead of experiencing the occasional stress that motivates, you end up with constant stress that kicks people into survival mode and negatively impacts their work.

Stress is the pressure your body and mind feel when responding to demands and perceived threats. When you’re under stress, you use less of the front part of your brain responsible for advanced thinking, and more of the back part that handles primitive thought processes such as the fight-or-flight response. Any organization that can keep its employees relaxed, focused and using their full mental capacity is therefore going to operate more effectively–and ultimately be more competitive–than one whose employees are highly stressed and locked into a pattern of reacting, avoiding or competing with each other.

Take, for example, a busy IT executive who talks openly about the amount of stress he’s under. During an update meeting for a critical project, he’s constantly checking e-mails on his laptop, responding to messages on his handheld PDA, and referring to his calendar to see what’s scheduled later in the day. All the while, project members are presenting status reports to him. Instead of asking probing questions to ensure things are on track, he agrees with most of what is discussed and asks relatively simple questions.

Why isn’t he jumping on things that don’t seem right? Because his mind can only handle so much. He’s so busy multitasking as a coping mechanism that he isn’t using the full capacity of his brain. He misses things, he doesn’t ask the right questions, and instead of assigning priority to the requests coming at him, he gives the same level of attention to everything. In short, he’s locked into survival mode.

If you find your project team has locked into response mode and is constantly putting out fires or operating on a task-by-task level just to get through the day, chances are it’s time to replace distress with ‘de-stress’.

While you can’t necessarily change the external forces causing stress levels to rise, you can recognize the signs and take action at a grass-roots level to help employees find balance. Sometimes senior managers are under such great pressure that they depersonalize employees, viewing them as numbers, budget line items or roles. If you can see employees as unique people with individual needs, both inside and outside of work, you’ll be more likely to keep stress in check.

As a manager, you should model the behavior that doesn’t promote stress as a badge of honor, but encourages people to set healthy boundaries and teaches them when to say no. If employees are over-committing, look for ways to reduce the demands on their time and check their priority levels. Help them understand that they’re not alone and that support is available. And encourage them to take a good look at their diet, sleep and exercise patterns–the first to suffer when stress becomes unmanageable.

Awareness is the first step in dealing with elevated stress, yet one of the first things you lose under pressure is your ability to self-monitor. By asking the questions that will help a project team look inwards at how stress may be negatively affecting their behaviors and lives, you can be on the lookout for signs of elevated stress and take action to reverse it well before the fight or flight response kicks in.

Remember, high stress may be a badge of honor on the battlefield or in sports. But in business, where maintaining competitiveness means thinking and operating at our best, it’s nothing more than a liability.

reprinted with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Center

I spend a growing percentage of my time getting rid of unwanted e-mails that contain viruses. If I open one of them, it potentially could overwrite files and disable my antivirus software.

What exactly is in the heads of these virus writers? Anything?

I took my inquiry to Sarah Gordon, an expert on the psychology of hackers and virus writers. She did her best to answer an overly broad question. Gordon is a senior research fellow at Symantec’s security response unit, and previously was a researcher for the antivirus research and development team at IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center.

She meets face-to-face with hackers and virus writers on occasion, to understand why they do what they do, and conducts research at international hacker conferences such as DEF CON. To see Gordon’s background and some of her research papers, visit her Web site at www.badguys.org.

She’ll tell you right away that hackers — people who devise ways to break into networks — are a different animal than virus writers, and in most cases, more advanced. Virus writers are generally younger (some as young as 10 or 11 years old), on a lower rung of the underground tech strata and not always aware of the damage that could incur. Also, she stresses, except in a few states, writing damaging viruses isn’t against the law.

All that is Gordon’s way of suggesting there truly is a low barrier to entry. She says parents and teachers need to be more assertive in teaching kids in the Internet Age that morality is as important in the virtual world as it is in the real world. In general, parents need to pay more attention to what their children are doing on the computer. She also chastises journalists for frequently overestimating the damage virus writers do, thereby glorifying their acts and power.

"While the media are starting to realize that virus writers are not geniuses, or heroes ‘helping’ us to understand security risks, there is still a long way to go — especially in countries where viruses (and virus writing) are relatively new and where ethics is not part of the curriculum," she says in an e-mail interview.

Transferring real-world values

Courtesy of Gordon, here are seven things about virus writers that you should know.

1. They’re often kids, but not always. In general, virus writers are young people under 30 and predominantly male, Gordon says. Many are in their teens. But stereotypes can be dangerous here, because some veteran IT people have been known to write viruses on the side to "test the security" of certain networks and systems. "Often people ‘play around’ with viruses, not realizing the damage they can cause. They think that because they can’t ‘see’ them do anything, it’s all OK." Generally, the older a virus writer is, the more that he knows what he is doing, although this varies from country to country.

2. Their goals vary, and many don’t even have goals. Some simply are exploring programming self-replicating code. Others, however, are trying to gain notoriety or make a personal, political or social statement. A few are disgruntled workers. "Generally, many young people who write viruses don’t connect the act with the damage that can occur . . . That said, some virus writers have a pretty good idea of the end result, and do it anyway. These tend to be older individuals, who write viruses with the intent of causing damage and chaos." The media has frequently exaggerated the impact early on, encouraging others to create their own stir, Gordon says. But she recognizes the media’s role in trying to notify users early on so they can prepare their defenses.

3. Their targets are generally random. Many virus writers claim to be pointing out the vulnerabilities of a software product or manufacturer or the lack of security at a particular company, such as where they work. Gordon contends that many use that as an excuse or "cover" for an adventure gone awry, or for destruction more widespread than anticipated. She suggests that most people directing anger or actions at specific targets will use other means, such as hacking their systems, to accomplish their goals. "Most viruses don’t appear to be written with destruction in mind," she reiterates. "Many are written to be destructive — and while there may be a political or a social statement in them, they are generally (though not always) pretty much randomly targeted."

4. Virus writers aren’t necessarily rocket scientists. This is not a collective slam on their brainpower, but more to suggest that it doesn’t take elite technical skills to write damaging viruses — which is scary. "Virus writing is not rocket science, and it doesn’t take any special elite skill to be able to write a self-replicating program," she says. Essentially, virus writers produce self-replicating code that includes a damaging payload. Those who create the most destructive payloads — the Klez, SirCam and Nimda viruses, for example — very well may be at the head of their class, she admits. Yet, for the most part, as virus writers advance their technical skills, they move beyond virus writing to other technical pursuits. "As virus writers ‘age out,’ new virus writers take their places," she says in a research paper.

5. Virus writers feed off new technology and each others’ innovations. Serious virus writers don’t reinvent the wheel; they build on to what has caused havoc in the past. They also take advantage of the latest tools and technologies, Gordon says. As a result, tomorrow’s viruses are likely to be more complicated and potentially much more destructive than today’s, she says. The good news is that virus writing doesn’t seem to be a career for many.

