As defined by Gartner’s IT glossary, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is: […] based on an IP standard that is capable of transporting voice and data packets over the same network. Unlike circuit-switched networks, IP doesn’t require a dedicated connection for an entire call. Voice signals are converted to packets that are sent across the network and reassembled in the correct order when they reach their destination. VoIP services can be deployed over the Internet or private IP networks (LAN/WLAN). Why should your business invest in a powerful VoIP solution? There are several reasons, but the most prominent one is that it’s a huge opportunity to save on your business’s operation expenses. Here are three reasons why VoIP is a significant contender for your business’s primary communications solution. Cost Savings: As already mentioned, VoIP has the ability to reduce communication costs every month in operational expenses. Legacy telephone companies are known for bundling together services that your business might not necessarily utilize, meaning that you’re wasting money paying for services that aren’t needed. A VoIP solution allows you to select from a variety of services, and you only pay for the ones that you use. Simple to Set Up: Because VoIP uses your Internet to transmit your voice, there are no extra wires that need to be added to your business’s infrastructure. There’s no overhaul of your entire cabling infrastructure to add new lines. Of course, this simplicity comes with a downside; your Internet connection must be stable and your bandwidth needs to be able to handle the increased traffic. Versatility: If you’re new to VoIP, you’ll be glad to hear that it’s super easy to use on several different types of devices. You can access your VoIP account through your browser, even if you’re on the move. All you need is an IP-enabled phone. This helps you stay productive even when you’re not in the office. SRS Networks has all of the tools and skills available to equip your business with powerful VoIP solutions that let you stay connected with both your customers and your employees. Depending on your business’s unique needs, you might need more than simple IP voice services. We can equip your business with video chat, instant messaging, and much more, as needed. Just give us a call at (831) 758-3636 to learn more.
Annual Budgeting is a Must When you set up a budget for your business, you first have to estimate all the expenses you absolutely have to take on in order to operate your business properly. These include: Rent/Mortgage Insurance Procurement costs Payroll and requisite taxes Marketing and sales Utilities (electric, water, Internet, etc.) Estimated maintenance costs Legal & accounting fees Licenses & fees Office supplies Travel costs Interest & depreciation This may be a daunting task, especially if you are new to business and new to a market. Once you ascertain what it costs to run your business annually, you have to be confident that you have the demand necessary to facilitate taking on these costs. By completing this task, you can attempt to play out different scenarios to get a better grasp on what is possible for your business over the next year. If you want to implement any major change to your business strategy, you’ll want to include it at this stage. Technology can be a significant expense, when you take into consideration that the costs are represented by several of the variables listed above. Not only do you need to procure the technology systems, but you need to improve the depreciated computing systems, to meet the specifications required to operate efficiently. You also have to consider the costs of IT support, since these systems are notoriously hard to predict. This often results in runaway technology costs that sap both the capital and operational budget. At SRS Networks, we provide solutions that can assist your business to ward against those runaway technology and support costs. Our comprehensive managed services offering delivers small and medium-sized businesses the opportunity to get all the technology support they need, for a consistent monthly flat-rate. With our remote monitoring and management solution, we can provide proactive maintenance to the machines attached to your network to ensure they remain reliable. We also make available help desk support and even on-site support for those times when remote support isn’t an option. These managed IT services can be indispensable for a business searching for a way to navigate your technology’s support, without having to pay a premium price. Managed IT services give you the opportunity to use more of your capital toward the administration of your business (like payroll), and to take on projects to make your business more efficient, without having to worry about the return on investment of your technology. Call us today at (831) 758-3636 to learn more about our managed IT services and other technology-related solutions.
