Buyers Guide: Small Business Planning, Marketing and Computer Services

Super fast internet connectivity for Cornwall!!

2009-10-22T07:01:00.001-07:00

BT have completed a project to open up over 600 new internet access points thorough the country and one of these is in Redruth.

What this means is that businesses now have an alternative to traditional ADSL broadband to provide their internet connectivity

Broadband is a generic term we use to describe ADSL, a product we all now and use to give us fast internet access.

The two inherent issues with ADSL are;

1. There are limited products available with service level agreements to suit businesses

2. The upload and download speeds differ. This means they are great for downloading content but not so good if you pass data back to the net

Lease lines solve these issues.

1. BT leased lines come with a 100% up time SLA so short of a major disaster your connectivity is guaranteed

2. Lease lines carry the same upload and download speeds

3. Lease lines are presented on fibre so you can get much faster connection if you need it. Currently up to 100Mbps!

So why now?

Well, when the fibre for a leased line is installed you pay for the distance covered to the nearest connection to the internet. For some time this has been Plymouth. With the access points the distance from Cornish businesses to the exchange is greatly reduced, as is the cost.

This is also good news for the Cornish economy. With connectivity of this nature larger companies and smaller internet intensive companies will be attracted to Cornwall.

For more information please call 01209 708 608

Disaster Recovery Planning

2009-10-01T05:51:00.000-07:00

Any successful company that wants to stand the test of time will at some stage need to implement a disaster recovery or business continuity plan to ensure there is an appropriate procedure to minimise the impact of disasters and general issues on their business.

Personally, I think "Disaster" is quite a strong word and sometimes detracts from the importance of developing a planned procedure for recovery of your business from unforeseen circumstances. Disasters occur once in a long while whilst issues that can affect the normal business operation occur much more frequently.

As a general concept, any business should ask themselves three key questions;

1. How do we detect and identify potential issues that will effect business continuity?

2. How can we prevent these issues from occurring?

3. If these issues occur, how do we recover from them?

This should start you thinking about what if scenarios.

You should also consider the plan to be a progressive instrument for your organisation. There's little point in creating a brilliant plan only to shelve it until there's an issue and finding when you need it most it’s out of date.

You should also test the elements of the plan to make sure your recovery process works. This exercise may also reveal additional issues that you might not have considered which you should feed back into the plan.

Budget is also a major consideration. If you have unlimited funds your options for a resilient plan are boundless, sadly for most of us that's not the case. This is where the knowledge of your computer services provider will help you the most. Anyone worth their weight will have experience with recovery issues and be able to provide assistance and input towards your plan.

The geographical layout of your organisation should also be considered as this can contribute a major factor towards your plan. For example; with adequate data connections, data backup can be made to a separate office, building or facility your company has access too.

Our company website holds a sample of a very basic plan that will give you some idea of where to start. In addition there are some useful resources out there on the web;

http://www.pirantech.co.uk/products-and-services/downloads.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disaster_recovery#General_steps_to_follow_while_creating_BCP.2FDRP

Project Management

2009-07-30T06:04:00.000-07:00

Project management is an integral part of any business that wants to develop rapidly and retain control over costs and resources.

IT development often fails through a lack of protocol applied to IT projects; the big one being the old favourite of communication breakdown!

Project management is often pigeonholed for larger businesses and ignored by the smaller ones for the red tape it causes. Please don't accept this as the case. In many circumstances its more important for the small business as they have limited funds and resources and need their projects to be right first time.

Its good practice to invest some money in project management training preferable under a recognised standard like PRINCE2. Careful where you spend the budget though as there are several companies out there that charge handsomely for this.

I used Vi2dus , a training consultancy based in Camborne. They are an excellent bunch and give great service at a great price.

As far as IT services go Piran Technologies has used Prince2 from its inception as I was an advocate of this from my last company.

If you are buying IT services, its unlikely that your provider would spend the time and money to implement PRINCE2 fully as part of their quality manual but don't be afraid to ask them what methodology they intend to use or how they will control the costs, resources and communication.

This could save you money and will help to ensure the supplier meets your expectations.

Social Networking: A good tool for Business?

2009-07-21T03:32:00.000-07:00

There are no shortage of business networking organisations in Cornwall and no doubt they are a good way for start-ups to gain access to their market. Given the onset of social networking sites like facebook and LinkedIn what does the future hold and Could the social network provide a useful business tool?

About two years ago I was asked to sign up to facebook by our Cisco account manager who was labelling it as the next big thing. Unconvinced, I did as I was told. It took about another eight months for the phenomenon to "go big" and about another eight for the users to shake all of those ridiculous applications.

I got to thinking about the application of the network for business. After about a year I have given up! The latest reports show that 80% of people who use facebook at work use it to stay in toush with friends and family rather than business. I'm guessing the other 20% are plugging away for the business hit like me.

Check out http://www.whitepapersource.com/marketing/facebook-for-business/#comment-14222

The upshot of facebook in my opinion is it depends totally on what you are selling. targeted marketing for B2C businesses works incredibly well!

For those of us in the B2b sector maybe LinkedIn is the answer?

Watch this space for updates...

Cisco Blog...

2009-07-21T03:31:00.000-07:00

For a complimentary blog site, have a look at...

http://cisco-southwest.blogspot.com/

A bit more technical that this site but a good insite into the functionality of Cisco.

Microsoft Small Business Server

2009-07-13T07:23:00.000-07:00

For many small businesses in Cornwall implementing a new or replacement Microsoft Small Business Server can be a project that needs careful consideration to prevent business disruption.

Below are five simple rules you can follow to help minimise this risk and ensure you get the desired results from your investment;

Choose a company with a good record of partnerships.

There are a number of partners with Microsoft accreditation. Check they have the small business specialism in addition to their main partnership.
Check their track record.

Ask the company how many installations they have performed and ask for some reference sites. Any provider worth their salt will arrange for you to speak or visit their existing customers.
Check Qualifications.

You wouldn't expect dental surgery from someone that's not a dentist! Take the same advice with your Microsoft Small Business Server. Ask the providers about their engineers and the qualifications they have. This is important for the installation and after sales support.
Beware the one man band!

By far the most common complaint we hear is "I can't get hold of them" in reference to customers that use a one or two man band. To get the most from your system you need to have good reliable IT support. Ask your provider about service level agreements and how they are monitored.
Ask for an audit

If you already have a system or some level of computing ask the provider to perform an audit for you. This will give you some idea of their ability to perform and it will give you a baseline to measure any improvements the server installation might bring.

Sponsored by: http://www.pirantech.co.uk/

Small Business Computer Systems

2009-07-13T07:12:00.000-07:00

I have started this blog site to help deliver advice to small businesses in Devon and Cornwall on IT support and computer services for small businesses.

I am the co-owner of a successful computer support company that specialises in small and medium sized businesses and I am constantly giving advice on systems of best practice for small business computer systems.

The purpose of this site is to help deliver procedures and advice to help IT managers, Financial controllers and managing directors choose the right systems for their business regardless of the supplier they ultimately choose.

I believe its in the interests of the local Cornish economy that our business community gets the right advice and guidance to build a sound foundation for development.