Business Systems Guide

8 posts

Business Computer Systems Guide – Part 1

Introduction

9/6/2010 Update – Much of this guide was written in 2005 from material as old as 2000. Although we’ve come light years since 2005, this material still applies to current businesses and business systems.

Today’s sophisticated business computer systems are a complicated lot. Coupled with the plethora of consumer market oriented hardware that one finds in the Sunday paper’s Business Section, confusion appears to be the order of the day. My purpose in writing this guide focuses on sweeping aside most of the confusion. Most small business people remember assembling home stereo or home theatre equipment, as well as programming ones satellite to VCR-DVD to television set. The basics of office computing are not much more complicated that that.

I believe that if a marginally technical business person understands a few ground rules, the opportunity exists to capitalize on business systems designed for Fortune 500 companies at a price point acceptable for small to medium sized businesses. The first place to start requires exploding the marketing myths used by computer service companies, so called “VARs” value added resellers. VARs partner with software and hardware companies to sell products, “solutions”, to you, the business customer.

The two most profitable “solutions” to sell are the entire Microsoft paradigm and the Cisco communications product line. Both of these companies have excellent products and have amassed a fortune assisting VARs to sell solutions to business people. Virtually all of the computers in existence today run a Microsoft Windows operating system with Microsoft Office components installed. Those same computers talk to each other using Cisco hardware and software.

If you max out your investment in Microsoft and Cisco systems, two things are certain. Your VAR will have sold you the best and most expensive systems available and you will have very little money left over to productively take advantage of your systems, or much else for that matter. A business needs to achieve balance between costs and deployed systems functionality. Balance achievement is where my systems model and the ground rules associated with my model come into play. It is not in the best profit interest for a VAR to assist a business with achieving this balance.

VARs are an odd lot. Most are well established business people that have hooked their future on a specific software solution or systems solution in a vertical market. Others purchase the latest “how to be a computer business” course and enter the business with well honed marketing tools.

My two most favorite Information Technology Service Provider marketing ploys are the “have an IT person, you are wasting your money” claim and the “own more than 20 computers, save a small fortune” claim. They read like this:

“If You Have 20-100 Computers And a Full Time IT Manager…You Are Wasting Your Money” “..any person who qualifies for this position does not really want this position.” “..Not to mention the time they spend on their Fantasy Sports teams, emailing friends, searching for a new job, and downloading PORN. I hate to say but we have caught too many of them doing it.”

Gee Mr. VAR, if you were any good at IT, you would not have let porn into the network to begin with. Scare tactics work on very few astute business people. If you have IT people, pat yourself on the back!

You are not wasting your money on a “full time IT person”. As a matter of fact, your IT person is most likely on the front lines, helping your employees resolve day to day productivity problems; because, your IT person comes armed with business process knowledge, learned from job related experience he or she came into IT with. Or, your IT person might be passing application specific business knowledge to other employees that came from years in school or on the job training in house, from a competitor or from another unrelated company.

Your IT worker is not a porn surfing waste of time. You hired her or him, just like you hired all of your other great employees. Managed into the right role, they become a valuable intellectual property asset and very able to manage your computing assets.

“If you own more than 20 XP computers in your business, you are in an excellent position to save a great deal of money,” and you can really save a fortune! What you are about to read is all over the Internet and responsible for substantial growth in IT and extreme profit for VARs.

Check out this information from the Gartner Group* reported in CMP’s Network Computing magazine Page 34, 9/2/2004 issue.

“The cost of an unmanaged Windows XP desktop is $5,309 over three years, whereas a managed XP desktop runs only $3,335, according to Gartner.” A MANAGED XP computer results in a savings of $1974 per computer over three years. If you have 20 XP computers in your business, you can recover $39,480 over three years in expense savings! That amounts to $1096 PER MONTH in expense savings!

A proactive approach to systems can mitigate and control the cost of your XP computers as well as your entire IT investment. If you have searched the Internet for “Managed Services”, “IT Services”, “help for my network” of “repair my computer” for any length of time, you have no doubt come across similar claims.

Saving $1096 per month in reoccurring expense for a typical small business is a very realistic goal. But, one must understand that reaching the goal requires a comprehensive approach to business systems, an approach I hope you clearly understand after you learn from my “Business Computer Systems Guide”.

The comprehensive approach is the tool that makes VARs wealthy. A savvy business person might decide to give the $1096 per month and more to a VAR that can return value to the business or might decide to put $1096 per month back into the business, directly to the bottom line. The decision hinges on achieving balance between costs and deployed systems functionality.

