Author: The Web Clinic
Member Since: 2011-07-28 14:52:16
Posts by The Web Clinic:
February 6th, 2012 by The Web Clinic
Cloud Computing means that staff will not be bound to one desk in one office in any one location any longer. This is made possible through virtualised desktops and many more cloud-based applications being used. It is surely one of the most attractive effects that Cloud Computing has on business by far and means that both businesses and workers will be freed from the traditional constraints imposed by IT.
Hot desking could become the norm providing more convenient working practises for staff but also will provide economies for businesses looking to reduce workspace costs. The trend towards this type of working could now be fuelled by economic conditions which may drive adoption of the Cloud.
There is nowhere in the British economy feeling the cold as much as the public sector so its traditional reticence to adopt new technology may be overcome in order to benefit from the cost benefits. There is so much pressure on these organisations to comply with government cuts that Cloud Computing may be adopted as a means to help deliver better operational cost savings.”
However with opportunities also come challenges to overcome with this increase in mobility. The main challenge will be for IT managers and CIOs to keep control of their IT. Governance is going to be a major issue over the next year as Cloud really takes off in a big way and changes the way we all work.
To know more about cloud computing services, log on to Ziptech Services Ltd.
February 2nd, 2012 by The Web Clinic
According to a recent report by Forrester, 2012 is the year that Cloud Computing will go through its awkward teenage year. Understanding fully the requirements needed to ensure a successful move to the Cloud is all part of this phase. Businesses just need to be helped through by experts that have the experience and knowledge to make it work for them – so they can start enjoying the many benefits offered by Cloud Computing.
Part of this will be understanding and planning for the network connections needed to support the move of services and infrastructure to the Cloud. It’s not a sexy side of Cloud Computing that is often discussed – after all benefits like reduced costs and mobile workforces are far more interesting. None the less it is essential to the planning stage and ultimately to Cloud Computing success.
For more details about cloud computing services, log on to Ziptech Services Ltd.
January 27th, 2012 by The Web Clinic
But the thing that really leverages this cheap package software functionality is Cloud Computing. With Cloud computing you can turn on and off application licenses and server resources as you need them. The flexibility that Cloud Computing delivers is incredible. What’s even better is that with Cloud Computing you only pay for what you use, usually on a monthly basis.
At my own company we are moving into Cloud Computing. Currently we are partially Cloud Computing based (also known as Hybrid Cloud Computing) and I can see a point in time, not far away, when we will be completely Cloud Computing based. I believe it will enable us to accelerate the growth and profitability of our business.
January 27th, 2012 by The Web Clinic
The current version of Microsoft Windows Server operating system has moved far from its humble beginnings. Microsoft Windows server software has an incredible range of easy to use features now. Features like its remote access, recovery, superb security, etc. are all excellent.
What’s best of all the price is within reach of almost all SMB’s. Meanwhile the sophistication of packaged software has grown beyond all recognition as well.
I marvel at the sophistication and flexibility of modern packaged software. For example the functionality that you can get QuickBooks would have cost you 100 times more only 15 years ago! In my own business we use a series of software packages (including QuickBooks) and they are absolutely superb.
Without these computer systems my business would not have been able to grow as quickly nor be as profitable as it is.I didn’t need to commission bespoke software to keep up with the corporates. I have everything I need in a few relatively inexpensive packages.
For more details about IT Support for PCs, log on to http://ziptechservices.co.uk/.
December 13th, 2011 by The Web Clinic
As the founder of an IT Support London company I am constantly amazed how little money business owners are prepared to spend on their IT. Being in the IT Support business we see the result of this amongst prospective clients every day. When we get called into a company there is often already an IT Support crisis of some kind – and in many cases it could have been avoided.
The trouble is – IT support crises can be real showstoppers. No back up? Replacing company data can mean curtains for a small business. No email? Vital orders and client communications will be impossible and could mean significant revenue losses. Little or no IT support? Staff will have a frustrating experience at work which could have indirect costs of high staff turnover and poor morale. No one wants to work in an atmosphere where colleagues are constantly angry and stressed because they can’t do their jobs.
