From Generation X to Y and Z!

Why understanding new ways of working is vital to any enterprise



‘If Facebook were a country, it would now be the third largest country in the world’. That astonishing fact was recently upheld across the media as an indication of the way in which (the so-called) ‘Generation Y’ is already changing the way in which the world interacts. It is a strong indication that we are witnessing a noticeable shift in the way in which the future workforce wants to communicate, and consequently will have a huge impact in the way future business leaders will want to do business.

Seismic changes in the way we do business are nothing new. In much the same way that previous generations adopted the telephone, television and computers, the business leaders and entrepreneurs of tomorrow will be looking to use the tools they know best to solve problems – and they will be looking towards potential employers to ensure they have these in their arsenal when they enter the business world.

A good example of how things are already moving is email. The ubiquitous communications tool of the last decade or so has become a staple portal for the sharing of letters, memos, documents and files – largely replacing a sizable percentage of reliance on postal services, fax machines and even telephones. However, to many graduates email is already out of date, with Instant Messaging applications making it seem slow and inefficient – especially in a fast moving and time sensitive environment.


Similarly, the huge increases in mobile data usage in the last few years show that the Smartphone is rapidly overtaking traditional Internet access as the web portal of choice. Generation Y has fully embraced the use of mobile devices and school-leavers and graduates will be eager to transfer their Smartphone prowess to the world of business, along with their peers.


So where does this leave the business leaders of today? All businesses should be aware of the wealth of talent entering the workplace each year, and smart businesses leaders will recognise that it is important to embrace new ideas to attract fresh talent. The soon to arrive influx of graduates and school leavers, hungry to cut their teeth in the world of business, will often expect more than basic IT in their new career. Lightweight laptops/netbooks and Smartphones are integral to the personal lives of Generation Y, so they will expect business to equip them with similar tools if their position requires them to think and act on their feet to benefit the organisation.

The clues can be found from all our own experiences within the business world during the last 10, 20 or 30 years. The pace of change in the workplace, thanks to technology, has been astounding. From the computers, phone systems and fax machines of the 1980s through to the mass adoption of the Internet and email in the 1990s and the explosion of communications options during the last 10 years, the modern workplace is a very different one to that of the previous generations. Undoubtedly there had been reluctance to adopt even the simplest IT by some quarters upon its introduction. Today, as always, there is hesitancy from some business leaders to make the investment (and a sometimes fundamental mindset shift) needed to embrace new ways of working, but any tool which gives an organisation an edge over its competition will always find favour with anyone with the vision to fully capitalise on it.

Savvy businesses realise they can significantly improve productivity, increase their profile and raise the bar for customer service (as well as opening the door for new business opportunities), by having a well managed, proactive and rapidly reactive work force. What could be more helpful to the spirit of entrepreneurship than arming fresh talent with the relevant tools they need to help your business continue to thrive in a changing environment?

The simple truth is that business, like all aspects of society, is constantly evolving and so are the young breed of up-and-coming professionals who play a large part in keeping industry and commerce relevant and profitable. A firm understanding of the benefits of change is an important one for all business leaders who want to continue to thrive. The older generation may be confounded by some of the ideas that come from Generation Y, but they represent the upcoming market as well as future employees, so it is vital to accept new ways of working and ensure your business is blooming for the inevitable rise of Generation Z!

http://www.ramsac.com/

Technology update for non technical executives - 23rd September 2010

It’s a fact that modern businesses can’t survive without embracing technology. IT has developed in the last five years at a faster rate than in the last 50, and there’s always someone out there using the latest buzz words, and telling you just what your business should be doing to stay ahead of the game.

Techies reputedly have a knack of hiding behind jargon and baffling people into decisions that they don’t necessarily understand.  At ramsac we’ve always hated jargon, along with the sort of people that use it to pressure businesses into making decisions that aren’t necessarily right for them or proportionate to their needs. Therefore our latest seminar will be a review of the latest business technology products to have been launched over the last year, as well as a look at what’s in the pipeline, presented in a non techie, business focused way, to give you the information that you need to be able to decide if something is relevant for your business. We’ll do a few live product demonstrations and explain the business benefits and draw backs of the latest options available to you.

