Some of the greatest productivity tools for business are mobile computing devices. Tablets, smartphones, and laptops keep employees connected to the office and to customers and enable round-the-clock support. These same mobile devices also can create a headache for IT personnel. The IT staff has to provide access to mobile users and secure the network from wireless intruders. While supporting a mobile workforce can substantially increase office productivity, your network also needs to be hardened to accommodate mobile users. Read More >
The end of XP Support and SP3 Office 2003 is April 8th, 2014. A few members of the NSI team recently attended a conference where a lot of discussion took place regarding XP and Windows 8 Pro. You do not have to be a techie to be aware that moving to Windows 8 has received a lot of heated publicity, both for and against the operating system.
The Cloud. It's the place to be. Perhaps Sir Richard Branson will find a way for us to tour the cloud. If anyone can find a way, it's him.
We use the cloud when we put gas in our car. We use the cloud to pay our bills (even if you are sending a paper check, funds are transferred through the cloud by the banks and corporations that process payments).
Are you reading this on your smartphone or tablet? One thing that I know for certain is that I view a majority of emails, blog posts, and reports on my smartphone. The amount that I do this surprises me, as I once believed the screen was too small and the notion of conducting business on, well, a display the equivalent of a business card seemed impossible. It's not. I do it every day, and I'm sure you do, too.
Did you know that by 2014 there will be more mobile web surfers than stationary ones? That means more prospects are accessing your business website more through their smart phones, tablets or other mobile devices than with a laptop or PC. If you thought you had time to make the switch closer to 2014, you may want to reconsider in light of new research. A recent study revealed that around 40% of prospects move on to a competitor if they have a poor mobile experience. How prepared is your business for this change? Well, if you are just starting out, the following checklist will help.
Here at NSI, we do a lot of IT consulting for network support and computer services, including vmware projects, storage, and data backup and recovery solutions for small business. Let's jump right into the five things you can do right away to improve your businesses IT environment - One: Backup Files Every Day - As catastrophic as data loss is, the number of businesses that still are not backing up their network is unbelievable. According to the Symantec Small to Medium Size Businesses (SMB) data, only 23% of SMBs are backing up their data on a daily basis and fewer than 50% are backing up data weekly. Any number of events can result in data loss, so the importance of frequently backing up your network cannot be overstated.
