The following list was compiled from questions we address with our clients.

Integration:

“Can the new technology be easily integrated into what we have now?” Seems like an easy question, but you’d be surprised to hear how many times it’s overlooked. If you add now technology into your existing infrastructure, it may not all work collectively. You’re either left with a choice of taking your losses or a total revamp on your technology, which can costs hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Also, see if there’s an alternative “open” version of any software you might be looking to implement.

Scalability: 

“Can the technology grow and keep up with my company?” If you’re spending thousands of dollars on new technology, you need to make sure it can stay and grow with you. We call it the rule of “50” which is, if you add 50 employees overnight, you’re technology won’t slow you down. This rule can be altered to fit your needs.

Capex or Opex:

“Which accounting area does the new technology fall under?” Capex, are Capital expenditures are expenditures creating future benefits. A capital expenditure is incurred when a business spends money either to buy fixed assets or to add to the value of an existing asset with a useful life that extends beyond the tax year. Whereas, Opex are operational expenditure, and refers to expenses incurred in the course of ordinary business, such as sales, general and administrative expenses (and excluding cost of goods sold – or COGS, taxes, depreciation and interest). The greatest benefiting difference between the two are – the accounting treatment. Capexs cannot be fully deducted in the period when they were incurred. Tangible assets are depreciated and intangible assets are amortized over time. Operating expenses, on the other hand are fully deducted in the accounting period during which they were incurred. Only you know what category fits best into your business, and you should know this before making large technology purchases. However, here is where the disclaimer comes in – we are NOT an accounting firm, nor do we claim to know accounting practices. This is just a suggestion from what we have seen from our experience.

ROI:

“When will I see a return on my investment?” Yes, new technology is always good, but you should know how long it would take you to see a return on the new technology investment. If it takes 5 years, and the technology is obsolete by that time, then it wouldn’t really make any sense. If there is a good ROI, then how is it going to help you increase revenues or decrease costs?

Other Services:

“Are the any additional services required?”  We’ve all seen the printer paradox. Printers costs are relatively low these days, you could probably even get one free. However, it’s the toners that cost an arm-and-a-leg. You should know what other services are involved in your new technology. Does it require a service on a monthly basis? Or, if you’re buying hardware, what software(s) is required?

Apps such as those from American Express, Diners Club, Paypal, bank accounts, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Live ID, Box, WordPress, remote control servers, arbitrary email accounts, and IBM have been singled out as being vulnerable.

Mobile apps have emerged as a new cyber-crime attack vector for phishing and malware; we saw the same scenario with web browsers.

As mobile apps dominate the market, and trends like bring your own device (BYOD) takes big strides in major enterprises, it’s essential to make users aware of issues around mobile applications. Some of these are:

• Mobile pick-pocketing: Malware and apps indulge in petty financial fraud such as the generation of premium SMSs and premium phone-calls without user intervention or approval.

• Stealing of personal information: Theft of information like contacts, SMSs and media files is widespread, especially on open platforms. A huge market exists for such databases.

• Malware and Spyware: Malware and spyware are downloaded unknowingly. This may be because they are disguised as a game, utility, or other useful (mainly free) apps.

• Wireless Transmissions: Are not always encrypted. In addition, many apps don’t encrypt data they transmit or receive over the network. This makes it easy for anyone to gain information such as emails being sent while you are having coffee at Starbucks.

• Internet Connections: Mobile apps don’t always have firewalls to limit their connections. When the device is connected to a wide area network, it uses ports to connect to other devices, thus leaving it vulnerable and an easy target for a hacker.

• Out-of-date OS: These days the biggest hype is getting your smartphone unlocked, by unlocking it, you may not be able to update your operating system.  Depending on the nature of the vulnerability, the patching process may be complex and involve many parties.

• Password: Many users never place a password on their phone because of the inconvenience. Even so, mobile devices often lack passwords to authenticate users and control access to data stored on the devices. Many devices have the technical capability to support passwords, personal identification numbers (PIN), or pattern screen locks for authentication.

Cyber criminals will get smarter and spend more time on mobile apps. History always repeats itself, and we should learn from web browser attacks and try to be careful of what mobile apps we use.