This complimentary seminar will be held on Thursday 23rd September at our offices in Godalming. Tea and coffee will be served from 5pm with the main event starting at 5.30pm. Afterwards there will be drinks and canapés and an opportunity to network with fellow local businesses.


You can register here: http://www.ramsac.com/tech_for_non_tech_execs 

No such thing as a free launch

Office 2010, the latest version of Microsoft's ubiquitous package was launched earlier this month with most of the attention focussing on the free online versions of its main applications. But is 'free' ever worth it?

Cash remains tight for most UK businesses, so this might not be the easiest time for Microsoft to be launching the latest version of its Office suite of software.

Perhaps this is why so much of the talk surrounding Office 2010 has been about the new suite of Web-based applications, which are free online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, designed to compete with Google’s Docs, Zoho Office and various other open source Web-based productivity tools.

But just how much do you get for nothing? After all, Microsoft has stated that it created Office Web Apps as companions to, rather than replacements for, their desktop equivalents. Our review describes some of the newest features of Office 2010 and highlights some of the limitations of the free online versions.

Suite-wide changes
New online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote let users create, edit, and share documents online, for free using the company’s SkyDrive website.


Improved customisation features, such as being able to easily assemble the commands you frequently use in user-created Ribbon tabs and groups of your own creation.

The big Office button has gone from the top left corner. Instead the File tab now brings up a new window called 'Backstage View' where you can create, share, save, print and access recent documents.

New Live Preview function for a paste that allows you to see what it will look like before you commit, saving on clicks.

Sophisticated image and video editing tools that could mean that many users no longer have to use third party applications to process media for use in Office documents.

Office documents downloaded from web programmes now open in a ‘protected view’ by default in a bid to tackle increasing Malware problems. This means that editing is disabled until you explicitly authorise it.

Word 2010
Better design tools with new artistic effects easily accessible from Fonts pop-up window.


New navigation pane which makes skipping between sections simpler in long documents

New 'Insert Screenshot' feature which permits you to add and edit a screen grab from any non-minimised window on your desktop instantly without exiting the document.

Word has now become such a powerful editing tool that its online version seems all the more disappointing. In particular, there is no support for Word's 'Revision & Review' toolset which seems illogical given that one of the primary uses of the online version must surely be to enable simpler collaboration between users. Please note that simultaneous editing in both Word and PowerPoint require the full desktop versions.

Excel 2010
Addition of Sparklines, a feature that can create tiny charts in a single cell to illustrate trends in a row of figures.

The ability to save complex spreadsheets to the Web, open and edit them in the Web version of Excel and return then to the desktop without losing the formatting is a great advancement.

As with Word, functionality in the web version of Excel is very restricted with no charting tools whatsoever. Functions may be used and tables can be refreshed from outside data sources however some tests have reported slow performance.

PowerPoint 2010
PowerPoint’s 'Broadcast Slide Show' feature is one of the smartest innovations in Office 2010, making it simple to show presentations remotely to anyone with a Web browser. The presentation just needs to be uploaded to a secure website which gives you a unique URL to pass to your friends or colleagues to create an impromptu presentation from wherever they may be. It's a very convenient way to collaborate, although to start this type of presentation, you'll need to buy Microsoft Office 2010.


Other improvements include advanced video-editing features where you can trim embedded videos and bundle them up so they travel with your presentation. You can now easily import video from the web too.

A new animation painter allows the application of an animation created for objects in one slide to objects in another.


As with other Office 2010 applications, the online version of PowerPoint is a shadow of its desktop self. You may only create slides using text, still images and smart art with no animations or transitions.