Coming full circle, achieving balance is where my systems model and the ground rules associated with my model come into play. Again, it is not in the best profit interest for a VAR to assist a business with achieving this balance.

Thanks for reading. In the next post, I will discuss balance, managed services and my systems model.

Business Computer Systems Guide – Part 2

Business Systems Guide

Balance, Managed Services, and My Systems Model

I mentioned in my last post, Business Computer Systems Guide – Part 1, that VARs are an odd lot. Some VARs purchase the latest “how to be a computer business” course and enter the business with cookie-cutter marketing programs. However, most VARs are well established business people that sell specific software solutions or systems solutions in a carefully crafted vertical market.

The computer systems business attracts poorly capitalized, contractor dependent individuals that acquire business skills from computer systems business consultants of online “how-to” fame. Consultants like Robin Robins and Joshua Feinberg are legendary in the business. Their material, although compelling, can be a loaded canon in the hands of inexperienced business people.

These systems VARs are dependent upon selling service contracts and emergency repair services. They are not interested it business systems structure or best practices. The marketing consultants push reoccurring revenue over everything else. They also push immediate profits from canned solutions like Microsoft Small Business Server. Mention balance between systems deliverables and business need and they will not know what you are talking about.

Hidden among the flashy, out front systems VARs, are the vertically focused solutions providers that provide excellent service to their chosen market. These hard working business people provide software for such niche markets as resale and pawn shops, concrete pumping services, medical doctor’s practices and automobile dealerships. They are generally customer focused and quick to respond to market changes. They steadily provide a flow of customer support and product upgrades. It is not uncommon for their customer service people to fly to customers all over the world.

Niche market VARs push solutions over technology, problem solving over the latest big computer name in the business section. All the while, their solutions evolve, developed to the latest technology. Their benchmark becomes speed, agility, effectiveness and the size of their installed customer base.

Procede Software of San Diego, California provides a great example of a focused niche market VAR. They serve the automobile and heavy truck dealership market primarily in North America. The Procede Software Excede application, if deployed correctly, can serve every aspect of a dealership’s business without adding any other software product into the mix. This single benefit can add substantial cost savings to a dealership’s financial statement.

A typical systems provider VAR does not have an in house developed solution that they derive profit from. A typical systems provider VAR depends on their “channel” reseller relationships to survive. Margins are made on the hardware and software that they promote and sell. The “channel” refers to the sales path that occurs from the big software or hardware company, to the systems VAR, then to the end user. The end user (your company) pays for software licensing and hardware, as well as reoccurring software and hardware support.

The systems VAR’s intense focus on the reoccurring revenue model places it in direct conflict with business thinking. Businesses strive to eliminate reoccurring costs. Consequently, in recent years, a brilliant marketing tool has surfaced. It is called “Managed Services”.

The “Managed Services” hype promises trouble free computing and round the clock support. However, the words “Managed Services” are simply not enough for your business.

Your business may have been around for a while or you might have just started up. Your computers and printers may have been networked for some time. You might even have 40 or 50 desktops and a couple of servers, or you might have just purchased new equipment and used this guide to formulate a systems plan, then deployed your systems plan yourself. Regardless where you are in your business, you face similar systems challenges.

By now, you are certainly receiving mountains of “Managed Services” literature and scads of email urging you to sign up for the latest service plan. Whatever your computer, printer, server, network, systems situation, it is time to take the next step.

Forget about “Managed Services” and think CUSTOMER SERVICE.

“Managed Services” is a contrived term that moves the focus AWAY from what computer people are “doing for their customers” to how computer people are supposed to be “doing computer service business”. In other words, away from customer service to internal business processes. “Managed Services” is all about reoccurring revenue for computer service companies, insurance against tough times.

Without a profound focus on CUSTOMER SERVICE, there are no bones to MANAGED SERVICES. If the “network is having problems” again or the “Website won’t come up” or “my pc is slow” again, you are having customer service problems with your computer systems VAR.

You own your business and you control your destiny. You are pro-active about your sales, operations and employees. If the proposed managed services fill your need, are delivered robustly and exceed your expectations, then you have services that are CUSTOMER SERVICE intense and as pro-active about systems as you have become about your business.

My systems model combines the best of pro active systems monitoring and management, with “channel” relationships and focused niche market VAR solutions to set the stage for a robust cost effective business computing environment balanced with business need. My model requires a business to address several points:

Embrace a solutions provider, a niche market VAR dedicated to your niche market.

Focus on doing all of your business within the feature set offered by your chosen solutions provider.

Provide a top tier robust hardware environment for your employees and your solutions provider.

