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April 25, 2012 by Matthew Held

Is It Time For Your Business to Move to the Cloud?

Why does it seem like everybody is moving to the cloud?

If you’ve ever used hosted e-mail services like Hotmail or Gmail, you’ve experienced the benefits of cloud computing. You can access your e-mail from anywhere there’s an Internet connection, you can even access it with your cell phone.  It’s available 24-7 anywhere in the world. And if the cloud provider is handling your data, you do not need to worry about backing up your data because it is their responsibility. 

Wouldn’t it be great if all your apps were in the cloud? Let’s think about this further. It could be, but before you go putting all of your eggs in one basket, let’s look at this from a strategic point of view.

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud-based application service providers deliver Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), where the application software resides on the Internet on the cloud service provider’s equipment. Subscribers to the service are in a multi-tenant environment, with all users on the same system in unique partitions keeping their individual data separate from each other.

cloud computing

These applications are usually provided on a monthly service fee subscription model. Depending on the applications, the specific user-configurations, and the time frames being considered, cloud services can be cheaper than buying your own software licenses and owning your own equipment when the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is taken into account.

Any Sufficiently Complex System Will Have Problems – Cloud Computing is No Different

But cloud service providers are not without challenges and vulnerabilities. For instance, what happens when your Internet connection goes down, or when you can’t access the Internet? Or what do you do if the cloud service provider goes down? The cloud is not bulletproof – you need to evaluate your business needs and business risks.

Bandwidth Requirements

As fast as the net is getting, we don’t yet have 10Gbit/sec connections to the Internet – 100Mbit/sec is the practical maximum for small and mid-sized businesses with 10Mbit/sec being the norm and often these connections are asymmetric i.e. you can’t upload as quickly as you can download. It’s just not practical to wait from minutes to hours every time you need to read and write to a multi-GB file. So the cloud is not practical for data intensive businesses like engineers, architects, graphic designers, or video producers. These sorts of businesses need to have their data stored locally with a robust backup plan in place.

Cloud Failure – What Happens When It Goes Down? 

Business owners and stakeholders have to think about what a service outage would look like to their business, and the impacts it could have on their operations. Would you still be able to function in the event of your cloud service provider goes down, or if they were to go out of business? When you go to the cloud, you are completely dependent on circumstances beyond your control. 

Even with your own premises-based equipment, you are still dependent on equipment manufacturers and whoever is supplying your IT support. But you have much more control – if you don’t like your IT services provider, for instance, you can simply hire a different one. It may not be so easy to switch cloud service providers (if there’s another one available to turn to). 

Update: Last week, two of the world’s largest cloud services, namely Gmail from Google and iCloud Mail from Apple were down for selected users around the world for an entire day. Granted, it is difficult to gauge what it feels like to have an outage until someone experiences it. Comments from iCloud and Gmail users, who were affected, perhaps, tell a better story.  iCloud comments are here, while Gmail comments are here. You are the best judge to determine whether you can afford to be down for a few hours or a whole day. 

Where Is Your Data in the Cloud?

You also have less control over where your data is stored and who may have access to it. You cannot count on it being stored locally, even with a locally based cloud provider. It may be sitting on servers in other jurisdictions where there are different laws and standards of data privacy (e.g. the data sitting on servers physically located in the USA is subject to the terms of the Patriot Act, exactly as they are applied to all American citizens).

Build your own Private Cloud

In certain cases, shortcomings can be resolved by building your own version of the cloud. You simply move your own existing server to a local data centre with reliable power, solid Internet access, and airtight security, where you rent rack space as a tenant. You get to continue using all the apps you are already using, not just those available in the cloud marketplace (many of them with limited functionality). And these are the existing apps your staff already know and love, so there is no productivity-eating new learning curve for them to climb.  Also, in certain cases, you may gain the same benefits of web-based accessibility, but on your terms.