Outlook 2010
New layout features and options: i.e. default mail view adds a people pane that shows recent interactions with the sender of whichever message appears in the pane. This People Pane also has an Outlook Social Connector feature, which brings the e-mail and calendaring program into the world of social networking. Allows contact data to be synced with popular social networks, sharing status, pictures, shared documents and more.


The new Quick steps feature provides an easy way of creating rules and applying them to specific messages (as opposed to filters)


OneNote 2010 (now a component of all Office editions)
Microsoft is trying hard to promote the use of this application by including it in all Office editions. OneNote is billed as the ultimate place to store and share information in a single location as the application allows you to capture text, images, video and audio.


OneNote 2010 is perfectly mobile. You can post notes online and access them from virtually anywhere using the Web or a smartphone.

The latest version includes some smart new features such as the ability to record audio while you’re taking notes and then let you use the notes to play back the audio it captured as you were writing them. It can also turn handwritten maths equations into text.


Microsoft's Web Apps
These web-based Office Applications are skeletal shadows of the desktop applications.

Whether you purchase one of the desktop Office 2010 editions or not, you’ll be able to use Office Web apps, free of charge, although you will need a Windows Live account either way.

Web Apps allow you to create new Word, Excel PowerPoint and OneNote documents online, via the Office menu item which appears on your Windows live page. You can visit the file from any browser, in any location, and click the edit button to bring up editing options. The free versions do not include all of the functionality of the desktop versions of Office 2010, but some home users may find them sufficient.

For details on Microsoft Office licencing or to discuss the new features of Office 2010 in more detail, please contact your ramsac Relationship Manager on 0844 225 1600 today.

The politics of business and the business of politics

Since starting my company ramsac in the recession of the early 1990s the impact of the incumbent government of the time, on the success or failure of small businesses cannot be underestimated. Twenty years and three prime ministers later and we find the country coming out of another recession and a new coalition government in place. So what does the future hold for the current and future captains of UK industry? Well, to learn about the future it is a good idea to look at the past.

We conceived our company, ramsac, along with many other entrepreneurial businesses, at the end of the last Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher. However, the business actually started life, in earnest, during the economic downturn in the early 1990s when John Major had taken office and the reality of doing business had altered. In many ways it was not an ideal time to be starting a fledgling company, but whilst the economy was tough, the government was always supportive of British business and the entrepreneurial spirit - which is just as important, if not more so, today.

My first experience of how the government can have a significant and direct affect on small business came in 1997 at the dawn of the new Labour era. Regardless of political persuasion it is evident to all who worked hard to build and grow their businesses during this time that many of the advantages we once took for granted had been eroded, with increased, costly and cumbersome legislation. In fact it is reputed that there was one new piece of legislation for every day of the Labour government’s term, despite a pledge to tackle red tape for small enterprises during the launch of the Labour party’s 2001 election manifesto. The cost to businesses since 1998 was estimated by the British Chamber of Commerce last year to be in the region of £77bn, so fingers crossed the new ‘one in one out’ rule will put a stop to much of required bedtime reading!

So what changes will the new government bring to business? Certainly, with the astronomical levels of government borrowing an increase in widespread taxation is almost inevitable. Yet most employers will be breathing a collective sigh of relief that the planned rise in National Insurance contributions will now not take place. In fact, the good news for those entrepreneurs starting out now is the planned waiver of the employers' National Insurance contribution on the first ten employees they hire in the first year of business.

I hope that the new coalition government with the former economist, Vince Cable as Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, embrace the importance of hard working and innovative UK businesses and the entrepreneurs who invigorate and drive them. To this end I hope that the entrepreneurs’ relief that was introduced in 2008 will be fully supported by the new government. Also, I welcome plans to make it easier for SMEs such as my own organisation to win prized government contracts, although only time will tell if businesses have the inclination to submit a tender.

