bruceb news

Previously:
Live Tech Support From Microsoft Answer Desk
The Changing Landscape For SMB IT Consultants

Lots of forces are combining to change the services that you need for your small business or law firm, and at first glance most of them appear to limit my usefulness. You can get cloud services that don’t require ongoing maintenance, your devices are getting simpler and cheaper, and outsourced support is becoming available at a price that might undercut my hourly fee.

And yet I think I’m going to be busier than ever for the foreseeable future. (The foreseeable future extends about five years. Ain’t nobody’s crystal ball that can predict further out than that in technology.) What’s the plan? […] continued

When Microsoft announced that it will provide free or cheap support for Windows and Office and common computer problems, it wasn’t a surprise for any IT consultant who’s been paying attention.

This is a look behind the scenes, some thoughts about the trends that are changing the landscape for IT consultants.

Four things are combining to recast the traditional roles for small business IT consultants.

• Technology is easier to deploy and maintain. In particular, cloud services have virtually no traditional costs for deployment or maintenance. There will be fewer and fewer on-premise server deployments as cloud solutions mature.

[…] continued

Google Apps For Business is a suite of Google applications customized for small businesses. Everyone in the business gets a domain email address and access to a smorgasbord of integrated Google products, including Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Sites. Everything is completely cloud-based and can be accessed from any device with an Internet connection. Google Apps For Business is inexpensive, $5/user per month, and there’s even a limited free version for groups of up to ten people.

I want to use it to reinforce something that must be kept in mind when evaluating any technology today: The cash out of your pocket is only one element in deciding whether a technology solution fits your business. […] continued

Previously:
Law Firms In The Cloud: Credenza
Law Firms In The Cloud: Rocket Matter

Until now very small law firms have seldom used a true document management system, but even the smallest firm is starting to feel pressured to consider one to deal with an ever-increasing number of files. NetDocuments has the forward-facing features that put it at the top of the list of document management systems to consider.

It’s easy to start out with nothing but a moderately well-organized filing system – folders named after clients, files named more or less according to a system, and drafts emailed from person to person. […] continued

Apple’s brilliant success since Steve Jobs returned in 1997 has made it the largest company in the world by almost any measure, with a market capitalization that exceeds Microsoft and Intel combined. iPhones define the smartphone market, even if they do not completely dominate it now that Android has taken the lead in market share. iPads, however, so completely dominate the tablet market that Amazon opted not to directly compete but instead to seek a different niche that will leave Apple as the undisputed king of the 10′” tablets – for now, at least.

Apple’s lineup of Mac computers and its releases of OS X upgrades are watched by bloggers and the media almost as lovingly as its mobile devices. […] continued

Previously:
Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, Part 1: Overview
Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, Part 2: Remote Access

Small Business Server 2011 Essentials has one overlooked feature that fills an important need in most small businesses. Every night, SBS 2011 Essentials backs up all of the workstations in their entirety.

Microsoft originally developed this backup technology for Windows Home Server. Microsoft did some of its best technical magic on the backup system to use the least possible space on the server hard drives and to make the backups quick (although they’re done in the middle of the night, so speed isn’t really an issue). […] continued

Previously:
Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, Part 1: Overview

Microsoft has done more than anyone else to promote remote access to small business networks. Almost ten years ago, Small Business Server 2003 opened up Outlook Web Access and safe remote desktop access to small businesses for the first time. SBS 2008 and the various iterations of Windows Home Server refined that first portal to make it easier and cleaner and more likely to work properly.

SBS 2011 Essentials brings something new to the table: remote access to files. Hold that thought and let’s look at some of the other features first. […] continued

Small businesses are finally in a position to set up Microsoft Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, the perfect server for many small businesses with fewer than 25 users. Today’s technology world does not offer any one-size-fits-all solutions but SBS 2011 Essentials should at least be closely evaluated by almost anyone with 2-25 users looking either for a first server or a replacement for a dusty server in the closet.

The idea is to blend an onsite server and cloud services. In broad overview:

• The server runs the network onsite, authenticating people as they log in and passing out files;
• Email is handled separately, ideally by Microsoft’s hosted Office 365 service.

[…] continued

If all goes well, Mad Mimi is going to take over the mailing list for subscribers to Bruceb News. Here’s the story that led me to the odd logo on the left.

If you send an email message to more than 25 people, most of them won’t receive it. The message will be filtered as spam and tossed into a junk mail folder.

Vertical Response and Constant Contact have made a nice business out of handling mailing lists for businesses that send out email blasts regularly. When I’ve used them in the past, they had all the hallmarks of tools for big companies – lots and lots of options, infinite flexibility, complicated controls for layout and design, sophisticated analytics for judging the success of email campaigns, and much more. […] continued

There is a fascinating and informative series of articles by a lawyer and former federal prosecutor about his efforts to unearth information about a scammer who sent a phony “invoice” to his firm. It’s a well-known and simple scam – send something that looks like an invoice for a service that was never ordered or delivered, hoping that it will get paid by someone who doesn’t notice that it’s phony. I used to see variations on this for domain registration scams.

The author describes the series this way:

I’ve decided to dedicate some time and money to investigating this scam and the people and companies responsible for it.

[…] continued