CTSC

Backup Your Stuff!

Dave — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 03:30:06 +0000

If it is important, back it up:

Don’t be an April Fool. Backup your data. Check your restores.

World Back-up Day

Just backup to a local drive, then save the drive securely off-site, or use an online backup service.

PS – Change your passwords too!

The Evolving Professional Office

Dave — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 13:12:20 +0000

The general office location and character of office space have changed during the past few years. Our space has changed three times since our beginnings, and it is likely to change again, soon (more information in a future post).

Most (technology) employees are not on a 9 to 5 routine, but are expected to be available (by email, text/SMS/BBM, etc.) even after “work hours” to respond to business issues. Correspondingly, an employee no longer requires a cube or face time at headquarters to report on Mundays.

Business can be conducted from WiFi cafes, humble home offices, and even a smart phone depending on title or function. The web boom happened ten years ago, but the mobile technology to facilitate remote collaboration and interaction is only budding.

Image Credit Wonderlane

Tropical Storm Lee Impacting The Southern Tier

Dave — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 05:15:36 +0000

Broome and Tioga Counties were severely affected by Tropical Storm Lee.

Both Interstates 81 and 86 (AKA ST-17) had to be closed in part due to excess water on the Interstate Highways and thus directly disrupting transportation, business, and residential areas of Binghamton, Vestal, Owego, Johnson City, Nichols, Newark Valley, and other isolated Southern Tier areas.

We have been working tirelessly to assist our clients and Emergency Service organizations maintain their operations and help businesses with relocation of IT systems and infrastructure.

National Guard and other State and Federal resources have helped with operational resources and we have assisted businesses with data recovery, (MiFi, WiFi, WLAN, LAN) data networks, hard drive recovery, web communications, IT relocation, Internet fax setup, web updates and redesign, and have even kicked a door in or two to obtain critical backup data drive rescue.

As of yesterday afternoon, the State has requested Federal Disaster aid, for this storm that has impacted the Northeast.

If you are a Binghamton area business in need of technical or web assistance, please contact us for availability.

It is the solemn duty of engineers to frame the proper question

Dave — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 04:43:44 +0000

Modeling/producing the question, is it an art or science?

# reference

Image Credit Colin_K

Business Cloud Collaboration Services

Dave — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 09:24:49 +0000

We have been consulting with several of our existing clients and migrating them to a “Cloud Service” that helps cut the cost of managing a file or additional servers. The Cloud is that hazy place where data and applications are now being remotely served from, formerly just referred to as the Internet. Cloud services are becoming ubiquitous – just connect to the Internet and then retrieve information and/or process your data.

This is very popular with applications that run in a browser, storage, and now collaboration that ties in the former two. Managing business content on the cloud is a huge shift from the traditional local networked file server, remote control access, or virtual private network (VPN). Using a secure web page to access your files that normally interact with on your local network no longer requires you to be local or on your network.

One of the differences we point out to our small medium business (SMB) clients is that the newer cloud services are not just cloud storage, they are moving to what we call “cloud collaboration”. Cloud storage is common (Amazon’s web services or Rackspace’s Cloud Files), but collaboration is the shift that I want to accentuate.

Having a single location for all your local and remote users to manage their work, wherever they may be, is essential, but being able to have internal discussions and a dialogue with clients on documents and projects is innovative.

We are excited to use the new web applications with the flexibility they offer to everyone in the office and on the road. Although we have experienced migrating and using the cloud collaboration, we have declined to partner with a single provider at this time, as the services are too new and we don’t want to be impartial on offering our clients the best web software.

As we approach a world of technology with hosted applications, storage, and now collaboration, perhaps our government can be run there too?

Image Credit Elessar

Forgive us for our focus

Dave — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 09:33:06 +0000

We all are limited, both as individuals and organizations. Small & medium businesses can be extremely limited with time and we are no exception. I found a nice way to convey this:

Pleasing everyone with our work is impossible. It wastes the time of our best customers and annoys our staff. Forgive us for focusing on those we’re trying to delight.

Recently, we have turned down several software projects, some that would be interesting and a future web application, but our time resource has made us prioritize on our current workload. We are fortunate that we are able to choose who to work with, can you?

Annual Review Updated

Dave — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 09:43:14 +0000

We updated our Annual Review/Report. This is not a performance review for employees, rather a review of your own personal or business goals. Review your core values, purpose and goals, and make a course for 2011.

The review was made to be quick and painless, without a lot of color or fancy formatting. Take time to complete it and pass it on.

Related:
The New Year Attitude

Free Family Tech Support

Dave — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 22:56:28 +0000

If you’ve ever had to provide tech support or fix a family member’s computer, the following will be a site to remember.

TeachParentsTech.org

Holiday time can be one of those rides with full entrapment, where you may feel an obligation to help out your loved ones that don’t quite understand the nuances of the wild inter-web. I always enjoy assisting my family with their software quandaries (disclaimer just in case they’re reading this).

I highlighted the strong password video below, but could have easily highlighted any of the over fifty helpful videos.

I hope this helps put some time and cheer back into your holiday this year.

Project Triangle: Time – Price – Quality. Pick Two

Dave — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 09:10:10 +0000

At the beginning of project development (such as web design, web development, or web programming), I evaluate the client needs and wants based on what we are capable of delivering within a specific time frame. A decent amount of time is spent educating each other with what is truly needed and the best method to accomplish it. The Project Triangle is usually a helpful tool in getting a consensus from all parties and balancing project needs.

There are several variations to the triangle, and I refer to the variables as Time (Fast), Price (Cheap), and Quality (Good). It breaks down to:

Design something quickly and to a high standard, but it will not be cheap.

Design something quickly and cheaply, but it will not be the highest quality.

Design something with high quality and cheaply, but it will take a long time.

Illustrating this triangle to a client who has a limited budget for a major project can reduce unreasonable demands that can make a project fail. Our goal is to make sure everyone is in agreement on what it will take to make the project a success.

The recession is over! What recession?

Dave — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 02:35:09 +0000

Yesterday the recession ended. It is now over. The headlines say it, yet no one believes it.

With a recession there is change. The old way of doing things is challenged and new ideas are funneled into the way things will be. Is a part of the recession over, and is part of it permanent?

The networked revolution is creating huge profits, significant opportunities and a lot of change. What it’s not doing is providing millions of brain-dead, corner office, follow-the-manual middle class jobs. And it’s not going to.
…
The sad irony is that everything we do to prop up the last economy (more obedience, more compliance, cheaper yet average) gets in the way of profiting from this one.

Defining or naming a movement is complicated and timing one is an additional dimension that creates a more convoluted situation. Simply declaring that a recession is over does not make it so. The times are changing, but there is still an economic slump the US has yet to get itself out of. Be aware of new economies and take calculated risks to invest in them.

image credit

Related:
Non-linear Politics
Business Web Consulting Stimulus