NO!

OK, so saving IT dollars does technically save you money for your company if you look at the immediate cost.  Unfortunately that's where most decisions stop.  "Gosh, we're spending $2,000.00 a month on help desk, network administration, hardware, power...  Let's cut that to $500/month and we'll be saving $18,000.00 each year!"  Sounds enticing doesn't it?  Unfortunately you'll probably lose half of that due to wasting time on figuring out simple help desk issues, and you'll probably have some sort of large IT system error that costs you somewhere in the range of what you thought you were saving by cutting IT costs.

Instead of simply cutting cost by reducing services look at these factors on how you can reduce your IT costs to save money, but keep your company well supported and on track to reach its goals.

• Analyze your hardware.  Do you have more than you need, or is it outdated?  It could be costing you to have older hardware supported, repaired, or failing at your company.  Check with your IT company to make sure that the equipment does everything you need, and that it will survive until you are ready to invest in new equipment.  If you aren't sure what your hardware is capable of consult with your IT company, or department, to utilize it to its full capacity.  If you have a server but are still storing documents on your PC you should probably use what you have invested so much money in.
• Use Web Based Software.  (Wall Street Journal)Installing software "locally" (on individual machines) can be costly.  Using an online service eliminates the need to install software on your computer, is accessible from anywhere, and increases the availability, and often the efficiency, of your employees.
• Check your work-flow.  Many offices are taking unnecessary steps, and slowing down their processes, without even knowing it.  A good IT company, or department, can help you identify areas in which you can improve on work-flow through your technology.  Utilize your hardware, software, and goals to create a system that eliminates unnecessary steps, gathers needed information, and creates a system that will increase efficiency and decrease costs.
• Managed Services.  (CRN.com) It sounds odd, but there aren't many Managed Service Providers using the term "managed services." Rather, they market themselves as "outsourced IT departments." The terminology might be complex, but the concept is not: helping customers lower costs by monitoring and managing their IT infrastructure. In most cases, customers pay the MSP a recurring fee to take care of their IT needs. Because MSPs have more control over both their resources and the customer, the end user's costs are typically less than the traditional break-fix model.
  
  "It's pretty easy. We take responsibility for their network. My analogy is if you had a mechanic living in your garage, your car would run forever," said B.J. Farmer, CEO of CITOC Inc., a Houston-based MSP.

So before you put your IT budget on the chopping block invest some time and money into analyzing your hardware, software, work-flow, and IT services.  If you see an area that can be improved on consult with a local IT company that you trust, and find some areas that will save you money upfront and increase efficiency for your organization.

Online registration is not just a convenient tool for organizations to utilize; it’s a service your customers are expecting.  Think of how many times you’ve wanted to register for something, but you didn’t because you had to do something, no matter how simple, other than just filling out an online form.  I myself am guilty, and the Parks and Rec. volleyball team that never had a chance will never know the glory of victory because of it!

I want to help you see the benefits of an online registration system and educate you why you need to have this as an option.

Convenience:

The convenience factor of online registration is mind boggling.  With a web-based system your registration is available 24/7, anywhere there is web access.  You can send out emails with links directly to registration.  Your registration can be right on your website.  Your registration can be paired up with online shopping (think sports registration, travel, or event merchandise).  You receive immediate confirmation with details on what you just registered for, and it’s available for you to reference whenever you need it.

It’s truly amazing how convenient online registration is for your customers, but it’s even better for you.

With a good online registration system your registrant’s information will go directly into your database.  Now most online registration systems are just that, a registration system, but a management system that creates events and helps you run your program should give you the ability to access user information whenever you need it, make notes, market directly to them, even sign them up for recurring events if they request.  Without sounding too much like a sales pitch for our own registration system, ours does all of those tasks, and more.  Other conveniences worth mentioning are receiving instant feedback about how many people are registered, and being able to monitor your event’s registrations from wherever you are. 

Cost Savings:

While it may not save much money for your registrants, probably only a stamp, it will save you a lot of money, most of it being in the form of time saved.  Online systems that have an integrated database, such as ours, giving you access to registrant info.  The time it takes to file registrations is cut down to zero, it’s all automated so you don’t have to enter any data or file any papers.  You’re not using paper or paying for postage.  Automated messages save you time on follow up and confirmation.  Online registration reduces the amount of input errors, so no time spent fixing misread forms or explaining to people why there were registered for something other than they thought they marked down.  Start up cost is relatively low too.  Being able to pass on the cost of online systems to your registrants means you don’t have to pay to file data, pay for a huge program, or pay to create a new spreadsheet for every event you have. 

