Not only do they provide an education for homeless children, but they also help with health and wellness, food, clothing, and anything else these kids need to have a chance to be successful.

CFA is holding a Community Cookout on November 14. Not only do they need people to sign up and attend the cookout, but they also need donations of tickets to games and performances, travel packages, certificates for services and any new items that can be sold in the silent auction.

I fully realize the economic environment we are in, and that people are becoming more selective in their giving, but I would strongly encourage you to take a moment, sign up to attend the cookout, and think about things you or those you know might be able to contribute to the silent auction. I cannot think of a more worthy cause than kids that have 110% of the desire required to succeed, but just need a little bit of logistical help to give them the chance every kid should have.

If you aren't able to attend, please consider at least posting a flyer in a prominent location at your office or other gathering place to help get the word out and create awareness of this event.

If you'll just hit reply to this email, I'll be happy to send you links to the invitation or the poster that you can print.

I hope to see you there - I'll be volunteering my time during the event to help out in any way I can.

Have a great month!

Increase Your Marketing Response
by Kim T. Gordon
used with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Center

Here are six factors that may stand in the way of customer response, plus tips on what to do to improve your response rates.

Read more

Go Virtual? 9 Questions To Ask
by Christopher Elliott
reprinted with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Center

Randi Smith-Todorowski's business was in the wrong place at the right time.

Atlas Martial Arts, the business she co-founded in Scottsdale, Ariz., was thriving. But the local economy wasn't. "The enthusiasm was there," she says. "But people were cutting back on luxury items, taking second jobs and traveling for work."

So with the end of their five-year lease imminent, Smith-Todorowski and her partner did what an increasing number of businesses are doing: they took their business virtual.

Into the cloud

It's hard to say precisely how many businesses are giving up bricks-and-mortar storefronts for Web sites, or moving "into the cloud" in tech parlance. Counting them is inherently difficult, says Daniel Meyerov, the chief executive of Los Angeles-based OnlyBusiness.com.

But there's anecdotal evidence from Meyerov and other experts that more businesses are taking a path into the cloud.

Read more

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.

Continuing with last month's theme of sharing a tool or utility with our customers that we have found to be very useful, we thought we'd talk this month about AstraSync.

Have a Blackberry device, but don't really want the overhead, frustration, or technical burden of having to maintain a Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) to provide a true 'sync' of all of your email information? Jealous of all of those windows users that can set up a full sync in a matter of seconds with your email server?

Check out AstraSync http://www.astrasync.com. This program adds Exchange ActiveSync to Blackberry devices. There is a free 7 day trial so you can check it out, and the cost is only $49/user/year which is MUCH less expensive than a dedicated BES server for a small number of users.

We have tested this utility with some of our customers and found it works extremely well. Enjoy!

October 2009
In this issue

 □  Welcome
 □  Increase Marketing Response
 □  Go Virtual
 □  Engineering Corner
 □  Referral Program
 □  Better Web Conference

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.

5 Tips for a Better Web Conference
by Christopher Elliott
reprinted with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Center

Getting comfortable with online etiquette - right down to the smiley emoticons and acronyms such as "FWIW" (for what it's worth) - can be a challenge. Even more daunting can be learning how to conduct a successful online meeting.

But Web meetings are good for your business. They can save you money on travel, boost communication between workers and clients - even increase sales. With these greater rewards come risks: the chance that a misstep will cost your company a deal, or worse, a client. (For a really funny rundown of all the things that can go wrong during a Web meeting, check out ConferZone's Web conferencing errors spoof.

It doesn't have to come to that, of course. Here are five things you need to remember about online meeting etiquette that will help you avoid an unnecessary loss.

Quote of the month

A grandmother pretends she doesn't know who you are on Halloween.

-Erma Bombeck

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