Riverbank It management

Thank you to everyone who visited our exhibition stand and entered our prize draw at Genesis 2009, the London biotech showcase event. We hope the event was as useful and successful for you as it was for us.

The winner of the Riverbank iPod will be announced on 21 December.

We look forward to seeing you again at Genesis 2010.

The idea of IT as a service is starting to catch on. Like leasing a car with all the maintenance and servicing included, people like the idea of "no hassle" IT. Someone else has the responsibility for providing the equipment and keeping it running. As the customer you just pay a fixed monthly fee and that's it - no surprises and no additional maintenance costs.

The other advantage of this way of delivering IT is that you have zero capital expenditure, particularly useful in current economic times when cash is so important. 

We have just completed our first installation on this basis, and have two more in the pipeline. If the idea appeals to you, just get in touch with Riverbank. Call Chris Jones on 01844 278036 or e-mail chris@riverbank.co.uk.

E-mail keeps piling into your business, and your e-mail database keeps on growing. There is a hidden cost to this, which only reveals itself when the database hits its limit or your disk is full. At that point you wish you had been managing your e-mail all along. You realise that even a large server system needs management, and that as new data comes into your organisation so old data must move out of it. E-mail archiving is the solution.

I recently overheard someone lamenting the demands of e-mail, that people now expected an immediate reply. A few years ago, they said, a reply next day was what was expected. We have become a "now, now, now" society.

One reason for this feeling is that e-mail can now follow you around on your mobile phone, whether it's a BlackBerry, an iPhone or a Windows phone. That leads to another strongly expressed view from some people that they don't want to be hounded by their e-mail - "it's bad enough in the office" is their view.

Work faster with Word with more shortcuts and some handy techniques that will make you a power user - faster and more productive.

In the recent PC Pro Awards 2009 Riverbank partner Zen Internet was named as the best Internet Service Provider. This is the sixth year running that Zen has won this award.

Andrew Saunders, Zen Internet’s Head of Product Management and Marketing, said: ‘This award acknowledges the value Zen’s services provide to our customers, through our unique combination of reliable products, one month contracts, no Fair Use Policy or traffic shaping – all supported by exceptional customer service’.

In September Zen received the highest score in a survey by PC Advisor, with 93% for reliability, 95.8% for ‘would recommend’ and 94.5% for overall satisfaction.  

We are pleased to announce that Riverbank has been appointed as the Oxfordshire O2 technology partner.

We have chosen to work with O2 because they have shown a genuine interest in the small and medium business sector. This means that we will be able to deliver better products and better support to our customers.

Firms that need between ten and 50 mobile connections can have mobile phones (with next day replacement), USB modems for mobile data connections, and their landlines all with one supplier. Not only does this reduce administration effort it also reduces costs, because all calls within the O2 network are free.

A survey of 2,000 adults by Citrix GotoMyPC reveals that UK commuters waste 4.6 million hours every day. Not surprisingly nearly two-thirds of the people interviewed want to reduce the time they spend commuting, mainly by working from home or by using technology to enable flexible and remote working.

And the most common reason why they don't do this already? 46% blamed their boss, who won't let them work from home or work flexible hours.

The easy bit is the technology - nearly 70% of Riverbank clients have enabled flexible working. The difficult part is the attitude of employers who think "if I can't see you how do I know you are working?". They have yet to understand that you have to trust your employees. Do they really employ people who aren't trustworthy and committed? If so, why?

I met a business on Saturday where electricity is a chargeable extra. Truly.

I was in a local pub on Saturday and ordered lunch. While I was waiting I just needed to use my laptop for a few minutes. I asked one of the bar staff if I could plug it into the mains. Yes, she said, but we'll have to charge you for the electricity.

Instant Messaging (or IM) isn’t just something for the under-15s. It’s also a great business tool. It’s an excellent way to keep in touch with your team, wherever they are. IM also gives you information about presence, something that every manager needs.

With Instant Messaging you can ping a quick question to a colleague, knowing that you won’t disturb them and that they will reply when they have a moment. It bridges the gap between e-mail (will I get a reply today?) and a phone call (“Sorry to interrupt you but…”). It’s instant communication without the distraction of a phone call – a delay of a minute or two is not a problem.