Does your technology cost you $$ or make you $$?

Most businesses feel that technology is an expense and not a tool to make them better than their competition.  When was the last time you heard someone say that their (fill in the blank) is saving them money or just made everyone in the company work better?

How about having a company contact list?  A company calendar?  You would be amazed at how many companies don’t even have these simple features.

Technology, implemented correctly saves you $$, less down time, staff working more efficiently etc.  It also makes you $$ when you trust it to make your sales staff work faster.  It makes you $$ when as the owner you can focus on growing your business and not being distracted when things aren’t working correctly.

 

John

Does your IT support live in a cave?

A lot of our new business comes from companies that are feeling some kind of technology pain.  When we come onsite we quickly see solutions that are years behind the times.  And this is usually because the support the small business has been receiving is by a company that “lives in a cave”.  They won’t stay current, they won’t learn the latest offerings, they won’t interact in their community and they won’t go to trade shows.  Our industry changes too fast to “live in a cave”.

They sell and install what they know.  What you learned a year ago doesn’t fly anymore.  You have to stay current to make sure that what you sell is the best possible solution to your client.

 

John

Is your “IT Guy” a technician or your business partner?

Most small businesses hire a technician to resolve their technology problems.  They think that technology is an expense and not an integral part of their company.  I spoke with a potential client last week that fell into the first category.

They called us because they were submitting a bid to a large company for a long term contract.  One of the first questions they were asked was “How is your technology?”

This one question made the owner realize they he had been ignoring this critical part of is business for too long.

A technician will fix what is broken.  A partner will help you grow your business that benefits both companies.

 

John

Disaster Recovery Lunch and Learn February 3rd.

RNC Inc. is having it’s Disaster Recovery Lunch and learn this week.  This will be an education only event to show current and potential clients the benefits and cost savings of a data disaster recovery plan for their business.

This is a no stress lunch at the Hyatt Regency in Irvine, CA.  The event starts on Weds, Feb 3rd at 12:30 and is scheduled to last until 2:00pm.

We will be giving out some great gifts from Microsoft and StorageCraft.

All proceeds go the Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund.

If you are interested and want to bring a colleague please register here.

We look forward to seeing everyone.

 

John

How many computers do you have in your home?

If you have kids I am guessing you have a least 3.  One for you, one for your wife or husband and one for the kids.  A common theme comes up several times a year:  My kids computer at home is running really slow or it has all kinds of viruses.  The usual answer is backup and reinstall Windows.  However, there is a new solution on the market that is a huge bonus for families and even micro companies.  Windows Home Server  This little guy does some really amazing things for households with multiple computers, Mac or PC.

First off it is really small and quiet.  Doesn’t use a mouse, keyboard or monitor and can fit almost anywhere.

You can have up to 10 computers access it and here is the short list of what it can do:

• Backup all pc’s including Macs everyday and retain on average 3 months of daily backups.  Wouldn’t that be great to bring your kids pc back to 2 months ago when it was working perfect?  Takes about 30 minutes or less to do via 1 CD.  :-)
• Creates a shortcut on everyone’s desktop that points to folders that can contain music, pictures, videos and documents that everyone can share.
• Offers remote access back to your house to login to your pc or those important files or pictures all via a browser
• Offers a nightly offsite backup service of all your info so if the house burns down or there is a theft you won’t lose all your photos or videos, etc.
• Running out of storage space on the Home Server?  No problem buy another drive, insert it into the server and in 3 minutes you just added more space.

There are 2 different manufacturers right now.  HP and Acer.  HP offers more software options and better support but you do pay more.

They start out at around $400, (Acer) and go all the way up to $700 depending on what features you want. We recommend staying away from the HP LX195 model due to it only having 1 drive max.

 

So if you are looking to start fresh for the New Year this is a great way to go.

 

John

Backups are a big deal

How many times have we read a quick statistic that shows companies going out of business after a major data loss?  Too many times we hear the horror stories.  And all of these mishaps could have been prevented if there was a Disaster recovery plan in place. 

All Disaster Recovery plans have multiple layers of backup, combinations of local and offsite backup give a good balance of safety. 

Don’t be fooled into thinking that you are covered because you make copies of files to an external drive or even worse a small usb drive that fits in your hand.  And most people / companies never bother to test their backups so you are just wasting your time if you think you are covered.

So be smart, make the investment and make sure your data is backed up.

And one last time for the people in the back of the room, have multiple layers of backup and test them regularly.

John

Why do people think Mac is better?

Before anyone’s blood boils reading this article let me make one very important comment:   An Operating System is not a religion!

We have all heard the comments from various Mac users about why their computer is better.  

Until the recent release of Windows 7, you had to compare Mac against Windows XP, software that was developed 9 years ago!  Apple definitely had the advantage.

But now there is Windows 7 and the gap has drastically shrunk.

Here are some quick facts:

Apple says they are more secure. 

False, the real world answer is that Mac only accounts for 8% of all pc’s in the world.  Bad guys go for the money, why would they waste their time writing hacking software for 8% of the pc’s on the web.

Apple says that they don’t have a lot of bloatware on their pc’s.

Long answer coming…..  True and false.  There are 2 types of Windows machines sold.   Type 1:Consumer version.  The main reason why Pc’s at Best Buy and Costco are so cheap is that they are subsidized by the manufacturers of that bloatware.   They pay HP, Dell, Sony, Acer etc to put their software on your shiny new pc.  This lowers the cost to you but it then ends up adding undo headaches down the road. Type 2: The PC’s that are sold to businesses.  Businesses don’t want or need games, video editing or music playing junk on their company computers. They just want Windows!  They pay a little more for their computers but they will not accept anything less.

Apple on the other hand controls everything that goes on their computers.  So they don’t load them up with bloatware.  That is one of the reasons why Macs will always be more expensive than a pc.  So if you compare a consumer pc against a Mac yes, the PC has more bloatware.  BTW, we only sell Business computers.

Apple says they have better hardware

True and false, you really need to compare pc’s like cars.  There are cars of every make, model and price.  You can’t compare a Mercedes (Apple) against a Nissan Sentra (PC) and say all pc’s suck. What about Lexus, Infiniti, Acura and BMW?  Do they suck?  Of course not, but that is what happens most of the time when Mac people are comparing against another pc.

The Apple interface is better

Windows 7 has come a long way so it is a toss up now

So which one should you buy? 

That depends on lot on budget and career.  If you want a personal computer and money is not a concern Mac is the way to go.  If money is a concern I recommend the Dell Vostro or Latitude (Laptops) or Vostro / Optiplex lines for desktops.