Reporting:

Most every organization needs reporting in one form or another.  Using online registration gives you real time reports so you can analyze trends in registration, income, participation, and other useful fields.  The access to the reports can be made public or kept private, but they’re accessible and available when you need them rather than having to sift through all of your registration forms, spreadsheets, or billing statements to create a useful report.

System Support and Security:

Whatever your system is, and whoever provides it, it should be supported by the provider.  If you are the one creating your registration system you have to figure out how to fix any issue that comes up, but if you’re using an online registration from, let’s just say us for fun, you are provided full support to address any issues or utilize any functionality that you aren’t aware of.  Along with the system’s support, your database should be kept in a secure location that you can only access if you have permission.  No worrying about paper documents or spreadsheets accidentally being removed, destroyed, or stolen.

Increased Attendance and Easier Marketing:

I know it sounds too good to be true, but by simply providing an online registration option you are increasing your availability and your odds that people will attend your event.  If more people attend it generally relates to positive results for your business, meaning cash, data or whatever it is you’re looking for.  And how about marketing to specific groups?  That’s made easy by being able to categorize your registrants for future marketing efforts.  If you utilize email marketing you can automate your marketing program to interact with them, saving you time and money. 

I hope this simple, poorly written, list of reasons to utilize online registration starts your journey towards increasing your abilities, saving you time, and simplifying your process.  But if that’s not enough info to get you excited to start thinking about providing an option for online registration feel free to email me, Cameron, at ITsolutions@intertechpro.com, and I’ll happily continue this conversation with you further.

Business Checklist

We’ve created this checklist for you and your company to analyze your current IT support and to determine if you are getting the best possible support.  These are basic items that you should have at your business to keep your server safe, up to date, and give you the access you need.

Œ       Corporate Antivirus software: to protect the server and all pc on your network. This should automatically update with new definitions each day and push these updates to all PCs on the network. It should also run daily virus scan on all PCs on the network.

Œ       Security updates to protect all PCs on the network. These keep all PCs up to date with the latest software and protects from outside attacks.

Œ       System Back Ups that run every day with a tape that is taken offsite and stored in a safety deposit box each week. All employee documents should be saved to the network server (not locally on their PCs) so that all documents are backed up each day and are recoverable should a file be lost.

Œ       Hardware Firewall and VPN to protect your network from outside attacks, and give all employees access to their work desktops and network recourse from anywhere in the world.

Œ       Exchange Email Sever, if you want to host your own email, use public calendars, be able to retain all communications within your organization.

Œ       Server Maintenance performed daily to ensure the daily backups are successful and verified, review critical logs, hardware review, network security review, security updates, and virus definitions, and much more.

If you do not have at least these actions being performed you need to contact your IT provider and request a list of services to find out what they are doing or contact us at ITsolutions@intertechpro.com or 1-800-376-9174 to ensure that your IT system is properly designed and supported. 

Phishing scams are one of the most successful ways to invade your computer, get your information, and steal your funds.  Since Phishing attempts are done so creatively and with such attention to detail you might have a hard time identifying if your email from a phishing scammer or if your social network connections are from a real person or a phisher, I have some very easy tips to avoid being Phished after the definition.

As defined by Wikipedia:

In the field of computer security, phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT administrators are commonly used to lure the unsuspecting public. Phishing is typically carried out by e-mail or instant messaging,^[1] and it often directs users to enter details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to the legitimate one. Even when using server authentication, it may require tremendous skill to detect that the website is fake. Phishing is an example of social engineering techniques used to fool users,^[2] and exploits the poor usability of current web security technologies.^[3] Attempts to deal with the growing number of reported phishing incidents include legislation, user training, public awareness, and technical security measures.

For more info you can go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing to read the entire Wiki entry, which is quite interesting.

To avoid being phished there are several key factors to look for.  (For an extensive list go here, http://www.antiphishing.org/consumer_recs.html)

• For Emails:  Is someone requesting personal info?  Is it urgent?  Is there a link in the email?  If there is a link don't use it.  Go directly to the website (google, facebook, bank...) and login there.  If there is no message there for you repeating the same info, it's a phishing scam.
• Online:  Avoid giving personal info unless it's through a secure connection.  You can tell by the lock in the address bar when you go to the website, clicking on it, and having it display the security certification. 
• Update your computer for security reasons.  Yes, updates can be annoying, but a large percentage of updates are to fight the ever evolving scammer community, and to keep your data secure.  These updates help automatically protect you from Phishers.
• Always report phishing emails.  You can send them to reportphishing@antiphishing.org and they database them to help fight future scams.

I hope this helps you keep your information safe and secure.  If you would like more help on how we can protect your entire workplace send us an email at ITsolutions@intertechpro.com and we'll analyze your organization's IT needs for no cost.