Support relationships between your knowledge workers and your solutions provider.

Leverage channel opportunities and big computer company opportunities.

Do you want your business to flourish? If so, balance the specific features offered by your solutions provider and the sophistication of your systems environment with the specific business needs of your organization; and, do it with a road map!

Thanks for reading. In the next post, I will discuss planning and design.

Business Computer Systems Guide – Part 3

Business Systems Guide

Planning and Design

I mentioned in my last post, Business Computer Systems Guide – Part 2, that the formula for a florishing business requires a road map with the goal of balancing specific features offered by your solutions providers with the sophistication of your systems environment, all the while considering the specific business needs of your organization.

If you are like most people, you would rather be free and spontaneous about doing an activity as opposed to methodically planning the activity, then executing your plan to do the activity. Business systems are an area where you must restrain you spontaneity.

To begin your plan, you must ask yourself several basic questions. As you are working on these questions, begin documenting your questions and answers. Grab paper and pencil or a laptop with graphics and word processing software and let’s get started. This work will become the foundation for your “Planning Document“. Your “Planning Document” can be a single piece of paper or become a book, serving as the instructions to put your plan into action.

The process works like this. List the functional areas of your business then, within each functional area, list each specific role and the tasks each role needs to complete to be effective. Do not think in terms of departments or employees. Managing multiple roles is commonplace in today’s business environment. List the processes that are required by the task for successful completion. Your list, a business process evaluation, may look something like this:

Functional Area	Role	Daily Transactions	Task	Process Notes
Service department	Warranty Parts Returns	55	Obtain return number from vendor	Obtain some numbers from vendor websites, some from telephone calls to vendors
			Enter return number on warranty service order	Pull up WSO in business software, insert number then update WSO
			Enter return number on shipping label	Create UPS label using UPS website, insert number on label then print label with return number
Service Department	Warranty Tracking	1	Print warranty accounts receivable report	Go to reporting module of business software and print report #AR525
			Print freight tracking report	Go to reporting module of business software and print report #FRT15
			Reconcile parts received to warranty line items	Use a ruler and yellow highlighter to highlight parts not received on report #AR525
			Give reconciled report to service manager	Scan and email highlighted report #AR525 to service manager

Unfortunately, this will be a necessary, tedious and difficult undertaking. However, the information gathered in this “business process evaluation” will save you an incredible amount of money.

From the example above, I can tell you that both roles require a desktop computer with a directly attached printer and scanner, a configuration dictated by the number of daily transactions of the Warranty Parts Return role. The computer will need network access to the line of business software and email, both hosted in a remote data center and high speed internet access to UPS for creating labels. The two roles are done by one person using 35 to 40 man hours per week, again based on the daily transaction count.

The information that this brief evaluation does not tell me about is equally important. Each role does not require music or burning of cds for completion. Also, no other websites except UPS are required for completing these two roles. I think you get the picture.

You will need to progress from 1) your “business process evaluation” section, to 2) your overall systems design, to 3) specific business driven initiatives within your design, to 4) a formal tactical deployment plan for each of your initiatives.

Your overall systems design must answer several questions from information in the “business process evaluation” that you complete.

1 – Do I build and keep my network robust and secured from intended or unintended damage? YES.. Your systems investment is large, no matter what size business you have. Include in your design simple things that may go un-noticed later. Plan to lock up your equipment. Secure your equipment by mounting it on the wall or cabling a desktop and monitor to a desk. Have a BONDED cleaning service. Keep desktop computers out of sight at night, even if it means your office might not quite be arraigned the way you like. Scrutinize the perceived need to carry a laptop with you. Think of all the lock and key issues then define how you will deal with them in your planning document.

2 – Do I “seal off” and protect my network from both other peoples’ networks and the internet? YES.. Solid business drivers determine the appropriate use for your computer systems. Think about how you intend your employees and yourself to use your systems. Will you need access to EBay for selling your excess inventory? Will you need to login to your supplier’s Website to place and pay for orders? Do you plan to have email for everyone that you employee? Do you use QuickBooks or some other accounting system? Add all of your access needs to your planning document.

3 – Do I deal with my present computer network system that does not seem to work correctly and wastes my employees’ and my time? YES.. You can work around your present systems and possibly mitigate the problems you have. If necessary, you might need to do a sequential cutover to your new system by simply un-plugging and re-plugging cables and restarting desktop computers. Document the cutover in your PLAN. If you are concerned about overall costs, you might consider re-service contracting present equipment or selling it on EBay.

