A Quick Response code or QR code is a two dimensional scannable bar code that stores a tremendous amount of information and which is being used by businesses across the world for a variety of purposes. In the past decade, QR codes have become mainstream in the fields of advertising of merchandising. Functionally QR codes link together real world objects (such as a product or advertisement) to the virtual world connections (such as a URL, a network connection, or an image). By using QR codes a business can really diversify and ramp up marketing and tracking campaigns.
QR codes are often used by businesses as a way of tracking data or setting up a ticketing system that can be easily counted using scanners. QR codes are designed to work across computing platforms and the iPhone, iPad, Android phones, windows phones, and blackberries all have a variety of scanning applications.
As an advertiser one of the best ways of using a QR code is to connect it to a website or to a video. For example, a concert promoter might put a QR code on all of his posters around town. When an interested party scans the code, the person will automatically be lead to a video on her phone. After the video is done, a form might pop up asking the interested customer to type in their name and email address to be entered into a free drawing or contest. QR codes can also be pushed from devices via social media.
Another example might be a restaurant that takes out print advertising. The restaurant can extend its reach electronically by allowing interested potential customers to view a menu or by offering a coupon for a weekly special. There are many other uses of QR codes in many industries; for example in the banking sector QR codes are being used for identity verification.
Planning an effective QR code campaign takes some work. Because consumers tend to have a short attention span, whatever the QR code’s final destination ends up being must be designed to quickly capture interest and information. Experts in QR marketing can assist you with setting up your campaign.

18 August

Remote Support

Uncategorized

When someone runs a business, it is important that they have the ability to resolve computer and network issues as quickly as possible. However, many companies are not able to afford an on site tech support team. To ensure that IT issues do not derail a business, many companies have started using remote IT support services. These services allow a tech support agent to log into computers and networks remotely to resolve technical issues.

There are a variety of reasons that a company would want to take advantage of a remote support services, including: speed of resolution, low cost and the variety of expertise available. However, any company that uses these solutions should be sure to safeguard against the possibility of social engineers gaining access to business networks. Still, companies that are proactive can greatly reduce or eliminate the risk of unwanted people gaining access.For companies that use outsourced tech support, if they do not allow remote access to networks and computers, these companies have to wait until a tech support team arrives on site to resolve an issue. Waiting for an IT resolution team to arrive can take hours, which is an incredible amount of downtime for a business. However, remote IT services can log into a computer or network within minutes. Additionally, most remote support services are far less expensive than using IT services that require technicians to be on site. This is because remote services do not need to charge companies for travel time and cost of maintaining a fleet of vehicles.
Another advantage that remote IT services have over even in house tech support staff is the variety of expertise that is available to companies that use them. Remote services usually employ staff that are versed in repairing networks, computers, backup drives and many other devices. This means that no matter what issues a company runs into, remote support services will be likely to have someone who can resolve the problem.
While there are a lot of advantages to companies that use remote technical support services, there are some issues that are associated with using them. To begin with, remote support means that companies are allowing access to their computers and networks. It is important that only tech support teams be allowed entry through these channels. This is easily remedied by only turning on remote access when support is needed and requiring user names and passwords for access.
However, that does not eliminate concerns regarding social engineering. Social engineers gain access to networks and computers by gathering information from unsuspecting employees instead of hacking. To ensure that employees do not accidentally open the door for social engineers, companies need to make staff aware of the dangers of giving away this kind of information. Employees should understand that remote IT services will already have the information and credentials they need for access.
Using remote IT support is a great way for companies to save money and time, and as long as they are proactive, businesses can be sure that their networks and data are safe.

While the concept of highly available large scale computing systems is not new, powerful procesors, increased drive space, and the ability to easily virtualize computers has lead to a recent explosion of “cloud” computing offerings and services. As the popularity of cloud computing grows more and more software, computes, and data are being housed and maintained at data centers and delivered to end users via an internet connection.
As a potential cloud services customer it is important to evaluate the myriad of vendors and products. And not all clouds are created equal. A “true” cloud service is highly available, highly scalable, and highly redundant. While there providers who host applications which claim to be running “cloud” services all over the world wide web it is critical for the customer to distinguish who the right provider is for his/her needs.
Basically cloud services are services which are there when you need them, which can be turned up or down with ease, and which are located in a space that has provisions in the event of an internet or electricity outage. As a potential cloud customer its important to ask your IT provider key questions, after all its your data and business applications that make your business work.
Customers should asses where the data center is that is running these services? Does the data center have redundant air conditioning, internet, back up batteries, security, and fire suppression? Customers should determine if the applications they are running are working on a “cluster” of computers rather than on one virtual machine. And customers should determine what the fail over plan is should an internet connection go down, a computer fail, or a drive die.
Finally customers need to determine if the services that they are requesting are high quality services. Cloud computing doesn’t address the need for quality software; however, poorly designed software is likely to have its problems magnified in the cloud. Some typical Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings are email, collaboration, calendaring, file sharing, and video conferencing. Look for providers that have experience managing applications in a cloud environment and make sure that your provider offers excellent customer service. After all, without a human being to pick up the phone, an outage is nothing short of a nightmare.
While moving to the cloud can seem scary at first, the reality is that as consumers of smart phone, tablets, and web sites most people are already using cloud services on a regular basis. Because the concept of cloud computing has existed for a long time, as a potential customer you can feel confident in many of the newer, more recent enterprise products and solutions. Your Managed Services Provider can offer you some key advice about how to evaluate services and chose the solutions that best suit your needs.