One of the hardest things about operating smaller businesses is often competing with larger businesses that have marketing budgets equal to your yearly profits. Where and how do you compete? One of the best ways is through the use of the Internet, more specifically social media sites like Facebook. A little apprehensive about how good of a service Facebook can be? Some facts and figures might help.

Here are some interesting Facebook facts and figures.

Number of active users: over 1 billion. Number of mobile users: 600 million. That’s right, over half of the users access Facebook from their mobile phones. Number of likes since launch: 1.13 trillion. It’s crazy, thats 1,130 likes per person. Number of connections: Facebook's 1 billion users are connected to 140.3 billion other users. Talk about six degrees of separation! Number of locally tagged posts: 17 billion. The ability to add your location to posts was introduced in August 2010, and this statistic came from September 2012.

These are just a few Facebook facts associated with the recent 1 billionth active user milestone, reached in October. It’s amazing to think that 1/7th of the world’s population are active Facebook users. Imagine what the number would be if it wasn’t blocked in China?

So, what do these numbers mean for you? Well, first of all, it means a huge potential network of clients/friends. If 1 billion users are connected with 140.3 billion other users, that means that the average number of friends a user has is 140.3. Imagine running an ad campaign on any medium, having 140 of your closest friends see it, and share it with their friends. Your brand has the potential to go global and viral in a very short amount of time.

How do you leverage these numbers? Most companies use Facebook Ads, a service which allows you to place ads that users will see and potentially click on. If leveraged correctly, Facebook is one powerful marketing platform, regardless of the size of the company. If your company doesn’t have a presence on Facebook, you’re missing out on the potential it can bring. Call us. We can help you establish a presence.

The job of a manager and entrepreneur requires an investment of serious time. You’re never focused on one task, rather you’re trying to focus on every job that needs to be done, yesterday. Sometimes you’re pulled in so many different directions that you can feel ineffective. One way to lessen this is by taking steps to hire an assistant, not just any assistant, a virtual assistant.

A virtual assistant (VA) fills the role of a traditional assistant but is just not physically present. Many roles, like replying to trivial emails, finishing presentations, writing or even answering your phones, can all be done through the computer. If you’re interested in virtualizing your assistant here’s five steps that will help you find the perfect assistant.

Step 1: Think about tasks you don’t like You’re not a superhero, there is always something, maybe many things, that you don’t like doing. Over the course of a week jot down what you do each day and whether you like/dislike the task. Beyond that, if you think someone could do it better, jot that down as well. At the end of the week, look over the list and see if you have to do the tasks yourself, or if you can outsource them. The tasks you can outsource can be given to your VA.

Step 2: Look for a VA Once you can justify a VA, start looking for one. Reach out to your network and see if your colleagues have assistants, and if they can provide you with a recommendation. Beyond that, consulting with organizations like the ivaa.org can return some great VAs.

Step 3: Screen candidates This step is just like hiring a physical candidate. You need to go through your list of potential hires and ask them questions to ensure they are both a good fit and what you're looking for. Some things you could ask include:

• If they have experience in the tasks you listed above.
• If they have time available to actually take on your requirements.
• Their working hours and holiday requirements.
• The services they do/don’t provide.
• Their rates.
• Their general experience.
• If they can provide references and previous examples of their work.

This is by no means an exhaustive list and you should ensure to conduct the interview and asks questions related to your specific needs. One thing you should be clear on are your expectations and budget. If you want a VA who will respond within 10 minutes and you’re located in San Diego, and your VA is located in Thailand, it could take longer than that due to the time difference.

Step 4: Baby steps Like learning to walk, you can’t start at a run, rather you have to take it slow. Start with a small project to test the waters as a way to vet the candidate. Be sure to let them know that this is a test, and not a final offer. This won’t be free, you should pay them at their normal rates.

