It’s amazing!

I’ve been in this business, providing technical support and consulting, since the dawn of the PC world.

In all my 24 IT years I keep seeing the same thing over and over, big business and small.

People forget that service is about relationship!

I mean, can you help people who aren’t happy with you? Who can’t get a hold of you?

If I could offer a tip to all the fellows (lady’s don’t seem to have this problem!) who I’ve seen hang a shingle out in the IT world over the years, it would be this:

Take your customers seriously! Get to know them; listen to them.

That’s it. Really simple.

Make it easy for people to do business with you!

Join us at the Coast Plaza on January 20, 2010 for this informative workshop. Our guest speakers include Amy Desender and Bryan Renaud from TD Bank.

They’ll be addressing how small business can benefit from changes in banking technology:

• Ecommerce solutions
• Visa Debit and Maestro (MasterCard Debit Product)
• CHIP Cards and EMV Standard

You’ll gain valuable insight into payment processing, have a wonderful breakfast buffet, and be off to work before your day gets away on you.

Cost is just $15.00 including breakfast buffet RSVP to Bonnie @ 403-274-9645 or reply through LinkedIn

Another year, another sales forecast, another push to get more sales.

I was reading an article – “5 Truths About Lead Qualification – and How CRM Can Help“,
and thinking about how to apply this to my own business.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve got leads, lot’s of leads. All different kinds of leads, too.
Obviously I’m not going to deal with every one in exactly the same way, but I do want to be thorough.

So, do I have a way of classifying what types of leads I have, and how many of each?
How many curious tire kickers versus the interested, motivated and authorized buyers with a budget set aside already.

Do I have a procedure for dealing effectively with each type of lead?
I mean I don’t want to waste too much time on the tire kicker, but I do want him to go and tell his boss, or his neighbor what a great product I have.

The real question is “what is a _good lead for my company.”

The answer is I need to have an objective way to classify and qualify each of my leads.

Then, even when I’ve seperated the good, qualified leads I have to know when they are ready to buy, their buy cycle. Today, next month or next year. Because I may have a great lead, motivated to buy, who needs 6 months to finish some of his own work first. I don’t want to push him away by pressuring him, but I don’t want to lose track of him either.

Finally, I know I’m not the only one in my organization who is involved in the sales process.
Actually, I know that everyone in my organization is involved in the sales process! So how do I make sure that all the appropriate people are aware of who the qualified leads are, and where they are in their sales cycle?

Sounds like I should be using a customer relationship management (CRM) system, even a simple and inexpensive one, so I can make the most of every one of my sales leads.

And if you think this might help you, drop me a line and I’d be happy to add you to my list. (more…)

A couple of recent articles on itBusiness.ca got me thinking.

The first article described the Campi trojan, which has been around since 2007, but is still stumping researchers despite controlling about one million PC’s. It’s main purpose is to steal passwords and other info for a “list of about 4500 financial sites” that it monitors.

The second article discussed the difference between viruses and malware from 5 or 10 years ago and the typical malware found today. In years gone by, malware was advertising, or a joke, rarely serious. Today, malware is crimeware, written for the single purpose of stealing money.

The article goes on to describe the only appropriate response to serious crimeware. Erase your computer and restore from a backup. You do backup up, of course.

My thinking while I read these articles was along these lines. Most backups are file based. Yes, by all means, save your budget and cash flow spreadsheets. Of course you want to keep personell files. Those pictures of the kids (or grandkids) are important, and hey, MP3’s qualify too.

But when you restore a computer, you’re replacing all the programs and configuration data as well. What you really need is a complete image of the computer’s hard drive. Back that information up, even once or twice a year, and you’ll save hours, or days, of re-installing and re-configuring and even then never having the system exactly the same as it was.

So, back up your files, please! And don’t overlook imaging your system, at least once. It’s easy, it should be automated, and lot’s of services out there can do it for you. Certainly IronOak can.

After all, what have you got to lose?

We are truly in the digital age, and our computers’ hard drives may house thousands of priceless family photos, music collections, financial information, and important documents.  This is true both in the workplace and in the home.  Of course, hard drives can fail, so it’s key that we back up our data to ensure irreplaceable items aren’t lost forever.

So, what are you doing for computer backup?

There are many backup options. While people have different concerns when it comes to secure data, one thing is certain: unless your backup is stored in a secure offsite location, you face the risk that your data could be compromised.

If your data and backup are in the same place they are both vulnerable to theft, fire or flood, hardware failure, disgruntled staff, or simple human error. It isn’t a question of ‘if’ you will lose your data, but what happens ‘when’ you lose it!

Storing data offsite is ideal, and there are a couple of options for doing so.  You can either take your backup somewhere else, daily, or consider an offsite backup service that automatically stores your data in a secure facility with key card entry and thumb print access. While there are maintenance costs associated with offsite backup, it may not cost any more than the tape drive or hard disk you may be using already. And, it’s automatic!

Most professional services will let you restore single files from your web browser. Many will offer to send your data to you on a CD when you request it. And you should be able to check the status of your backup any time.

Welcome to IronOak IT blog.

We love to find solutions to real business challenges Solutions that not only meet a need, but transform the business.

Technology should not be an expense item on your balance sheet. It should be a tool that you reach for regularly, applying it in focused and effective ways to solve everyday problems like:

• Making schedule information easy to find and easy to understand, like in a calendar
• Keeping contact information for customers and suppliers up to date in one central location
• Allowing staff to make decisions quickly by providing them information quickly when they look for it