Archive for the ‘Business’ Category

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A Major Upheaval since the Internet: Enter Cloud Computing

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
Diagram showing overview of cloud computing in...

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Cloud computing is a new technology which essentially utilizes the power of a cluster of servers to power a website by dynamically scaling resources such as processing power, memory and storage among others. Each server in the cluster can be thought of as hosting the website.  If this is ambiguous to comprehend, then think of it as if your website resides on a super high powered server which never breaks down because this super high powered server actually is a combination of several servers working together.

It is a fact that maintaining a huge IT department is costly and a lot of corporations have no idea what networking and computer software involves. Cloud computing introduces strategies in which companies can send their files to people that can manage and handle them more effectively. With this facility, companies will be able to cloud into any kind of IT that they need including hardware, software, web hosting, networking, and etc. As a result, companies can focus on what to offer rather than technical details on how to offer their services. 

Some of Technology’s biggest names are leading the cloud computing system. Google’s internet based word processor and spreadsheet program are fighting to replace the desktop version of Microsoft’s Word and Excel.  But perhaps, even a better way to jump in the present is through the more vague service providers. These businesses provide the physical servers, hosting space, and means to communicate with them. Well-known names include Equinix (EQIX), Rackspace (RAX), and Terremark Worldwide (TMRK).

I believe there will be a vast amount of consolidation in the production over the next decade. The largest tech names will gulp up the less relevant players as a cheap way to gain admittance to the most recent breakthroughs. The new IT attitude of outsourcing will provide companies with more effective support and will further allow them to focus on what they do best, instead of struggling with computer issues and constantly breaking servers and networks.  

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Google’s Super Speedy Network

Monday, February 15th, 2010

Google claims it’s new, experimental ultra high-speed broadband network will serve as a playground for developers, giving them the bandwidth they need to dream up next generation, data hungry online apps. But, Google may have other motives for its speedy network as well.

The whole transition from dial up to broadband has brought so much innovation to the internet, and now Google plans to make the delivery process for new applications even more intriguing and deliverable.

There are already concerns with the limitations on Bandwidth as businesses and consumer become more internet dependent.  Internet applications such as video conferencing and telephoning are becoming so popular and accordingly so is the demand for bandwidth . As more businesses adopt internet related practices, traffic jams may take place and could affect the net.  Google’s new super network may address these bandwidth concerns.  As of now, the super network is in an experimental phase as Google looks to see how smaller businesses, consumers and institutions as well as the local government will utilize this high speed access.  While Google promises new enhanced applications to increase the technology system on the net, the super network may also be the answer to the bandwidth troubles that currently face already existing applications.

But Google may also have ulterior motives for its super network.  Google has been a frontier in providing internet services to consumers and stealing away consumer from other carriers.  The new internet based technology, some say, may allow Google the opportunity to take control of internet services in the market as well.  This may be a bit skeptical, but there is no question that a faster-speed super network will displace other carriers, and cause a shift in internet service carriers. 

As the idea is still at its inception, Google has not yet completely figured out how it will deal with information ownership and privacy issues.  Additionally, Google may have to figure out a way to work through the conflicts its new idea may cause with other carriers and providers that form the backbone of internet services and data communication.  Such issues might be determining factors on the success of the super network.
So while the new super highway might provide the promise of new applications, and added support for existing applications, it’s still unclear how Google will address certain issues, and how the new super highway will effect other competitors in the market.  We all know that faster is better, but what will the cost be to the market and consumers is yet to be determined.

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How Green is your I.T.?

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

 “Green” back offices and data centers are becoming quite a trend these days — not only because of their energy efficiencies, but also because of the costs they save. With the economic downturn, making IT operations more efficient not only makes practical sense, but is becoming necessary. As your business grows your IT infrastructure will become more complex, therefore the time is NOW to implement strategies that will save time, energy, money, and increase your company’s overall productivity.

StoneHill Tech’s Green IT Strategies:

Go Virtual

  • Virtualization dramatically improves the efficiency and availability of  applications in your organization, reduces energy cost and improves operations by managing information traffic and workflow.
  • By condensing all files and applications to one server, your business will best utilize your hardware and software resources.

Improve airflow: Improving airflow is easy and inexpensive. To immediately improve efficiency, ensure that:

  • Cables, etc., are positioned so they do not restrict airflowMissing ceiling tiles are replaced so no cold air is misdirected.
  • Hot air does not ecirculate, by flowing over the tops of racks or around the rows.
  • Migrating racks to hot aisles/cold aisles is a continual process.
  • CRAC units are positioned for maximum efficiency.
  • Servers are designed with front-to-rear airflow.
  • The return (hot) air plenum accommodates required airflow

Dispose of  eWaste

It is probably no surprise that in our current age of technology and computer dependency eWaste (electronics waste) is the fastest growing form of toxic waste in the world.  However, since society has begun to realize this there have been companies sprouting up all over that will actually come to your business and collect all your eWaste for free. We use an awesome local company; Go Green eWaste Recyclers.

