Everyone is talking about the cloud....

“Everyone is talking about it. Most are doing it already. If you aren’t doing it, you’re really missing something.”
Cloud applications. What does it mean? What does it mean for your business? What can you do? Why should you consider it?
Cloud applications are a series of tasks and functions that your company previously would have had to devote your own hardware, software and technical support to implement. These include software applications like accounting, contact records management, e-mail hosting, storage, voice processing (phone service, voice messaging, call center, call accounting, call recording) and even your basic application suite of spreadsheets, databases and word processing. In the past, you would have needed servers, software licenses, technical staff, and hardware to design, use and maintain. Now, thanks to companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and a slew of others, you can securely have all this functionality without the associated capital investment and ongoing staff expenses.
These providers are essentially the platform that your company uses as its information technology infrastructure. Much the same way that you wouldn’t necessarily own your own power plant to provide your company’s electricity, you use these services on a license by license basis to provide you with the customizable program you need for a particular task. Google provides Google Apps- word processing, spreadsheet, presentation…and the list is updated regularly. Amazon provides space for you to run specialized applications you may have developed and can then virtualize to their servers. Salesforce.com provides a complete sales force automation platform. You don’t need to worry about having servers on site or administering them. You don’t have to worry about patches, updates or licensing. Both power and security are monitored on a comprehensive 24/7 basis.
Over the past few years, telecommunications has evolved from digital circuits to a standard packets based protocol. Instead of having dedicated phone circuits, the trend has moved to “virtual lines” based on this new protocol. These lines, or trunks, are referred to as “SIP” trunks. Much in the same way that the applications your computer networks have moved to the cloud, so too have your phones. Instead of investing in a system, communications services are now provided as hosted applications. Voice messaging, fax messaging and contact management now integrates seamlessly with your email and Microsoft Outlook – as well as your Blackberry, iPhone or Droid.
The ultimate of these applications is a hosted contact center that provides integration between hosted phone, automatic call distribution, customer database management, call recording, and accounting programs. Once requiring a considerable capital investment and dedication of vast resources, robust hosted call center applications are available for a minimal user investment of less than $100 per month. There are no significant hardware investments, no processor investments, no server investment and no expenses for patches, maintenance or upgrades.
Both from a human resources aspect and from a regulatory aspect, tele-commuting and geographically dispersed work groups are a fixture in the corporate landscape. Cloud applications make work groups function much more cohesively and with the same set of collaboration tools. Conference calling, white boarding, shared document collaboration and video conferencing are apps that can be accessed anytime and from anywhere.
Bandwidth quality and reliability are crucial to business continuity. Successful cloud applications require bandwidth that is secure and high quality. High quality bandwidth means that the measure of latency falls to an acceptable level for a particular application. Carriers must provide a guaranteed service level agreement that guarantees a response time for outages or service degradation. “Bandwidth diversification” means best practices ensure that Internet access will be provided across multiple providers using different delivery media (cable, DSL, dedicated circuits, fiber or wireless). Errant back hoe operators shouldn’t be able to shut down your operations!
The Cloud provides you with applications that do not require major capital expense and enable productivity. It means that your IT staff – whether in house or acquired externally- concentrates their efforts on process improvement instead of maintenance. It means that you are able to leverage enhanced features, functions, and infrastructure without having to build it for yourself. It means that you can focus on running your business.

SNET Communications Debuts Hosted IP Telephony Solutions for Insurance Agencies

Des Plaines, Illinois - 30/11/2010 - SNET Communications introduced its suite of Hosted Phone System Services for a major group of over 200 Northeastern Illinois insurance agents gathered at their year end conference in Schaumburg, Illinois. The robust package of products shown by SNET (http://www.snetconnect.com) was designed in conjunction with highly successful insurance agencies and veteran agents.

When Ken Smith received word that his corporate home office was no longer providing phone and internet to their individual owned branches, he needed a fix. Ken had four locations that had previously operated independently from a communications standpoint. His agencies worked like separate businesses just because they were in different physical locations. Ken Smith said."I haven't stopped talking about the solution SNET provided me with for my agencies with other colleagues. It has been like productivity on steroids for us!".

The SNET offering specifically addressed Ken Smith's insurance agency's specific needs of productivity, mobility and cost efficiency. SNET teams worked with him to design off premise outbound telemarketing solutions and mobile applications, as well as solutions that integrated his multiple offices allowing them to work together. These solutions allowed Ken to expand his agencies and increase their output. Ken's colleagues at other agencies learned of his success- which SNET replicated in their agencies. SNET, working with their agent Steve Bahlmann from Broadband Options,decided to introduce the concept to the owners and producers of the larger Northern Illinois territory. Steve Bahlmann said, "In this current economic environment, agencies have to be more productive and SNET has the tools to make them optimize their communications resources!".

