These days it seems like everybody is talking about “social networking” and using websites such as MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. But exactly what is social networking? Is it just a passing fad or is it an idea whose time has come and is here to stay?  More importantly, can it be put to good use in your business?

What is Social Networking?
Online social networks are services meant to create communities of people on the Internet who share common relationships, interests, and activities. In a typical social networking site, users create profiles of themselves which they use to connect with other users and create a network of “friends.” These networks are typically organized around the user’s social relationships, life circumstances, lifestyles, organizational affiliations, ideological and political beliefs, commercial interests, and many other traits.

One benefit of creating these networks is that it allows users to keep track of each other within their network more easily. It also allows them to leverage the connections of others in their social circle – greatly expanding the network of people they would ordinarily have. Beyond creating their own social networks, things become interesting when users are able to share information and pursue activities online together, thereby allowing greater communication, collaboration, and co-creation of ideas, products at a scale and speed which simple was not have been possible before.

How Can I Use Social Networks for My Business?
If you are a small business owner, opportunities in social networking are readily available. The ability to create a network of employees, customers, prospects, and partners is one benefit, along with the ability to leverage their networks to expand your own. The potential capability to mine the amazing amount of user-generated demographic, psychographic, and behavioral data among a network’s members is also very valuable.

Here are some samples of ways you can put social networks to work for your business:
1) Use it for Marketing. Create a community of your current customers where they can more easily hear from you and you from them. Use their networks to attract new leads to your business. Follow their activities to gain insights into who they are, what they want, where they congregate, and how best to reach them. Let them use social networks as an avenue to let others know how good you are. Create exciting new opportunities for them to get to know your business, reach out to you, and create a relationship with you.

2) Use it for Customer Service. Gain valuable feedback into how they feel about your product or service in real time. Create an important new channel to reach out to customers and to get information out to them quickly and efficiently.

3) Use it for HR. Create a community of current and ex-employees. Use it as a cheap Intranet, like what this company is doing with Facebook. Gain insight into the social profiles and behavior of your employees. Use it as a tool to attract new recruits.

4) Create new opportunities for learning and innovation. Tap social networks to learn from like-minded people. Find and discover social networks in your business, industry, or your profession. Learn from fellow entrepreneurs, customers, or partners. You can even tap communities to help you innovate faster and more cheaply. With social networks and an active community of people behind them you can co-create new products or services, link up to gain greater bargaining power, or share information and intelligence more easily.

These are just some examples of how you can apply social networking to your business. For more information, contact us to learn how we can help you get started today!

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• To friend, or not to friend: That is the workplace question (seattlepi.com)
• Social Media: Embracing the Opportunities, Averting the Risks Webinar Presentation (slideshare.net)
• Social networking is about people, not technology (jonggunlee.tistory.com)

Social Networking websites are usually associated with consumer services such as MySpace and Facebook. But did you know that there are literally dozens of social networking websites out there specifically targeted toward businesses? InsideCRM.com’s editors have compiled a list of the top “50 Social Sites That Every Business Needs a Presence on” which is available online at their website.

This list is divided into five categories:

1. Social-Media or Social-Bookmarking Sites, which allow users to share their favorite websites or track and vote upon various online articles and resources.
2. Professional networking sites, which allow networking among organizations and individuals for business purposes.
3. Niche sites, which target a specific community of users in a particular industry, profession, or with specific shared interests.
4. General social media sites, which have business applications such as the popular Twitter service.
5. Job sites, which are geared towards recruitment and talent management.

Head out to InsideCRM.com to find out more.

Related articles:

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• Social Networking and Technical Communicators | On the Write Road (jonggunlee.tistory.com)
• B2B Social Media: Got Your Toe Wet, Now It’s Time to Swim (socialmediatoday.com)

A recently released a report entitled “Voice of IT: State of SMB IT”, detailing  purchasing, technology usage, and IT staffing trends among small and medium businesses worldwide. The report surveyed over 1,100 IT professionals working in SMBs, 80 percent of whom were decision makers or influencers within their respective companies.

Not surprisingly, a substantial number (39 percent) of the companies surveyed cut their IT budgets in 2009, with an average cut of 22 percent from 2008 levels. Among the areas where companies are saving money is hardware, with the average planned lifespan for machines such as desktops, laptops, servers, and switches increasing by 26 percent.

Despite this, a significant number (31 percent) report that budgets remained flat, while as many as 30 percent reported an increase in budget in 2009 from the previous year. Among the areas where companies are investing money is in software, specifically security software. 46 percent of SMBs indicated that they plan to invest in antivirus and antispam software, while 38 percent plan to put their money in data backup and recovery software. A growing trend is virtualization, with 30 percent of participants planning to invest in virtualization solutions.

