End of the year IT checklist

We are quickly approaching the end of the year.  How are your systems fairing?  Here are some of the items we look for.

1. Fire drill the backup and make sure it works.  This should happen minimally once per year.  However, we find that checking the backup twice per year gives a better balance of cost and knowing it works.
2. Review computer related costs.  Is your IT provider looking out for you?  We review billing each year and attempt to save our customers money.
3. Look into cost savings through infrastructure changes.  Sometime it seems counter-intuitive, but new equipment can sometimes save a significant amount of money through different avenues. 
4. Budget for next year.  This is important, even if you are on a shoestring budget.  Know what your expenditures are going to be so you can prepare for them.

If you need assistance with any of these items, please call us at 888-95-LOGIX (56449) or email us at sales@logixhelp.com.

If your data was lost, would your business survive?

For many companies, the loss of computers can be devastating to their business.  This is particularly true with their servers that house most of the data they need.  Are you adequately protected?

One of the first things you need to know is what you stand to lose if your computers are offline.  An easy way to begin calculating the cost is to add up the amount of money you pay each employee per year that is impacted by an outage and divide it by 2000 (number of working hours in a year, with vacations).  So five employees, each paid $40,000 per year, cost you $100 per hour to sit around and hope the computers come back up.  If you factor in taxes, insurance, and other benefits, it is likely much higher.

You should also consider lost revenue.  Will those customers call back?  Worse yet, will they call your competitor?  The costs of losing customers is much higher than simply a lost order.

This can be a very grim picture.  There are things that can be done to mitigate this risk.  This is always a trade-off between cost and risk.  The less you spend on the system the more risk you are exposed to.

Example 1:
You don’t want to spend any money on disaster recovery and business continuity (it costs too much).  Any work that you do is lost and must be able to be replicated.  Let’s assume that it will take your five employees one month to put all of the data back in the system.  Without considering revenue impact, that is $16,700 (again, no benefits are in that number).

Example 2:
A backup tape (that you KNOW is working) is used and tested regularly for backup.  The costs on this vary, but is usually starts at $2000 if it is done correctly.  If the server goes down, you are likely to experience 24 to 72 hours of downtime.  This is a cost of $2400 to $7200 for the five employees.

Example 3:
An offsite backup with on site virtualization solution is used (and has been tested) for backup.  The upfront costs are usually inline with a tape backup with a monthly recurring cost that usually starts at $199 per server.  If the server goes down, you will be up in 4 hours.  This is a cost of $400 for the five employees.

So, what is your business worth?  Of course, these are simply three ways to approach this problem.  We can help you evaluate the options that are most appropriate for your business and help you develop a business continuity to keep your business alive.

Call us at 888-95-LOGIX (56449) or visit us online at http://www.logixhelp.com/BDR/ to learn more.

Are your employees doing something that they aren’t supposed to?

Quite frequently, business owners and managers wonder what an employee is doing during the work day.  While they are paid to perform a task, it seems that it isn’t getting done as fast as it should.  What can be done about this?

First, define your policies on internet usage and personal use of business computers.  Without this step, you don’t have a leg to stand on.  This is especially true if you want to terminate employment for an infraction.  Don’t do this yourself.  Get an HR professional or lawyer involved!

Next, you need to decide how you want to approach the problem.  You can limit their use of the internet through filtering software.  This is a great solution as the employee begins to police themselves.  Another approach is to investigate the employee to see where they have gone or what they are doing.  This is time intensive, but it is frequently used when you are building a case for termination.

Putting in these systems isn’t a simple solution.  It is important that the people still be able to work while having their access to time-wasting activities restricted.  They can require a significant amount of fine tuning.  These systems often pay for themselves fairly quickly through productivity increases.

Call us today at 888-95-LOGIX (56449) to see how we can help you!

Why does my business computer fail so much?

A chief complaint with many businesses is the seemingly frequent downtime and the massive costs associated with it?  Is your computer support doing everything they can to minimize it?  Some of the things they can do:

1. Make sure maintenance routines are being run frequently.
2. Remotely monitor the computer for errors.
3. Remotely monitor the computer for hardware utilization (how hard is the system being used?).
4. Trend errors and utilization to establish patterns.

Some computer support firms simply don’t have the tools or knowledge to implement this.  If you find that downtime is hampering your business, please give us a call at 888-955-6449 or email us at sales@logixhelp.com.

What to Look For When Buying a New Computer

Buying a new computer can be daunting.  How do you know what to look for?  What do you really need?  This may help you.

Typically, I suggest buying a “business-class” computer.  These are the computers that come with a standard 3 year warranty.  They are built with more expensive parts that last longer.  A “consumer-grade” computer comes with a 1 year warranty.  Please note that buying a system with a 1 year warranty and then buying the extended warranty isn’t the same thing!

What do you need in that computer?  In general, what you need most is RAM (memory).  Four GB (gigabyte) of RAM is my standard suggestion.  The second thing you need is a video card with a processor on it.  You will usually see MHz or GHz on the specs for the card.  Other than that, get what you like.  A Blu-ray player is a good investment as is a nice screen.  Just remember, you will have this for a few years so get what you need and what you want.

As for brands, I will say that only HP and Dell computers are certified to run Windows.  I would stick with them.

For businesses, there are other considerations.  If your business is looking to upgrade their systems, please contact us.  We would be happy to help work with you to make sure you get the most out of your investment.

Web Apps Aren’t Everything Desktop Apps Are

It seems tempting to move everyone to these inexpensive web applications.  You see Microsoft offering a web-based Office (Word, Excel) product.  Of course, there is Google Apps.  It doesn’t end there.  There are so many applications that are Internet-based.  While they are often less expensive than traditional applications, there are trade offs.

1. No Internet – no application
   You lose your Internet connection and your application is completely unavailable.  Most businesses with traditional applications can continue working with this type of interruption. 
2. If the application provider goes down, you go down
   Unfortunately, it isn’t just your Internet connection you will rely on.  The place that is hosting your application must be reliable.  If they go down for any reason, you cannot use your application.
3. Some functionality loss
   Almost always, you will lose some functionality when moving to web apps.  Typically, these features are processor or graphic intensive applications.  So, for an Excel-type program, you will lose features that utilize a lot of resources (like pivot tables or intense graphs).

Cost savings have other costs.  Be sure you are aware of them before you make the plunge!

Is technology enabling your business?

I frequently read stories about how businesses are using technology to enable them to do more (in some cases much more) for less or with less.  Are you following this trend?

Often times in computers, we don’t want to “rock the boat” and we stick with status quo.  Unfortunately, many IT consultants only stick with what they know.  This prevents them from helping you from implementing new technology that can help you grow.  Has your IT person looked at your business processes and suggested ways to improve them with technology?  Have they asked your department heads where technology isn’t meeting your needs?

On the other side of the coin, some firms implement new technology on your dime just to say that they have done it.  Being on the bleeding edge of technology isn’t always a desirable thing.  You need to know whether or not that technology is there to support a business process, enable a new process, or is there “just because”.

You should consider changing providers and use one that implements new technology in a responsible fashion that helps grow your business (not just theirs).  Logix Computer Consulting pairs technology with business processes and knows that the stability and reliability of your computers is vital to your business’ growth.  Call us today for a free network assessment to see if we can help you enable your business with technology.