Is Windows 10 Free? First, let’s talk about how Microsoft is handling the licensing/upgrade model. This has caused a lot of confusion over the past few months. If you are running a legitimate copy of Windows 7 or Windows 8, it’s likely that you’re eligible to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. There are a few requirements: If you have Windows 7, you need to be updated to Service Pack 1 If you have Windows 8, you need to be updated to Windows 8.1. Your version of Windows needs to be a registered copy. Windows 7 and 8 Enterprise are NOT eligible for the free upgrade. Windows RT is not eligible for the free upgrade. You have one year from July 29th, 2015 to get your free update to Windows 10. In short, most Windows 7 and 8.1 users will be able to upgrade their operating system to Windows 10 for free, as long as they do it within the next year. What’s New in Windows 10? The Slickest Windows Experience Yet Since a lot of people didn’t care for some of the changes made in Windows 8 and 8.1, Microsoft toned down what wasn’t working. The Metro Live tile interface that received a lot of flack has returned, but it’s less intrusive. Unless you’re using a tablet-like device or you want it front and center, the brightly-colored tiles stay tucked away. Cortana Microsoft’s answer to Siri, Cortana, is integrated with Windows 10. Cortana brings voice search capabilities to Windows in much the same way Siri does for the iPhone. She can help search for files, open applications, and search Bing. It’s nice to see this technology finally hit desktops and laptops, but it’s pretty clear smartphones are the ideal environment for Cortana. We don’t foresee many people talking into their PC’s microphone the way they might on their mobile device. Also, Android users will immediately feel out of place without any integration with Google. As expected, Microsoft’s Cortana is solely partnered with Microsoft Bing for web searches. It’s not a terrible interface, but power users are going to feel a little odd not having the choice. Asking Cortana to “sing a song” almost makes up for this shortcoming though (give it a try). Lots and Lots of Little Tweaks There are new keyboard shortcuts, better window controls, improved notifications, and a lot of other little improvements. Most users probably won’t dig into these very deeply, but if you want to get the most out of your gadgets, Windows 10 delivers users a lot of nifty improvements to explore. One of the most interesting additions is virtual desktops, which allow you to spread your work across multiple desktops that you can cycle through quickly. The New Browser Microsoft Edge, the long awaited replacement for Internet Explorer, is a huge improvement. The browser is faster, more secure, and has a lot of modern features reminiscent of smartphone browsers. It’s easy to share information, take notes, and get access to relevant information. Edge might not convert any die-hard Firefox or Chrome fans, but it should improve the experience of users who just use what browser the operating system gives them. Furthermore, you can take notes and draw on web pages for future reference. Tighter Integrations with Office 365 This is where things […]
Why Passwords Aren’t Good Enough Passwords might have been valuable once upon a time, at the dawn of computing when hacking was in its infancy, but thanks to advanced hacking techniques, finding out a user’s password has grown increasingly easy. In fact, all a hacker needs to do so is to trick a user into forking over sensitive information by posing as someone with authority through an email message or phone call (a tactic known as “phishing”). That’s right; it’s really that easy. Granted, not all business professionals will fall for these simple tricks. Still, that doesn’t mean that your employees, who aren’t nearly as skeptical as you, won’t unintentionally throw your business under the bus by handing out your credentials like it’s candy on Halloween. As the owner of your business, it’s your responsibility to make sure that all of your infrastructure’s bases are covered. Introducing Two-Factor Authentication In the most basic terms, two-factor authentication is a way to make it more difficult for hackers to access your accounts. This is typically done by using a separate security credential that only you have access to. This additional security measure is often enough to dissuade hackers from attempting to access your network (or bank account, email, Facebook, etc.). For them, it’s simply a matter of risk and effort, versus the reward. If the return on investment isn’t worth the effort, they’ll probably leave you alone. Some of the most popular methods of two-factor authentication include: SMS Message: A secondary code is sent to your smartphone. All you have to do is enter it when your account prompts you to and you’ll have access to your account. Email to a Secondary Address: If you’d rather not receive your authentication code with your phone, you can simply check your secondary email address for it. Voicemail: You can even have your security code sent to your phone’s voicemail, or in an automated voice call. Two-Factor Authentication Apps: Some accounts, like Google and Microsoft, allow for easy authentication simply by connecting your account to an application on your smartphone. There are plenty of two-factor authentication choices out there. SRS Networks can help equip your business with the highest quality standard for your organization’s security solutions. Our services range from providing preventative measures, remote monitoring, and even offering two-factor authentication. Reach out to us at (831) 758-3636 to find out more about how SRS Networks can assist your business.
