Happy Thanksgiving

I want to do a shout out to all of our clients, employees and partners! I am very Thankful to be a part of your world!
THANK YOU!
Mike

Clouds

 Get off of my Cloud

Who can forget the 60’s hit Get off my Cloud by the Rolling Stones? If this was written today by any of the tens of thousands of Cloud providers, they would be singing PLEASE get on MY Cloud. Cloud computing is about as hot as things get in IT. When you combine it with the other super hot technology, Virtualization, you get a Perfect Storm scenario, where we the people (the ones who use computing every day to make a living) ultimately win.

There is no doubt that the Cloud concept along with Virtualization are the two biggest items in IT right now; and rightfully so. Done correctly, either of these technologies can save a company money, sometimes lots and lots of money. Who could argue with that, given the American business mantra of do more with less?

So let me give you a quick overview on Cloud computing. First let me define the Cloud. We have all seen pictures of networks and how they work, usually when you are accessing anything beyond your Local Area Network (LAN) you head into the Cloud, the Cloud represents the internet. Here’s an example:

 What’s inside the Cloud? Anything that has to do with data, originally it was mostly moving data from one place to another, but today, data can stop along the way and get altered in some fashion and then passed on.

Now, you could argue that the Cloud replaces the Black Box of old, although usually what goes into a Black Box, comes out quite differently on the other end, that is not always true with Cloud computing.

Where this argument holds even more water is when we look at the fact that your application may be in the Cloud. So data going in might be very different from data coming out. Nevertheless, Cloud computing is here to stay. Odds are that you will have some private or non-Cloud data on your desktop computer and some data in the Cloud, these will combine to offer you a unique computing experience on your desktop. However there are some Cloud providers, Google comes to mind, that would rather you have a simple thin client computer (not really a lot of horsepower or storage) as your desktop and that the Cloud does most of the work… hmmm… that is eerily reminiscent of the 1960’s mainframe era when we used dumb terminals and the guys in the “glass house” ran the show on their mainframe computers. Of course we then had the PC revolution started, or at least accelerated and dominated, by our friends at Apple and Microsoft. We the people (Users of technology) wanted to take the power back from the old time “Cloud” and we did a good job of it. Are we ready to let it go again? I feel you could argue this either way, and I’m sure if anyone at Google has read this far, they are thinking NO, this guy doesn’t get it! Well to a degree maybe. The Cloud today allows a lot of personal customization, this is due to the sheer horsepower contained in the Cloud and the ability to slice up the processing of information (Think Virtualization) to ensure your stuff and my stuff only meet when we want them to.

So how does this help you? The benefits of Cloud computing, especially for very small companies can be compelling. If you have less than 5 employees (most businesses in the US), putting your data (or most of your data) in the Cloud can make good business sense. It costs less than provisioning a server for your company, yet you get very tight security and you can access your data from anywhere.

What is the downside? If any part of the Cloud you are using goes down, you are stuck. What happens when someone cuts a wire while digging in front of your building? If you can’t reach the Cloud, or your application provider goes down (it happens, more often than we would think) not much work gets done. What happens if hackers decide to focus on a giant pool of data, contained in the Cloud instead of trying to exploit each individual computer? These are questions we need to ask ourselves.

Do I use the Cloud? You bet, my email Spam filter is a Cloud based application and it is absolutely fantastic. Here is a case where we get economies of scale because SPAM effects everyone, having a Cloud based spam filter allows that provider to handle millions of emails a day and they can better control what is spam and what is not.

If you want to explore Cloud computing options for your small business, or you have questions or comments, please email me Mikego@sf-it.com or call 678-353-3222 x105

Thank you,

Mike

Going for the GOLD!

I am happy to report that StrategicFusion has recently attained its GOLD Certified Partner Status with Microsoft. Previously we were a Certified Partner, now we are GOLD Certified. This does not change our additional Small Business Specialist Certification from Microsoft, except that it might look a little better now that we are GOLD. This certification is something we have worked and strived for as it helps further differentiate us when talking to our clients and prospects. Microsoft doesn’t make it easy to attain GOLD level certification, but they do make it easy to understand what is needed to attain it. For example, Not only do we need to have certain levels of staffing to help address client computer issues, but we need to show proficiency, via direct customer feedback (e.g. references), regarding our knowledge, experience and how well we did on a particular project. Our references are stellar, but then again, so are our clients! Running a Help Desk and Support team for hundreds of users can be logistically challenging but a challenge we look forward to, and embrace, every day. Clearly our clients think we are doing a good job as our overall satisfaction rating from our most recent annual Customer Satisfaction Survey (affectionately called CSAT) was 95%. I wasn’t surprised by this, as our own survey’s validate this data, but nevertheless I was very pleased to hear such positive feedback from our clients. I believe a huge part of our success is based on two things, the people that make up StrategicFusion, without them we would have nothing to deliver, and secondly, but no less important our clients without whom we would not exist. One of the key learning’s we have had is that communicating clearly and repeatedly is crucial to our success and the success of those we server. Of course like any business there is always room for improvement, any good company (especially in the technology sector) knows that when sitting on your laurels your competitors, and the market in general can (and will) pass you by. So rest assured we will not stop, we will not sit back, we will continue to march forward with Microsoft as our Partner, putting our clients best interest first! Mike

