The cold winds of winter have started to blow and with it comes the reminder that the end of financial year “silly season” is almost upon us. This means ensuring budgets have been set for the new year ahead, projects are being closed off (where possible), and that you’re thinking about making sure you have decent end of period backups.

We’ve seen a continued demand for our services with many businesses beginning to pick up again after the tough economic times we’ve all gone through. Whilst the economy is not out of the woods yet it is certainly encouraging to see an improvement in the wider community, although the next few months could still prove challenging with the federal election rapidly approaching. And even more alarming is once the election is out of the way we’ll all be getting ready for Christmas!

Shane Robins joined our team in April, filling the role of Sales Executive, a title which never really does justice to the work actually done. Shane has nearly 30 years experience working with technology, at both a sales and technical level, and has a real passion for technology. In fact he is almost as passionate about technology as he is about golf! If you wish to discuss any technology needs with Shane please give him a call, or look out for him on the fairway.

We have had the pleasure of working some great businesses over the last few months (perhaps including yours?) with many adopting hybrid solutions, which means they have a combination of local and cloud based technologies. It’s been very interesting to look back and review the early conversations with some of these businesses , where they have been naturally cautious, and a little nervous, about moving some parts of their business to the cloud, but after it’s all been done they are extremely delighted with the result – some wondering why they’d not made the move earlier!

If you are wondering about “the cloud” and if it’s right for you, make sure you get the information you need to make an informed decision. There are many small projects that can be performed which can deliver outstanding results. Typical “first time” projects include email, backups, servers, and communications tools. Contact us if you wish to explore what might be best for you and your business.

We’re looking forward to sharing more exciting news with you over the next few months and would love to hear your news too.

Contact us if you wish to know more about any of the items above, or anything else for that matter!

We wish you every success for the coming months, and beyond.

Calvert Technologies

Can you believe March is already half way over? Before you know it it’s going to be Easter and then we’ll be counting down to the end of the financial year! But let’s try to not get ahead of ourselves…

So far this year we’ve seen some big changes both in our own business, as well as some of our clients. We had Graham Butterworth join the technical team in January only a few weeks after Andrew James joined us in December (click here for the media release) and just this last week our new service delivery manager, Rhonda Smart, joined the team. Rhonda brings a great deal of experience in process and management and we’re very excited to have her aboard. Keep an eye out for the media release in the next few weeks as we celebrate.

Rhonda’s appointment allows Mike Reid, our previous service manager, to better focus on his role as General Manager, which he took on last year but has been wearing 2 hats for all these months.

In terms of client changes, we’ve had the privilege to help a number of businesses migrate from their traditional on-premises systems to cloud based services – this includes a mix of email, communications tools, servers, backups and more. There are plenty of good reasons to move to cloud services but that doesn’t necessarily make them right for everyone – we’re still implementing “traditional” server environments too where it’s the right solution for the business.

We’re continuing to expand our reach into the Northern Territory too, with clients now in Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs and more. It’s exciting to be experiencing both our own growth as well as being able to work with other businesses across Australia, helping them to improve efficiency, security, performance, capacity, reliability and reduce costs – amongst other benefits.

Look out for next month’s newsletter when we’ll have another very exciting announcement to make – we think it’s nice to be able to share good news whenever possible. And if you have some good news you’d like to share please let us know.

Contact us if you wish to know more about any of the items above, or anything else for that matter!

We wish you every success for the coming months, and beyond.

Calvert Technologies

We trust you enjoyed some time off over the Christmas/New Year period and had opportunity to both reflect on 2012 and look forward to the year ahead.

We are well and truly back into the swing of things with many exciting plans for this year. We have been continuing to build our technical services team with 7 full-time technicians at the time of this newsletter and another body due to join us shortly.

We will also be hiring a new Technical Services Manager and are currently implementing an entirely new service management system to provide further improvements in our ability to support our growing client base.

