What we are covering Best practices The cloud Email and document storage Phones and faxes Home office suggestions Small business suggestions Where to buy Where to get support Fun stuff
What (I hope) you will get out of this seminar Best practices for security, backups, and privacy on the Internet An understanding of what moving to the cloud means and where to start Ideas for useful and cost effective technology for your business Suggestions for where to get support, hardware and software
The SME technology challenge Old and slow PCs with out of date software Important information not being backed up properly (if at all) Email all over the place Hard to get good cost effective IT support Not using the technology they already have effectively Not taking advantage of a lot of free or inexpensive really useful technology
Best practices If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly G.K. Chesterton (better to do something than nothing) Security (passwords/software/email) Privacy Backups
Best practices -passwords Never use your internet banking password for anything else (e.g. Facebook, email) Longer passwords are better than shorter ones but they don t have to be complicated phrases work too If you must record your passwords in a document somewhere write down hints rather than the full password, and protect the files with a password itself (e.g. axcrypt)
Best practices -software Keep your PC software up to date (Windows and MAC updates) Use an up to date Antivirus and Antispyware (PCs anyway MS Security Essentials Use a modern browser (Chrome, Safari, Firefox) Be very careful downloading and installing programs especially anything that says it will speed up your PC or fix registry problems. It won t but you will get lots of ads.
Best practices -privacy Don t worry about it because there is no privacy on the Internet Assume your email could be read by anyone once you send an email you don t know where it will end up Assume your documents are being read -once you write it down it may live forever Assume your phone calls are being recorded they probably are
Best practices backups/dr What would the impact be on your business if your office burnt down or someone walked off with all your computers? How long would it take you to be up and running again as you were?
Best practices backups/dr Backup your data the stuff you have created and can t replace easily (documents, photos etc;) Backup to portable external USB drives (the sort you don t need a power adapter for, buy at Dick Smith for $150 or less) MAC time machine PC buy software with external drive Use several USB drives and always keep one offsite
Best practices backups/dr Backup to the Internet too www.idrive.com USD $50 for 150GB Dropboxor Google Drive (more on this later) Check your backups occasionally to make sure they are really there and you can bring a document back
The cloud Mainframes Minicomputers PCs, networks and servers Client server Internet And now the cloud
The cloud Instead of you installing programs on your PC someone else does it at scale and you access it using your web browser and/or client programs over the Internet Examples Google, Gmail, Facebook, Dropbox, Xero...
The cloud -for Cheap pay as you go, economies of scale, and usually the price is locked in No software or upgrades to install No backups to worry about? Access it from anywhere you have Internet (including mobile phones and other devices) Integration with other cloud services (this will be huge) e.g. Xero and forex rates, postcode lookups You can get access to very powerful systems that you could never host yourself
The cloud -against Privacy? Often there is no offline mode if you lose the Internet you can t work Speed of internet connection (especially international links out of NZ) You don t know where your data is Pay as you go adds up
Email ISP Provided - e.g. xtra.co.nz, paradise.net.nz Free cloud -e.g. gmail, hotmail Cloud plus domain name e.g. Google Apps for Business, Office 365
ISP provided email Download email to your PC using an email account with your ISP (e.g. xtra.co.nz) The email lives on one PC does not play well with multiple devices and if the PC breaks then the email is lost probably forever The ISP usually offers a web interface but this can be very basic (paradise.net.nz) and you can t store much email there If you change ISPs you lose your email address and have to get a new one yourbusiness@xtra.co.nz does not look professional!
Free cloud email The mail stays on the server and is cached on your device A lifetime worth of storage A powerful web interface Can multiple devices on the email account (phone, PC, tablet) Ad supported yourbusiness@gmail.comstill does not look professional (but maybe an improvement on xtra?)
Cloud email with your own domain Sign up for a domain name www.1stdomains.co.nz www.registerdirect.co.nz Sign up for an email service Google Apps for Business http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/business/ Office 365 http://office.microsoft.com/en-nz/business/
Cloud email with your own domain It looks professional You are not locked into one email provider You can have multiple email addresses Domain name between $21 and $60 NZD per year Google Apps USD $50 per year per mail account Office 365 Small Business $77 NZD per year per email account Your own email server in the cloud
Lots of extras Email spam and antivirus filtering Document storage in the cloud Powerful email web client Web apps for editing documents Ability to host a public website Security and management tools Works well with MS Outlook as a client Works well with Smartphones and tables Can implement a poor man s email archive Two factor authentication And much more.
The case for Google Apps Very good search Good document storage and syncing Simple setup Big ecosystem of addins More innovation/faster to market
The case for Office 365 Tightly integrated to MS Office Supports all Outlook functions Web email client looks nicer and is simpler to use than Goggle Apps Pricing is in NZD Option for Office 365 plus desktop Office $199 per user per year
Shared document storage options Shared folder on a PC Server Cloud Dropbox Box.net Google Drive Skydrive Office 365 (Skydrive pro) icloud Etc;
Document storage in the cloud Store your documents in the cloud Sync them to multiple devices using client program (e.g. Dropbox) Alternative to a shared folder or even a server for small business file storage Work locally but can work in the browser Eventually it will all be in the cloud
Phones, faxes and VOIP VOIP = Voice over Internet Protocol Advantages Cost e.g. Five local numbers, one 0800 number, fax service, 6000 local minutes, 2000 national/international minutes, 150 mobile minutes FOR $65 per month inc GST from 2talk.co.nz Features cloud PABX with all features plus voice messages via email, call recording Disadvantages` Initial setup can be a bit techy you may need a hand blog.dowsemurray.co.nz and search for VOIP If you lose the Internet or power all calls go to voicemail
Home office < 5 PCs/Laptops Internet plus wireless router Windows 7 or 8.1 on PCs/laptops with Microsoft Security Essentials for antivirus OR Macs/Macbooks Microsoft Office Google Apps for Business/Office 365 with your domain name Dropbox/Google Drive/Skydrive for document sharing Idrive and USB drives for document backups Skype 2Talk for fax and phone Smartphones Brother MFC mono printer/copier/scanner HP colour laser if colour is needed
Small business up to 25 users Server HP or Dell running Microsoft Server 2012 Essentials (could use a NAS device) Windows active directory domain for password syncing and policies Shared drives Sync the file share to Dropboxetc;? Brother MFC duplex printer/scanner/copier Online email archive Hosted VOIP PABX from on.net Shredding bin - Mobile Onsite Shredding
Doing more with less Use Internet banking rather than cheques Major banks provide for multiple authorisations online But problems with ANZ Internet banking Use cloud based services Email Google Apps or Office 365 Accounting Xero Payroll Smartpayroll or ipayroll Job management/practice management - WorkflowMax Go VOIP Go paperless Scan and shred Emailed statements
Support and migration Bill Slykerman(general/cloud) - bill@supportedlinks.com One Stop IT (general) - http://www.onestopit.co.nz/ Cloud Inc (cloud) - http://www.cloudinc.co.nz/ Designgel (websites) - http://designgel.org.nz/ On Networks (ISP, VOIP PABX) www.on.net.nz
Where we buy Dick Smith/Harvey Norman PCs, printers, bits Warehouse Stationery Paper, printers www.trademe.co.nz MS Office www.ascent.co.nz hardware, software, cables www.nicegear.co.nz VOIP adapters www.i3.co.nz HP PCs, printers and servers www.dell.co.nz Servers www.apple.co.nz MACs
Finally keep it simple