In an ideal world where a company’s IT has been planned, invested in, maintained and valued it will just act as the business enabler – whirling away in the background ensuring your core business runs smoothly.
IT Support Bargain? Caveat Emptor
As I see it, if a company’s IT is just seen as another commodity where rock bottom bargain prices must be achieved for everything from hardware to IT Support then the core business could be in jeopardy.
Of course recessionary times bring out the bargain hunter in us all. Everyone loves a deal. And the IT Support industry is as competitive as any. Don’t get me wrong, competition is a healthy thing. It keeps us all on our toes.
My advice? Be suspicious when you’re quoted rock bottom prices for support and services. The reality in terms of service delivered to you could be very different. Value your IT in the same way you value your core business and you won’t go too far wrong – I think it’s as simple as that.
December 2nd, 2011 by The Web Clinic
2012 will be the year that Cloud Computing finally goes mainstream. As the owner of a small business serving other small businesses I understand the reticence of many of my clients to take the leap of faith with Cloud Computing. But in the last 6 months there has been a definite change in attitudes and I believe this has resulted from the convergence of two major influences: the media and the economic conditions – which together have created the perfect storm for Cloud Computing.
Cloud computing media coverage has increased over the year but it has also changed. At the beginning of the year pieces included ‘Cloud Computing hype warning’ and the term Cloud Computing was confined to technology sections of the BBC website and broadcasting. However on the 29th November the BBC reported the news that the Scottish hosting and Cloud Computing firm Iomart had more than doubled half-year profits after big growth in the business making £2.4m in the six months to October, compared with £1.15m in the same period last year. Positive reporting such as this has increasingly normalised the term Cloud Computing and removed negative associations that risk-averse small business owners may feel when hearing about new technologies.
The economic situation has made life tough for small businesses and has forced them to rationalise costs wherever possible. Cloud Computing offers them a tempting opportunity to reduce their IT costs by getting rid of the office server and only paying for application use on a pay as you go basis.
These two factors in combination have created ideal conditions for Cloud Computing to be adopted in significant numbers across the SMB sector.
November 15th, 2011 by The Web Clinic
I also stated that computers and IT Support were of importance to “many” businesses – not all. There are definitely businesses in which a big IT Support budget would make little difference.
If technology makes your industry significantly more effective at whatever it does then your competitors will use it to gain advantage over you.
Look at how Amazon has leapfrogged all of its competitors with an impressive technology strategy. Amazon has used technology to change the entire publishing industry.
And it’s not just large companies. I have a client employing about 30 people which has had a bespoke web based application written to give them a real competitive edge. It won’t change their industry the way Amazon has the book industry, but they have stolen a march on their competitors. They have grown their revenue and profits rapidly.
November 14th, 2011 by The Web Clinic
If you can believe everything you read about Cloud Computing adoption amongst SMBs the US seems to be leading the way with a reported 50% of them already using the Cloud. Disruptive technologies such as Cloud services, tablet adoption and virtualisation technology are apparently very big for SMBs this year. But is this just another attempt to kick start a sluggish SMB market with an ill disguised attempt at making them keep up with the Jones’s?
Let’s look at the UK market for a moment. If there is any sector of the business community that has acted as an economic barometer it would have to be the SMB market. Prudence to the point of killing innovation would be one way of putting it – so at first glance it’s difficult to see why Cloud Computing Services would be interesting. And yet it is…
Running an IT Support company like Ziptech we really understand the trials of the past couple of years through our relationships with our clients. Many of these clients now see that Cloud Computing offers benefits for their businesses that cannot be ignored. No servers in the office, no maintenance costs of servers as well as a pay as you go approach to application provision all stack up in their favour.
So is Cloud Computing a model that will be popular with SMBs? We certainly think so.
September 21st, 2011 by The Web Clinic
Closed Circuit Television, commonly known as CCTV, was created and introduced to the world for the purpose of security primarily. Accordingly, it was installed in places where there are chances of security breach or risk to people or property. Most buildings, business centres or private homes, today have a CCTV system installed where cameras are attached to the entrance of the building and these cameras are connected to monitors that you can check constantly. Same is the case of public places like banks, theatres, concert halls, shopping malls, etc.