There are signs that you may need SharePoint but many clients we worked with, had no idea that they actually needed SharePoint.

SharePoint is a more than just a single web site tool. This is a great platform that you can use build your Intranet, Extranet, private social network, professional network, search engine tools, and public facing website. Once you and your team know a little bit about SharePoint, you can focus on doing your job and not learning and supporting niche applications and tools.

Let’s see if you can find a few productivity solutions here that you’ve been trying to find for your own organization.

Is there a need to:

1. Create better team communication and brainstorming sessions where everyone can participate when their schedules permit.

2. Collaborate with team members on all documents and stay on top of who did what. Earlier versions can easily be restored in case someone has made too many mistakes. Projects can also be linked to related documents.

3. Implement a help ticket resolution for your organization or team without breaking the bank.

4. Offer training materials to your teams, clients, and/or partners in a password-protected Website that can be accessed anywhere in the world.

5. Offer a secure and private place to share documents and other information with clients and/or partners.

6. Access and work with your data using your Internet-enabled mobile phone for added convenience while traveling or out of the office at client meetings.

7. Create a project dashboard where on one page you can view and filter on common project elements, such as: project details, project documents, project tasks, project issues, project calendar, project milestones, project lessons learned, project risks, project change orders, and more

8. Centralize where company and team project announcements are posted. Everyone will receive a notification via email or mobile phone automatically, anywhere in the world.

9. Use the efficient check-in / check-out management feature to sort your documents.

10. Work offline on the files, project tasks, tasks, discussions, contacts, calendars, blogs, etc. and then sync the updated information later on.

11. Organize large events and store the related documents, assigned tasks, and generally post anything and everything related to the events. It will also integrate with Outlook for added efficiency.

12. Quickly manage all projects for your team or organization so there’s no need to explore buying an expensive project management solution.

13. Create “central” documents (and synchronize), so all team members, clients, and/or partners are able to work on the same document and make changes. Updates are accessible with a click of a button. Everyone can then sync back to the “central” document and have all edits merged into that single document.

14. Easily add custom fields to any area and capture the information that’s most important to your company, all without the help of a web designer or IT person.

15. Start a private company blog to communicate and share ideas with your team that’s viewable only by those you give access to.

16. Pull up and update Microsoft Access 2007 database from a local desktop and sync information to a central location that can be accessed from anywhere at any time.

17. Gain more control over your company’s documents with the content approval function.

18. Store all your emails on a secure and centralized Website for easy archive.

19. Keep a central task location for assigning tasks to team members. These tasks will automatically show up in your team’s Outlook 2007 To-Do List. Those tasks will also link to your projects so you can easily find out what tasks are still open for each project.

20. Assign tasks to your team members, and automatically notify them that they have a new task. Alerts are sent when there have been updates to the tasks.

Technology decisions are complex, SharePoint may not be a good fit for every organization, we can all agree that there is no single technology that is a perfect fit for every organization for every solution. However, every organization, to a certain degree, should give serious consideration to the big picture when selecting technology platforms. Do you want a single platform or individual niche applications? Do you want commercially supported tools or open source (or a hybrid)?

Do it for the right reasons. And when you do it, take a good, hard look at your organization to create a plan that will work today and can grow into tomorrow’s plan. Your staff works hard already. Give them the guidance and structure that enables them to achieve even greater success.

So why outsource your IT support? Do the numbers stack up and what are the advantages and disadvantages of outsourced IT support?

For most companies there’s a development life cycle. In their early stages whilst they’re still young, most will find it cost effective to outsource their IT. As they grow some will reach a point where they weigh up the merits of employing a full time staff member. But there are other considerations apart from cost. Finance directors will tell you how hard it is to manage staff when you don’t know what it is they should be doing and why should any employee spend time trying to better a system when they get paid the same by just maintaining the status quo. Here are some of the factors to consider when evaluation the in source/outsource question:

Cost

The true cost of an IT support engineer on your payroll is not just the salary. An average network engineers’ pay is between $50K and $70 depending on experience. The lowest paid of engineers won’t able to cope with server support and more complex queries, therefore you can expect to have to pay more.
Once you factor in four weeks holiday pay and cover, sickness, training, office seating, insurance and other benefits. It’s easy to see why a company of 70 workers of less will rarely opt to have in house. Cost is not the only consideration though.

