The Nintendo generation is pushing 30. We grew up with Nintendo, personal computers and we witnessed the growth of the Internet. As we grew up we grew accustomed to the technology around us. The pager and the landline were replaced by the cellphone. The VCR was replaced by the DVD player. The Walkman was replaced by the MP3 player. And the old reliable phone book has been replaced by the Internet.
You have been pushed to the edge. Between the never-ending phone calls, the stream of walk-ins and the pile of lengthy emails you can't seem to get any real work done. So you decide to turn down the volume a bit. The phone is set to go straight to voicemail, you shut the door, and you ignore the email all day. The next day you find out that your most profitable customer tried to get a hold of you all day. Needless to say the customer was less than pleased. So how do you manage to reduce the noise and still get the most urgent messages quickly and quietly?
Over the past couple of years you have proudly watched as your business has grown. In the beginning you were a sole practitioner braving the business world alone. Now your business consists of offices in four cities, sales people who work from the road, and several more who work from home. Saturday morning you settle into the couch with the book you have been meaning to read for months. After a few pages you are fully immersed. The stress of running the business melts away as you are consumed by the tale being unraveled. Suddenly the cellphone rings and you are snapped back to reality.
After several disappointments you finally found an IT Specialist you could trust. He answers your calls, shows up on time and best of all your computer problems are a thing of the past. You can finally relax knowing your information systems are in good hands. The months go by without incident until a timid knock on the door interrupts the your morning coffee. The first words out of your IT Specialists mouth knot your stomach. It is a conversation you have heard before, "Uh, we need to talk....". Another IT Specialist lost to promise of greener pastures in a far away city.
The sales person assured you. Your IT person swore it wouldn't be a problem. And yet, one year later your server is telling you that it is out of space. I have seen it far too many times. Rather that spend an extra couple hundred dollars when the server is purchased, the smaller hard drive is choosen. Both the sales person and your IT specialist repeat the mantra "You will never fill that hard drive!" Any time someone uses the words "never" or "always" you should immediately be suspicious, particularly when used in the context of Information Systems.
A weekend of relaxing with the family recharged your batteries. Refreshed and ready to go you sit down at your desk and fire up the computer. Minutes pass and all that appears on screen is a blinking cursor. Your great mood turns sour and suddenly your replenished energy dissipates into panic. With shaky fingers you dial your trusty computer specialist. The technician hears the panic in your voice and quickly assuages your fears by calmly stating, "Don't worry we can just run a data recovery and get your data back."
The first time your computer crashed you learned your lesson. You lost all of your data including your Quickbooks files and you almost lost your business. One year later you spent countless hours of overtime this week preparing for the biggest sales pitch of your career Monday afternoon. This time you were careful you saved your files to the server and the server has a backup tape so you must be protected. A phone call wakes you at 4 AM Monday morning."Mr Smith" the officer says, "are you the owner of the business located at 1337 Front Street?." Your stomach hits the floor.
A crucial part of the solution set that I recommend to my clients is Google Apps. For those who have no idea what Google Apps is, please let me explain. Google Apps provides email, calendaring, chat, web site hosting and document services. These services are all online and allow for interactivity via the ability to share all of the services with whomever you want. Of course you are also able to limit access in many of the same ways that you can with a server sites in your office.
Read enough technology magazines and you are bound to come across the phrase "Total Cost of Ownership" or TCO. The term has become a buzzword within the technology industry and unfortunately typically used to invoke FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt). However the concept of TCO is really very simple. Aside from the cost of purchase many products that we acquire have an ongoing cost associated with their use. Total cost of ownership is a measure of these ongoing costs.