Much has recently been made of the increasing need SMBs have for mobile systems and services. However, some statistics from a new study by business communications provider Fonality make it clear that SMB’s need for mobility is even more pressing than the pundits are saying. We don’t want to put too much weight in a vendor-produced survey, but it still presents a powerful argument for MSPs to focus even more on mobility, branch office and home office support.
This article’s headline is not a typo. The study finds that a full 50% of workers at SMBs employing 10-250 people work outside the primary office, with a quarter of SMB staff out and about at any given time. So if an SMB has 250 employees, about 125 of them will need reliable mobile access to corporate systems part or all of the time.
Save Your SMB Clients $10K per Mobile Employee&l
And lack of this access is hurting SMBs. The study finds that productivity loss is up to six hours per week of wasted time per mobile SMB employee. By providing the same business communications experience inside and outside the office, Fonality says an average firm consisting of 137 employees with 67 mobile workers can recoup up to $700,000 annually in measurable staff productivity gains, or more than $10,000 per mobile employee. Those figures make for a pretty persuasive sales pitch.
Four in 10 SMBs Plan Mobile/Cloud Deployments
In many cases, the study finds your sales pitch has already been done for you. More than four in 10 (43%) SMBs plan to deploy cloud-based or hosted mobile solutions to improve delivery to employees. Almost every one of them will need help from an MSP in implementing, integrating and managing these systems.
SMBs Look to Tablet, UC Capabilities
It is also worth noting the study predicts that tablet computers will become the standard SMB mobile device in 18 month, so don’t focus all your mobile services efforts on smartphones. Additional details from the report revealed that real-time presence as well as corporate directory and calendar access are favored Unified Communications (UC) capabilities; contact center functionality, including customer escalation, skills-based routing and queue management are an increasingly high priority; and Wi-Fi connectivity is a preferred method to preserve mobile plan minutes.
This is pretty powerful data, though it’s important to note that Fonality promotes a mobile unified communications solution for small business customers. Four in 10 SMBs are planning their mobile transition, and the rest will surely be interested to hear about possible savings of $10,000 per mobile employee. Are you convinced that getting seriously involved in managed mobile services is a good idea yet?
Source : mspmentor.net
Texh Support Opportunity
Solyndra failure threatens DOE’s clean-tech support
The collapse of solar panel manufacturer Solyndra has raised serious doubts about the legitimacy of the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) process for evaluating loan guarantees and its ability to successfully spend the remaining $10 billion earmarked to support clean technologies, observers said.
Fremont, California-based Solyndra, which designs and manufactures solar photovoltaic systems, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on 6 September after failing to secure additional funds from the private sector to continue operations. Two days later, the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the company’s headquarters and the homes of several Solyndra executives, for reasons as yet undisclosed.
In 2009, the DOE offered Solyndra the first loan guarantee for a renewable energy project, valued at $535 million, to cover debt financing for about 73% of the cost of building a solar panel fabrication facility in California.
In late 2010, Solyndra asked the department to increase its loan commitment because it was unsuccessful in its efforts to raise additional equity. The DOE refused and Solyndra sought a new $75 million emergency loan from its current equity investors. In order to avoid an imminent default by Solyndra, the department agreed in February to restructure its loan guarantee to give the investors repayment priority over the DOE.
Republicans slam Solyndra loan guarantee
In a contentious Congressional hearing on Wednesday, Republicans in the House of Representatives argued that the department erred in giving up the government’s primary recovery position, contrary to the plain language of the statute authorising the programme, which requires the DOE’s financial commitment not to be subordinate to any other funding sources.
Jonathan Silver, executive director of the Loan Programs Office, testified that DOE’s legal counsel signed off on the decision to restructure the loan guarantee.
“You didn’t have a very good lawyer and I think you got bad advice,” replied Stephen Scalise (R-Louisiana).
Several Republican members said the review process for the Solyndra loan was rushed due to White House pressure to promote its economic stimulus package. They also implied that the loan itself was made for political reasons, namely a financial contribution to President Barack Obama by George Kaiser, one of the company’s primary backers, which Silver denied.
US solar market flooded with Chinese imports, say Democrats
House Democrats and Silver blamed market conditions for Solyndra’s collapse, specifically the influx of Chinese-made solar products that has depressed cell prices by about 42% in the first eight months of 2011, Silver stated.
China has been the most aggressive country in supporting its clean-tech sector, providing more than $30 billion in credit to the country’s largest solar manufacturers through the government controlled China Development Bank, 20 times larger than the US investment, Silver said.
But several legislators also expressed concern that they were misled in July by Solyndra officials, who claimed the company was in a good financial position and would double its revenues this year. Solyndra’s chief executive officer and chief financial officer are scheduled to testify before Congress next week.
“I have no reason sitting here today to believe we were misled,” Silver said.