Understanding your Business

Take the example of a business where technology is tailored to the company. Can a database be supported by an outside company? Can an IT support company sufficiently understand that business and influence decisions in its best interests.

The answer is of course that it depends on the situation and the support company, but PC Correct support many clients who have complicated requirements and an alternative opinion might be that if you can only rely on one in house engineer, then what happens if he leaves or is unavailable.

Onsite Presence

An office worker will always prefer the friendly face of an engineer on site and therefore able to be tapped on the shoulder and asked for a little help. In reality most IT support queries can be resolved using remote connections over broadband connections, but there’s always going to be occasions when a cable needs changing or a PC needs connecting up. One way to resolve this issue is to arrange a regular visit, perhaps weekly, or monthly with the flexibility to bring it forward or push it back. The company needs to decide whether the benefit of having a full time employee is worth the cost and particularly in this age of technology enabling technology.

Range of Technology Supported

Many companies will have a mixture of operating systems; Microsoft , Mac , Linux as well as various competencies such as networking, programming, VOIP and web design . No one engineer can understand all these technologies well, and one major advantage IT companies have over an in house engineer is that a team of professionals can support each other when they don’t know.

A number of things can be put in place by the support company to ensure consistent service levels:

• Do they offer a service level agreement with clearly defined targets?
• Do they monitor your servers and network proactively?
• Do they have review periods?
• Is your system properly documented to mitigate the risk of staff leaving with valuable knowledge?
• Can remote access be provided to a help desk operating at the times you need them?
• Do they have all the relevant accreditation? Are they a Microsoft Partner for example?

If you find the right support company for you, then technology has evolved to remove so many of the objections put forward. Until your company can afford a two man team, it’s now probably not worth considering anything other than

IT Outsourcing Benefits

The biggest benefit to a business when outsourcing to other service providers is, of course, the cost savings. It will often be cheaper to hire someone outside the company for certain jobs. With an internal IT department, the network and systems may work normally without maintenance, but the IT department still gets paid for doing little to nothing. Outsourcing to an outside IT contractor means IT personnel will only be paid when they’re needed. When contracting with managed IT service providers, however, service agreements are usually long-term and more proactive than simple maintenance.

Competition between outsourcing companies pushes them to a higher quality. The service provider is forced to train its employees above and beyond the competition and must provide the highest quality service possible to maintain its reputation. Because of said competition over the last decade, high quality IT providers developed into managed IT services with hosted solutions. Managed IT service providers hold their standards to ITGC (IT General Controls) and use an SLA (Service Level Agreement).

Along with quality, a business can get specialized services that might not have been otherwise available internally. While a business could potentially hire such skill for a limited amount of time under a contract, good IT services offer a more comprehensive skillset that can be used permanently, just like internal IT departments. A competitive IT company also has the resources for application development, software deployment, and tech support.
There is also more liability for an outsourcing company in signing a contract than for a business. The service provider has a reputation to uphold if it wants to stay competitive, therefore creating a safer avenue for a potential client to outsource IT.

IT Outsourcing Disadvantages

One drawback to outsourcing IT is the time factor. If there is an emergency with your network or machines then the outsource company takes time to get there. Different elements you might consider: drive time, priority on the client list, or the contractor’s schedule. If you have in-house IT then it is dealt with immediately. Note that high response times aren’t always a factor, especially in managed IT services, because much of the hardware is offsite and/or closer to the IT service personnel. Additionally, certain companies like TTR go above and beyond their SLA to provide clients with permanent onsite technical support staff.

Businesses may be concerned that outsourced IT staff won’t understand the network or system in place—and with some IT contractors, this may be true. In-house IT staff will (or should) be intimately aware of their infrastructure. Good outsourced IT will a) learn the system and b) take care of the sensitive information involved. Managed IT services often host the infrastructure or can provide onsite staff as stated above, and thus will be equally aware of how a company’s networks and data function. However, onsite support staff will develop a deeper understanding of business objectives as they relate to IT strategy compared to a remote technician.