6. Education can help stop them. Educating PC users on what attachments not to open is part of this, but not really Gordon’s point here. She believes that families and schools, in the Internet Age, have an obligation to teach children how to behave on the computer — to extend moral and ethical behavior from the real world to the virtual world. For example, children need to be taught that reading another person’s e-mail is just as wrong as opening a letter from a neighbor’s mailbox. "This technology lends itself well to depersonalization and de-sensitization," she says. "We need to learn more about the dynamics of computer-mediated communication, and find ways to help real-world values transfer to virtual interactions."

7. Protection needs to be fortified. Before No. 6 has measurable impact, we need to worry about No. 5. Gordon foresees more challenging viruses ahead, including viruses combined with hacking tools to beat through antivirus protection. She recommends that businesses have firewall-intrusion protection as well as antivirus software. "The solutions must be integrated too to deal with these blended threats. It is not enough to be protected from just viruses." She adds that while viruses now target the PC, they likely will threaten mobile devices in the years ahead.

Hackers, as I’ve said, are a different breed.

A new breed of solutions called Office Business Applications helps extend the usability of your desktop and line-of-business applications.

• For many companies, the ROI in enterprise software isn’t what it could be.
• Office Business Applications create synergy by connecting Microsoft Office to business applications.
• The impact of OBAs on the bottom line is significant and immediate.

Return on investment is everything. But for too many small and midsize businesses, the ROI for line-of-business software is far less than what it ought to be.

Here’s the problem. Line-of-business systems support the fundamental operations of the business, from customer relationship and supply chain management to financials and human resources. Yet these business applications are often disconnected from the processes and communications that support operations.

A Gartner research, "The Knowledge Worker Investment Paradox," found in 2002 that in most companies anywhere from 50 percent to 75 percent of the information that employees need to do their jobs comes from other workers. Meanwhile, 80 percent of an organization’s digitized resources are locked away in individual hard drives or personal files, and thus are unavailable for sharing.

A new class of solutions called Office Business Applications can help organizations bridge this information gap. Developed by Microsoft ISVs and corporate developers, OBAs allow businesses to integrate their line-of-business solutions with the 2007 Microsoft Office system and add company-specific features to Office applications and documents.

Extending Microsoft Office Outlook
ActionThis, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner based in New Zealand, offers a good example of how you can add new features to Microsoft Office 2007 to respond to line-of-business needs.

Its team-management solution, which is available on a secure Web site maintained by ActionThis and which comes in free and premium versions, leverages Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 to help business leaders delegate and manage tasks from initiation to completion. The result is that teams do more work faster, according to CEO Ed Robinson.

For example, if a manager wanted a member of the sales team to send a quote to a customer, he would first create an action item in Microsoft Outlook and send it to the sales representative. (Action items look like regular Outlook e-mail messages but with a few extra task fields, making them intuitive to use.) Then the sales rep could break the assignment into subtasks for further delegation or return it to the manager with questions attached. The manager could follow the progress of the sales rep via automatic status reports that indicate whether the task has been ignored or is overdue. Then finally, the manager could sign off on the project when it has been completed.

An "execution assistance" feature includes alerts with related one-click actions, customizable inbox reports, and simple task delegation. Such features help overcome procrastination and ambiguity, which Robinson calls "the two biggest obstacles to improving productivity."

ActionThis was designed for teams with five to 20 people, but it can be scaled up or down. "We have companies onboard with several hundred employees that are loving the product," Robinson says. ActionThis users typically see a 5 percent reduction in project costs, he adds.

Microsoft Office Excel
Office Business Assignments can also be used to connect Microsoft Office 2007 with line-of-business applications. That’s what EMC2, a Microsoft Gold Certified partner based in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, has done with a smart client that can automatically import and export data between Microsoft Office Excel and business applications.

Moving data from line-of-business solutions to an Excel workbook for analysis and then back again makes sense, says Alan Josephson, a senior Microsoft practice consultant for EMC2.  "Excel runs businesses," he says. "People use Excel for everything."

• Quicker data transfers. In the case of the employee-benefits firm, Josephson says, moving actuarial data from the line-of-business applications to Excel workbooks can be completed in just hours, whereas previously it took months.
• Improved data security. Because information is moved automatically and handled by fewer workers, there is less danger of data corruption.

The platform on which it all rests
The 2007 Microsoft Office system includes platform capabilities called OBA Services. If you plan to do any in-house development, talk to your IT manager or technology partner about these capabilities. They include:

• A Windows Workflow Foundation that enables automated workflow processes to prevent documents from becoming lost in the shuffle of multiple users.
• A powerful search engine portal that helps users find relevant information across the organization.
• A Business Data Catalog (BDC) that enables Office applications to reference read-only data from line-of-business systems.
• An extensible user interface that allows developers to add the features users need to do their jobs more efficiently.
• Open XML formats that make it easy to generate automated documents and to share documents across platforms and between applications.
• The Web site and Security Framework that employs user and role-based security to control access to sensitive data.

That’s the platform. Use it to integrate the line-of-business applications with the Microsoft Office solutions that serve as the operational backbone of your business. You’ll find you get more done in less time with fewer resources. And that means a stronger bottom line.

It’s a new year, with a fresh sales quota and a new set of sales resolutions. I’m always looking for ways to improve and January consistently finds me evaluating my performance from the previous year then setting goals for the coming one.

While I’m ranked as a top sales performer I always believe I can do better.

So it’ll be no surprise to you that I recently asked a group of top sellers to share their top three sales resolutions for success in 2009’s challenging sales environment. I wanted to see what new ideas I could glean to outshine myself this year and thought I’d share them with you, too.

See how closely they align with your resolutions.

1. Build a Brick Wall Around Your Clients
Most sellers close deals and look for the next opportunity. What distinguishes the most successful reps from the rest of the pack in a tough economy are those who stay connected to their clients after the sale. They talk frequently and make recommendations, letting their clients know they’re always top of mind. No competitor can penetrate these sellers’ accounts and when the next need presents itself, they have it locked in.

Create a strategy to stay close to your customers. Consider weekly calls to top clients, bi-monthly or monthly emails to others. Put them all on your newsletter list. Watch for tidbits to share that’ll help their businesses in a unique way. Introduce them to contacts that’ll improve their network.

Yesterday I ran across a reporter searching for an expert in IT trends. I alerted several of my clients I know are focused on increasing their PR activities, providing them the opportunity to be featured in an article.

In a competitive marketplace, old-fashioned personalized service is the new way to leave an impression. Send personalized thank-you notes – handwritten on stationary. Return calls within a few hours. Respond to emails promptly – and today that means within 2 hours or less whenever possible, including weekends. Focus on providing top customer service.

2. Prospect!
There are never enough leads, especially when companies are putting off decisions. If your closing ratio was one out of four, today it may be one out of six. That means you need prospecting goals to keep your funnel overflowing with new opportunities.

Top sellers set weekly goals to ensure they always have new leads, regardless of how much they are already working. Many of them track their activities against their weekly objectives and step up their prospecting if they aren’t seeing the results they know they need.

I’m currently working eight significant deals and nineteen small ones, knowing that it’s possible most will be delayed. Knowing the challenges we’re grappling with in sales today, I’m still spending an hour a day prospecting and don’t plan to change it any time soon.

