InfoBusiness 2.0

There are plenty of other tools and technologies available to help you run you business more efficiently and effectively.  Let’s take a look at seven of the most popular ones:

 

Free and Open-Source Software

Over the last several years, free and open-source software – which is available for everything from operating systems (Linux) and databases (mySQL) to Web servers, email clients, ERP systems, and CRM software (SugarCRM) – has matured enough to earn a sizeable share of the enterprise market.  Today’s open source software is stable, user-friendly, and most importantly, free.  You can even get free support for most issues via Internet forums and communities, or you can purchase a service/support plan from a software vendor. 

 

You can find out more about open source software and related technologies at The Open Source Initiative. 

 

Automation

Every business has manual, repetitive tasks that waste resources.  By identifying and automating these activities, which can include order processing, invoicing, email correspondence, collection letters, and other duties, you can save time and money, while freeing up your staff for more mission-critical work.  Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems from vendors like SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft provide the most comprehensive automation for company-wide processes. 

 

Project Management & Collaboration Tools

Most major, mission-critical projects involve multiple staff members in different departments.  You may even have projects that require resources to be managed across several companies.  There are solutions available to help enhance workflow and coordinate activities and tasks, while giving all stakeholders instantaneous access to critical project-related documents and information.  For small to mid-sized project teams, check out Microsoft SharePoint, a robust software package that combines collaboration capabilities with document and project management functionality.  SharePoint will allow you to share information, project status and history reports, and calendars among team members.  It can be installed on a Windows server, or rented through many third-party hosting companies. 

 

Another solution worth a look is Web Office, which was developed by the creators of WebEx and Groove (Groove is now part of Microsoft). 

 

If you don’t need anything more than the most basic collaboration capabilities, you can use e-mail, Internet messaging tools like MSN and Yahoo, or shared file storage – all of which are free.  Or, try using Microsoft Outlook with Microsoft Exchange Server configured for shared security to link documents and calendars. 

 

New online meeting tools also enable more effective collaboration and increased productivity by allowing companies to host sales meetings, remote support sessions, and Web seminars.  The most popular solutions in this market include Microsoft Live Meeting, WebEx, and Citrix GoToMeeting.  There is even free online meeting software available (check out Vyew).     

 

Remote Access

Telecommuters, remote offices or branch locations, and frequent travelers are quite common in today’s business environment. In fact, 9.3 million people telecommute at least one day a week, and that number is expected to grow at a rate of 15% annually over the next several years.  In order to keep everyone linked together, you’ll need to set up remote computer access for mobile or off-site workers.   Remote access capabilities can be obtained through software like RealVNC or pcAnywhere, or via services such as Logmein, GoToMyPC, or WebEx Now.  Some solutions, like RealVNC or LogMeIn, are free.  Others will charge a few dollars per month, or $100 to $200 per computer. 

 

Network Faxing

If you send and receive a high volume of faxes, you can increase efficiency by setting up a centralized fax server.  This will allow your employees to print to a fax from any Windows application.  A free fax server comes bundled with the Small Business Edition of Microsoft Windows 2003 Server.  Or, you can purchase and download fax software from companies such as Symantec or WinFax.  You can also try eFax, which is an affordable service for Internet-based faxing. 

 

Hooking up your fax line through your VoIP service (fax services are available through any VoIP provider) will eliminate the need for you to pay to send long distance faxes to North American numbers, and can save you a significant amount of money on International faxes.  You can also set up your fax server to email all faxes to a designated person or list of people, or to print them out automatically. 

 

I recommend delivery of faxes via email.  Products on the market include the GFI Fax Server, or you can opt for services from TrustFax, eFax and other providers.  These services provide you with a fax line that is either free, or very inexpensive.  All faxes coming into the line will be automatically forwarded to you as an email attachment.  I also suggest printing and filing hard copies for archiving and record-keeping purposes. 

 

Unified Messaging

A few years ago, someone came up with a brilliant idea.  Link all communication mechanisms into one complete, fully-integrated system.  So, voice mail, email, faxes, pagers, and other communication mediums were all tied seamlessly together to become unified messaging.  Since then, many providers have come and gone.  But, unified messaging still plays a vital role in today’s work environments.   Most modern office systems come with this feature already enabled.  Telephony equipment companies like Cisco, Nortel, or BizPhone, or third-party unified messaging providers like Onebox, GotVMail, or Innoport offer this service to both companies and individuals.  

 

Unified messaging works via a single dedicated phone number or extension. All voice mail messages and faxes that come in to this number are automatically forwarded to an email address as an attachment.  Users then open and listen to their messages or view their faxes through their email client.  Unified messaging makes busy professionals more accessible and easier to reach, while helping the companies they work for to better organize their communications. 

 

Video Security

If your company employs more than five people, or if valuable items are stored in your offices, then it’s wise to install a computer video security system.  Video security systems can boost staff productivity, minimize wasted time, and reduce internal theft by at least 50 percent.  They will also reduce your insurance fees (contact your insurance company for more specific information about rate reductions). 

 

Most video security systems provide secure Internet access to cameras.  Users who want to see what’s happening at any point in time simply log in to the monitoring software through any Web browser.  Captured images are usually stored for a period of six weeks to six months, so video footage be viewed at a later date, if needed. 

 

You can “build-it-yourself” by purchasing all cameras, DVRs (digital video recorder servers), and software separately.  But, I recommend bringing in a specialist, who has experience installing similar systems, and can ensure that your solution is deployed in the best and most cost-effective manner. 