The tragic flooding events in Queensland and New South Wales, as well as the bushfires in Victoria, bring home the importance of making sure we have adequate backups of data, systems and operating environments, and that these are maintained at a remote location. When evacuating a building you don’t want to be having to think about grabbing backup drives or tapes – the most important thing is to get people to safety. We can provide some additional peace of mind through various services including business continuity planning, hosted solutions, online backups and more.

It was exciting to see the Tour Down Under bring the Adelaide streets alive with some amazing cycling. We have some avid cyclists in the office and they really enjoyed getting into the spirit of the races, but thankfully kept the office lycra free!

Enjoy this month’s newsletter and remember you can read more interesting articles, tips and tricks on our web site blog, or simply contact us for further information.

All the very best for 2013.

Calvert Technologies

Hello and welcome to our September 2012 newsletter.

Time has certainly been racing by recently with plenty to keep us all busy. Amongst the busyness it’s wonderful to see the trees and flowers starting to bloom once again, signifying that spring is upon us. It’s a great opportunity to really stop and smell the roses (or whatever you have blooming nearby!) and look forward to the warmer months.

With new seasons come opportunities for change – not only in nature but our own lives and businesses. We’ve been helping quite a number of businesses recently with their own changes, many starting to use cloud technologies. This includes a mix of email, communications tools, servers and backups.

Whilst it can seem a bit confusing at times, the paradigm of working with cloud services is actually not new at all. Consider your web site, mobile phone voicemail or Internet banking services – these are all examples of “cloud technologies” that we use almost every day. “Cloud services” simply refers to technologies and capabilities that don’t rely on us making a capital investment – we’re using technology that someone else has built up and for which they assume the risk.

Another example would be visiting a restaurant – you’re eating food that’s been prepared in a kitchen that someone else has set up and maintains; you’re simply consuming the output of that kitchen. This is very much a non-technically associated example but does (hopefully) help to show that “cloud” is actually not that new – it’s simply the types of services we’re consuming that are new.

We’ve worked with companies from all over Australia move from on-premises equipment to cloud based services, be it for email, collaboration & communication tools, web hosting, backups, accounting systems and complete user operating environments (also called Remote Desktop Services). There have been some amazing results we’ve seen for these businesses with improvements ranging across multiple categories including cost reduction, reliability, performance, scalability, storage, user access and worker productivity.

A common misconception we’re encountering is the thought that you need to move your entire business into the cloud – that’s simply not the case. You can start small, get comfortable, and then migrate more services as is appropriate for your business.

Contact us if you wish to know more – it doesn’t need to be as difficult, or as scary, as some might have you believe.

Keep an eye out too for an invitation to our Windows 8 information sessions coming soon. Microsoft will be officially releasing this new operating system on October 26 (US date) and there will be many exciting new technologies in the wake of its release. There’s also the amazing new Windows Phone 8 devices, in particular the Nokia Lumia phones. We’re very excited about the new toys we’ll have to play with before Christmas!

We wish you every success for the coming months, and beyond.

Calvert Technologies

Hello and welcome to our November newsletter.

With less than 6 weeks until Christmas there’s a lot of energy and excitement building up both in the office and at home. It feels like as quickly as some projects are being finished up for the year there are new ones getting under way to take advantage of the quieter weeks rapidly approaching.

We’re continuing to see a lot of excitement with moving traditionally internal business functions to “the cloud”, especially for businesses wanting to replace aging equipment with smaller, more power efficient devices. The cloud is also working very well for businesses with distributed workers spread across the city, country and even the globe. Whilst it’s not right for everyone, cloud computing services are continuing to show great promise for businesses from 5 to 500 people, and beyond. If you’re still wondering what this is all about and if it’s right for you just ask.

Between now and the end of November you can also take advantage of some great rebates available from Microsoft when you migrate to Office 365. Contact us for details and to see if you qualify for this great opportunity.

Recent flooding in Thailand is causing problems throughout the rest of world with hard drive factories affected by this flooding. This has resulted in supply shortages and price increases. If you’ve been contemplating purchasing new computers or increasing your data storage then you’d better act sooner rather than later. Predictions are the flood effects could last until March next year. All manner of equipment will be affected including notebooks, desktops, servers and stand alone drives.

