They’re more useful than you may realize. Online meetings through solutions like Webex and GoToMeeting have been around for nearly 20 years, and not a whole lot has changed over that time. Today, as before, they allow people to collaborate in real time over the internet via audio or video conferencing and screen or document sharing. But despite their relative longevity, stability and usefulness, I find that online meetings are still extremely underutilized. Not that I don’t understand the importance of in person meetings — interpersonal relationships are surely the key to many business deals; rather I have come to […]
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Data Analytics: Not Just Numbers
Data analytics is becoming not just more prevalent, but more useful for business. As someone with a mathematical, financial and technological background, I am a strong proponent of the benefit of analyzing and using data to make better decisions. Not surprisingly, then, I am happy to see a number of trends and emerging technologies that promise to help in that effort. The first is that data sources are becoming more open and easier to connect to. This trend exists in virtually all modern applications. One example of interest to those of us who live or work in New Orleans is […]
Read MoreNot Just Core Networks: The New Role of IT Services
Demands have changed in this cloud-based world. As the cloud and other developments continue to change the ways small businesses deploy and use technology, IT departments must adapt. Long gone are the days when most IT environments looked the same — a few Windows servers in a closet and a Windows PC on every desk — when all the IT department had to worry about managing core networks. Now we see a variety of different approaches and an overwhelming number of available applications. As a firm believer in technology’s ability to make a meaningful difference in a typical small business’s […]
Read MoreDisaster Recovery Plan
Now’s the time to review your DR plan. Much has changed with disaster recovery in the 10-plus years since we got a firsthand lesson from Hurricane Katrina. Server virtualization now makes recovery of many systems much easier and faster than it was, and the rise of the cloud puts more options at our disposal than we could have previously imagined. Hurricane season is officially here, making it a good time to review the current state of disaster recovery solutions. What is Disaster Recovery? First, a bit of terminology; This article is about disaster recovery, which for our purposes deals with […]
Read MoreThe Mobile Device Security Risk
What’s your business’ policy for dealing with mobile device security? The immense popularity of mobile devices is inescapable, yet most small businesses have given little real thought to how best to manage them. Until recently, I shared the opinion that there often isn’t much to worry about. The amount of corporate data on mobile devices was limited (most of it to email) and we can usually remotely erase a lost device, thereby dealing with the most obvious threat. But as the usage of mobile devices has grown, so have the amount and types of sensitive information that they contain. Cloud-file […]
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