Finally, an outsourced IT company can only handle so much. A small-to-medium business is likely to benefit more than a large enterprise with hundreds or thousands of employees. Enterprise corporations at that scale need a large IT department to support its size and sustain a complex onsite infrastructure.
Depending on your needs and the size of your company, outsourcing IT can be a good choice. You will likely save money, and if you don’t, a good managed IT solution with an SLA will outweigh the costs.

The non-profit sector and other likewise industries are heavily reliant on a strong foundation of communication with its constituents. SharePoint allows an intranet based, wiki styled site for organizations to use as a back-office tool to help maximize, maintain, and manage a wealth of contacts needing access to an organization’s literature or other detailed information without having to start an email trail or play phone-tag during a prospective deal or with policymakers. The software is tailored to be flexible in its accessibility for the end-user:  allowing sharing of documents under categorized portals for any specified user(s) to view; is easily configurable, customizable by the end-user; provides an arena for strong, productive customer relationship management; is compatible with constituent outreach portals such as Facebook and other Web 2.0, internet sites or private communities; and comes with a myriad of custom applications. To ensure end-user satisfaction, the software giant has done well to provide a wealth of technical experts/bloggers providing continual feedback, tutorials or troubleshooting assistance. What is the most important feature of Microsoft SharePoint 2010? A higher return on your investment with reduced back office overheard.

Lack- of funding is the most eminent brick wall in the non-profit sector and SharePoint alleviates much of the overheard accumulated by these special organizations by improving in-house communication with the ability to effortlessly share information under a single knowledge-management system, deploy manpower accurately during important issues that arise unpredictably, and sharing data across all chapters, affiliates, partners and other organization involved. SharePoint allows a non-profit to collect, monitor, track, and analyze data by using visual workflows with built-in security and governance, document permissions and records retention. Using a wiki-site model, it allows a user to retrieve information faster than digging through stacks of paperwork or even full e-mail inboxes. From a management perspective, SharePoint 2010 facilitates communication across all departments of an organization thus allowing an organization’s board and leadership to ensure cross-department collaboration, laying a firm foundation to monitor objectives and specific goals.

SharePoint reduces costs by providing an engaging platform, critical to the non-profit initiative for both in-house and constituent communication. The flexible layout of the software allows for easy customization to best fit an end-user’s or organization’s needs, critical to maintain a competitive advantage. It is an effective, secure document management system with an integrated Web 2.0 compatibility, which allows you to reach the public, setting the environment to tackle public policy and gives non-profit the much demanded transparency by their supporters, volunteers, and leadership.

Mobile applications (or apps for short) are software applications, designed to run on smartphones, like iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Windows Mobile phones, as well as tablets, like iPad. Apps for mobile platforms are enjoying great popularity, and the scope of their use is rapidly expanding. Originally implemented for E‐mails, calendars and contact databases, mobile apps are now widely used for mobile games, factory automation, banking, location‐based services, social media, online shopping, order tracking systems, ticket purchases, etc.

Mobile banking apps, for example, allow users to perform numerous transactions, as well as to search for nearby ATMs. An airline app may offer a convenient booking procedure with the possibility to generate a boarding pass and automatically store it within the app. An app from a retail chain may enable users to locate a store, browse the stock, and make mobile purchases.

Although some companies are still just considering an opportunity to deploy mobile apps, a great deal of businesses all over the world have already got convinced in their competitive advantages. The major benefits of mobile applications may be listed as follows:

• Mobile apps reinforce the brand. They allow businesses to leverage IT‐technologies and facilitate customers to more effectively use products and services. Really effective and helpful apps increase information sharing via social networks and promote customer loyalty, which leads to the creation of a strong brand.

• Mobile apps offer additional value. Applications for mobile devices are convenient, easy to install and to launch. They cut down on the time to get and to process the necessary data. This is especially valued by people, who are most of the time on the go. It is often critical for them to have important data right at finger tips, which turns an effective mobile app into a necessity.