Stay in Business Even When Your Server Crashes

Creating your private cloud could also be an investment in your business continuity and disaster recovery strategies (see this earlier Business Insider Tech Tip “What’s the Difference between Backup, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery?”

The added cost of redundant systems could be justified by a business cost analysis showing the dollar-value of lost business/lost opportunity while your systems are down. Imagine, for instance, the cost to a law firm when 30 lawyers are sitting on their hands with unbillable hours while the company e-mail is down. The lost revenue can be crippling if downtime occurs regularly.

Get the Help You Need Figuring Out the Cloud

When it comes to cloud computing, like every other major IT decision, an organization needs to evaluate its business needs and build a meaningful business case.

Technology is nothing more than a catalyst, enabling leverage that makes an organization’s people, and thus the business, more efficient.

Business owners focused on growing their business can often benefit from having outside help to advise on IT options, thereby, allowing for more thoughtful, proactive and strategic business decisions that fit and benefit their specific situation.

Share Your Tips ‘n Tricks

If you have a burning question about how to leverage your IT for your business, or a tip that could help others, please email us at tips@manawa.net.

If we select your tip or question for a future post, you qualify for your choice of:

 

April 13, 2012 by Carmine Tiano

Managed IT Services – More Than Just Keeping the Lights On

Managed IT Services – A Cost-Effective Alternative to “Break-Fix”

It’s natural when something breaks down to want it fixed fast and for as little money as possible. That’s how car repair works right?

But when it comes to an organization’s information technology (IT), companies that stay only in reactive “break-fix” mode miss out on a huge IT return on investment opportunity, not to mention potential competitive advantage. 

On the surface, it may at first look more economical to wait until your systems stops working before calling in an expensive IT repair technician. Especially when you may have already spent a bundle installing those systems in the first place. But whenever a technician has to make a service visit, are they just addressing symptoms, and overlooking possible underlying causes? What if they have to keep coming back because things continue to go wrong? All those site visit repair bills can add up very quickly.

 Are they really fixing the right things for your business? No two organizations are the same. No technician can ever get a full understanding of what your business really needs if the mandate is to fix only what’s broken. Especially when it’s a different technician arriving each time, you consistently have to re-introduce your staff, which makes you feel like you always have to repeat the same things to bring them up to speed on your issues. Companies in a reactive mode stay stuck at this level where they are just patching the existing environment, basically just keeping the lights on. 

Managed IT Services Opens Up a Whole New World of Possibilities

The escalation of IT issues or problems is analogous to the developmental stages of a fire. Initially, an IT problem may develop slowly and may not be noticeable or visible. Soon, smoldering leads to several small brush fires. This is akin to the majority of companies who live in a “perpetual reactive” mode and ignore or are unaware of the small fires. Left unchecked, these fires burn until they become raging fires that cause down time and lost productivity and revenue.  

managed it services graph

For a fixed monthly fee, a Managed Services agreement includes real-time 24-7 monitoring of a customer’s systems. This allows problems to be identified and proactively corrected long before they affect the any of the users on the network. Most users happily can go about focusing on starting new projects and competing deadlines without worrying about the system going down or performing very slowly.

managed it services peace of mind

Managed Services like those provided by Manawa Networks go further than just ensuring there are no outages. There comes a point when an organization’s IT systems are working so well that there is nothing to fix. IT becomes like a utility that the business can count on. That doesn’t mean there’s no work to do.  With the rich understanding they have gained about how the business works, it is now possible for an IT service provider to get strategic with IT. The dedicated IT support team is in a position to probe questions like: 

  • How can the organization’s business processes be improved?
  • How could information technology be adjusted and aligned to make business processes work better, become more efficient, and provide better ROI?
  • How can the organization make better business decisions about how to spend or reduce its IT budget?
  • How can the organization’s IT investment be leveraged for greater competitive advantage?

A Source of Valuable Business Advice

Focusing on just putting out fires and keeping the lights on prevents an IT services provider from ever being able to provide this kind strategic consultative business advice. That only becomes possible when the Managed IT Services provider has a fundamental understanding of a customer’s business.