 

Biometrics in Time & Attendance

Many companies retain a large number of employees who work on an hourly basis.  For those businesses, installing a biometric-based time and attendance system can dramatically increase efficiency and accuracy, while cutting payroll expenses by up to eight percent. 

 

Biometrics are designed to replace manual time cards.  Instead of punching a paper card, employees insert their hand or finger into a reader and enter their employee ID number.  The system then verifies their access level (and authorizes or denies access as appropriate), tracks all punch-ins and punch-outs, and automatically calculates hours worked and overtime (using rounding rules).  With biometrics, companies have a complete record of who logged in, where they logged in, and at what time.  This can help accelerate payroll processing and eliminate data errors and re-work, while putting a stop to the unwanted “buddy punching” (where co-workers fraudulently clock each other in) that can cost companies up to 5 percent of their annual payroll. 

 

Over the past few years, the cost of biometric-based solutions has come down significantly.  Small companies with 50 people or less can now purchase a fully-functional fingerprint system, complete with all hardware and software, for less than $1000.  More information about biometrics can be found through PayPunch.com.

Special Report:

Small Business Advisory Guide:

The 7 Most Costly Mistakes Companies Make When Choosing A New Phone System…

And How To Avoid Them

 

 

This exclusive insider’s report will reveal:

 

§  Eight critical questions you should ask any phone vendor before signing a contract.

§  How to avoid getting talked into unnecessary bells and whistles and expensive maintenance contracts.

§  How to avoid getting locked into a complicated system that you can’t support in-house, or expand without significant upgrade costs.

§  What features and support to demand in the basic package.

§  Why it’s so important to purchase an “open system”.

§  The single most important feature in a voice mail system; overlook this feature and you’ll regret it forever.

 

The 7 Most Expensive Mistakes Companies Make When Choosing A New Phone System… And How To Avoid Them

 

No matter which way you look at it, buying a new phone system can be a significant investment for any business.

 

      It can be an even more expensive and frustrating process if you end up making many of the costly mistakes that trap buyers into:

 

• Paying too much for unnecessary bells and whistles and ongoing maintenance.
  
  
• Getting locked into a complicated system that you can’t support in-house or expand without significant upgrade costs.
  
  
• Not getting the features you need in the base package.

 

Worse yet, once you’ve spent the time and money to install a new system, you’re pretty much stuck with it and the last thing you want is an overpriced, complicated system that requires a lot of outside maintenance.

 

Who I Am And How I Can Help You Avoid Making A

Bad Decision On Your Next Phone System

 

My name is Andrei Parabellum. Over the last 10 years we’ve installed and maintained tens of different phone systems for a variety of different companies.

 

I am also intimately familiar with most types of corporate phone systems, including everyone from the big vendors to the smaller, lesser known systems. I specialize in helping companies with 25 to 100 users make smart, cost-saving decisions when buying a new phone system.

 

Unfortunately, a lot of companies get suckered into buying an overpriced, complicated phone system simply because they didn’t know all of the options available to them, or simply because they didn’t know how to ask the right questions when interviewing phone vendors.

 

           With so many choices, it can be very difficult to make an educated decision without spending days or weeks researching all of the vendors and options you have. That’s why I created this report; I wanted to arm buyers with a quick reference to help them make the absolute best decision when buying a new phone system.

 

 

Buyer Mistake #1:

Not planning for future needs

 

Before you buy a system, make sure you have answers to the following questions to plan ahead for future needs:

• How many new employees do you think you will hire over the next 5 years?
• Will you have remote offices or employees working from home?
• Do you think you will open other branches in the future?
• Do you need the ability to do call reporting / call accounting?

 

Look for a system that will allow you to add new features and expand your system later on at virtually no additional cost.  A good question to ask your vendor is, “If we decide to add these features later on, what will it cost us in total hardware, software, and services?”

 

 

Buyer Mistake #2:

Not buying an open system

 

A truly open system is one that will work with the equipment you already own or plan to purchase later on including phone headsets, toll fraud equipment, or tabletop conferencing equipment. How do you know if the system you are buying is truly an open system? Make sure it:

 

• Works with off-the-shelf, standard telephones

 

• Runs on an industry standard operating system (such as Microsoft Windows or Linux) if it’s computer based
  
  
• Can easily be maintained in-house (change extensions, add or delete users, change features) by end-users with a graphical user interface software.
  
  
• Can interface seamlessly with off-the-shelf software applications such as customer management and sales force automation without the need for complex programming.
  
  
• Will work with any other phone equipment you purchase.

 

Buyer Mistake #3:

Not getting enough voice mail

 

Don’t underestimate the value of voice mail.  The last thing you want a customer to hear is, “Sorry, you cannot leave a voice mail message because this user’s box is full.” To avoid this all together, make sure your system has unlimited ports of voice mail.  Also, your system should have the ability to set up an unlimited number of voice mailboxes.

 

 

Buyer Mistake #4:

Not buying a system that can be easily maintained in-house

 

Anyone who has ever owned a traditional PBX or legacy telephone system knows the incredible costs for maintenance, support, and upgrades. In fact, because all maintenance activities on these types of phone systems requires vendor involvement at $150 or more per visit, lifetime maintenance costs on a legacy PBX typically run as high as 40% of the system cost.

