What is cloud computing and what does it mean for me?

Cloud computing has been around for years… It just never got called that before. If you have ever had a Hotmail or Gmail account, or even just downloaded your email from your web site host, you have already used the “cloud”.

Actually the true definition of cloud computing is pretty deep but, as usual, marketing hawks the world over have managed to twist it to mean a whole host of things (forgive the pun).

The cloud is what you use when the applications you use don’t actually live on your computers. More often than not, you rent these applications.

What’s an application? Well that’s the software you use to achieve a particular function. It may be a simple mail system such as Hotmail or a sophisticated enterprise management system such as Netsuite.

It could be your web site customer interface that allows your customers to purchase from you. None of these things need to be purchased any more. The relatively recent quantum increases in Internet connection speeds mean that it doesn’t really matter where your applications live.

That’s the simple definition. It gets more complicated. If you can stand it…read on.

Cloud and virtualization go hand in hand. If you are not sure what virtualisation is, have a look at this.

It used to be that virtualisation used to be just about getting a server or a workstation to run “virtually” on a host computer. Then companies such as VMWare and Citrix really started to get very tricky. How about being able to virtualize just a part of the computer? What if you could get all the bits of software that will run Microsoft Excel, for example, and package that all up to run as a virtual “package”? And if you could do that, could you serve it to more than one person remotely? And if you could do that, could you do that for hundreds? Thousands? If it were to be thousands, would you need to distribute the serving of this application package over more than one server? Would they need to be in the same room? What if you could dial up these servers as you needed them?

Well, if you can answer yes to all of these questions…what would you call that technology?

It’s called the cloud folks, and Microsoft, VMWare, Citrix and others are all delivering this right now. At the moment, the pricing puts this in the reach of medium to large organizations, but the costs are dropping daily. And the cloud capacity builds, larger companies are looking to offset their costs by offering discounts to their smaller counterparts.

Cloud is here to stay….think about that before you purchase your next server….do you really need it?

At Chill we take the heat out of IT. No matter what pressure you are under, we will always keep our heads and make sure you get back up and running as soon as possible. So don’t sweat – Chill IT. Click here for more information on our consulting services.

Dashboards are Not Just for Cars

Remember the first time you slid behind the steering wheel of a car, gripped the wheel, and saw the instruments on the dashboard? It was exciting to feel that you could be in control of that powerful machine. All the dials and gauges spread out before you told you how fast you were going and how well the car was functioning. You had all the information you needed to go wherever you liked, whenever you wanted.

I can’t promise that thrill each time you look at your business dashboard, but you will find it gives you the same sort of up-to-the-minute readout on how well you are doing on your business journey.

A business dashboard presents visual displays of data pulled from different business systems, and tells you at a glance how things are going. A dashboard can provide real-time intelligence that includes your key performance indicators (KPIs), and can generate ad hoc reports to support decision-making. The display might include red-yellow-green lights, graphics such as bar charts and gauges, summaries, and drill-downs, all to provide consolidated information.

A well-designed dashboard is customizable and usually role-driven, so that the dashboard displayed on the company president’s screen will be different from that of the CFO or the middle manager. The good news is that the source data for a dashboard is probably already sitting in your system right now. With a bit of planning and design work, the information living down in your digital records can be given visible form and made to work for you in new ways.

Employees benefit from having the information they need to do their job right at their fingertips, and dashboards generally allow for customization to the individual’s likes and interests. For the CFO, accounts receivable aging status can be displayed in a bar chart, but the same data could appear as a pie chart for the CEO. The Sales Manager can see the comparison of monthly goals to actual performance, and then drill down to each salesperson’s individual performance. And for the Project Manager who has customized his desktop with widgets for weather and surf conditions, it’s a simple matter to add KPI information to tell him which tasks are on, ahead, or behind schedule and which are running over budget.

In your car you have spread before you all the vital information to get from where you are to where you are going. Fuel remaining, speed, distance traveled, engine function, warning lights, perhaps even compass direction as well as time and distance to destination. On your computer screen, the digital dashboard does the same for your business.

Gentlemen, start your engines!

At Chill we take the heat out of IT. No matter what pressure you are under, we will always keep our heads and make sure you get back up and running as soon as possible. So don’t sweat – Chill IT. Click here for more information on our consulting services.

iPad Revolutionises Real Estate

In a recent article in the Australian Real Estate News, the iPad is represented as completely changing the way the mobile work force does business. Full article can be seen here.

At Chill we take the heat out of IT. No matter what pressure you are under, we will always keep our heads and make sure you get back up and running as soon as possible. So don’t sweat – Chill IT. Click here for more information on our consulting services.

Law firm uses iPad to reach clients

In a first for an Australian law firm, the iPad has been used to release a legal update for clients. Full article can be seen here.

At Chill we take the heat out of IT. No matter what pressure you are under, we will always keep our heads and make sure you get back up and running as soon as possible. So don’t sweat – Chill IT. Click here for more information on our consulting services.

Cradle Your Customers in a COTS Solution

When customers call for help or information, does your system make them feel like welcome guests or annoying pests? From the first contact, whether by web or voice, the systems you have in place should be helping you capture and keep clients.

Of course you and your staff are courteous. But if you don’t know that the same customer called a week ago, and what the call was about, a cheerful voice and frequent apologies will not erase the fact that you didn’t care enough to make a note. Is a client celebrating a business anniversary? A greeting card takes seconds to send and can pay dividends for years to come.