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BEWARE OF THE ANTI-VIRUS

Monday, January 18th, 2010

About three weeks ago I sat down in front of my laptop to do my homework and a screen that looks like the one below popped up telling me I had serious threats/viruses on my computer.  Looks legitimate right?

antivirus

WRONG!!!! This anti-virus “software” was the virus. However, I didn’t think anything of it until I was suddenly locked out of the sites I frequent, such as my school, my Gmail, my bank, etc. I may not be Miss Techie, but I do know enough to recognize that this wasn’t normal. So, in casual conversation with Zach, who is a Mr. Techie,  regarding the  strange behavior of my computer, before I was even half way done he said, “You have a virus”. Those dreaded words rang in my ears as I began to see the dollars falling from my wallet. Luckily, I work for the best IT company on earth and Zach was able to remove the virus within one day and install legitimate firewalls and virus protections.

Ironically, that same evening I was watching the nightly news where they were featuring a story on “New Organized Crime Rings”…HACKERS. Apparently, technology is not only transforming the way we do business, it has transformed theft as well. The newest trend amongst thieves is to send out   these nasty little parasites, disguised as helpful software, that infect your computer allowing the hacker to track your key strokes, thus gaining access to all of your personal passwords and information. A local OC business man was recently taken for $1,000,000 due to this type of scam. OUCH!

Two days ago, I was out sick and received an email from Zach saying three clients in the past week had been hit with the same thing and decided that YOU need to be aware of what is out there!!!! He sent me this really informative article:   Take a look, it could save you a lot of time, money & heart ache!

Beware fake anti-virus programs

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Trends of 2010

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

Let’s face it, 2009 was a difficult year for many businesses. While some did experience profit and growth, for most it has been a year of consolidation and survival. As we move into a New Year and new decade it lends hope that we are leaving the devastation of the recession behind, and according to Jan Hatzius, Chief U.S. Economist at Goldman Sachs, we just may be!   He made the recent statement “The recession is most likely over as it appears the economy has stopped shrinking, posting modest growth over the last quarter.”

At the start of every period of growth, experts always identify a series of trends that businesses will move toward. After extensive research I have determined the top two trends that will immediately impact your businesses growth are green practices and digital technology.

Going Green:              

Thanks to government incentives and changing public sentiment, clean energy’s popularity has risen to new heights.In 2009 the positive impacts of energy efficiency became a hot topic and awareness about the importance of Going Green spread globally. President Obama’s vision of energy efficiency creating jobs and healing our economy created a stimulus plan that poured billions into renewable energy. Energy efficiency was a central component of every one of the climate bills debated in Congress in 2009.

Not only is the Government allocating huge amounts to the movement, but according to Cleantech Group, an industry research firm, venture capital investment in clean technology–including solar, biofuels, batteries and the smart grid–overtook IT and biotech for the biggest piece of the VC pie. The sector swiped 27 percent of all investment dollars in the third quarter–that’s $1.6 billion!

Green issues will continue to dominate political and business agendas now and in the future; your business can largely benefit from this. I am not suggesting you change your existing infrastructure, or start selling Green products, but by being an environmentally-conscientious business, you will set yourself apart from your competition – people feel better when they can take the “green” option without sacrificing quality and service.

This is not a hard task to undertake.   Look for green alternatives in every area of your business: For example, implementing Virtualization  into your IT infrastructure will save space and energy.  Avoid sending paper invoices through the mail and opt for paperless email, pay all of your bills online to avoid the use of paper, any paper you do use recycle.  Businesses that make a genuine commitment to going green often find that the cost savings and personal reward of contributing to the health of our planet are as great as the positive PR their business will receive.

Check out these green trends and boost your bottom line.

*As a side note there are a lot of little things we can do as individuals to lighten our carbon footprint, MSNBC has a great article that provides easy tips to make a difference.

 Digital Technology:

I write about the significance of technology in today’s world a lot and the amount of research I do on this subject always has a consistent tone:  It is MOST CRUCIAL component of your business!  It is important you identify the technology you need to strengthen and grow your business.

The internet is and will continue to provide the biggest opportunities for businesses. No other location or Marketing strategy has ever made it possible for a business to reach so many targeted customers.

If you are or were looking into entering into the Industry, apps are the way to go. More and more people are relying on their mobile devices and the as the web continues to move to wireless, this industry is there for the taking. Innovative ideas that bring technologies together will dominate in 2010. To help with this, Microsoft, Apple and Google have all launched third-party mobile app markets – so there really is money to be made here. You don’t need to be a computer developer to create an app. If you have an innovative idea there are plenty of freelance programmers out there who you can contract to do the work for you. Apps are only one thing to capitalize on out of the many upcoming digital trends.

