The answer is that it depends. If your transactional staff are spending time on these sites instead of doing their jobs, then it’s a problem, however it’s not only your employees doing it, and any place that there are millions of people, you have to also look at them as potential customers.

Social Networking sites can be very effective for business. If your business is in the music and entertainment industry then you should be utilizing My Space. Sales organizations can utilize Linked In to network and find sales leads. Facebook can be used by sales staff to keep up with their network of friends.Twitter should by used by those in your organization that are working to establish themselves as thought leaders in their industry. And lets not forget HR, who can use all the sites to research potential candidates, as you’d be amazed at the sorts of things that people say about themselves online.

You need to form a policy and plan for the use of these sites which should include who is allowed to have access to which sites, and blocking access to those that have no business reason to access them during work hours. You will find that there is no one size fits all approach, and that the policy and plan will take some out of the box thinking. Desktop Valet can assist your organization with formulating and implementing such a plan.

I invite you to visit my sites. Please feel free to comment and ask questions any time.

http://twitter.com/leobletnitsky
http://www.linkedin.com/in/leobletnitsky

Leo Bletnitsky

The virus that was supposed to go active on April 1st. It actually stayed dormant until April 4th, and then became active, however it has not done much other than pushing Spam and fake anti-virus software. This may change, and we are watching developments carefully.

There are two things to keep in mind with this story. First, the virus in question utilizes a flaw in Microsoft Windows that Microsoft had released a patch for in 2008. Our Proactive Care Clients had the patch automatically installed in December and were therefore not effected by Conficker. Folks, keep your computers patched or let us do it for you!

The second thing is never install or pay for Anti-Virus Software that just suddenly pops up on your computer! It is always fake, and entering your credit card will cost you! Over the last 12 months, those of our clients that don’t run a Firewall that provides Spyware filtering and prevention have spent thousands of dollars on the elimination of the various WinXP Anti-Virus Spyware programs. If you get prompted to install the WinXP Anti-Virus 2008 or 2009 Software, don’t do it! It is always fraudulent, and you need to call for help ASAP!

Instead of waiting to be stimulated by Washington, I say “Stimulate Yourself”!

This might be Vegas, but I’m talking business.  In this economic downturn companies need to look at ways to improve efficiency, reduce costs and find ancillary income streams.  The items I’ll discuss here are just a couple of the multitudes of ideas that can help protect your bottom line and keep your business healthy.

Improving efficiency and reducing costs often go hand in hand.  Here are a couple of suggestions to think about:

1.   Payroll – I’m not talking about saving a few bucks by switcing to a less expensive serivce, I’m talking about the cost of your employees versus the benefit.  What percentage of your payroll is contributing to your bottom line?  Is staff spending hours per day on MySpace, Facebook, Internet chat or shopping?  The National average is just under two hours per day per employee!  So 25% of some employee’s time is worth less than nothing to your business.  I say less than nothing because the time wasters create hostility as others have to pick up the slack and often these employees’ end up getting overtime to finish projects on time!

The solutions are fairly easy, either implement a web/content filtering system from companies like Barracuda Networks or implement an employee monitoring system from companies like SpectorSoft.  Not only will you be able to elliminate wasted time but you may find that you are overstaffed once everyone is working on company business.

2.   Technology – When competition for clients is at its fiercesed, the last place you want to find yourself is with old and outdated I.T..  Down time will cost you potential clients and employee morale.  Replacing computers and servers can be expensive and time consuming, but this may have to be done to stay competative. 

There are some solutions that can help.  Desktop and server virualization can reduce the overall cost of a hardware refresh and will make your IT Infrastructure easier to support with fewer resources. Adding memory to servers and computers will often extend their usable life. Additionally, many systems are infected by spyware and viruses which further reduces their usability.

Having the right systems can have a major impact on your bottom line.

Ancillary Income Streams are another great way to keep your company in the black.  Almost any business can find complementary services or products to offer to their client base. For example the Medical Industry is one of Desktop Valet’s primary vertical markets. We have added a number of ancillary products to our offering that not only add value to the Medical Practices we serve, but also adds value to the practices patients.

For example, while Desktop Valet is primarily a technology consulting firm, we have added an In-Office Medication dispensing service which allows doctors to dispense medications from their office instead of sending patients to the pharmacy. Not only does this add a new revenue source for the medical practice, but it improves their patient’s experience. Additionally we have a number of other similar services that each add an income stream for our company and value and additional income to our clients.

We have found a way to increase our revenues while helping our clients stay ahead of the economy. If you look around you too may be able to find additional offerings.

This sudden and dramatic elevation in the role of technology comes at a price: increased complexity of networks and processes, the threat of financial losses caused by system outages and growing vulnerability to hackers. All these translate into higher levels of business exposure to risk.