 

In other words, that $50,000 phone system will really cost you $70,000 before you’re done. If you want to add, delete, or change a user’s extension, can you do it in house or do you need to call the vendor, wait 2 days for the guy to come out, and pay $150? This is a no-brainer; make sure your system can easily be supported in-house by end-users and you’ll save a lot of time and money.

 

 

Buyer Mistake #5:

Paying for technical support

 

With any new system, you are bound to run into a few snags and have questions. Make sure the vendor provides free, unlimited phone and e-mail support at a minimum.

 

 

Buyer Mistake #6:

Not buying next generation features

 

While you might not think you want or need next generation features such as Voice Over IP (the ability to run voice calls over your computer network to save on phone bills), web interactions, and e-mail integration, the system you buy should allow you to implement these features very inexpensively some time in the future.

 

Look for a system that imbeds:

 

• Voicemail
• Messaging
• Automatic call distribution
• Operator console
• Call forwarding
• Call detail reporting
• Follow-me dialing
• Web based click-to-talk

 

These embedded features will eliminate the need to purchase these applications separately down the road. If the system you are considering requires complex infrastructures, implementations, or pricing schemes to add these features on, look for another system.

 

 

Buyer Mistake #7:

Not choosing the right vendor

 

A telephone system is the lifeblood of most businesses.  A system failure that lasts only minutes can cost thousands of dollars in lost business.  You must be sure that your vendor is capable of properly supporting your business.  Ask potential vendors:

           

• Do you offer a money back guarantee?
• How long have you been selling this system?
• What is your relationship with the manufacturer?
• Do you have references?
• Can I visit the site of an installation you’ve done?
• Do you have support available 24×7x365?
• Can I have access to cell phone numbers for your technicians?
• What do you charge for support?

 

 

A good vendor will guarantee your satisfaction and have a long, close history with the manufacturer they represent.  They won’t be afraid to allow you to talk to their existing clients, or take you on a site visit. If the vendor doesn’t have good answers to these questions, chances are they could leave you high and dry. 

If you think your existing phone services are too costly, or you aren’t satisfied with your phone company’s offerings, then check out the new voice over IP (VoIP) systems.  These systems use existing Internet lines to transfer voice data, and in most cases, are far less expensive than traditional phone services.  Additionally, they provide features that are not available with standard landline service, such as video conferencing. 

 

You can quickly and easily replace your existing service by transferring your phone number to a VoIP provider like Vonage.  You’ll get all the features you need, plus unlimited calling throughout North America and five European countries (note: please check with each service provider for current rates and plans).  And, International rates may be as much as 50 percent lower than what you’re paying now. 

 

Corporations can leverage the many VoIP services available through most major phone companies, or purchase the systems offered by telephony solution providers such as Cisco, Nortel, and Alcatel-Lucent.  Companies looking for a smaller-scale solution can look at packages provided by BizPhone and other manufacturers.  You can get complete VoIP with fully-integrated voice mail, greetings, auto attendant, and other advanced features for as little as $2000 (for eight extensions and four phone lines). 

 

One of the most affordable solutions on the market today is offered by Project Asterisk.  This Linux-based software provides many of the same features as the larger, more expensive VoIP systems, but without the hefty price tag.  In fact, it has no price tag at all.  Many hardware providers sell their systems with Asterisk software pre-installed and ready-to-go. 

 

Or, if you prefer a standard office PBX model, Packet8 can integrate all of your existing employee phones as extensions.  Staff around the globe – in the US, Canada, Mexico, Russia, or any other location – can be seamlessly linked together through one PBX system for as low as just $40 a month for each extension.  No more long distance fees, no missed calls, and no lost voice mail. 

 

Long before there were VoIP systems, there were computer-to-computer communication systems. This type of software has been around for quite a while, can be downloaded directly from the Web, and is, in most cases, free.  Once this software has been installed on your desktop computer, it will enable you to talk to anyone, anywhere – in another room, or even another country – as long as they have the same software installed.

 

The most famous computer-to-computer communication software is Skype.  Millions of people have signed up for, and are actively using this service.   All major Internet Messaging solutions – such as AOL, MSN, Yahoo, and ICQ – have free talk features as well.  Many of them even offer free Web or video conferencing. 

 

There are also computer-to-phone and phone-to-computer systems to consider.  These allow you to make calls to anyone in the world at discounted rates.  You can receive calls as well, as long as you have speakers, a microphone, and a special service enabled.  Skype, for example, offers Skype In and Skype Out.  For a small monthly fee, Skype In will provide you with a local number in any available city (the complete list of available cities can be found on the Skype Web site).  People that dial this number will be automatically forwarded to your computer.  Caller ID, voice mail, and other features are also available through this type of service.  And, for a low per-minute rate, you can use Skype Out to call any phone, in any country, right from your computer.  You can even make calls from Windows Pocket PCs and other handheld devices. 

 

Other solutions worth mentioning include VBuzzer, Packet8, and Gizmo Project. With VBuzzer, you can obtain a North American phone number for just $2 per month.  Gizmo Project uses a standard data transfer protocol known as SIP to provide a free phone line to your computer.  The company has recently formed an alliance with Google to offer one-cent per minute calling to all US phones. 

 

More advanced users can purchase a USB or WiFi phone to connect to their computer and VoIP service, so they can make and receive calls through the device. 

Six Things You Must Do At A Minimum To Protect Your Company From These Types Of Disasters:

   While it’s impossible to plan for every potential computer problem or emergency, a little proactive monitoring and maintenance of your network will help you avoid or greatly reduce the impact of the vast majority of computer disasters you could experience.

