Summary: Public clouds have the edge over their internal counterparts in security, reliability, and elasticity, according to the author of a new book on enterprise architecture.

By Joe McKendrick for Service Oriented

When it comes to operating a business, you’re always balancing costs and profits. And you’re probably eager to cut costs whenever possible. One area that has probably demanded a large investment is technology. The problem with technology is that it can be hard to keep costs at bay.

Here are five ways you can reduce IT spending.

Backup everything
If your business is like most other small to medium companies, the majority of your important files are located on one server or maybe spread across a couple of computers. Hardware doesn’t last forever and the machine where you have your data stored on will eventually stop working.

When it does, you’ll have to replace it, and your files that were on it could be lost. The cost to recover them will be high. To minimize this risk, you should invest in a solid backup platform that runs on a regular basis.

Yes, this will cost money now, but would you rather have a copy of your systems and data from yesterday which can be easily implemented when you have a problem, or would you like to pay to maybe recover year’s worth of data? Or worse, not be able to recover the data at all? Backups will save you costs in the long-run, not to mention the stress they will help you avoid.

Have a strict anti virus policy
Even if you tell your employees not to download programs or browser extensions, they’re still going to do it.  Simply having computers and devices accessing the Internet through your network puts you at risk. If your systems are hacked or infected, you can lose data, face high recovery costs or worse.

Minimize the chance of malware infections and the risk of being hacked by having antivirus software and security solutions installed on every computer. This makes it easier for you or your IT partner to ensure your systems’ antivirus software is up to date and scanning when it should be. This will minimize the chance of infection and keep costs down.

Document everything
The more your company grows, the more technology you’ll use.  If you document all of your systems, computers, software, etc. including where it’s located and when it was implemented. You will be able to track things down quickly when needed, thus managing your systems better.

Look into a CRM/ERP/HRM solution
There are so many software solutions out there that can help you plan and run your operations. If you’ve been tracking customer or employee data by using a simple spreadsheet, you could be getting more out of a tailored solution.

Solutions like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or even Human Resources Management (HRM) sfotware can help you spot hidden costs or even plan more efficiently, which will reduce costs well into the future.

Look for fixed-price solutions
A major problem with all technology related systems is that predicting costs is nearly impossible. You simply don’t know when/if an important piece of hardware will fail. This becomes even harder if you don’t have expertise in tech.

One of the best ways to save money on IT costs is to outsource. Almost every IT provider offers flat-rate services that cover your systems with anti-virus and patching and can provide network documentation for all your hardware and software.  Since it’s a regular, fixed, monthly cost it makes budgeting for IT easier.  You can then focus on your business, and over time will see a decrease in IT costs.

If you are looking to cut your IT expenses call us 203.987.4566.  We can help you reduce your IT expenses and make your business more profitable.

 

Operating a business is never easy. There is always an element of risk, and always external forces that threaten your business. As such, many disasters are simply beyond your control. These disasters are a part of business, and with extreme weather changes we experience today, owners and managers need to be prepared for almost anything. For many companies, the only way to prepare for adverse times is by developing a Business Continuity Plan.

Companies are generally hesitant to adopt a formal Business Continuity Plan (BCP) because they’re unfamiliar with the subject matter and fear the perceived costs and complexity involved. We don’t deny that plans are usually on the complex side, but there are good reasons as to why your company should adopt one. Here’s five.

1. Your business will be perceived as more valuable
Banks, venture capitalists and other investors tend to err on the side of caution, and as such will usually look to businesses that appear to be stable as more viable investment vehicles. Companies with a BCP are often seen to be more valuable, as they can address diverse situations better than those without. As a result, they will make the investor more money over time.

2. Compliance
Big companies in a number of industries have had continuity plans for years and many have started to look for suppliers and vendors with continuity plans. Beyond that, some industries and government bodies have made BCP a requirement. If you are a vendor, supplier or even in specific industries, it is a good idea to have one in order for to ensure business runs smoothly.

3. Potentially lower insurance premiums
Operating a business is filled with risks, and business managers are often looking for ways to minimize it. One way includes the purchase of insurance – many industries and situations require you to carry it. Generally, insurance providers will give more favorable rates to companies that take steps to minimize risk. A solid BCP will go a long way in showcasing how risk-averse your company is, which could lead to lower rates or at the very least, stable rates.