The speed and complexity of doing business is the main factor that has increased risk, says the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) in a new report based on a survey of 1,125 IT directors, managers and chief information officers. The report focuses on the main developments in the area of IT risk in the past three years, analyzing their main drivers and presenting some of the best practices in risk mitigation.

Complexity and IT Risk
“The majority of IT executives (surveyed) believe that, in the next three years, the complexity of business processes, the speed of operations and the emergence of new paradigms—such as Web 2.0 and virtualization—will expose firms to a new range of demands, threats and risks,” the EIU concludes in its 2008 report.

To address and mitigate these risks, the report found, companies will use more sophisticated tools while simplifying and standardizing internal systems. Most will also strive to increase the level of protection afforded to customer information and improve transparency to satisfy the requirements of regulatory compliance and audit.

Other important findings include:

• IT risk = business risk: 75 percent see IT risk as directly related to business risk
• 57 percent said that one-fourth of their new business services over the past three years were delivered late
• 80 percent agree that automating IT functions frees up time and resources for innovation
• 72 percent believe that automating change management makes results more repeatable
• 68 percent used manual methods to identify application security flaws
• 80 percent said application security was the responsibility of security teams or operations; only 25 percent said quality assurance or development were responsible

About the Survey
The survey was conducted in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific in April and May 2008. The survey reached a total of 1,125 IT executives from a range of small and large organizations, representing a variety of industries, including manufacturing, retail, financial services, technology, telecom, utilities and the public sector. Of the executives surveyed, 49 percent were based in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, 27 percent in Asia-Pacific, and the rest in the Americas.

2. What is a cookie?
A cookie is a small bit of information that is deposited on the hard drive of your computer by websites that you visit. Cookies help the website to “remember” who you are, and to deliver content that matches your needs and interests.

3. What’s the easiest way to back up data?
For small amounts of data, use a USB memory stick, which plugs right into your PC. You might also consider burning your data to CD or DVD. For larger amounts of data, you may want to invest in a second hard drive, or investigate online storage services. If you have Windows Vista®, you can use the Windows® Backup and Restore feature.

4. What is the best way to create strong passwords?
Try creating an algorithm. For example, combine your spouse’s initials with your pet’s birthday, then add the first three letters of the website you’re creating the password for. So if you’re creating a password for Amazon, it might look something like this: RMW011202Ama.

5. Why is my computer running so slowly?
The most likely culprit is spyware. Run an anti-virus/anti-spyware program to detect and remove it. You also may just have a single program that’s hogging all your memory. Check your Windows Task Manager to find out. A good way to understand what’s eating your memory is to search the Internet for more information on the “Image Names” of the processes using the most memory.

Sometimes, large files can be broken up across your hard drive, which can slow down your computer when it tries to read them. To fix this, run a tool in Windows called Disk Defragmenter.

6. How can I cut down on all this spam e-mail I’m getting?
This one’s easy: make sure the e-mail service you’re using offers spam filters, and ensure that they’re turned on. It may not keep all the spam out of your inbox, but it should dramatically reduce it.

7. Desktop PC vs. notebook PC: which should I buy?
The primary advantage of notebooks is obvious: they’re portable and use less power than their fixed counterparts. Otherwise, there are several reasons to choose desktops: they’re cheaper to upgrade and repair, more ergonomic, less likely to be stolen, and have a better price-to-power ratio, meaning that a cheap desktop generally has the power of an expensive notebook.

8. My computer shows an error message that says I’m low on disk space. What to do?
There are three options. The easiest is to simply delete unnecessary files and programs. Use the Windows Add/Remove programs tool to get rid of anything you might have installed that you’re no longer using. Media files like videos and music take up a lot of space too, so consider burning them to CD or DVD and then deleting them from your hard drive.

If you don’t want to delete any files, you’ll need to get more disk space by either adding an extra hard drive or upgrading your existing one.

9. What is a firewall, and do I really need one?
The answer to this is short and simple: yes, you need one! A firewall protects your PC and your network from unwanted intruders. Learn more about the Windows XP firewall.

10. Should I turn off my PC at night or leave it running?Neither! A better solution than either option is to set your PC to ”hibernate”. To do this, go to your Control Panel, click on Power Options, and set your PC to ”hibernate” after a specified time. This will power-down your monitor to about 5 watts of energy and your PC to 2.3 watts – virtually the same as if it were completely turned off, but ready to be used again at short notice.

Five simple steps to a more efficient workspace
We all rush through our workdays, running frantically from one fire drill to the next. However, stopping and following a few best practices can help you reclaim as much as 15 minutes a day you can use to check on proposals, think about future projects and function proactively instead of reactively.