Just as an Accountant might be expected to provide insight into changes that could affect any one of his customers, a Managed IT Services Provider is in a similar position to make relevant recommendations that can improve business success from an IT perspective. And just like with an Accountant, you expect a trusted advisor to be telling you about these matters long before you have to ask them about them. If you have to ask your IT service provider about a new product or service that is right for your business, they have failed. 

But Don’t Managed IT Services Cost More?

Crossing your fingers and hoping there is nothing to fix could possibly cost you less, but there is no way of knowing for sure. Problems unexpectedly do pop up, and it is impossible to know in advance when and how much repair might be required. Depending on how much unanticipated “break-fix” has to be done in a year, an annual Managed Services agreement might actually end up costing less. Also in your favor, it is in a Managed IT Services provider’s best interest to ensure clients’ IT systems are always working optimally to minimize the amount of repair time they might need to provide under their blanket coverage.

But an even more meaningful way of thinking about an investment in Managed IT Services is to consider the larger business ROI possibilities. For most small businesses, payroll is its single largest on-going expense. What would the 12-month dollar-value be of a hypothetical 5% staff productivity gain – a gain brought on by making their computers run as fast as the day you bought them, allowing them to get more done, and by leveraging recommended IT process improvements? What about having happier people that feel like their technology is empowering them instead of holding them back? What is a more productive, pleasant and piece of mind computing experience worth to you? Could that be worth a $500-$1000 per month investment?

It may be very well worth your while to speak with a Managed IT Services provider to find out more about what Managed Services has much to offer over and above just keeping the lights on.

Share Your Tips ‘n Tricks

If you have a burning question about how to leverage your IT for your business, or a tip that could help others, please email us at tips@manawa.net.

If we select your tip or question for a future post, you qualify for your choice of:

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April 9, 2012 by Matthew Held

What’s the Difference between Backup, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery?

Not Backing up Your Data Can Put You Out of Business

In this information age, your data and your computer systems increasingly ARE the business. Imagine if you suddenly no longer had access to that data or those systems. How long could your organization continue to function?

For some businesses, law firms for instance, the simple loss of e-mail could significantly hinder their business and result in loss of big customers. A manufacturer might also be quickly shut down without the data management systems on which it depends to run its production lines. While service-oriented businesses like hair salons or auto dealerships could probably limp along for a few days without access to its scheduling or inventory management software. 

backup business continuity and disaster recovery

Regardless of what kind of business, every organization has to think about and prepare for what to do if, and when, essential data and systems become unavailable. 

You Need to Do More than Backup Your Data

There are three different kinds of scenarios to consider:

  1. Loss of your data – from data corruption or hard disk failure
    1. REMEDY: File level backup (a backup copy of your data somewhere else)
  2. Loss of your hardware – your server crashes and needs to be replaced
    1. REMEDY: Business Continuity (file level backup + bootable copies of your Operating Systems and applications – to restore everything on completely new hardware)
  3. Loss of your systems altogether – your office is destroyed by fire or flood, or your building is evacuated for several days (or longer)
    1. REMEDY: Disaster Recovery (a fully redundant system, including your backup data, in an alternate location that can be switched on instantly if you lose your ability to operate

Each of these situations requires its own preparedness model due to what’s involved in each scenario to return things to normal. One thing they all share, though, is first figuring out how prepared you want, and need, to be.

Critical Strategic Backup Business Decisions

Organizations must first make some firm decisions about these two critical strategic business issues:

  1. How long can the business afford to wait to before being back up and running?

Organizations must establish for themselves their RTO (Recovery Time Objective). How soon do you need to have things back to normal? Within the hour? Tomorrow? Next week?

  1. How recent must the backup data be?

Organizations must also establish for themselves their RPO (Recovery Point Objective)

This is the point in time you will go back to with your backup data. How much potential data are you willing to lose? An hour’s worth? A day’s worth? A week’s worth?