Finally, I would argue that the announcement of a five-year fixed parliament is a positive step in uncertain times. Whether your views are left, right or centre the best government for business is a stable government that gives a strong signal that GB Plc is ripe for investment, something which is good for all businesses of all sizes and the country as a whole.

ISO 27001

We’re working on a couple of ISO 27001 projects at the moment. For those who aren’t aware, ISO 27001 is an internationally recognised standard for information security, much like ISO 9001 is for quality management.



The demand seems to be coming primarily from clients who are bidding for contracts which are now starting to require ISO 27001, along with the usual ISO 9001, IIP etc standards.


Although it seems daunting at first, ISO 27001 is designed to fit the size and complexity of the organisation. So it doesn’t impose complex far-reaching requirements on smaller, simpler organisations.


At the heart of ISO 27001 is the Information Security Management System, or ISMS. This is basically a document containing policies and procedures, which if followed reduce the risk of information being lost or released.


We’ve been working closely on these projects with a specialist ISO 27001 consultant and auditor, so between us we’re able to create the ISMS with the client, and then take them through the initial and compliance audit process.

If you have any needs in this area please do not hesiate to get in touch and talk to us or visit our website at http://www.ramsac.com/

They think it’s all over – but business doesn’t need to suffer

As this year’s long-awaited football World Cup approaches it will undoubtedly polarize the population between those for which it can be best described as ‘The Beautiful Game’ and the remainder who often feel it is an unwelcome distraction from the rest of daily life. For small businesses it can also spell a period where employee interest in the event, which often involves decisive games being played during normal working hours, can become obsessive and lead to distractions and even unwarranted absence.

Whilst the recovering economy dictates that small businesses need to keep their eye on the ball (if you pardon the pun), employee satisfaction is an important part of creating and maintaining a well-motivated and committed team – the key to any successful enterprise. Happily we are living in an age where remote or home working is a realistic and often beneficial facet of modern business and this gives a much greater ability to find a solution that can suit everyone.


Effective remote working has been significantly aided in recent years with the evolution of mobile devices, a vastly improved remote communications network and increasingly faster Internet speeds. Many IT systems with remote access can provide the home worker with the same level of systems access that is available in the office environment. However, most office-based server systems can offer staff members some level of remote access, even if it is web-based access to the company email system. For many workers it is access to communications that is the key consideration. 

Unified Communications is another invaluable tool for remote working, but it is also an excellent way to streamline all business telephone calls. Unified Communications makes monitoring all the essential communication tools simple and effective. Everyday business essentials such as your mobile phone/email device, the telephone on your desk, voicemail, the customer database and your digital calendar can all be linked in one information portal. It also means that contact details are easily retrieved from a central database, voicemails immediately alert you of their presence and there is no need to play ‘telephone-tag’ with someone else in the company as your status is always available to show who is available. Incoming calls are swiftly routed to the appropriate device or person, all of which can be seamlessly planned and programmed into your diary to administer reliable and timely contact with clients or suppliers. 

Naturally, for some companies business drivers mean that rigid working hours will need to be maintained, especially for client-facing employees.  In these situations it may be advisable to block football or related websites, either permanently, throughout the tournament or during certain working hours, to discourage employee distractions. This is a straightforward procedure for your in-house or outsourced IT support team to administer and can be revoked later if appropriate. 

If you decide it is appropriate, making sure that employees can function just as well away from the main company premises; means that businesses can now offer levels of flexibility that just weren’t realistic in the past. Whilst remote working won’t stop football-mad employees wanting to check the latest score or watch key games, it does mean that working hours can be juggled where possible and productivity maintained when traditionally it may have suffered – so everyone can be a winner this summer.

ramsac survey highlights the need for better emergency planning

Poor business continuity planning at the beginning of 2010 cost SMEs an average of £13,800


A survey of SMEs conducted by my company ramsac shows that whilst 60% of businesses had at least half their staff absent during the snow in January, only 33% actually had an effective business continuity plan in place. As a result 94% of the organisations polled admitted that whilst staff worked hard to try and maintain service levels, they were often unable to do so whilst working from home.

