This blog has now been moved

As we’ve integrated this blog into the main Peak Support website, the address has now changed to the following:

http://www.peaksupport.co.uk/blog

Please update your favorites and RSS readers accordingly.

Thanks,

Peak Support Services

Microsoft Office Secrets

As requested, here are the links to all the features and shortcuts mentioned in my recent ‘Microsoft Office Secrets’ presentation at the Nottingham Business Club earlier this evening:

1. Quickly copy formatting with the Format Painter

2. Use the fill handle to fill data

3. Create a reusable building block (Office 2007 onwards)

4. Compare versions of Office

5. Temporarily black out the screen during a presentation

6. Edit data on multiple worksheets

7. Go to a specific slide while presenting

Vitis PR, CentraStage @ AMITPRO

First up last night were Ranbir and Jas from Vitis PR. Vitis is a Solihull-based PR agency where each consultant has a minimum of 10 years’ industry experience. They have a number of clients in the technology sector, and work with businesses of all sizes.

Ranbir gave an insightful presentation how to use PR as a tool to attract more customers and grow business through targeted efforts. The presentation included some great advice on how to improve the effectiveness of PR, such as:

• Utilise the Internet as well as Traditional Media, especially if you’re a smaller IT company
• Read what your customer reads, target industry-specific magazines and newspapers
• Think like a publisher – try to solve your readers’ problems
• What’s the news? Be topical – Create a ‘News Pipeline’ to plan your releases
• Spread your story – Use newswires to syndicate content globally
• Avoid jargon – Especially words like: ‘ground-breaking’, ‘cutting-edge’, ‘flexible’, and ‘solutions’
• Don’t expect Techcrunch to uphold an embargo!

The full presentation can be downloaded from here

To find out more about Vitis’ special offer to AMITPRO members, call Ranbir on 0121 2428048 or e-mail ranbir@vitispr.com 

** UPDATE – Download Vitis PR’s Special Offer for AMITPRO members from here **

The second speaker was Christian Nagele, MD of CentraStage. CentraStage was founded in 2006 with the aim of breaking the mould when it comes to IT support technology – to offer attractive, feature-rich technology at a price that their customers can afford.

Their core offering is an interesting take on the MSP model, and while doesn’t have some of the more advanced features found in platforms like Kaseya or N-able, their low-cost, community-focussed approach makes them an interesting alternative.

The pricing model is a simple £1/month/device, and covers PCs, Laptops and Servers. The services is limited to Windows PCs at the moment, with plans to add functionality to other operating systems and network devices in future. The backend is managed on central, co-located LAMP server managed by CentraStage, with the option to host your own management server on-premise for an extra £500/year.

Despite the low cost, the software includes many features commonly found in the more expensive MSP offerings, including:

• Auditing
• Monitoring
• Remote Support
• Management
• Reporting

For those who would like to kick the tyres with the system, it’s available free of charge for trial/home use at the following address:

https://centrastage.net/csm/register

Thanks to both companies for presenting to the group – especially as numbers were a little light on the ground this month! Can’t think why that might be…

7 Facts About Windows 7

With the release of Windows 7 just around the corner, I’ve been asked by my local networking club to provide a list of essential facts for their newsletter designed to help business decision makers get up to speed with Microsoft’s latest operating system. Here’s a rundown of my favourite Windows 7 tips for businesses:

1. The worldwide release date for Windows 7 is October 22nd 2009.

2. After release, if you buy Windows 7 Professional with a new PC, you can exercise the right to downgrade to Windows XP* or Windows Vista, and then upgrade to Windows 7 at a later date without paying for an additional licence.

3. Benefits for businesses include: Better search, Faster performance, an Improved User Interface and Advanced networking support.

4. Windows 7 Professional includes a feature called ‘Windows XP Mode’, which provides near-perfect application compatibility for no extra cost – ideal for companies who have legacy applications.

5. Windows 7 Professional is the ideal version for most Small Businesses. This version can be run in a network environment with a server, and includes improved backup functionality, remote access and encryption.

6. In general, if your PC can run Windows Vista, it can run Windows 7. But if you’re not running Windows Vista, or are just not sure if your system is ready to run Windows 7, you can now check using the ‘Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor’ tool from the Microsoft Web Site.

7. Peak Support Services is the only IT Company in the East Midlands participating in the Windows 7 Small Business Ignite Programme, an early adoption scheme run by Microsoft which has given our customers advanced access to run Windows 7 in their businesses since March 2009. If you’d like to find out more, e-mail guy@peaksupport.co.uk.

* PCs purchased before 23rd April 2011 with Windows 7 Professional preinstalled can be downgraded to Windows XP Professional or Windows Vista Business. After this date, PCs can be downgraded to Windows Vista Business only.

