CompTIA MSP Partners Trustmark signifies commitment to high industry code of conduct, high level of customer support
Crystal Lake, Illinois / December 5, 2011 –
LeadingIT Solutions, an outsourced IT services firm, announced today it has received the CompTIA MSP Partners Trustmark for its use of industry-accepted best practices for service delivery and customer interaction, they are the first to have done so in Illinois.
VoIP is now within easy reach for everyone—including small businesses. Here are the top ten reasons you should switch to using VoIP and VoIP phones for your business. Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) is basically technology that allows you to make and receive calls over data networks.
Instead of traditional phone services which channel analog signals such as the sound of your voice over copper wires, VoIP converts these sounds to digital form first—so that they can be sliced, diced, packaged, and routed over a digital network.
Because VoIP technology uses the same ideas behind data networking, and allows the use of the same networks used by computers, voice traffic can also be routed through the Internet as well. Suddenly you can now dramatically reduce the cost of voice communications, as well as achieve creative combinations of both services to create new applications for use.
With today’s advancements in technology, and the constant lowering of prices as technology achieves mass adoption, VoIP is now within easy reach for most businesses—even small ones. In fact, many have already made the switch to an all-VoIP infrastructure, using a combination of VoIP phones and VoIP communication systems.
Here are ten reasons why you may want to consider switching to VoIP for your phone and office communication systems:
1. VoIP can allow you to dramatically reduce the cost of communications, especially for interstate or international communications, since everything can go through the Internet instead of having to go through expensive long distance toll charges.
2.You can make and receive calls from multiple devices—for instance, on a dedicated phone, your PC via a software-based phone, or even a mobile phone with VoIP capabilities.
3. It’s easier to add extensions to your phone. You can provide a local number or extension for all your staff without additional costs or cabling.
4. VoIP allows companies to maximize investments already made in their network infrastructure. The same network that handles the flow of data such web access and email can now accommodate voice as well—no need to add and maintain additional wires and devices.
5. VoIP allows your employees to be more productive and efficient by giving them the ability to receive and make calls anywhere with a data connection.
6. VoIP reduces the complexity associated with having to manage multiple networks and devices for communication. A company can potentially set up their office network so that each employee can use a single device such as a computer or a smart fixed or mobile phone to handle everything from email, chat, messages, faxes, and more.
7.You can use VoIP as a tool for real-time collaboration along with video conferencing and screen sharing.
8.You can potentially unify your communication channels, streamlining communications and information management—for instance, marrying email with fax and voice in one inbox.
9.You can employ presence technologies that come standard with VoIP phones and VoIP communication systems. This technology can tell colleagues about your presence or give you info on the status and whereabouts of your staff.
10. You can employ intelligence into how your calls are handled, such as: providing automatic call routing based on the number, time of day, etc; providing an interactive voice response when a call comes in, such as voice prompts that guide callers; call reporting; and more.
VoIP is certainly a technology that has come of age. It’s cheap, ubiquitous, and easy to use. Interested? Contact us and we can help you make the switch to VoIP for your business today!
Backup and Restore—improved for Windows 7—creates safety copies of your most important personal files, so you’re always prepared for the worst.
Let Windows choose what to back up, or pick individual folders, libraries, and drives yourself. Windows can back up files on whatever schedule you choose—just set it and forget it.
You can back up to another hard drive or a DVD. And if you’re using the Professional or Ultimate editions of Windows 7, you’ll also have the option of backing up your files to a network.
We recommend the Western Digital My Passport Essentials line of pocket drives.
, clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Backup and Restore.
If you’re prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. If you’re prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.After you create your first backup, Windows Backup will add new or changed information to your subsequent backups. If you’re saving your backups on a hard drive or network location, Windows Backup will create a new, full backup for you automatically when needed. If you’re saving your backups on CDs or DVDs and can’t find an existing backup disc, or if you want to create a new backup of all of the files on your computer, you can create a full backup. Here’s how to create a full backup:
, clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Backup and Restore.You will only see this option if your backup is being saved on CDs or DVDs.
On 8 June, 2011, Google, Facebook, Yahoo! and Microsoft will be amongst some of the major organizations that will offer their content over IPv6 for a 24-hour “test flight”. The goal of the Test Flight Day is to motivate organizations across the industry – Internet service providers, hardware makers, operating system vendors and web companies – to prepare their services for IPv6 to ensure a successful transition as IPv4 addresses run
out.
IPv6 and it’s little brother, IPv4 stands for Internet Protocol version 6. IP’s are sort of like telephone numbers for the internet. You want to browse to Google, you need the IP address. The problem is IPv4, around since 1981, is running out of numbers. IPv6 is the answer to that. On top of many new features and security, IPv6 offers alot more numbers (340 undecillion, to be exact), compared with the 4.3 billion available in IPv4.
The formated addresses look like 2001:4b10:bbc::1 (IPv6) and 212.58.254.252 (IPv4).