4. More efficient communication
Developing a BCP involves constant, company-wide communication in order for it to be successful. For many businesses, this involves collaboration between team members who don’t normally work together on a regular basis.

A BCP also fosters communication plans during disasters, both within the organization – most employees have a role, and will need to work together to pull through – and outside – customers, suppliers and other stakeholders will be contacting you. If your employees know how to communicate what needs to be done, effects of the disaster will be minimized.

5. Survival
Recent natural disasters around the globe have highlighted that businesses without a plan will most likely be forced out of business. Having a BCP will minimize the chances of this, while preparing your business for survival.

If you are looking to implement a business continuity plan, or improve on an already existing one, please contact Christopher Furey at Virtual Density today. We have affordable and effective solutions and can customize one just for you.

Imagine you’re at the airport waiting for a flight when you look down only to discover that your laptop is missing. This isn’t a great thought, especially since many of us have important files and programs that we can’t afford to lose. The problem is, if your device has gone missing, and your files aren’t safely synched to the Cloud,  the chances of you recovering it are slim. The good news is that there is a solution that makes it possible for you to track your device.

Prey is an Open Source – free – program that you can install on your computer or mobile device and track it when it’s missing, or been stolen.

How it works
First you have to download the software – from here – onto your computer (Windows, Mac or Linux are supported), and sign up for an account. Then, you’ll have a couple of options: You can either sign up for an account with Prey and access a control panel through the website, or install it as a standalone which is recommended for advanced users as it requires some server configuration.

If you chose to go with the Web option you sign up for an account and install the software then register your main device along with extra ones like an Android, or your iOS device. Once you have downloaded Prey and linked them together, you are ready.

For mobiles, you can send these a text (from the Web Control Panel) which will initiate the established options you have pre-set for when your phone goes missing.

How Prey finds your device’s location depends on the device. For laptops, it can turn-on your Wi-Fi connection and try to connect to the nearest access points. It can take the IP address of each Wi-Fi access point and from there get an approximate location – in some areas as close as 200 feet. On your phone, it turns on the GPS (if available) and tries to connect to Wi-Fi networks in range. These two combined can generate a fairly accurate location.

All this tracking information is sent to your inbox in the form of a report, which can be tailored to meet your needs.

What makes this program different from other similar ones is that it can be installed across multiple platforms and managed from one account. It’s also free, which makes it even more attractive. There is also a Pro version which allows you to track more devices, for a monthly fee (USD$5 for 3 devices up to USD$399 a month for 500 devices).

Prey is just one of the many device tracking programs, and installing one may be a good idea, to give you a greater chance of retrieval if your phone or computer is lost or stolen. Do you use one already? If so, which one? If you would like to learn more about Prey and the other device tracking programs please let us know, we may have a great solution for you.

Lots of entrepreneurs do everything themselves.  They’re running a small business with no room in the budget to hire help.  And once there is money to hire help, some entrepreneurs just aren’t great at delegating within their company, let alone to specialists outside.

The key to running a successful business is knowing what you’re good at.  And know what you’re NOT good at. Once you know that, you can start delegating!  

Finding a trusted partner to help you manage your IT – email, website, servers, desktops and the like can seem daunting.  But, finding the right MSP will have a direct impact on your bottom line, and can help make your company even more successful than it already is, or at least increase profits to get you there. However, there are many more reasons companies outsource. Below are our Top Five:

5 reasons why you should outsource IT

1. Increased control of operational costs - Most MSPs group their services together into monthly plans, meaning you have one cost associated with the IT department. Overhead expenses such as staffing, overtime hours, and operational costs, as well as software licenses, etc., can all be included in a flat monthly fee.  When you’ve got it all bundled into one monthly cost, you’re not worried about the huge bill that comes every time something breaks.
2. Take focus away from IT, refocus on business functions -  Seemingly endless tech issues can take your focus away from key business functions. MSPs take care of all this, allowing you to re-focus your efforts and energies into running your business.
3. Access to better resources – The best and newest tech is often pricey; well beyond the budget of a vast majority of small and medium sized businesses. And an MSP can provide the latest tech along with the experience to support it, allowing you to get more for less.
4. IT functions are beyond current abilities – If you are like most small to medium companies, you might have one person on staff who’s you’re designated IT person.  And that person may or may not have a dozen other responsibilities within the organization.  Or maybe you and your colleagues simply lack the knowledge and experience required to run increasingly complex technical systems. The employees at MSPs eat, sleep and breathe tech, and can provide expert IT support and knowledge.
5. Reduced risk from IT failure - Technical systems are built to be robust. However, they aren’t perfect and will eventually fail. This could mean lengthy downtime, increased costs and lost data. MSPs reduce this risk by actively monitoring your systems and offering back-up services which will reduce productivity loss and lost business.