Set aside 30-60 minutes a day to work a lead generation plan that will attract new prospects to you. Set weekly prospecting goals including the number of completed calls, emails and conversations you want to target.

If you’d like to formalize your prospecting goals and track your results, I’ve put together a quick and easy tool to guide you. Check out the resources section of our website to download your free copy.

3. Ask for referrals
Customer affidavits are critical today. Clients are cautiously making investments choosing to work with proven companies referred to them after checking references. Make this work to your advantage. Your customer base is a gold mine. You’ll be surprised by how many are delighted and can point to business within other groups if only you’d ask. Gather testimonials and references for use in proposals, value propositions, email prospecting, newsletters, marketing offers, and events. Whenever anyone praises our work, I immediately ask if I can quote them. Whether it’s in response to a newsletter article, an audio conference, or training, I ask if we can use it. After large projects I request a testimonial or case study. Then be sure to ask for – and follow-up on – referrals. Customers who willing offer quotes will also happily provide referrals. Frame your request so they know the types of referrals you want. I always describe the situation that a strong referral might be experiencing, the size company, and their title. This helps my clients visualize who to suggest. It also gives me more information so I know what to say when I call the new referral. How closely do your sales resolutions align with these? If you want to outline and watch your sales goals, visit the resources section of our website to download our new Sales Action Goals tracker. Use it to set weekly objectives and track your results throughout the year.

Kendra Lee is author of the award winning book “Selling Against the Goal” and president of KLA Group. Specializing in the IT industry, KLA Group helps companies rapidly penetrate new markets, break into new accounts and shorten time to revenue with new products in the Small & Mid market Business (SMB) segment. Ms. Lee is a frequent speaker at national sales meetings and association events. To find out more about the author, read her latest articles, or to subscribe to her newsletter visit http://www.klagroup.com or call +1 303.773.1285.

It’s a common scenario. You’re working at your computer when all of a sudden, with no warning, the PC freezes. Nothing seems to be working. The screen goes dark. You may even be unlucky enough to see the dreaded blue screen informing you that a critical error has occurred and Windows® will be shut down.

You’ve just been the unfortunate victim of a system crash. If this happens to you, it’s likely that you’ve recently added a new program, device, driver or application that your machine doesn’t like, and this is its way of making its feelings known.

Sometimes, a simple reboot of the PC resolves the issue. But sometimes it doesn’t. You reboot, Windows loads and the computer crashes again, or continues to behave weirdly. What can be done to end the recurring nightmare and return your computer to a more stable state?

How System Restore works
System Restore is a tool in Windows Vista and XP that allows you to turn back the clock. It takes snapshots of your computer’s configuration over time, so that if you find yourself in the midst of an installation or configuration gone wrong, System Restore can roll Windows back to the state it was in before the trouble started, without affecting any of your data.

System Restore takes system snapshots every day the computer’s on during idle time, as well as before system changes, like Windows Automatic updates, driver installations, software installations and system restorations. It is similar to the Last Known Configuration function, which allows you to go back to the most recent set of settings known to have worked, but System Restore allows you to choose how far back you want to go in undoing changes to the system, based on the available restore points.

How to use System Restore
In Windows Vista:
1. Type ‘restore’ into the Start menu search box and you’ll immediately see System Restore at the top of the menu. You’ll then see a screen where you can choose to roll back the system to the last restore point.

2. Select ‘Recommended restore’ and just click Next, or you can choose a different restore point.

3. Confirm your selection and restart your computer to roll the system back.

If you receive an error while restoring, then use System Restore from Safe Mode and it should work fine. To access Safe Mode, just reboot and hit the F8 key right before Windows begins to start up.

In Windows XP:
Windows XP enables System Restore on all your computer’s hard drives by default. To see if System Restore is turned on:

1. Open your Control Panel.

2. Under Performance and Maintenance, choose System.
(Note: If you don’t see this option, you might not have the required privileges. If so, contact your System Administrator)

3. From the System Restore tab, clear the "Turn off System Restore on all drives" checkbox.

While System Restore is a handy tool, it’s very important to note that it is not intended for backing up personal files and so can’t help you recover a personal file that has been deleted or damaged. You should regularly back up your important data using a backup program.

Pinching pennies is a time-honored tradition among many travelers. But it’s a practice that’s now gaining increasing popularity among an unlikely group: business travelers.

Road warriors long have had rich tastes in travel. Back in the late 1990s, when the economy was white-hot, they routinely bought expensive airline tickets and stayed in pricey hotels while away on business.

But those lavish expenses paid by travelers have since dwindled back toward the mainstream of travel. The average airfare paid by a business traveler was $559 in early 2000 and dropped further to $500 for the same period in 2003, according to Topaz International, an airfare auditing firm in Portland, Ore.

Hotel rates paid likewise are on the decline. The average per-night rate for a full-service hotel in an urban market was $121.02 per night during the first quarter of 2000. Three years later, the average price was $117.55 per night, according to the Hospitality Research Group of PKF Consulting in Atlanta.

Is corporate travel getting cheaper? Or are business travelers becoming miserly?

The answer: Both — but especially the latter. When the economy cooled off, road warriors and their employers became more price-conscious. They refused to pay $2,000 walk-up fares that could be booked for $200 if they agreed to stay over on a Saturday night. This fundamental — and likely permanent — shift in behavior has basically made professional travelers act a lot more like vacationers.

In a 2003 survey of corporate travel managers, the National Business Travel Association found more than half the respondents had implemented cost-cutting measures. Among the favorites: buying cheaper, but more restrictive, airline tickets; booking less expensive cars; and heading to the suburbs for downscale, down-priced hotel rooms.

But you probably already knew that. What about other ways of cutting costs? Here are three tips favored by the travel pros:

1. Hone your fare-search tactics.
Almost anyone with a Web browser knows that if you click on Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity, you’ll get a pretty good look at a reasonably priced hotel, airline ticket or rental car. Many travelers also hedge their travel purchases with sites such as Priceline and Hotwire, which frequently outdo the big three. But wait, there’s more. Did you know about Sidestep, which culls low fares from a variety of travel sites? How about SmarterLiving or Travelzoo — Web sites that list super-discounted airfares that you might not find anywhere else? Ever hear of LastMinuteTravel.com or Site59, which offer distressed travel inventory? The passengers who save big bucks have. Jean Freeland, a Web site editor in Monroe, La., subscribes to "every travel e-mail newsletter I can find" — particularly those related to destinations she visits, because they often contain unpublished deals. "I’ve saved money, especially when I’ve looked for a hotel on the lower end of the price scale," she says. Strategy:

Spend time on the Internet trawling for new fare-search resources when you’re not pressed to make a booking. Only a few minutes of surfing — and bookmarking the results — can make a huge difference the next time you’re buying travel.

