Tag Archives: internet

Telephones

Getting a small business phone system?

Communication is extremely important for businesses. Many would argue that effective communication is what separates the great companies from those who continue to struggle. Be it networking for the growth of your business or corresponding with your customers regarding transactions, it is of vital importance that you have suitable means of communication and a communication service that you can rely on to be there when you need it.

There are many channels of communication you can use for your business, but it starts with making sure you have the right tools that allows you to communicate efficiently. Many business owners struggle with finding the right phone system to meet their needs. Selecting a phone system can be a confusing and difficult decision for many. After all, there are many options for you to choose from, phone systems like PBX (Private Branch Exchange), KSU (Key System Unit), and also the KSU Less Systems. Before you leap, you should know a few of the useful features for each that will be of advantage to your business. Some of them have been mentioned below:

  • Voicemail: If nobody is around to pick up the phone, this feature saves important messages and info from your callers. So, you won’t have to worry about missing that important phone call.
  • Integration with Microsoft Exchange Server: This is becoming very important; have your voicemails emailed to your smartphone, and Microsoft Outlook inbox will ensure you can respond quickly to urgent messages.
  • Presence: This is another area in communication that is moving ahead rapidly.  Seeing when others are online, in meetings or out of the office will allow you to communicate in the most efficient manner, including phone, email or instant messaging.
  • Conference Calling: This feature lets you hold conferences with remote employees or customers who are miles away.
  • Multiple Lines or Call Waiting: With this feature, your business will be able to take multiple calls at the same time. And if not available, you can also use the call waiting feature that clears the phone line to accommodate each caller.
  • Call Attendant: Transfers calls to a different extension to direct the call to the department or person.
  • Speed Dialing: This feature helps you save time (and a little space in your memory, as well). You will be able to save multiple phone numbers which can be called just by pressing the assigned button for each phone number.
  • Hands Free Calling: Keeps your hands free for multi-tasking.
  • Redial: Press one button and you will be connected to the last phone number dialed on the telephone pad.
  • Caller ID: Lets you know who is calling by giving you the telephone number or the caller’s info even before you pick up the phone.

These are just a few but important features of small business phone systems you can use to make your business grow.

Trust your Hamilton IT support team at Solve-IT to help you with selecting the right phone system for your business.  Contact us before you make your final decision.

IT Security

Rogue Anti-Virus

Recently I have been onslaught with the latest generation of rogue anti-virus. When I run a series of system sweepers against the PC, the end result is that the rogue is no longer present but the user’s profile is still corrupted. When you log on as the local admin or domain admin, both uncorrupted profiles the PC behaves in a stable fashion. I have found the fastest and most effective way around the corrupted profile is to back up the user’s current profile on the PC. Delete the profile and add it anew. Restore any user data and you are off to the races, the user/client is happy and time is not wasted on a rebuild/reload of the OS and reload of all the applications.

So far I am two for two, I will keep you appraised of what occurs along the way.

Microsoft

Windows SBS 2008 Recovery

Recently, I ran into an interesting situation where a client’s computer (MAC) decided to have a Microsoft Outlook issue. Outlook crashed; and when it re-opened, it identified an issue with the client’s identity. Subsequently, it requested a rebuild of the user’s identity. Sadly, the rebuild was performed rather than the proper procedure of erasing the identity and recreating it. (I only service one Apple PC, so I don’t encounter this a lot. I only found out the proper procedure after the damage had already been done.)

Subsequently, the profile was rebuilt to the server; but all the calendar entries had been wiped out, as well as about 1GB of data was vaporized from the client’s exchange store. Needless to say, the client was overly pleased with the results. The client had not elected to use my preferred backup application, but at least had the Windows Small Business Server backups running.

I began the procedure to recover missing data from a specific email box as described by Microsoft. This requires the technician to perform a complete restore of the entire mail store (based on size and server speed, anywhere from 1-4 hours) to a redirected folder on the server. Once that is complete, you create an Exchange Recovery database and associate the required mail store to the recovery mailbox.

Following that you attempt to mount the mail store (AKA database) on the server so that it can be viewed and restored from. So far this all sounded rosy save for the initial recovery mechanism. If the file mounts successfully from the restore, you perform a mail merge operation and recover the user’s missing information and are off to the races.

