Microsoft Office vs Google Apps: Training is the Key

For years, small businesses only had one real choice for business productivity software: Microsoft Office. But that may change as web-based applications, delivered via the cloud, flood the market.

For many, Google Apps represents a viable alternative. However, before a firm chooses to shelve its investment in Microsoft Office there is a lot to consider.

To begin with, software packages evolve over time to accommodate the customer’s requirements. As a relatively young software solution, Google Apps is less complete than the more established Microsoft solution. It is extremely difficult for any company, even Google, to anticipate the real-world requirements for a full-featured solution right out of the gate.

The “completeness” of Google Apps may be less important because of the way its software is delivered. Google Apps is “cloud based”, allowing popular feature requests to be rapidly developed, tested and deployed without the end user having to upgrade his or her software. Once deployed, the new features just appear the next time the user logs in.

Microsoft Office has its benefits too. For example, it has been around for a very long time. A benefit best illustrated by a story I recently read in Network World about Microsoft Windows turning 25 years old. I am including a link to the full article here.

Network World also included a cool slideshow with screenshots of the different versions of Windows through years. To view the slideshow click here.

Just like Windows 7, Microsoft Office 2010 inherits all the lessons learned from the previous decades of end-user feedback, research and development. However, a large number of users do not use or need many of the more advanced features offered in Microsoft Office.

Regardless of whether your organization chooses to use Microsoft Office or Google Apps, end user training is a real key to success.

Google Apps is not a “Webified” version of Microsoft Office. It sorts and presents e-mail differently, key function buttons are positioned in different places and working within a web interface takes some getting used to.

Microsoft Office 2010 has made several user interface changes that will take some getting used to and many of the advanced features that can help business users become more productive need to be pointed out and configured. Once that is completed, end users need to be trained on how to utilize the new features.

As the technology changes and as we get more sophisticated as technology users the way we use our core productivity software will evolve. Firms that embrace this change and seek to apply it in creative ways will gain real-time savings. Time that can be refocused on finding new customers, making current customers happier and finding new ways to more efficiently operate the business.

We spend a lot of time analyzing our client’s productivity needs as part of our outsourced IT service. If you feel like it might be helpful to discuss your needs, click here and we can schedule some time to talk in person!

I am including a brief survey about productivity software. If you have the time, I hope you will complete it. We plan to publish the survey’s results in a future blog posting.

Internet Bandwidth Options

Reliable, high-bandwidth Internet connectivity used to be a “nice to have”, but this is quickly changing. Traditionally, office based computer users accessed shared computing resources via a local area network (LAN). Internet outages and slowdowns would disrupt web browsing and e-mail but work could continue because a LAN centric computer network didn’t require an Internet connection to provide users access to resources such as file sharing, print sharing and database access. The only people that were completely shut down by a disruption were remote workers.

Over time, businesses have come to rely more and more on their connection to the Internet. That reliance is accelerating with the advent of cloud computing. Broadly, cloud computing is using the Internet to deliver computing services such as e-mail and CRM. I’ve written about cloud computing before, you can read more about the benefits of cloud computing by clicking here.

Over the next few years it’s expected that businesses will migrate their LAN centric computer networks to a cloud-based computing environment. In a cloud-based computing environment every worker is a remote worker that’s completely dependent upon the organization’s Internet connection for access to corporate computing resources. This dependence really elevates the importance of the quality of the Internet connection. In addition to being reliable and fast, the connection really should have some redundancy built into the design.

At Endsight, we’ve been working with our clients to help them plan for this transition as part of our “all-inclusive” outsourced IT support program. Typically, we employ a design that includes hardware from SonicWALL and two Internet connections from competing Internet service providers (ISP)’s.

The hardware design and integration is fairly straightforward but selecting the right mix of ISPs isn’t as easy as it sounds. There are a lot of options each with its own cost / performance tradeoffs. I thought I’d try to summarize the available options. I’ve also linked to Wikipedia descriptions of each option if you’d like more detail.

Telecom options include DSL, T-1, & MPLS connections. Basically, these options leverage the phone company’s (mostly AT&T) telephone infrastructure. These solutions are tried and true and include service level assurances. You can purchase these options from a variety of providers and resellers. If this option makes sense, it’s important to work with a provider that will offer more support than simply providing a 1-800 number.

WiMax or fixed wireless broadband internet is becoming more and more popular. Instead of providing a connection using wires, this option uses fixed wireless antennas that are installed on the roof of a building. These antennas point to other antennas that terminate a connection into the public internet. This option offers high speeds at an economical cost. Its key limitation is that to work the antenna must have a line of site to the terminating point. This can sometimes be a real challenge.

Fiber-optic communication uses pulses of light transmitted through optical fiber. It is extremely fast and when compared to many other options, its cost / throughput is really economical. The main drawback is that the optical fiber required to transmit a signal is kind of scarce. If your business is in a metro area such as San Francisco or Oakland then your building may be “lit” meaning a fiber connection may already be available in your location. If not, then to take advantage of this technology the Telecom Company or ISP will have to deploy optical fiber and that could be prohibitively expensive. To find out if your building is “lit” send me an email and I’ll be glad to put you in contact with a partner that can help you.

Cable internet access uses the same infrastructure that is used to deliver cable television. It also offers high speed / high throughput internet access for an economical cost. As with fiber-optic communication, cable is dependent upon availability. In addition, cable is less reliable then some of the other options out there. This is less of an issue if there is a redundant connection from a Telecom or one of the other providers.

As I said, this is only a summary of some of the options. There is a lot more to this. If you feel like a deeper dive into your options might be helpful, please feel free to connect with us at Endsight. We included IT Strategy and part of our fixed fee outsourced IT service

Make sure you have a handle on your IT resources

2009 has been a tumultuous year for the small-business Owner. Cutbacks and spending freezes from our customers have forced many of us to make some very difficult decisions with regards to employee retention.

Some of us have been forced to lay off some really good people as we attempt to reduce our cost structures, collect on outstanding receivables and most importantly find new revenue.

I came across a recent article by Roger Grimes entitled “Do you have a handle on your managed resources?” The article is really geared towards a larger IT department but I think it sheds some light on a new challenge that the small-business owner needs to consider.

From a computer infrastructure perspective each employee must exist as a user on the network. In addition to being assigned a physical workstation, that user needs the workstation to be assigned as a resource on the network. Each user and resource are then granted permissions and assigned to groups based on their job roles.

For example, you hire a new controller, and want to give him or her a workstation with access to email, shared files and your accounting data.

To accomplish that on the network your controller is created as a network users in your network directory. He or she is then assigned a workstation as a resource. The controller is granted permission to access email, shared files and your small businesses accounting system as a member of the finance group.

Proper maintenance of this directory is essential to maintaining a secure, reliable computing environment. As new employees start and others move on, this directory must be updated to avoid risks to security. (stale accounts give malicious hackers great opportunities to exploit your network)

This is a difficult process to maintain under normal circumstances, but for the last nine months our business environment has been chaotic. It’s a good bet that network directory maintenance has taken a backseat to far more pressing issues. But it should be addressed and the sooner the better.

Roger’s article is a pretty easy read and it should help provide some direction for those of you that feel like you can take care of this issue by yourself. But as Roger related his story, it’s really easy to delete items from the directory and cause a catastrophe. (Follow this link to read the specific example) So if you’re going to attempt to do this yourself you need to know that you might delete something that could take your entire network down.

At Endsight, we’ve developed add move and change policies that we’ve baked into our internal systems and procedures. Our team does this all the time and we can guarantee our work. If you need help with this issue or with any other aspects of managing your computer network please feel free to contact us.