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Backups Backups Backups

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

After living through the tragedy of my friend Kristen’s computer crashing last week, the internal conversations at StoneHill ignited a list of questions. My brain is dominated by the right side and does not operate even a little bit in a logical let alone technical sense. I have worked with computers my whole life, but in the last two months I have learned more than I ever imagined being around my brilliant co-workers.

Unfortunately, I not only had to report back to Kristen that due to her lack of knowledge about cleaning her computer had led to the death of her hard drive, but also had to tell her that because she failed to back-up her data there is a very good chance that all of her research, work, and personal items may be lost forever.  It seems backing up data is not only one of the most important components of maintaining your computer’s health, but also the most neglected.  In the midst of this conversation that not only intrigued, but inspired me to write this, another one of my co-workers Zach Hart made the statement “If there is not a backup system in place it can costs 10’s of thousands of dollars with no guarantee that all the data will be recovered.”

It’s amazing to me how much we think we know, but don’t. Therefore I wanted to share with you some tips and resources to prevent any suffering to you personally or professionally from data loss. This information caused me to inquire about how to effectively back-up data from the individual station to your businesses network.

  • Purchase a Zip Drive and back-up daily. Although this is the cheapest method it can be very time consuming and has limited memory.
  • Purchase and external hard drive that you can back up to regularly. Christos recommends: Western Digital.
  • Back-up online. This has become a very popular option where you rent virtual space to upload your data on.

StoneHill  offers an affordable service to our clients called BDR; this system is recommended for small to medium sized businesses. BDR is very affordable and has many great functions including, but not limited to the following:

  • Very frequent backups              
  • Optional off-site data storage
  • Multiple restore points
  • Standby server capabilities
  • Advanced restoration options 

With StoneHill’s BDR backups are performed as frequently as every 15 minutes, providing clients with numerous restoration points compared to traditional tape backups.

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THE EVOLUTION OF ENTREPRENUERSHIP

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

entrepreneurshipIn the last 15 years the wealth of Americans increased four-fold. The number of Millionaires are destined to double in the next 10 years. With Entrepreneurship on the rise the trends have shifted tremendously; the predicted growth is staggering beyond what anyone anticipated. There are currently two areas of exploding growth; technology and internet marketing. Internet marketing has caused a major shift in the Industry becoming   a multi-billion dollar industry.

Studies show that a combination of technology and internet marketing translates into the ultimate opportunity and the fastest way to wealth.

By expanding into global markets the Entrepreneur will expedite their growth and secure a successful International business. As each country catches this wave of interest the evolving entrepreneur will use technology to insure that they capture the most influential leaders from each country to promote their business. By developing a network of this magnitude the entrepreneur gains the ability to form powerful strategic partnerships all over the planet. There business will grow exponentially; like positioning oneself at the top of the ladder, so to speak.

 The Entrepreneur will use technology to generate interest with blogs, forums, web sites, article linking, page ranking, traffic generation, search engine optimization, etc. A technologically savvy entrepreneur will leverage the internet to achieve 100 to 1000 times the financial results of the “old school” way of prospecting.

The open minded, forward thinking entrepreneur will generate interest, find a couple of leaders in an expanding country and utilize those partnerships to pre-position themselves in numerous other countries. After two or three countries have been opened the evolving entrepreneur will make thousands or tens of thousands a month; whether he chooses to get out of bed in the morning or not. This will be a gold mine for those sharp entrepreneurs who have the foresight to see the opportunity 4-5 steps ahead and leverage their time with technology.

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5 Useful Tax Deductions for Small Businesses

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

The Holidays are here; a joyful time filled with festive family fun, lights sparkling up and down the streets, beautiful décor displayed wherever you go, and sinfully delicious food.tax

AND THEN: Uncle Sam comes knocking down your door with a gift of his own; your tax bill.

Many Small Businesses have had to downsize and cut costs wherever possible to survive this economic storm. Therefore, Tax Season can be terrifying and most definitely stressful. However, there are some write offs Small Business owners may not be aware of that can lower their tax bill and hopefully their stress level as well.

Taxes Deduction

   Yes, you read right; you can deduct taxes on your taxes. How? Any sales tax on business items, fuel taxes for business related travel, Real Estate taxes on any property used for the business. Although to clarify; unfortunately you cannot deduct federal income tax paid on business income.

Software and Subscriptions

Any software purchased in the year of 2009 can be 100% written off. Otherwise the deduction is generally written off over three years.

Legal and professional fee deductions

If you consulted an attorney about your small business,  hired an accountant to keep up your books, or outsourced your computer services you can write off their fees.

