Managed Services, IT Teams, And Multi-Vendor Workplaces

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Not many employees outside the IT office really know what goes on in there. Oftentimes, members of the IT team are encumbered with creating and deploying a new project, which, due to the complexity of technology and the rate at which it is advancing, could sometimes take up to a year. Then, before you know it, that brand new technology becomes outdated.

You want your business to run as efficiently as possible. This means putting the brainpower and resources where they are needed, not creating headaches by trying to stay on top of an ever-changing game. That's why so many companies are looking to managed services to align their IT team with their business and all their clients.

Commercial Recycling And Sustainability: How Can Businesses Improve Their Practices?

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Even if you recycle at home, you might it a bit more challenging to recycle at work. This could be because your company does not have a clearly defined recycling program or that recycling is not made to be convenient. If you are a business or a commercial building owner/leaser looking for ways to reduce, recycle and, reuse take a look at the ideas below.

Make Recycling Easy

When people are at work, their main priority is getting their jobs done. So if the only place you recycle paper in your building is two floors down and in a back storage room, odds are that most of your staff will not go that far out of their way to support green living. To encourage recycling, make receptacles for paper, glass and plastic easily accessible on each floor.

If your building operates with trash chutes, select different colored bags for recycled materials so they can be easily sorted from the trash.

How To Identify The Right Backup Solution For Your Business

There are few things more important for business in the modern technological world as getting your backup system right. A decent backup solution will help you eliminate the risk of your business losing all its data either through accidents or sabotage. There are many companies that provide backup solutions. However, they are not all created equally. Some are only concerned about making money. Despite these rare rogues, most companies can offer a quality service. Choosing a backup solution provider is one of the most important things you can do for your business. If you rush through the selection process, you will end up with the wrong company, which can be catastrophic for your business.

The More You Use, The More You Use: BYOD To Multiply And Intensify

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The working landscape appears to be as malleable as sand, more so these days than ever before; and as new technologies race toward the integral mechanisms of businesses everywhere with every passing minute, the manner in which we work is fast adapting with it; like water, the method takes the shape of its container. At the forefront of this new technologically-enthused working standard is the BYOD policy.

Bring Your Own...?

If you’re unsure about what BYOD actually is, allow me to explain. BYOD stands for Bring Your Own Device, and it is a concept that has exploded into fruition recently in enterprises and businesses the world over. It essentially means employees can utilize personal devices to better carry-out their work, connecting these devices to company systems and accessing company assets through them. Whilst it’s not a new thing, it’s the advent of the smartphone, now a staple of the modern person’s integral pocket contents, that has really caused the policy take off in a manner quite unlike any single internal business ethos before.

So what does this mean for businesses? Essentially, many were quick to jump on the BYOD band wagon, as, in essence, the perception and the results show that it improves productivity. It streamlines an employee’s figurative todo list, and puts everything together in one easily manageable place, allowing him or her to keep abreast of everything that’s happening, in all aspects of his or her work, and cuts out many menial software-opening, computer-booting, logging in, logging out, waste of time tasks that could otherwise be spent being prolific. It makes the employer look flexible and open-walled and increases employee morale.

What’s not to love? Of course, this rise has caused a significant amount of data to be produced on the effects of BYOD across the board; does it really yield all these positive results, are there any negatives and what trends can we see from companies who employ its use most actively?

The Ripple Effect

For a start, the statistic for companies provisioning smartphones has declined 25%, whilst, of course, self-provisioned smartphones have risen, comparatively. The immediate backlash of this is, of course, data usage; and businesses are suddenly finding themselves, doubling and tripling the amount of data they use. Does this align proportionately to the increased productivity that comes as a result?  “Employees are using more data with more devices to work longer hours, anytime and anywhere”:  the sentiments of one Evan Kaplan, the CEO at wireless network solution and mobility services provider iPass, commenting on a recent report they conducted, that provided these figures.

Interestingly though, whilst the use of smartphones in the workplace has increased tenfold, there has been no comparable reduction in the use of other devices. In fact, that number has increased. “While the smartphone is ranked only behind the wallet and keys in importance, it's not displacing mobile workers' reliance on tablets or laptops” Kaplan explained. “In fact, our data indicates that smartphone users also use more data on other devices, revealing an interesting phenomenon -- essentially, the more you use the more you use."