2. Master the system.
When business travelers got cheap, so did the airlines, hotels and car rental agencies serving them. Airlines, for example, adopted policies like "no waivers, no favors," designed to keep passengers from manipulating the system. So the truly savvy business traveler got even smarter. The tools: back-to-back tickets and their cousins, the hidden-city and open-jaw ticket. Jessica Gordon, a director for an economic development company in Bradley Beach, N.J., stays flexible so that when an airline overbooks a flight, she can volunteer for a travel voucher. "I always ask if a flight is overbooked," she says. Granted, as a business traveler, you won’t always have the time to wait around for the next flight. But if you do, you could get a free ticket for your time. If you know the system, you’ll know that the vouchers are there for the asking. Strategy: Befriend a travel agent. A competent travel counselor not only will help you plan the more complex trips that are too difficult to do online, but he or she also will happily share all the tips on getting around the system. After the airlines eliminated most travel-agency commissions, it’s the least they would do.

3. Leverage your loyalty.
In a previous business-travel column, I offered seven reasons to stop collecting frequent-flier miles. Some readers agreed with me, but many others thought I’d lost my mind. Well, the good news is, I’m still sane (at least that’s what they tell me). But as a few readers pointed out, loyalty programs are here to stay, too. Although I believe my arguments remain valid, I also think frequent-flier/stayer programs can offer benefits to business travelers that shouldn’t be overlooked. Take airport club access, for example. Ticket agents inside these clubs can often waive rules that front-line ticket agents won’t. Frequent traveler Brighid Wood concentrated her business on one hotel chain, hoping that her loyalty would be rewarded. And it was: She stayed in Hawaii for a week using her points. "I implemented a similar plan for getting cheap airfare," Wood says. "My goal was to keep everything focused. And it worked." Strategy: Single yourself out for preferential treatment. Today’s customer databases are so sophisticated that a hotel clerk or ticket agent can often tell how good a customer you are. But you shouldn’t hesitate to remind them, especially in an era when customer service levels are hitting new lows. This also applies to getting price breaks from a travel company.

Even if you’re a leisure traveler, consider taking some of these tips to heart. Plan ahead like a pro. Invest some time in finding the right travel sites to book your trips. Learn the system, and how to manipulate it. And turn yourself into an important customer, even if it means collecting a few points.

That’s how the experts do it.

Reliable information can make or break your next trip, whether it’s the ability to cultivate a business contact, ensure accurate company records or keep you safe.

In other words, your PC data is priceless. You just can’t afford to be without it. Consider:

Travelers are relying on accurate information to ensure their security, according to a survey by American Express. In an age when terrorism is a persistent threat to air travel, who can blame them?

Most companies have strict policies regarding the use of a corporate travel agent and company charge card, according to a Runzheimer International poll. In other words, meticulous record-keeping is now more essential than ever.

Some 25% of all business travelers miss having access to their internal company systems, British market research firm Continental Research recently concluded. It’s not hard to guess why: having the latest information keeps them productive.

Put another way, information is more than power. It’s the thing that powers your business trip. That is why I have outlined the steps below to help you avoid losing one of your most precious assets while on the road.

Take it from someone who has left his office without synching his laptop and PC, who has wiped out days worth of work because he neglected to install a backup system and who even has lost clients because he ignored the importance of good, reliable, actionable information.

Don’t make the same mistakes I have. Here’s what a career on the road has taught me about computer data:

1. Start every trip with a synch.
Making sure your PDA and PC are on the same page is pretty easy. Generally, you just slip the handheld into its cradle and the computer does the rest. Synching one PC to another isn’t as straightforward. I’ve tested every conceivable synching tool, including the one that came with my computer operating system, and they can be tricky. But they’re definitely worth learning, because once you leave the office, I guarantee you’ll be glad you updated your laptop.

2. Don’t trust your computer.
Memory sticks that plug into your laptop, such as those from manufacturer DiskOnKey, are absolutely essential to the integrity of your data. And with some units now carrying up to 4 gigabytes of capacity, you can easily fit your essential files on it. Andrew Steele, a media consultant to charities and nonprofits in Great Britain, routinely does a double backup. It recently saved his trip. "I had a laptop power supply fail," Steele recalls. "So even when the laptop battery was finally exhausted, I could carry on without embarrassment on borrowed machines."

3. Stay in touch with the office.
There are several useful remote connectivity applications that let you connect to your computer or network from afar, including GoToMyPc, PCAnywhere and Microsoft Windows XP’s Remote Desktop Connection. I like these options because they allow you to "catch up" on any information that you may have forgotten to synch up before you left on your trip. My biggest gripe with these programs is that they tend to be slow — particularly with a dial-up connection — making large data downloads impractical. But if you couldn’t synch up before your trip, they can be a real lifesaver.

4. Collect information — and back it up.
Normally, road warriors are good at collecting business cards, sales leads and receipts. But does it always make it from their folders to their PDA or laptop, and back to the office?  Not necessarily. Believe me, I know. My record-keeping was so inadequate when I started traveling on business that I missed numerous charge-card payments, and I ended up losing money because I couldn’t get reimbursed. Fortunately, there are products such as ExpensAble, which allow you to create expense reports as you incur the expenses. I have never used the product, since I’m now an independent contractor — but I wish it had been available when I was still employed by a company.

5. When in doubt, switch to paper.
This is an obvious piece of advice, but it’s so obvious that we sometimes forget it’s even an option. We’ve become so dependent on our PCs, phones and PDAs that we don’t remember: "Hey, wait a second, I could still write this information down." My partner used to make fun of me when I printed out the names and addresses of people I was visiting when I left on a business trip. Why do that when everything was on the computer (and backed up on a memory stick)? Well, there are still some things paper can do that a PC can’t. Like operate without batteries. So when my laptop ran out of juice and I switched to paper, I didn’t look like a dummy anymore. Not entirely, at least.

When I was a rookie business traveler, I wish one of the more experienced employees in my company had offered me these simple tips about information. They would have saved me time and money and maybe helped me do my job better. But alas, it took many years on the road — and a few clients lost — before I could come up with these five tips. Here’s hoping they’ll save you a few headaches on your next business trip.

There’s nothing like cracking open the box of a brand new computer. But don’t be so quick to just connect it all up and hop right on the Internet.

According to the software security company Symantec, it takes only 20 minutes for an un-patched and unprotected computer to be attacked once connected to the Internet.

In that time, your pristine computer could be turned into a zombie. Zombies are machines that have been secretly taken over by hackers. The zombie networks are leased to criminals who use them to send spam or attack Web sites.

Some criminals want to put keyloggers on your computer, to steal passwords, credit card numbers and other sensitive data. There are plenty of vandals out there, too, who want to destroy your data for fun. And advertising outfits, many shady, hope to put spyware on your computer. With that, they will track your surfing and bury you with ads.

Compromised computers are found in homes, businesses and government offices. To make sure you aren’t victimized, here are six steps you must take to secure your computer and the network on which it runs.

1. Install a firewall. If you are running a network and sharing a broadband connection, you probably have a firewall built into the router. But that’s not enough. Most routers used in small businesses utilize a Network Address Translation (NAT) firewall. Basically, it hides all of the computers in the network. It protects you from outsiders trying to get in. Windows XP’s firewall works in a similar fashion. It’s able to block incoming traffic but not outgoing data. To turn it on click Start > Control Panel > Windows Firewall. Click the circle next to "On" and click OK. Note that if you have updated your operating system to Windows XP Service Pack 2, the firewall already is enabled. The most secure method is to have a third-party software firewall in addition to the firewall on your router. It provides an extra layer of protection by alerting you to outbound traffic.