4 – Do I avoid being stuck with repair bills on computers and equipment and costs for “consultants” or the “local computer geek” over the long term? YES. Make a commitment to TIER ONE equipment, and then secure it well. Think warranty, more warranty and extended service contracts. Never keep a business technology device beyond its warranty period. Very good tools exist to migrate data and settings from old computers to new computers. Your business deserves the best desktops and laptops, and the prices are relatively low. With warranty, one call has your pc repaired.

At this point in your “Planning Document” you will need to create specific business driven initiatives that become part of your “design” and a formal tactical deployment plan for each of your initiatives. From the “business process evaluation” example above, I might have several initiatives. For example:

The service department will have four desktop computers. These computers will be networked into a combination firewall / router / switch allowing access to UPS, Email and the ABC Business Software.

Initiative 1 – Deploy four desktop computers to the four service department administrative employees.

Tactical plan

Order four Dell desktop computers Dell Small Business website link
Unpack and install four desktop computers to four service department desks
Turn on each computer; name with serial number, complete default setup
File each computer’s documentation in unique folder in file room
Install ABC Business Software to each computer
Install UPS and Email links to each computer

Initiative 2 – Install 10 network cable runs from the telephone closet to the service department, two drops for each of the four desk areas and two drops for the printer area on the north wall.

Tactical plan

Call Cable Company to look at service department and schedule work
Locate area in telephone closet to terminate cable runs and place equipment
Move desks away from walls
Clean up service department administration area
Meet Cable Company then sign off on cable company installation
File cable run certifications in file room

Initiative 3 – Install combination firewall / router / switch into telephone closet

Tactical plan

One
Two
Three
Etc

Etc, until your initiatives and deployment plans are completed

Identify and commit the resources dedicated to the initiative, set a time and sequence for each initiative. Then you are on your way. Your “Planning Document” should now be off to a great start.

Continue to brainstorm questions and answers and note them in your planning document as you progress this Guide to Business Computer Systems and other internet sources you may come across. In a short time, you will have a document that will form the basis of positive changes to your business computing structure.

Your design can be as simple as following the user guide that you will learn about in the next section or as complex as you cannot possible imagine.

The important thing is to be straight about when you know you are over your head and need additional learning or outside assistance. When you have completed the majority of your planning document, you will have a sense of whether or not you can complete the task yourself or how much of it you can complete without help.

Thanks for reading. Next time, I will discuss networks and the Internet.

Business Computer Systems Guide – Part 4

Business Systems Guide

Network and Internet

I mentioned in my last post, Business Computer Systems Guide – Part 3, that the important thing is to be straight about when you know you are over your head and need additional learning or outside assistance.

At this point, you should have completed the majority of your planning document. The next several sections will help you gain the sense of whether or not you can complete the tasks, each tactical plan, yourself or how much of it you can complete without help.

This section “Network and Internet” is two unique interdependent functional hardware related areas. “Network” is simply the means and mechanisms connecting all of your computers, printers and computing devices together. “Internet” in the manner that your “Network” makes its single connection through to the Internet. These two “infrastructure” items will not change much after they are designed and installed.

Both the “Network” and the “Internet” connection must be driven by software concerns. The more complex your computing needs become, the more serious consideration needs to be explored considering network software configurations.

However, we will start with the basics.

Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems, Inc., is the recognized global leader in VOIP, Wireless and Ethernet networking for home, SOHO (Small Office, Home Office) and small business users. Based in Irvine, California, Linksys specializes in products and solutions that provide effortless and economical sharing of broadband Internet connections, files, printers, digital music, videos, photos and gaming over a wired or wireless network. These reliable, easy-to-use, world-class products are backed with award-winning technical support, setting the standard for excellence in the consumer and small business.

Open any networking product from Linksys, or any other home or small business router manufacturer and you will most likely find a very comprehensive set of instructions that you can use to build your own network. You can learn most anything you need to know about setting up a small business network from reading this set of instructions. You don’t need to own a Linksys device to access the user guide at the Linksys website. Download a copy and check it out.

For the most part, you can just plug and play most consumer routers. They arrive pre configured to work out of the box. Although the default settings might get you started, they are not the optimal way to configure a network. Don’t forget to configure security for your wireless functionality or you will have a parking lot full of teenagers with laptops surfing the Internet on your network.

The least expensive firewall/router generally has a built in 10/100 MB switch with five ports. Additional switch ports can be added by cable; however, if your business heavily depends on the Internet for applications and credit card transactions, consider a more expensive commercial firewall with more capacity and features. The least expensive devices are good for email and Web surfing, but not much else.