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Security Calls

The chief risk that accompanies BYOD is, above all else, the security risk involved with allowing employees to take valuable company data about with them on an easily misplaced device the size of a credit card. Of course, many businesses demand remote wiping and cloud based backup as the definite solution to this problem, and it’s something that, with the right amount of control, could certainly alleviate 90% of the security risk with one simple product.

Essentially, the working landscape will keep changing; but with more devices being used for more and more work-related tasks, a trend that appears to be here for the long haul, the precedence on securing these personal devices and backing up that data should now be more focal than ever. With the right strategy though, businesses could reap all the benefits of increased productivity, remaining safe and becoming a better overall employer in the process. 

This article was written by Rob Vicars on behalf of Backup Systems – whether you’ve brought in the BYOD policy in full, or simply need a way to ensure your integral business files stay safe, Backup Systems can provide! 

Significance of Data Backup in Protecting Precious Information

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Many of us are guilty of not making backup copies of our important work. We keep on delaying the work of backing up our work on this or that pretext thinking we are safe and any data loss will not happen to us. We are not that unfortunate or that bad times are still far away are the thoughts we tend to have. But bad times do not come with warning signs and one day suddenly we are horrified to find that our hard disc has crashed or the system has stopped working. You try frantically to recover what you can but you know that the worst has happened and you will lose not only all unsaved data but also your time and money causing a lot of stress and worry. 

English: Backup batteries for UPS (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What Will You Do If Bad Happens to You? 

You are hoping against hope that you can somehow retrieve some information and ask for your technician to solve the problem. If this fails, you are ready to pay the company that specializes in this task but are horrified to know their price that is many more times the price of your hard disc, leave alone your important data. But the fact they give no assurance of 100% recovery make you apprehensive and uncertain. To add to your woes, you have kept no records to know what exactly the data that you have lost is. 

Acknowledge the Significance of Regular Data in Online Activities 

But there is a silver lining amidst all the dark clouds and that is developing a good habit of regularly making backup copies of your data. Do not worry; there are many easy ways of doing this. You can choose to make a copy and store it on any other computer at office or home or you can transfer the data on to any external hard disc. There are also cloud based services providing space online to keep your data safely. You are at a liberty to choose any medium for storage but making backup copy pays rich dividends. If you are hard pressed for time, you can direct your juniors to do it for you. If you are regular in making a backup copy, you can have peace of mind all the time. Remember, if things have to go wrong, they will go wrong. But if you are prepared, you can face the worst with a smile on your face.

Hire Services of Online Backup Providing Companies

We understand that data backup can be a tedious process and can make you stay away from this good habit so the best way to solve this problem is to consider online backup facilities which you can hire in less then $5 with reliable security system and almost unlimited storage for all types of files. Yes it is possible! Many companies offer online backup services with synchronization of multiple computers with excellent data security within this low price range. It will help you protecting your precious data at affordable price tag while saving a lot of time and effort required to do it yourself. 

People interested in protecting their precious data through online backup and storage facility must visit http://filestorageonline.net/ to have a look at reviews about top ten companies providing the best packages to cater the growing need of online data protection.

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Cloud Computing - Not Just for The Big Boys

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Cloud computing is becoming a vital asset of many established businesses, but this might lead those at small and medium-sized enterprises or start-ups to assume that the cloud is something that can only be used by larger companies and is not suitable for them.

In reality, this is far from the truth, since cloud-based services have plenty to offer businesses of all sizes. In fact, it could be much easier for smaller companies to get a foothold in a competitive marketplace if they are harnessing cloud computing rather than ignoring its potential and trailing behind more technically ambitious rivals as a result.

Any business which is in the early stages of its development will need to invest in some kind of IT infrastructure that includes network connectivity and telephony solutions.

However, unless you are mainly operating in a sector related to this type of technology, finding expertise in this area in-house will be difficult.

This means that the services of cloud providers can become even more important if you are not by nature an IT start-up. By sourcing a variety of services, from business email to the running of software applications, via a third-party provider you will take away the burden of initial installation, ongoing maintenance and future upgrades.

Cloud providers can offer uncomplicated hosting packages that will allow you to provide business email accounts to staff, which you can then use to communicate with potential clients and partners so that your start-up is instantly recognizable and eminently professional right from day one.

