By Jeff Wuorio

If you’re a business owner, you need to know how to protect your business.

Try as we might, there’s often no way to skirt disaster — whether it’s national, personal or weather induced. But there are strategies to cope with it as best we can, no matter if its source is a burst river levee, a thoughtlessly discarded match or the deranged actions of others. Knowing what to do in the event of a disaster is crucial for anyone, of course, but particularly for a small-business owner, whose livelihood may depend on a small storefront or home basement office.

Start with some strategies. Here’s a checklist that can help you set up an effective and comprehensive small-business disaster plan:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/technology/personaltech/03basics.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

http://businessonmain.msn.com/knowledgeexchange/articles/expert.aspx?cp-documentid=20149998&source=msneditorial&gt1=25049

Every time you are out and about on the weekends you are conscious of how much you are spending and how often you are putting money into the economy.  During these tough economic times it seems people are becoming more and more aware of this.  One very important aspect of this is buying local.  By buying local I mean purchasing goods and services from locally owned and independent providers.  Austin already has big initiatives for driving this business with campaigns such as, “Keep Austin Weird” and The Austin Independent Business Alliance’s push for homegrown stimulus.

The economic impact of shopping local is 3 ½ times as great as shopping at chain stores.  This is why locally owned businesses tend to buy their goods and services from other locals as opposed to going outside the family, if you will, to the national chain businesses.  Take a look at this article (Buy local) and see that for every $100.00 spent at a local establishment, $45.00 remains in our economy as opposed to only $13.00 that remains from a $100.00 purchase at a chain business.  Another great way to look at this is from a more “what’s in it for me” attitude.  When it all comes down to it, we need to do what is best for our families and ourselves.  Well, buying local will promote the local economy and help sustain it throughout tough economic times.  This in turn will provide more local shops and help to bring more innovation and competition to our community.  Without this, the national chains will expand and envelop our local businesses, causing monopolies all over town.  Supporting local businesses will help to create more jobs for Austinites as a whole, thus creating a better quality of life.  Local business owners tend to buy their goods and services from other local shops, linking our community together in a web of economic growth. 

Austin is a city deeply rooted in its independent attitude and thought.  We need to make sure that it stays that way by shopping local.  Austin is the capital of Texas and I know that I want to see it stay that way, and not crumble to the “anytown, USA” mold that so many other American cities have already fallen victim to.  I am proud to be a citizen of such an innovative city and it is good to see such a push to keep our economy strong.  I am also proud to be a part of AVENDE, a locally owned, locally operated business here in Austin who supports other local businesses to provide a strong back bone to our community. 

Remember to shop local and produce local.  It will help us all in the end.

-          Off-loading the day to day hassles of managing the IT environment (leads to more time to spend on business strategy)

-          Decreasing downtime through pro-active network management (increases employee/user productivity)

-          Mitigating risks with ongoing maintenance of infrastructure (decreased chance of data loss, equipment failure, etc.)

-          Monthly fee contract (Provides the ability to forecast and have a clear budget for IT needs)

Delivering value in IT, controlling costs, and improving efficiencies are what MSPs should be providing to companies, rather than just selling IT product and services.

AVENDE ‘s “IT By Design” offering allows us to work with customers and design a managed services plan that best fits into their technology support needs as well as their IT budget.  Some of our services in the “IT By Design” offering are 24×7 monitoring of all network equipment, onsite and remote IT support, automated patch management, virus protection, back-up management, technology planning, etc.

The most common type of virtualization is server virtualization, or the process of subdividing a single computer into multiple partitions (also known as virtual machines). Market-leading products for server virtualization include: VMware ESX, Citrix XenServer, and Microsoft Hyper-V. This process has existed on large-scale mainframe systems for over 40 years, but has found its way into standard PC hardware in the last few years.  Each virtual machine is isolated from the others running on the same computer. To the software (operating systems and applications) running in these partitions, each virtual machine appears to be a complete computer system.

While this partitioning process consumes some computing power, it has many benefits. Many computers are underutilized; multiple computers may be consolidated into virtual machines running on a newer, higher-performing, and more energy-efficient computer. It is also much less time-consuming to maintain software running in virtual machines. Some server virtualization software can move a virtual machine from one physical server to another without causing an outage! This allows companies to more flexibly manage how their computing power is allocated – at different times of the day, and across various departments.

Similar benefits can be applied to desktop workstations through desktop virtualization or virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). Leading products for desktop virtualization include VMware View and Citrix XenDesktop. This type of virtualization consolidates all the desktop PCs in an office onto a small number of servers running in a data center. With staff desktops running in a centralized and controlled environment, desktop virtualization can greatly reduce support costs associated with maintaining desktop and laptop PCs. Virtual desktop infrastructure also helps organizations secure sensitive data, by maintaining it in a centralized data center, or encrypting the desktop environment, so a lost or stolen laptop will not lead to a security breach. This is the most flexible solution for delivering the end-user desktop experience, but is more costly than a “thin-client” or “terminal-based” solution.