Although wireless is nice, you will need wires to gain the network speed that modern applications need to work correctly, Modern desktop and laptop computers come with gigabit network functionality built in to the systems. Why mess with a 54-megabit wireless connection when you can have a wired 100-megabit or a gigabit connection.

Optionally, you might hire a local wiring company to wire your office and locate an out of the way closet or shelf where all of your wiring can terminate and you can place your network router and additional switch or switches, as well as a small business server or servers. All of your office wiring will originate from nice wall plates and there will not be cables hanging in your flowerpots and stuck under carpets, a much safer environment for your office staff.

Purchase computers, printers and scanners, plug them in to the network, and turn them on and, wala! You are networking and surfing the Internet. You should now have something that maps like this:

When you want to learn more (you don’t really need to), go to The Computer Technology Documentation Project located at http://www.comptechdoc.org/. This site has some of the best technical networking content on the Web. Or, you might want to try Cisco’s Documentation site located at http://www.cisco.com

At this point, it is very appropriate to mention money. Because Network and Internet infrastructure items will not change much after they are designed and installed, they demand serious budget priority. If corners are cut with Network and Internet infrastructure, your entire computing environment can be problematic, difficult to diagnose, troubleshoot and repair.

You might want to consider whether or not you want a $50 consumer wireless router controlling your network. If it breaks, your entire network will fail. Consequently, you should consider a commercial grade device and preemptive network design. A correctly constructed, configured and monitored network infrastructure will provide years of trouble free operation for you.

Business Computer Systems Guide – Part 5

Business Systems Guide

Messaging, Email and the Web

I mentioned in my last post, Business Computer Systems Guide – Part 4, that a correctly constructed, configured and monitored network infrastructure will provide years of trouble free operation for you.

Once you have accomplished the network infrastructure task, it is time to consider your primary business facilitator, communications. Where would we be without Email and websites? (I removed my answer to this during the last rewrite. So, I will let you be the judge.)

Since my high school days, the way that I get things done is to have a list. I started with a spiral bound notebook, degenerated to post it notes all over the dashboard of my pickup, then returned to the notebook, a “Day Timer” I believe. Then along comes EMAIL; the ultimate list of everyone telling me what to do next. Except, I discovered that by using email, I could also tell everyone what he or she needed to do for me next, instead!

Then, I discovered COLLABORATION! Now, we can all actually work together. So, there you have it, the foundations to understand modern MESSAGING, email communications and collaboration. We have successfully compressed time and space by using collaborative messaging both at our local workplaces and across the WEB! What a world we now live in! We can spend 24 hours a day and 7 days a week working.

MESSAGING, EMAIL and WEB access are the most mission critical process we have for modern business to stay competitive and be successful. Only a few short years ago, business could get by with private networks and not be concerned with the Internet. That is no longer the case. More transactions are conducted across the Internet than are conducted using the telephone. Business can no longer afford to have third rate messaging, email or Internet communications access.

As an astute businessperson, you can leverage the systems lessons learned by Fortune 500 companies and other large corporations, because you now have access to vast amounts of systems information on the WEB. But, information overload can come quickly and you can become quite confused about your options.

So, I would advise you to remember these significant points from my business systems model:

1 – Get the notion of building and managing in-house EMAIL and MESSAGING systems out of your mind. When was the last time you constructed a car to drive around town? Probably, High School was your time to experiment and play with cars. You cannot afford to experiment and play with EMAIL and MESSAGING systems.

2 – Websites are for business. Internet access is for business. Take a business perspective to considerations relating to the WEB. Just as you would build a fence around your place of business and the property you are trying to protect, place security perimeters around everything concerning the WEB.

It is not important to plan the details and different flavors of EMAIL and MESSAGING, or discuss the fine points of Go Daddy’s Web Hosting and Email program. Your plan should coalesce around the two important issues noted above, email communications and collaboration and the fact that communications is the most mission critical component of your business.

Carefully consider messaging workflow within your organization and the allocation of resources, both in human capital and dollars, which you are willing to dedicate to EMAIL and MESSAGING systems during your planning process.

Ask yourself the difficult questions. Answers to questions like, “Is messaging important to my point of sales processes?” and “Is a Website necessary to provide product support to my customers?” will help to bring clarity to your plan.

Business Computer Systems Guide – Part 6

Business Systems Guide

Application, File Structure and Backup

I mentioned in my last post, Business Computer Systems Guide – Part 5, that an astute businessperson must carefully consider messaging work-flow within the organization and the allocation of resources, both in human capital and dollars, which you are willing to dedicate to messaging work-flow, EMAIL and MESSAGING systems during your planning process.