The power of the cloud can be used to run entire hosted desktops so that managing multiple users is uncomplicated, requires little in-house expertise and can be performed remotely.

This leads to the availability of home working for SMEs which invest in the cloud early on, allowing for a greater degree of flexibility when it comes to working hours and locations.

The cloud will also help when it comes to ensuring the continuity of your fledgling business, because downtime or other disasters which take your normal place of work out of operation can be a terminal problem for start-ups.

The flexibility of the cloud goes hand in hand with its scalability. Any small business will be thinking about growth, but IT can become a bottleneck if you are having to manage, maintain and upgrade everything on-site using only your own resources.

With cloud computing services you have the option to add new users, increase your storage, implement more complicated telephony arrangements and much more without the financial burden or the strain on internal resources.

It is impossible to talk about cloud computing without also mentioning the cost savings which can be made when larger businesses migrate a variety of services to a third-party platform. However, this factor is perhaps even more important for start-ups, which may not have the financial elasticity to rely on an in-house system to do the job which it is supposed to do.

When every penny counts, putting your money into hosting, storage and software as a service through a cloud provider will give you both a short-term cut in the amount you need to invest and a longer-term reduction in costs that will leave your balance sheet looking healthier as your company expands.

Start-ups and small businesses can embrace cloud computing just as fully as bigger companies, with benefits that will be more acutely experienced at the lower end of the market.

The cloud computing market is not one dominated by absolutes, so it is important to remember that adoption can range from minimal to total, with a hybridized approach favored by many companies regardless of size.

This article was written by Daisy Group plc, who have over 12 years experience in data and hosting solutions including cloud hosting services, colocation, data centre and cloud computing services for corporate, public sector and enterprise companies across the UK.   With  4 Teir III Data Centres in Manchester, London, Jersey and Southampton providing 24/7 support 365 Daisy are the natural choice for business hosting solutions.

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Why You Need Virtualization

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An organization’s ability to adapt to the ever-changing path of technology is one thing that helps it become successful. This is true because most companies operate under the wing if technology, and many organization’s objectives are to provide some kind of technological service or product.

Because of this basic need across the world, virtualization has grown to a point where it is being adapted, in some form or another, by many if not most digital organizations. The main benefits of virtualization can be summed up into two main areas:

• Efficiency
• IT flexibility

The reason virtualization allows for greater flexibility is because of what it is, a tool that reduces the number of servers needed to fulfill computing tasks. This, as you can imagine, can save a company a lot of direct and indirect financial resources. Some companies operate under hundreds of servers and virtualization technology has allowed them to reduce that number significantly.

The reason virtualization allows for greater IT flexibility is because of its ability to free up resources that would otherwise be spent managing such operations. It also allows an organization to take the first step towards to relying on another form of virtualization, i.e. cloud computing.

There are many virtualization partners that have emerged in recent years and there are plenty of resources online to aid in a company’s adaptation into such technologies. Really, if your company is not virtualized in some way at this point, you’re behind the times.

There are many who would contend the security of virtualized tools, but for the most part it is as normal as any other software security issue. Cloud computing, on the other hand, is heavily debatable on whether or not it is a secure solution. Overall, virtualization security has developed enough to the point where most people can trust it. There are some really big players in the virtual security field, which accounts for much of the trust people have in such programs.

There really are many benefits to using virtualization technology today. It’s like when you had to convince your grandma that using a cell phone is so much more convenient than a land-line, once she learned how to use it. There are countless examples like that where adapting to the growth and changes in technology can really help a company out, if they will just give it a try. There’s always going to be that learning curve, but that’s never too difficult to get through.

To learn more about virtualization, including topics like virtualization security, please visit www.virtualizationpractice.com.

Customizing workflow process. Advantages of flexible IT help desk tracking

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Back in the 90's large corporations have begun to implement various automated workflow systems. Undoubtedly, the use of such programs leads to increased efficiency in a single company. Some innovative methods of personnel management, time embedded in a company, can significantly improve the quality of the organization simply by improving relations within the production process.

Most instant messaging systems are 'luxury items' for personal communications over a cup of coffee, but, unfortunately, not always suitable for organized work. Surely it is that you have received a message through this kind of communication, forgotten or do not see it. And imagine what can happen in a mess of the company among employees who use this kind of communication to work?

