Click here to download your copy of Ziptech NewZletter for April 2012

Also in this edition:

• Technology lessons from America
• Cats, dogs, and frogs in the workplace
• 60 Seconds with Aakash

Click here to download your copy of Ziptech NewZletter for March 2012

Also in this edition:

• Finding the office of the future
• 60 seconds with Carl Ridgeway
• Business app of the month

Click here to download your copy of Ziptech NewZletter for January 2012

Also in this edition:

• An Analogy of Human and PC Anatomy
• 60 Seconds with Marvin
• Jim’s Kitchen Timer

CEO and founder of Ziptech Jim Simpson comments:

“There are many attractive benefits that are being used to tempt businesses to ‘go cloud.’ Reducing capital costs, enablement of a mobile workforce and reducing the amount of IT administration are just some of these. However there is another significant benefit that is often overlooked by organisations considering Cloud Computing – insurance.

By reducing the amount of expensive IT equipment kept onsite business insurance premiums for many small and medium sized businesses should reduce. For businesses with a number of servers there will also be significant savings to be made on space and energy used to maintain temperatures in specially designated server rooms.  These are just some of the hidden benefits of Cloud Computing.”

Ziptech Services will move to using Cloud Computing by the end of March.

Simpson concludes:

“Our move to the Cloud is one that will help give our clients confidence – after all we wouldn’t ask our clients to do anything we hadn’t done ourselves. In going through the process we have found that we now have a free meeting room – and our premiums will indeed be lower once we no longer have servers onsite.”

Ziptech is the forefront of providing SMBs with the types of IT services that they need to run their businesses efficiently. They offer packaged Cloud Computing appraisals, helping clients assess their needs and advising on how Cloud Computing could work to improve current business set up.

About Ziptech Services

Ziptech Services is an IT Support Company that specialises in IT Services for small and medium sized businesses in the UK.

With offices in London and the Thames Valley, Ziptech provides IT Support for organisations right across the UK and their overseas satellite offices.

For more information please visit: www.ziptechservices.co.uk

CEO, Jim Simpson believes that 2012 should see many more businesses considering moving applications and infrastructure to the cloud – maybe as a hybrid model to begin with, followed by a more decisive move to operate fully in the Cloud by the end of the year.  With this move a serious look at network requirements is essential.

“If businesses are looking to move services to the Cloud then they are going to need a powerful network to connect them. Unfortunately this requirement is not the sexy side of Cloud Computing that everyone likes talking about – it is an essential if rather dull reality.”

Ziptech is the forefront of providing SMBs with the types of IT services that they need to run their businesses efficiently. They offer packaged Cloud Computing appraisals, helping clients assess their needs and advising on how Cloud Computing could work to improve current business set up.

Jim Simpson concludes:

“According to a recent report by Forrester 2012 is the year that Cloud Computing will go through its awkward teenage years. Understanding fully the requirements needed to ensure a successful move to the Cloud is all part of this phase.  Businesses just need to be helped through by experts that have the experience and knowledge to make it work for them – so they can start enjoying the many benefits offered by Cloud Computing.

About Ziptech Services

Ziptech Services is an IT Support Company that specialises in IT Services for small and medium sized businesses in the UK.

With offices in London and the Thames Valley, Ziptech provides IT Support for organisations right across the UK and their overseas satellite offices.

For more information please visit: www.ziptechservices.co.uk

Click here to download your copy of the Ziptech NewZletter for January 2012

Also in this edition:

• New year resolutions
• Cloudy weather expected for 2012
• YouTube’s top videos of 2011

CEO and founder of Ziptech comments:

“One of the most attractive effects that Cloud Computing has on business by far is its ability to free businesses and workers from traditional constraints imposed by IT. Cloud Computing means that staff will not be bound to one desk in one office in any one location any longer.  This is made possible through virtualised desktops and many more cloud-based applications being used.

Hot desking could become the norm providing more convenient working practises for staff but also will provide economies for businesses looking to reduce workspace costs. We have seen a trend towards this type of working over the past year but now economics may drive adoption of the Cloud because of these types of cost benefit – and this in turn may cause a surge in mobile working. And there is nowhere that cost saving is more in the spotlight than our public sector organisations who have had to focus on operational costs as part of governmental cost cutting measures.”

However with opportunities also come challenges to overcome with this increase in mobility. The main challenge will be for IT managers and CIOs to keep control of their IT. Governance is going to be a big issue over the next year as Cloud really takes off in a big way and changes the way we all work.

Ziptech is the forefront of providing SMBs with the types of IT services that they need to run their businesses efficiently. They offer packaged Cloud Computing appraisals, helping clients assess their needs and advising on how Cloud Computing could work to improve current business set up.

About Ziptech Services

Ziptech Services is an IT Support Company that specialises in IT Services for small and medium sized businesses in the UK.

With offices in London and the Thames Valley, Ziptech provides IT Support for organisations right across the UK and their overseas satellite offices.

For more information please visit: www.ziptechservices.co.uk

“Cloud Computing is an IT revolution – there’s no doubt about that.  As with other technology revolutions there is always some fall out. In this case it is traditional IT department roles and responsibilities that must morph into what businesses now need – or die.  Cloud computing will force IT professionals to manage software systems, to understand departmental processes and data requirements and to manage them,” says Jim Simpson, CEO and founder of Ziptech Services.

This new way of working however does not necessarily mean job losses for IT professionals.  Instead it is an opportunity for the focus to shift from infrastructure to the business itself.