   Unfortunately, I have found that most small business owners are NOT conducting any type of proactive monitoring or maintaining their network, which leaves them completely vulnerable to the types of disasters you just read about. This is primarily for three reasons:

#1. They don’t understand the importance of regular maintenance.

#2. Even if they DID understand its importance, they simply do not know what maintenance is required or how to do it.

#3. They are already swamped with more immediate day-to-day fires demanding their attention. If their network is working fine today, it goes to the bottom of the pile of things to worry about. That means no one is watching to make sure the backups are working properly, the virus protection is up-to-date, that critical security patches are being applied, or that the network is “healthy” overall.

   While there are over 37 critical checks and maintenance tasks that need to be performed on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, I’m going to share with you the 6 that are most important for protecting your company.

Step#1: Make Sure You Are Backing Up Your Files Every Day

   It just amazes me how many businesses never back up their computer network. Imagine this: you write the most important piece of information you could ever write on a chalkboard and I come along and erase it. How are you going to get it back? You’re not. Unless you can remember it, or if YOU MADE A COPY OF IT, you can’t recover the data. It’s gone. That is why it is so important to back up your network. There are a number of things that could cause you to lose data files. If the information on the disk is important to you, make sure you have more than one copy of it.

Step #2: Check Your Backups On A Regular Basis To Make Sure They Are Working Properly

   This is another big mistake I see. Many business owners set up some type of backup system, but then never check to make sure it’s working properly. It’s not uncommon for a system to APPEAR to be backing up when in reality, it’s not. There are dozens of things that can go wrong and cause your backup to become corrupt and useless. That is why it’s not enough to simply back up your system; you have to check it on a regular basis to make sure the data is recoverable in the event of an emergency. Remember the Health Products Company that shelled out $40,000 to recover data they THOUGHT they backed up? Don’t let that happen to you.

Step #3: Keep An Offsite Copy Of Your Backups

   What happens if a fire or flood destroys your server AND the backup tapes or drive? This is how hurricane Katrina devastated many businesses that have now been forced into bankruptcy. What happens if your office gets robbed and they take EVERYTHING? Having an offsite backup is simply a smart way to make sure you can get your business back up and running in a relatively short period of time.

Step #4: Make Sure Your Virus Protection Is ALWAYS On AND Up-To-Date

   You would have to be living under a rock to not know how devastating a virus can be to your network. With virus attacks coming from spam, downloaded data and music files, instant messages, web sites, and e-mails from friends and clients, you cannot afford to be without up-to-date virus protection.

   Not only can a virus corrupt your files and bring down your network, but it can also hurt your reputation. If you or one of your employees unknowingly spreads a virus to a customer, or if the virus hijacks your e-mail address book, you’re going to make a lot of people very angry.

Step #5: Set Up A Firewall

   Small business owners tend to think that because they are “just a small business”, no one would waste time trying to hack in to their network, when nothing could be further from the truth. I’ve conducted experiments where I connected a single computer to the Internet with no firewall. Within hours, over 13 gigabytes of space was taken over by malicious code and files that I could not delete. The simple fact is that there are thousands of unscrupulous individuals out there who think it’s fun to disable your computer just because they can.

   These individuals strike randomly by searching the Internet for open, unprotected ports. As soon as they find one, they will delete files or download huge files that cannot be deleted, shutting down your hard drive. They can also use your computer as a zombie for storing pirated software or sending spam, which will cause your ISP to shut YOU down and prevent you from accessing the Internet or sending and receiving e-mail.

   If the malicious programs can’t be deleted, you’ll have to re-format the entire hard drive causing you to lose every piece of information you’ve ever owned UNLESS you were backing up your files properly (see 1 to 3 above).

Step #6: Update Your System With Critical Security Patches As They Become Available

   If you do not have the most up-to-date security patches and virus definitions installed on your network, hackers can access your computer through a simple banner ad or through an e-mail attachment.

   Not too long ago Microsoft released a security bulletin about three newly discovered vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker to gain control of your computer by tricking users into downloading and opening a maliciously crafted picture. At the same time, Microsoft released a Windows update to correct the vulnerabilities; but if you didn’t have a process to ensure you were applying critical updates as soon as they become available, you were completely vulnerable to this attack.

 

   Here’s another compelling reason to ensure your network stays up-to-date with the latest security patches…

 

   Most hackers do not discover these security loopholes on their own. Instead, they learn about them when Microsoft (or any other software vendor for that matter) announces the vulnerability and issues an update. That is their cue to spring into action and they immediately go to work to analyze the update and craft an exploit (like a virus) that allows them access to any computer or network that has not yet installed the security patch.

 

   In essence, the time between the release of the update and the release of the exploit that targets the underlying vulnerability is getting shorter every day.

 

   When the “nimda” worm was first discovered back in the fall of 2001, Microsoft had already released the patch that protected against that vulnerability almost a year before (331 days). So network administrators had plenty of time to apply the update. Of course, many still hadn’t done so, and the “nimda” worm caused lots of damage. But in the summer of 2003 there were only 25 days between the release of the Microsoft update that would have protected against the “blaster” worm and the detection of the worm itself! 

 

   Clearly, someone needs to be paying close attention to your systems to ensure that critical updates are applied as soon as possible. That is why we highly recommend small business owners without a full-time IT staff allow their consultant to monitor and maintain their network.