Ah, but how to capture all that important information, and be able to find it in seconds? That’s where your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system pays for itself over and over. And, you don’t have to spend a fortune either.

CRM has been around for years and many very effective software packages have been brought to the market. But just as “one-size-fits-all” never does, so a straight off-the-shelf package is not going to suit everyone. Full custom development is a huge investment, but there is a middle ground.

COTS can be your answer: Customised off-the-shelf brings the best of both worlds to your business with a system that will collect, store, report, and help you analyze the details of your customer relationships that matter to you. You will have the features needed to manage your business your way, and still have the benefits of off-the-shelf economy.

Starting with the base of a fully functional application, the integrator will tweak the system to meet your specific requirements. Snap-shot views help you see what’s in your pipeline of sales, reports help you understand how well your sales staff are doing, and client records help you collect and organise information on every contact your customers have with the company. Score card reporting allows you to visit or call customers with full confidence and preparation.

Knowledge is power, and the data collected by a well-designed and implemented customised off-the-shelf CRM system can put that power in your hands. The payoff will be a more efficient process and happier, more loyal customers.

At Chill we take the heat out of IT. No matter what pressure you are under, we will always keep our heads and make sure you get back up and running as soon as possible. So don’t sweat – Chill IT. Click here for more information on our consulting services.

Use the Other CRM to Create Future Success

What is the single biggest cost for most businesses? Correct – people. Salaries, taxes, and benefits are a major expense, so managing the hiring and retention of good employees is critical to an organisation’s success. In the information age, when knowledge has become the product of value, managing your company’s talent resources is as critical as managing cash flow or making investment decisions.

The other CRM – Candidate Relationship Management – is an outgrowth of traditional Human Resource (HR) activities. In the past HR departments have concentrated on making policy, hiring and troubleshooting staffing issues, and managing the risks of being an employer. That’s no longer enough. The best managed organisations are reaching out ahead of need to create a system that identifies candidates and builds an optimal workforce for the business. And it’s working. Companies that invest in talent management are showing higher performance than their competitors, because it is the people who are the creators of value.

CRM systems are designed to help improve recruiting, development, and retention of employees who have the skills and aptitudes to meet a company’s needs, both now and in the future. If your company always seems to be scrambling to find good people to hire, consider adding a CRM system to help expand the pool of qualified, pre-screened candidates before you need them.

CRM tools don’t have to be elaborate and expensive to be effective, and there are options for small firms with salaried as well as hourly employees. The key is not size or complexity, but how well you are able to build a knowledge base of good candidates. If you have employees, you owe it to your organization to build a business-enhancing CRM system.

At Chill we take the heat out of IT. No matter what pressure you are under, we will always keep our heads and make sure you get back up and running as soon as possible. So don’t sweat – Chill IT. Click here for more information on our consulting services.

In Sydney or San Francisco, You’re Connected

It used to be that people would ask each other, “How are you?” These days, the question is just as likely to be “Where are you?” For both business and pleasure, people today are highly mobile. But they are also highly busy, so being out of touch is not an option whether the trip is all the way to Geneva or just down the road to a grocery store.

Technology has not only kept up, it frequently leaps ahead of our mobile society’s wants and needs. The development of laptop computers was a response to the need for portability. Built-in WiFi was a response to the need for those laptops to connect to the Internet. Now, building 3G (“third generation”) modems into laptops means that users can access high-speed data services outside the range of their ISP by relying on the 3G wide area cellular telephone networks. With increased bandwidth and transfer rates, 3G allows for high-speed data exchange to handle Web-based applications, audio, and video files.

All that transmitting and receiving of data can add a feature that no one wants – security issues. Technology has an answer for that, too, of course: the Virtual Private Network (VPN). Imagine that you are sitting at your desk in an office, connected to the company’s network through a little blue cable plugged in to your laptop. Imagine then that you pick up your laptop and take it home…with the cable still attached, still connecting you to the company’s secure network. That’s your VPN. Instead of a cable, though, you connect through the Internet to the company’s private network just as if you were still at your desk. Except that you are sitting at home or on the beach or in a café.

The benefits to you are obvious – you can work anywhere and collaborate with colleagues just as if you were in the same building. For the company, there are many benefits:

• Global networking opportunities are increased.
• Travel costs are cut or eliminated for remote users
• Travel time and commuting stress are reduced
• Productivity improves along with employee satisfaction
• Overall operating costs are reduced
• VPNs are secure so confidential data can be shared safely

A few years ago, a small hand-held device became the badge of importance that marked executives and in-the-know technophiles. Now, less than 10 years since its debut, hundreds of millions of people seem to have a BlackBerry as a permanent attachment. It’s no wonder, either. The BlackBerry includes a major improvement over the PDAs that went before. Instead of having to manually sync a PDA to your computer, the BlackBerry syncs itself continually over the Internet and cell phone network. So besides your phone calls, a BlackBerry brings email, calendar updates, and documents to the hand-held device.

Mobile computing options are expanding every year. Whether you prefer a hand-held BlackBerry type of phone/PDA, or a lightweight laptop with a G3 modem and a VPN, we can help you communicate and do business anywhere you go in today’s connected world. So…where are you?

At Chill we take the heat out of IT. No matter what pressure you are under, we will always keep our heads and make sure you get back up and running as soon as possible. So don’t sweat – Chill IT. Click here for more information on our consulting services.