Anytime a program tries to access the Internet, the user will be alerted. If it’s a valid application, such as Internet Explorer, Outlook, and so on, the user grants it access to the Internet. If it’s an unknown application, such as a worm, you can block it. My favorite third-party firewall is ZoneAlarm (www.zonelabs.com),  which is free.You’re not ready to go onto the Internet just yet, so download the firewall onto another computer, save it on disk and install. Even if you’re not using a broadband connection, you still should install a software firewall. Hackers are greedy. They will infect or take over any computer — even ones with a slow Internet connection.

2. Disable file sharing. Before you go onto the Internet, disable file sharing. It’s one thing to share your sales presentation with others in your office. It’s another to share it with the entire Web community. In Windows XP Professional, file sharing is turned on by default. To disable it, click Start > My Computer. Click Tools > Folder Options. Click the View tab. Under Advanced Settings, scroll to the bottom and uncheck the box next to Use simple file sharing (recommended). Click Apply > OK. If your new computer came with Windows XP Service Pack 2 installed, click Start > Control Panel. Click Security Center > Windows Firewall. Click the Exceptions tab. Under Programs and Services, uncheck the box next to File and Printer Sharing. Click OK.

3. Install antivirus software. This may seem as obvious as the others, but it’s oh, so important. Many new computers have a trial version of an antivirus program already installed on the computer. That doesn’t mean it’s ready to go. You still need to update the definition files. To update the definition files, you’ll need to access the Internet. Since you’ve turn off file sharing and installed a firewall, you should be safe. Remember that trial versions of antivirus software are only good for a short time, usually 30 to 90 days. The trial version will then continue to run on your computer, but its antivirus definitions will be out-of-date. Outdated definitions offer nothing but a false sense of security.

4. Modify your HOSTS file. Setting up your HOSTS file will prevent spyware and any kind of "malware" (short for malicious software) from communicating outside your computer. This allows you to surf the Net anonymously. Countless numbers of hackers, vandals or unscrupulous marketers would love to hijack your Web browser or give your computer some nasty worm. Sometimes malware is bundled with shareware and freeware. Other times it can get on your computer by opening an infected file. "Tracking cookies" get on your computer from Web sites and even online ads. They track your Web surfing habits and report back. This helps the ad servers know which ads to place on your computer. Fortunately, there is a list of known malware and ad servers that want to communicate with your computer. Enter the domain name for the known offenders and your computer’s address (127.0.0.1) in the HOSTS file. All attempts to contact the mother computers on the Internet will lead back to your local computer. The requests will die. You don’t have to enter the possible offenders manually. Such files are available on the Internet. You can find an updated one with installation instructions at this URL: www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm. It’s important to check often for updates to the HOSTS file, because the list of offenders is growing fast.

5. Keep your Windows system updated. Even if your computer comes with Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) already installed, you still need to update Windows. Although SP2 contains a multitude of critical updates, more have become available since its release. Update Windows by clicking Start > All Programs > Windows Update. You may have to restart your computer after some updates. Keep going to Microsoft Update until there are no more updates to be installed. If your computer did not come with SP2 installed, you can download it. Or you can order SP2 on CD for free. The same CD can be used on multiple computers. Visit this page to order the CD from Microsoft.

6. Stop spyware before it takes root on your PC. Spyware collects information about your interests and then uses that information to display advertising. Take preventive measures by downloading and installing SpywareBlaster (www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html).  It’s a free program and prevents most spyware from being installed on your computer.

Another program, Spybot Search & Destroy (www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html)  prevents spyware and adware from being installed on your computer by immunizing it. It also has the ability to remove adware already installed on your computer. Spybot Search & Destroy also has a tool called TeaTimer.  TeaTimer monitors changes to specific keys in your registry. Whenever a change is detected, a pop-up will alert you and ask if you want to allow or deny the change. To enable it click Mode > Advanced. Then click Tools > Resident. Check the box next to Resident "TeaTimer" (Protection of over-all system settings) active. Also, make sure the box is checked next to Resident "SDHelper" as well.The makers of Spybot Search & Destroy recommend that you run SpywareBlaster in tandem with Spybot Search & Destroy.

Now that your computer is as locked down as much as possible, you should be safe to set up your e-mail account for the computer and surf the Net.

Take this time to check the other computers in the office. Make sure your Windows and Microsoft Office software are updated. Make sure antivirus programs are up-to-date. And check for spyware.  This may sound alarmist. But these security steps are very important. By setting up your computer properly, you can feel confident that your computers and network are as safe as possible.

Because of its efficiency and speed, instant messaging, or IM for short, has become a valuable interoffice tool for employees to exchange information and collaborate in real time.

The advantages of IM are clear. But there are drawbacks too. IM can be distracting; employees can waste time using it for personal conversations; and IM technology is often not secure, leaving corporate networks more vulnerable to viruses and attacks. And because of the informal nature of IM, it can sometimes lead to embarrassing or serious mistakes.

By following these seven rules for appropriate IM use, you can avoid common pitfalls and make the most out of this effective and convenient communications tool.

Rule 1: Follow company policy. While some offices encourage IM use, others frown upon it. Find out what your company’s policy is and follow it. If your company doesn’t have an IM policy, then use common sense as your guide.

Rule 2: Be professional. As with anything else you do in the workplace, keep your instant messages on a professional level. Refrain from bad-mouthing your co-workers, company or clients, or sharing too much personal information. Mistakes happen, particularly when you are messaging several different people at once, and you could send a message to the wrong person. Also, like e-mail, the content of your messages can be monitored and have HR and legal implications.

Rule 3: Keep confidential information confidential. Don’t send confidential business information over IM. Because IM technology tends to be unsecured, with the added possibility that a public IM provider bypasses your company network security, it is all too easy for hackers to access your old conversation logs.

Rule 4: Mind your Ps and Qs. Just because it’s IM doesn’t give you free license to drop the use of grammar, punctuation and correct spelling. After all, if you send a message full of errors, the recipient may question your professionalism or your written command of the language. Also, when you leave out punctuation and don’t follow proper sentence structures, you run the risk of confusing the person you’re writing to.

Rule 5: Keep it brief. IM is ideal for short back-and-forth exchange or when you need a quick answer. Save longer “conversations” for the telephone, in-person meetings or e-mail. Also, once you have finished discussing the topic at hand, politely end the conversation. This way, both you and your contact can get back to work without being distracted by chit-chat or leaving the other person waiting for a response. “Thanks” is a good way to do this.

Rule 6: Observe IM conventions. Instant messages can be extremely distracting – popping up on a recipient’s screen often accompanied by a beep. To keep distractions on both sides to a minimum, turn the IM sound off, mute your computer or wear headphones. Also, set your status to reflect that you are on a call, away or busy so others know not to bother you. By the same token, don’t pester someone whose status indicates that they are busy or who doesn’t reply to you right away.