Take Advantage of Visual Aids Using a visual aid for your presentation isn’t an option; it’s mandatory. Consider these statistics: People are six times more likely to retain information from a presentation if a visual aid is used. For humans, 83 percent of all learning occurs visually. For businesses, Microsoft PowerPoint has been the standard visual aid tool for years. Although, if you’re looking for an alternative that may better fit your needs, look into other presentation tools like Prezi, Microsoft Sway, and a host of other apps that can be found online (some are even free). Additionally, consider using a physical object as an illustration. Go Big On the Introduction You know from your business dealings just how important first impressions are. Presentations are no different. Take it from Cesar Gomez, vice president of Toastmasters, Valencia: The first seconds of a talk are critical. If the introduction is boring and without imagination, the audience will lose their interest in the rest of the presentation. A creative and interesting beginning captures and maintains the attention of the people. In addition to capturing the audience’s attention with a dynamic introduction, it will give you a confidence boost that will carry you through the rest of your presentation. Also, be aware that your introduction will set the tone for your entire speech. Therefore, be sure to align your introduction with what you want to accomplish with your speech. If you’re trying to establish credibility, share statistics or a relevant personal story. If you want to entertain, open with a joke. For your consideration, here are some additional ways to enhance your introduction: Start with a quote. Tell a story. Communicate why your presentation will bring value. Surprise your audience with an antidote that’s completely unexpected. Look ‘em in the Eye Eye contact during a presentation is one of the biggest aspects of a speech that separates the amateurs from the professionals. Maintaining eye contact throughout the duration of your presentation is essential. It establishes your authority and captures the attention of your audience. Obviously, you don’t want to be overly-creepy about it by staring someone down, but you do want to attempt to refrain from looking at your notes as much as you can. One way to accomplish this is by memorizing your speech. Bring Something to Give Away By investing in a giveaway, you’re communicating to your audience that you care about the presentation and them. Additionally, an audience member who walks away with a memento from your speech will go on to remember you every time they come across the object. Therefore, be sure to give away something practical that they can use over and over again. To take your giveaway to the next level, be sure to tie it in with a product or service that your company offers. Here are some examples: A free consultation. A free eBook. Branded merchandise (like mouse pads, coffee mugs, pens, tote bags, etc.). Samples of your product or a trial of your service. It’s also a best practice to give your audience a copy of your presentation so they can have something to reference. This can be done with handouts of your speech and an audio copy of your presentation. Always End With a Call to Action At the end of your […]
Step 1: Define Your Audience You might recall reading about sociolinguistics at some point or another. This is the study of how different people speak to one another. For example, if you tried to speak to your doctor the same way you speak to a toddler, they’ll probably really, genuinely think that something’s wrong with you. Similarly, you might speak to your clients differently than you do to your leads and competitors. Thus, knowing your audience is one of the key elements of preparing for your next presentation. Do some research and come up with a definition for who you’re marketing to. Include information that they’ll want to hear, and speak to them in an appropriate manner. It’s important to establish a meaningful connection with them while presenting. Step 2: Present Valuable Content The point of any good presentation is to offer valuable content. This means engaging the audience with information that is relevant to their current situation. Consider what your audience wants to do with the information you present, and what you want them to walk away with. By providing deep, enriched content that’s tailored specifically for your audience, along with practical knowledge that can easily be implemented, you can offer your audience more than enough reason to buckle down and pay attention. Plus, if you don’t put adequate thought into the preparation process, your audience will be able to tell. Step 3: Practice Makes Perfect One way to beat glossophobia is to practice, practice, practice. You can never practice too much. After you’ve thoroughly researched and composed what you’d like to present, it’s time to ensure you can present it in a clear, organized fashion. Once you’re familiar with the content, you can rehearse in front of a mirror rather than a live audience. This helps you work on your facial and other physical expressions. Once you’re comfortable rehearsing on your own, you should rope some of your colleagues or coworkers in. This helps you get a feel for how your presentation will sound in front of a live audience. Besides that, it gives you a chance to get some constructive feedback. You can then change your approach accordingly. Step 4: Examine Successful Presentations The quality of your presentation is going to be based on both the amount of personality you display, and your comfort level speaking to a group of people. In order to find your voice, consider reviewing presentations of those you admire from within your industry. Try to imitate them and borrow elements from their on-stage behavior. Pay attention to their use of humor, vocal inflection, facial expressions, and other non-verbal characteristics that could enhance your communication skills. If you don’t know where to start looking, visit www.ted.com, where you’ll find unlimited amounts of amazing speakers presenting on an array of extremely interesting and relevant topics. This week, we covered how you can best prepare for your presentations. Next week’s tip will contain information on how you can deliver the most effective presentations possible. As always, stay tuned for the best productivity and technology tips from SRS Networks by subscribing to our blog.