How does your company compare? Do you think your company is investing enough in IT security? Contact us now to see how we can help you invest your IT budget where it brings the most value.

A recent study by the Kelsey Group reveals that more small and midsized businesses are using digital media, specially the Internet, to promote or advertise their business. Their study, conducted with research partner ConStat, indicates that the penetration of digital/online media increased from 73 percent in August 2008 to 77 percent in August 2009, while that of traditional media such as TV, radio, and print decreased from 74 percent to 69 percent during the same period.

This is a clear indicator that the Internet has become an important source for many businesses to generate and manage their business. Potential business can come anywhere – from their website, queries in search engines, online ads, and lately even social networking sites. According to the study, for businesses that track lead sources, the percentage that does so using the Internet has increased from 22 percent in 2008 to 30 percent in 2009.

Although the Internet can often be a scary for many SMB’s and their prospects place with threats such as spam, malware, phising, and more, this study reveals that it is still a source of tremendous value for those who know how to use it effectively.

Related Information:

• If you’re a Microsoft Partner you can access my 5W50 Webinar “Building Your Online Marketing Engine” If you’d like a copy of the presentation don’t hesitate to drop me an email and request it
• Online Media Ad/Promo Use Eclipses Traditional Among SMBs

As a result of the past year’s economic climate, many small and medium-size businesses have increased their efforts to mitigate risks and lower costs—and more and more are turning toward remote IT support to fulfill those goals.

Remote support tools allow IT providers to support an entire company’s computing infrastructure, wherever and whenever needed, from their own offices. This helps address the needs of a market that significantly benefits from doing more with less— small and medium businesses.

Some of the benefits of remote support include:

• No travel time. As long as the issue doesn’t require on-site support, you won’t pay for time spent traveling to your site.
• No waiting. Response time is faster because support staff can address your needs immediately with online access to your machines and servers.
• Less work interruption. Because support can be done remotely, much support work can be done after hours, or behind the scenes as you continue to work. No more downtime while support staff takes over your physical desk.
• Lower costs. IT support staff can work on all of your computers simultaneously from their own offices, saving time – and therefore money.
• Proactive monitoring prevents problems from ever happening. Instead of waiting to come out and fixing your infrastructure when it’s already broken, remote support provides ongoing network monitoring, management, and unlimited remote support that prevents problems from occurring in the first place – all for one fixed monthly fee.

Contact us today for details on how our remote IT support solutions can help your business stay on track.

Virtualization is generating a lot of buzz in IT circles these days because it promises to dramatically change the way many companies manage and operate their IT infrastructure. Virtualization is a broad term that covers the creation of virtual computing resources—such as storage, the network, or even an entire machine. For example, using virtualization you can create virtual machines on one computer, each running its own operating system.

According to research from the Yankee Group, 26% of medium businesses (100-499 employees) and 43% of enterprises (500+ employees) are using server virtualization today, and within 24 months, the percentage for medium-sized businesses is expected to increase to 69%. Among small businesses (20-99 employees), 23% are using server virtualization in production servers, and 8% of very small businesses (2-19 employees) are following suit.

Here are some examples of how you can take advantage of virtualization:

1. Reduce capex and opex. If you run a fair-sized organization with multiple servers, you can reduce your capital expenditures for new equipment or upgrades by purchasing a smaller number of machines and running your server workload off of them. Over time, this will reduce operating expenses because you’ll have fewer machines to maintain, less power and space consumed, and more machines more fully utilized.
2. A cost-effective way to keep IT running. Some virtualization solutions include features that allow virtual machines to quickly recover in case of disaster or application downtime. Virtual machine loads can be transferred in real-time from one physical machine to another. This means that your accounting application or warehouse management system will always run even if the original machine it’s installed on goes down – if it’s installed on a virtual machine that can intelligently transfer the application to a standby system.
3. Test multiple types of machines and run multiple applications on different operating systems. With machine virtualization, you can run multiple operating systems on a single PC. Thinking of running Windows 7 but are afraid some applications might not run properly on it? Use virtualization to run Windows XP within Windows 7. Want to use a Mac but your email is tied to Outlook? No problem! Buy a Mac, and use third party software to run Windows inside it.

Curious about virtualization and how it can help your business? Contact us today to explore ways that virtualization can increase your efficiency and lower your costs.

Carpal tunnel syndrome and eyestrain are two of the most common conditions that affect habitual computer users. Whether or not these conditions pose serious health risks remains a subject of debate, but it’s safe to say that no one wants to suffer them. Both conditions are painful, and can affect your productivity. The good news is that there are simple ways to prevent suffering from either condition.