Special Report:

What Every Small Business Owner Must Know About Protecting And Preserving Their Company’s Critical Data And Computer Systems

 

If You Depend On Your Computer Network To Run Your Business, This Is One Report You DON’T Want To Overlook!

 

   This report will outline in plain, non-technical English common mistakes that many small business owners make with their computer network that cost them thousands in lost sales, productivity, and computer repair bills, as well as providing an easy, proven way to reduce or completely eliminate the financial expense and frustration of these oversights.

 

You’ll Discover:

 

§  The single most expensive mistake most small business owners make when it comes to protecting their company data.

§  The universal misconception business owners have about their computer networks, and how it can end up costing between $9,000 to as much as $60,000 in damages.

§  6 Critical security measures every small business should have in place.

§  How to greatly reduce – or even completely eliminate – frustrating crashes, slow performance, and other annoying computer problems.

§  How to avoid expensive computer repair bills and get all the computer support you need for a low, fixed monthly rate.

 

Dear Colleague,

 

   Have you ever lost an hour of work on your computer?

   Now imagine if you lost days or weeks of work – or imagine losing your client database, financial records, and all of the work files your company has ever produced or compiled.

   Imagine what would happen if your network went down for days, where you couldn’t access e-mail or the information on your PC. How frustrating would that be?

   Or, what if a major storm, flood, or fire destroyed your office and all of your files? Or if a virus wiped out your server…do you have an emergency recovery plan in place that you feel confident in?

   How quickly do you think you could recover, if at all?

   Many small business owners tend to ignore or forget about taking steps to secure their company’s network from these types of catastrophes until disaster strikes. By then it’s too late and the damage is done.

 

 

But That Could Never Happen To Me!
(And Other Lies Business Owners Like To Believe About Their Businesses…)

 

   After working with over a 100 of small and mid-size businesses in the Greater Toronto Area, we found that 6 out of 10 businesses will experience some type of major network or technology disaster that will end up costing them between $9,000 and $60,000 in repairs and restoration costs on average. 

 

   That doesn’t even include lost productivity, sales, and client goodwill that can be damaged when a company can’t operate or fulfill on its promises due to technical problems.

 

   While it may be difficult to determine the actual financial impact computer problems have on your business, you can’t deny the fact that they do have a negative effect. If you’ve ever had your business grind to a screeching halt because you and your employees could not access the data or systems necessary for operations, you must have some idea of the frustration and financial loss to your business even if you haven’t put a pencil to figuring out the exact cost.

 

Take a look at these statistics:

 

• Companies experience an average of 501 hours of network downtime every year, and the overall downtime costs an average of 3.6% of annual revenue.  (Source: The Costs of Enterprise Downtime, Infonetics Research)
  
  
• 93% of companies that lost their data center for 10 days or more due to a disaster filed for bankruptcy within one year of the disaster, and 50% filed for bankruptcy immediately. (Source: National Archives & Records Administration in Washington.)
  
  
• 20% of small to medium businesses will suffer a major disaster causing loss of critical data every 5 years. (Source: Richmond House Group)
  
  
• This year, 40% of small to medium businesses that manage their own network and use the Internet for more than e-mail will have their network accessed by a hacker, and more than 50% won’t even know they were attacked. (Source: Gartner Group)
  
  
• Of those companies participating in the Contingency Planning & Management Cost of Downtime Survey: 46% said each hour of downtime would cost their companies up to $50,000, 28% said each hour would cost between $51,000 and $250,000, 18% said each hour would cost between $251,000 and $1 million, and 8% said it would cost their companies more than $1million per hour. (Source: Cost of Downtime Survey Results, 2001.)
  
  
• Cyber-criminals stole an average of $900 from each of 3 million Americans in the past year, and that doesn’t include the hundreds of thousands of PCs rendered useless by spyware. (Source: Gartner Group)

 

What These Failures Are REALLY Costing Your Business

  

   Even if you don’t factor in the soft costs of lost productivity, there is a hard cost of repairing and restoring your network. Most major network repairs will require a minimum of four to eight hours on average to get the network back up and running. Plus, most consultants cannot get on-site to resolve the problem for 24 to 48 hours. That means your network could be down for one to two days.

 

   Since the average computer consultant charges over $100 per hour plus a trip fee and a surcharge if it’s an emergency, the average cost of these repairs is $600 to $1,000; and that doesn’t even include any software or hardware costs that may also be required. Over a year, this results in $1,800 to $3,000 in costs without even considering hardware and software costs, or other soft costs of lost sales and work hours. Of course, those numbers quickly multiply with larger, more complex networks.

   What’s most exasperating about this situation is that 100% of these disasters and restoration costs could have been completely avoided or greatly mitigated easily and inexpensively with a little planning and proactive maintenance.

Putting a data backup system into place is just the first step.  In order to fully prepare for an emergency, you need to create a thorough business continuity plan.  Do you have temporary office facilities secured, so you have a place to operate in the event of a fire or flood?  Who will be responsible for restoring systems if your entire infrastructure collapses?  Statistics show that 80 percent of organizations who do not implement a well-structured continuity plan shut down within 12 months after a major event. With a “Plan B”, you can ensure that all links in your business chain will operate smoothly if a disaster strikes.       

 

Start your plan by calculating the cost of down time, then determine how much down time you can afford.  For example, if your company brings in revenues of $10 million a year, and follows a 9 to 5/Monday through Friday working schedule, then one hour of down time would cost you about $480.  That means that for every hour your business is idle due to unforeseen computer problems, almost $500 of your hard earned cash goes down the drain. 