Step 5: Onboard slowly, terminate quickly If the VA is a good fit, and the test project goes smoothly, you can start to wrap up. Generally, the onboarding process should be slower than a normal physical hiring as you have to invest more and vet them more carefully. If you find that down the line, the VA just isn’t working out, or keeps making the same mistakes, cut them loose. A VA isn’t like a normal employee, you shouldn’t have to invest thousands of dollars and man hours training them and as such, it isn’t as much of an investment.

If you’d like to learn more about virtualizing roles or services within your company, please contact us.

When it comes time to update your systems and you start looking for computers it’s almost maddening at how many there are available, making your choice harder. Even experts can’t seem to agree, ask 10 different people and get 20 different opinions. Recent developments in the tech industry, more specifically the cloud, are set to make choosing devices a lot easier.

Computers have gone from widely singular machines to being networked together and able to share information between other users quickly and easily. The latest evolution of this network is the cloud. While the cloud is still in it’s early stages, it’s advancing at such a fast pace that we could soon be operating largely in the cloud. In fact, there are a number of services that when combined allow businesses to operate almost entirely in the cloud.

Here’s a simple example of how a company can operate almost exclusively in the cloud. Company XYZ uses Google Drive and Gmail for storage, document production and email (Microsoft Office 365 and SkyDrive is another option); Amazon Web Services for cloud server hosting; and VoIP for phone and fax systems. Couple this with a solid Internet connection and almost every major business function of Company XYZ can operate in the cloud.

While Company XYZ operates almost exclusively in the cloud, many modern businesses still rely on older, ground based systems. If current trends hold true, they will be integrating more cloud solutions in the near future. Because the cloud moves a large part of business and ‘computing’ off the computer on your desk, the way you select your next computer has also changed.

Traditional computer shopping focuses on four things: hard drive space and memory; program availability and integration; hardware specs; and price. Companies running cloud solutions still have to look into these four areas, but in a different way:

Hard drive and memory One might think that as files are stored in the cloud, there’s no real need for hard drives or systems with a ton of RAM. In truth, the hard drive and RAM are integral components of the modern computer. Companies using cloud systems will store the OS, essential programs and files, and backups on the hard drive of the computer. This means physical storage is still important. The cloud is dependant on your Internet connection, and if it goes down, you’re stuck. So, having file systems in place you can use while the Internet is down is a big help.

Aside from that, RAM is important to the computer as it allows computers to run. The more of it you have, the faster a computer will be at running programs, and the more it will be able to do at the same time. Rather than space, companies will pick a hard drive and RAM combination that focuses on operating speed. This will likely be done through heavy use of Solid State Drives that are lower in storage capacity - for now -, but are a lot quicker.

Programs All of your essential programs will be online, reducing the need to pick and stick with one OS or system. You could allow your employees to choose the system they want to use, or even use their own systems. The one issue you will have to look into however is if your current systems can be integrated with cloud solutions. Don’t worry too much, as most modern programs have cloud based options.

Hardware specs The most important components for a cloud based computer are USB ports to connect your peripherals, HDMI connections to connect monitors and Internet connection - ethernet or Wi-Fi. Other components, like processor, DVD/Disk drive, etc. play less importance as cloud solutions are typically less resource intensive. In other words, you can get away with systems that have lower, and therefore cheaper, components.

Price Price has been and will continue to be the main determinate of which computers you buy for your company. The main difference here is that cloud services make more than one set system available, so you can shop around a little and maybe find a better computer, for less.

The cloud is set to change the way we conduct business and even the way businesses choose computers. If you’re looking for new computers or would like to move into the cloud, please contact us.

Email, one of the most disruptive technologies ever led the way for a digital communication wave of change that has more or less destroyed the traditional methods of communication. Why write a letter when you can just type out an email and have it delivered and read instantly? The problem with email is that it has led to a bunch of users who just type without thinking and hitting send, only to regret what they have written. Don’t look at us that way, we are all guilty of it. However, if you have Microsoft Outlook, you can put a delay on emails, giving you a chance to avoid such mistakes or regrets.

Below are instructions on how to delay emails in Outlook.