There are many different systems of corporate management and IT help desk automation, you may choose any of them, but after using Comindware Tracker you will stop your searching once and for all. At you disposal web-based workflow management and issue tracking system. It has an integrated task management and collaboration features.

A convenient flexible system

The remarkable feature of this tool is an ability to customize flexible tracking system. It's not a secret that many similar programs don't allow you to satisfy all your needs within the workflow projects, tasks and sub-tasks organizing. Comindware Tracker gives you a flexible system, where multiple teams and departments of the company can:

• Simplify issue tracking
• Collaborate in file sharing and live discussions
• Organize the execution of tasks and projects
• Automate workflow processes

Comindware Tracker provides breakthrough flexibility for adapting to your ideal workflow processes for almost everything you want to track.

IT Help Desk Solution

The IT Help Desk Solution in Comindware Tracker is manufactured to help you simplify processing and management of daily IT help desk events. This IT help desk management system is simple using and easily customizable to all your needs. With standards-based workflow process management templates, forms, lists, and reporting dashboards, you get an effective, convenient and well organized system. 

Comindware Tracker offers customizable reporting dashboards and widgets, providing real-time and historical status reporting such as:

• Number of incoming, active, and resolved tasks over certain time periods
• Average resolution period 
• Percentage of requests resolved 
• Amount of requests processed per person along with average resolution time, outcome, etc.

Simple and secure tracker

The main problem in any program to automate the workflow process is that many of them can be handled only a genius, then that genius has to explain somehow to others 'on the fingers' how the program works and most difficult to adjust the program for a particular user. Many companies are forced to keep the state of programmers, who are engaged in setting of heavy software for the company. You can forget about such nuisances with Comindware Tracker, which is simple enough for anyone to use. You can set personal security rules for different workspaces, projects, teams and departments with a few clicks.

Comfortable visibility

The remarkable feature of Comindware Tracker is a filtered list views, which provide real-time status, including priority and deadline-based views of tasks and other tracked positions and items, thus you can see what’s going on. Graphical dashboards provide convenient charts for reporting and analysis. Dashboards and list views are fully customizable according to your demands. Data can also be exported to Excel for further analysis.

For the first time, workflow process automation, IT desk help and issue tracking for different departments in your company can be handled within a single web-based application. Each area can have its own separate workspace with unique members and security settings. So don’t waste your time and money on different applications and so on – you can get things done with a single software package that only requires that users have a browser.

I speak three foreign languages and currently work in Project management insights, Sydney, Australia, project-management-insights.com. I like to test various software and mobile applications. One my duty with the company I work in is to write for it's clients website. So I began writing for other blogs from around the world on various topics.

Mobile Video Conferencing: The Way Forward

Many companies and businesses have long adopted the practice of video conferencing – virtual audio-virtual meetings attended by people in two or more locations, and made possible by technologies in telecommunication. Today, with the penetration of mobile telephony, third generation networks and several options in phones with built in video cameras, mobile video conferencing is becoming a popular choice for businesses. There are several types of mobile video conferencing software that help companies organize meetings among people in different parts of the world.

 

Anytime, Anywhere

The most obvious advantage of adopting mobile video conferencing is that meetings can be held anytime and anywhere. Those attending the meeting need only dial in to the conference call, no matter where they are: at home, traveling or outdoors. It does not require the employees to be present together in a single room, something that can be difficult to accomplish for companies with its reach across different geographical location. For local companies, it cuts down all commuting hassles.

Life Size

Money-saving

Mobile video conferencing helps companies save money by eliminating the need for all employees to be at the same place. Those attending the meeting do not have to fly in to the location, or commute there. This also means that companies can hold meetings more often to brainstorm, review the ongoing work and take stock of what is being done.

 

Themabijeenkomst videoconferencing (Photo credit: PiAir (Old Skool))

Improves Working Relationships

When meetings are held more often, the employees, or members of a team get to interact with each other more often than if mobile video conferencing was not used. This is especially true of teams that have members working from different locations. Interacting with each other more often means team members get to know each other, their strengths, weaknesses and how to capitalize on them. Video conferencing is more effective than phone calls because it provides actual face-to-face interaction.