However, protection is not the only purpose for which you can use the CCTV systems today. In fact, in many places and organizations, it is used for a lot of different reasons which probably its makers had never thought of while making it. Here are a few other reasons you can install a CCTV system besides security:
Training and education
When it comes to sales and public relations many employees don’t realize that their mannerisms and body language are noticed and deduced by clients or customers. This can sometimes offend or irritate the clients and make them leave not to return. Perhaps the employees themselves don’t realize this unless they get an opportunity to watch themselves. CCTV system can be of great help here. Not only can the employees can watch these recordings of themselves at work, they could also get tips on how to improve their mannerisms and start behaving in a more friendly way. And employers could use these recordings for training new staff as well.
Monitoring
Another best way to use CCTV systems is in prisons and police headquarters where the police can monitor the behaviour of criminals during questioning. Often, though the suspects lie about something, their body language automatically indicates that they are lying. This can help the police in changing their questioning tactic some way so that they could make the suspect blurt out the truth.
The same monitoring with CCTV can be used in class rooms or teaching sessions as well where the behaviour of the students can be monitored while classes are being taken. Similarly, while examinations are being conducted, this is the best way to check whether a student is cheating.
Covering stage performances or games
Yet another uncommon use to which CCTV system could be put is covering stage performances or matches for those who sit far behind to see clearly what is happening on the stage. Not all of the audience can sit on front row. CCTV systems help them to see what is exactly happening on the stage even if they couldn’t afford to sit on the front seats.
A little more research could give you even more ideas of using CCTV cameras and monitors. With the technology developing more and more each day, you cannot even guess the number of ways CCTV can be used in future. However, right now the services offered by this system are not any way less indeed.
September 12th, 2011 by The Web Clinic
LED’s have fast become the lighting method of choice. LED’s are a relatively new concept in terms of lighting large areas such as in homes and in offices. They have catapulted themselves to the number one lighting choice due to their low energy consumption, by swapping standard filament bulbs one can drastically reduce energy bills.
One area in which a large amount of electricity is consumed is in window displays. Often these displays are lit using bright, hot lighting, which is expensive to run and can be dangerous to leave on for 24 hours a day. By replacing these bulbs with New LED bulbs the energy bills will reduce. Most LED’s emit very little heat which means that they are safe to be able to stay on all day and all night.
At the moment there are several LED display lighting choice on the market including, Light Panels, Rotating Displays, Cable and Rod Displays and Acrylic Displays.
Why not also replace the bulbs in your home with LED bulbs? They can be purchased from most DIY high street retailers. What’s more, LED bulbs have a very long life, ranging between 7-10 years depending on the style of bulb. You’ll be amazed by how much you can save!
August 23rd, 2011 by The Web Clinic
- Budget for IT support just like rent or insurance – if your IT support bill varies from month to month, a managed service plan will help even it out and make budgeting much easier. Just make sure the plan you sign up for is all-inclusive with no hidden charges, caveats, or fees.
- Fix the IT Support problems not the symptoms – with a Managed Service your IT Support Company has a massive incentive to fix the real underlying problem to stop it recurring again. However a Pay-As-You-Go IT support company is happy to keep coming back to fix the symptom. After all they are paid on a time basis.
- Faster computer fixes – when you do have a problem a Managed Service provider is likely to be more familiar with you network. As a result it should be fixed faster.
- Less management time wasted on IT Support and management – IT can soak up a huge amount of your management time. Let’s face it: it’s not an easy area to manage unless you understand IT yourself. The average manager doesn’t understand IT (why should they – they have a business to run) and wastes a lot of unnecessary time on it.
The theory is that Managed Services reduces your overall IT costs by preventing problems and having an IT company that understands you’re IT and your business.
That’s why more and more businesses are moving to a monthly fixed price IT Support Agreement. But ultimately it’s your business and you must decide.
August 11th, 2011 by The Web Clinic
Microsoft no longer provides what it calls “Mainstream Support” for Windows XP. It went out of Mainstream Support in April 2009. This means that if you are running Windows XP Microsoft is only providing security updates now.
