Archive for the 'Business Software' Category

While most us were fortunate to enjoy a Memorial Day weekend filled with backyard cookouts, swimming pool opening and trips to the beach a very good friend of mine was struck with tragedy. The building that housed his small business’ office and warehouse burnt to the ground. The cause is yet to be determined but was most likely the result of damage to electrical wires in the ceiling of the aging building. In any case, he suffered an unimaginable loss including a disruption of his business as well as a great deal of personal property.

Limitations of Do-It-Yourself Backups

About a year ago I assisted him in setting up a backup routine for his company data. All of his company information - including his QuickBooks data - was stored on a PC in the office. I created a simple routine that he could run from his laptop that copied all of the data from the PC to his laptop. He took that laptop home just about every night. Unfortunately, this past Thursday night, he left his laptop in his office and it was lost along with everything else. The most recent off-site backup he has is just over a year old. He will be able to “rebuild” much of this data, but it will take many dozens - if not hundreds - of hours - not to mention the embarrassment of going to clients to request information like account balances and contact info.

How could this have been avoided? As a consultant I am always reminding my clients to backup data - and to take those backups off-site. An on-site backup is always useful in the event of a hard drive crash or other data corruption, but only an off-site backup can help in the event a tragedy like that experienced by my friend. Of course, the discipline of making a backup and taking it off-site frequently is sometimes hard to maintain. This is especially true when a tragedy such as this seems a remote possibility.

Online Backup Services

One solution that would have helped mitigate this disaster is using a web based backup, online storage or data synchronization service. Here a few that I think are worth considering:

• BeInSync - This is an online backup and PC synchronization service designed for professionals and small businesses.
• Box.net - This is an online storage and document sharing service.
• Carbonite - This is a service designed specifically for performing online backups.
• IDrive - This is a service offering online, encrypted backups.
• Mozy Remote Backup - This is also a service designed for performing online backups.
• SugarSync - This is another online backup and data synchronization service.

With a little help from an IT pro you can easily setup a regularly scheduled backup routine that will protect your data against this type of disaster.

Encryption for Better Security

If you are concerned about having your sensitive data sent over the Internet and stored with a third-party vendor then you should consider using encryption software. There are two packages that I recommend in the Free Software Catalog that will help in creating a completely secure backup solution.

The first is TrueCrypt. With TrueCrypt you can create an encrypted volume where backup copies of documents, databases and other files can be stored. The volume itself is stored in an encrypted file that can only be accessed with TrueCrypt and the password used to create the volume. It is this “volume” file that gets backed up to the online service.

The other packge is AxCrypt. AxCrypt lets you encrypt individual files or folders. The encrypted files are then backed up using the service.

In either case, the encryption of your data can be incorporated in to scheduled backup routine making the entire process automated and care free.

This week my friend will start the long process of rebuilding his business. And while he was reluctant to use an online backup service before he now embraces the idea whole-heartedly.

Please contact me for more information on custom backup and other IT solutions that can help save your business from such a costly disruption.

Small Business folks have been using Microsoft products for so long that switching to open source tools seems like too risky a move. Of course anytime we change the way we do things we expose ourselves to some risk. So, as with most changes, the best way to mitigate our risk is to do some due diligence, use pilot tests and go slow. Here are some ways you can begin using open source software (OSS) in your small business.

1. Begin using open source tools for some of your less than mission critical functions. This is a good way to get familiar with finding, downloading and installing open source solutions. Because you will be using them in the peripheries of your operation there is less risk that any part of your operation can be disrupted. Firefox and KeePass are pretty good choices for this because they are more personal tools then they are enterprise tools.

2. Begin using open source solutions next to the commercial versions. This is a great way to see that open source solutions can be and are just as good as their proprietary counterparts. Choose OSS applications that also run on Windows. This will greatly simplify your ability to evaluate them. If you use MS-Office, install OpenOffice and use it occasionally. It works directly with the MS-Office file formats and you’ll find the learning curve is not very steep. Use Firefox next to IE and Thunderbird/Lightening next to office. In the case of Office vs OpenOffice / Thunderbird you may find that the MS products are a bit more rich in features, but most users find they don’t use those features very often. In the case of Firefox, I think you will find it much better than IE.