Clear your desktop before you leave each evening.
Try to always have a clear slate to start each new day.
Scan your paper documents.
Kiss your file cabinet goodbye. One investment in scanning your documents adds up to immeasurable savings in time and frustration.
Save documents electronically and in one accessible place.
How much faster is it to search your computer than to search a file cabinet?
Separate your paperwork by urgency.
Learning how to set and maintain priorities is one of the foundations of efficiency.
Email documents instead of mailing them.
Emailing documents for commentary or approval is quicker and cheaper after digitizing.

Streamline your workflow with HP Multifunction Products
HP’s Multifunction Products boast a range of features that make them a secure, cost effective, and efficient solution for your agency’s document management dilemmas. Depending on the model you choose, a Multifunction Product combines printing, scanning, copying and faxing in one device. An HP MFP can help your agency:

Accelerate filing processes
If there is one thing your agency has — it’s files. From building permits to development applications, and everything in-between, government agencies have to struggle to keep their important documents organized. With HP you can digitize, save and send documents from one secure machine.

Reduce storage costs
Time is money and when you save your agency’s documents as easily retrievable electronic files you’ll minimize processing and storage costs. HP products make it possible to save space and up efficiency.

Control security risks
HP’s security controls make it possible to limit or allow access to documents saved on your server. Furthermore, you can improve document accessibility and distribution internally and externally, and minimize the chance of human error.

Color Access Control helps you control who is using color printing and for what kinds of documents, allowing you to impose rules along departmental or document-based lines. For instance, you can specify that your Accounting department can print Microsoft Excel spreadsheets in color, whereas your Legal department can only print Word documents in black and white.

HP MFPs – powerful versatility
Remember all that running around we did in the first paragraph? Thirty hours here, twenty five hours there, adding up to a lot of wasted time and lost productivity. Deploying an HP Multifunction Product has you scanning saving 100 pages electronically in just ten minutes.

HP LaserJet M3035 series
The HP LaserJet M3035 series supports multiple office workflows with printing, copying, scanning and faxing capability:

Print up to 35 pages per minute in black and white
Print up to 75,000 pages per month
Print quality up to 1200X1200dpi

These and other HP MFPs can revolutionize your workflow, and help your organization reclaim valuable time.

It’s all about the subject line
No matter how great the content of your email is, if the subject line contains words categorized as “spam” by certain filtering systems, your email may not even make it to the receiver’s inbox, let alone be opened, and more importantly read.

Here are some of the top words to avoid in your subject lines, with a list of over 90 more found here.

Act now
Amazing
Anything that looks like you are YELLING
Click here
E.x.t.r.a. Punctuation
Fast cash
FREE
Financial freedom
Information you requested
Starting with a dollar amount
G a p p y T e x t

Although some spam filters are set to higher security levels than others and one cannot predict each individual system, the words listed above are proven to set off spam alerts and may keep your email from reaching its intended market. Successful subject lines include your company or brand name and are personalized using the subscriber data.

Build your reputation
A well thought-out email campaign can be hugely successful as they are relatively inexpensive, easy-to-track, and easy to build. A hasty campaign can do exactly the opposite. Here are some tips to help you get started or keep your campaign going.

Beware of generic mailing lists
If you’ve purchased a mailing list from a marketing company, chances are this list has been used by other companies for similar purposes. To help ensure that your emails are not being sent along with thousands of others in the same business as yours:

Ask about mailing frequency - how many pieces of mail are going to each recipient in a given period.
Make sure the list is targeted to your purposes.

Permission granted
To gain or keep your reputation in the e-marketing world, you want potential and current customers to opt to receive communications from you. You need to do more than just tell them about offers. To gain and keep their favor, you need to provide value on an ongoing basis. For many companies, this means

sharing news and information about their specific industry or a topic related to that industry
sharing their perspective in areas that can help inform and educate potential customers
allowing customers to sign up for a single issue of a newsletter or communication with clear “opt out” procedures

Keep their attention
Once you make a commitment to regular communications with your potential customers, you’ll need to keep them updated regularly with more than just offers. Here’s how to keep your readers engaged.

Consistency is key - Make sure you’re prepared to invest the time it takes to develop communications regularly.
Branch out - To see what’s involved in developing regular communications, consider becoming a regular contributor to an existing communications product that targets a similar customer base. The more experience you have communicating to your market, the better.
Up the level - If you’re comfortable with your level of communication, take it even higher. Create your own topical newsletter and ask other newsletters to which you contribute to include a way for readers to sign up with you for more frequent communications.

The best way to keep your customer base is to broaden your reach, but to do so intelligently is key. You want your pique your markets interest and then hold it, and with the tips above you’re on your way to doing so.