The DOE’s Section 1705 loan guarantee programme is set to expire on 30 September and staffers are working to complete all conditional commitments prior to the deadline. As of 12 September, 18 loan guarantees with a total value of about $8 billion have closed and another 18 projects have received conditional commitments totalling more than $10 billion.
“If the administration was so wrong about Solyndra after nine months of due diligence, how can it possibly exercise the proper controls when doling out $10 billion dollars in a matter of weeks?” asked Fred Upton (R-Michigan), chairman of the House energy and commerce committee.
Resource : environmental-finance
How to Use Add ons for Firefox?
Have you just started using Mozilla Firefox? Have you explored the special tools available for Firefox users? Mozilla Firefox has a large set of versatile tools called Add-ons, or Extensions. They allow you to personalize Firefox to suit your tastes and browsing habits.You can block many ad images and banners with Adblock Plus. Cool Iris lets you temporarily open a small browser window to explore another link while staying on the same page. eQuake Alert will keep you informed of earthquake details from all over the world. There is a Yahoo Toolbar designed specifically to help you get the best use out of Firefox and Yahoo.There are weather add-ons, dictionary add-ons, graphics add-ons, all kinds toys and games and tools to customize your browsing experience.
* 1 Open Firefox. Click on Tools, then click on Add-ons. This will open a small window in the corner of your browser. The bottom right corner has a blue link, "Get Extensions." Click on it. This will open up a new web page with links to lots of extensions. Look around at what's available and what sounds interesting to you.
* 2 Click on one of the extensions and you will get a button that says "Add to Firefox." Go ahead and click on it. This will open up a box to verify that you want to install this add-on. Click on "Install Now." Most add-ons will then ask you if you want to complete the installation by restarting Firefox now. Either do that, or close the window and your extensions will be finished installing the next time you close and reopen Firefox.
* 3 Find Cool Iris in the list of extensions. Cool Iris is a great add-on for checking out links without opening them in new tabs or windows before you're sure you want to. Follow the instructions above to install it, including closing and restarting Firefox. Now, when you roll over a link, you will see a small blue magnifying glass. If you click on or stay on that blue icon, a separate small window will open to show you where that link would take you. Keep your cursor on the window and you can see the information. As soon as you move the cursor away from the window, it will close.
* 4 Decide if you want to keep using the add-ons. You can keep them, delete them or disable them. Click on the Add-ons menu entry and it will give you a list of all your installed Add-ons and their status. In that window, check the green symbol that says "Extensions." From there, you can enable, disable or uninstall any of them.
Read more: http://www.ehow.com/how_4432265_use-add-ons-firefox.html#ixzz1XG2Hz42J
Technical Support - Prevention is Better Than Cure
The best way to deal with the sloppy service you are bound to receive if you resort to a technical support phone call is to avoid that phone call altogether. The blunt truth is that technical support service, with unwilling companies and logistical hurdles galore, is not going to get better in the near future. Instead of leaving your computer system to the winds of fate and time, it is better and a lot easier to take matters into your own hands. Eventually, all computer software and hardware must be replaced but by taking care of your computer, you can reduce the chances of your computer system failing and increase its longevity. Taking care of computer is easy and cheap as most of the tools are available bundled with the operating system itself. Additional software that you might need is readily available free or very cheap online.
1. Always, always use an antivirus. Your computer, particularly if it is connected to the internet continuously through a broadband connection, is at risk of being infected by over one million malicious computer viruses. Computer viruses are essentially little bits of code that have found ways to get past or manipulate your computer security system. Once they are in your computer, they can wreck havoc. An antivirus is a must for any computer that is connected to the Internet. Even if the computer you use is rarely connected to the internet, it is at risk of being infected by flash-drives, floppies or practically any other external media. Free antivirus software is readily available online if you do not feel like shelling out money on one.
2. House-cleaning. Computers and humans and human life have a great deal in common. Because they were invented and designed by humans, they reflect a lot of human concepts. Computers, like homes, can become cluttered, particularly the hard-drives. Through intensive use, hard-drives will generally get fragmented, which means that a single file may be written across multiple locations on the disk. Although this poses no problem per se to the operation of the computer, it slows it down considerably as to read one file the hard disk must scan to several locations instead of being able to read in one line continuously. Regular defragmentation (the process of joining these fragments of data together on the disk) is a must. Defragmentation software exists natively on your operating system and need not be bought separately.
3. Backup. Never put all your eggs in one basket, someone said, and that principle holds all the more true in the cyber world. Always keep a backup of your important data in a separate location (i.e. on another computer or online; keeping a backup on the same computer is pointless). This way, in the event that your system goes through a catastrophic software crash, all you simply need to do is format (erase) the entire computer, reinstall the operating system and load your vital data back on. In many cases, a clean installation is a lot easier and takes less time than trying to diagnose the problem with a technical support staff.