Well the magic of saving money isn't all that magical after all.  And I gave away one of my favorite ways to save money in the title of today's blog.

It's true, you're probably still paying for you, or your employees, to renew software they don't need or use.  I had an experience, from a previous employer, where they called me up after I had been away from the company for several months, and they asked me if I was renewing their antivirus software on their computers while I was away.  Really?  While I am very concerned with people's computers being protected I'm not going to charge anyone anything without them knowing about it.  The moral of the story is that a lot of the programs you use come with auto-renewing subscriptions that will charge you annually/quarterly/monthly/whenever they want, and they'll send you an email saying they're going to do it, but it often ends up in the junk mail so you don't see it.  In fact, several antivirus software providers were just fined for their auto-renewal services not being stated clearly enough (http://antivirus.about.com/b/2009/06/11/auto-renewal-of-antivirus-software.htm).

To cut costs I would look through your current list of installed software and inventory what you do and don't use.  This can be done very easily by going to the computer's control panel, selecting programs then selecting programs and features.  This will give you a list of installed programs.  Check to ensure that there isn't any junk.  Simply uninstall any unused software and check to see if you are running any software that is on auto-renewal that doesn't need to be. 

There's the magic.  You can easily cut a couple dollars per Computer just by combing through the excess. 

Everyone has probably had a less than perfect experience with IT support, or at least heard of one.  A lot of you have probably seen the Saturday Night Live skit for "Nick Burns, Computer Guy" (http://www.hulu.com/watch/19050/saturday-night-live-nick-burns) This is the stereotype that most people put together with you IT support.  We are working hard to make Nick Burns be a joke to the past, and no longer a reinforcement of a negative experience.

Here's what most people think of when they think IT support:

·     Geeks.  By Wiki definition:  "A peculiar or otherwise odd person, especially one who is perceived to be overly obsessed with one or more things including those of intellectuality, electronics, etc."

·     They don't have much real world experience, so they can't relate what they are doing to you, because they only know computer talk.

·     Not concerned with the wellbeing of others, but only getting the task at hand taken care of.

·     Uncompromising with the way to get things done, extremely structured.  Even if it seems like there is an easier way to get things done, they do it a certain way, every time.

The truth is most IT support personnel aren't like that at all.  When you call Tech Support for a lot of companies people are just tired of dealing with the same problem over and over again, also they have to go through a certain series of reporting in order to track what has been done, even though it doesn't make sense to the person receiving the help.

We pride ourselves here on doing things a bit differently, and hopefully IT support people will start to notice how we help our customers out, and we'll eventually change the stereotype.  Yes, we are "geeks" but not by the definition of the word.  We do have a large interest in IT related items because that's where we make our living, but we make sure it's not the only part of our lives.  By having real world experiences we can relate to our customers and explain what we are doing, and what needs to be done, in a way that doesn't alienate our customers.  It's much better for someone to know what they are paying for than to just trust us that we're going to fix everything and it won't happen again.  Our number one concern is the wellbeing of others, especially in the business world.  We understand that time is money, and for that reason we want to make sure we eliminate any problems that come up, and minimize any that potentially could arise in the future.  This might take an extra minute to walk through the problem with the customer, but in the end they will know how to eliminate the issue if it comes back, or how to prevent it from re-occurring.  Being a small company we have the freedom to directly asses an issue, we don't have to go through a long corporate structured process.  By doing this you know we're working in the most efficient way, and you're only paying for the problem to be fixed, not for getting a run-around.

IT Support Personnel have a long way to go to improve their public image, but we're making sure we can put a dent in it one customer at a time.

Everyone is working on running their organization as efficiently as possible, but often times the small things are overlooked.  IT support is a necessity for most organizations, but it's a costly expense to have someone on, full time, to address any conflicts that may arise, and to run your regularly scheduled maintenance, security and updates.  The solution comes from the advancements in Remote Help Desk Support.

Remote control tools enable IT help desk personnel to better serve their end users, and benefits the organization by saving them time and money.  Because the help desk can remotely diagnose and solve problems you save time, by having them directly interact with the end users' PC instead of directing the user through a potentially complicated series of actions, and you save money because the conflict can be resolved in a shorter amount of time, reducing the amount billed.  The remote services also eliminate having to go to the office to work on any conflicts, saving money and time for both parties.

Your IT support company should provide remote services as an option.  The phone is still the preferred method of contact for the majority of end users, but remote services are rapidly being accepted and employers are noticing the financial benefits as the need to stretch the dollar increases.

I've had several meetings around the area with mid sized companies and I've found that a lot of people have no idea what they are paying for with their Network Administrators.  Because of this I've simply copied the Wiki for "Network Administrator" here for you to see the basic overview of the job.  If your Network Administrator isn't doing the majority of the things mentioned it's time for you to start looking elsewhere.  Our Network Admin crew does a fantastic job fulfilling all the job descriptions here as well as providing it at a price that can't be beaten.  Give me a call or send me an email to find out more on the pricing.