Newsle The Newsle web service is a great way to find out what your competitors are up to. This website pulls information from LinkedIn to determine what your competitors are doing. It archives any articles or pages that use your competitors’ names so you can always be sure what they’re doing, be it news or a site update. Newsle offers the ability to receive email notifications so you can always stay on top of your competitors. This provides a discreet way of knowing what your competitors are doing, so you can continuously take advantage of what they’re not doing. MSN Money Just like Newsle, MSN Money is a free app that you can use to keep track of your competitors’ activity. It comes with Windows 8, so you might even already have it on some of your workstations. It acts similarly to Newsle, pulling information from all over the Internet, including news sources, finance blogs, and major newspapers. MSN Money offers a comprehensive view of the stock market, news, and financial performance of industries, allowing you to compare and contrast your own performance with those of competitors. Glassdoor Glassdoor is known primarily as a tool to help job seekers find employment, but it also has plenty of services that are valuable for you as an employer. One of Glassdoor’s best features is its ability to display salaries and user reviews of companies. This helps you offer more incentives to your own employees to prevent your competitors from poaching your talent. Plus, if your team is confident you provide the best compensation around, they’ll be more likely to work harder. Feedly RSS Reader Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a way of taking multiple blog streams and putting them into one. This gives you the advantage of checking out all of your preferred blogs in just one place. With Feedly, you can read a summary of the blog post before reading the whole thing. This helps you judge what’s most worth your time before indulging in something that’s not important. By using Feedly, you can follow important news in your industry and local communities. CrunchBase With a free web application and mobile apps available, CrunchBase is an ideal research tool to follow companies, products, and services from all sorts of different backgrounds and areas. CrunchBase will also list products and contact information for any companies that pop up in the search feed. Google Alerts Google Alerts lets you set up an automatic detection system for when Google detects a new piece of content is published on a particular subject. You can set these up so that the second anything is published about either your company or a competitor, you can get email notifications, meaning you’re always watching… waiting… A little knowledge of your competition is invaluable in the long run. What are your thoughts and best practices concerning your competition? Let us know in the comments.
Tablet devices are very similar to modern day smart phones. In fact, in most cases, the apps you run on the phone usually translate to the apps ran on the tablet. You get the basics; email, web surfing, streaming video, calendar, note taking, and more, but the difference is you get all that on a larger device. Ask yourself if you would like that basic functionality that your smart phone gets with a larger playing field, and you’ll have a pretty good inclination of you want to jump on the tablet bandwagon. However, the future of tablets is looking even more robust; Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system is being built for both desktops and laptops and also tablets. This means you’ll get the same OS you would run on a desktop PC on your handheld tablet. Although the hardware in a tablet isn’t quite as beefy as what you’d find in a desktop, dual and quad-core CPUs and integrated graphics and generous amounts of memory are found in the cutting-edge devices, so expect tablets in the not-too-distant future to be major contenders to laptops as far as mobility and compatibility. As for the tablets on the market now, there are plenty to choose from. Let’s take a short look at a few of the leading contenders. iPad 2 The Apple iPad established itself as the gold standard for tablets. The device is sleek, well designed, easy-to-use, and boasts a great set of features and capabilities. With it being the most popular tablet device, it also has the most apps developed for it. Remember, you can’t just take software that works on your desktop and put in on a tablet; so you are limited to the apps available. Fortunately the Apple App market place is very extensive, and often enough when a developer makes software for tablets, they start with the iPad. The iPad2 starts at $499. Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 The Galaxy Tab is essentially the iPad’s closest rival. Instead of using Apple’s iOS, the Galaxy Tab is powered by Google’s Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS. If you own and like your Android smart phone, you’ll feel right at home with this tablet. Android’s App marketplace is continually growing, and while it isn’t as massive as Apple’s, it’s getting very close. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10,1 is also $499, although some carriers offer a 4G mobile version for a little bit more. Amazon Kindle Fire Amazon’s foray into the tablet world is a little smaller than the 10 inch tablets mentioned so far. The 7-inch tablet is also cheaper at $199, and packs quite a bit of functionality using Amazon’s multimedia ecosystem. The Kindle Fire lets you surf the web, read books, watch streaming videos, and more. Since the Kindle Fire has just come out, it’s a little too early to decide if it has what it takes for business use, but the low price makes it very attractive for multimedia and ebooks. Nook Tablet Much like the Kindle Fire, the Nook isn’t really built to perform. At $250, the tablet is more geared towards handling ebooks, email and other basic multimedia. Toshiba Thrive Not the prettiest tablet of the bunch, the 10 inch Thrive is thick and heavy. However, it supports a full USB port, HDMI and SD card slot, […]