3 things you can expect from an MSP
There are a wide variety of MSPs, serving many industries, but there are three things you should expect from any MSP.

1. Flexibility - IT companies have access to a wide variety of vendors, tech and resources. This means they should be able to develop scalable solutions that meet your companies needs as you grow.
2. Product experts - The main business objective of an MSP is to provide IT services.To do this they need employees who know their stuff. To get the best, most hire staff with specific qualifications and certifications and experience with the systems offered.
3. Long-run cost savings - In the short-term it is entirely plausible that internal staff are cheaper than a monthly MSP. Factor in the cost of purchasing technology, maintaining it, plus the cost of recovery, and the cost of retaining an internal IT team will skyrocket. Most companies you outsource to offer a flat rate monthly fee, and will be able to maintain your systems longer. This means lower replacement costs and increased uptime, which in the long run make outsourcing a viable, cost-efficient option.

Got questions about your organizations IT?  We’ve got answers.  Call us today 203.987.4566 or email us at sales@virtualdensity.com for a no-obligation discussion with an IT professional.  We’ll help you find the products and services that fit your business, no matter what size it is.

How many times have you been in a meeting only to have a participant’s phone ring or vibrate? This is a common occurrence and to many, this is the type of interruption that drives them nuts. While smartphones have changed our lives, mostly for the better, there are still times when we don’t follow common etiquette.

Here’s six cell phone etiquette tips you should practice to ensure you show respect to your peers and people around you while on your phone.

1. Watch what you snap – Almost every phone has a camera these days, and we can’t help but take pictures of nearly everything. While it is convenient to take pictures with your phone, there are times when it’s not a good idea, such as in a meeting, for example.
2. Indoor voices - How many time have you heard someone yelling into their phone on a busy street. This is often because they think that they can’t be heard by the person on the other end. The vast majority of modern phones have powerful enough microphones and noise cancelling technology to enable users to talk with an indoor voice, even while out on the busy street. If the person you’re talking to can’t hear you, try cupping your other hand over your mouth and directing the sound towards the phone.
3. Darn you autocorrect! - Most phones use touchscreen keyboards as their input for text. This can be quite inaccurate, so OS developers created autocorrect, which often picks the wrong word, leading to some potentially embarrassing situations. When typing on your phone, be sure to always read over what you have written before you hit send.
4. Resist the beep - One of the most annoying things about smartphones is that every time a notification sounds some people rush to check it. When you’re in meetings, or talking with customers/employees, ignore your phone until you are free to answer/check. If you are expecting an important call, excuse yourself before turning your attention to your phone.
5. Pick the right sounds- You can set the phone to vibrate, ring, or for lights to flash, etc. If you are in a meeting, it’s best to set your phone on silent, as even vibrate is enough to distract these days. Really, the only time your phone should “ring” is when you have it in your pocket, or are in a loud location and unlikely to hear it.
6. Turn it off every now and then - Smartphones bring the ability to be always connected, which can be both good and bad. Sometimes being constantly connected leads to higher stress, and increased work hours at the expense of your personal life. You shouldn’t be too afraid of spending a bit of time away from your phone every now and then.

What are your etiquette rules in regards to phone use? Let us know.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

As a species we are social creatures, needing relationships to survive. That’s likely why social media websites are so successful. They give us a way to interact with others, even when we are physically alone. Organizations have found that social media sites are great marketing tools that can build a brand better than almost any other method. One social media use, often overlooked, is learning more about a job applicant coming for an interview.

Here’s three steps you can employ to learn a bit more about potential hires before they come in for an interview.

