Riverbank It management

Many businesses are seriously under-powered when it comes to home broadband. Our experience in the small business market is that many firms expect their staff to work from home and just assume that any cheap broadband connection is fine. Staff then have a poor experience working remotely on their office network and everyone is unhappy.

What these businesses forget is that working from home often means that a lot of data is going upstream from home to office. Staff are quite naturally expected to be productive. So the information they produce has to go from home to the office network  - when a user saves a document for example. 

This is the reverse of the way that ADSL broadband was designed, which was on the basis of much more information coming downstream from web sites (like a video) than going back upstream (like "next page please"). With ADSL it doesn't matter how fast the promised and much-hyped downstream  performance is; almost every ADSL connection has a very dreary upload speed. Because of this it's vital to squeeze every bit of performance you can from your home ADSL line.

To get that performance you need high quality broadband. Cheap broadband means crowded broadband which means poor performance. You are in the queue with all your neighbours and every school student chatting to their friends online. The result for someone working from home is that they wait for an age while their computer tries to save a document. It is not a good use of expensive employee time.

Last week Microsoft slipped their 'browser choice' into Windows updates. It was forced upon Microsoft by the EU as part of the settlement of a long-running legal dispute. It has created very little excitement in the business community but here for the sake of completeness is the Riverbank line on the matter.

Riverbank's recommendation is to stick with Internet Explorer for the following reasons:

1. Internet Explorer is not a bad product. It works ok.
2. Internet Explorer integrates very well with other Microsoft products such as SharePoint. If you are using SharePoint, stick with Internet Explorer.
3. We've all got better things to do than experiment with browsers, such as making our businesses a success. Changing browsers is unlikely to impact on your bottom line.

Add your comment if you disagree with our view. It would be interesting to know that there is some excitement around the choice of web browser.

Microsoft announced its Office 2010 Technology Guarantee last Friday, 5 March. If you buy Microsoft Office 2007, with or without a computer, at any time up to 30 September you are now entitled to a free upgrade to Office 2010. The upgrade period starts when  Office 2010 is launched in June and will run until 31 October. 

The offer applies to fully-packaged products and to Office pre-installed on new computers. It does not apply to volume licence purchases. 

If you would like more information please contact Chris Jones, Business Development Manager.

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday at a brilliant clean tech symposium hosted by VenCap. Lots of very interesting people there, from venture capital people from around the globe to CEOs of spin-out companies and 'about to be spun out' companies from Oxford University.

One clear message was that there is investment money out there and clean tech is seen as a great place to invest.

A second message was that clean tech is a way of thinking, not a market sector. One speaker said that "If you’re not clean you’re dead." The speed at which government policies are changing around the globe and the shift in consumer demand means that we all need to have businesses that are clean and green.

Thirty two Riverbank clients use inexpensive software called Exclaimer to make sure they add an e-mail disclaimer to every e-mail and ensure they comply with the requirements of the Companies Act. They also have the opportunity to add a marketing message to every outbound e-mail.

If your company uses Exclaimer you need to be sure that you are taking advantage of this ability to promote your business. It could be anything from “Winner of the south-east technology award 2010” to “Find out about our new product launch at www.etc”.

If your company uses Exchange as its central e-mail database and you don’t have Exclaimer you should get it. You should get it because you need to know that your company is legal and you should get it because you need to take every opportunity you can to go for growth.

It’s the BlackBerry software that makes the BlackBerry such a delight to use. It’s just easy to get the job done. If you use a BlackBerry here are some little features that make it even nicer to use.

• Upper case? Hold down the key and it automatically switches to upper case.
• Full stop. Press the space bar twice.
• Typing a URL into the browser? Use the space bar for the dots.
• Typing an e-mail address? Use the space bar for the @ sign and for the dots.
• When browsing through your e-mail press B for bottom and T for top.
• Don’t forget that you have copy and paste available to move text. Highlight the text (Shift and roll across the text) and press the menu button. It automatically selects ‘Copy’ for you.
• Rearrange the screen icons so the ones you use most frequently are on the top row. Press the menu button and select move. Just move the icon and press the roller button to drop it.
• To switch between ring and vibrate press Q.
• Use the speed-dial option to get single-key calling. In the list of recent calls highlight the person you want. Press the menu button and select Add Speed Dial. You can also do this from the contacts list – open the contact and highlight the phone number. Then press the menu button.

Have you got any favourite BlackBerry tips? If so, share them through the Riverbank newsletter. Full credit given!

If your business is going to grow in a flat market (let’s be optimistic about the wider economy) you have to do so by winning market share. That means taking business from your competitors. To do that you have to be better than them. You also have to communicate your message to your potential customers.

What underpins your success at attracting that new business is your systems – the way you run your business. Here are seven ways that IT can contribute to your success.

1. You have to be more efficient and get more results for less effort. Without a doubt one of the most effective tools you can use is CRM software – Customer Relationship Management. CRM software enables you to store the intelligence (call back in six months, birthday is 15 May, etc). It also enables you to track your successes and your failures so you can establish what works and what doesn’t.

The hype around cloud computing could be reaching a peak, but are companies actually doing it? Many large firms are apparently holding back from making a drastic change to their IT systems, preferring to wait until others have gone before them and made their mistakes. Many smaller businesses are hesitant about committing their entire business to a single Internet connection. They are also worried about the security of trusting their intellectual property in an environment where they feel they have little or no control.

But fortune favours the bold, so should you be brave and take the plunge into cloud computing? Are you even sure what it is or what it's supposed to do for your businesss?

Cloud computing is the first of the Riverbank lunchtime workshops for 2010. If you would like to understand what lies behind the hype, what it can and can't do for your business, and whether now is the time to be brave then come along to "Cloud computing -  what's in it for me?" on Tuesday 30 March. Contact Amber Juffkins to reserve your place.

I attended a PGP event this morning to hear the latest news around IT security and encryption (by the way 'PGP' stands for 'Pretty Good Privacy' and it's also a world leader in encryption technnology).

The news is that spending on IT security is increasing even during a recession, because companies recognise the importance of staying secure and the damage any security breach can cause (prison, for example).  Many firms have now got all their laptops encrypted and are now starting to take email encryption seriously. After all, what's the point in keeping everything nice and secure on your computer and then broadcasting confidential information on the digital equivalent of a postcard?

The PGP message is clear. You can implement a fully-automatic email encryption system quickly and easily. And with zero impact for computer users it won't get in your way. If you would like to find out more about it do call me on 01844 278036 or e-mail malcolm@riverbank.co.uk.

Dell have a 0% finance deal on offer for server purchases. The finance deal can include software and Riverbank services, but must have a total price of at least £10,000 to qualify. The offer runs until the end of April.

 Contact Chris Jones for more information.