One of the big sellers as we approach Christmas is the mobile phone – now more correctly called the smart phone. With so many choices how do you select the right one for you? And will you be able to get your new phone to connect with your work email system in a secure and cost effective way? Whilst the iPhone seems to be the most popular choice, it’s actually Android based phones that outsell everything else, however there’s an exciting new contender worth investigating – Windows Phone 7. With a fresh new user interface, and the only phone to offer Live Tiles, Office and XBox, it will change the way you think about using a phone. Plus Windows Phone 7 will connect seamlessly with your email server. Whilst we don’t sell the phones we can certainly help guide you through the selection maze and set up your phone connections for you.

Finally, we have a promotion running for the first 20 companies to sign up for our online data backup services. You can get double the data allowance plus we have limited copies of Windows 7 and Office 2010 to give away. Register your interest here and good luck for the prize draws, which will take place the week before Christmas.

That’s it for this month. There are some great articles below and plenty more available on our web site blog.

We wish you every success.

Calvert Technologies

Like everything else in IT today, cloud computing can be either unnecessary in your business operations – or it could be something you really need. However, a recent survey on the perception of the cloud shows that almost half of small business owners are more or less dismissing it outright.

A recent survey by Newtek’s SB Authority Market Sentiment shows that almost half of small businesses do not see how cloud computing can cut down on costs and help increase their productivity, with an additional 32 percent still unsure about the whole idea.

At the very least, what these results show is that there is a pressing need for a more widespread and comprehensive information campaign about cloud computing. While many companies see the cloud as a mere fad, there’s much more to it than meets the eye, and what it offers can make a definite and concrete difference in the way a business conducts its operations.

What sets cloud computing apart from other hosting services is the way it’s managed and used. Management is handled completely by the service provider, and subscribers can adjust the specific features they use and pay only for those, similar to how on demand IT services work. Cloud computing usually also includes virtual data storage, with most if not all data stored off-site and in the cloud service’s servers.

Of course, the way the cloud impacts each particular organization will vary, and how it will affect your business in the short and long term depends on your needs and requirements – and whether you even need it in the first place. There are pros and cons to any cloud-based service, but at the very least it deserves some serious thought.

If you want to find out more about cloud computing and how it may affect your business, please give us a call and we’ll be happy sit down with you and discuss any issues and concerns you have, and help you determine whether the cloud is right for you.

Having the right kind of email system in place can do wonders for increasing productivity, especially for people on the go. It’s important to note the distinctions and feature differences of the email systems available to you, so you can be sure that what you’re using is the most efficient and cost-effective solution.

Whether you work from an office or are productive while on the go, email most likely plays a big factor in the way you go about your business. Unbeknownst to many, some types of email systems have certain limitations that by extension can also limit the level of productivity of your business, and especially for people in the organization who must also work while out in the field.

One major issue for many people is synchronicity. Many people need their emails to be accessible on their mobile phones, PDAs, or other mobile devices, and they need them to be properly synchronized with their desktop workstations. The need to constantly update conversations and email threads from mobile devices to desktops with certain types of email can prove to be tedious and unproductive– and some email system types don’t include this ability at all.

Depending on the way you use your email, especially when on the go, having full access and full control of your account can define how productive you and others in your organization can be. Besides providing a much better degree of synchronization and integration with mobile devices, certain types of email systems also have features for sharing and collaboration features that allow you to set schedules and share files from your mailbox, as well as central storage for emails that allows you to access your account seamlessly with any mobile device, regardless of where you are located.

Of course, having a full-featured email system might not be best for everyone. The key is to know whether adapting a more bare-bones system is cost-effective for your business (especially in the long run). Sometimes the top of the line may be needed, and sometimes all you need is a bit of tweaking on your less fully featured system. Not sure which is best? Call us and we’ll be glad to sit down with you and assess what kind of email system is best suited for you and your business.