How to prevent eye strain:

• Never stare too long at your monitor. Blink occasionally and use eye drops to avoid dry eyes.
• Rest your eyes regularly for about 2-3 minutes. If you have time, take a power nap (5-15 minutes) – this not only gives your eyes a rest, but also gives your brain and body a well-deserved break.
• Use glare-resistant glasses or a glare reduction screen for your monitor.
• Avoid working in too-bright environments.
• Reduce the brightness of your computer screen.
• Place your monitor at least 20 inches from your eyes. If you can’t read the screen, increase the size of your windows. You may also want to visit an optometrist to see if you need glasses or a new prescription.

How to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome:

• Adjust the height of your chair so that your arms and wrists are level with the keyboard.
• Move and click on your mouse lightly.
• Perform this wrist exercise several times throughout the day:
  1. Stretch your arms out in front of you, palms facing out – as if you were doing push ups. Hold for 5 seconds.
  2. With arms still stretched, straighten your wrists and relax you hands.
  3. After a few seconds, make tight fists and point them downward with your wrists. Hold for 5 seconds.
  4. Repeat step 2.
  5. Let your arms hang at your sides and then give them a gentle shake

Try incorporating these easy, quick, and safe tips into your daily routine. If they become habits, they’ll help you avoid the inconvenience and pain of carpal tunnel syndrome and eyestrain.

Another reason to keep your computer malware free: cyber-pirates raided several businesses as well as a school in recent attacks through the Automated Clearing House (ACH) Network.

The losses, which ranged from $150,000 to more than $400,000, were accomplished by the crooks in mere minutes. Luckily for these companies, the banks managed to reverse some of the transfers. If they hadn’t, the losses would have amounted to $700,000 up to a whopping $1.2 million.

The modus operandi of the hackers is simple. Making use of the ACH network, they send out “phishing” emails to account holders. When the recipient clicks on the link, malicious software – a Trojan horse or virus – automatically downloads itself to the recipient’s computer, allowing the hacker to infiltrate the system. Keylogging software (software that tracks keystrokes) is installed, which gives phishers access account numbers, names, and passwords. They then divert the company’s funds into their own accounts.

ACH fraudsters can also use the same method to not only siphon off money into their own pockets, but also to establish “ghost employees”, which they insert into the payroll and qualify to receive regular paychecks.

While banks are doing their best to strengthen the system, they can only do so much, and experts admit that the ACH network is a very old system compared to today’s standards. The volume of money that flows through the ACH is also so massive that it is difficult to keep track of specific amounts for specific accounts.

Despite its shortcomings, the ACH system still remains widely used, and the best defence is to guard your system well. For our clients, we have firewalls and anti-malware software in place, but you should also make sure your bookkeepers and staff are briefed on how to avoid being the victim of fake phishing emails.

If you have any questions or concerns please give us a call.

For more details about this story, visit http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9136334/Cyber_attackers_empty_business_accounts_in_minutes?taxonomyId=17&pageNumber=1.

Entrepreneur magazine columnist Gail Goodman offers an insightful look into email marketing and its relevance in today’s social network marketing-crazy world. She argues that despite the rise of Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, blogging, and other Web 2.0 tools for direct marketing, she argues that they will not likely displace email soon.

Goodman points out several arguments in support of her case. Among them: email is still valuable for relationship-building and meaningful interaction and dialogue with customers. Also, social networking has its place as a complementary channel to the marketing mix, and research from MarketingSherpa seems to bear this out. Another is that young people continue to use email despite their fascination with social networking sites.

If you rely on Internet, email, or direct marketing in your business, then be sure to continue using email as well.

Related articles:

• Report: Social Networks Growing while Other Social Media Sites …
• Why Do People Use Online Social Networks : Internet Marketing …

A new report by PandaLabs, Panda Security’s malware analysis and detection laboratory, examines the proliferation of so-called “rogueware” – malicious software that attempts to convince people that their computers are infected with malware in order to trick them into buying their “security software”.

Rogueware misleads users in that it tells them that it is protecting them from annoyances (such as online ads) or harm (such as from viruses or other malware) – even if it’s not. Often these programs themselves are not malicious beyond displaying false information. However, in some cases they can be the source of harm themselves, creating a backdoor for other Trojans or viruses to enter the system.

According to Panda’s research, as many as 35 million computers are newly infected with rogueware each month, many through social networking websites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Digg. Ads featuring free downloadable software are often featured, containing links or reminders to get the paid versions after first use—which earn the fraudsters as much as $34 million per month, Panda estimates.

To ensure you use only legitimate security software, make sure you only use systems from trusted software vendors that are vetted by your IT advisor. For advice and help, contact us today!

Related articles:

• Cyber-criminals targeting social networking sites
• Blog – Can Twitter and Facebook be Both Social and Secure?
• Forget about malware, rogueware is where its at!