The widespread adverse weather conditions that hit the UK earlier this year highlighted, for many businesses, that they do not have the appropriate contingency plan in place to keep business as usual when hit by crisis. The estimates of the cost to the UK economy caused by lost working days over the first two weeks of 2010 vary wildly (our survey suggested an average of around £13,800 for each business that responded), but it’s very clear that a huge proportion of businesses in the UK had large numbers of staff unable to get in to their normal place of work. Unfortunately it wasn’t an isolated case. Severe weather in December and also back in February of 2009, demonstrated that it’s not just a one off occurrence.

Despite the recent snow-bound reminders, bad weather isn’t the only thing that can render whole offices (or vital members of staff) out of action. Pandemic illness, child care problems, power failures, floods, fires - the list of possible interruptions to the modus operandi are countless – so it is essential to plan for these potential problems.

The ramsac survey shows that only 22% of respondents have a documented business continuity plan that they feel meets their current needs should a crisis hit. This is juxtaposed by the fact that all the respondents said that they had staff working from home during the recent bad weather and demonstrates a clear need for companies to take a good look at their needs and build a contingency plan to protect their business activities.

Another issue that our survey highlighted was the type of IT access that businesses provide remote working employees when away from the office. While all the respondents said they provide remote access to email and 67% could offer home workers access to CRM/customer databases and other key business applications, none of the businesses offered remote access to the office telephone system. In an emergency the telephone is still the main channel of communication for customers, suppliers and employees, so it needs to be up and running.

At ramsac we use a technology known as Unified Communications, which combines the telephone system with the rest of the IT communications system. It was invaluable to us during the recent bad weather as we were able to maintain a fully functional business telephone system, which extended to all the team members at their home/remote locations and facilitated a seamless service to our clients.

I advise that businesses plan as well as examine the key business opportunities to be won from being prepared for disruption ahead of your competition, rather than simply dwelling on the potential problems. New technologies are making it easier and simpler to provide employees with all the business tools they need, wherever they are, so building these into a continuity plan can help to ensure that business operations will continue whatever challenges you face.

www.ramsac.com

Support for Windows XP SP2 & Vista RTM ends 13th July 2010

Windows XP SP2 & Windows Vista RTM End of Support Information

There are a number of Microsoft support lifecycle milestones in 2010. You need to be aware of the milestones and plan system and Operating System (OS) deployments to ensure that you maintain access to Microsoft support and updates.


Windows XP SP2 will no longer be the supported service pack level for Windows XP computers as of July 13th 2010. If you are running Windows XP SP2 or a previous version of the OS will need to upgrade to Windows XP Service Pack 3 (or Windows 7).


Windows Vista RTM will no longer be supported as of April 13th 2010. Customers running Windows Vista RTM should upgrade to Windows Vista SP2 (or Windows 7).


Extended support will end for Windows 2000 Server and Professional. Customers running Windows 2000 need to migrate to a supported version of Windows in order to receive updates or support.


You should also consider the cost in time and effort for migrating to a new service pack and consider whether that justifies a migration to Windows 7.

Important Dates


End of Extended Support for the following Products:
Windows XP SP2 July 13th 2010
Windows 2000 Professional SP4 July 13th 2010
Windows 2000 Server SP4 July 13th 2010

End of Mainstream Support for the following products:
Windows Vista RTM April 13th 2010

What is End of Support?


Basically support for the product ends! The Microsoft® Support Lifecycle (MSL) provides predictable and consistent support timelines for Microsoft products, to customers worldwide. The Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy offers a minimum of:


Ten years of support (five years Mainstream Support and five years Extended Support) at the supported service pack level for Microsoft Business and Developer products.
Five years of Mainstream Support at the supported service pack level for Microsoft Consumer/Hardware/Multimedia products.