From Wikipedia:

Network administrator is a modern profession responsible for the maintenance of computer hardware and software that comprises a computer network. This normally includes the deployment, configuration, maintenance and monitoring of active network equipment. A related role is that of the network specialist, or network analyst, who concentrates on network design and security.

The Network Administrator is usually the highest level of technical/network staff in an organization and will rarely be involved with direct user support. The Network Administrator will concentrate on the overall health of the network, server deployment, security, and ensuring that the network connectivity throughout a company's LAN/WAN infrastructure is on par with technical considerations at the network level of an organization's hierarchy. Network Administrators are considered Tier 3 support personnel that only work on break/fix issues that could not be resolved at the Tier1 (helpdesk) or Tier 2 (desktop/network technician) levels.

Depending on the company, the Network Administrator may also design and deploy networks. However, these tasks may be assigned to a Network Engineer should one be available to the company.

The actual role of the Network Administrator will vary from company to company, but will commonly include activities and tasks such as network address assignment, assignment of routing protocols and routing table configuration as well as configuration of authentication and authorization – directory services. It often includes maintenance of network facilities in individual machines, such as drivers and settings of personal computers as well as printers and such. It sometimes also includes maintenance of certain network servers: file servers, VPN gateways, intrusion detection systems, etc.

Network specialists and analysts concentrate on the network design and security, particularly troubleshooting and/or debugging network-related problems. Their work can also include the maintenance of the network's authorization infrastructure, as well as network backup systems.

The administrator is responsible for the security of the network and for assigning IP addresses to the devices connected to the networks. Assigning IP addresses gives the subnet administrator some control over the professional who connects to the subnet. It also helps to ensure that the administrator knows each system that is connected and who personally is responsible for the system.

So there you have it.  Double check to make sure you have a Network Administrator that is doing what they should be, and if you feel you need improvement in that area, or you just want to save money give us a call.

If you have an IT person on staff at your office it's very possible that they are getting bogged down with requests.  Does their office look like there's a nonstop flow of people asking for help, needing IT questions answered, or just looking for an easier way to navigate their computer?  The solution could very easily be a centralized support ticket system to handle incoming requests.

"The beauty of this is that the support ticket system can be hosted on the Internet and every time someone needs something IT related done in the church, whether its an email problem, printer not working, need something on the website, etc., they can go and open a ticket for this."  (Churchtechnologytidbits.com)

There are numerous benefits for having this system for your office, but the major ones are:

• It documents what the IT person does, so you can understand what went wrong and how it was fixed.
• Items can be prioritized by the staff or IT personnel, keeping your company running efficiently, not bogging you down with non-critical issues.
• IT person can update the status or the request, no more trips in the office to find out what's going on.
• The IT requests are centralized, no more searching inbox, calling or wondering if the problem was resolved.
• The IT personnel is held accountable.
• The overall management of the IT requests are improved.

"When a person opens a new ticket request, they get an automated response acknowledging their request, also the IT person is notified and can log in to the ticket system and update the status. Also when a request is completed the IT person can ‘close’ the ticket and move on. The staff person who created the request will be notified when the request has been completed automatically by email."  (Churchtechnologytidbits.com)

Efficiency is a beautiful thing.  Contact us if you need help setting this up for your company's IT department and we'll get you started toward a more efficient workplace.

A major component to your organizations success is work flow and efficiency, and a major part of that is having the right computer support.  A technical partner that fits your needs is an obvious choice, but how do you sift through the seemingly endless amount of providers? 

What is valuable about your company's IT?  What isn't working for you and what is?  Finding out what you need should eliminate a large majority of who you are looking for.  If a company just provides web design and hosting it could be a great fit for you, but don't expect it to cover your programming needs as well as network administration tasks.  On the other hand if you're looking for back end support a hard core programmer could be lacking in the design end. 

What's the support company's history?  You can find out a lot about a company by its history.  If they have shining reviews from their entire client list you can trust that they're going to continue to deliver as they have in the past.  If they have a very large client base it can be good for your company because of their capabilities to service multiple customers, but will you get the same service as a small company, probably not.  Also ask if they will be able to handle your business's growth, or if their intentions are to help facilitate growth or just to maintain a certain level.

The most important thing is do you connect?  Businesses are built on successful relationships where both parties have the same goal.  Whether your company is looking to grow, maintain, re-work its image, or even possibly shrink, there is a company out there that will fit your needs.

For a free consult send iTP an email here to see if we are the right fit for you.