How To Prevent Employees From Wasting Time Online

Do you have any idea how many hours your employees spend online checking eBay listings, cruising social networks, looking for vacation deals, Googling old flames or (even worse) ogling porn or gambling? A survey by America Online and Salary.com concluded that employers spend nearly $760 billion a year paying employees to goof off on the web. And with the ever-increasing popularity of YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites, the urge to goof off instead of working increases daily.

Where Do You Draw The Line?

While a certain degree of personal online usage may be perfectly okay, the goal here is to stop employees who waste HOURS online and/or to prevent employees from accessing damaging online content such as pornography or gambling websites, as well as preventing them from downloading illegal software, inviting viruses into your network or spamming out racist or off-color jokes using your company e-mail – all of which can create bigger problems legally and financially.

Two Simple Fixes

So what’s a business owner to do? First, make sure you have a good AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) in place that outlines what employees can and cannot do online or with company e-mail and resources. If you have one, make sure it’s updated to include the use of social media sites and rules on sharing confidential company information. Next, we recommend Cyberoam because it not only protects you from spam, but also provides strong firewalls. Cyberoam goes further in saving companies money in that they allow parameters to be set on certain websites and bandwidth limitations to certain websites as well.

For more advice, all us at 408.483.1881.

6 Reasons To Choose Hosted Solutions Over Traditional IT

If you want to save your organization a good amount of money on hardware, software and support, you ought to be looking at the various hosted IT solutions that are available.

A hosted solution is simply a business application – be it a CRM system like Salesforce or Microsoft’s Exchange – that is stored (or hosted) on a server outside of your office and is accessed via the web. This is also called “cloud computing.” While some folks are still a bit skeptical of putting their entire computer network in the “cloud,” that fear is starting to subside with the incredible cost savings and ever-increasing security and reliability of hosted applications.

How Hosted Solutions Save You Money And Solve Many IT-Related Problems

1. Cost Savings. With a hosted solution, you get the instant advantage of having very sophisticated software sunning on top-of-the-line, fully supported hardware without having to pay for it out of pocket. Since the resources are shared, you only pay a small fraction of the overall costs. Plus, upgrades and on-going maintenance are included, saving you even more.

2. You’re Not Stuck With Any One Solution. Another advantage of a hosted solution is that there is no long-term commitment. If you don’t like a particular CRM or application, you can (usually) cancel the contract and move on to something else. Compare that against building your own in-house solution which costs a LOT more money and is much harder to walk away from because of the investment.

3. Your Costs Go Up Or Down Based On Users. Since most hosted solution fees are based on the number of users who have access, you can quickly scale up or down.

4. Less Hassle. Since your provider is providing these services like a utility, THEY are responsible for all the upgrades, maintenance, security, etc.

5. Faster Implementation. Building your own infrastructure is not only expensive, but also time consuming. With hosted applications, you simply turn the service “on,” making it much easier (and faster) to get started.

6. Easy Access From Anywhere. If you or your employees travel a lot or work from remote or home offices, going to a hosted solution makes even more sense because users can work from anyplace they happen to be connected to the Internet.

What About The Downsides?

Some folks are still a bit too squeamish to put their entire network and data into a hosted solution, usually because of concerns over security or the fear of not being able to access their data if the Internet goes down. While these are valid concerns, they can easily be addressed by choosing a reputable company with a long-standing history of good service (think Salesforce or Rackspace) and by getting a backup Internet connection (something we recommend to all clients).

If you really want to know if your business can benefit from hosted solutions, give us a call. Even if you’re not ready to go 100% to the cloud, you can often get certain pieces of your network hosted to save money and provide easier access to those who travel.

Bringing Technology And The Great Outdoors Together

Do you like to camp, hike, and spend time outdoors but you can’t live without your iPod or cell phone? We’ve got the solution!

Pico Freeloader Solar Charger is a compact and lightweight solar powered charger that can give you 35 hours on mobile phone, 14 hours on iPod, or 1.5 hours on GPS, all on a single ten hour charge. The crystalline solar cells will soak in the sun’s rays by day, and when night falls, you can plug your phone or GPS in and charge it up in just half an hour! Now when you trek through the wilderness, you can do it with peace of mind knowing your vital devices will stay charged in case of emergency.

What’s particularly nice about the Pico is that you can recharge its internal lithium ion via USB in the event of a cloudy day or in the middle of winter. Oh, did we mention it’s only $39? Maybe this is the new Christmas gift you get for everyone!

IRS Warns Of E-mail Scam Targeted At Businesses

The IRS recently released an alert regarding an e-mail scam targeting people using the government’s payment service. IRS spokesman Dan Boone said the scam claims a tax payment made through the Electronic Federal Tax System (EFTPS) was rejected. It them directs you to a website which contains malware that may infect the user’s computer.

Boone said the IRS never sends e-mails about taxes. If you receive this or any similar message, you are advised not to click any links or submit any information. You should also forward the e-mail immediately to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov.

EFTPS is a tax payment system provided free by the U.S. Department of Treasury that allows individual or business taxpayers to pay federal taxes electronically via the Internet or by phone 24/7.