 

If you cannot afford any downtime at all, then you’ll need to implement 24×7 computer monitoring, and make sure that technicians are always on call to immediately resolve any issues that may arise.  Although there are expenses associated with this approach, it will still cost you far less than losing hours, or even days of productivity while you wait for someone to fix your computers. 

 

There are many basic monitoring software packages available, from vendors such as Uptime Software, IP Monitor, Chevin Software, and NetScout.  These solutions can be set up to page you, or your technicians, in the event of a problem.  You can even set up the paging system to alert your technicians first, then page you if the problem is not resolved within a few hours. 

The 5 Most Important Things You Should Do To Make Sure Your Company Is Protected From These Types Of Disasters:

While it’s impossible to plan for every potential computer disaster or emergency, there are a few easy and inexpensive measures you can put into place that will help you avoid the vast majority of computer disasters you could experience.

Step#1: Make Sure You Are Backing Up Your System

It just amazes me how many businesses never back up their computer network. Imagine this: you write the most important piece of information you could ever write on a chalk board and I come along and erase it. How are you going to get it back? You’re not. Unless you can remember it, or if YOU MADE A COPY OF IT, you can’t recover the data. It’s gone. That is why it is so important to back up your network. There are a number of things that could cause you to lose data files. If the information on the disk is important to you, make sure you have more than one copy of it.

Step #2: Perform A Complete Data Restore To Make Sure
Your Backups Are Working Properly

This is another big mistake I see. Many business owners set up some type of backup system, but then never check to make sure it’s working properly. It’s not uncommon for a system to APPEAR to be backing up when in reality, it’s not. Remember the Health Products Company that shelled out $40,000 to recover data they THOUGHT they backed up? Don’t let this happen to you.

Step #3: Keep An Offsite Copy Of Your Backups

What happens if a fire or flood destroys your server AND the backup tapes or drive? What happens if your office gets robbed and they take EVERYTHING? Having an off-site back up is simply a smart way to make sure you have multiple, redundant copies of your data.

Step #4: Make Sure Your Virus Protection Is ALWAYS On And Up-To-Date

You would have to be living under a rock to not know how devastating a virus can be to your network. With virus attacks coming from spam, downloaded data and music files, web sites, and even e-mails from friends, you cannot afford to not be protected.

Not only can a virus corrupt your files and bring down your network, but it can hurt your reputation. If you or one of your employees unknowingly spreads a virus to a customer, or if the virus hijacks your e-mail address book, you’re going to make a lot of people very angry.

Step #5: Set Up A Firewall

Small business owners tend to think that because they are “just a small business”, no one would waste time trying to hack in to their network, when nothing could be further from the truth. I’ve conducted experiments were I connected a single computer to the internet with no firewall.  Within hours, over 13 gigabytes of space was taken over with malicious code and files that I could not delete. The simple fact is there are thousands of unscrupulous individuals out there who think its fun to disable your computer just because they can.

These individuals strike randomly by searching the internet for open, unprotected ports. As soon as they find one, they will delete files or download huge files that cannot be deleted shutting down your hard drive. They can also use your computer as a zombie for storing pirated software or sending spam which will cause your ISP to shut YOU down and prevent you from access the Internet or sending and receiving e-mail.

If the malicious programs can’t be deleted, you’ll have to re-format the entire hard drive causing you to lose every piece of information you’ve ever owned UNLESS you were backing up your files properly (see 1 to 3 above).

Special Report:

The 3 Most Expensive & Deadly Computer Disasters That Wipe Out Small Business Owners …
And How To Avoid Them

An Urgent Warning To All Small Business Owners:

If You Depend On Your Computer Network To Run Your Business, This Is One Report You DON’T Want To Overlook!

You’ll Discover:

§ 5 Critical security measures every small business should have in place.

§ The single costliest mistake most small business owners make when it comes to protecting their irreplaceable company data.

§ How to avoid costly network repair bills.

§ A simple way to protect your network that won’t cost you a dime!

Dear Colleague,

Have you ever lost an hour of work on your computer?

Now imagine if you lost days or weeks of work – or imagine losing your client database, financial records, and all of the work files your company has ever produced or compiled.

Imagine what would happen if your network went down for days where you couldn’t access e-mail or the information on your PC. How frustrating would that be?

What if a major storm, flood, or fire destroyed your office and all of your files? Or if a virus wiped out your server…do you have an emergency recovery plan in place that you feel confident in? How quickly do you think you could recover, if at all?

Many small business owners tend to ignore or forget about taking steps to secure their company’s network from these types of catastrophes until disaster strikes. By then it’s too late and the damage is done.

After working with over a 100 of small and mid-size businesses in the Greater Toronto Area, we found that 6 out of 10 businesses will experience some type of major network or technology disaster that will end up costing them between $9,000 to $60,000 in repairs and restoration costs on average. That doesn’t even include lost productivity, sales, and client good-will that can be damaged when a company can’t operate or fulfill on its promises due to a down network.

What’s most exasperating about this situation is that 100% of these disasters and restoration costs could have been completely avoided easily and inexpensively. That’s why I decided to write this report.