Rule 7: Don’t mix business with pleasure. Many people have their friends and family on the same IM interface –Yahoo, Gtalk and MSN are popular providers – as their business contacts. During work hours, refrain from chatting with your personal contacts. Make it clear to Mom or your best friend that, unless it is an urgent matter, they shouldn’t contact you when you are at work. This keeps unnecessary interruptions at a minimum, reduces the chances that you might send the message intended for your significant other to your co-worker, and may prevent you from getting into trouble with your boss.

As instant messaging in the workplace continues to grow in popularity, make sure you’re aware of the rules for professional IM interaction. By following these IM dos and don’ts, you’ll be a real IM pro in no time.

Q: This economy is really starting to affect my business. Business is down. People around here seem to be staying at home and not shopping. I’m thinking of cutting prices to bring people in. What do you think?

A: Don’t do it. Seriously, cutting prices seems to be the first thing entrepreneurs think about when the economy heads into a downturn. The reasoning is that this is the only way to combat the fact that consumers, clients and businesses are spending less.

Generally, however, this is not a smart strategy. It sends a bad message to your customers-they’ll likely think you’ve been overcharging them all along. Or that you’re desperate, which will make them wonder if your business is about to go under and if they should start doing business elsewhere.

If you cut prices, your customers may sit around, waiting for you to discount once (or twice) again before actually buying. Another danger is once the recession ends, your clients may object to your newly raised prices. You also don’t want to start a price war with your competitors where all players are likely to suffer. And finally, unless you cut your costs as well, cutting your prices will just lead to lowered profitability. And that’s a formula for disaster.

So what should you do? First, focus on value. Why do your customers do business with you? Do they come to you for discount prices, personalized customer service, cutting-edge offerings, products they can’t find elsewhere, convenience, innovative thinking or what? If you’re known, like Walmart, as a low-price leader in your city or industry, then you do need to maintain that mantle and cutting prices might be the best solution for you. If lower prices are not your value proposition, then move on.

Is there an added value component of your business that you can offer customers that won’t cost you much? If you own a retail business, could you have a service like free gift wrapping? A restaurant might offer a discounted appetizer or beverage with the purchase of two meals. An accountant might throw in a free financial assessment, while a marketing company could add a discount to a service to clients who purchase a whole package. A seminar, webinar or workshop could have broad appeal to all types of customers and clients.

Another possibility is to bundle some of your offerings (this works best for service entrepreneurs) and offer tiered packages priced accordingly. Think airline loyalty programs. Those who purchase the platinum package get more choices than those buyers who opt for the gold or silver packages. Or you could simply offer customers a discount in exchange for a long-term contractual commitment. You also might consider adding a new line or service offering-one that you can charge a little less for. It should be different enough from what you already sell, so you don’t cannibalize existing sales.

In times like these, it’s especially important to hang on to your current customers. So make sure whatever discounts you offer to new clients, you extend something equivalent to your existing customer base. Or provide incentives for contract extensions.

A recent survey from TNS Retail Forward said that consumers have changed their shopping habits in order to save money on gas. Over 25% of people have increased their online shopping, so if you don’t have a Web site, start building one immediately.

Before you resort to lowering prices, look for other areas in your business where you can shore up your financial situation. Are you current on collecting your receivables? In times like these, all businesses need a solid collection strategy. You might offer small discounts for timely payments. Check your budget often and look for other inefficiencies. Is your phone plan the best? Can you cut back on travel? Negotiate a better deal on rent? Hire interns or part-timers? Are you using energy-efficient lighting and equipment?

If you lower your prices, you’re going to have less money to reinvest in your business. You want to make sure you have enough cash flowing in to retain your good workers, keep your insurance coverages, pay the bills, build a cash reserve, update your technology, continue to innovate and not stay awake every night awash in fear.

And like I advised several months back, you want to make sure you have enough cash to maintain (or maybe even increase) your marketing budget. Smart entrepreneurs take advantage of recessions and try to do more than survive. If you hold tight to your pricing strategy and do more to increase your customers’ experiences, you can actually thrive.

Whoever said "don’t sweat the small stuff" never managed an IT infrastructure—and certainly never during turbulent economic times.

According to independent analyst Forrester Research, global IT purchases in 2008 will grow by only 6 percent, versus 12 percent growth in 2007. So, although you’re already doing more with less, it’s time to do even more with even less.

Investing in management solutions to control infrastructure costs is one way to meet that challenge. Effective infrastructure management tools can lead to significant savings over time and help position your business to take full advantage of the upside when the economic tide turns.

Here are five ways effective infrastructure management can help keep you fighting lean:

1. Curb Power Use
The costs of cooling your data center can be as much as (or more than) the cost of powering its IT equipment. In fact, a study by HP and the Uptime Institute suggests that, in a majority of the world’s data centers, 60 to 70 percent of power use is associated with cooling IT equipment.

Management solutions that monitor, measure, regulate, cap and otherwise optimize power usage on an ongoing basis can keep power savings flowing long term. By moving compute power where it’s needed, when it’s needed, you can cut operating expenses in your data center and help keep the data center energy crisis at bay. And, sometimes, plans for costly data center expansions or new construction can be postponed or even abandoned.

2. Prevent Problems—or Resolve Them Faster
With remote management, IT administrators can discover, diagnose and fix a problem on a server halfway around the world, saving travel costs, wear and tear, and time.

Some solutions help IT employees collaborate and train more efficiently, too. For example, a database expert in Taiwan might collaborate with a storage guru in Singapore to work on a Hong Kong-based server–with both controlling the server in real time. And, with recording and playback, other IT employees can see how the problem was fixed, click by click.

3. Continuously Analyze & Optimize Server Workloads, Virtual & Physical
Capacity planning can be a complex, time-consuming and resource-consuming exercise if you’re using a patched-together spreadsheet to get the job done.

Today’s sophisticated capacity-planning software can monitor a mixed physical and virtual environment with fluid workloads, real time. Look for a solution that can handle complexity: a combination of large and small servers, blades, virtual machines, hard partitions, variable workloads and global demand. You also want a solution that works continuously behind the scenes, analyzing each server’s utilization, performance and power consumption. And it should incorporate significant quantities of historical data to help you make on-the-fly decisions.

4. Automate Deployment & Provisioning
Hardware investments might be slowing, but that doesn’t mean they’ll stop. Deploying and provisioning new systems is a big time drain that can keep people away from more value-added tasks.

Look for management solutions that automate deployment and provisioning with a simple drag-and-drop interface; instant, out-of-the-box functionality; and integrated storage and server management. Features such as auto-discovery, on-the-fly server configuration and scheduling can allow your team to deploy dozens of servers in minutes.

5. Increase Productivity with Unified Infrastructure Management
Unified infrastructure management software often results in all of the benefits cited above, plus the natural result of increasing server-to-administrator ratios. In fact, an IDC study of 12 enterprises using HP Systems Insight Manager, a management software solution, found that the companies were able to nearly double the number of servers managed per administrator, increasing the sever-to-administrator ratio by an average of 98 percent.

