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Reading this article will give you an overview of tools and technologies that will help you and your teams collaborate effectively and productively.
Collaboration and teamwork can make or break a company. Long gone are the days when your employees could work independent of each other. In today’s market, if you want to stay competitive you need to use collaboration to the fullest. Thanks to various tools and technologies, this task is simple.
WHICH BASIC COLLABORATION SOFTWARE AND TOOLS ARE RIGHT FOR ME?
Every business needs to use some kind of collaboration platform. In fact, there is no business in today’s world that can survive without basic collaboration technologies such as a company Intranet, email server, a fax/print server, or a time management functionality (for instance, electronic calendars). These technologies are so fundamental that most likely you have been using them for ages. So, you might be surprised to learn that you are actually already using collaboration technologies but you just didn’t know it!
However, you may also be surprised to learn about additional tools that you may not be using today that will help improve your company’s collaboration efforts.
In addition to the basic collaboration software and tools you have used for years, new ones are emerging all the time. Below is a list some of the most popular collaboration technologies you can use in your day-to-day operations.
• Conferencing tools – Audio and video conferences have become a daily necessity for many companies. No matter whether you use audio and video conferencing to communicate with your distributed team, or with suppliers and clients from all over the world, these collaboration technologies can be very useful.
• Document and application sharing – When many people work with the same document at the same time, it is very inconvenient when you have to wait for your colleagues to finish his or her tasks with that document, so that you can proceed with your work. Document and application sharing make that inconvenience history since it’s now possible for many people to work simultaneously on the same document. Google Docs started this, but Microsoft Office Web Apps and others are offering the same or better functionality and integration in your computing environment.
• Workflow and project management – Workflow and project management technologies will help you manage your business more effectively by minimizing downtime and increasing the performance of your employees through organizing tasks better.
• Online collaboration – Even if you don’t have many (or any) tele-workers and remote workers, online collaboration tools are great because you can access them from everywhere and you can work at any time you please. Additionally, you can share these tools with your suppliers and clients and further improve your sales and customer service process. A very popular online collaboration software tool is called Microsoft SharePoint. This is available as a limited free service added to your existing Windows Server, which is called Windows SharePoint Services, or more recently Windows SharePoint Foundation Server. This is also available as a more robust and secure deployment on-premise or hosted online “in the cloud”, known as SharePoint Server or SharePoint Online.
• Change management – Maintaining multiple versions of the same document is too much of a hassle, but not when change management technologies handle this for you. When you use these technologies, you can maintain as many versions of a document as you like, and all of them will be neatly organized and readily accessible.
• Knowledge management – Knowledge is power, and there is hardly a company that will not benefit from a company wiki or other form of knowledge management system.
The collaboration software and tools listed here are just a sampling of what’s available. There are literally hundreds of collaboration platforms available and depending on your particular needs you may choose one or another. Of course, it is best if you evaluate your needs very thoroughly first. Contact us if you need help with an assessment or a demo of Microsoft SharePoint.
In today’s world you’d be hard pressed to find a company that does not use computers, the Internet, and other information technology on a daily basis. In fact, there is hardly a company in the Bay Area that does not rely on computers and networks for its mere existence. Whether we like it or not, IT plays a significant role in every business, and if you don’t ensure that your information system is working properly, your business is at risk.
DO YOU REALLY NEED AN IT CONSULTANT?
Since your information system is so crucial to your business, you can’t afford to compromise with its quality. Technology is a pretty complex field, and unless you are a tech guru you might not be able to handle it on your own. But even if you can, you most likely have better things to do. As a small business owner in the bay area, your time is spent more productively focusing on your core business activities than on desperately trying to keep your network up and running. Additionally, downtime is not cheap, and it costs far less to hire a good IT consultant to maintain your network for you than to experience the losses of downtime.
You are lucky if you have not already learned the hard way that relying on amateurs in IT, medicine, law, and many other fields is very dangerous, so you will hardly want to experiment in your own company with trying to become a first-class IT expert.
While there are small business owners who do have the skills (and time) to manage their network, the majority prefer to have somebody else do it for them. Keeping in mind the speed at which information technology develops, it is quite understandable that many small business owners, even if they are IT-proficient, aren’t able to keep up with this constantly changing field. Therefore, many small business owners agree that the best solution is to hire a specialist. Employ an IT Specialist Full Time — or Hire an External Consultant?
After you have decided that you need to hire somebody to maintain your information system for you, the next step is to decide whether you need an in-house expert or an external consultant. Depending on your specific situation, both alternatives have their pros and cons.
Hiring an in-house IT specialist — This is a good choice if you use complex applications that require ongoing maintenance. However, generally speaking, hiring an in-house IT specialist is rarely the best option for small companies who don’t need the level of IT attention to justify a full-time IT expert on payroll. Having a part-time IT expert is also an option, but very often it’s difficult to find a good IT expert who is willing to work part time. Also, for many people, a part-time job is only a temporary solution until something more permanent comes along. Because of this, part-time employees often leave when you need them most. And even worse, they leave taking important information about your systems with them, so when you finally replace them, it takes the new person valuable time to become familiar with the configuration of your network and applications.
Hiring an external IT consultant — This could be the better choice, and not only in terms of money. The advantage of hiring an external IT consultant is that you call them only when you need them, avoiding costly full-time salaries. Hiring an experienced and knowledgeable IT Consultant gives you the best of both worlds: part-time, highly specialized help, and the consistency and reliability of a full-time employee. The only problem is when this person is not available. Either because they are good enough to be kept busy by many clients, or because they need to find that elusive work/life balance for themselves by actually taking a vacation or taking care of themselves when they get sick.
