With mates like these…

Posted on by March 4, 2014

Business Matters published an article last week about the perils of ‘matesourcing’ (which nearly 30% of SMEs are doing according to a Management Today article), ie asking friends or family to sort out IT problems. The logic is simple – get someone you know to do the job for a fraction of the price, but that logic is flawed.

Handing over such vital operations to an amateur or someone not formally contracted to handle your company’s IT leaves you with no real come back when the problem isn’t solved or even worse, causes you further and more complex IT problems that you still end up spending to sort out and likely spending more as the professionals you bring in will need to unpick those well-meant but damaging efforts.

If IT is not your area of expertise, speak to several IT companies and find the one you click with. Get them to review your IT set-up, to make recommendations and to draw up a basis for a maintenance and support contract. We do all that for free. Make sure your IT provision has professional care behind it, not your aunty’s mate’s best friend’s dog.

Newsletter 21st March 2011

Posted on by March 20, 2013

Bugle, Inquirer or Globe? The OpenSure Web? We thought we’d ring some changes on the back of an article we read (but now can’t find, whoops) which informed us that calling a newsletter a newsletter was so last year. Welcome to the OpenSure Courier. There, much more exciting.

The Start-Up Clinic
Our first Start-Up Clinic was last Thursday. A huge thank-you to all the companies and organisations who gave their time (and, it must be said, went away with Oliver’s Cider and Bailey’s Jackson Bars) and have asked to take part in the next one. As a networking event it was a roaring success, but public turn-out was poorer than we’d hoped. Still, undaunted, we’re looking to run the next one in Hereford or Ludlow, and expand it to be a Small Business Clinic. Please tell us what YOU would like to see at the next Clinic, and which location would be best for you.

New Financial Year, New Budget
The new financial year is just round the corner. Are you planning any changes to your IT spend? Do you know what your IT spend amounts to, what it breaks down into and which bits are good value? Would you know how to make savings without compromising security or performance? There’s a great deal written about this sort of thing all the time (IT Donut is a good source), but if you’re looking for personal service then please take advantage of our FREE IT spend review and start the 2011/12 financial year confident that your IT spend is working in your best interests and gives priority to the elements most important to your business.

IT for Business Workshops
The next workshop is three weeks away, on Thursday April 14th, 9.30-12.30. We’re having a nearly-last minute change of venue and are expecting to hold the workshop nearer to Hereford than Leominster. Online sign-up is suspended while we move to a new website (should go live this week but one can’t rush these things…), but if you’d like to sign up please email heather@opensure.net.

Other bits and pieces that have caught our eye recently include:

* QR Codes – have you ever heard of them? You’ve probably seen them. This Marketing Donut article explains how to use them for mobile marketing
* An open source alternative to Skype, GNU Free Call has been announced. The article is a shining example of geek speak, but it boils down to GFC being more secure and less controlling, perfect open source credentials
* Stop tearing your hair out over SEO. This Investor article explains why SEO can be irrelevant to start-up websites, and this Econsultancy article explains why good content will always win out
*  And some good news: this Business Matters article tells us that small business optimism is high, despite the financial climate

And finally:

We liked this, and quite frankly we had been wondering. Mine’s a Krispy Kreme.

And this makes interesting reading  – how geeks are helping with the disaster response in Japan

We hope you’re happy with the frequency of the newsletters. Please let us know what you think of the whole thing.

Please turn to point 4

Posted on by March 4, 2014

There’s been a deluge of articles lately on the subject of IT hardware and services for business, specifically start-ups. IT Donut published another today, a good common sense gallop through the key considerations of IT purchasing.

Points four and seven caught our eye particularly: managed services and cloud computing. These are our babies – we host and manage online services for business, so we combine the two things.

Managed Services

Managing services means that companies don’t have to struggle with administering an IT system if it’s not their forte; someone else is responsible for day-to-day care and maintenance of the system and will make the changes you ask for – extra email addresses, additional software packages, domain name purchases and so on and so on.

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing has become something of a bogeyman and many ‘experts’ will warn you off it, but cloud computing is not just one thing. There’s no firm definition, but cloud computing is based on separating physical hardware from the use of the resource. Usually that refers to a third party cluster of equipment and services offered in chunks to meet computing needs, but you can create your own cloud using existing equipment if you have it.

So, cloud computing doesn’t have to mean dancing to the tune of a massive, impersonal company and having headaches over who owns your data and having to play by someone else’s rules. Create your own, or go to a smaller company such as ourselves who provide the same resource but tailor it to your needs, providing the combination of software you want (rather than ‘you’re on our servers, you use what we provide’) and give you absolute ownership of your own data at all times, including if you decided to leave us – I mean please don’t, but we wouldn’t make it difficult if you did.

Keeping Up

As the IT Donut article says, embracing cloud computing absolves a company of worries about server upkeep, “replacing a costly and complex piece of hardware with an external service and a manageable monthly cost.”. The article goes on to point out that using a managed service makes it a doddle to keep up with swiftly-moving developments in IT.

Does it sound like a good move, or a leap into the unknown? If we can answer any questions on cloud computing please email info at opensure dot net, or leave us a comment below.