7-second tape delay for emails It worked well for hockey commentator Don Cherry after a few unpopular comments landed his program, Coach's Corner, in hot water. For emails, seven seconds is a bit short, we recommend delaying potentially inflammatory emails for 10 minutes, to give you time to review and possibly cancel if you notice mistakes. You can add a delay on individual emails in Outlook by:

1. Clicking Options in the window you’re writing your email in and selecting More Options.
2. Select Delay Delivery followed by Message Options.
3. Clicking the box beside: Don’t deliver before and selecting the date and time to send the email.

You’ll be taken back to the message window after you’ve selected the delivery time, and pressing Send will put the email in the Outbox folder until the specified time. If you use a POP3 email account - if you’re unsure what you use, contact the administrator in charge of email - you will have to keep Outlook open.

There are many different reasons to use the delay function of Outlook, it’s especially useful if you often realize there are mistakes in your emails. You should still be sure to read over your emails and if it’s an angry reply or it contains negative information ensure that it carries a relevant tone and that you really want to send it. Has there ever been a time when you could have used this feature? Let us know.

Standing in lines isn’t all that fun. Standing in lines waiting for a security check, like those conducted at airports is worse. There’s always this feeling of having to rush to get your laptop out of your bag and all the metal out of your pockets. Whether it’s the security of our country or our computer systems, security is a big issue. Many companies want to take steps to ensure their business is safe, but are unsure of what threats to secure themselves against.

Here’s an overview of the three most common security threats small to medium businesses face.

Targeted external attacks Large, organized cyber-crime groups do exist, with Anon proving that. When these groups set their sights on something, nothing is safe. Luckily, the possibility of a smaller business like yours coming under attack from targeted external attacks is pretty slim. While rare, it could still happen and you should take steps to ensure your server(s) and systems that connect to the Internet are up-to-date. You should also ensure your firewalls and/or virus scanners are properly configured, and internal systems (Intranet) are separated from the Internet.

Taking these steps will ensure your system is nearly 100% safe. Granted, skilled and determined hackers can always find ways into systems though. Systems that are harder to hack, or take longer to hack due to stronger security measures, will generally deter nearly all external attacks.

Targeted internal attacks Just because your systems are safe from external threats doesn’t mean you’re safe. In fact, most security threats to smaller businesses come from the inside. That last security breach likely wasn’t due to an uber hacking collective from Russia, but disgruntled Joe in accounting. If your internal systems are unsecured, or you store a list of machine passwords on a network drive - sounds silly, but you’d be surprised how many companies do this - you are basically inviting employees to steal information. Other security threats come from employees who just don’t know what they’re doing with some technology.

If this sounds like your company, it’s a good idea to take stock of who has access to what, and see if maybe you’ve been a little too liberal with it. You don’t want to completely lock systems and acces down though, as this could hinder your employees from doing their jobs. If you have servers or routers it probably isn’t a good idea to give all employees access to the settings of the system. Instead, either let someone with experience manage these systems, or work with a Managed Service Provider who can look after all this for you.

BYOD As technological devices proliferate, employees are increasingly tempted to want to bring their own devices to the office. This concept, commonly referred to as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) has the potential to be disruptive - both for the better and worse. If done right, you could shave thousands off your budget. If done in the wrong way, your organization could be exposed to nearly every security threat  imaginable.

Many BYOD related security cases we’ve seen come from when an employee brings in a device that isn’t up-to-date and connects it to the network. Reading update notes for most programs will show that the patch fixes many known security issues; an unpatched machine makes it easier for hackers or other criminals to gain access to a network. Aside from that, many companies don’t have a method in place to identify what devices employees bring to the office. This makes it hard to pinpoint where security breaches happen, and how to fix them.

We’re not saying BYOD is bad, it just needs to be handled properly. You should create a list of approved devices along with a list of who brings in what devices, and establish a policy that employees must ensure their systems are up-to-date and follow company security measures. One of the easiest ways to do this is to have your security expert look at the devices connected to the network. Each device has a MAC address - a unique ID - that can be recorded and added to a security white list. If the device doesn’t meet established standards, or isn’t on the MAC address list, then it’s not allowed to connect without authorization.