Article Source: http://goo.gl/g9qn2
Find Free Business Software
Anyone trying to run a business knows the cost of software can be exorbitant. It doesn't have to be. Free business software is abundant on the Internet, if you know how and where to find it. Here are some steps to follow that will help you find the free business software you need.
Instructions
Evaluate your business software needs before beginning your search. The types of programs you are looking for will dictate your investigation.
Check that any free software program provides technical support via a toll-free number or online, features updates and offers the necessary tools to run the software.
Ensure any free business software is compatible with your operating system and other programs you are using before installing.
Visit websites, such as OpenOffice.org, for a free office suite program similar to Microsoft Office. This software offers word processing, spreadsheet and presentation capabilities and drawing functionality.
Look for free accounting/finance software at websites, such as FreewareHome.com. This site offers products ranging from beginner bookkeeping to budgeting for small and medium-sized businesses.
Search websites, such as cnet.com or freebyte.com, to download a wide range of free business software.
Read user reviews, computer magazines, consumer reports and vendor websites to learn about products you are interested in. Users offer hands-on evaluations and generally do not have product loyalty.
Read more: http://goo.gl/t3Cv7
Troubleshoot the Microsoft Access 2003 Software ?
Microsoft Access 2003 is a database management system that is a component of the Microsoft Office Professional 2003 application suite. There are several problems including opening and saving files, database operations, and printing that can occur while working with Access. Many problems can be resolved by following a sequence of steps to troubleshoot the software. A contact to the Microsoft Access technical support staff is the final step if you are unable to resolve the problem on your own.
Instructions
Check your computer's configuration to ensure that your system has adequate resources to run Microsoft Access 2003. Access 2003 requires Windows 2000, Windows XP, XP Professional, or the Vista operating system. Microsoft suggests a minimum of 128 MB of RAM running on a Pentium-233 or faster processor. Normal installations require a minimum of 20 GB of free hard disk space. Make adjustments to your computer if needed to ensure that it meets the system requirements.
Click "Help" - "Activate Product", and enter your software product key using the activation link on the Internet. You must register and activate your software as a prerequisite for downloading updates and obtaining formal technical support from Microsoft if it is needed. Click "Help" - "Check for Updates" to download and install the latest updates for Access 2003. Check the Microsoft support web site for updates to Microsoft Office 2003 and your Windows operating system to ensure that these software files are also up to date.
Click "Help" - "Microsoft Office Access Help", and enter the word "troubleshoot" in the search bar on the right panel of your screen. Browse the list of common problems and resolutions to see if your problem is documented and follow the recommendation for resolution if provided. If your problem is not listed, re-start your computer and run Microsoft Access without any other software programs running. Record any error messages you receive and note any other software programs that were running during the error.
Search the Microsoft support web site for any information related to the specific error messages that you received, or software applications that you were running when the problem occurred. Click "Help" - "Contact Us" to contact Microsoft support directly if you cannot find a resolution documented on the Microsoft web site. Technical support options include email, telephone and on line chat.
Read more: http://goo.gl/j8sjX
Reasons for Updating an Antivirus Protection Software
Malicious software or "malware" can take various forms such as viruses, spyware and keystroke loggers. Malware can cause a variety of problems ranging from annoyances such as popup ads to serious issues such as loss of data or hardware damage. Antivirus software is designed to detect and remove malware from your computer and also ensure that your computer does not become infected in the first place. However, your antivirus software must be kept up to date to ensure continuous protection for your computer.
Continuous Protection
The most important reason to update antivirus software is to ensure that your computer is continuously protected against viruses, spyware and other malware. New viruses are unleashed on the Internet every day and antivirus software developers must frequently update their products to recognize these new threats. A library of "virus definitions" containing data used to detect known viruses must be be updated frequently. Sometimes new virus definitions are released several times a month or even several times a week. If your antivirus program does not have these updates, it will not be able to protect your computer against newly discovered threats. Because updates are so important, most antivirus programs make it very easy to download these files. Some programs even download and install updates automatically.
Program Improvements
Another reason to download antivirus program updates is to upgrade the software with the latest bug fixes and enhancements. User feedback and testing may lead software developers to make changes or improvements to the user interface or the underlying program code. In some cases, updates may offer new features which were not available in older versions of the program. Updates may also improve program efficiency and add new functionality such as popup blocking, spam blocking, Web link scanning.
Technical Support
Software companies typically provide technical support for the most current versions of their software. Updating to the current version will make it easier for you to obtain technical support or other assistance with your antivirus software if you need it. Some software publishers do not provide any support for older versions of their products, so if you have a problem, you must resolve it on your own.
Compatibility
Antivirus updates can improve program compatibility and eliminate known bugs in the program code. Software publishers are often unaware of these issues until after a product has been released to the public on a wide scale and users begin reporting problems. Software can be optimized and refined to increase compatibility and reduce programmatic errors.
Read more: http://goo.gl/E7ln1