Substantial budget and human resources need to be dedicated to communications, as well as applications, file structure and backup methodologies.

Application, file structure and backup are three unique items. Your plan needs to address each unique item in its own section based a specific initiative. Define the initiative first in terms of a business process, for example: “The Use of Instant Messaging Between Employees, Customers and Vendors”. Then, develop your plan around three areas:

1 – Make the business case for the initiative – state emphatically YES or NO and the associated company policies and procedures for use. “Instant Messaging will speed the sales closing process, increasing gross numbers of sales and gross profits on each sales transaction, so YES, I will deploy Instant Messaging. It will be used for business internal sales processes only. However, NO, I will not deploy Instant Messaging for Employees, Customers or Vendors outside of internal sales processes. All employees are forbidden to use Instant Messaging to communicate with other Employees, Customers or Vendors, except for the previously detailed internal sales process.”

2 – Define the scope of the initiative – “I will deploy instant messaging to Sales Managers, Sales Account Reps and Sales Support people only. I will train two HR people to administer Instant Messaging as part of their work tasks.”

3 – Commit the resources dedicated to the initiative – “I will spend $22 per user per month and dedicate 20 man hours administration time per month. I will spend no more than $12000 for up front deployment costs.”

Applications may reside is several places, although they are all rendered and interacted with on your PC. An application can reside on a local pc, a local in house server or on an application service provider’s servers. The location the application resides, defines the “network architecture” needed for the application to run correctly. Check out this article explaining hosted applications (the ones on application service provider’s servers).

Now that you’ve read the article, let me setup another example for a plan.

Say you have decided that you need to consider your sales peoples’ favorite sales application as part of your suite of applications to do your business. Two of your sales people have the application, Goldmine, on their laptop. So, your decision is to deploy Goldmine in your business. In the course of discussing Goldmine, you decide to use the management functionality, including a shared database of customers and prospects. Your business driven decision has just designed your technology architecture.

Deploying Goldmine in the manner you chose requires a Goldmine shared server version that runs only in a local network environment. Therefore, you will need to design a local network and server based on Goldmine sizing guidelines. Although this sounds somewhat complicated, most of the information you need, will be found in the first chapter of the Goldmine user manual.

In the article, you read about salesforce.com, currently the rave of sales and marketing companies. Your decision to deploy Goldmine ruled out salesforce.com or any other “hosted” application, as well as any of the benefits of a hosted application. However, the business driven benefits of deploying Goldmine outweigh any other benefits. You just need to get the Goldmine infrastructure guidelines correct and understand your costs.

The good news is that most of your off the shelf business applications that have been around for awhile, work much the same way. Narrow your list of applications down and do the research. Most of the manuals can be downloaded from the suppliers Websites.

In this example, your resources for Goldmine include the local network (cabling and switching), the local server to host the Goldmine application, the backup strategy to protect your database as it grows, your server environment, (cool air, conditioned and continual power), the installation and maintenance of the Goldmine application on the server, the customizations to get Goldmine and your accounting system to communicate with each other, the installation and configuration of Goldmine on the sales person’s laptop, training for your sales people so that they can use Goldmine, support for your sales people when they forget how to do something in Goldmine or when Goldmine breaks, Goldmine license management and Goldmine integrated documents. All of these items should be accounted for in your plan as well as when you consider your application choices.

File structure refers to the locations, types, versions and related policies concerning your business critical data. Files are similar to applications in the sense that they can reside most anywhere. I maintain some files within my Web mail account file storage area so that I can access them from wherever I am, providing I have Internet access. Recently I replaced a desktop computer for a teacher. Like most new desktop computers, there was no 3.5-inch drive for the old style 3.5-inch floppy disks. Much to her dismay, she stored all of her files on 3.5-inch disks. Our church office has a server with an automatically backed up “shared folder” for everyone to use for files. In spite of the folder, everyone keeps files strewn all over their own desktop computers.

File access, storage, versions and backup is a critical area for a business person to get their mind around. Not having a clear plan in this area can cost you your business. If you don’t know what file access, storage, versions and backup means, hire someone you trust that does know, NOW.

One can make a lot of headway towards personal backup by following these simple steps:

1 – Keep all of the files that are important to you in your “My Documents” folder, including any application data files, word processing documents. spreadsheets and other important files such as a personal information manager data file or your Outlook “pst” file.

2 – Purchase, download and install reliable CD burning software or utilize software built into your computer.

3 – If you don’t have a CD Burner in your computer, buy a USB CD Burner and install it on your computer.

4 – Read the CD burning instructions, and then copy your “My Documents” folder to a CD, at a convenient time every day.