I have found that most small business owners have no idea of the importance of regular preventative maintenance and disaster recovery planning because they are already swamped with more immediate day-to-day fires demanding their attention. If their network is working fine today, it goes to the bottom of the pile of things to worry about. In most cases, no one is watching to make sure the back ups are working, the virus protection is up-to-date, or that the network is “healthy”.

This is like saying you’re too busy driving your car on the highway to put your seatbelt on. Taking that simple preventative step doesn’t really show its true value until you get into a head on collision; at that point you are either extremely relieved that you had it on or incredibly sorry that you didn’t.

The same holds true with your computer network. Obviously the information on the disk is far more valuable than the disk itself. If your company depends on having access to the information stored on your server or PC, then it’s time to get serious about protecting it from damage or loss.

Why Small Business Are Especially Vulnerable
To These Disasters

With the constant changes to technology and daily development of new threats, it takes a highly-trained technician to maintain even a simple 3 to 5 person network. The costs of hiring a full-time IT person are just not feasible for the small business owner.

In an attempt to save money, most try to do their own in-house IT support and designate the person with the most technical expertise as the part-time IT manager. This never works out because this make-shift IT person has another full-time job to do and is usually not skilled enough to properly support an entire computer network anyway.

This inevitably results in a network that is ill-maintained and unstable. It also means that the backups, virus updates, and security patches are not getting timely updates, or may even be set up improperly giving a false sense of security.

It’s only a matter of time before the network crashes. If you’re lucky, it will only cost you a little downtime; but there’s always a chance you could end up like one of these companies:

Auto Body Shop Shells Out $20,000 To Clean Up A Virus

A local auto body shop with multiple locations discovered the importance of preventative maintenance the hard way. Without warning, a virus was downloaded to their server and started replicating and attaching itself to files. This virus corrupted their data, impaired their customer management system, and immediately brought down their Exchange server (no e-mail could come in or go out).

Preventing this disaster would have only cost them 1/25^th of the cost ($800 per month) AND they would have experienced better performance and fewer problems with their network. Instead, they were forced to spend a whopping $20,000 to remove the virus and restore their network, and that only got them back up and running. Their systems were still not optimized, secured, and updated as they should be.

Two Failed Hard Drives Costs Health Products Company $40,000 and
9 Days of Downtime

The back office of a health products company had two hard drives fail at the same time causing them to lose a large number of critical customer files.

When they contacted us to recover the data from the system backups, we found they weren’t functioning properly. Even though they appeared to be backing up all of this company’s data, they were in fact worthless. In the end, recovering the data off of these failed drives took a team of disaster recovery specialists 9 days and $15,000. In addition to the recovery costs, they also incurred $25,000 in other services to get their network stable.

Had they been properly monitoring their network, they would have been able to see that these hard drives were failing and that the back ups were not performing properly. This would have prevented the crash, the downtime, and the $40,000 in costs to get them back up and running, not to mention the 9 days of lost productivity while their network was down.

Property Management Company Spends $9,000 And Weeks Of Down Time For A Simple Inexpensive Repair

A 10-user property management company was not monitoring or maintaining their server. Due to the overuse and lack of maintenance, it started to degenerate and eventually shut down under the load. This caused their entire network to be down for two full days and cost them $3,000 in support fees to get them back up and running. Naturally the costs were much higher when you factor in the lost productivity of their ten employees during that time.

This client did not want to implement a preventative maintenance program so the same problem happened again two months later, costing them another $3,000 and two days of downtime.

Six months later it happened yet another time bringing their total to $9,000 in hard costs and tens of thousands in productivity costs for a problem that could have been quickly detected and prevented from happening.

Talk to any manager at any large organization, and they are likely to have an interesting disaster-related story to tell.  Perhaps a virus wiped out an entire email system, or a power surge corrupted hundreds of important business documents.  Or, maybe a flood destroyed servers that stored mission-critical customer data. 

 

According to statistics, you don’t need to worry about if a disaster will strike – you need to worry about when.  Hard drives have manufacturer warranties that last no longer than one to three years.  And, computer systems are so complex and intricate that a small problem with one little component can cause a chain reaction and bring your entire infrastructure down in a matter of seconds. 

 

Are you prepared?

 

The first thing you will need is some sort of backup device.  It can be an old computer, a network-attached storage device, or even a tape or DVD drive.  You must schedule a complete data backup to run each night, so you can retrieve recent versions of your files in the event of an emergency.  You can use the basic backup software that comes standard with your computer or DVD drive, or you can purchase one of the many other solutions available today, including BrightStor, Overland Storage, EMC, and Quantum.

 

If you cannot afford even a single minute of downtime during a backup, you need to look into complete backup solutions.  Packages like Acronis True Image can take a live snapshot of your hard drive and store it on a DVD, network server, or other hard drive.  You can revert back to the saved image at any time.  Simply replace the corrupted hard drive with a new one, boot from the recovery disk, and point the software to your backup files.  You’re entire system, exactly as it was at the time of your last backup, will be completely restored within an hour.  Your emails, Internet favorite places, programs, and documents will be easily retrievable, as if nothing happened.

 

After you configure your data backup, it is wise to add a few additional layers of protection:

 

Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS)

Uninterrupted power supplies can be found at any computer or recording store, and cost between $80 and $200. These devices protect all of your electronic equipment from damage caused by power surges and power loss.  Choosing a UPS with a bigger battery will give you more time to save your documents in the event of a sustained or long-term power loss.  And, don’t forget to configure an automatic software shutdown in the event of a power failure.  This will further minimize damage by saving your documents in their most current state, and safely shutting the computer down.  