Do you BING Version2

Do you BING? Version 2

You may recall in August I committed to use BING instead of Google for 30 days. Well 30 days has come and gone and I still use BING for 95% of my online searches. Some reasons are obvious, some more subtle. For example, if I search for video on a certain subject, just by moving my mouse across the video thumbnail on the results page the video and audio begin to play. I really like this because you don’t have to make the leap to a different site like YouTube, and the preview factor is great. My friend likes the fact that searches don’t return a lot of extra results you don’t care about (Along the lines of the TV commercials you see from Microsoft).No doubt that Google is close on the heels of any advance Microsoft may bring to the table. This will be a long drawn out battle of feature by feature increments. This is good for us (the users) because we get much better products. I have a huge amount of faith in Microsoft as they have won this war before (remember Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect?). Today, the pace is much faster because of the online nature of the search engine.I have tried the shopping and travel features as well and found it very interesting I could compare sites very easily. Do you BING? Give it a try for 30 days and let me know what you think Mikego@sf-it.com Mike

I’m still not sure how it will all fall out…

As August comes to a close I feel a twinge of sadness that summer is ending, yet I can’t help but feel a sense of excitement that Fall is around the corner and what the cooler weather will bring! Clearly we live an astonishingly awesome world, just when you start getting bored, something pops up to keep it interesting and exciting. Social media (think Twitter) is along these lines. I’m not sure why it’s a good thing, not sure why I care what Lance Armstrong is eating for breakfast today, but find it very interesting to watch it evolve at an incredible speed. Where’s it going? Stay tuned.

Do you Bing?

Do you BING?

Of course we all Google, it has become ubiquitous, it has become its own verb. I have been telling folks who are looking for specific knowledge about a subject to “Google it”. But of course, Google has its draw backs . . . I won’t go into depth here on the wonders or shortcomings of search engines in general, but I do recall an article I read a few years ago and the author predicted that search engines would become similar to having a TV camera outside a stadium after a big event like a world series or Super Bowl, where fans crowd around behind the reporter, shouting and holding up signs to get their message across, sometimes making it impossible for the real information to get out.
You see this phenomenon when you go looking for something but get everything you don’t want, my pet peeve are the rating sites, “no one has rated this restaurant yet, you can be the first” sorry, I was looking for a menu.
With that said, I believe it’s just time before search engines get better at weeding out the “non-informative site”. BING (http://www.bing.com) is doing an excellent job of this.
Based on my initial skepticism of using another Microsoft attempt at search, I have been pleasantly surprised. I even set it as my default search on my Phone (MotoQ9c).
I am committing to spend the next 30 days using only BING. I am doing this because I have found as I use it I become more and more addicted to the little things BING does. For example, put something in the search (BING) box and click on Images on the left. What you’ll notice is that there is only one page of images that will scroll seemingly forever if you pick something like Atlanta or Michael Jackson I let you know more next month about what I find.
Are you backing up your corporate data to a safe secure offsite location? If not we can help, call me 678-353-3222.
Mike
mikego@sf-it.com

SMART MOVE: Spend money on technology now

A number of years ago I worked in the Fortune 500, at companies like Microsoft, Oracle and General Electric. One of the things I noticed was that these companies hired and invested in smart people.

I’ve noticed the same thing about small businesses (for our discussion here, companies with less than 50 employees) as well, lots of smart people!

The question is how do you get smart people to be productive? The answer is to give them the tools necessary to do their jobs quickly and efficiently. Technology is the true driver of efficiency (and by that I mean revenue and profits) in any business, but it makes a huge difference in small business especially if your company is partially or totally made up of Knowledge Workers. Examples of Knowledge Workers include Doctors, Dentists, Lawyers, Architects, Realtors, Accountants, anyone in Management, Administration or Finance, Small Business Owners and others. You’ll note that I called out Small Business Owners. Even though you may manufacture things like Wedding Cakes, Chocolates, whatever, Small Business owners do a lot of Knowledge Work that takes up a good portion of everyday, Sales, Marketing, Finance; all of these roles are filled by Knowledge Workers.

The term Knowledge Worker has been around for a while and we tend to throw it around without too much thought. The fact is that knowledge work is a competitive advantage for the U.S. No other country in the world has the resources and ability that we have, especially when we put our mind to something. If you think about this a little bit, you’ll come up with tons of examples, but the moon landing, our technology lead in the world as well as thousands of other examples makes us number one. Don’t let the current economic news throw you off course. Our Automobile, Construction, Financial and Medical industries are not about to go away.

So how can Knowledge Workers be most efficient? Give them the right tools, running on good systems and let them do what they do best.

The better serviced your company’s computer systems are, the more efficient and productive both you and your employees will be.

