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Michael Cocanower
President, itSynergy |
Welcome
This month I am feeling a tremendous
sense of relief, as I am finally able to
'officially' announce a number of
initiatives we have been working on for the
past several months.
First, I am VERY excited to welcome 78
new subscribers to our newsletter this
month. As of March 1, 2008, itSynergy has
officially acquired the Arizona technology
consulting business of Virtual Staffing Inc
(VSI). This has been and continues to be an
extremely exciting way for itSynergy to
continue its growth, and bring the very high
standards of itSynergy service to a whole
new set of customers. |
It was also a lot of fun for me personally, as
this represents exactly why it is so great to be an
entrepreneur. I have really enjoyed going through
the process of an acquisition. I know for a fact
that we have some of the best processes and
procedures in the industry, and I think the more
customers we expose to that, the more successful we
will become.
For the benefit of those new customers, this is a
monthly e-newsletter that we send out on the 15th.
Each month, you'll get an update from me, a quick
tip or trick from our engineering department, and
some articles we have gathered from around the web
that we found to be useful, and thought you might as
well. We'll also give you a quote of the month, as
well as a laugh from the cartoon of the month.
Secondly, we also recently executed another 5
year lease in our current building that will more
than double our existing office space. This was done
not only to give us room to work better today (our
Infrastructure Practice consultants are VERY excited
not to have to be on top of each other anymore while
working), but also to give us the platform to
continue our extremely rapid growth well into the
future. We have only YOU to thank for continuing to
fuel our growth, and look forward to continuing to
support your technology infrastructure. We are also
excited to continue to help you to grow your
business as you have helped us to grow ours.
Technology can create a tremendous differentiation
from your competitors, and we consider it our
responsibility to not only make sure your technology
runs smoothly, but that you are using the right
combination of technology to enable the success of
your business.
Well now that I have those two big pieces of news
off my chest, you can finally understand why I've
had that ear to ear grin on my face for weeks now.
Have a great month! |
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Connect People, Information & Processes
With a SharePoint Starter Site
By Jane Cage, HTS COO
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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.
"Do I need to upgrade my PC?" |
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5 Key Tax Code Changes Affecting Small Businesses
by Joseph Anthony
reprinted with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Center
The tax bill signed into law by
President Bush in late October 2004 was widely derided by editorial writers as a
special-interest giveaway, an early "corporate" Christmas tree. Indeed, many
provisions of this bill apply to larger companies or specific industries.
But there's also a lot in this tax
bill - formally known as the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 - that applies
to small businesses. While some of the changes simplify tax issues for small
businesses, many of the new rules could complicate tax planning and preparation,
even if they cut your tax burden.
Here are five major features that
small-business owners should be aware of - and should be ready to consult with
their tax advisers about.
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System Engineering Corner
Notes
from the Network Engineering Department:
Note to readers: As our network engineers
work with all of you across our entire customer
base, they observe trends and issues that many
people have in common, or that many customers will
find helpful to know about.
This section is designed
to give them a mechanism to communicate those issues
to you, with the hope that YOU might benefit from.
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Tech Corner
Microsoft has been busy the last several months, and among other things has
released two new major service packs that will affect most of our customers.
We thought that we first might provide some benefit by discussing the
difference between a service pack and a patch. Patches are released regularly by
Microsoft and fix a specific problem with a piece of their software. Microsoft
categorizes their patches with the most important being categorized as critical.
Microsoft has one of the best records in the industry in this area, including a
regular schedule of patch releases (second Tuesday of every month), outstanding
communication to interested parties about the patching process (they email us to
warn us of everything that is coming out before it hits) and free support for
problems created by patches.
A service pack, by contrast, is a collection of patches (regardless of
category) all bundled together into a single installation. The key difference
between a service pack and a patch, however, is that a service pack is MUCH more
heavily regression tested than a patch. That means that not only does Microsoft
test to make sure that the things the patches are supposed to fix are fixed, but
they also test everything else - even the things the patches have nothing to do
with.
The net result of all of this is that we have to evaluate each patch on an
individual basis to determine what our customers exposure will be without
installing the patch, what category the patch is in (we generally only install
critical patches between service packs), what impact the installation might have
and whether or not to install the patch. With a service pack, however, we can
take much greater comfort in all of the additional testing that has taken place,
and therefore we will install the service pack on every customer's computers
after a round of initial testing just to be doubly safe.
The major service packs released recently are Service Pack 1 for Microsoft
Windows Vista, and Service Pack 2 for Microsoft Windows Server 2003. We have
installed and tested both, and recommend you install both. If you have an extra
hour or two, and are feeling brave, you can take a shot at Vista Service Pack 1
on your own (or of course we're happy to help). As far as Service Pack 2 for
Windows Server 2003, more caution is required, especially on servers running
Small Business Server. That one is best left to the professionals.
We have started contacting all customers to first discuss Service Pack 2
installation, and then schedule a time to get you up to date. If you feel the
circumstances in your environment require action before we have a chance to
contact you, fell free to reach out - we are happy to help! |
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March 2008
In this issue
□
Welcome
□ SharePoint Starter Site
□ Key Tax Code Changes
□ Tech Corner
□ Referral Program
□ Preserve and Protect Your
Data
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itSynergy Referral Program
 Can we
buy you dinner and send you to the movies? How about
make a donation to your favorite charity in your name?
Earn rewards for referring new customers to itSynergy.
For more details, please
visit here.
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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.
Read more
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Quote of the
month
Opportunities are usually disguised
as hard work,
so most people don't
recognize them.
-Ann Landers
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7310 North 16th Street,
Suite 130
Phoenix, AZ 85020-8203
Telephone: 602.297.2400
Fax: 602.297.8703
Email:
info@itsynergy.com
www.itsynergy.com
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