3. Setup a Linux box. If you’re like most small businesses, you have one or two old PC’s lying around. Brush off the dust and install one of the popular GNU/Linux distributions. Most of them run pretty well even on older PC’s with less capacity, particularly for evaluation purposes. You’ll have to invest a bit more time with this project, but in the end, should you choose to move to Linux based servers, you can save thousands when deploying new database, web and application servers.

4. Work with IT consultants that have experience with open source. In my travels I have seen many computer consultants that are animately opposed to using open source. As I get to know them better, I realize that it’s only because they have no experience with it. They’ve been working with MS products so long, they don’t want to take the time to learn anything new. That’s fine for them, but can get very expensive for you. A consultant with OSS experience can share their opinions of products with you, help you with the deployment of products and create custom solutions using them.

5. Conduct a pilot project using your new LAMP Stack. Once you have a Linux server running use your IT consultant to build a simple application that you can begin using. As you see that the benefits are equal to that of an MS-based solution, you will have the confidence to move forward with more OSS products and custom solutions based on them.

Despite the popularity of Microsoft in the small business environment, their solutions are not always your best choice, particularly when you factor in the high licensing fees of server based software. You will get more from your IT infrastructure when those license fee dollars can be directed towards building useful solutions for your business. The clients I work with that choose open source software solutions find it is a great way to maximize their return on investment. So slip of your MS loafers and dip your toes into the OSS pool. I promise, the water’s not that cold.

The competition is already heating up and small businesses are the target. But it’s not in the search and advertising markets yet.

Since I last wrote on the pending creation of MS-Yahoo! a number of new and changed offerings have emerged.

Google has made two announcements this week regarding new software services aimed at competing with Microsoft’s dominance of the desktop market and Yahoo’s small business hosting. Two days ago, Google announced new security and compliance features to its email service. Branded as “Powered by Postini” - named for an email security service provider they acquired last fall - the service seems to be targeted primarily at small businesses.

Today Google introduced an online software package called “Team Edition” that will make it easier for people in the same organization to share documents and information. This software-as-service or “cloud computing” model competes directly the MS-Office and online applications that Microsoft has been rolling out. Can you say counterpunch?

Yahoo! announced that they are ending the usage charges on their small business hosting services. I’ve been hosting this site at Yahoo! for many years now. Like most of their customers I have been paying $11.95 per month. Like plans from other Internet service providers there are caps on the amount of disk space and bandwidth as well as the number of email accounts I used. If I went over, I got charged. Yahoo! did offer two higher-tiered plans with larger caps, but they seem to be gone now. I guess that managing all of those options and monitoring usage has become more expensive than providing unlimited resources. They do still offer the Merchant Solution option - primarily used by online stores with shopping carts - for $39.95 per month plus 1.5% transaction fee. I appreciate the free upgrade, but I’m not sure it will stave off a Microsoft takeover. Keep trying Mr. Yang.

Microsoft announced a new version of Outlook 2007 that includes the Business Contact Manager. The product is designed to make it easier for businesses to manage customer information and their sales process all in one easy to use and very recognizable program. When integrated with Microsoft Office Accounting it offers the ability to manage one contact list and to more directly access the customer’s financial history. Priced at a new low, $149, it seems Microsoft wants to continue to increase their presence within small businesses.

It looks like Microsoft - in addition to offering more competition to Google - will also be forced to defend their share of the applications market from Google as well. And with 6 million US based small businesses and 40 million worldwide, there’s a lot at stake.

Sun Microsystems and Swedish based MySQL AB announced that Sun would acquire MySQL AB for $1 Billion. The move is said to be the biggest open source merger ever made.

With MySQL, Sun will own a critical part of the LAMP stack - a move that will help solidify their presence in the enterprise IT market. It also expands on Sun’s growing involvement in the open source market.

Initially the move is being viewed positively by some and skeptical by others. I for one see this a positive move. MySQL will continue to offer a community edition that will be free to all and now MySQL has the backing of a very large and powerful company. This should ensure that MySQL continues to be supported and developed well into the future.

Viva la FLOSS!!