In a downturn, the companies that do the best job of realizing efficiencies from their systems, are the ones who are well positioned for the turnaround (which always comes, I promise). The companies, who think they are going to save a few bucks now, by putting this off, doing it themselves or having the kid down the street fix their systems, are in for a rude awakening. Your competitors are hiring people like us and I can assure you that we will do whatever it takes to keep our clients alive and well, as they are our life blood (think about it, no clients, no business) so we have a vested interest in doing everything we can for them to help them leverage technology to get the most out of it.

The bottom line is that NOW is the time to invest in your computer systems, to take advantage when the turnaround comes.

Mike
mikego@sf-it.com

How strong are your passwords?

Most people don’t realize that computer security starts with them. An easy way to hold off trouble is to use strong passwords that you change every so often.

What is a strong Password? It is a password that is easily remembered by you, contains uppercase letters, lower case letters, a number or two, a special character and is at least 8 characters in length.

Sounds hard, but it’s really easy when you use things you are familiar with.

For example, if I grew up at 245 Lucky Street, I might make my password Lucky245& Notice I’ve used Uppercase and Lowercase Letters, I have 3 numbers and a special character.

Here are some variations on the above password luCky24%, LuckY245$, luckY245* You can come up with a bunch if you just think about it a little bit.

Another example might be something you like, like Ice Cream, you could change it to 1cecr3@M Notice that I changed the first I in ice Cream to the numeral 1. The second e is represented by the number 3, sort of an E in reverse. The “a” became an @ sign.

Why go to all this bother?
It’s almost impossible to break strong passwords. Passwords that are easy to break are common words or names (like Mike, Jump, Secret, Car, Emily, or, my favorite, and yours, Password).

Don’t think for a minute that someone is actually sitting somewhere on the globe thinking about your password, they’ve automated all that. They start a software program that goes after known vulnerabilities, or specific targets that contain a lot of valuable data, like Credit Cards, Personal Identification, such as Social Security numbers, date of birth, etc. The software does the work for them.

Why do we need passwords at all? Simply put, it is a matter of Authentication. Are you who you say you are, or are you someone who is pretending to be someone else? When a you are pulled over by a police officer for speeding, the first thing he asks you for is . License and Registration. The License authenticates who you are via the photo, signature, basic information about you like eye color, date of birth, height, weight, address, etc.

The registration authenticates ownership of the vehicle. (Passports are a very good form of Authentication as well) The bottom line is this, if you don’t want someone else looking at your data, use strong passwords to protect it.  Here’s a good article on the Microsoft Website: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc756109.aspx

Mike
mikego@sf-it.com

Time Travel with Your Computer

“Why doesn’t my computer work today when it was just fine yesterday”? This is a question we get weekly, if not daily at our Help Desk. It’s a question people ask me when I am out and about, in both social and business situations. We are used to things working correctly, day in and day out. Usually the car or dishwasher will start complaining loudly when something goes wrong, but it’s very frustrating to have your computer working fine one day and stopped in its tracks the next.

There is an easy fix for this but I would consider it temporary at best. However, this fix could easily save you from missing a deadline or losing a very important client.

We have found that most of the time, computer systems stop functioning (or more likely parts of a system) because the software on the computer has been patched, or updated.

What is a patch or update, you might ask. A few years ago, before the Internet was so pervasive, you would buy a computer and the software to go with it and it rarely was updated. That’s because most systems were not connected to the internet, had very slow dial-up connections or they were protected behind corporate firewalls. The rise of the Internet and fast connections changed all that.

Today systems have fast connections and are attached most of the time to the internet. All computers are susceptible computer virus or malware. To stop the spread of virus’ software companies regularly patch or update their software. Why they have to patch is a subject for another day but suffice it to say that the little box you work in every day has a complexity inside it that makes even people in the know step back in awe. Microsoft Windows XP alone has in excess of 77 million lines of computer code, some of it dating back to the early 1980’s.

So what is causing the problem? What most likely is happening when a system is not running properly after running well previously is that the system has updated or patched itself, and you are getting a conflict of some type.

To fix it temporarily, as the system is beginning to boot up, you can press the F8 key repeatedly during this process and it will take you to a black and white screen that will have several choices, pick “LAST KNOWN GOOD CONFIGURATION” this will reset your drivers and software back a day or so that the system will again work okay. Kudos to the engineers at Microsoft who came up with this idea and then included it in all versions of Windows.

CAUTION: There are some caveats with this procedure, clearly you are stepping back in time and removing some update that is important for your system, so you will need to get it checked out and then proceed as usual. As we learned from movies such as “Back to the Future” time travel has both its good and bad sides. Also we can only go back in time not forward, so use with caution.

When we apply patches to computers we run the patches through a series of tests to ensure the least amount of disruption to your systems.  Enjoy the spring and daylight savings time and happy computing!

Mike
mikego@sf-it.com

How the Internet Got Its Rules

Well worth the few minutes it takes to read – from todays New York Times, enjoy
http://tinyurl.com/cuqhjy