Contact us to find out how we can help reduce security threats in your business.

He who dies with the most toys wins right? While it may be great to have a multitude of devices and certainly makes our lives easier, it does create a fair amount of waste when we decide to get rid of something. Some people may be tempted to simply throw their old electronic devices into the trash and be done with them. However, this actually harms the environment and is not generally advised.

Here’s how you can safely dispose of your old electronics:

Disposal points E-waste is becoming a large problem, disposing of it safely is a bigger one. In the West, many big-box stores and retailers have programs where you can drop off your old gadgets, often receiving store credit in return. Many municipalities are also doing their part and have set up e-waste collection points. The vast majority of these devices are broken down, with usable and valuable parts salvaged and sold back to manufacturers.

If the devices still work, some stores may even repair/upgrade them and resell them. Others will be shipped to China or Africa, where the parts are often saved or passed onto those who are in need. It’s a good idea to consult with your local government authority to see what they do with devices, and prepare accordingly. Most of the time, it’s as simple as bringing the device, with no cables or batteries attached, to the collection center, putting it on a counter and walking away.

If your local collection point ships products overseas for disposal, you should ensure that any and all electrical equipment is disabled. This means pulling wires from connection points, and removing batteries from phones. The reason for this is because many products are shipped and stored in compacted cubes, often within close proximity of static conducting elements. Given the right conditions, this could start an electrical fire that’s nearly impossible to contain.

Before you do this however, there are a few things you can do:

Computers When disposing of old computers, you should ensure to wipe all data on the hard drives. If you don’t, you might be surprised at how easy it is to access hard drives. Often, all it takes is a program downloaded from the Internet, a few mouse clicks, a line of code and ‘bam’, access granted.

The best thing to do is use a utility program like Eraser for Windows and the included Disk Utility for Mac. Some people go so far as taking the hard drive and RAM out of the computer and physically smashing it, or wiping a magnet over it. It should be noted that simply hitting the drive with a hammer or exposing it to magnetism may not destroy all the data. To do so, you’ll need to open the hard drive’s case by taking the screws off, yell, ‘Hulk smash’, while smashing the plates inside and then wave a magnet over it.

Phones Phones are a little easier to dispose of. First transfer all important information and remove any added memory cards. Next, do a full Factory Reset and pick the option to wipe all data. Finally, remove the battery and you should be good to go.

Office equipment If you’re disposing of external hard drives, you can basically do the same things as you would with the hard drive in your computer - wipe, smash and magnetize. For office equipment like printers and faxes, it can be a bit harder. Most manufacturers will tell you to remove all ink cartridges and paper and may have a way to wipe any flash memory on the device. It’s best to contact the manufacturer before you try anything though.

In general, it’s a good idea to contact a professional like us before disposing of office equipment, as we may have a better way to do so, or be able to take devices off your hands. Next time you have to get rid of some electronics, contact us.

If the United States is the brain of the world, Asia is the beating heart that powers it. Anyone who has been to Asia can attest to a region that is booming. Economic recession is a word thrown around to describe countries in the EU, as well as the US. In Asia, the focus is on growth and natural disasters, of which there are plenty. Because of this, companies have taken to Disaster Recovery (DR) in droves. The question is, how are companies based in Asia dealing with DR? And is there anything you can learn?

A report published by the EMC corporation in the summer highlights the current state of Disaster Recovery in Asia. The report takes an in-depth look at IT spending and the views of IT decision makers on Disaster Recovery in the Asia Pacific Region - South East Asia, Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and India.

The findings of the report are interesting considering current socioeconomic and natural conditions in the region. Asia, to date, has been largely unaffected by the negative economic conditions in both Europe and North America. According to the Q2 2012 Asia Job Index report released by Robert Walters, the number of IT positions advertised in major regions has grown across all sub-regions in Asia.