 

Image via Wikipedia

Customer Relationships

With mobile video conferencing, executives can interact face-to-face with the business’ customers or partners. This gives it a personal touch and generates goodwill for the business. In manufacturing industries, it can be used to show the product, or the progress that is being made on it. It can also help customer service executive’s deal with customers’ problems by being able to see and locate the problem, and demonstrate how to deal with it. This can be a lot more effective than just giving instructions over the telephone, particularly when it comes to complicated technologies.

Rashed Khan hold an MSc in Software Engineering and enjoys guest posting on business/technology related topics.

Two Features to Look for When Buying Performance Testing Software

Over 700 million people use the Internet to conduct online business, from buying hand soap to baby diapers, there is a person looking to buy almost anything available online. With so much growth for online businesses, more and more e-commerce sites are looking for software to help handle the loads of traffic being directed their way. Some go the traditional route and purchase performance software through large computer companies, while others go online to see what they can find. Making a decision on software can mean the difference between losing hundreds of customers and making thousands of dollars.

                                 Image used under Creative Commons from by compujeramey

Demo Me

You understand what your company needs are better than anyone else. You also recognize the type of software needed to ensure that your e-commerce business stays operational during large spikes in traffic. Most companies selling performance testing tools will go over their features, show you a few videos as to how the software works and give you data sheets about what makes their product so great. However, few companies actually let you download a free version of the software to use as a demo.

Showing is better than telling, and any company that can show you why its products are superior rather than tell you is a sure winner. When a company shows you what its software can do, you can understand the type of tests it can perform, the type of problems it can solve, and how quickly the software can help you resolve issues. Most companies selling website load testing software will not let you demo their software, but those that do, can help you grade the product before you invest.

Versatility in Software

Of course, perhaps the biggest determining factor for why you end up buying a product from Company A instead of Company B will come down to the software’s usage. Testing tools were all created differently, from what it can examine to where it can run tests from to solve a problem. Some websites sell a one-dimensional website load testing tool for consumers to complete a specific task, while others sell a program that can handle the needs of a customer in e-commerce, social media, e-learning and entertainment.

You always want a piece of software that can multi-task for you and perform a variety of tests on a scale necessary for your company size. This versatility can change the landscape of your e-commerce business to handle the multiple testing challenges a small, medium and large size company will face on a daily basis, during the holidays or if it grows internationally.

SOASTA provides website load testing tools and testing tools for mobile applications. Performance Tests For Websites are correlated and analyzed in real-time to quickly find and fix problems.

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The Benefits And Advantages Of Shared Hosting

Every company makes use of the internet and depending on the size of your company; a shared hosting solution is a viable option. There are other options available but one needs to make the right judgment when deciding on a product for their specific business. Shared hosting is when many websites are placed on one shared server and it is shared by numerous companies. In this article we will look at the advantages and benefits of shared web hosting.  

Cost effectiveness

Many shared hosting companies can offer a low cost option when it comes to shared web hosting. This is due to the fact that many different companies are utilizing the same shared web hosting solutions. Many competitors in a saturated industry have come up with shared hosting packages and solutions tailored for all different businesses. Some solutions now offer unrestricted disk space and bandwidth, making it that more efficient and user friendly. Due to evolving shared wed hosting technology and larger internet bandwidth, a shared hosting system means that many different sites can operate on one specific server in a successful manner.

Added features

Many a shared hosting provider now offers you many added benefits and features when opening a shared web hosting account and singing a contract with them. There are many different shared hosting companies offering great deals. All of the software required is included in the package and there are features enabling you to update websites accordingly. Consumers are also able to install blog software like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla and change or update it at any time they need to.  

Manageability

Another added benefit of utilizing a shared hosting solution is that you have specialists and experts monitoring the server 24 hours a day and are readily available for technical support. You economize and save money because if you were running a private server you would need to employee an individual to manage the server on a daily basis depending on the size of the business and the server being used.   

Efficiency  

The performance and efficiently of a shared hosting solution is growing substantially and at a fast pace. This is due to technological advancements in server technology, a more flexible internet set up and an emergence of more advanced routers.

More and more people and smaller businesses are seeing the advantages and benefits of opting for a shared hosting solution. The advantages are obvious as stated in this informative article and providers will be more than glad to clue you up on the right decision for you business.   

Jemma Scott is an avid writer on technological advancements and internet based information for businesses. 

She looks at the benefit of shared hosting packages and relays her finding so small business can also utilise this as a viable avenue.