THINQ's Blog

Entrepreneurs, Business Owners, Managers: Tell us Your "IT Pains"

When we meet with new clients, there is a common theme we hear repeatedly - "Make my IT pains go away!  I just need IT to Work!".

Sound familiar?  If so, obviously you're not alone.  

Most often, small businesses use a wide variety of resources to support their day-to-day IT operations.  For example, some companies use internal staff to double as IT personnel, others use a family member to help out, or a "buddy" who is an "IT guru" that chips in, or an outsourced IT individual or group that manages the IT stuff.

Each IT support mechainism takes a different road, but ends up at the same rendevous point for you - "PAIN". 

Listed below are the most common IT frustrations we hear from new clients.  

• "As an owner, I spend too much time worrying about IT"
• "I need to focus on my business, not IT"
• "We're frustrated.  We don't know how much we spend on IT and what we are getting in return"
• "Our systems are slow"
• "How can we lower our IT costs?"
• "My staff is aggravated by our slow network"
• "Our systems (servers) go down once a week, is this normal?"
• "I am not confident our backups are working"
• "I'm fed up with our IT"
• "My IT support is slow to respond"
• "My IT group has no sense of urgency to our problems"
• "Our IT systems feel unstable"
• "It has taken 4 weeks to roll out our new server"
• "What the heck is cloud computing?  Do we need that?"
• "We don't want to be technologically obselete!"
• "How can my staff work better?"
• "My IT dude takes days to fix a problem"
• "My IT group never follows up"
• "How do we know the right technology to buy?"
• "I don't understand the geak-speak of my IT provider"
• "I Just Want IT To Work!"

Do these harried sounds of IT grievances echo throughout your office?  

The good news is this problem is solvable.  Each pain is merely a sympton.  

Far too often, IT folks work hard to solve the sympton rather than the root of the problem, hence the extended stay of the symptom. Metaphorically, if your IT operations has the flu, you shouldn't try to remedy the soar-throat, sneezing, coughing, stuffy nose, watery eyes, or chills individually.  Symptoms are a by-product of a larger problem.  

Mark Twain once quoted - "For every problem there is always a solution that is simple, obvious, and wrong". Yet, IT folks' conventional thinking operates precisely in this manner. 

The right approach should involve:

1. Assessment - a full 360 degree analysis of your technology systems and how aligned it is to the business.

2. Stabilize - before turning on your IT systems after-burners, the environment must be stable and problem-free. 

3. Optimize - with no more system inefficiencies, now your IT engine room can run at peak performance.  Your IT investments are now fostering the growth of your business.

4. Managed - with proper care and IT management, you can work on your business, not in your business.  Your business needs an IT partner not a vendor.   

All told, fix the flu, symptons are solved, no more IT Pains.  Keep IT simple and get your life back.

What are some of your small business IT pains?  We would like to hear from you.

THINQ Client Success Story - Heath & Lineback Engineers

Meet one of our long-standing happy IT managed service clients from Marietta, Georgia.

 

Mr. Tom Barwick

Principal / Director of IT - Heath & Lineback Engineers 

Marietta, Georgia - Heath & Lineback Engineers, formed in 1994, specializes in Civil Engineering with expertise in Transportation Design, Water & Wastewater design, civil/site, design/build, airport design, construction engineering and planning management for federal/state/local Government and private enterprises throughout the Southeast.

 

To learn what THINQ can do for your small business, contact us at www.thinq.net

It's the Weekend - Do You Know What Your IT Systems Are Doing?

Sunny Saturdays (like this weekend) make you want to pack the car and head to the nearest coastal town for some stress-free relaxation.  Besides, you deserve a weekend off. You grind out 60/80/100 hours work week routinely. Work can wait until Monday.  Everything should be fine.  Or will it?

As an entrepreneur, small business owner, or manager, why should you think anything could negatively impact your IT systems over the weekend. With no one working, nothing should be over-taxing the company's IT resources, right?

In the wonderful complex world of IT, this is when the tech gremlins go hog wild as we say. Historically and ironically, most networks, internet lines, and server systems seem to arbitrarily decide to take the weekend off as well.  This leaves for a spectacular start on Monday morning with more stress - staff cannot generate revenue, you cannot work, clients cannot be reached, invoices cannot be remitted, sales and marketing halted, and so on.  No one likes a "$10,000 Monday morning loss".

The Solution - 

Hire a qualified IT management and support provider that will own your IT headaches. Ideally, select an IT managed services outfit that is specialized to your specificy industry.  Also, verify your IT service plan includes 24x7 network and server room monitoring and alerting.  Most importantly, identify your IT service coverage includes an on-call IT technician.  

After-hour access to your office is crucial.  With access, your IT group can get your systems back on online and stabilized before Monday morning.  Another important piece of advice, your IT partner should have a business continuity plan ready to deploy.  Basically, a contingency plan ("Plan B or C") designed and tested to return each critical component of your IT operations back to service.  Prosaic is always better than catastrophic.

In short, with the right IT partner, you can live in peace again.  You can get a portion of your life back with one less business item to stress over.  As the old medical proverb states "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of a cure".  So, partner with a professional IT management firm with a solid service guarantee to manage the success of your business.   Enjoy your weekend.