Windows Server 2008 Foundation launches

Today, Microsoft and HP launch a new Server 2008 SKU aimed at very small businesses and startups. Utilising the channel of VARs and OEMs (such as Peak Support) Windows Server 2008 Foundation will be released (preinstalled) on Servers in 50 countries today, with a full rollout worldwide expected for the ‘version 2’ edition.

At launch, these are the HP Servers that support the new OS:

• ML110 g5
• ML115 g5
• ML310 g5p
• DL120 g5
• DL320 g5p

These are all certified by HP to run Server 2008 Foundation, which is currently available in the UK only via an HP ROK (Reseller Option KIt).

There are also a few limitations to the product, including:

• 15 user maximum – no sharing of CALs allowed.
• Not upgradable to SBS 2008 (upgrade to Server 2008 Std. only)
• 8Gb maximum limit for RAM (512Mb minimum)
• Virtualisation not supported (no Hyper-V and not licensable as a guest in a VM)
• 64-bit only and only one single physical processor (multi-core and hyper-threaded are OK)

Most of these restrictions are understandable, as Microsoft still have to sell the regular version of Server 2008. Hats off to them, though, for listening to the SME community and coming up with a great offering for micro businesses.

An upgrade path to SBS would have been nice, but maybe there’s a reason why they didn’t include it – I’d love to find out why. (Answers on a postcard!)

BT Affiliate Programme @ AMITPRO

Last night’s AMITPRO meeting played host to Tim Nelson from BT Business and David Williams from Microsoft. As part of a tour around the UK SBS User Groups, the pair are looking for SBSCs to sign up to the BT Affiliate Programme.

It did feel rather like being sat on the ‘Dragons’ side of an episode of ‘Dragons Den’, whereby the unassuming duo felt the combined wrath of  half a dozen SBSCs with plenty of first-hand experience of BT’s infamous customer service. Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, the pair put in a spirited performance, punctuated only briefly by a platter of sandwiches and some strange-tasting brown liquid which claimed to be coffee.

General concern seemed to centre around the following areas:

• Commission structure not as favourable as existing collaborative partners (e.g. ISPs)
• ‘One-way’ referrals, members not getting leads back from BT as they would with their regular partners
• Low barrier to entry could potentially damage the BT Affiliate Programme brand, and by association may impact the Partner’s reputation.

However, it was clear that some of the negative feeling was based around past experiences with BT rather than as a reflection of the Affiliate Programme itself.

In response to the above criticism, Tim made it clear that the Programme was in its infancy, and that the compensation is continually being reviewed, as well as the range of products and services being made available on the platform.

It was an interesting and lively discussion, and I’m grateful that Tim and David made it up to Solihull. In my view, the Affiliate Programme as it stands today doesn’t really seem like a great fit for SBSC, but hopefully some of the feedback they received will help them shape the programme to make it more viable in future.

History of Business Intelligence

Here’s a light-hearted look at how the field of Business Intelligence has evolved over the last 30 years. It’s a great introduction to some of the founding principles for BI, and is presented in a very balanced way.

The narration by Nic Fish from the Microsoft BI Blog reminds me of a favourite monologue by Larry Lessig on the subject of Free Culture.

Windows Server 2008 Foundation

Microsoft have just announced a brand new addition to the Small Business range of Server products – Windows Server 2008 Foundation. This enters the market at the smaller end of the SME sector. Aimed at new and SOHO businesses, this is great news for those looking for a cost effective LOB application, or general purpose file/print server.

As a stripped down version of Windows Server 2008 (as opposed to SBS 2008) it loses the Exchange and Virtualisation functionality, however, it can still be used as a domain controller, terminal server or web server. There’s also the added benefit of not having to purchase extra Client Access Licenses for the box either.

It’s only going to be available to those businesses under 15 users, and only via OEM Server Providers, such as Peak Support Services, but the simplicity factor (and  hopefully low cost) may prove very tempting for startups and companies looking for their first server.

Learn more about Windows Server 2008 Foundation here and here

Understanding Software + Services

This ‘Art Attack’-style video has a unique way of explaining the differences between On-premise, SaaS and Software + Services. It’s a great idea to help convey the advantages and disadvantages of each model to customers.

Thanks to James Senior for posting the link

Getting Started with Windows 7

For those who’ve managed to grab the beta of Windows 7 and are wondering how to get started, Jamie Burgess has created an excellent series of videos highlighting some of the most important changes to the user experience, including Aero Peak, the new ‘Superbar’ taskbar and IE8.

Here’s a sample video from the original post:

What a great idea! I’m sure these video nuggets will prove popular those early adopters who haven’t got the patience to trawl through online manuals and lengthy Word documents (like myself, for example).