Note: Mainstream and Extended Support is ONLY provided at the supported service pack level. Microsoft will support products running at the latest Service Pack level and the prior Service Pack level, 24 months after the release of the latest Service Pack.


Mainstream Support Phase
Mainstream Support is the first phase of the product support lifecycle. At the supported service pack level, Mainstream Support includes:
1 - Incident support (no-charge incident support, paid incident support, support charged on an hourly basis, support for warranty claims)
2 - Security update support
3 - The ability to request non-security hotfixes


Extended Support Phase
The Extended Support phase is available after the Mainstream Support phase ends for Business and Developer products only. At the supported service pack level, Extended Support includes:
1 - Security update support at no additional cost
2 - Non-security related hotfix support if the customer has purchased a separate Extended Hotfix Support agreement (per-fix fees also apply).


Note that Extended support does not include:
1 - Requests for warranty support, design changes, or new features.
2 - Support for Consumer, Hardware, or Multimedia products.

So what do you need to do?

If you have Windows XP SP2 currently deployed then you need to migrate to Windows XP SP3.


Companies running Windows Vista RTM should migrate to Windows Vista SP2. (Again consider the cost in time and effort for migrating to a new service pack and discuss with ramsac or your incumbent supplier the option of migrating to Windows 7).


If you have Windows XP you should use Microsoft Update or Automatic Updates to download and install Windows XP SP3. SP3 can be downloaded from Microsoft Update at http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate.


If you are using Windows Vista you should use Windows Update to download and install Windows Vista SP2. Although note that Service Packs may not be available through Windows Update on Windows Vista computers until other available updates have been installed. You will also need to separately install SP1 before installing SP2.


If you are running Windows 2000 Server or Professional edition then you need to migrate to Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7.


If you are still running Windows XP SP2 you obviously need to be aware of your options but without doubt it is a great time to talk to us about a Windows 7 deployment discussion.

www.ramsac.com

Snow or other Emergency working – our use of Citrix and ShoreTel

The following are the thoughts of one of my co-directors at ramsac, Paul Mew. I thought I’d share with you his comments on working in the recent snow and how our application of Citrix and a ShoreTel Unified Communications Phone System made life so very easy!


Me!

For me as an individual it was quite straightforward to deal with being unable to leave the house, as I just worked from home in the same way I would any other time.

In my case I have a Windows based laptop that I use when I’m out and about, wherever I can get Internet access either via a wireless ‘hotspot’ or via my mobile phone. But when I’m working from home I’ll usually use my Apple Mac desktop machine.

We use Citrix, which allows me to run the same full Windows desktop that I have in the office, with all the same applications and files, from a web browser on any machine. So I can just click on a web shortcut, enter my username and password, and have access to everything in minutes.

Getting access to my e-mail, databases and files is great, but being available on the phone and making calls is also critical to me.

So, after logging into Citrix I used the Call Manager software for our ShoreTel telephone system to reassign my telephone extension to my home phone line. Call Manager is just a piece of software that runs on everyone’s desktops and laptops, and also in Citrix, which allows you to make calls, see who’s available, change your settings, all directly from your PC.

I could re-assign my extension to my mobile, which is what I often do when I’m out and about, but I get poor mobile signal at home so tend to use my home phone line.

By re-assigning my extension to my home phone any calls to my extension, either from colleagues or outside contacts, are passed straight through to my home phone. When a call comes in I get a pop-up in Citrix to tell me who’s calling, and when I answer my home phone the telephone system announces that I should press ‘1’ to accept the call. I’ve set it up that way to save my family having to worry about whether a call is business or personal when they pick up the phone. I could even have the system ask the caller to state their name, which is then re-played to me, so I can choose whether to take the call.

If I want to make an outbound call, I just use Call Manager – either clicking a contact, clicking a number on a website, or cutting and pasting in a number. My home phone then rings and again announces that I should press 1, at which point the ShoreTel system in the office dials the number and connects me.