The most impressive countries were: Japan which saw IT postings achieve a quarter-on-quarter growth of 8%, compared to a country-wide quarter-on-quarter average decrease of postings across all industries of -4.6%. Malaysia is the other IT star, seeing IT positions grow 24.2% quarter-on-quarter, compared to a nation wide average growth of postings across all industries of 13.4%. On comparison, the whole Business Services Industry, including IT, in the US, achieved a growth of approximately 11%.

These figures for Asia show that companies in the region are investing in IT services and positions. The EMC’s findings parallel this, noting that many companies are investing more on DR possibly due to the relatively high number of disasters, natural or otherwise, affecting the region in the past year. On average, companies invested 11% of their IT budget on DR plans. Companies in North America spend between 2% and 4% of their annual IT budget on DR plans. This is a big difference, but is it paying off?

Looking deeper into the survey it can be noted that in the past year, 47% of respondents saw some form of data loss. The average amount of data lost was 484GB. Malaysia and India were hardest hit with an average loss of 1,099GB and 713GB lost, respectively. The top three reasons for loss were reported as being due to: data corruption (58%), hardware failure (50%) and loss of power (35%).

Despite the larger spending, the information reveals that many companies in Asia may not be spending their DR budgets wisely. Almost half of companies have experienced negative effects from some kind of emergency they likely could have prepared for.

In this region, and in all regions, the amount of data available to, and stored by companies is growing exponentially. If this trend of inadequate spending continues, companies will stand to see loss of data compounded.

We highly recommend that you take this information into account when developing your DR plans, and ensure that your budgets are properly allocated. For help with adopting the right DR strategy please contact us, we may have an effective plan that meets your needs.

Do you remember playing in the sandbox as a child? It was usually you and your friends having a ball building sand castles or tunnels. However, should any rival group get near your toys, it was an all out turf war. It seems that this is almost exactly like the state of play with technical devices these days. Each company has their own spot in the IT sandbox and are generally unwilling to share the space with other companies. For the consumer, this means their devices don’t generally play well together.

Here’s three things you can do to ensure your devices play well together, or at the very least talk to one another.

One file system Ever put important data onto a flash drive, gone to another office, or colleague’s computer, only to find that they use a system that doesn’t recognize the drive? This is because Windows and Mac systems utilize different file storage formats, both of which can’t be read by the other system. The solution is to format your drives as ExFat - a format that can be read by Windows, Mac and Unix. If you have blank external storage drives, or would like to format existing external drives you can follow the instructions here. Just be aware that formatting will erase all data on the drive.

For drives that have data on them, where you don’t want to format and lose all the information there are a couple of solutions. If you’ve been using the hard drive with a Mac, and it can’t be read on a Windows machine, you can use MacDrive which will make the drive readable on Windows. For a drive that’s been formatted to work on Windows, you can access it on a Mac by using a program called Tuxera NTFS for Mac.

Use the cloud for your documents If you collaborate with other colleagues in the office, or clients on a regular basis, it can be tough to work together when everyone is using different systems, or different versions of the same program. To solve this, and save a bit of money, use cloud storage providers such as Google Drive.

Drive allows you to not only store your documents online, but share them with other users and edit them in the browser of your choice. This means less downloading as everyone is using the same version of the program and users can edit in real time - no need to download documents and sort through changes. Beyond that, Drive is supported by Mac, PC, iOS and Android; you can access documents on any of these systems.

If you prefer Microsoft, you have SkyDrive which is more or less the same thing as Drive, just integrated with Microsoft Office. Apple's cloud is mainly for within the Apple system. To span across all systems, a third-party cloud provider like DropBox or Box are a great solution.

Use Google to sync calendars, email and contacts By using multiple devices, it’s a near certainty that you have contacts unique to each system that you would like to access on other systems. Regardless of the system you use, there is some way to connect it to Google’s products. You can use Google Sync to sync with Google’s Web based products which can be accessed from any browser on your desktop.

If you have a Windows machine and would like to sync your Google account information with the related Microsoft programs - like Outlook - you can use Google Apps Sync. Mac users can sync with Google easily by going to Preferences and selecting Accounts for each program.

These are just a few ways to get your devices to work well together. Do you have any other ways you get your devices to work as one? Let us know.