This model of IT support, the model that SRS Networks proudly adheres to, is designed to deliver substantial value for any organization looking to cut capital costs, and improve their IT security and the efficiency of their business. Once you couple the comprehensive IT management and support platform with the development and deployment of secure and dynamic computing resources, it becomes clear to business owners that we can present a wide variety of enterprise-level options for the modern small and medium-sized business. One way MSPs have diversified over the years is that they have begun to distribute cloud computing platforms, essentially handling all the virtual needs of businesses that are curious about what hosted computing solutions can do for them. In fact, a survey conducted by THINKstrategies and MSPAlliance found that over four out of five MSPs have seen their revenues grow thanks, in large part, to the growth in demand for secure utility computing platforms. To meet this demand, more MSPs have had to establish data centers or contract colocation centers, in which equipment, space, and bandwidth are available for rental. This allows businesses to get the customized and scalable cloud computing platform they need to properly host the computing and applications they utilize day-in and day-out. With forms of virtualized computing becoming wildly popular, many MSPs have begun to offer their own hosted platforms as well as solutions from third-party software vendors in an active attempt to meet the needs of every business in the market. Your average hosted solution removes the need for IT management, as the colocation service or the MSP that handles all the support and management of these platforms, absorbing this cost into the service fee we charge. This trend is projected to continue for the next several years, as new cloud-based capabilities improve frequently and exponentially. Whether it is the implementation and proactive IT support for a private cloud, or the virtualization of your company’s information to make it easier to utilize your available computing resources, MSPs like SRS Networks are in a position to assist any company. A study by MarketsandMarkets has predicted that total MSP business will jump nearly 100 percent annually to $255 billion by 2018. As many businesses have found out over the past few years, partnering with a managed service provider like SRS Networks will not only vastly reduce downtime, but also provide your organization with the solutions you are looking for to get the most out of every dollar that’s budgeted for technology. Call us today to find out how we can help your organization get to the next level.
Click, Drag, and Drop If you’re browsing Google Chrome and you see a word or words that you want to search for, all you have to do is highlight the text and then click, drag, and drop it into the search bar (the same bar where the URL is displayed). Upon doing this, Google will jump into action and automatically perform a search for you. It doesn’t get much easier than that. Click and Right-Click Then again, maybe it does. With the power of right-click, you can skip the pesky drag-and-drop thing altogether. All you have to do is highlight the text in Google Chrome that you would like Google to search for, right-click it, and then select Search Google for […]. Surely and suddenly, Chrome will open up a new tab displaying whatever it is you’re searching for. Have you tried out either one of these Google Search methods using Chrome before? If not, give it try by selecting any of the words on this page. For example, we think you’ll enjoy the search results after highlighting the phrase “SRS Networks California managed IT” (just do us a favor and don’t select our website if you see a little yellow box saying “Ad” next to our Google listing–the cost of those Google Adwords clicks add up fast.) Or Just Use Your Voice Of course, at the end of the day, it doesn’t get much easier than just performing a Google search with your voice. All you have to do is go to Google’s home page and (with your microphone activated) say “OK Google.” A red microphone icon will suddenly appear and Google will anxiously await your orders. Next, tell Google whatever it is you’re looking for and your wish is its command. Just remember to speak clearly and have all other background noises toned down, or else Google will pick up on these words too, and come up with some wild and wacky search results. There you have it. With these three Google Search methods in your arsenal, you’ll never again have to be bothered by all that pesky typing. Celebrate this achievement by kissing your bulky keyboard goodbye and tossing it in the trash… and then use one of these three Google Search methods to buy a new one, because you’re probably still going to need a keyboard for other things. For more technology-related productivity tips, subscribe to our blog and check back with SRS Networks’s website every week.