See you Monday morning.

New Game Plan for IT Management

To beat out your respective competitors, are you devoting 10% or more of your total capital expenditure to your Information technology resources and assets?  

Chances are you're not.  If not, you would be in the minority.  Businesses worldwide are pumping over $2 trillion into their information technology systems each year.  

Truth be told, a lot of IT Resellers, Managed Services Providers (MSP's) (our industry peers), are selling this premise to small businesses that in order to gain an enduring advantage and stronger financial results, businesses must constantly spend more on IT.  That is a trap. Overspending and overinvesting in IT soaks up hidden profits.  If your IT partner cannot translate where IT spend improves the balance sheet, income statement, and overall financials, be skeptical.  

IT is not about 'Bits and Bytes' management anymore.  Rather, IT is about efficiency and economy.  IT firms must think in entrepreneurial terms similar to their client's thinking. Together these two factors are the most important salient characteristics of IT management. The rules for proper IT management have changed.  Below are examples of the new rules.

The new approach for managing technology:

1. Spend Less on IT (yeah we said it)  

Overspending on IT can ruin profitability.  Each IT investment or upgrade must be rigorously evaluated on the expected returns to the business. This weeds out indiscretionary purchases. Without an IT budget, no cost controls exists.  Penalties for wasteful spending will only grow larger.  Impose hard limits on upgrades and be passive with new purchases.

An Example:

- Businesses buy 100 million + PC computer each year.  Computing power is outstripping the staff member and business' needs.  Why purchase a turbo-charged powerhouse of a  PC for a staff member that only uses basic office applications.  

- Data storage is another critical area.  Servers, hosted servers, and storage appliances are getting filled up with saved data such as non-business files as personal email, vidoes, music files, entertainment applications, etc.  Translation - storage fills up  unpredictably,  business storage expenditures increase.

2. Be a follower, not a Leader

Postpone IT purchases in order to lower costs and avoid the risk of buying cutting edge, version 1.0 technology premium pricing.  Wait to buy only after other manufacturers offer the same or comparable product. Once predatory pricing is introduced for a product, the product becomes a commoditiy, which inadvertently and significantly drops the sticker price.  You'll get more mileage out of your dollars.

3. Avoid Vendor driven spending strategies

The above new IT management standards flies in the face of conventional thinking. But, the business climate is ever changing.  Small businesses can reap significant savings by simply cutting out wasteful spending and abiding in the new rules of IT management.  Let your impatient competitors shoulder the high costs associated with new product development costs and experimentation.  Oracle's founder and CEO, Larry Ellison, admitted in an interview that "most companies spend too much (on IT) and get very little in return".  

From THINQ, Inc. - Happy Thanksgiving To All

On behalf of the THINQ IT support, sales, and administrative teams, we want to wish everyone a safe and pleasant Thanksgiving Holiday this year.  We are all grateful for the blessings, liberties, and freedoms we partake in every day afforded to us by our Creator.

Naturally, this is a time to offer thanks, a time for family gatherings and holiday meals.  A time for turkeys, stuffing, pumpkin pie (or apple pie), and of course football and shopping.

We are thankful for all the members of THINQ and their families that support the long hours, late nights, weekends, and time away from their personal lives in effort to serve our clients' needs with unwavering devotion.

Last, but not least, we are thankful for our esteemed clients and their loyalty.  Naturally, without you, nothing happens. Truly, we are grateful for your ongoing business and friendships.

Have an Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving.

 

The THINQ Team

 

To An Industry Maverick - Thank You Steve

THINQ's Connection to Mr. Jobs

I would be remiss if a short word of appreciation was not bespoken about Steve Jobs and his impact on our firm, THINQ, Inc.  

In 1995, I read John Sculley's book "Odyssey".  In short, it detailed his journey with Steve Jobs at Apple.  Although well-written and entertaining, what impressed me the most was his account of Steve's unconventional approach to business and unwavering desire to produce something different and "insanely" great for the market. Fully inspired, we started THINQ, Inc., 3 years later as an IT solution provider for small businesses in Atlanta, Georgia.  

Like many, we cut our teeth in this industry on a Mac. Interestingly, THINQ's very first project was in fact, networking Apple Macintosh computers for a small retail business on AppleTalk (painful now to think about it). Nevertheless, it worked.

But what I found most impressive about Steve was in his character during his startup of NeXT Computers. Ousted from Apple, his founding company, by his hand-picked executive hire, John Sculley, he didn't quit.  You know the story. He re-entered the industry with his "next" great startup.  With his grit, indomitable will to succeed, and unbending belief in himself, he just kept plowing away regardless of the odds. This should serve as an inspiration to all us, especially young budding IT entrepreneurs. It obviously impacted me.  A good read on Steve's journey with NeXT is well-documented in the book -  'Steve Jobs NeXT Big Thing'.

Even his "NeXT" logo design served as an inspiration for THINQ's logo.  You can see it in our tilted cubed logo design today.

We are grateful for technology buccaneers like Steve, who helped not only pioneer a new science and incredible products, but also a new industry for us to participate in. Steve's meticulousness to detail, high quality, doing things right, and putting the client's and other's interests first, is a great lesson to all of us in the game of business and the game of life.

