That’s the view of Derbyshire IT support service provider Peak Support Services, whom is recommending that organisations carefully review the important resource decisions that are looming.

Solutions Architect, Kris Haynes said; “As SMEs see the slow signs of economic recovery, re-investment will be needed and this offers an ideal opportunity to re-evaluate whether the functions are best managed in-house or outsourced.”

Outsourcing to specialist organisations offers several benefits, such as reduced staffing costs, access to specialist expertise and knowledge from the provider and the opportunity to focus on the core business and activities that make the business successful.

Many SMEs do not need a full-time resource in areas such as IT, finance, marketing and HR. Specialist providers can offer a highly flexible and responsive service.

The growth in outsourcing has spawned a large number of organisations offering services in these functional areas, but the recession has also hit this sector.

Kris said: “Clients enjoy the benefits and the flexibility that is offered by outsourcing these functions, but many suppliers have struggled to stay in business due to a massive overcrowding in the marketplace.”

“The survivors are typically those who are able to deliver a next-to-none, first-class service that the client cannot afford to be without.”

Peak Support Services supports 40 clients in the Derbyshire area and more than 180 nationally.

Kris said: “We’ve seen the benefits our clients have received when outsourcing their IT support. It has to be said though that it isn’t for everyone; every business is unique.  If you are planning for the future of your business, then this is an ideal time to ask the question.  Could you benefit?”

There are a lot of good alternatives out their available for download and most of them are free. A popular one is Firefox; it’s very stable and does a good job of viewing most websites correctly, especially the Internet Banking Sites.  Another good alternative is Apples Safari browser which not only views most sites correctly but does a fantastic job of rendering sites that utilise HTML 5 animations. Internet Explorer and Firefox on the other hand are not so good at this which demonstrates why it is good to have an alternative browser.

Here are a few web browsers we recommend:
Firefox– A solid all-round browser which is fast & stable but not great with HTML5.
Safari – A fast web browser with excellent HTML5 capabilities.
Google Chrome – A clean and reliable browser which works well with internet banking sites.

There are two things I want people to take away from this post; one is to consider a disaster recovery policy. Make sure you have something in place that can entrust your business can continue if something did go drastically wrong. The second is even if you have the first in place, check that it is working. Put something in place or someone in charge to check if the process is working, how effective it is and if it needs to be improved.

Many companies believe a ‘disaster’ is a once in a lifetime incident and ‘it’ll never happen to them’. In fact, these incidents are very common. With growing numbers of viruses, hardware failures, security breaches, software issues, and data corruption it’s unfortunately not a problem that is going away. Thankfully, more catastrophic events such as weather-related causes, fires, power interruptions and sabotage are exceptional, but the most successful companies, small or large, prepare themselves for all potential eventualities.

The consequences of an unprepared disaster can lead to any one of the following:

  * Loss of customers
  * Loss of Credibility
  * Inability to pay staff
  * Loss of production
  * Loss of operational data
  * Financial loss

Disaster Recovery Statistics
Statistics show that 20% of all companies will suffer from power failures, hardware/software issues, fire, theft, flood or storm damage. Of those without a business continuity plan:

* 80% fail within 13 months (A further 10% fail within 24 months).
* 50% of businesses experiencing a computer outage will be forced to shut within 5 years.
* 80% of companies have not developed any crisis management to provide IT coverage sufficient to keep the business functionally effective.
* 53% of claimants never recoup the losses incurred by a disaster
* 43% will never re-open

Source: London Chamber of Commerce

So my question to you is do you have a backup system in place? And if you do, does it work?

Utilising technology today brings forth some fantastic business benefits, it increases productivity, increases our commercial awareness and it makes processes more efficient.  What would happen though, if all of this productivity & efficiency were stripped away from us in a heartbeat?

At Peak Support Services, we know how important business continuity is, in fact we say that the best IT support is often the kind that never gets in the way and there are good reasons why - Proactive maintenance.

Using a combination of software integrated tools, we can monitor 24x7 server hardware and software at a distance. These tools give us critical information like imminent hard disk failures, available disk space or memory utilisation.

Imagine an environment where your IT Company call YOU and let you know that in the next 3 days your server is going to fail but not to worry because WE already know and have ALREADY fixed it.

So,  Which side of the page would you rather be on…?

Reducing the piracy rate in the UK by just 10 percent has the potential to stimulate £5.4bn in new economic activity and create over 13,000 new jobs*. So, Microsoft will continue to fight piracy and take strong action against those involved.

This years Named and Shamed IT Providers List:

Nybble Information Systems
Fleetwood Computers (MRG Distribution)
Lunar Computers
PCFX Ltd
Seaford Computer Services
Capital Computers
Cat Systems
Ecomputers (UK) Ltd / Mod Squad Ltd
Dinas Computers Ltd
Icon Computer Services
Mr Computer
Computer Wizard Ltd
PC Vision
Digitek Computer Systems
Subnet1 Ltd
JC Computer Supplies
Nexus Computers Ltd
Cubs

Software piracy is bad news for everyone in the IT industry, it takes business away from legitimate resellers who strive hard to educate consumers on licensing requirements and it also compromises customers with low-quality or corrupted products.