SNET Communications' suite of products for insurance agencies is a robust, reliable and easy to implement hosted telephone system package. The ability to connect multiple offices, empower agent mobility and enhance agency productivity have made it a welcome additional to the best practices of independently owned insurance agencies.

SNET Communications solutions cover hosted voice over IP phone services. Agencies can either use their own bandwidth, such as inexpensive cable or DSL, and supercharge it with SNET applications. Phones are inexpensive, managed from SNET's 24/7 network operations center and constantly updated with improved functionality. Since 2003, SNET Communications has provided innovative and reliable telecommunications service to companies throughout the Chicago metropolitan area.

Communication - My Manifesto

We are put on this earth to live. We live with other people. Communication is a necessity. Like breathing. Technology is a means to this end. Somewhere, we got lost.

I can probably trace the watershed moment of our attention span to when Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video came out. It became the gold standard for how long the general public could maintain concentration.

Faxes became the next attention grabber. How quickly could you scan a page became the determining factor for attention. E mail was soon to follow. People stopped writing. If I want to really display an emotion today, I will write you a letter or note by hand. Otherwise, it's an email. Writing is reserved for special occasions. Somehow, we all became "king baby". "I want your attention RIGHT NOW!". Email isn't good enough. Now we have texting and instant messaging. We don't care what you are doing- you will pay us attention right now. As I write these words, I have gotten three texts and one instant message. Where is my train of thought going? Are these really important? Is it highly critical?

As a wired society, we have developed ourselves into a societal attention deficit disorder. I should say, an attention deficit by disorder. What is this doing to our civility? I can text something abrupt easier than I would barge into someone's space. I can write coarsely- or post abusively because the consequences are just out in the Ether and it doesn't require a lot of courage.

Now we have "cyber bullying" - where the consequences are profound. Lives are ruined when private information is posted. What happened to slander and libel? Go to any news site and read comments to almost any article. Conjecture is presented as fact. News is a matter of opinion.

Our workplaces are permeated by "king babies". "I want what I want when I want it NOW!!!. I will send you a text, I will interrupt you, I will reach across the network and grab your attention!."

Communication is our interaction with each other. It defines our relationships - at work, at play and as a society. Civility is our way to regulate these interactions. Communication without civility is disorder. Disorder spoils the development of our thoughts. Our thoughts become our words, our words become our actions, our actions become our character, our character becomes our destiny.

How to choose a phone system for your business

Overview
No matter what the nature of your business, communication is a key to your success. As a business owner you have many different choices for business communication, including traditional land line service, voice over IP service and cell phone service. To get the most for your money, you need to evaluate your needs, seek out quality service providers and consider each plan carefully.

Step 1
Determine your company's needs, including how many phone lines you will need and how many employees your business expects to have. Quantifying the scope of the project will make it easier to get quotes on the business phone system your company needs.

Step 2
Find out which companies serve business customers in your area. You can find this information in your local telephone directory and in local business journals, newspapers and periodicals as well.

Step 3
Compare traditional land line service and voice over IP services. In many cases, VoIP can provide lower rates than traditional services, but it is still best to compare both kinds of phone service.

Step 4
Compare the total costs of each plan, including the basic cost of service and any add-ons you might be required to pay. Choosing a business telephone service with a set monthly fee makes budgeting and business planning easier.

Step 5
Get a list of the standard services that come with each plan. Plans that include popular services, such as voicemail, call forwarding and caller ID, can make your business telephone service more useful and versatile.

Step 6
Compare the warranty plans for each business telephone system. A lengthy warranty plan can be very valuable as it can save the company money down the line.

SMB Concern: Viruses, Trojans and Malware! Lions, tigers and bears!

I came across the following article by Mathew J. Schwartz in Information week today. I was truly impressed and alarmed. The "boogeyman" is out there for small businesses- and it takes the form of malicious hackers who can pose a catastrophic failure of information infrastructure for small businesses. I highly encourage every business owner to have a network security plan in place - and make sure it is reviewed and updated. Please read the article- and


By Mathew J. Schwartz , InformationWeek
November 4, 2010 11:40 AM


When it comes to information security concerns, small businesses still fear the virus. Indeed, according to a new survey of 1,600 end users in Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and United States, conducted by antivirus vendor Trend Micro, viruses are the leading concern for 63% of small businesses.


Small business respondents' other top concerns were Trojan applications (60%), malware designed by criminals expressly to steal data (59%), data leaks (56%), spyware (55%), and fake AV (52%). Spam and phishing threats ranked lowest.