With the right infrastructure management solution, your IT staff can accomplish numerous tasks–decreasing deployment times, speeding time to problem resolution and balancing workloads, just to name a few—using a single console across multiple servers, both physical and virtual.

Smart Investment Can Be an Umbrella in Stormy Times
Investing in management software to control infrastructure costs is always important, never more so than during an economic crunch.

A recent IDC study found that HP Insight Control, which offers core management functionality for the full server lifecycle, provides positive financial benefits across the board, with three-year projected return on investment starting at more than 400 percent and payback periods of less than 10 months.

Not only can smart management tool investments help you pull through an economic downturn, but they can put you in lean, fighting shape for the inevitable recovery.

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.

More often than not it is purely a cost based decision, on the surface it may appear to be more cost effective to hire a consultant or employee who is committed as a full time employee. CFOs and Accounting Managers often look only at the cost of having their IT outsourced and or attracted to hiring someone for a few thousand dollars a month as part of their staff will save their company in the long run. This is not the case in reality and by having a full time employee will actually end up costing business today more in the long run.

So what are the advantages of having an IT Partner who focuses on delivering a complete managed technology solution? There are a number of immediate benefits over having a full time employee. These benefits include:

• The average technology professional with five years experience may be worth $60,000 a year. This is great when you looking at the bills from your IT provider and see that you have probably spent paid the same in their consulting bills for only a fraction of the time. When a business elects to go internal, a $60,000 salary now buys the business one person and not a team of professionals offering depth in expertise and knowledge.
• IT Partners will provide around the clock monitoring and coverage throughout the entire term of the contract. When a company hires their own IT staff, now the challenges around vacation scheduling, training and time off from illness impacts the company. An outsourced IT Partner provided full time coverage, vacations, illness and other absences now are not an impact on your technology support.
• There are hidden additional costs when a business elects to hire internally. The costs associated with training can rise rapidly, when you have a trusted IT partner, training is no longer the company’s challenge. The IT partner ensures that the skills of their team are up to date. Combine this with costs associated with procurement of equipment that include SmartPhones, laptops and other supplies can quickly add up and then there is the added payroll expenses associated with healthcare, payroll and others logistical items.
• IT partners can offer a wealth of knowledge and great resources when needed, offering networks of partners who can help geographical and even across town. When a company turns to hiring their own staff, this experience often is not available to them and they are stuck with just a single person or a very small team with limited expertise. Now when these skills are required outside of the skills level of their staff, this is now an additional expense that normally the right IT partner can extend to a company as part of their program.
• IT technicians always like to be challenged even the ones that you hire. What happens at the average company when the challenges stop occurring? Boredom is disastrous. There are two possible outcomes that occur with in-house staff who deal with challenges with boredom.

  o They choose to leave to seek out challenges – When a company loses a member of their own internal staff, the intellectual property and knowledge goes with them. This leaves a huge void in the understanding of your systems and network layout. With a trusted IT partner, this knowledge is retained and companies continue to function as if nothing occurred.

  o They decide to adopt “make work” projects – When this occurs it can be disastrous as well. Many make work projects are the result of boredom and complacency because of lack of challenges. When make work projects appear, what isn’t getting done is the attention to the daily needs of your systems and network. Make works projects are distractions and your IT partner doesn’t worry about finding stuff to do on your network. The daily attention to your systems is still the main focus of their services.

Michael Fafinski, President of Syand Corporation in Minneapolis states about the value of having a full service IT partner can bring to a company, “having a full feature IT partner eliminates the “tunnel vision” found with internal employees. Too often, employers are limited only by the expertise of their internal employees and lose opportunities to improve their business.”

Many firms that elect to go with their own in-house IT person, more often than not resent this decision down the road. What seemed like a great idea quickly turns into a huge business mistake that ends up costing them.

Randy Biggs from VACS in St. Catharines, Ontario shares “Hiring a trusted IT partners allows a company to have access to many additional certified resources without having to keep paying for their staff to get certified. I find that with hired staff, you get one of two types. One that always wants the latest and greatest that many companies cannot afford to keep up with and the second, someone who becomes complacent and only does what needs done. In either case, they aren’t looking out for the best interest of the company.”

When a company elects to retain an outsourced firm over hiring internal, they are getting service from a company who is focused on ensuring the IT needs are being addressed in the most efficient manner possible. Many trusted IT partners are focused on the bigger picture, ensuring everything is looked after in a company’s environment including:

• Vendor Relations
• IT Budgeting
• Network Monitoring and Proactive IT services
• Knowledge Base Management
• Disaster Recovery Planning

Partnering with a trusted IT Partner brings value to any business no matter what the size, what makes more sense to you? Limiting the knowledge, options and having to deal with people challenges such as complacency and boredom or expanding available options by having a wonderful relationship with a trusted IT partner who understands what business needs to grow, increase profits and the importance of the right technology solution.

Stuart Crawford is the Vice President of Business Development for IT Matters Inc. A Calgary based Professional Services firm focused on delivering Managed IT Services in Southern Alberta. IT Matters is a Gold Microsoft Partner and Small Business Specialist. Visit their website at http://www.itmatters.ca.  You can contact Stuart at scrawford@itmatters.ca  or through his blog at http://blog.itsuccessmentor.com.

When the Internet first came about, it was simply a source of knowledge and entertainment. Now, however, many people rely on it for everyday activities such as banking, doing business, storing information, mapping locations, communicating and more.

This puts a huge strain on businesses, data center operators and web-hosting service providers as they seek to make web services available around the clock.

But being available 24/7 is not even something the Internet’s biggest businesses—Amazon, Google and Yahoo, for example—can promise: even their sites have suffered from “unplanned downtime” in recent months. The causes of these and other web outages can vary widely: glitches during system upgrades and migrations, human error, electrical failures or even hacking or hijacking.

How does this impact me?
For the average user, finding that a site you frequent is down can result in minor annoyance. However, with the popularity of such services as online banking, delays can cause late fees or overdrawn accounts, turning merely annoyed customers into angry ones.

At the same time, Internet companies like Google are making it free and easy for users to store and access their e-mails, documents, spreadsheets, photos and other personal and professional information online with web-based applications. In other words, Internet companies are making us increasingly dependent on their services. But when they go down, what can we do? Frankly, not much. Some users rant and rave about the company on blogs and forums. Others may decide that business applications do not belong online and should be backed up locally.

But an outage doesn’t necessarily mean you have to put your life on hold or suffer negative consequences. For example, if your bank website is down, you can pick up the phone to check your account balance. If you’re late paying a bill, many financial institutions will happily reverse your late fees if their website’s unavailability was to blame.

What it all comes down to is the question: is the convenience of online services worth the occasional inconveniences?

What about start-ups and smaller businesses?
When the US website of the world’s largest online retailer, Amazon, crashed for two hours in June, it lost, by some estimates, tens of thousands of dollars for each minute it was down. But Amazon shoppers, realizing the site was unavailable, probably just returned a few hours later to complete their transactions, drastically reducing the calculated loss in sales.