1. Google them
Googling yourself can be seen as an exercise in vanity, however putting a potential new hire’s name into Google Search is smart. You can enter their name along with specific queries that can help you narrow information down. One thing you can do is enter their name with double quotes around it and the city they are based in, this will help you find their presence on related social media sites. You can also input their area code or zip code to narrow down the search.

The point of this is to help you find more information about the person without having to search on individual social media sites. This will also return results like photo albums, recent account activity and maybe even some hobbies and interest groups. Searching on Google and other search engines is a good way to see if the prospective employee is legitimate.

2. Take a look on Facebook
Almost everyone and their dog are on Facebook today, so don’t forget to search for them on this popular service. And the recently announced Graph Search should make searching a lot easier too. Enter their name, along with some specific interests or information from the resume and the chances of finding this person’s profile go up.

While some would argue the ethics of doing this, you may see information or posts that conflict with information in their resume, or even paint a better picture of the applicant. For example, you can ask them about their family when they come in for an interview. It could prove to be a great ice breaker. And in terms of ethics, any information an applicant posts in public is findable and therefore fair game to use in assessing them and their fit within your organization.

3. LinkedIn
Most social media sites focus on the social aspect of people’s lives, while LinkedIn focuses on the more career and professional oriented areas. Searching for the candidate on LinkedIn can often shed more light on their history, and may even showcase common links between you and them. If you notice that the candidate worked for a previous employee or a professional contact of yours, you could contact that person to see if they have any thoughts about the candidate.

Researching your future employees and contractors is a good idea because it can help you learn more about them than you might otherwise do from just an interview. It also may give you a deeper understanding of whether they would be a good fit for the company. If you would like to learn more about how you can leverage social media in your company please contact Chris Furey or Jenn Morandi at Virtual Density today.

One of the common goals companies strive for, regardless of industry, is the minimization of costs and maximization of profit. This is especially true for small businesses who often operate with razor thin margins, where any cost saving is well appreciated. One often overlooked way to save money is by reducing your printing overhead.

Here's six ways to cut printing costs.

1. Print double sided - While printer paper isn't overly expensive - an average of USD$8 per ream (for 500 sheets of non-recycled, multipurpose paper) - many companies only print on one side. This really adds up over a year, especially if you have more than one printer or print large documents on a regular basis. To save money, set your printers to print on both sides of the page. This will cut down the amount of paper used and waste generated. Just be sure to put page numbers on the documents so readers know it's double sided.
2. Lower print quality - Most printers can print at various quality levels. Higher quality means it's easier to read, but uses more ink. If you are printing out memos or other inter office documents, you probably don't need high, or even medium quality. Low quality is still readable and will save you on ink costs.
3. Print in black - Ink is by far the highest cost of any printing job, and supplies always seems to deplete quickly. To save money set up your printers to only print using black ink, which is about 30% cheaper than color ink.
4. Implement print quotas - Nothing makes an environmentalist cringe more than seeing a 100-page PDF freshly printed, and lying in the recycle bin because someone accidentally printed the whole document instead of just one page. Not only is this bad for the environment, it's also bad for your costs. One way around this is to use quotas. Many new printers allow you to assign computers or people IDs which you can set limits on. This will encourage employees to think twice before printing.
5. Go paperless - With the introduction of cheap cloud storage and collaboration services, the paperless office has become mostly viable. Granted there are some aspects of business, like shipping waybills, receipts, payslips, etc., that must legally be printed, but you could move non-essential documents onto cloud storage. This is a great way to reduce printing costs, while simultaneously fostering a sharing and collaborative office environment.
6. Work with managed print services - If you find that printing costs are skyrocketing, why not work with a managed print services provider? The vast majority often charge a flat fee and will take care of your printers and often your ink too.

Unless you adopt massive changes e,g., completely getting rid of all printers, you won't see huge savings from reducing printing costs. However, every little bit counts towards the bottom line. If you're looking for a managed print services company or for more ways to reduce your IT costs, please contact us today.

Some people dream of owning their own business.  They dream of working in their PJs from the couch while simultaneously spending quality time with their families and friends.  This dream, as many business owners know, is often a laughable one as work-life balance can be non-existent. It doesn’t have to be this way however and with a little work on your productivity you can actually get something akin to a good balance.

Here are three tips to help small business owners or managers be more productive and from that achieve a better work-life balance.

