Hi

One of the things I find a bit unusual about LinkedIn and other social media is that many of us go to great lengths to update our profiles and “connect” with one another,  but I don’t often get to engage with many of those connections at all.  For a social tool, it can seem a bit antisocial at times.

So, I decided to make a profile video to introduce myself instead and put a face to the name.  Recently LinkedIn has added video capability to the Profile Page which I think is a cool feature.

If you’d like to connect on LinkedIn I always welcome the opportunity to do so, I can be found on LinkedIn right here

If you just want to watch the video.. then you can also watch it here!

What do you think, would you use LinkedIn’s video profile feature?

Happy computing!

James

With so many innovations occurring minute by minute on the internet, organisations will need to keep track and be prepared to make use of change. Sure, we’ll still need to stick to the basics whether it be hosting a website, having our documents stored on a server or using a widely accepted accounting platform such as MYOB or Xero, but with so many cool applications out there, businesses who want to innovate and stand out from the crowd must keep a close eye on new technology outside the traditional format and find better use of time for employees.

Take for example ‘Shoeboxed‘

This application allows you to snap a photo from your phone of any receipt/invoice you come across in your daily work ie Fuel, coffee, lunch with a client and upload the receipt instantly to the ShoeBoxed service.

The ShoeBoxed team categorises the receipt for you, and provides you with a file that you or your book keeper can upload into your accounting application, usually within 24 hours.

You can provide the ShoeBoxed app to your team as well saving them the hassle of handing in receipts and expense reports. Very cool…

Cardmunch

Or if you’re constantly picking up new business cards in your day to day travels you’ve probably ended up with a stack of them that you haven’t had time to enter in to Outlook or your CRM, or someone in your company is entering them manually or scanning them each week.

Cardmunch, like ShoeBoxed, allows you to take a quick photo of the card, upload it to the CardMunch service and their team transcribes it into an Outlook contact card, and because Cardmunch is also owned by LinkedIn the contact is also   (optionally) added to your LinkedIn connections so you can continue the conversation with them there.

Just a note of experience, I’ve found both of these apps very useful and innovative but it’s early days.  At times the CardMunch app has taken a long time to get my cards back to me in a reasonable time (ie a couple have taken over a week!) but with so much competition in this space these services are bound to improve and it’s worth taking advantage of these free or relatively low cost services.

Do you have any apps to recommend that are saving you time and helping you re-think the way your organisation works?  Let us know!

Have you upgraded yet?

Back to traditional, yet necessary  IT and just a reminder that Microsoft and many software vendors are no longer supporting the Windows XP platform (now over 10 years old).  Many clients have made the switch to Windows 7 or the new Windows 8 with positive results.  If you have any questions or you’re not sure what the next step is please drop me a line.

Happy computing.

James

Taking a slight detour from my usual IT Support Therapy to present to the LAN Down Under, ConnectWise User Group on social media!
Gotta get my game face on.

If you’re here I look forward to meeting you at 1:30.

JV @JamesVickery

Why hello there Dr…

More than 2/3rd’s of companies will experience a significant server failure at some point, and while many businesses are shifting to the cloud, still many more continue to rely on internal IT systems to be running rock solid.

When a server has a hardware fault, a company can expect a response from the manufacturer anywhere between 4-24 hours depending on the warranty – many don’t have warranty and thus, some servers are irrecoverable.

Pictured is one of I Know ITs “DR” (disaster recovery) servers.  It might not get your heart racing, but this baby is equipped with the right stuff to help bail virtually any company out of a jam – and with all the extreme temperatures this month, these are an invaluable tool to have on hand when things go wrong.

In the event that your server can’t be “resuscitated”, this DR will be onsite ASAP with a specialist engineer to conduct a transplant of critical software and emails onto the temporary system, in most cases within a couple of hours.

Whilst not all disasters are preventable, it’s ready-to-go gear like this, and appropriate technical knowledge that makes life a bit easier, and downtime a lot shorter for your business.

Clear!

Not enough room on Twitter and LinkedIn to post this so:

A New Year’s Resolution: A few days before Christmas, a prospective client said yes!! and requested I Know IT commence moving their IT services into our cloud starting with Exchange ( email ).

The process began, and as with all of our clients a 24×7 IT monitoring service commenced, in this case we were very sceptical about the clients critical systems – an aging, worn out, custom built server with no warranty and all the tell-tale signs of an imminent failure.On Christmas Day – the ‘fearable’ occurred.. the server had failed.

Now, on a day like Christmas Day, few if any of the 40 or so people dependent on that system may have noticed the issue, but fortunately our monitoring system did, as did IKIT Systems Engineer,  Niraj, and through a coordinated effort with the client he was on site the next business day to confirm his suspicion that the system was indeed dead and commenced what would be a tricky and somewhat highly risky disaster recovery process.

What followed was a monumental effort between Niraj, members of the IKIT team, partners and vendors.  An emergency server was provided and installed to enable client access to essential files, folders and financial records,  the email migration had fortunately been successful and within a few hours the client was able to access email through our webmail service,  a few more hours later through their phones and Outlook.