In most cases, it’s best to have an IT consulting company in the bay area – and that’s certainly what our clients prefer. An IT consulting firm offers an on-demand IT department, you only pay for what you use. It’s a real team of IT consultants that work together to serve your needs. Once a year you might need someone senior to help you evaluate strategic planning issues. Every day, you might need an IT Help Desk for remote user support. Once a week, you might need an onsite support visit to handle support ticket escalation or new user setup or new equipment installation. If they all work together for you, there will always be someone available for you when you need them. Companies that get out of the ”fix-it-when-it-breaks” mode of thinking, benefit from relying on an experienced IT consulting service provider as a trusted advisor, performing preventative work and helping them plan for the future. This is also sometimes known as Managed IT Services.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN HIRING AN IT CONSULTING FIRM IN THE BAY AREA
Hiring an IT consulting firm is not that different from hiring in-house employees, but it certainly has its advantages. To get an idea of what to look for when hiring an IT consulting firm, ask your peers for references. You don’t handle complex legal issues without your attorney – do you want to entrust the smooth functioning of your business to chance or unqualified hobbyists?
What Next?
• Review your business plans, and determine if you are happy with your current IT capabilities and performance
• Talk to other businesses and associates and learn how they are using IT to better manage their business
• Get their recommendations for IT consulting firms and interview a few until you find one that meets your needs and standards
Contact Lanlogic Bay Area IT Consulting for more information.
We’re having a lunchtime panel discussion at the Farmer Restaurant, in the old Pleasanton Hotel building on Main Street.
Our clients tell us that their next big decision about IT centers around what to do when their next server upgrade or migration opportunity comes around – traditional, virtual, or hosted ?
With all the buzz and hype about server virtualization and cloud computing, Lanlogic is uniquely positioned to offer years of experience to customers trying to assess their needs and compare options. Having run our own datacenter to support over 1000 organizations with hosted services, we’ve been delivering “cloud computing” for years. In addition, with the increased cost of real estate over the past decade, Lanlogic has experimented with a lot of different server virtualization technologies over the years to maximize our own rack space.
Your Next Server Upgrade – Traditional, Virtual, or Hosted ?
Join Lanlogic’s senior management team in a panel discussion about how to justify, assess, plan, implement, and support the best solution for your needs.
Panelists:
• Marcus Solorio – General Manager
• Tom Eppenberger – Chief Technology Officer
• Gene Worth – Director of Hosted Services
Topics to be discussed and compared between the three different upgrade/migration options :
• TECHNICAL ASSESSMENT AND FINANCIAL JUSTIFICATION
• PROJECT PLANNING
• PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION
• LONG TERM SUPPORT
This event is designed for technical managers that support 75 or more users in a Microsoft Active Directory networked environment.
Attendees will be eligible for an Apple iPad raffle giveaway at the end.
Tuesday September 14th, 11:30am-1pm
RSVP Required due to limited seating available
Please contact Joe Foos to RSVP
Whether you go directly to sites like BayAreaITCompanies.com or choose to ask your business colleagues for a reference … at some point, you’ll need to determine HOW to evaluate the various bay area IT consulting service providers you find.
As with anything else, it depends on your needs.
Do you need a list of independent consultants to call from time to time when something bad happens to your computer, server or network and simply ask for the lowest cost and the fastest response times ?
Or, are you looking for a more comprehensive relationship with a company that can truly offer a team of technical professionals “on demand” to act as your IT department ?
While any IT consulting firm in the San Francisco Bay Area can provide reactive support after an incident occurs, the real value a service partner offers is comprehensive proactive management. If you are still encountering IT “surprises” too often, you probably don’t have an expectation of stability in your IT environment. If you think reactive IT support is the only option for dealing with your IT incidents, ask some of our client references how they have migrated from reactive support with wild expense swings to stable IT environments with proactive management and predictable budgeting. The industry now calls it Managed Services, Lanlogic has been delivering IT consulting to the San Francisco Bay Area in this manner since 1995.
Contact Lanlogic for a checklist of questions to ask when evaluating bay area IT consulting service providers.
Our company provides IT support and consulting, and many clients ask us questions that frequently extend outside our area of expertise. One such area – legal advice.
Dana Shultz is a bay area lawyer with an excellent track record helping small businesses (especially startups and entrepreneurs) protect their ideas, their vision, their strategy, and more.
His most recent blog post offers excellent advice about protecting your online identity from cyber-squatters (people that “steal” your trademarked company name or brand to blackmail you into buying it back).
Someone has obtained a domain name that is the same as, or confusingly similar to, a trademark or service mark that you own. How can you take the domain name from this “cybersquatter”?
Here’s the full article:
I attended the AlwaysOn Summit at Stanford today, as a guest of eBig. Excellent event, wonderful opportunity to see innovation at it’s finest and meet 900 other people that are ahead of their peers on all fronts. Innovation TriValley company Cool Earth Solar from Livermore was chosen as one of the Global 250 award winners.
Panel discussions from “real” successes that share their “true” secrets.
They say:
1. There are no secrets to succeeding
2. It’s easier to start a company now than ever before, and succeed
3. Follow your passion
4. Trust your instincts
Join me at : http://bit.ly/9r0DmX
More to follow tomorrow …
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