5 – After you burn the CD each day, remove it from your computer and place a new CD in the CD Burner.

6 – Place the backup CD copy in the glove box of your car as soon as you can. Keep two or three CDs in the car and shred the older backup CDs.

If you don’t want to go to the trouble to go through the steps above, purchase Mozy Unlimited Backup for $4.95 a Month! Mozy is a simple and safe way to back up all the important stuff on your computer. A copy of your data is stored in a secure, remote location for safekeeping, so that in the event of disaster your data is still retrievable.

The application or application vendor generally defines the process for specific applications backup. QuickBooks’ process is built into the QuickBooks application. Several options are available including an online service offering by QuickBooks. Read the instructions or consult with the vendor to understand your applications’ backup methodologies.

Are you thinking Application, File and Backup just got complicated? I don’t know of anything worthwhile that is not complicated. So, I want to make a point about intellectual capital. Application, File and Backup requires specific knowledge of your business, your processes and systems understanding. Your information technology people resources, whether they be “IT People” or sharp sales, marketing or administrative people are your intellectual capital. Sharing knowledge of Application, File and Backup is a specific area where they can return value to your operation.

Isolation cannot be an option here. Your “IT People” need to be square in the middle of your business operations. Several years ago, these resources were called “Super Users”. However, it does not matter what you call them. Your technology savy people know the location of your business critical applications, files and whatever backup or lack of backup stratigy you might have. They are the roadmap to your data resources. Document their knowledge then place them in positions to lift the knowledge and skills of everyone around them.

Business Computer Systems Guide – Part 7

Business Systems Guide

I mentioned in my last post, Business Computer Systems Guide – Part 6, that Application, File and Backup issues are somewhat complicated, but that your technology savvy employees need to be square in the middle of your business operations to help facilitate your decisions. They can lift the knowledge and skills of everyone around them.

You will most certainly need them to help with the most effective plan to deal with printing, scanning and faxing. In the past, printing, scanning and faxing would have been three distinct topics each with unique hardware. Best practice was to keep all three apart. Network printing and modern advances in multi function machines coupled with fax and email integration changed the landscape.

It is now possible to go to one of your local discount merchants and procure a name brand multi function color printer, scanner and fax device for well under $100. For not much more than that, one can get an incredible network multi function machine. Setup is as easy as plug and play with the installation and configuration CD that comes with the device.

Now there’s a better way to fax. eFax makes it possible to use your existing email account to send and receive faxes. You can try eFax free or for a reasonable monthly charge, you can do some serious faxing from your laptop!

As easy as all this sounds, you need to be more careful that ever to fit your printing, scanning and faxing needs into your systems plan and emphatically deploy and enforce your plan. Don’t get me wrong here, the scenario above might make a good default position; however, careful planning will save you much money in the long run. The most likely position combines both good planning and inexpensive off the shelf equipment.

The best example of this would be the doctor’s office scenario. A typical doctor’s office can make a strong business case for scanning plastic insurance cards for each patient that comes to the office. That single requirement defines a duplex color scanner that will take a plastic card from the top and discharge it through the bottom. There is a good chance that you will not find that particular scanner at your local discount retail store. The scanner you might find there will give you all kinds of problems with plastic cards, thus, impacting the productivity of your office staff.

So, once more I must refer to our three planning guidelines:

1 – Make the business case for the initiative – state emphatically YES or NO and the associated company policies and procedures for use – For example, you might see these statements about a doctor’s office scanning deployment. “Scanning insurance cards will increase the productivity of our office staff, so YES I will deploy desktop severe service scanners for the sole purpose of scanning insurance cards. Only insurance cards will be scanned by office staff using our desktop scanners.”

2 – Define the scope of the initiative – “I will deploy one severe service desktop scanner per staff member computer workstation. I will train each staff member to use their scanner for insurance card scanning only.”

3 – Commit the resources dedicated to the initiative – “I will spend $250 per staff member workstation to install sever service desktop scanners. I will spend a total of $500 for one day of on site training of all staff members.”

In the example of the doctor’s office, the plan articulates a clear vision about scanning insurance cards, without impacting other potential scanning initiatives. The insurance cards will get scanned!

So, review your printing, scanning and faxing needs carefully, breaking the needs into definable, deployable initiatives. If you find yourself using inexpensive off the shelf components, stick with one brand and try to get as much warranty as possible. Then replacement or repair becomes much less of a chore.

If you find that your printing, scanning and faxing initiatives require expensive value added reseller equipment, negotiate favorable long term hardware support and service contracts, including hot spares to prevent the impact of broken equipment and subsequent down time.