Bryan J. Maggi -  CEO / President

 

 

 

 

 

Tech Brief: Apples Announces the iPhone 4s

Today Apple announced their new iPhone, for good or bad, it is now here.

The question now is if you are an iPhone user or are planning on becoming one how will this new iPhone work for you? The new iPhone, dubbed iPhone 4s, is basically the same phone as the previous model.

The big difference between the two is all in the “S”. It now contains the A5 chip found in the iPad2.  The new features include an improved antenna for reception, higher quality camera capabilties, most of all is Siri.  Siri is amazing.  Siri lets you use your voice to send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls, and find a local mexican cantina nearby. It will not only find it for you, but remember it.  

The real feature on the new 4s is the fact that iOS5 will be coming out soon for both the 4 and the 4s.  What does this mean?  iOS5 will have a drop down notification feature, reminders with geo location “fences”, and even an app that will allow you to send get well cards" strait from the phone.

All in all it is a great phone for both business and personal use.  Probably the best phone on the market for at least 6 months.  Naturally, all good things have a nice price.  Therefore, if you are currently under contract with provider, check to see when your upgrade date is due. Otherwise, you will end up spending full retail price for the iPhone 4s.  For more details, ask your IT service provider or IT management partner.    

Brad Davis
THINQ's Apple Wunderkind

7 Reasons to Create an IT Budget

The purpose of an IT budget -

A budget tells your money what to do rather than figuring out where your money went each month.

Why do most small businesses avoid IT budgets?  Fear, apprehension, economic and market uncertainty, commitment, and trusting someone else to manage the check book are all worthy concerns for owners/entrepreneurs avoiding budget talks.

In fairness, non-technical leaders are skeptical about whether their IT purchases are paying off.  They are becoming increasingly frustrated with their IT leaders because they do not see, feel, or understand the value.  As IT leaders, this is our fault.  If you don't understand the business, it's needs, model, operation, how can you possibly recommend the right engine to drive the business?  In short, you can't.

As we say at THINQ, "It's not all about the technology, it's about the business!". IT investments must foster the growth of the business, increase its efficiency, and align IT resources to business priorities.  Forming an IT budget must address these concerns.

Here are seven reasons to start an IT Budget:

1. Avoid unchecked, wasteful spending
2. Tool for decision making
3. Forecast total IT expenses
4. Cap your IT spend
5. No unexpected emergency ("as needed") IT purchases
6. Increase the efficiency of the business
7. Convert IT into a Profit Center

Ultimately, a well-oiled and managed IT is like running a business.  The same General Ledger laws should apply to IT.  It is important to measure the cost of capital for IT investments with an appropriate, measurable rate of return and the improvements to the business.  No longer should IT be expressed in technical terms that few people understand.  Instead, IT, if properly managed, should prove its value in the business.

Are your IT resources an overhead costs or profit center?  Stay tuned as we breakdown each of the above budget points in the next several upcoming blog posts.

A THINQ Client Testimonial

This is a quick brag on our service delivery team.  From our field support technicians to our service desk, they take care of client's small business IT operational issues quick and accurately every time.  

Below is a short unsolicited follow up from a wonderful four-year client detailing their service experience with THINQ's IT support team.  Our client is headquartered out of Southern California with offices in Arizona and Georgia.  

"I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you and your staff for all your help and support with my issues in Georgia. Your service and professionalism goes above and beyond the service that I sometimes get from other vendors.  I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the follow-ups after the job is completed.

You and your staff always strive to keep me up to date on what is happening.  I am so thankful that you are only a phone call away.  Your company helps to make my job easier in supporting my Georgia location.

Thank you again,

J. Pierce |  FryReglet"

Cloud Computing - Sounds Incredible! What is it?

IT Support and Management firms, Managed Services Providers (MSP's), telecoms, and software makers have very high hopes for cloud computing.  So much so, that they are lighting up the blogosphere and social forms extolling the virtues and praises for their cloud computing products and services.  But when asking small businesses about cloud computing, they are planning on investing in the "cloud", but they don't appear to know much about it.

What is Cloud Computing?

Definition - refers to the use and access to your business IT resources (i.e. Email, CRM, Accounting, files and data, etc.) across the internet provided and managed by a remotely hosted server configured for ease and quick access.  All processing and storage is kept on internet-based ("Cloud") on-line servers offered by a private organization.

For example, a lot of our architect and engineering clients use Deltek Vision or Axium Ajera for their accounting package.  Most clients purchase 1-3 servers to host and process these business applications either through the local area network (LAN) or as web-based software.  

Cloud computing would replace the need to hold business applications inside their server rooms.  Instead, the software makers, as a cloud provider, would offer to host and run their applications on the internet for clients.   With a cloud app, you only pay for what you need and use. Upgrades are automatic and scaling down is easy and economical.  Last point, with a cloud app, you just open a browser, log in, customize the app, and go to work.

Stay tuned for more coming blog post on cloud computing and how it what it can do for you business.

Let us know your experience so far with implementing a cloud app in your business.