Michael's Blog

I have just heard on the grape vine that your general manager has resigned.

 

From an IT and security view point we would normally make some recommendations to the business owners to  protect their business from wrong doing.

It might sound simple but it is very easy for a person with an axe to grind to cause big problems. Especially with good remote access and many software applications program available online  from outside the office.

 

It is recommended that all passwords relating to the business are changed

-          Network Administrator password

-          Staff PC passwords (we can force this)

-          Supplier website logins have their passwords changed.

-          Client website logins have their passwords changed.

-          Internet Banking passwords are changed

-          Door keypad security codes are changed

-          Alarms System security Codes are changed

 

This may seem over the top but it not only protects you, it protects the person leaving too.

 

Also many staff will attempt to email themselves client databasesor sensitive documents that they have written  to take to the next job. This is not that easy to stop without specialised software.
One simple approach is to make a copy of all outgoing email from the staff member so it can be proven that they have taken information that is not theirs. This is less than ideal as the sensitive info may already have been sent.

A email filtering system will allow you to setup email rules that will halt sensitive email and divert them to an administrator for approval. These systems give the business owner lots of control over the types of emails that are sent from the business. Most also have an archiving system attached so old emails can be found about transactions that occurred in the past.

Many staff will delete their inbox, it is recommended to make a copy of the their mailbox as soon as they resign.

We deal with staff leaving often and happy to assign and offer advice.

Mike

How to measure productivity in an office is always a difficult task.

I have conversations with business owners almost every day about when is the right time to update their computer system. Normally the outcome depends on the style of the owner. Those who run a slick business by managing the operation from a distance are much more likely to see the value in keeping their computer systems running quickly.

See the problem is as computers get older they slow down. Now I guess this is not really surprising. But the older they get the slower they respond or seem to operate. This is for a number of reasons that I won't go into here, but the slower the response, lower the productivity. Lets add another factor too. As machines age they become unreliable, the older they get the risk of failure increases. When a computer fails it unusable until it can get fixed. Productivity is nil.

So when is the best time to upgrade? Well, I wish I had some great research paper that spend 2 years investigating just this phenomenon. But I don't, only have my experience and that of our staff.

So if you being to plan to replace your computer equipment every 3-4 years your staff will be happier, the business will be more efficient as productivity due to fast computer will be on your side.

If you agree with my analysis but cash flow is an issue in the business, then commercial finance is a good option especially at the moment with low interest rates. Spread the repayments out over 4 years, make monthly repayments that are tax deductable operating expense.
In 4 years time it is an easy decision - replace the systems and roll it into another 4 year contract.

Do you know that your backup ran last night? Would you be able to use it to recover missing files, or more importantly restore your whole server in case of a disaster? When was the last time your did a trial restore to check it was working and you could restore from it?

If you can answer yes to all these questions, then go and make yourself a coffee and have an extra chocolate biscuit. Well done.

If your not sure about the reliability of the backups, or worse you know the backup doesn't work and has never been tested, then we need to do some work.

A business without a working, tested backup is asking for trouble and lots of it. All it takes is an employee to delete and important file, the server to have a harddisk failure, or worse your premise is broken into over night and the server is missing when you arrive in the morning.

We deal with these types of problems and disasters all the time. Not a fun part of our job, but our clients rely on our expertise to get them out of trouble, get their computers working again and all with a minimum of downtime.

Good systems is the answer. Automation is essential, so the backup happens automatically. Our office is notified when the job is completed so we can catch the failures.
The tape or disk is swapped each day by a trusted staff member so there is always a recent backup stored off site.
Then normally once every couple of months we test the backup by doing a trial restore of some random files during our monthly site visit.

Not rocket science, but a little bit of process and we all can rest a little easier knowing if a disaster strikes we have a good chance to make it out in one piece.

Daylight saving has officially finished in Victoria. We all get a welcome extra hour of sleep.
Your computers should automatically adust back to the normal AEST (Australian Eastern Standard time.)
Smart Phones( or not so smart phones) seem to be the biggest paid when it comes to adjusting for daylight savings.
They should be smart enough in this day and age to get it right.
Most are connected to internet at least once a day, so why do they cause so much pain when the time changes.