The beauty of the ‘Office Anywhere’ system is that I’m never using my home phone line for outgoing calls, as the system in the office is calling me. I also don’t need to give out my home number if I want someone to call me when I’m working at home.

Someone who’s called into the office for me can be put through to my extension and then diverted to home without them ever knowing that I’m not in the office! During the snow I even set-up a three way conference call with one of our consultants and a client via the ShoreTel system, even though none of us had made it into our respective offices.

The Office

Obviously we have our Business Continuity plan and our Emergency Operating Procedures which cover various disruptive situations, but in the case of the recent snow they weren’t really required!

In years gone by when we’ve had disruptions due to bad weather, we’ve had to call our telephone company to ask them to divert the main phone numbers to a mobile. Two issues there, one is that the telephone company will be swamped with requests so it may take hours to get the number diverted, secondly the number is diverted to a single mobile so there are issues with it being busy and trying to free it up as quickly as possible when a call comes in.

Obviously we have plans to deal with a power failure, but when it’s just a case of the office being inaccessible things are quite straightforward.

For staff who can’t make it into the office, they just need to log onto Citrix, and as described above they use ShoreTel Call Manager to assign their extension to their home phone or mobile.

We had a few members of staff who don’t normally work from home, or who were working on different machines which weren’t set-up for remote working, but with Citrix it was simple for them to get access quickly without having to install software on their machines beforehand.

Once that’s been done, which takes seconds, they can work as if they are in the office. If they are part of a telephone workgroup (also known as a ‘hunt group’, where a single external number will dial several internal extensions either in groups or in order), as our support and operations teams are, their home phone/mobile will ring as part of that workgroup.

So, even if no-one makes it into the office, as long as everyone has diverted their numbers (which is easy to see from Call Manager) then all of the phones in the company will work as normal. If one or two people make it in, as was the case for us, they don’t need to deal with every incoming call, as all of the staff working at home are still members of the workgroup.

As things return to normal, which will be at different points for different members of staff, users just re-assign their extension back to their desk phone when they return to the office. We also have the flexibility to send staff to work from home early if conditions worsen, as it only takes seconds to log on, re-assign their extension, and start working.

What we’ve also found is that when staff are provided with an easy to use way to work at home, they are likely to use it. Most of our staff will log on, deal with a their e-mails and get a few things done when they get home, because it’s so quick and easy.

If you want advice on any of the technology described here please talk to me or my colleagues at ramsac (http://www.ramsac.com/).

Windows 7 Feature/Version Comparison

There seems to be much confusion about the features available to users in the 6 versions of Windows 7, the following table is a really useful resource which explains the options in each. (Click on the table for a larger version)

http://www.ramsac.com

Making The Most Of Your Data Storage

The safe and secure storage of valuable business data is an essential requirement for all organisations. Failure to do so correctly can result in lost, stolen or leaked data, leading to potentially embarrassing and damaging repercussions to the overall reputation of the business.

Yet the ongoing and incremental cost of storing more and more information can spiral ever upwards. Having a data storage policy in place will help you to understand, manage and budget for what information is being stored and where, what needs to be stored and what doesn’t, as well as who need access to it.


The first step is to think about where your data is being stored. In any organisation data can exist in a wide variety of formats whether it is on a memory stick, CD or DVD, the hard drive of a laptop, desktop PC, a server, or even a dedicated off-site data centre.


Following this, think carefully about what information needs to be stored and for how long. This will of course be different for every business. Continually purchasing additional storage as demand seemingly dictates can get expensive quickly, so it is prudent to only keep data that is valuable and likely to be needed in the future.


For example, you may be obliged to keep records for a specified period to meet the regulatory compliance demands of your governing body, but what happens after this time has elapsed? Many organisations simple leave it to unnecessarily clog up their IT systems.


Once you understand what you have, what you need and where it is, you can begin to declutter.