“IT professionals are used to reinventing themselves – it’s the nature of the technology space that game changers occur regularly.  For most IT employees there is an acceptance and expectation that lifelong learning will be necessary to keep knowledge ahead of the curve.  Cloud Computing can be seen as one big opportunity for IT professionals to add more value.” comments Simpson.

Ziptech prides itself on being at the forefront of providing SMBs with the types of IT services that they need to run their businesses efficiently. They were one of the first IT Support companies to offer packaged Cloud Computing appraisals, helping clients assess their needs and advising on how Cloud Computing could work to improve their current business set up.

About Ziptech Services

Ziptech Services is an IT Support Company that specialises in IT Services for small and medium sized businesses in the UK.

With offices in London and the Thames Valley, Ziptech provides IT Support for organisations right across the UK and their overseas satellite offices.

For more information please visit: www.ziptechservices.co.uk

IT Support London Company, Ziptech Services Managing Director, Jim Simpson believes that for some of his customer base Cloud Computing will allow them to run applications in the cloud in many cases without the need for internal IT resource.

“We believe that it is so easy now for business owners of small and medium sized operations and start-ups to take advantage of the Cloud based business applications that a dedicated IT resource is not always necessary. Cloud Computing has really made it much easier to exploit software with very little dedicated in-house IT resource.

Of course it also depends on a number of other factors such as the number of applications you want to run and whether there is the need to integrate them, the number of users you have, the amount you spend and how IT literate members of the (non-technical) team are.”

IT Support London company, Ziptech Services has seen many more of its clients move to a hybrid cloud model over the past 12 months and expects many more to follow during 2012, with some making the transition to being fully in the cloud by the end of the year.

Simpson concludes:
Despite the fact that Cloud Computing can increase the independence of small businesses it would be madness to suggest that they will never need specialist help and expertise to get up and running. We always tell our clients that although Cloud Computing removes the need to physically install the software it does not take away the possibility that some help and training may be required. It is best to take each case in isolation and advise them based on their IT knowledge base, their software portfolio and existing IT infrastructure.”

Ziptech prides itself on being at the forefront of providing SMBs with the types of IT services that they need to run their businesses efficiently. They were one of the first IT Support companies to offer packaged Cloud Computing appraisals, helping clients assess their needs and advising on how Cloud Computing could work to improve their current business set up.

About Ziptech Services

Ziptech Services is an IT Support Company that specialises in IT Services for small and medium sized businesses in the UK.
With offices in London and the Thames Valley, Ziptech provides IT Support for organisations right across the UK and their overseas satellite offices.
For more information please visit: www.ziptechservices.co.uk

Business IT Support Audit

Like many IT Support Companies we always undertake an IT Support Audit before we accept a new company as a Business IT Support Client. We charge our clients a fixed monthly IT Support fee so we need to know what we’re getting into otherwise we could lose a lot of money.
The IT Support Audit has highlighted a common problem. I’m tempted to say they have been tricked, but that implies deliberate action. In reality they have been misled rather than deliberately tricked by their IT Support Company into spending too much on their computer system. Yes – too much!
That may sound more like a waste of money than a significant IT Support problem, but it is a significant IT Support problem. Here’s why.

IT Support Complexity

They are a company of about 20 people, with a computer infrastructure sufficiently complex for a small bank. I exaggerate, but not that much.
Their requirements are actually simple, but they have 2 servers, one of which is a very high specification. Between the 2 servers they operate 5 different virtual servers and 3 different operating systems. Plus they have got a very sophisticated (read expensive and overly complex) Cisco networking infrastructure.
Based on advice from their IT Support Company they spent over 20 thousand upgrading their systems a matter of months ago. They find that ongoing IT Support costs are high as well. Changes or fixes are very expensive. I’m not surprised. It’s a complex setup requiring a great deal of time and technical expertise to implement changes or IT Support fixes, to say nothing of the unnecessary business disruption involved.
In short, high installation costs and high ongoing IT Support costs. And all of it unnecessary.

A simple, elegant (and cheaper) IT Support Solution

It’s a simple business so all they really need is a single Microsoft SBS server, a Draytek router and a few Netgear switches.
This solution would have cut their initial costs by 10 thousand and their ongoing costs by approximately 7 thousand per annum.
They could have done with that money. Unfortunately they have just been forced to make some staff redundant
Elegantly simple and appropriate engineering is something that few IT Support Companies seem to understand. I see similar bad engineering on a regular basis.
It really annoys me. Not only is it expensive, but it’s sloppy, lazy work by the IT Support Company.
Of course that’s easy for me to say. After all I’ve been doing this for 20 years. As a business owner without IT Support expertise how can you avoid these expensive errors?

3 basic business tests you should apply when hiring a new Business IT Support Company

• Get at least 3 IT Support quotes. This sounds basic, but so few companies do it. I make this a policy throughout my business when we are purchasing any new service. I know it’s time-consuming, but it’s worth the effort.
• Ask “stupid” questions! Don’t be afraid to ask. You are the customer. If they can’t answer it in a way that you can understand then move onto another more customer service centric Business IT Support Company.
• Select an IT Support Company that specialises in your size of business. If you are a small business and they support Enterprise clients that doesn’t make them better for you. It actually makes them worse for you. They will try to shoehorn their enterprise technology into your small business – it’s expensive and ultimately it won’t work.

By the time you read this article I will have given the prospective Business IT Support client the bad news. For their long term benefit they need to undo some of the recent, expensive over engineering.
It’s a difficult pill to swallow. I wonder how they will react!