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August Small Business Technology News from Jefric Consulting

August 2009 – Technology is an essential tool for your Small Business and staying current is extremely difficult. Let us help you. Read this month’s newsletter here.

All newsletters can be found here.
Visit the Jefric Consulting website here.

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By AlanBuckwalter – August 3, 2009

You’ve heard of Hybrid Cars. What about Hybrid Clouds?

Simply stated a hybrid car is little more than a traditional vehicle that has be modified to work with an additional / alternate technology drive system; a hybrid. It can turn out to be more economical, efficient and can simplify your life. So can the same logic be applied to office technology?

Many traditional technology solutions rely on having all of your technology in one place, very often your office, consisting of one or more servers and desktop workstations. What about a hybrid solution using cloud services? Combining the best technology to create a solution that is more economical, efficient and will simplify your life? Sound familer?

Here is an article that talks about this. Have a look here and leave your comments.

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By AlanBuckwalter – July 30, 2009

LinkedIn – The Business of Social Networking

An interesting 6 minute video.
Fortune’s Jon Fortt and Michael Copeland chat with LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman about the Web’s future.

LinkedIn is growing at a rate of “1 million people every 17 days”.

Hear some commentary about the Internet, LinkedIn, Social Networking and the future of technology here.

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By AlanBuckwalter – July 24, 2009

What are the legal implications of Cloud Computing?

While cloud computing can certainly simplify the technology platform and spend of many organizations, it seems to be opening up some issues that have yet to be answered. Data that might otherwise live on your own companies systems is being transfered to those of an external service provider. What are the legal implications of this? Compliance? Retention? Privacy? etc..

Unfortunately there does seem to be a simple answer. This article however offers some interesting food for thought. Click here.

What do you think? Leave your thoughts here.

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By AlanBuckwalter – July 21, 2009

Small Business First and Lasting Impressions

E-mail is quickly becoming the preferred method of communication in the business world. With e-mail both the sender and recipient can communicate and exchange information at a time when normal voice communication might not be convenient, possible or practical. If your business is relying on email, are you sure people are associating it with your business?

• When you exchange e-mail with a prospect, do they see john@optonline.net or john@yourbiz.com?
• What email address do you have on your business card: jane@verizon.net or jane@mycompany.com?
• If you want people to recognize and remember your brand, would you tell them that your email address is joe@aol.com?

Who do you want to advertise for? The phone company? The cable company? AOL? Why not
your company!

Depending on the needs of your business, there are many solutions available to have your email linked to your domain, presenting a professional image to your clients, prospects, vendors and the outside world. Furthermore, your email can be made accessible to you from virtually anywhere at any time, via the Internet, Smartphone or some other mobile device.

Does this interest you? If so, contact Alan Buckwalter, 201-370-6430 or alan@jefric.com

Jefric Consulting, LLC – IT Consulting and Custom Technology Solutions for Small Business

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By AlanBuckwalter – July 20, 2009

Three critical — and avoidable — cloud computing mistakes

The title says it all. Read more here.

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By AlanBuckwalter – July 16, 2009

Twitter Tips: How to Find Experts in Your Industry

“After you join Twitter, who do you follow? Deciding this can be an overwhelming task, especially if your goal is to avoid the noise on Twitter and trade messages with trusted colleagues and thought leaders in your industry.

Like many challenges facing users who meander through the burgeoning social network each day, there isn’t a perfect solution. But we caught up with some social media experts who offered useful tips on how best to find the right people on Twitter, based on your interests. ”

Read the full article here.

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By AlanBuckwalter – July 16, 2009

Office in the Cloud – Microsoft Office or Google Docs?

In response to the success of Google Docs, Microsoft has announced that part of Office 2010 will be offered as a free (for personal use), web based cloud service. While you can’t login today and try the online versions of the popular office productivity applications, the buzz on the Internet is growing.

What does this mean for your desktop? What does this mean for your IT budget? What does it mean to your business? It’s probably too early to say. We can only hope that some healthy competition will benefit the users, us!

Have a look at: “Microsoft Office Vs.Google Docs: a Web Apps Showdown” and and tell me what you think.

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By AlanBuckwalter – July 16, 2009

Are you planning for Windows 7?

Microsoft has announced that Windows 7 will be generally available on October 22, 2009.

The feedback on this new version of the ubiquitous desktop operating system has been generally positive and it seems that Microsoft would like nothing more than to put Windows XP to rest once and for all. Just like Vista, new computers sold after the release will come pre-installed with Windows 7. Or will they?

Business and personal consumers have been exercising their downgrade rights for quite some time; the ability and license to install and use a previous version of the operating system they purchased. Dates have been floating around on the Internet for when this will end for Windows XP, although it seems to be a moving target for each manufacturer / vendor.

Now we are hearing bold statements like:

“According to a ScriptLogic study, 60 percent of all companies surveyed said that they will not be moving to Windows 7 any time soon. Thirty-four percent said they’d probably deploy by the end of 2010, but even that number may be optimistic. This means that by 2011, for the first time ever, a 10-year-old operating system will still be the most-used desktop OS.” Full article here.

What do you think? What are your plans? Leave your comments here.

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By AlanBuckwalter – July 13, 2009

Google Voice – A new way to think about Telephony

“In a nutshell, Google Voice a front-end for all of your phones. It assigns you a new phone number which you can then use as your primary number. You then get to decide who gets routed to which of your phones, either individually or by using groups. Next, you can personalize voicemail greetings depending on the caller.”

One phone number, voice automatically transcribed to text, and selectively routing calls.
Is this the next generation of a “virtual office”? mobile technology?
Read more here and here.

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By AlanBuckwalter – July 6, 2009