Vehicle Deductions

You can deduct vehicle expenses by mile or for actual expenses such as maintenance and gas. The IRS is currently offering initiatives for environmentally friendly practices; if you purchased a Hybrid for your business in or after 2005 you could receive a credit of up to $3,150.

Telephone Charges

If you have a phone dedicated solely to your business you can write 100% of all charges.

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Cut Costs and Increase Efficiency!

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

cut-costAs the nation fights to pull out of this economic crisis businesses must be prepared to take an objective look at their bottom line. By eliminating unnecessary overhead, companies can concentrate on building and expanding their foundation, placing the emphasis on their core product or service.

With the advancement of technology there are many cost effective strategies entrepreneurs and small business owners can implement to leverage their enterprise and increase efficiency.

Most small business owners wish they had more time to focus on growing their business, but are too often bogged down with tedious tasks that are so time consuming they prevent and/or slow down their growth. The solution is outsourcing; whatever your companies requirements, you can literally outsource almost anything.

Human Resources (HR) - Depending on the size of your business and how much control you want to maintain over HR functions, you can either outsource all your HR needs or contract for individual services.

The basic services offered by HR outsourcing firms:

  • Overseeing organizational structure and staffing requirements
  • Recruiting, training, and employee development
  • Personnel File Maintenance
  • Tracking Department objectives, goals, and strategies
  • Benefits administration
  • Employee orientation programs
  • Ensure compliance with all State & Federal labor laws & informational posting requirements

Payroll- Many employers outsource some of their payroll and related tax duties to third-party payroll service providers. They can help ensure filing deadlines and deposit requirements are met. If your business does not keep accurate records you could be fined. California passed a law that imposes a $750 payroll fine on small businesses that aren’t able to quickly produce accurate payroll records upon an employee’s request; it is rumored that other states will follow with similar legislation. Outsourcing payroll will greatly streamline business operations.

The basic services offered by Payroll outsourcing firms:

  • Processing payroll and record maintenance on behalf of the employer
  • Reporting, collecting, and depositing employment taxes with State and Federal agencies.
  • Timely filing of Quarterly State and Federal Employer Tax Returns
  • Provide Calendar Year-end services such as issuing W2s, reconciling 941s & DE7

Information Technology (IT) Services – Remaining adaptable to the market is crucial to any small businesses success. In the majority of industry, 100% of business functions are run on computers. Your business relies strongly on your network which requires a strong IT infrastructure.  StoneHill, an Industry leader, recognizes the importance a business’s health and offers a free Technology Review. By outsourcing these services you can convert fixed IT costs to variable, significantly decreasing overhead and creating an increase in service availability and overall efficiency.

The basic services offered by StoneHill and other IT firms:

  • Maintenance Plan
  • Managed Services
  • 24/7 Emergency Support
  • Online Disaster Recovery
  • SPAM & Virus Filtering
  • Special Projects
  • Communication Network Set-up & Maintenance
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Does your Website need a Facelift?

Friday, November 27th, 2009

   How often do you research a new product or service online before making a purchase? When you are networking and someone hands you a business card with a gmail or other like account; how likely are you to pursue a business relationship?

  The business world is always evolving and if your business isn’t transforming to keep up with Industry trends, chances are you will find yourself beat by your competition or worse; locked out of the market.

  The amount of Internet users has grown 380.3 percent worldwide since 2000 and 134 percent in the United States. According the Consumer Behavior report published by PriceGrabber.com; 91 percent of consumers said researching products online made them feel more confident about their purchases.

   In today’s market it is imperative to the growth and success of your business to have a professional web presence. Your website is part of your Identity; it makes a strong impact on your image. Therefore,  whether you are a small business owner, an entrepreneur, an author, an artist, a band, or any other entity determined to succeed you need to take a look at the face you show the world; your website.

There are many things to consider when performing a website audit:

*Is the design consistent with your Identity; are you branding your company?

*Is your website user friendly; can existing and potential clients easily navigate your site?

*Do you provide convenient methods of contact you; both email and phone?

*Do you have a lead capture system in place?

*Do you have an online campaign in place so people find you when searching for your product or service?

   Websites have no boundaries; once you are online you are International. By establishing a web presence you significantly expand your market presence and at a fraction of the cost. It is my belief that the Advertising industry is quickly transitioning its focus to the World Wide Web and as technology advances we will see a major increase in online businesses and virtual offices.

   At StoneHill Tech www.stonehilltech.com  we are very aware of how important it is to maintain and update our website. Our development team in made up of system architects, programmers, and developers who take the needs of our clients and translate them into elegant, automated and functional tools. We also host provide website hosting for the majority of our clients as well.

 Heath Griffin hits on some very strong points to consider when considering building your own website in his blog posting:  What Makes a Great Website

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