For a less-established business, however, a customer may only visit once. And if the site is not up, they may never come again.

Keep customers happy
So what can small or medium businesses do to protect themselves? While it may be hard to prevent an electrical outage, there are a few things you can do to improve your chances of keeping your website site up and your customers happy.

• Research web hosts or service providers and look for those with a track record of high uptimes.
• Update your equipment more often as older equipment such as legacy servers and non-redundant storage can have the inability to handle load increases and complex systems that can all contribute to web failure.
• Work with your IT department to solve any possible issues; sometimes the problem can lie in your own IT infrastructure.

If you are still running outdated systems and want help upgrading to a new system or making a smooth migration, HP Total Care Services can help you choose, use, protect and transition your technology. With comparison tools, online and telephone support, how-to guides, trade-in programmers and more, you’re sure to find an affordable, safe and smart solution.

Finally, if unavoidable failures do happen, sometimes the best policy is to come clean: apologize, acknowledge and explain the situation, and assure your customers that you are doing your best to solve the problem. Keeping your customers in the loop can be crucial in maintaining their trust and confidence—and getting their forgiveness. 

Even if you are only moving to another floor in your building, the thought of relocating probably sounds about as appealing as going totally without carbs for a week.

After all, moving your business or home is widely considered one of the single-most stressful life events for an individual. Add to that the prospect of losing valuable work time, and you can understand why small-business owners like Michael Hirschfeld try to get out of town when the business remodels, relocates or redecorates.

"I have always been scheduled to be out of town for the day before, day of, and day after moving day," says Hirschfeld, the managing partner of a real-estate company in Westport, Conn. "Simply put, less is more."

Leaving the office entirely is, of course, the best way of handling any relocation. Step aside and let the movers do their thing. But how do you keep your business productive even when your office is in pieces?

At this point in many articles, I’d turn to experts on the subject. But I am the expert on moving. I’ve moved an average of once every two years — about 18 times altogether, counting my home and my small business — and I’ve done it all. I’ve moved within cities, counties, states. I’ve moved coast-to-coast and continent-to-continent.

In fact, even as I write this piece, I’m sitting in a hotel room in Orlando, Fla., while I wait for the paperwork to wrap up on my new office.

So here are the key things I have learned about how to make a move with a minimum of down time:

1. It’s impossible to plan too far ahead. If it’s a minor move, then you should know in advance where the cubicles will get set up and where the Ethernet connections will get wired through. Leave nothing to chance. Relocating an entire business — and don’t think it can’t happen to you, because small businesses do grow — can also mean moving a local-area network or a wireless network, numerous PCs and printers. It can mean shipping equipment and inventory. Line up your proverbial ducks well in advance of the big day. Tip: With careful planning, and depending on the size of your business, you can ensure that the actual move happens over a weekend. That gives you enough time to install and troubleshoot any technology that has migrated. If there’s any down-time, it will be on Sunday and Monday, minimizing the impact to your clients and customers.

2. Be prepared for the unexpected. A move of any kind forces you to think on your feet, to be ready for anything. If you travel frequently, you probably already know how to do that. For example: Where do you go to buy a box of RJ-11 wire at 1 a.m. What if you need to make copies, but don’t have any of your machines set up? It forces you to take nothing for granted, even little things like power and phone service. Tip: You don’t have to be a frequent business traveler to know how to think like a nomad. The Small Business Administration’s handbook, "Take the misery out of moving" (www.sba.gov/gopher/Business-Development/Success-Series/Vol7/moving.txt) , can help. It’s available online at no charge.

3. Use the move as an excuse to upgrade. For example, if your office is using bulky CRT monitors, here’s the perfect reason to donate those clunkers to your favorite charity and buy flat-panel monitors. It’s also a good opportunity to take a hard look at the software you’re using to see if it needs updating (I just upgraded from Office XP to Office 2003 on one of my computers). Basically, you want to arrive at your new office location in even better shape to do business than you were when you left. Tip: Use your laptop computers as "interim" office machines while you’re in transit. In other words, make sure they’re all synched up and have the latest software before you begin your move. Then, use them as your primary PCs while your new office gets situated.

4. Anticipate down time, even if you expect none. Moving can be unpredictable. Trust me. For instance, I thought I would close on a property this morning, but because of some unexpected financing issues, the paperwork won’t go through until the end of this week. Delays happen. "I notify clients, editors, associates and friends in advance, via e-mail or phone, that my availability will be somewhat limited for a day or two," says Sharon Adcock, a communications consultant in Manhattan Beach, Calif. Tip: If it’s a long-distance move, and you have to stay in a hotel for a prolonged period of time, make sure it can double as an office. Case in point: I’m writing this article from my room at the Hampton Inn at the Orlando Convention Center. It features free meeting areas and high-speed and wireless Internet access. So even though I’m out of the office, I can still get work done.

5. Let your applications help you "move." If your relocation also involves an upgrade or migrating to new hardware (and as I just mentioned, this is an excellent opportunity to upgrade), make sure your programs do the heavy lifting. Save all of your old user options and migrate them to the new hardware or software, so that once you arrive in your new digs, you’ll be able to get to work right away. Tip: The trickiest of the migrations tends to be moving e-mail from one PC to the next. Outlook 2003 automatically imports your preferences and e-mail when you upgrade from a previous version on the same computer. When you’re switching PCs, go to File, Import and Export, and pick the option for the application you’re using.

With a little planning and shrewd use of your existing technology, you can make sure that your next move will be as painless — and productive — as possible. But I can’t lie to you: Moving is still stressful. Yet hopefully, with these tips, it’ll be a little less so.

Stephen Minton, vice president, Worldwide IT Markets and Strategies, IDC, offers insight on how outsourcing can help you ride out the economic downturn—and maybe even gain a leg up on the competition along the way.

Rising gasoline prices. Falling consumer confidence. Subprime mortgages. Inflation. Budget cuts. Currency fluctuations. Floods, droughts and crop shortages. Each day’s news seems to add to the torrent of challenges heading our way. No business is immune—but outsourcing can offer a way to leverage technology to help stem the negative tide.

Here, IDC’s Stephen Minton shares his expert views and experience on the subject—and puts some useful perspective around when it does and does not make sense to consider outsourcing in today’s volatile economic climate.

Recession. Downturn. Call it what you will—what’s the impact on business decisions to outsource or buy IT services?

Historically, when faced with an economic downturn, companies do one of two things:

First, they look to reduce costs. Here outsourcing—with its potential to reduce overall costs—is one way you can reach that goal.

Secondly, as talk of a recession continues and nervousness about the economy increases, many companies start putting the breaks on discretionary or performance IT spending—the "new" projects in queue, if you will. Projects such as software development around new applications often fall victim here, as projects are put on hold or suspended all together.

Agreeing that outsourcing is a way to cut costs, how should companies approach the decision to outsource? And are there some areas better suited to it than others?

Done rapidly and rationally, outsourcing can certainly generate rapid cost benefits. But do not rush down the path to outsourcing.