The wealth of different files (and often duplicate versions of files) being stored from different sources means there will typically be a mass of what could be considered unstructured data – the data equivalent of a cluttered desk.


By purging this unstructured data regularly it is possible to free up space a considerable amount of space, giving greater capacity for important business files without the need for additional expenditure.


Think about how you store data. As well as the convenience, regularly archiving files also gives greater assurance that data will be backed up safely in case of software, hardware, or user errors that can result in data loss.


For example Quality Assurance is very important for many service-based companies, so being able to keep an audit trail of e-mails and other documents is imperative. However, this does not necessarily mean that all files are needed immediately all the time. An archiving system that is used on an ongoing basis will move older files from everyday systems, where they can make the use and searching of current files more difficult.


Finally, don’t forget to backup. Figures from a recent Google survey suggest that hard disks have a failure rate of around 7% each year, which means that information stored on one server, or even physically on one computer, can be at significant risk of irretrievable loss unless backup copies are produced on a regular basis.


Data storage is much like physical storage – it needs to be well managed to make sure that it is secure, that the space is used efficiently and that nothing is being kept that needn’t be there. It’s very easy to retain old files that nobody takes ownership of, but it’s important to make sure files are accounted for, sensibly stored and ultimately archived then destroyed when they are no longer needed.


It may not yet be Spring, but it’s an ideal time for a data Spring Clean!

http://www.ramsac.com

Do you budget for annual tape replacement?

Technically you should be replacing your backup tapes annually but I find that many clients don’t plan for this. There are a number of reasons why you should be doing this which include the following:

Reliability. As tapes wear the likelihood of the data itself becoming corrupted increases, which will cause backup errors and could result in problem when attempting to restore. Ultimately for an extremely worn tape there is a risk that it may snap during a backup, or worse still a restore process. You need to remember that tape ultimately stretches, in fact if you think back to the days of music cassettes it is easy to reconcile this, if you remember you could record onto a cassette many times over and unless the tape actually broke it didn’t stop you actually recording, however as the tape got older you would often find that the playback sounded warbled the same problem occurs with backup.

Damage. As the tape itself becomes worn, more and more debris will be deposited on the read/write heads of the tape drive, which means more frequent cleaning will be necessary, which in turn reduces the life of the tape drive itself. In addition, as the tape wears the surface becomes rough, again causing premature wear on the heads.

Although tapes are not cheap, they are considerably less expensive than a replacement drive!

Month-end Backup. I suggest that as you buy new tapes you use the older tapes (assuming they’re not too old!) for your month end archive which I recommend you keep offsite for a period of 5-7 years. This advice is based on industry best practice which emanated from the Enron enquiry (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1780075.stm) which replaced the previously long standing concept of grandfather, father, son rotation which is wholly inadequate. The specific resulting advice was based on the fact that the enquiry needed to see the accounts data at a specific period in time, clearly if tapes are forever rotated that is impossible, it also highlighted a major flaw in most peoples backup plan in that if you are backing up your entire system on to a single tape (or tape library) and replacing the content on said tapes, then if someone deletes an important client file from your system and nobody realises for several months the data is lost, the concept of month end archive gives much better protection against this. (This same concept is the reason why most industry experts still recommend the use of tape as part of the backup plan and advise against reliance on web based backup solutions).

If you take one call to action as a result from reading this please make sure you’re buying new tapes every year without fail.

If you need help or advice with backup policy or procurement of media and drives please contact the technical advisory team at ramsac http://www.ramsac.com/

GMC - God Mode Console

Well that's a slight exaggeration – it's more an all-in-one-place, flat-view of all Control Panel pages, but useful nonetheless...

Here's how to do it:

Create a folder (anywhere, though probably not at root of C:) and call it...

anything.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

...where anything can be...well, anything, but you need the full stop separator. That’s it – double-click it and away you go.

For example: GMC.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Note that this only works in Vista and later (although not 64-bit Vista).


http://www.ramsac.com/