If you know a company that is pirating software,
please help us protect the industry’s revenue and
reputation – report it.

Join the fight. Report piracy:
ukpiracy@microsoft.com

Find out more:
www.microsoft.com/uk/partner/piracy

One of our long standing customers SV Timber Ltd recently took on one of the most dreaded missions known to the business world. Yes, I am indeed talking about moving offices… Those of you who have undertaken such a task know how truly stressful, difficult and hectic this can be and so when the news came along that this was happened we knew we had to help our good friends along.

At Peak Support we have always strived for a one-stop shop solution, the prospect of our customers being able to come to us with any enquiry about an array of products or services and then us being able to manage and/or implement that service under the one roof. This approach means that we are able to orchestrate and manage large projects like moving offices with minimal disruption.

SV Timber approached us in October 2011 with the prospect of moving offices and one of the first concerns to be raised was retaining existing phone numbers. Their existing phone suppliers couldn’t guarantee that they could do this and we were unable to get clear and concise information from them. We proposed that we manage his telecoms and review if we can actually make any savings so we produced a cost audit for SVT, which in the end; reduced their telecommunications bill by £ 700.00 a year and also guaranteed that all the way through the process we would retain control and they could rest easy that their business was in safe hands.

We provided a network wide, Cat6 Ethernet cabling deployment installed by our in-house Exel accredited installer and guaranteed the work with a 20 year lifecycle as well as installing powered CCTV units throughout the warehouse and surroundings. This was all planned in and around their commitments to electricians, builders and plumbers to make sure the job wasn’t affecting any other timescale based deployments.

The second phase of the installation was to implement a set of lines into the building so we could migrate their existing connections. Things unfortunately turned a little for the worst when we found previous owner damage to equipment on site and steps had to be taken to turn this around. Adding a number of complications at this stage; meant increasing the time required completing the job and this was no longer an option. Throughout multiple conversations and pulling some strings that needed to be tugged (even yanked, you might say), we managed to get a number of lines ready for production before they moved in and everything was ready to go.

We were then faced with Broadband. Because of the lead time that had been created from the telecoms problems, we now weren’t able to provide ADSL on time for SV Moving in so we managed to implement a redundant 3G dongle and backup POP email collection and so SV Timber were able to continue working.

Finally, 5 days later our mainline ADSL connection kicked in and their entire business migration was complete, it had been physically lifted from one site and dropped to another. Minimum downtime, savings along the way and all jobs completed to a top class standard.

Overall, the complications were great and there were some real challenges but all in all it came together pretty nicely!

Most of the team over at SV Timber, glad to be settled into their new premises.

Mission complete SV Timber Ltd, Well done!

“Derbyshire timber merchant: SV Timber Ltd is a vibrant, exciting and forward thinking independent specialist timber merchant, based in Ilkeston, Derbyshire.
Being an independent timber merchant and specialising in timber only are two things that set us apart from our competition. With independence comes the ability to make key decisions very quickly, in short we can provide you as the customer the service you need without the need to go through a large hierarchy. Specialising in timber only makes us more knowledgeable about the quality of product we buy and sell and also in our opinion more competitive.”

Well…Cloud server 964,312 to be EXACT.

Stadia Sports and Lifestyle invested into the cloud through Microsoft Office 365. Microsoft’s affordable, yet feature rich cloud based solution.  Stadia came to us with several objectives but one main focus. They had to be able to access everything from wherever they go. Company documents, emails, contact records, tasks and more and not only did they have to be able to utilise it but it had to perform exceptionally well.

We ran a case study with Stadia Sports and Lifestyle to determine the total cost of ownership difference, between utilising Microsoft Office 365 and an On-Premise server solution. We found that over a typical 36 month period (average IT re-investment period) they produced savings of 87%! Stadia now have an enterprise business solution, at a fraction of the cost and they no longer have to worry about power consumption, hardware failure or backups.

You can download the full case study here:

Microsoft Office 365 is the perfect solution for a scalable, affordable and easily deliverable solution.

With the utlisation of Office 365, Microsoft’s Cloud Based services; we open a whole new door to the way we work.  Office 365 allows us to open Outlook at home, on the train, in the workplace, in the car. In fact just about anywhere we can get an internet connection, yet the connectivity and functionality never changes. No more VPN’s into the workplace, trying to increase the upload speed to facilitate our thirst for productivity - Microsoft Office 365 delivers.

As part of the Office 365 solution you get three main products.

Hosted Exchange – Shared Calendars, Instant Email, Mobile Email, Outlook Web Access & Connectivity anywhere.

Hosted Lync – An Instant Messaging client, allows you to share documents with colleagues, have conference calls through laptops, chat wherever you are, share screens.