The proliferation of websites and social media tools is making the job of monitoring what’s being said about you online increasingly difficult to do. But you need to somehow make sense of the sea of information available in these online tools, because depending on what’s being said—it can have either a helpful or a damaging effect on your reputation or your business. Here are some tools to help you.

Besides your own eyes and ears, there are plenty of tools—for free or for a price—available to help you monitor your presence online. The simplest of these is your familiar search engines such as Google or Bing. By simply searching online, you can find where your name or your company’s name appears in various websites. With Google in particular, you can set up “alerts” which will email you when a specific word or term appears in their website index.

What words or terms should you use? Start with your name, or your company name, then try the name of your products and/or services, and maybe even the names of your employees, directors, and other stakeholders. It might also be helpful to search for the competition as well. As results come in you can refine your search by expanding or narrowing the scope of terms you would like to search or be alerted on. If you want to be able to search across all different search engines and not just one or two, you can use Monitor This.

Next you can use specialized website or social media monitoring tools to search only specific sites or services as opposed to the entire Internet. One example is Greplin, which allows you to search all of your accounts or accounts that you own. This is very helpful to be able to execute highly filtered searches on specific information in your Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn accounts, or your blog. Another option is Rollyo, which allows you to set up your own specialized search engines that cull content from public or open websites of your choosing.

Other more generalized tools include RSS feed readers—which allow you to consume news or information feeds from news sites or blogs. Examples include Newsgator.com, Bloglines.com, Google Reader or Pluck.com. Other generalized tools include those that monitor specific newsgroups or message boards like BoardReader.com, ForumFind.com, Big-Boards.com, BoardTracker.com, iVillage, Yahoo Message Boards, and MSN Money. Still others track changes to content of specific sites (Copernic Tracker, Website Watcher and WatchThatPage.com), as well as their domain information (DomainTools.com and BetterWhois.com).

The really interesting new services actually give you an explicit idea of the status of your reputation—especially if you are a relatively well known name or your business has an established brand. In this category are sites like Amplicate, which monitors general feelings or impressions about brands, businesses, or services; Klout, which tries to measure the influence of individuals based on their social interactions; and SendLove.to, which focuses on celebrities and media personalities.

There are literally dozens more tools you can use to monitor and manage your reputation online. To find out more, a great resource is here at the Duct Tape Marketing blog. If you have any additional suggestions, feel free to let us know!

Interested in setting up your company’s email in the cloud? Here are two options to consider—one from Microsoft, the other from Google. See how they compare.

Google Apps
Google Apps is a service from Google that started in 2006, with the introduction of Gmail—a hosted email service, and which later incorporated other apps such as Google Calendar, Groups, Talk, Docs and Sites. Google Apps allow customers an independently customizable version of these Google products under their own domain name. The entry level option is free, but the package offered for Businesses is a paid service with an annual fee per user and additional storage space.

1. Storage. Gmail, Google Apps’ email service starts with a sizable 7GB of free storage. Business users get 25GB. Bear in mind however that this storage space is shared with any data you have in other Google properties such as Picasa Web Album and Google Docs. Extra space can be bought however starting with USD $5 per year for an extra 20GB of storage. E-mail attachment sizes are limited to 25MB.
2. Calendaring and Task Management. Gmail can be integrated with the overall excellent Google Calendar application. Google Calendar allows you to easily share personal calendars with colleagues, or create shared calendars used by groups of people (such as a calendar to track meeting room reservations, marketing events and others). Google Calendar also offers a built-in, but somewhat underpowered task management tool. Tasks can readily be added with due dates, but not readily shared or cannot be nested or linked with other tasks.
3. Spam filtering, security and reliability. Gmail’s spam filtering features a community-driven system. Email tagged as spam by users help identifies similar messages as Spam for all other Gmail users. Generally the system works well, although some have complained that it can get over aggressive in its filters. In terms of security and reliability—Gmail has been criticized in the past with showing ads in its free Gmail service that display based on key words in the user’s messages—potentially violating their privacy. Its paid service offers however the option of disable these ads. Reliability is generally good with very few, but widely publicized disruptions in service.
4. Usability. Gmail offers a host of unique usability enhancements that make it different from most other mail services. For one for a web app it loads really fast, as Google has been known to studiously optimize web page loading performance for their products. Another is that it offers a threaded view of messages by default. It also uses a starring/labeling system to tag and segregate messages instead of using folders. Another interesting enhancement done recently is the ability to sort messages by “importance” where it learns based on your usage over time what email messages it thinks you think are important.
5. Mobile access. Gmail offers a version optimized for mobile devices, as well as support for a variety of devices for their native mail applications such as iOS and Android.