Here’s the sour point: when you attempt to recover the database, the logs are likely missing and the database won’t mount gracefully. This will leave you in a heap of trouble since now you need to repair the database before you can mount the database (this is almost sexual, but I will leave that to another topic and this wouldn’t be a site you would be browsing for that type of story.)

Microsoft has made it much easier to run the old command lines for eseutil /d and eseutil /r by automating these commands for you. Keep in mind that since they have automated it, you can’t set the locations of the temporary databases (DBs). So if you have no space on the email store drive, this will fail. The major issue is the time taken to repair the DB before you can even begin to recover the mail.

Once I realized that my newly recovered database wouldn’t mount, I started the repair mechanism. Three hours later I was finally able to mount the database. At this point, I went through the basic steps of merging the user’s particular mailbox back into the existing email box and was successfully able to recover the missing 1GB of messages and their calendar items.

The end result of the story was that the user paid about $400 in service time to recover a singular failed mailbox because they didn’t want to spend $700 to buy a proper backup application.

Happily, the Microsoft application worked as advertised. I wouldn’t want to rely on it if I am interested in saving the client time in terms of recovery and lost productivity due to missing email.

mobility

4G Is Coming To Canada

4G is finally here. Though it will initially be available only in a few major Canadian cities, it will be available. With Telus officially announcing the rolling out of this technology starting in mid-2011, the prediction made by Deloitte’s Technology Media Telecommunications earlier this year appears to be coming true.

The report had suggested that the adoption of 4G might be slower than expected as some mobile providers have not fully utilized their existing 3G spectrum. Whatever it is, some of us will be using 4G soon. But what exactly is 4G? The term “4G” has been highly used with different carriers having their own definitions for the term making us more confused by the day.

4G, in simple terms, refers to wireless network-based on fourth-generation technology which will provide faster wireless service over 3G. It will be much more reliable and faster than the existing 3G wireless network, and the technology has been developed to cater to consumer’s growing demand for data to power their smartphones and tablet devices.

4G mobile technology and wireless carriers will have to implement one of the two systems, either Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) or Long Term Evolution (LTE) for the service to work. As far as Telus, the pioneer here, is concerned; it will be deploying LTE network and operate on the Advanced Wireless Services (AWS). Rogers, Bell, and Wind Mobile have also been thinking of using the same system but they have not made any announcements yet.

The transition from 3G to 4G will take some time. In fact, some of it has already been done. In 2009, Telus and Bell had brought forth 3G HSPA+ wireless network (also known as 3.5G). The 4G wireless network, according to Telus, will appear in early 2012 (remember, only in major cities) and it will take a short while for the service to be available nationwide.

business tips

Five Tips To Build Strong Client Relations

Your clients keep your business going; and unless you build strong relations with them, the chances of your business growing are almost nil. If you want your business to grow by maintaining a healthy relationship with your customers based on trust and good-will, here are five tips that will help:

  1. It is hard to support any relationship without keeping in touch, and your relationships with your clients are no exceptions to the rule. Stay in touch with your clients on a regular basis giving them relevant information about upcoming offers they might be interested in. Correspond with them using tailored and personal messages to make your customers feel more appreciated and focused on. There are plenty of Clients Relationship Management tools and software solutions out there that will help you create and manage relationships with your customers; but make sure you don’t bombard them with promotional messages.
  2. It is always easier to keep up relationships with existing customers than to create new ones. Focus on strengthening the relationship you already have with your clients. Find out clients who have been loyal to your business and make them feel special by giving them information first or sending them gifts for their birthdays or special occasions.
  3. If you have clients who run businesses, don’t just be a supplier for them. Change your transaction-based relationship into a partnership.
  4. Take it slow. Don’t except the relationship to become a strong one as soon as you have created it. Moving things too fast will make you seem as pushy and give your clients the feeling of being manipulated.
  5. Be honest with your clients. When dealing with your clients, be upfront and open. Hiding facts will only turn your clients skeptical.

We understand the importance of our client relationships. As your trusted Hamilton IT support professional or St. Catharine’s computer tech, we value each relationship with each client. We welcome you to test us out.