No matter what equipment your initiatives require, think about two issues.

1 – Do I have two similar pieces of hardware in place in the event one breaks?

2 – Can I live with stopped production if I have only one piece of equipment in place?

I’ve seen small offices completely without any printing capability because the office depended on a multi function copier – printer and the device was out of service for several days. Play your plan smart and you will never face that problem.

Business Computer Systems Guide – Part 8

Business Systems Guide

I mentioned in my last post, Business Computer Systems Guide – Part 7, that you must play your plan smart so that you will never face the problem of extensive down time related to printing, scanning and faxing. The options available for printing, scanning and faxing are only surpassed by desktop and laptop computers.

Today’s desktop and laptop computers present a particular problem for business people for many reasons. Considerations about them must be made from a business perspective. The range of computers offered to the general public provides a paradox for the average businessperson. Computer advertisements educate buyers about specifications and low price, leaving a businessperson to assume that a popular “on sale” computer fills the business role well or to try to locate additional information about business computers. The additional information remains illusive to this day and creates opportunity for value added resellers or your local computer guy to sell you a high priced computer, as well as the services to go with it.

Business and consumer computers are different. Consumer computers are optimized towards price and are generally sub standard mechanically. Business computers are optimized towards longevity and manageability. Your job as a businessperson requires you to procure high quality business computers and to prevent your computer users from trying to convert your business computers to consumer computers. Deployment of desktop and laptop computers in your business provides the best opportunity to take advantage of the big guys like Dell, Lenovo, HP and Gateway.

Using tier one business computers and pro actively managing your computer fleet will save you substantial money. But, primarily you save soft money, a difficult variable to measure. Think about managed computers in terms of employees working 100% of their time, without break fix down time, without interruptions, without the effect that games and other consumer software have on your operation; every invoice and contract prints correctly, every report works as designed, every shared task list functions as advertised! Wow, sounds like a well-structured business.

Review the Websites of the tier one computer companies carefully. Typically, they draw a strong distinction between consumer and business product. Look for differences like heavier overall desktop weight, a higher wattage power supply, two to four times more memory, longer standard warranty and yes, a higher price. Hardware pricing gets lower every year. The current commercial desktop computer CPU price point of $800 was $1200 a few short years ago. A business laptop dropped from $2200 to $1600. The change affords you substantial opportunity. But without good planning, your opportunity will evaporate and cost you much more than you expect.

When you think about a computer workstation for yourself or an employee, trust me, follow this “Do you need a laptop or a desktop?” rule to the letter and you will save yourself thousands of dollars. Evaluate each specific need for a workstation by considering these three things.

1 – If you don’t absolutely need a laptop, don’t buy one. Buy and use a desktop computer.

2 – If you think you need a laptop, use a desktop as your primary computer.

3 – If you absolutely cannot live without a laptop and only a laptop, do everything perfectly; especially your backup, because you will need it.

Regardless of your choice, desktop or laptop, the big guys like Dell, Lenovo, HP and Gateway offer additional free inventory control, asset management and support, more help than you can imagine. Their respective Web sites are crammed with these free value added services. I have personally used all of them and they all seem to improve daily. Most of the hardware issues are resolved within the Web based trouble ticket systems. When a dispatch becomes necessary, the resulting service calls are usually handled quickly and professionally.

The free stuff system works best when warranty, extended warranty and service contracts are thoughtfully considered during procurement of high quality business computers. Plan a replacement cycle that fits you best. If you choose a four-year cycle, purchase warranty, extended warranty and service contracts to cover the entire four years. After the cycle time expires, sell the computer, trade the computer back, give it away or throw it away.

When a computer leaves your possession, make sure that the internal hard drive is removed and destroyed or at least the data on the drive is formally shredded with special software. Boat anchors with your business data on them are a huge liability.

A discussion about desktop and laptop computers would not be complete without a word about applications and other computer stuff that is not free. The paid for stuff requires the most critical consideration. Pro-active firmware, operating system and applications updates maintain internal stability of functionality and use.

Computer security software subscriptions and computer monitoring prevent loss of stability from external forces and hardware failures. Applications (example QuickBooks, Goldmine and thousands of others) require license and support fees. Computer security software subscriptions and computer monitoring solutions require monthly fees. Running your operation without these paid for services invites sure disaster.

Please don’t become the business that trys to run its operation with single copy software installations on multiple computers or “free” home user licensed security software on your business laptops. You will pay a hefty price for cutting corners. Well designed computing is affordable, adds measurable value to your business, increases productivity and decreases headaches.