The answers to these questions are unique to each business. A bricks-and-mortar retailer, for instance, may not be able to afford turning customers away for more than a few hours if its point-of-sale system is unavailable. But even then, that time sensitivity may vary from retailer to retailer. On the other hand, a general contractor may be OK for days without its computers, although being without e-mail might be a problem.

A Backup is Only As Useful as When the Backup was Last Done

And how up-to-date must the backup data being restored be – i.e.; how frequently must you backup your data? Every second, every hour, every week? Thinking again of retailers, being able to access current sales data right up to moment of failure might be critical, while for that general contractor the loss of a few days data might be acceptable if it can be readily re-created.

These are not just IT decisions. They are strategic operational business decisions that can only be made by all of the relevant stakeholders in the organization.

Backup, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Are Not the Same Thing

Compounding data and systems recovery planning is the wide range of technology choices available for each of the three tiers of keeping the business running. Looking briefly at some of the options for these three scenarios:

  1. BACKUP: Loss of your data

Backup to tape or HDD? Offsite storage, or in the cloud? How quickly can backup data be accessed and restored?

  1. BUSINESS CONTINUITY: Loss of your hardware

How quickly can a new server be purchased and installed, all your apps be re-installed, and your backup data be restored? Should you be running a redundant on-premises server for quick cut-over? 

  1. DISASTER RECOVERY: Loss of your systems altogether

Should you be running a redundant off-site server for instantaneous cut-over? Your own server in a secure data centre, or rented co-tenancy? How will staff access the redundant off-site system, what PCs will they use? 

These scenarios successively build on each other, with increasing complexity and costs associated with each of them.

Backup, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery is a complex subject. You may need outside assistance, like that provided by Manawa Networks, to build meaningful cost-benefit analyses of all the options that best fulfill your chosen RTO and RPO business strategic objectives.

Share Your Tips ‘n Tricks

If you have a burning question about how to leverage your IT for your business, or a tip that could help others, please email us at tips@manawa.net.

If we select your tip or question for a future post, you qualify for your choice of:


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March 26, 2012 by Matthew Held

Power User Habits, Tips n Tricks #2 – Formatting USB Flash Drives: FAT32 or NTFS?

Flash Technology is Everywhere
In an earlier “Business Insider Tech Tip”, Is it Time to Migrate to SSDs (Solid State Drives)?,  we discussed the pros and cons of flash NAND technology-based Solid State Drives (SSDs). The same technology is used in USB flash drives (portable “thumb” drives), which is also the same technology found inside Compact Flash (CF) and Secure Digital (SD) cards used in digital cameras.

Your Desktop in Your Pocket
These USB, CF and SD flash memory drives and cards are highly portable, convenient and durable, given that they have no moving parts.  And with the price tag for storage volumes up to as much as 64GBs becoming increasingly affordable (below $100), it’s easier than ever to carry around all your data in your pocket and simply plug the flash drive into the USB port on whatever computer is available wherever you are working.

Every Drive Needs to be Formatted Before It Can Be Used
USB flash drives and CF and SD cards typically come already formatted and ready to receive data, usually in the FAT32 file system as it can be used in both Windows and Mac environments. But just like with conventional Hard Disk Drives (HDDs), you can also format flash drives yourself, say for instance if you wanted to delete all the data on it.

Choices, Choices
When using the Windows operating system, you are presented with several format options: FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS. Which should you pick?

Let’s look at each of them in turn.

FAT32
FAT32 (FAT stands for File Allocation Table) has been around since Windows 95 OSR2, and as mentioned can be both read from and written to by both Windows and Mac computers. One of its limitations, though, is you cannot put files on it any bigger than 4GBs. Another issue is that you might lose or corrupt data on the drive if you pull it out of the USB port without first using the “Safely Eject Media” command, or shutting down the PC. 

NTFS
NTFS (or NT File System) is a newer file system format that emerged with Windows NT and Windows 2000 and works with Windows only (however Macs can read NTFS). It’s still the standard file system to this day up to and including Windows 7. 