Know how you spend your time
To be productive, you need to know how you spend your time. The easiest way to do this is to keep a log, or journal, of what you do each day. You should include everything you do in relation to work, including: travel time, Facebook breaks, time spent checking emails, meetings, etc.

The goal here is twofold. Firstly, you get a solid glimpse of how you spend each day; secondly, you can see if there is anything you do that takes up way too much time. Some experts suggest you do this for a week at least. To get the best results though, it would be better to do this for at least two weeks to a month.

There are a few different ways you can go about journaling your activities. For the old-fashioned among us, go buy a pocket calendar that has at least one page per each day. For the more technical, your email program has a calendar that you can record activities on. For the mobile crowd your phone’s native calendar app will work great.

Now, it’s time to start recording your activities. Record when you start one, and when you finish. From there, clearly label the activity. Over a few weeks, or even days, you will begin to see a clear picture of how you spend your time.

Plan to be more productive
Once you’ve figured out where you spend your time, you can begin to schedule around your strengths and weaknesses. The key here is to schedule time that is uninterrupted so you can focus on one task. If you find that you are checking your email every five minutes, it may be a good idea to schedule time in the morning and just after lunch for checking and replying to emails. When you aren’t in that time period, you can work in a focused way on something else.

By sticking to a more rigid schedule you will find your productivity starts to rise. If you are having a tough time keeping to a set schedule, try using the pomodoro technique. This is where you set a certain amount of time for one task, and gradually increase the amount of time you focus on that task.

Play off your strengths
If you are a small business owner, chances are you wear lots of hats.  If you are aware that you are constantly spending time on bookkeeping and yet hardly get anything done because you lack the necessary accounting skills, it may be a good idea to look into hiring a part-time bookkeeper.

Many business owners struggle with delegation, as they feel the need to control everything. One way to challenge this idea is by looking at your hourly rate. If you charge $100 an hour and an bookkeeper is $40 an hour, it makes sense to hire the accountant instead.

By outsourcing, you will find that you have more time to focus on what you’re good at. As a result your productivity will rise and a better work-life balance will soon follow.

Virtual Density can help you, too. If you’d like to learn more about how our IT systems can help make you even more productive, please call us 203.987.4566 or email us sales@virtualdensity.com.

Security of technical systems and devices used in the office environment is an issue that is important to many companies. Businesses often go to great lengths to ensure that their systems are secure from external threats, yet often fail to take into account inner threats. One of the most common inner security threats is that employees have too much access to systems. A recent survey’s findings have highlighted this problem too.

According to the survey, conducted by Viewfinity, 68% of the 600 IT professionals surveyed don’t know who has administrative access to computers in their office. While this survey looks at the numbers from the IT viewpoint, it’s highly likely that many managers don’t know who has what access rights to computers.

The survey also found that 20% of all respondents noted that between 15% and 30% of users in their company had administrative rights. Is this a bad thing? Yes and no. Some users need to have full access to their systems, especially if they manage other systems, while others don’t.

Is this a big deal?
One of the biggest drawbacks of unnecessary access privileges is security. If users have more access than they need, the chance of a security breach is higher. For example, malware on a locked down system likely won’t spread to other systems in the network without direct transmission. Similarly, if a user can’t install programs because they lack the administration privileges, malware, for the most part, won’t be downloaded and installed.

If a user with full administrative privileges and downloads a piece of malware, chances are high that they won’t even notice it’s been installed and it will be transmitted to other systems with ease. In fact, one of the main ways hackers gain access to networks is through exploitation of administrative rights. They first look for an unsecured computer with administrative rights, hack it and then follow the chain up to more vital network systems.

What can you do?
While the survey was largely centered around IT professionals, business owners can learn from these findings too. They should take steps to audit their network and figure out who has access to what. Then they need to validate the findings and ensure that users have an appropriate level of access privileges. If some employees have no need to download and install programs, then they likely don’t need administrative access privileges.

If you want help determining who has admin access or want to know about the general health and safety of your network, let us know.  We’ll perform a free (yes, free) network assessment for you and review the results with you.  That way you can make informed decisions about your network.

Call us 203.987.4566 or email us sales@virtualdensity.com to schedule your free (yep, still free) network assessment.