A third type of virtualization is application virtualization. This is a new name for existing “thin-client” or “terminal-based” computing solutions, such as Citrix XenApp (MetaFrame) or Microsoft Terminal Services. With application virtualization, all processing is done on shared servers in a data center. Users’ desktops and laptops either can be replaced with inexpensive terminal devices, or run software to act as “dumb terminals” – merely a display, keyboard, and mouse. Application virtualization greatly simplifies the configuration at users’ workstations, allowing maintenance to be concentrated in the data center. It is most beneficial for “task-based” users who work in a single location. “Knowledge workers” and mobile users are often better off with a desktop virtualization solution, as it gives them a dedicated virtual desktop to run a customized mix of applications.

Microsoft Business Portal 4.0 integrates smoothly with Microsoft Dynamics-GP.  Timesheets, expense reports, requisitions and other tasks can be delivered through the user’s Web browser. Eliminate related paperwork and data re-entry.

The HRM Self Service Suite integrates human resources and payroll data and helps provide accurate, current information across your organization.  It gives employees and managers access to the tools they need to streamline human resource management tasks.

Employee Self Service allows employees to control personal and work information, including changing addresses, phone numbers, dependents, education, tests, and emergency contacts; submitting timecards and time-off requests; applying for job openings; and viewing pay stubs, organization charts, and benefits information. It also allows employees to review the status of their submitted tasks at any time. Paychecks can be reviewed which eliminates the need for paper pay stubs.  Employees have instant access to hours available for vacation and sick time accruals. 

With Manager Self Service, managers and executives can review phone number, time off, pay and emergency contact information for everyone in their reporting chains. Managers can see who has and who hasn’t submitted timecards, enter time on behalf of the direct reports, and review and approve timecards and time-off requests. They can also access single- or multi-level direct reports information to modify compensation, view performance history, view emergency contacts, and evaluate and modify team skills; create internal job postings; check internal and external job applicant status; and create queries to quickly access information.

Read on for more information.

Regards,

Marian

SmartPay from Microsoft offers total IT financing with no payments for six months – allowing you to address your IT infrastructure while retaining critical cash flow. Get the solid expertise of Microsoft along with the rest of your IT solution in one streamlined package with SmartPay.

You have the drive, the talent and the passion – let Microsoft help you create the IT infrastructure to launch your path to success. Contact AVENDE  today to  learn more or visit  www.microsoft.com/financing.

SmartPay Promotion Terms and Conditions 

• During the initial six-month deferral period, no payments are required.
• After the initial six-month payment period, the loan balance is paid in regular monthly payments for the remaining 36 months, or 30 months for licensing agreements.
• For Enterprise Agreements (EA) and License and Software Assurance (L&SA) products, call for a quote on loan structure and specific agreement terms. The overall term of the contract must match the term of the volume licensing agreement.
• Interest will accrue over the life of the transaction, and interest will compound during the promotional period.
• All Microsoft products and licenses are eligible for the promotion. In addition, partner services and other products required to implement a Microsoft technology solution are eligible, including Microsoft Software Assurance and Dynamics Service/Enhancement Plans. Microsoft Financing requires that you have at least one Microsoft component in the total financed solution to be eligible.
• Offer valid on contracts closed between July 7, 2008, and June 30, 2009.
• Offer available in participating countries/regions where Microsoft Financing is available. For a complete list, visit the Microsoft Financing Web site.
• Direct debit is required.
• Rates are subject to change.
• This offer is valid only for qualified customers. Customer eligibility is subject to credit approval. Deferred payment options are not available to new businesses.

Executive Summary

This security update resolves a publicly disclosed vulnerability in Internet Explorer. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted Web page using Internet Explorer. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights. The security update addresses the vulnerability by modifying the way Internet Explorer validates data binding parameters and handles the error resulting in the exploitable condition.

This security update also addresses the vulnerability first described in Microsoft Security Advisory 961051.

Recommendations

Microsoft recommends customers prepare their systems and networks to apply this security bulletin immediately once released to help ensure that their computers are protected from attempted criminal attacks. For more information about security updates, visit http://www.microsoft.com/protect.

New Security Bulletin Technical Details

Public Bulletin Webcast

Microsoft will host two Webcasts to address customer questions on this Out-of-Band bulletin:

Title:  Information About Microsoft December Out-of-Band Security Bulletin
Date: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 1:00 P.M. Pacific Time (U.S. & Canada)
URL:http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032399448&Culture=en-US