Beyond just the value I gain from the group, it is also pretty inspiring to see an extremely strong sense of community in action. In total, there are 20 peer groups like mine that meet quarterly, and twice per year, we all come to the same place to meet and interact not only within our group, but between groups and individuals as well. It never ceases to amaze me how many great thoughts and concepts come out of that much brain power assembled in a single place at the same time. Even more amazing is the willingness of everyone in that community to help everyone else. Within our group, for example, one of the members was having some challenges with accurate financial reporting. Those of us in the group that happen to be strong in that area all jumped right in and rolled up our sleeves to help our fellow group member work through his issues.

I often say that being a member of this group is the single most impactful thing I have ever done to improve my business. The concept is relatively simple - take 12 companies that are in the same business but in non competing markets, and lock them in a room for two days once per quarter. It amazes me that a bunch of small and medium business technology consultants have figured out how to do that so effectively, and I have yet to see that replicated in other industries. Maybe it's out there and I just don't know about it, but if you don't have such a resource, I highly recommend putting something together. And if you happen to be in my industry, check out http://www.htgmembers.com.

Have a great month!

Rid Your Business of Software Piracy: 7 Tips
by Monte Enbysk
reprinted with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Center

For U.S. small businesses, those with 100 or fewer employees, the piracy rate is even higher: about 40%. While those numbers are bad enough, the piracy problem worldwide is worse - although software piracy worldwide has decreased since 1994, some $13.08 billion was still lost in 2002 due to pirated software.

Indeed, software piracy continues to generate negative publicity, especially for those busted for it. But that isn't stopping a lot of good people from doing it (or supporting what has become an underground industry, run similar to drug trafficking).

Read more

What Does Your Desk Say About You?
reprinted with permission from the HP Small Business Center

If you are sitting at your desk now, take a look around and ask yourself: "What is this desk saying about me?"

For example, what messages does a three-day-old apple core send to your co-workers, or the photo of your ex-girlfriend, or the novelty postcard from Uncle Bob's big summer holiday?

Ask a psychologist and, unsurprisingly, they'll tell you that just like the clothes we choose to wear or the meal we take at lunch, our desk is often perceived as an extension of our personalities. Nothing ground-breaking there - but certainly worth bearing in mind.

Recent studies have revealed that desks can be useful to managers attempting to understand and motivate their staff. Vice versa, if you are interested in the way you are perceived at work - and perhaps you are thinking of modifying that perception - a desktop makeover is a great place to start.

When considering the state of your desk and what signals it sends about you, keep in mind the following stereotypes:

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.

When it comes to the technology you use every day, have you ever said to yourself "there has GOT to be a better way"?

Well, at itSynergy one of our favorite expressions is that if you are using technology and saying to yourself "there has GOT to be a better way", there IS - you just haven't figured it out yet. We have been spending a LOT of time this month thinking about and working on 'self healing' strategies for our customer's technologies. A self healing event is one where a known problem happens on a computer, our monitoring systems detect it, and then we utilize tools, scripts, etc. to take the necessary actions to fix it. The great part is that all happens without any human intervention. The vast majority of the benefit of our work in this area is applied to our itSynergize Management customers, as they are the ones that have the advanced toolset installed in their environment.

Nonetheless, there are still opportunities to apply self healing technologies in any environment. We'd encourage you to look for areas in your daily interaction with technology where you'd rather NOT be involved, but are today. Challenge our team with creating an automated solution that resolves the issue and frees up your time to work on more important items. Need to reboot a server? Need to install updates or patches to a program? Need to restart something on a regular basis? Need to know when something goes down and get it back up quickly? These are all examples of items that can be automated so you don't have to be involved.

May 2009
In this issue

 □  Welcome
 □  Software Piracy
 □  What Does your Desk Say?
 □  Engineering Corner
 □  Referral Program
 □  Excel on the Road

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

Excel Tip: Excel on the Road
reprinted with permission from the HP Small Business Center

We all know Excel is a powerful application. But what about Excel Mobile? Does Excel's functionality translate to the spreadsheet's mobile version for use on your smartphone?

The answer is yes and no. Excel Mobile can only offer a subset of Excel's features. This is, however, enough for viewing and editing spreadsheets so that you can stay productive on the road, even with a non-touch screen phone.

Not to be overlooked is also the fact that, in its portable form, Excel takes on versatile new roles. It's not just a spreadsheet application any more, it's also a sophisticated calculator, an electronic to-do list, a portable data manager - you get the idea.

Here we share some tips and tricks to help you get the most out of Excel Mobile for Windows Mobile 6 Standard. After finding your way around Excel Mobile, you may just discover that it's indispensable.

Quote of the month

"Buy land.
They've stopped making it."

-- Mark Twain

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