By Wednesday morning when their full team returns to work in Sydney, Melbourne and abroad the entire business will be up and running flawlessly.  No information was lost at all.

This is not just a story about us, and whilst it may come across as “bragging” ( I hope it doesn’t ) – what it reinforces for me  is just how many people internally and externally in the IT industry make it possible for us to to do what we do, and for clients like this one to depend on us to keep their systems up and running even in the face of extreme challenges.

For this client i’d say their New Years resolution is probably very simple – replace their failing IT infrastructure be it via a Cloud solution or other solution before the _fearable_ happens again..
My New Years resolution?  Never, ever forget the people like Niraj who responded instantly to this clients needs or our partners like Ryan from FM, software and hardware vendors and many others that make this such a great company and industry to be a part of.

Happy New Year!

Well, i’ve been waiting enthusiastically since the announcement that Microsoft would be releasing their own tablet PC running Windows 8 – so great was my enthusiasm that I decided that rather than pick one up in Australia, I’d visit the Microsoft Store in Orlando, Florida (something we don’t yet have in Australia). Yesterday that goal was achieved, but I didn’t walk out with a Surface as planned and here’s why: [...]

A bit off topic from my usual IT support therapy, but I get so many questions about why I use Twitter and why Twitter has been a successful medium for me, much more than Facebook or Linkedin.  So, never one to be able to keep a secret I thought I’d share this with you.

Like most people, when I first signed up for Twitter I thought it was a complete waste of time. I was way more comfortable on Facebook and found it easier to connect with people but there is something that kept compelling me to come back to Twitter.  It is a great way to connect with thought leaders and have genuine conversations and find like minded people.  Unfortunately, so many people miss the mark on Twitter and either give up, or never truly connect with anyone other than to blast out some advertising from time to time.

My issue with Twitter was that I felt it can be really impersonal, sure you can get thousands of followers and maybe start a few conversations but it’s difficult to make a true connection.  So, I decided to make a video to introduce myself to each Twitter follower which is to date about 8000 or so.  When someone follows me on Twitter they get a quick intro message from me and the video.  I can tell you that this has made an amazing difference.  Day in and day out I get personal messages (not THOSE kinds of personal messages) but real messages from people who appreciate the opportunity to meet “face to face”.  That’s when I find that real conversations begin.

If you’re not on Twitter I really encourage you to give it a go.  It’s not something you can do overnight, but finding ways to take an interest in your followers and be part of the conversation is well worth it.

You can follow me here on Twitter @JamesVickery – once you follow you’ll get a link to the vid. Looking forward to meeting you!

Hey everyone
I’ve been a bit of a slack blogger lately and I really wanted to try and get back into the swing of things.  One of the things I really enjoy about blogging is getting perspective around what is happening right now in technology, which is a constantly changing space.  One of the traps I try not to fall into though is that because I’m working with technology every day, it’s so easy to assume that everyone else just knows what is going on.  We have such a broad readership, so I thought I’d ask your advice.  Are there any topics you’d like to know about?  Is there any particular subject that I’ve written about previously that you’d like me to dive into a bit deeper?

I would really (yes, really, really) appreciate your comments below to ensure this blog has relevant and up to date articles.  Thanks

Just had a really good chat with a colleague of mine who’s also in the IT industry and the topic was Mobile Device Management.  If you haven’t noticed the trend, just about everyone is carrying a smartphone and/or a tablet PC.  The question is, do these devices require the same level of IT support and management as say, your desktop PC or your notebook?

Mobile Device Management generally refers to the monitoring, updating, remote support and remote wiping of a smartphone or tablet PC.

In the IT support/IT management world scores of hours and millions of dollars are spent on updating, securing, antivirus-ing, and configuring desktops and laptop computers.  An entire industry has grown up around what’s known as “Managed Services”.   Security is a big concern for us IT guys who are constantly defending client networks.  But do company’s see their iPhones and Blackberry’s as something that requires the same level of management?

In surveying a handful of our clients, some of the comments have been:

“hey my 5 year old can configure my iphone.. why would i need this managed?”

OR

“I only use my device for email and I don’t really care if something happens to my phone”

Whilst this isn’t everyone’e opinion, it does represent a lack of maturity around the mobile management industry and whether business owners/decision makers see value in MDM.

Whilst our company provides secure lock downs of mobile devices via the clients server, the jury is still out for me as to whether devices require full time, 24×7 management with software on the device and whether this creates unnecessary cost and overhead for our clients.. so.. my question to you is:  Do you believe that your mobile devices present a threat to your business, and secondly would you invest in having your fleet of phones, tablets and other devices managed the same way your desktops and laptops are managed?

Share your thoughts by commenting below.

If it seems like every day there is some new innovation in technology, you’re not wrong. We live in a time where technology dominates our lives and the challenge is always which technologies make the most financial sense to your business.

Although new gadgets appear on the scene regularly, it’s often sensible to take a step back, a deep breath and truly understand how these tech trends will affect you, your team and your business. [...]