Case Study - Moving to cloud based services

By Lindsay,
The first case study will be PC-TECH.BIZ itself.  In 2010 it was decided that cloud based services would be the future of IT, and as such PC-TECH.BIZ had to move to show the way.
The main systems that had to be changed were (in order):

• Email
• Accounting
• CRM
• Job Management
• Remote Management

Email
Email moved from standard POP accounts to Hosted Exchange.  The benefits that came with the move included anywhere access (computers/mobile devices), synchronisation between all devices, sharing of email inboxes and calendars.  For the primary computer email could be sent/received as long as there was an internet connection.

Accounting
A cashbook application was changed to Xero (www.xero.co.nz).  Web based, no application to load, and available from any device.  No per user fees, and Accountants could access the data without having to send files to them.  The bank feed component when linked to the main bank account meant that reconciliation could take place every day, online, in seconds.

Xero also integrates with other applications.  Xero data is held in NZ, so current law requirements were met.

CRM
A large installed CRM package was replaced with Solve360 (www.norada.com).  The CRM search was the hardest of all the applications to find.  Having had 10 years with the previous CRM package meant that certain features had to be retained.  Operation had to be simple, and so a lot of other cloud based CRM solutions were discounted because they were overly complicated.

Job Management
A multi user cloud based job management system was required to enable the capture of all work.  WorkflowMax was chosen (www.workflowmax.com) as it was able to integrate with Xero, and provided a key performance indicator - that of hours worked per month.  The job management system also insulates the operation of the business from the accounting side.

Remote Management
Managed services with remote monitoring and management was also required.  A remote management tool that was cloud based was sourced from NZ - Naverisk (www.naverisk.com).

Remote Access
At the time of transitioning to all these cloud based applications, having these features available when mobile became important.  At the time only the iPhone was able to fit the bill.  Since then Android based phones have also the capability to work with all of the above applications.

Conclusion
Moving from programs dedicated to one computer, with very little remote access, to cloud based services has increased efficiency, reduced impact of computer loss or physical disasters, and evened out expense peaks and troughes.  PC-TECH.BIZ is also set up for expansion without having to invest in any more user licences.

Google Apps for Business - first impressions

By Lindsay,
Google Apps for business (free edition), are a series of appications that allow you, the small business owner to run email, documents, calendars from a web browser.  The free edition allows you to have up to 10 email addresses.

The main products are:

Gmail.  Rather than a @gmail.com address you can set up a @yourbusiness.co.nz email address.  Same look and feel and storage limits as normal Gmail (typically 7 Gbytes of email storage).  Able to be accessed via any web browser, and smartphones.

Calendar.  Nice calendar, able to share the calendar with other people in your team.

Google Docs.  A place to store your documents, and the ability to create documents.  Since everything is web based, the features are lmited, especially in the spreadsheet program.  Douments can be shared amongst team members.

Initial impressions - It's ok for free.  There are better free Office applications available.  And the email user interface is...well...clunky.  However in saying this, having something that works via a web browser, has some integration with smartphones, and is built around collaboration with fellow team members is pretty good.

Next I'll be invetigating the Google Apps marketplace for free business related applications that integrate with Google apps

Why are notebook computers slower than desktops?

By Lindsay,
Even though you have bought a notebook with the same specifications as a desktop, it seems to be slower.  Why is that?
1.  Disk Drive - generally the notebook computers disk drives are smaller and slower.
2.  Applications - all notebook manufacturers add applications to the notebook to make your 'experience' with it much much easier.  These tend to use more resources, so slowing the computer down.
3.  Power saving.  Notebooks have power saving modes which deliberatley slow down the speed of the computer when running on battery.

Firewalls - fact versus fiction

By Lindsay,
There's a lot of speculation over firewalls for internet protection.  In a previous company the standard practice was to ensure that we sold a 'hardware' firewall to ensure maximum protection.  But was it really necessary?

Well no.  For small businesses today, connectd to the internet, and running Windows 7 as the operating system, no additonal 'hardware' firewall is necessary.  The ADSL router has a firewall built-in, and the workstations also have a software firewall (Windows Firewall) running all the time.  Some anti-virus products also provide their own software firewall that replaces Windows Firewall as  well.

What's the difference between a hardware firewall and a software firewall?  About $400.  You see there is no such thing as a hardware firewall.  Rather there is a box - an appliance if you will - that runs firewall software.  It might run a special version of a cut down operating system such as Linux, dedicated to firewall duties.

So by default you have 2 firewalls in place.  No need for a third.  However in sales the extra dollars for the device, plus configuring helped improve my bottom line even if it didn't help yours....

Some hadware firewalls have additonal functions - such as providing Virtual private Network (VPN) services to users outside the local area network.  However today with Clud based services and applications, we see the use of VPN's declining, in fact not needed at all.

Remote Monitoring - Now Free!

By Lindsay,
It's not usual to get something for free these days.  However I can annouince that PC-TECH.BIZ will be oferring free remote monitoring to all customers.  A small software agent is installed on your computer.  If something major occurs, our cloud based monitoring system will tell us.  We can then get back to you in the quickest possible time.  Remote control is also built-in so suppport can be given without waiting for a technician to travel to your site.

Call 0800 PCTECH now to take advantage of this offer.

In This months newsletter

By Lindsay,
In this months newsletter a number of topics were covered.
Management productivity
Hard drive crashes (again)
And a special deal on a personal colour laser printer only available to newsletter readers.