Make the right choice, and your new server will be running smoothly from the first day. Make the wrong choice and it won't. Committed "do-it-yourselfers", who pride themselves in being "do-it-yourselfers", are inevitably the most likely  to end up calling in the cavalry.

These are a few ways you can really screw it up:

Connect People, Information & Processes
With a SharePoint Starter Site
By Jane Cage, HTS COO

Everyone can agree – there is not a business around that wouldn’t benefit from better processes and shared information. SharePoint, a Microsoft product designed for networks running Windows Server, is a web-based application that enables anywhere-access for individuals or groups who are working together on projects. Team members can share files, calendars, contacts and secure information through a browser anywhere they have web access. Read below for answers to some of the basic questions surrounding this great application.

“How could YOU use SharePoint?”
Get a basic SharePoint Starter Site in place and your people can immediately begin to develop their own workspace, invite peers together around projects, locate information, access and collaborate. They can search documents by various attributes ranging from name, author to even content-- across your network. Most importantly, they can do this from a coffee shop, from home or anywhere there is internet access.

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Virtualization Overview 
by Jane Cage, COO, HTS

We shouldn’t be surprised then that IT departments are asking the same of their fileservers. When server utilization gets measured, we find that many servers have much more capacity than they actually use for the majority of the time. With so much excess capacity – why not run more than one server on a single machine? That’s what virtualization is all about -- one physical machine running more than one server operating system.

Virtualization is a “hot” technology right now and here are some of the reasons why:

When considering purchasing Office licenses think about purchasing open licenses as opposed to the license (OEM) that can be purchased with a new PC. There are several advantages to purchasing an open license such as the ability to move the license to another PC in the event the original system is retired, the ability to purchase upgrade protection for two years on open licenses, and Microsoft offers cash back or service credits with InSwift as an incentive. Businesses are not fully aware of the cost advantage of this option or the ease of management with this licensing model. Contact InSwift for more information.

Contact Management Solutions – All businesses should be using some form of shared contact management for their main business contacts. If your company is still operating under the assumption that having multiple contact databases for clients, vendors, and other business contacts is the best method, then we recommend you reconsider that approach. Today there are many options to address this need by using products like Microsoft CRM (now with a hosted offering), GoldMine, and ACT. Another option is to look at using Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager. This is a great option for companies looking for basic contact management with a single database to be used by all end users. While not as robust as full featured CRM systems, it is sufficient for many business needs.

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March 2008

Preserve and Protect Your Data

Summary
As the amount of data being created continues to increase, and that info is accessed and shared by more people, SMBs can't afford to ignore the need for data protection.

Small and medium businesses are powered by information.
Should your business lose that information or even suffer an interruption in access, it can have serious consequences. When it comes to protecting their electronic data, some SMBs feel they are at a disadvantage because they lack the large budgets and dedicated IT staff that many large enterprises enjoy. While this may be true, that doesn’t detract from the fact that SMBs face the same fundamental data protection concerns as large businesses, as no business is too small to be immune to data loss. As the amount of data being created continues to increase, and that info is accessed and shared by more people, you can’t afford to ignore the need for data protection.

According to a report released in March by the IT Policy Compliance Group, 20% of organizations are suffering from 22 or more sensitive data losses per year. There are a number of ways in which a business' data can be lost, destroyed, corrupted, or rendered inaccessible. It can happen when a natural disaster—such as a hurricane or flood—occurs. Hardware failure or theft can also be to blame, as can external threats like viruses, worms, or hackers. File or software corruption can also affect data stability. However, the IT Policy Compliance group cites human error as the most common reason for data loss; unintentional user error and policy violations were the most common reasons.

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Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognize them.

-Ann Landers

Just for Laughs