Hosted SharePoint – An online document collaboration website, internally allowing you to collaborate on Documents, Post Announcements, Build a contact list and a whole range of other solutions you can create.

The best thing is, it only costs £ 4.00 per user, per month!

What are you waiting for; for more information or to arrange your 30 day, no obligation Free Trial - Contact us.

For centuries, the story of Welbeck, one of England’s finest country estates, has been one of continuing and innovative evolution. The arrival of Peak Support Services at Carriage Court, an important historic building offering modern office space in its grounds, opens another new chapter in that story.

Carriage Court will play a central role in bringing the ‘Welbeck Project’ to life. The Welbeck Project aims to create a sustainable and thriving community in this setting of unique natural and architectural beauty.  Bringing together rural and creative industries, education and the arts, Welbeck will provide new opportunities for people to work, live, learn, and create.

Unfortunately members of the German forum ‘Apfeltalk’ have unveiled a huge security flaw in the way that the iPad responds to the Smart cover.  To trigger the glitch, hold down the power button and wait for the iPad to confirm with the power off slider. When this happens, place the smart cover over the iPad. Next, take the cover off again, cancel the power down and you’re in. No PIN requirements, you simply have full access to the system.

Generally it seems to affect iPads running iOS 5, but it has been discovered that the issue is present on some that are still running iOS 4.3. Although the bug sounds like a security nightmare, it’s not as bad as initially it may seem.  Anyone who triggers this glitch won’t be able to open anything; they’ll only be able to see what apps you’ve got installed and access any Apps that are left open. Albeit some pranksters will realise that they can delete and move around Apps.

Fortunately, Apple is already aware of the issue and working on a fix. For the time being the most obvious resolution is to make it so your iPad doesn’t automatically unlock when you open your Smart Cover; that way, even if someone uses this bypass trick, they’ll only be greeted with the passcode screen.
To change this setting, Open the Settings app, hit General, and change the setting for “iPad Cover Lock/Unlock” to “Off”.

Here’s a video of how it is done:

iOS 5 is sure to fascinate consumers as it comes with a number of cutting edge features – Apple claim it comes with as many as 200 new features! From the much-hyped iCloud, cloud-based media service to an advanced Safari browser.  iOS 5 has a lot to stand up against.

News of the iOS 5 update wasn’t unexpected, given the launch of Apple’s new iPhone 4S on Friday the 14th October - already being reported to have sold 4 Million in less than 24 hours. Pre-loaded with the new iOS, it seems only logical to release mainstream prior to the new device being delivered although we look forward to testing the performance of iOS 5 on an iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S…

Meanwhile accross the battlefield ‘that is the smartphone market’, Blackberry’s RIM service has been reported down for the third consecutive day. The problems, reported Monday; continued Tuesday with only intermittent access to email, BlackBerry Messenger, and the Web. At first the problems only affected subscribers mainly in Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa but it seems Research In Motion’s equipment in its data centers appears to now be affecting North American subscribers as well.

The architecture behind the Blackberry service means that when there is a major infrastructure failure or disruption it can quite literally affect entire regions, leaving tens of millions of users without access. In contrast however the iPhone and Android devices have a completely different design with no single point of failure, it’s a truly tragic event for RIM.

We do have to question how many consumers will be driven to the new iOS and new iPhone 4S after these recent events.

Previously known as the Dark Peak Challenge, this event starts from Hope Valley College with four exciting routes offer differing levels of difficulty for a great day of mountain biking – from a taster of the trails in the Dark Peak to a full on assault of all the best the area has to offer for a memorable, exhausting and exhilarating day of biking.
Michael will be taking part in the Ultimate Route (approx 42 miles). This ride is for very fit and competent riders only, it is the ultimate off road biking experience. With 42 miles of steep hills, technical terrain and exposed stretches this is the toughest of them all!
If you would like to sponsor Michael on his ride you can visit his Just Giving page at http://www.justgiving.com/Michael-McMaster

Matlock Meadows approached Peak Support to get an online presence and branding overhaul in order to grow their business and create a strong brand throughout the internet. They now attract regular online hits and are already flying up the Search Engines for a wide number of key search terms. They also utilise the potential of Social Media and Blogging, all integrated into the website, to attract new customers and to reflect the personal side to the business.

You can view the Matlock Meadows Website here or follow them on Twitter here or Facebook here

We ran an exercise through a resource calculator based on a typical SME of 10 employees that showed:
10 Employees receiving 50 emails a day with 40% being spam related; costs, per individual £ 170.00 per year and 10 hours of lost productivity.
That’s £ 1,700.00 a year wasted on processes that can be avoided. Not to mention the additional productivity gained from having a server processing data faster and increased quicker broadband too.

Bandwidth Enhancement
If between 70% – 99% of all emails coming to your server, down your broadband line are SPAM then they’re using useful amounts of the broadband service you are paying for and slowing down your network unnecessarily. 

See below the data we collected with one of our customers:

Call Kris today for more information about how you can save money and to request a two week trial.