There are no bug fixes and no design updates. That’s not such an issue as most of the problems should have been ironed out by now. However if you do have a problem Microsoft aren’t going to fix it. That means that your IT Support Company will not be able to help you.
Most IT companies will have something in their contract that absolves them of responsibility in this situation and in my opinion that’s perfectly reasonable. Let’s face it, if Microsoft isn’t providing support how can your IT Company help you?
However it’s not reasonable of your IT Support Company to keep quiet about it. I’m sure they aren’t hiding it from you. They’re probably just not bothering to tell you about it because either they think you know anyway or they don’t bother keeping their clients informed.
Does it matter too your business that Windows XP has gone out of Mainstream Support? Yes it does, because at some point in time you will need to budget to replace it. Across the entire business this could be quite a considerable cost. For an SMB the costs could run to thousands. That’s a cost that most small businesses will want to know about well in advance.
August 4th, 2011 by The Web Clinic
How often does your support phone resound with the cries of a valued customer feeling that they have been let down, yet again, by business critical IT systems failing. Whether you provide IT support in Bristol, in New York, or in Hong Kong, the pain of their frustration is an experience of common humanity, suffering the pangs of technology downtime!
You reach that familiar point during this uncomfortable conversation with your customer, who wants to know why their systems are not working and how long it’s going to take to get it running again, when you realize that it’s too late, the damage has already been done to your business relationship! Yes you can pull out all the stops, get a team of people onto the job and lose money if necessary to get the problem fixed but it’s too late, your credibility has gone, and you have failed to provide the level of service that was the main reason why your customer chose your company in the first place.
So instead of all this bother, why not use the latest technologies to monitor your clients’ systems remotely, 24/7. This sort of technology is fundamental to the smooth running of any modern IT infrastructure, regardless of its size. Remote monitoring gives you the ability to see problems before they become business critical downtime problems. Very often IT systems, whether it’s a mail system, a router, a firewall or a printer will show characteristics of failure before it occurs. An example of this is the monitoring of the rotations of a hard drive which will show characteristics of up and coming failure weeks or even months before it actually happens. Proactive monitoring such as this is where you as an IT support company can differentiate yourself from the hundreds of IT support companies out there that are all doing the same thing, taking those frustrated call and then reacting to them, the typical break fix call.
Ultimately the introduction to remote monitoring technology will cost you, the IT Support provider, some serious money to implement and run and you may decide to increase your support costs to the customer, but we’ve found this to be a positive thing. In the early days, yes it was a scary prospect that we may lose clients due to increased costs but instead, what we found was that the customer is more than willing to pay a little bit more for preventative and proactive maintenance rather than reactive fixing. Your customers will understand that by paying a little bit more they now have the services that you offer via remote monitoring, which helps reduce the downtime and therefore potential loss of business revenue.
If you are reading this as an IT Support provider and saying to yourself: “That’s rubbish. It’s our job to fix it when its broken, to pull out all the stops” then perhaps you need to re-think your business model. The days of break-fix IT support have long gone! You as the IT support provider need to provide so much more to your loyal customers before someone else does!
August 3rd, 2011 by The Web Clinic
Display stands and frames are an old favourite in the display industry, especially when used in Estate Agents. Due to their ease of use and versatility they have become a popular display choice, however there are new products on the market that are all singing and all dancing.
LED lighting is shaping the future of window and interior displays. LED’s have replaced old fashioned filament bulbs and have become the lighting of choice in most high street retailers. LED’s are energy efficient and therefore cost very little to run. They also produce a huge range of different lights from intense bright white light to softer coloured options.
Now, retail display manufacturers are using these LED’s to create some truly stunning display units. These new displays can still be easily updated and changed but have a modern look and of course are self illuminated.
LED’s have become extremely popular with the enduser trade. Endusers appreciate that LED’s are very energy efficient, costing less to buy and only pennies to run, therefore saving them money from the word go. The demand for displays that use LED’s seems to be continuing to increase.
LED displays are ideal for retailers who are looking for a modern and cost effective display option. There are many different ranges of LED displays that will suit every business.
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