Union strikes, volcanic ash, A380 engine failures and total ticketing system failures in the news these past 2 years alone doesn’t inspire one to plan and grow a business around travelling interstate and overseas.  Regardless of the latest Qantas union/industrial/corporate action the reality is that air travel is becoming riskier – not so much due to safety, but due to loss of productivity at an economic scale and to business.  (I won’t weigh into the debate about Qantas here though most can probably glean my point of view from my Twitter or LinkedIn feeds).

I believe that when problems are presented that technology has a solution and whilst most of us in business agree there is no substitute for a face to face, a lunch, a handshake and a look in the eye to seal the deal – the reality is we may all need to think differently about how we engage one another if flying becomes any more prohibitive than it is now.

For some businesses this will mean a fundamental change in technology and perhaps a cultural change from the top down to encourage the use of converged communication (voice, video and data) to communicate with prospects, customers and employees alike.

Although it may be tempting to just set up a Skype account or encourage the use of GoToMeeting, the only way to truly change behaviours will be to make an investment in the infrastructure so that it is easy and fluid to communicate this way.  Much like a grounded aircraft, it will be hard to maintain confidence in particular technologies if they are constantly suffering from outages, poor performance and poor customer service.

This is a common story today amongst businesses who were early adopters or semi-adopters of voice and video technology.  Without investing in adequate services such as dedicated Internet services for voice over IP and video over IP calls and without rolling out adequate facilities at branch offices and campuses to meet the voice and video needs of the organisation – the technology has gone stale resulting in a fall back to costly flights and out of town stays.

The question today is [...]

For centuries we’ve had something in common with one another, from the Ming Dynasty to the British Royals, from homemakers to high powered executives on Wall St we’ve organised, created, collaborated and commanded from a desk found in most homes, offices, castles and military bases since we graduated from the stone ages. The desktop, a place where you know you’ll find your pen and paper, your intray, your letters, your life.  It’s a part of our evolution.

Technology of course typically emulates our real life behaviours and for the past 25-30 years we’ve not only maintained our traditional desks but the desktop of the modern computer has played a significant role in how we organise our work and personal lives. Whether you’re a Mac or a PC user you keep the tools you use such as email, documents and applications right there on your desktop where it can be found and used at your leisure and for many years this has been the status quo.

But something is amiss. [...]

The IT media has been going to town with the latest news about Distribute.IT. The web hosting entity, who has now been bailed out by Netregistry was taken out by a malicious hacking attack that destroyed 4800 websites and all of their backups as well.

When businesses look to host or “cloud” their data such as websites, email, documents and accounting data many don’t openly question the backup procedures of the host themselves and in the case of Distribute.IT the end result was grim. Of the 4800 websites, very few organisations had a recent up to date backup of their data and the web host was unable to recover them despite their efforts.  Netregistry were able to recover some older backups of some sites.

What Happened? [...]

It’s something you rarely think about.  Perhaps occasionally you receive a bill asking you to renew your domain
name but other than that it just works – at least it should.

Your domain name is your company’s brand.  It drives your email, your website and is often linked to
security certificates particularly if you process payments online or offer your team mates access to work from home.

But who hosts your .com.au domain?
Over the past several years numerous online company’s have come and gone offering low cost online registration of domain names.  Sometimes the price differential seems too good to be true with fluctuations from $10 with one provider and $200 with another.  What’s the difference? [...]

We’re fortunate at I Know IT to be creating raving people – fortunate because this is our mission statement and fortunate because it makes our work just a tad more satisfying

Recently we undertook a server infrastructure project for Sydney law firm Alidenes and they were kind enough to share their experience: [...]

I’ve had this old banker’s motto running through my head this past week (did somebody say it’s the end of the financial year?) – the motto “Topline is vanity, bottom line is sanity, cash is reality” refers to how many company’s and individuals for that matter often focus heavily on revenue, the top line of their financial statement, rather than reality, the bottom line.

Personally, I don’t like financial statements.

It’s a known fact around the office at I Know IT that if you put a page full of P&L or Balance Sheet figures under my nose I go into convulsions, beads of sweat pour down my forehead and I have been known to go cross eyed.   I don’t wear glasses – but for some reason when I’m reading a financial statement, I feel like I need to.  It’s not that I’m innumerate, I can read them and (sadly) I have to.  But if I could trade that moment for say.. sticking my head in a vise .. then I’d do that instead. Gladly. [...]

Inspired by a recent spate of Internet troubles we’ve witnessed, coupled with the usual chatter about the National Broadband Network I couldn’t help but jot down some notes about the Internet for this weeks Last Known Issue.

Oh by the way if you’re wondering why Last Known Issue isn’t always posted here on the JamesVickery.com.au blog.. well.. I get a little busy and don’t always post the same articles here as I send directly to our clients and partners.  If you want to get the same articles that our clients receive then sign up for our newsletter here.

The Information Superhighway was a term adopted by American marketers eager to promote the benefits of the Internet in the early 90′s.  Perhaps they thought that a car analogy would be the best way to talk about technology to the rest of the world.  The term didn’t last long.  So for the purpose of this article, I too will drop the Americanisms and keep the transportation analogy. [...]

As an expert IT support provider with competencies in the legal industry, I Know IT is often approached by law firms looking for help with either setting up the infrastructure for a new legal practice or maintaining and upgrading the IT infrastructure for an existing one. Having a specialisation in the legal software that many law firms run ensures we’re able to get to the root of the requirement quickly and without unnecessary time and expense wasted.

When we were approached by Nikki O’Hara of Goulden Legal to help them in setting up their new server and computers for Leap Legal Software, we jumped at the opportunity. They in turn gave us this fantastic case study below. [...]

Last weeks $8.5bn investment by Microsoft into Skype has been seen by many as another attempt by Microsoft to silence its competitors rather than compete on a level playing field.  If this is so, perhaps we’ll be seeing Skype turn up its toes and go out of business sometime within the next few years while Microsoft introduces a poorer quality, less flexible and more expensive (i.e. more expensive that f