• Mobile apps generate extra profit. A company can, for example, deploy and manage dynamic mobile sales, service and support applications. These solutions are designed to increase the volume of revenue by either simplifying the buying process for existing customers or offering some attractive bonuses to prospective ones.

From a user’s perspective, mobile apps should be user friendly, save time and money, as well as bring satisfaction. Therefore, numerous businesses, always hungry for better ways on how to achieve higher results and outperform competitors, already consider mobile apps as an essential component of their marketing and social media strategies. Finally, in today’s digital era the merits of companies’ presence on mobile platforms directly influence their overall success and stimulate future development.

Industries and Technology Areas:

Industries: factory automation, banking, retail, traveling, social media, mobile games, mobile application development

Technology Areas: software development, mobile application development, iPhone, iPad, iOS, Android, BlackBerry, smartphone, tablet, PDA

Your solution? Microsoft SharePoint. SharePoint is a Microsoft solution that allows your entire office to collaborate and complete projects from a single platform. It’s like having a global network share one computer, just with more elbow room. Here are some of the cool ways SharePoint can help your business.

Document Management

Sadly, the shared drives of many business’ servers resemble those closets you see in movies, the ones with random clutter that spill out and bury anyone unlucky enough to open the door. It’s all too easy to misplace or rename files when there are no controls over how important documents are shared. Before long, you end up with a confusing and ultimately useless drive full of shared work. However, Microsoft SharePoint gives you the tools to create special web sites for projects or departments allowing team members to easily add, edit, and manage group files. Use of these intranet portals can be limited so only relevant groups or departments have access to pertinent files.

Team Collaboration

It’s hard enough for team members to interact when they’re separated by one floor. But what if the members of your team live in separate countries? SharePoint gives you the ability to establish Document Workspaces, where team members can edit each other’s contributions or chat in an offline discussion board. With SharePoint, conference calls and confusing mass e-mails are a thing of the past.

Business Automation

SharePoint has the power to create intelligent workflows to perform many menial tasks without your help, allowing you to focus on the more fun parts of your job. For example, you can use a workflow to overhaul your document approval process. After you designate a few simple workflow commands, SharePoint will automatically send the file and an e-mail to approvers notifying them of their task. Once the approvers sign off on the file, SharePoint will send a notification e-mail back to you. It is a neat process, especially since you were getting some quality putting practice in your office the entire time.

Are you interested in making Microsoft SharePoint a part of your business? Alegix Solutions can help! Like SharePoint, we are in the business of giving you the technological tools you need to grow your business and strengthen your communication, both with your customers and your employees.

 1. Economies of scale – Cloud computing companies can utilize economies of scale to offer cheaper rates to your business. In other words, the service providers can buy IT equipment in bulk to lower unit acquisition costs, and some of these cost savings are passed on to their customers. Consequently, this price is much lower than what you would pay to buy similar equipment from the retail market.

2. Pay as you use – Cloud computing companies operate on a pay-as-you-use model, or in other words, a demand-only model. As a business availing of cloud computing services, you only pay for the services you require and use. This works out to be much cheaper than acquiring equipment you hardly use.

3. Running costs – Often, running costs comprise a big chunk of the annual IT budget. They include physical maintenance, upgrades, personnel salaries, etc. By shifting to cloud computing, you are free of such expenses.

4. Operational costs vs Investment costs - When you acquire expensive equipment, that’s considered a capital expenditure, and a big one at that. Also, your acquisition depreciates over time. With cloud computing, your one-time expense is spread across several operational cycles, becoming part of operational costs. As any corporate finance professional will tell you, this is a much better alternative. Factor in the time value of money, and the balance shifts even more towards cloud computing.

5. No more downtime. Employees will no longer have to spend their time closely monitoring and fixing servers, resulting in more time for productivity. Say no to the break-fix model, and welcome the managed services model with open arms

Smart business decisions mean making the right choices when it comes to technology. Key considerations like cost effectiveness, accessibility, and security should drive decision-making. It’s very possible you’ll realize that moving to the cloud and transitioning to a cloud-based business model is the right decision for you and your business.