Most of today's antivirus software suites protect against many viruses and worms. But when it comes to data-stealing malware, 21% of small U.S. business respondents said that their IT department could do a better job of protecting end users. Notably, only 47% of small businesses install security software to help stop such malware, 30% offer related security policies, and 28% provide relevant education or guidance.


Another interesting finding is that, compared with midsize or large organizations, the typical small business in the United States tends to be less worried about data loss. While 74% of respondents at large U.S. enterprises ranked data loss as a top threat, only 49% of small U.S. businesses said the same. Also 22% of respondents at large organizations in the United States think their employees have actually leaked data, versus 10% at small organizations.

In general, of course, small businesses have fewer security controls or policies in place, owing to a paucity of investment in information security technology, awareness, or talent. That may explain small businesses' approach to data-leak prevention. While small businesses are worried about data leaks -- more than spyware -- only 44% of them have data-leak security policies in place, compared with 61% of large enterprises.

Interestingly, however, the odds of actually being trained on a data-leak policy -- if it exists -- were about the same, with 70% of respondents at large organizations, compared with 61% at small ones, saying they received such training.

Tradition still determines how we communicate!

Plantronics has released a study that reveals a lot about the way professionals use communications in the workplace. And, as it turns out, traditional mediums still rule.
"How We Work: Communication Trends of Business Professionals," looks at the communications habits and preferences of 1,800 employees worldwide. The findings show that for the most part, professionals rely on more traditional forms of communication to drive results. E-mail is critical to the overall success and productivity of 83 percent of respondents, of which 81 percent say the same thing for phone calls. Audio conferences were rated critical for 61 percent, while sending or receiving IM was for 38 percent of respondents. Social media came in last at 19 percent.
The study also showed definite preferences in the ways employees collaborate; if collaboration is more critical to success and productivity, in-person and video-driven meetings are preferred over text-based communication. Despite its popularity, e-mail is not the preferred method of communication for mission-critical decisions, and only 3 percent of respondents prefer it for complex or technical discussions.
"'How We Work' shows that, given the demands of work today, professionals are essentially creating communication tool belts that allow them to pick the right tool at the right time," said Clay Hausmann, vice president of Corporate Marketing at Plantronics in a prepared statement. "Video, voice and text-based communications all have a role, as does social media, and one isn't growing at the expense of another. The pace of innovation around new communication technologies is astounding, and yet it is the end user who ultimately decides which technology will play a key role in their business communication and for what purpose."
The full study can be found on Plantronics' website.

The Continued Threat of Phishing Attacks for SMBs

The Continued Threat of Phishing Attacks for SMBs

Phishing is an IT headache that is here to stay. But what is the clearest threat to your SMB clients--social media or garden-variety spam?

By Tim Sprinkle

Traditional spam emails remain the number one electronic security threat to SMBs, according to the results of a recent IT survey commissioned by anti-spam filtering software provider SpamTitan Technologies (so remember that grain of salt). That’s despite the high profile increase in phishing attacks perpetuated via social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, says the company.

Although 37 percent of IT managers surveyed did admit that online phishing is a growing problem for SMBs, 75 percent called tried-and-true spam attacks the top security issue they face on a day-to-day basis. Social networking-based intrusions remain marginal threats at best, especially given the overwhelming prevalence of email scams.

According to a Microsoft Web security report released in 2009, spam accounts for more than 97 percent of all sent emails, and the Palo Alto-based Radicati Research Group found that spam costs businesses some $20.5 million annually in lost productivity and IT downtime.

But are phishers starting to shift their focus from email to social media? Opinions are still divided on that point, with 31 percent of respondents dismissing the appearance of a rising Facebook threat as simply a result of the increased use of social networking sites by business users. More users equal more targets, after all, though it can be tempting to extrapolate that there are more phishers at work in the social networking sphere as a result.

The SpamTitan findings jibe with a report released earlier this year by Kaspersky Labs that found that just 5.7 percent of phishing attacks in the first three months of 2010 could be traced back to Facebook. Compare that to HSBC, eBay, and PayPal, which together account for more than 52 percent of all online scams, according to Kaspersky.

Either way, phishing is an IT headache that is here to stay.

“Phishing attacks remain a clear and present threat to businesses,” says Ronan Kavanagh, CEO of SpamTitan Technologies. “There is no evidence to suggest that network security measures are discouraging the number of phishing attacks; it is simply that the arrival of social networking in the workplace has presented phishers with a bigger pond to phish in.”

As far as prevention is concerned, Kavanagh suggests that IT managers establish clear policy guidelines and educate their users on the various types of electronic threats facing their networks. Awareness is the number one tool in the fight against phishing attacks, he says, whether they come in via email or social networks.