Overall Gmail is a solid mature choice if you are thinking of moving email to the cloud and are not afraid of being on the bleeding edge of cloud services and technology.

Microsoft Office 365
Microsoft Office 365, like Google Apps, offers a host of applications such as online versions of productivity tools which we all already know and use such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Most however work best when they are used in conjunction with your desktop-installed Office applications. Focusing on email, Office 365 offers a Hosted Exchange service, which transforms the mature, business-proven on-premise application to an on-demand service. Compared to Google Apps, it is quite new—being introduced only last June this year, although its suite of products in an alternate form has been around for much earlier.

1. Storage. Microsoft’s Hosted Exchange email service gives users 25GB of storage. Attachment file sizes are limited to 35MB. Additional storage can be purchased for $2.5 per GB per user per month.
2. Calendaring and Task Management. Exchange integrates a mature feature set for personal productivity including calendaring, resource management, and task management. As an example tasks can be grouped, color coded and easily sorted. Emails can be converted as tasks and so on.
3. Spam filtering, security and reliability. This is an area where perhaps Microsoft easily outshines Google with Exchange’s roots as an enterprise-class application. It offers spam protection, antivirus and others via Microsoft’s Forefore Online Protection for Exchange technology. It offers other features such as more full features user management, identity access management, mail archiving, etc. If you are in a highly regulated industry like financial services or healthcare these features may be essential for your business.
4. Usability. While the web apps of Office 365 is not as fast loading or as slick as Google, it does offer familiarity. Modeled after their desktop brethren, or directly integrating with them—they offer a smoother migration experience for users specially if they have been weaned on Outlook.
5. Mobile access. Like Gmail Microsoft made sure to support a variety of devices on launch, as well as integration with a variety of devices—specially enterprise stalwarts like Blackberry mobile phones.

Overall Office 365 is a solid choice if you are thinking of moving email to the cloud but may be hesitant with changing the apps your users already know and use. Also if you are a business with strict policies related to security and compliance—this service may be something your auditors and IT people may be more comfortable with.

Interested in learning more? Can’t decide which to try? Let us know and find out how we can help get you the right balance between your existing IT systems and infrastructure and the cloud.

It’s the dilemma of many smaller businesses lacking the budget for advertising that many of their bigger competitors have to be able to establish a better presence in a specific market. However, the rise of the use of social networks now allows these smaller firms to reach thousands to millions of people – at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising and marketing.

One of the most difficult challenges smaller businesses face is having a bigger presence in the market. While many of these companies offer good, quality services at much more affordable rates, they are many times overshadowed by larger firms that have bigger budgets to spend on marketing, advertising, and the like.

Things have changed, though, with the advent of social networking. What was once a simple, social, get-to-know-each-other tool between people on the internet has now evolved into a tool that small businesses can take advantage of in order to get their voices heard.

The gist of social networking for business is the simple concept of reaching potentially millions of people at a mere fraction of what is normally spent on advertising and traditional marketing. The wide reach of social media allows businesses to find their voices and showcase what they can do. The playing field then moves from an unfair balance of advertising budgets to a battle of service quality and value for money, as it should be – and many smaller firms can compete effectively in this arena.

There are many ways to tap into the social networking phenomenon to boost your online presence and aid in your marketing. If you are interested in knowing more about this, please contact us and we’ll be glad to assist you in developing strategies that fit your specific requirements and needs.