The cloud is becoming pervasive, but in a good way. Many office functions that were largely inefficient or had unsolvable bottlenecks have been made more viable and usable. One function that has largely been left behind by both businesses and technology though is the fax machine. Sure, you can get machines that send to email, but they are largely out of the budget of most small businesses. There is a better option however.

If your company has a fax machine, and still uses it on a fairly regular basis, there is a way for you to cut costs, while still being able to send and receive faxes. The solution is found in the cloud.

Currently, many modern fax machines use a dedicated server to send and receive faxes. This server is usually located in the business, and connected to traditional fax machines. The server, along with the required transmission lines and cables, can be very expensive. With a cloud fax solution, lines and servers are moved outside the organization to a third-party provider.

Cloud fax solutions usually work by replacing the traditional fax machine with your computer. The solution acts as a virtual fax machine that can translate an email with an attachment into a fax, then send it over traditional phone lines to other fax machines. Incoming faxes are sent to a traditional phone/fax number, where the cloud picks this up and translates the fax by submitting this to your email. Essentially, your faxes become emails.

This has a number of benefits, including:

• Drastically lower cost: As you can get rid of bulky machines and the related infrastructure, you will see lower monthly costs. Beyond that, many cloud fax providers charge per page, so if you only send a few faxes each week, you only pay for what you use; ideal for businesses operating on tight margins.
• Easier management: As with most cloud solutions, there is only one point of contact for the service. The provider takes care of technical problems, administrative support and function management, freeing you up to focus on other business functions. Cloud fax services also afford more time to IT employees to work on other tasks, something most IT staff would be more than happy about.
• Increased efficiency: Employees who send/receive faxes are more efficient, as they don’t have to get up to check for received or sent faxes. Most cloud fax solutions also allow you to send more kinds of documents than traditional fax machines, so there’s no need to convert most documents into a format that can be sent by fax. This means more time to spend on other tasks.
• Better than email: Most email servers have a limit on the size of the document you can send. This means that with bigger documents, you need to either break them up or find another way to send them. Cloud faxes work like normal fax machines in that they send as many documents as is in the ‘feeder’, or in this case, documents on the computer. This makes it easier to send larger files.

These are just a few of the benefits that a fax system operating in the cloud can bring to your business. If you’d like to learn more about making your fax system a little more modern, please contact us.

Take a look at any product or building based on Bauhaus design. It’s clean, modern looking with a touch of simplicity that just looks right. Now, take a look at the cables connected to your computer or servers. They probably resemble something closer to a free-form, throw paint on the canvas type of art. While this may not seem like a big deal, it’s important to have organized cables.

Like most things in business, organization is key, and a neatly organized cable system not only helps IT, but can help ensure you can troubleshoot/repair if an IT professional isn’t available to do so in person.

If your server room/office looks like a Jackson Pollock painting, there are a few measures you can take to ensure a neat and tidy set of cables.

• Use a cabling professional. If you are starting out with a new system, or moving offices and need to lay new cable, it’s a good idea to skip the DIY and contact a professional who can help. This will help minimize cable mess along with potential performance and connection issues.
• Make a device map. On a piece of paper or chart, depending on how many devices you have, mark every device, assign them a unique number and mark what they connect to. For example, if you have a server and five computers, all these should link to the server.
• Tag on the hub. Use the numbers you’ve just applied to the devices and mark their current location on the Patch Panel - the panel on a server or electrical device where you attach cables. For example, If Computer #1 connects to Patch Panel B, mark this on the panel.
• Untangle those wires. Once you know the connection location, you can unplug all the cables, untangle them and plug them back in, in an orderly manner. Use Zip-Ties or twist ties to link cables together to make them easier to move or keep track of.
• Use colored cables. If you have different types of devices connected to one hub, it’s a good idea to use different colored cables so you know what is connected. For example servers could be red cords, printers yellow and computers white/blue.

Is your cabling in need of a good organizing but you lack the time or are unsure of how to go about it? Contact us, we can help.