NTFS is a journaling file system – system activity is logged in a journal on the drive as it occurs, so if a process is interrupted it can resume where it left off. This is great for flash drives because you can pull them out of the USB port without first using the “Safely Eject Media” command or shutting down the machine with no worry of data loss or corruption. But to do this, NTFS is constantly reading and writing to the flash drive which reduces its life span. And data transfer is much, much slower – up to eight times slower than FAT32 (only 4 MB/sec compared to up to 30MB/sec with FAT32).  But NTFS formatted flash drives can also hold larger file sizes – up to 16 Terabytes. And they can also be compressed and encrypted.

exFAT
exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table) is a patent-pending proprietary file system developed by Microsoft designed especially for flash drives. It can hold file sizes up to 16ExaBytes (16-million GBs), but it has current or potential compatibility issues with other operating systems. And unlike NTFS, it does not allow file compression nor encryption (FAT32 also does not support compression or encryption).

A useful chart listing the attributes of each of these file system formats can be found at http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs_vs_fat.htm  .

Don’t Lose Your Data
If you choose FAT32, one final cautionary thought. Just because your application appears to have completed saving, there might still be caching going on and data input/output could still be in progress with the drive. Interrupting that could corrupt or destroy your data. When removing the USB flash drive from the PC, to be certain there is no input/output going on, and that the device is “unhooked”, always use the “Safely Eject Media” command. In Windows XP, Vista and 7, you can also go to your computer icon and then right click on the flash drive and select “Eject”. The only safe alternative is to shut down the PC entirely (NOT Hibernate – Hibernate stores the system state as if the machine was still running).

flash drive format

Share Your Tips ‘n Tricks
If you have a burning question about how to leverage your IT for your business, or a tip that could help others, please email us at tips@manawa.net.

If we select your tip or question for a future post, you qualify for your choice of:


March 21, 2012 by Carmine Tiano

Power User Habits, Tips n Tricks #1 – Email Flags, BlackBerry Space Bar

As we use information technology and software in everyday business life we can stumble on productivity techniques that once we start using, make us wonder how we ever got along without them. 

Seldom do you learn about these time-savers by reading the manual. You might accidentally discover it when you ask yourself “I wonder what this command does?”, or by seeing someone else use it. Or maybe you come across it from a blog post like this one.

We will be regularly sharing “Power User Habits, Tips n Tricks” shown to us by our customers and shared among our team, as part of our on-going commitment to help small businesses get the most out of their IT infrastructure investments.

 In today’s post, two quick tips:

  • Using Email Flags in Outlook and Your Smartphone
  • The BlackBerry Space Bar

 Using Email Flags in Outlook and Your Smartphone

You are not always sitting at your desk in front of your PC, ready to respond immediately to every email you receive. And often email messages reach you on your smart phone when you are out of the office. When that happens, it is not always possible to respond right away.

You can prioritize messages and ensure you do not forget about them by quickly marking them as a “Flag for Follow Up” in your smart phone’s email client. You can even color-code them, specifying a future follow up time. If your device is set up to sync with your Outlook email account, these flags will also appear in your desktop Outlook when you get back to the office (BlackBerry’s need to be running through a BES server).

 The BlackBerry Space Bar

Speaking of BlackBerry’s, when keying in an email address in an email address field, you can hit the space bar at the appropriate place to automatically insert the “@” and “.” symbols. Typing in…

            john – space bar – smith – space bar – abc – space bar – com

…will appear as   john.smith@abc.com 

This trick prevents you from having to hit the “alt” key and search for type the “@” and “.” symbols, and can save you many precious seconds of keyboard thumbing.

Share Your Tips ‘n Tricks

If you have a burning question about how to leverage your IT for your business, please email us at tips@manawa.net.

If we select your tip or question for a future post, you qualify for your choice of:

If we select your tip or question for a future post, you qualify for your choice of:

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