5 May

IT improving

Uncategorized
The world of information technology is accelerating forward at an extremely fast pace. Not only are business applications becoming more and more applicable to any budget and industry, but they are also becoming less expensive. As more businesses expressed their need for IT business services, that volume allows companies to charge much less for the same service as the fixed cost per customer of providing IT support goes down.Information technology is also becoming an absolute necessity for businesses looking to sustain and improve their market share going forward into the next decade. The new consumer audience is heading full speed towards the mobile platform, and they are not looking back. Traditional forms of advertising are becoming less and less effective on these new groups of consumers, and any business that has not solidified themselves online will find themselves at a great disadvantage going forward.
As a business exposes itself to the online environment, reputation management and technical protection techniques become absolutely essential to protect the proprietary information of the business. Hackers and malicious entities online are always one step ahead of legislators and governmental entities when it comes to public protection of the private sector. Each and every business has a responsibility to itself for its own protection.
This is where IT has been able to improve the most – not only in protection of the proprietary information of an exposed company, but in efficiency as well. The only reason that many businesses go online is because of the increased efficiency that is promised by resources like cloud server access and crowd sourcing potential. These advancements are more than worth the managed risk of exposure to malicious elements online.
Depending on the needs of a particular company, there are many different sorts of IT solutions that can be applied to improve the efficiency of a business. These improvements can be made in anything from inventory management to goodwill and reputation management. Automating many of the processes that normally require more time and manpower than most small businesses have is freeing up the employees of many businesses to specialize and become much more efficient in their daily work.
Consolidating IT support also works wonders for controlling negative events. When the processes for IT support are centralized, problems can be much more easily controlled and fixed. A business owner will not have to waste time on the phone for hours with a individual from the IT company. They will be able to see any problems that are happening within their network and fix them before the business ever find out that it was a problem.
Getting on the IT grid is especially important for small businesses who are looking to make a name for themselves in the new decade. It is essential to choose a reputable IT company from the very beginning of business practice so that a company will not have to waste time backtracking if something goes wrong later on in the process of building an online reputation.
1 May

Server monitoring

Uncategorized

There are very few businesses that can succeed without using computers and network technology. Since most business computers are now sharing files and databases, many companies are using servers to streamline this process. However, businesses cannot simply set up a server and have it continue to function properly. Server monitoring is critical to ensure that databases and programs function smoothly, file sharing works seamlessly and that hackers and social engineers are prevented from accessing networks.

Many business networks use servers to share databases to multiple computers on a network, allowing them to access programs and files at the same time. To ensure that these connections work properly and do not time out, server monitoring needs to ensure that connections are consistent and speedy. If servers begin to develop lag issues, employees may find that programs do not work or that it takes extended periods of time to complete tasks.Networks and servers need to have built in error correction to automatically resolve as many issues as possible. When automatic error correction fails, it is important that as soon as an unrecoverable error is encountered that the issue is reported to technicians that can resolve the problem quickly. Even small errors can lead to larger issues that can cause a major loss of productivity.
In addition to ensuring that server connections run without a hitch, server monitoring also needs to protect networks and computer systems from hackers and social engineers. Most of the data stored on business servers include sensitive information like employee records, financial data and customer account histories. Therefore, it is critical that server monitoring safeguards these files from intruders.
While server monitoring can keep hackers out through firewalls and security software, keeping social engineers out is actually a bit trickier. Both hackers and social engineers attempt to gain access to restricted files and information, but the way they go about doing so is different. While hackers will use brute force attacks or look for security vulnerabilities, social engineers attempt to draw information out of unsuspecting employees.
For example, a social engineer may discover what server monitoring system a company uses. With this information they may call or email an employee and, acting as a representative of the monitoring software company, ask questions that can lead them to being given credentials to log into a server. There is no way for a security system to prevent this access because social engineers are using allowed methods of access.
To prevent social engineers from gaining access to a server or network, employees need to be appraised of the tactics that are used and be advised that they should never disclose any network or computing information. This is the simplest and most effective way to keep these intruders from gaining access to computer systems.
Server monitoring can ensure that a company’s files, programs and computers run smoothly and without interruption from hardware or software issues.

When it comes to online marketing, building a list of subscribers is often considered priority one. By building an audience of potential clients who have given you permission to follow up with them in the future, you can capture the attention of visitors to your site that are interested in your services but not quite ready to commit. Autoresponders like MailChimp manage all of the heavy lifting at every stage of managing your list from capturing microconversions on your site to following up with high quality and engaging newsletters.
Creating professional looking email campaigns is a snap with MailChimp thanks to their collection of sharply designed templates that allow users to customise their newsletters to their liking using a very intuitive interface. Unlike some newsletter platforms, MailChimp also makes it incredibly easy to import subscribers straight from other software programs like Salesforce and Highrise, which can be a huge time saver for organisations with a lot of subscribers.
MailChimp is also known for providing users with some excellent analytical tools for tracking the metrics of your campaign and ensuring that you are getting the type of return on your investment that you had hoped for. Their tools will allow you to track how many of your subscribers are opening your newsletters, which links they are clicking on and whether they are forwarding your messages on to their friends and colleagues. There’s even an option for seeing how your stats match up with other users’ campaigns so that you can see how well you are doing against the competition.
The one area where MailChimp receives some low marks is its customer service department. Although they provide support via email and live chat during regular business hours, some users have reported that their technicians are not as knowledgeable of their product as they should be. They have also received criticism for their reluctance to help with technical problems, including ones that are caused by MailChimp rather than their users.
If you are managing a relatively small list of subscribers, you can take MailChimp for a test drive for free of charge with up to six newsletter campaigns per month. MailChimp is perfectly affordable for medium-sized lists as well with a monthly plan that starts at $10 and allows users to manage up to 500 subscribers with unlimited newsletters. Pay-as-you-go plans are also available, and MailChimp will even reimburse you for any unused funds if you decide to go elsewhere.
In closing, MailChimp is generally considered to be one of the best email marketing providers in the industry with a robust set of features for creating and managing effective newsletter campaigns. Although their pricing is very competitive, customers should understand going in that they may need to sort out some technical issues for themselves due to some customer support issues. All in all, however, they have an excellent product that should serve the needs of most businesses without any problems.