Why you need the cloud?When talking to our clients, we have noticed that SMBs often think the cloud is something for their bigger counterparts to explore. We hear objections like, “But, it’s too complicated.”, “The cloud sounds expensive.”, “We are a small business, we don’t think we need the cloud.

Don’t sign up with that MSP just yet!The decision to sign up with a MSP is a big one--you are essentially trusting someone with the backbone of your business–your technology infrastructure, so you need to make sure you pick someone with whom you can have a mutually beneficial, long-term relationship.

The biggest threat to your I.T infrastructure: Your own employeesDid you know that your employees often unwittingly ‘help’ cybercriminals gain access to your system? Often, employees play a part in compromising the security of your IT infrastructure, even without them realizing it.

3 things your Managed Services Provider (MSP) wants you knowAre you considering bringing a MSP on board? Or perhaps you already have one. Either way, for you to truly benefit from your relationship with a MSP, you need to build a solid bond with them. As a MSP who has been in this business for long, I can tell you the 3 important steps that will help you get there.

Don’t make these IT mistakes as you grow!During the course of IT consultancy, we come across a lot of clients who are not happy with the way their IT shaped up over the years. They feel their IT investments never really yielded the kind of returns they expected and come to us looking to change the trend.

IT Red Flags to Watch Out ForAs someone running a SMB, you probably have a lot on your plate. You are the core decision maker, responsible for growing your business, keeping your clients happy and getting all the working done. Often, when you have so much going on, one area that gets overlooked is IT. When you are so busy looking into other things, the start of IT issues may slip your watchful eyes.

Assessing your MSP in the first appointmentHanding over your IT to a MSP is a major decision. Who do you choose and more importantly, how? While there’s no rulebook that will tell you exactly how to proceed, here are a few hints that can help you decide how invested your prospective MSP is into you.

Hiring seasonal staff? Here are a few things to consider from the IT perspectiveIn many industries, there are seasonal spikes in business around specific times. For example, CPAs/Accounting firms, though busy all year, generally see a spike in business around the time of tax planning, IRS return filing, etc.

3 Things to consider before you sign-up with a cloud services providerMore and more SMBs are migrating to the cloud and that is not a surprise considering the numerous benefits the cloud can offer them. For a SMB, the cloud is a cost efficient and secure answer to their growing data needs and IT security requirements.

By Dennis Barry, President for IntelliPoint Technologies

This is a really cool feature within Dynamics GP 2010. It allows users to quickly and easily email single documents, batches of documents and/or multiple documents from within a GP list. The user can select which documents they would like to send and also select which customers/vendors should receive their documents in email.