 

Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID)

RAID devices allow you to write on two or more hard drives at the same time, in case one of them fails.  With a RAID device, there is always another hard drive that contains the exact same data set.  So, unless all hard drives give out at the same time, which would be highly unlikely, you always have another available drive with the same exact data. 

 

Off-Site Backup

Backing up your data using on-site solutions can offer effective protection against system failures.  But, what do you do in the event of a flood, fire, or burglary? Disasters like these require off-site back up.  Whether you use a tape, CD, or DVD, make sure you conduct a weekly backup to a remote network location, or have a third-party provider back up your data via the Internet.  There are many services available, ranging in price from free to about $100 per month.  Compare the various plans offered by EVault, Mozy, LiveVault, and other service providers, and see which one will best fit your needs. 

 

Tip:  Do not forget to test your backups regularly.  If you backup your data to faulty media you will have no way to restore your files and applications after a disaster.

 

There are countless books, DVDs, software packages, and seminars that describe how to get your company online quickly and cost-effectively.  Since this topic alone could cover enough tips and ideas to fill an entire book, I will summarize just a few of the best options.

 

If you’re new to the Web, you’ll probably just need a basic informational Web site that highlights your company and its products/services, and provides contact data (i.e. email addresses, phone and fax numbers, etc.) for those visitors that wish to reach out to you to learn more.  If you already have all that, then there are two more advanced directions you can take – you can generate more business by driving more traffic to your site, or you can use your site to better serve your existing customers. 

 

Generating More Business with Search Engine Advertising & Optimization

One of the best ways to drive more traffic to – and more revenue from – your Web site is through search engines.  Search engines can be international or local, and can help prospects who are looking for products and services like yours to find your Web site.  You can optimize your search engine rankings (i.e. how high on the list you come up when a visitor types in a related keyword or key phrase) in two ways:

1)      You can buy ads on search engine sites, such as Google or Yahoo

2)      You can optimize your site, to make it easier for search engines to find it

 

Search engine ad campaigns can be launched for as low as a few dollars.  Open an account on Google™ AdWords or Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Yahoo Overture), create your ad using common industry keywords, and post a bid for it.  A bid is the price you will pay each time a searcher clicks-through from the ad to your site.  In many cases, your bid can be as low as five cents.  Each time a Web visitor types in your keywords or phrases, your ad will appear above or to the side of the search results.  You can then run reports and track the number of people that clicked on your ad. 

 

Of course, the higher your search engine placement, the better.  There is a variety of search engine optimization (SEO) software on the market today to help boost rankings.  Check out Trendmetrics, Apex Pacific, and GR Software.  Or, you can hire a consulting company like Bruce Clay or MetaMend to help you optimize your site for you. 

 

SEO software typically costs between $100 and $1000, depending on the features and level of functionality it provides.  Consulting services can run anywhere from $100 to $5000 per month, depending on the size and complexity of your Web site, and your SEO goals.  I suggest starting with a combination of both approaches.  Track the results to see which delivers a higher return on investment. 

 

Generating More Business with Visitor Tracking

Understanding how many visitors you get, and where they come from, is vital to the success of your Web site strategy.  Your Web hosting company should provide you with access to statistics and log files that measure hits and traffic to your site. Monitor your site traffic daily, and assess the impact of your search engine optimization efforts and related ads.   More advanced Web statistics solutions are available through Stats in a Box, OpenTracker, and Web Trends.   

 

Generating More Business With Internet Marketing

Search engine optimization is not the only effective online marketing technique.  Consider exploring other types of programs such as opt-in email marketing (not spam), e-zine or blog advertising, and banner ads.

 

Placing banner ads in popular e-zines or newsletters can be a great way to reach your target audience.  You can even start your own e-zine, newsletter, or blog to share your ideas and knowledge, as well as new information with your prospects and clients. 

 

However, creating your own opt-in distribution list, and communicating regularly with those subscribers, is the most effective way to leverage the Internet for marketing purposes.  In order to launch a successful opt-in email program, you will need some sort of free offer – perhaps a special report, white paper, eBook, or other downloadable document.  Once you have used this offer to obtain their email address, and their permission to continue contacting them, you can send them future messages and promotions until they decide to purchase your products or services.  Don’t forget, studies show that it will take a minimum of 21 contacts before you actually close the deal. 

 

Enhancing Service to Existing Customers

Your Web site can also serve as a mechanism for providing faster, more responsive, less expensive services to your customers.  Some of the ways in which you can use your site to improve service delivery include:

• Linking your order management and fulfillment systems to your Web site.  This will allow customers to instantly access real-time information about their purchases, order status, and deliveries, while reducing call volumes to your customer service center. 
• Providing clients with complete order and payment histories, so they can see exactly what they purchased, and when. 
• Developing self-service tools for your clients, such as manuals, sales materials, frequently asked questions (FAQs), and other downloadable informational materials, as well as a knowledgebase.  You can also offer online support requests, issue reporting, and job ticket opening. 
• Putting a live help button on your site, so visitors can chat with company representatives in real-time.  You can also track visitors as they are browsing through your site, so you can see what they are reading and downloading.
• Electronically transferring purchase orders and contracts to and from customers.  This will dramatically increase order efficiency and accuracy by eliminating data entry errors and accelerating order processing. 
• Creating online client forums, where customers can help solve each other’s problems, discuss best practices, share ideas, and more, without the need for your support staff to get involved.