The Ekaru Technology Advisor  Vol 6-5  July 2006

Welcome to this month's issue! The Technology Advisor's mission is to provide quick technology tips and trends to help you manage and grow your business!

Celebrating Five Years!
Thanks to all of you for your support over the past five years. We continue to grow thanks to working with great clients. Thank you for all your feedback and referrals, and we look forward to many more years of helping small businesses get more from technology!

When should a small business invest in a server?
This is a question we get asked quite often. Here are some of the guidelines you need to think about when planning your technology roadmap.

Typically, a small business starts out with a "peer-to-peer" network. Files, printers, and Internet access can be shared over the network, but as needs become more sophisticated, businesses outgrow this approach and need to think about moving to a "client-server" network.

• Application Sharing:As a business grows beyond entry-level business applications where perhaps just one person enters data to a system, to where multiple people need to access an application and keep centralized data, an application server becomes necessary.
• Calendar Sharing: This is a frequent request - As more people join a company, it gets more and more challenging to manage calendars and schedules. A centralized shared calendar helps streamline the chaos around scheduling.
• Address Book Sharing: Think of how much time is wasted by requiring everyone to keep their own address book up to date. If a client moves, multiple people in the company will need to update their address books, and most likely some will get out of synch.
• Document Sharing - Company Intranet - Microsoft SharePoint Services is included in Microsoft Small Business Server. This is a great way to establish a central area to keep track of company documents, events, and announcements - basically an "Intranet". Remote users can access documents, and users no longer need to rely on emailing documents back and forth for edits and updates.
• License Updates - Instead of managing, for example, AntiVirus software on each individual desktop, the licenses and updates are centrally managed, saving time and money, and decreasing the chances that a rogue system will become infected.
• Centralized Backup - This is probably the biggest risk area for businesses. Your data just about your most important business asset, and relying on individual users to backup their data is very risky. Relying on shared folders becomes difficult to manage with multiple users, and the risk of losing data is just too high.
• Managing Users - Often in a small business, a single employee may wear several hats, especially the owner. When you need to move to a different workstation, your settings, files, and e-mail can move with you securely.

Technology Workshop: Power Tricks and Tips for PowerPoint
Thursday, August 17; 8:30am - 10:30 am
This will be a two-hour workshop designed to help you learn how to get value from Microsoft PowerPoint and make fabulous presentations. Send us an email if you're interested and we'll get a registration form out to you. Location: Ekaru office: 319 Littleton Road; Westford, MA. Space is limited.

Ekaru in the News!
ESSENTIAL TECHNOLOGY
On the Lookout for Vista
CIO - July 15, 2006

Small BUsiness Data Security Is No Longer an Option
The New York Times - June 29, 2006

Analysis: Security and Configuration Solutions Converge
varBusiness - June 22, 2006

Technology Tip: Don't let your domain name registration expire!
Your domain name is central to your brand identity. It's important that you keep your domain name registration up to date. If you accidentally let it expire, it will most likely be grabbed by a domain scooper and you may not be able to get it back, or you may be faced with a big price tag to get it back. Don't let this happen to you! Here are some tips for you:

• Register your domain name with a solid company.
• Keep your user ID and password in a safe location
• Keep your domain registration in your own name - this way if you ever change your hosting service, webmaster, or IT consultant, you're in control!
• Make sure your contact information is up to date - you will receive renewal notices by email, so this is the most important information. Use a "real" email address - Don't use a "free" e-mail service that can get shut off if it becomes inactive.
• Watch out for phishing scams - many companies try to trick you into "renewing" - check the legitimacy of any request you get.
• For an additional fee, you can make the registration information "unlisted", so that people snooping the public "WHOIS" database won't see your information.