Tek Report January 2014

Health officials are expecting things to get worse before they get better. So what can you do to protect your business? Here are a few tips to minimize flu related absenteeism and keep your employees healthy.

• Encourage employees to get their flu shot. It’s not too late to get the vaccine. Find a flu clinic near you.
• Download Agility’s Influenza Preparedness Checklist designed to help employees and businesses take preventative action against the flu.
• Practice healthy habits and help stop the spread of germs. Click here for six simple ways to stay healthy and fight off the flu this season.

I am certain there is too much certainty in the
world.

Michael
Crichton

I hope your New Year is off to a great
start. One of my goals for 2014 is to
improve the effectiveness of the meetings I
run. Wow, there are lots books on the topic.
I just finished one called “Death by
Meeting” by Patrick Lencioni. Although this
is a fictitious story it makes for enjoyable
reading and I highly recommend it. He
presents a well thought out set of
guidelines for meetings. For those of you
who have read the Rockefeller habits and are
doing your daily huddles, well, Patrick
claims that he gave Vern Harnish the daily
huddle idea.

I would also like to remind you that

Microsoft is ending support in April
of 2014 for several products
that you might be using. Those products are

Windows XP, Office 2003, Visio 2003.
If you are using any of these in your
business please give us a call so that we
can review this with you. Some of you may
fall under compliance requirements meaning
that you will have to upgrade. If you deal
with credit cards (PCI-DSS) or are in the
healthcare industry (HIPAA) and we have not
talked with you about your options please
call either Eric or Scott right away at
541-779-4777.

Scott – President, Tekmanagement Inc.

Your comments are always welcome via email
at
scott@tekmanagement.com

If you’ve researched methods of taking care of your IT needs, you’ve probably come across “managed services” or “managed IT services”. What is it—and do you need it?

“Managed services” can be generally defined as “outsourcing day-to-day management responsibilities […] for improving operations and cutting expenses.”¹ When it comes to technology, managed services is, more specifically, the outsourcing of continual monitoring and day-to-day administrative duties of your IT infrastructure.

How do you know if you could benefit from managed services? The best way to determine if you’ll cut costs is to know what you are currently paying for your IT’s upkeep—and then comparing that to an estimate from a reputable managed services provider.

Here are some signs that managed services might be for you.

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more

Are you doing enough to safeguard and protect your small business data?

Small businesses are widely adopting data back-up practices to ensure data is retrievable should a disaster occur, but gaps remain. According to a July 2012 study by accounting software company Sage, the bulk of small businesses are backing up key data such as financial information, but most businesses back up that data on-site only. Furthermore, the study found that only 38 percent of surveyed small businesses have a formal emergency or disaster preparedness plan.

Given the brutal impact of Superstorm Sandy and other disasters that affect small businesses on a regular basis, these are worrying statistics.

Read more

One of the most popular and longest lived Microsoft
operating systems that we all know and love, Windows XP, has
almost run its course. The clock is ticking… And on April 8,
2014, Windows XP will officially be “dead”, with no more
extended support, and—more importantly—no more security
patches. Hopefully, this news does not come as a surprise,
as Microsoft has foretold the fate of XP since its release
back in 2001.

Microsoft will no longer support Windows XP and Small
Business Server 2003 so it’s time to make the change to
ensure you remain on supported versions of Windows and
Office.

What does this mean for you?

Read
more