There are many factors affecting this eventual and gradual transistion to IPv6. Your computer must support IPv6 (it probably does, Microsoft built IPv6 into Windows XP, Vista, and 7), your server (again Microsoft built into Server 2003 and 2008), your router/firewall as well as your Internet provider (Comcast is also onboard with IPv6). Other services such as your Web site host and your Email provider or server will also need to support IPv6.
There may be cause for concern if you have an older server or older networking equipment (such as a firewall or router). These items may need to be upgraded to ensure your network can remain working.
The skinny here is there is big change coming to the Internet. As your Technology Consultants, we take care of this for you. We’ve been watching our vendors to ensure they’re onboard with the IPv6 transistion. Happy World IPv6 Day!
http://www.test-ipv6.com/
We work with many of our business clients on an all inclusive monthly support agreement. We call this WorkplaceComplete and we include everything our client ever needs in this flat monthly fee. In addition, we implement our own security setup including a UTM firewall and anti-virus software. We do this because we’ve found the best products and services to keep our clients networks safe. Continue reading >
With many more of us accessing our email and calendars on multiple devices, its essential to have a system that keeps everything in sync. While you can simply use “vanilla mail” (ie webmail, pop, or imap email); it becomes really tough to keep track of unread emails, sent messages, appointments, and contacts across your devices. Most importantly is the issue of backup; where is all my email located? Is it on the web server, is it on my computer? With any of the above solutions, your email could be scattered across any one or all of them. Not ideal for keeping your information safe or secure.
You need a system that houses all of your email, calendar, contacts, and tasks and then allows access via a multitude of devices – all of course via the internet. Say hello to Microsoft Exchange. Exchange becomes this backbone for all of your communications. You can access Exchange via the web, you can use Outlook, you can connect a smartphone or iDevice (iPhone, iPod, iPad). Exchange safely and securely houses all of your email, calendar, and contacts and gives you anywhere access.
Over 80% of businesses run Exchange server, so you’re in good hands. Exchange can be setup on a typical server that you think of in your office as well as via the “cloud” or a service hosted on the internet, which you subscribe to for a monthly fee. Cloud services have been extremely popular lately especially for micro- to small businesses.
More information on the “cloud” here.
Exchange brings so many more features improving communication in and out of your business. But first and foremost the ability to sync your ever increasing number of devices and computers. Talk to us about Exchange and the many benefits for your business today.
HIPAA compliance can cause challenges and confusion, especially when addressing the technical requirements. One misused fact is that within the HIPAA rules, there are no specific requirements as to the technologies used. However, there are general rules and safeguards that must be met. It’s important to ensure that these requirements are met, with sufficient yet affordable technologies.
Here are the “Technical Safeguards” or requirements enforced by HIPAA:
Access Control—User identification and provisions for
emergency access procedures. Automatic log off and
encryption are listed as addressable implementation
specifications.
Audit Controls — Audit control mechanisms to record
and examine system activity.
Integrity— Corroborate
data has not been altered or destroyed.
Person or Entity Authentication — Verify an entity seeking
access is who they claim to be.
Transmission Security— Electronic data is transmitted in a
manner appropriate for the level of risk.
HIPAA mandates apply to many of the following organizations:
Here are some of the ways our WorkplaceComplete solution addresses these requirements.
Enterprise grade firewalls – block unauthorized users, access, files, and websites.
Anti-virus – protects the network, server, and workstations with multiple layers of security.
DLP (data leak protection) – ensures that sensitive data (social security numbers, etc) do not leave secure areas.
Secure VPN / remote access -
Logging/reporting/auditing -
Encryption -
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 advances the electronic exchange of large amounts of health information and expands the reach of HIPAA’s data privacy and security requirements to ensure the security of ePHI. As of February 17, 2010, all covered entities must ensure compliance with HITECH and that ePHI remains private and secure.
If you are running a company or a business of your own, you might be asking yourself, “Do I need monthly technology support agreement? Is it really worth it considering all the costs?” With the very competitive nature of today’s market, the costs of a monthly agreement (even against hourly pricing) may be well worth it.
Computer and network problems may be largely minimized or halted even before they occur if you have an technology consultant that monitors your network. With an monthly agreement from your technology consultant, problems are addressed right away – many times even before they disrupt your operations.
But despite this, many companies still tend to shy away from such business relationships. They believe it’s an extra expense that they are better off without, since technology support agreements typically involve monthly or annual fees. What companies don’t realize is that without an agreement, they may be spending more than what they thought they save by not signing up. Here are three reasons why you should choose WorkplaceComplete, our monthly technology support agreement:
No unplanned expenses – Fixing computer problems will cost you, and more often than not, it’s not a measly cost. You’ll be forced to shell out money unexpectedly so that you can address the problem as soon as possible to minimize the effects on your work. With a monthly support plan, you can allocate your budget accordingly.
Lower staffing costs – Filling-in tech staff positions is often expensive, not to mention more tedious, when compared with Managed Services – and remember training costs as well. Managed Services provide you with trained personnel who specialize in managing your network for a much lower cost.
Increased operations efficiency – With no network problems occurring, your business runs more efficiently. You can accomplish and do more. Clients are happy and employees are free from frustration. All of this of course leads to higher profits.
So give a monthly support agreement another look — you’ll be glad you did.
