Tweet

As I’ve been answering a journalist’s questions this week, I’ve also been thinking about the articles, blogs and presentations that I’ve given over the past three years on the subject of cloud based services.

Ironically, three years ago we were calling them managed hosted services – which we had been doing for about seven years! So has anything actually changed or is it just PR spin?

NSUK began offering remote back-up services to a number of companies who required storage and proper back-up processes that they couldn’t do themselves. Over time we began hosting other services too, like Microsoft Exchange. Now, it’s not uncommon for a customer to hold all the IT services with us.

But one thing has definitely risen in popularity – the accessibility to these services. The likes of Google Apps and Microsoft 365 have brought low cost cloud services to the masses. Whilst it doesn’t offer the same flexibility as our private cloud services can, it could reduce the IT costs for a SME significantly.

Plus as Internet connectivity (even broadband!) is improving in many places, connecting has become far more efficient than when we started ten years ago.

So if you haven’t looked at hosting any of your services yet, you might be missing out and being left behind your competitors. Isn’t it worth a call to find out a bit more about it?

I don’t normally read through the PM’s speeches but this one makes a lot of sense!

http://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2012/03/19/david-cameron-s-road-privatisation-sp

If you don’t want to read through it, the key points are that he believes our Victorian-laid infrastructure may be a bit outdated and it’s having an effect on business. It may cost billions to put right but it’s investment in infrastructure that’s key right now.

And he’s right!

In my personal soap box corner, investing in good communications for your business can only be a good thing.
Whilst the costs for fibre optics are high, there’s a really good reason for that -it’s so much better than those Victorian copper pairs that you are relying on for broadband.

A business fibre ‘leased line’ really is an investment in the same way as is investing in your staff. You don’t just look at what an employee’s salary is to decide if they are going to help your business grow – do you? So why do it with fibre? (and by the way fibre is usually cheaper and less hassle than a member of staff!).

I don’t usually enable the comments feature on my blogs but I’m keen to hear from businesses on this one. Have you recently moved to a fibre line? What difference has it made? Have to looked at the costs but not seen the benefit?

Let us know!

(If you have come here from Twitter, welcome!)

If you’ve failed to be caught up in the techno hype of Raspberry Pi then here’s a quick summary:

Credit card sized computer built on LINUX costing $25 to encourage an increase in computer programming, which we appear to be losing through schools and Universities. It’s a project supported by Cambridge University.

This morning, at 6am the first batch of 10,000 went on sale and was scooped up in seconds, crashing the website with the number of hits. Fans of the Pi then went onto forums such as Twitter- which also was struggled under the deluge.

But why so much interest?

For me, it was about returning to the skills I learnt on my first BBCMicro home computer and at university. I wanted to see what I and my colleagues could programme. I am also still keen to get hold of some for local schools.  The Raspberry Pi charitable organisation is certainly right that schools don’t go far enough with computing skills. Knowing how to create a formula in Excel is NOT IT. Pupils and students need computers to ‘play’ with, to investigate and problem solve.

I just hope the next batch won’t be too far behind whilst it has the hype.

Apple may lead the technology market in status but to retain our computing skills I’d rather have a Raspberry Pi.

Winning IT strategies give companies a clear competitive advantage in a tough economy as they allow greater agility as corporate strategies adapt to the market to stay ahead of rivals. The worst decision is to change nothing as technology moves fast and being stationery in fact, leaves you behind.

Even when the New York Giants and New England Patriots took the field on Sunday, they weren’t doing battle in soft leather helmets with no face masks. And there certainly wasn’t a spotty teenager on the sideline ladling out water from a tin bucket to quench their thirst after a big play.

So, if the Super Bowl teams have embraced emerging technology, why shouldn’t you?

However deciding between the different strategies can feel like you’re writing the Giants’ Play Book. Should you go for on-premise equipment with support from a third party? Recruit a backfield team of IT professionals? Migrate your services to the cloud or fully out-source with a dedicated hosted platform?

And whilst serious consideration is a must, taking too long a time-out to make the decision can also play into your competitors’ hands or force you into a Hail Mary situation.

But when you get the decision right, you free-up your key staff so that they can work more productively…and then the touchdowns come more easily.

NSUK works on a consultative basis with customers to ensure the right decision is reached for their needs. And sometimes that will mean not taking out services straightaway.

Plus our experienced project management team works closely with customers on their projects to help make a smooth transition during the changeover.

If you are looking to make up the yards in your IT, it’s worth finding out what we’ve got in our game plan that might just help.

In case the American Football terminology is a bit too obscure for you, here’s the link to the NFL official glossary http://www.nfl-360.com/glossary

This time last year we were blissfully unaware of the snow heading our way. For some, the winter wonderland created a magical time to get out the sledges, build a snowman and play in the snow or cuddle up in front of a crackling fire.

But for businesses it was mayhem.

Staff that actually came in struggled with traffic tailbacks and crashes on the journeys to and from the office, or braved walking across icy footpaths and treacherous roads, or waited for public transport that hardly ran at all.

Many stayed at home.

An article published in the Daily Telegraph last February reckoned that a fifth of Britain’s workforce stayed at home during the December ‘Big Freeze’ with a loss of business to the country costing about £1.2 billion over the snow-bound period. So whilst many people are preparing themselves with snow shovels and grit. What can your business do to ensure you are not left out in the cold this winter?

Here’s our winter survival kit (and we supply all items if you’re interested!)

Test your systems actually work!
Isn’t hind-sight a great thing?! If only you’d checked last night’s backup actually did what it was supposed to. Do a restore test before you need to. It’s particularly important over the Christmas break when there’s less attention paid to these systems…unless they go horribly wrong!

SSL VPN
Without the need for installation on every machine, SSL VPN’s will provide remote access over a standard web browser allowing remote users with access to Web applications, client/server applications and internal network connections. So if your workers have broadband and a home PC there’s little reason for them to be completely snowed in with nothing to do on a work day!

Two Factor Authentication (2FA)
It sounds more complicated than it really is. It works a bit like your debit/credit cards. They’re something you have (the card) and something you know (your PIN) to enable access to your money. The 2FA token/device provides you with a one-time password to give you access to the systems you are logging into e.g your SSL VPN. Next time you log in you need to provide a new password from your token. There’s more information on our website but in short, it provides an additional level of security making sure those accessing the system are really who they say they are.

Hosted services/outsourced IT
This is increasingly becoming the main-stay of the Net Support portfolio. The press like to use the ‘cloud computing’ terminology but in essence, it’s outsourcing part or all of your IT services leaving your company free to concentrate on its core skills and take advantage of a full IT department at your fingertips- even if it snows!

VoIP
Voice over IP offers real flexibility as well as telephony cost savings for businesses. Calls can be routed to any phone in or out of the office to any landline or mobile with ease. Our hosted VoIP solution gives you enterprise-grade functionality that’s even affordable for SME’s.

Video conferencing (VC)
Just because you can’t get somewhere doesn’t mean you can’t join the meeting. VC reduces travel time and cost whilst increasing employee productivity. Choose from individual laptop based software or full immersive conference suites to transport you to meetings anywhere in the world at any time.

Lync
Unified communications enable you to work from anywhere at any time and on any suitable device. Real-time information keeps you in touch with colleagues whilst the online collaboration enables material sharing without sending emails back and forth. Plus it integrates all the best features of VoIP telephony and video conferencing. The Microsoft Lync server integrates with all your Office applications so you can really be productive wherever you are this winter.

Be one step ahead this winter- call us on 029 200 22 300 or email sales@tewdric.com