The IT Makeover Campaign provides a pool of $30,000 in funding to be used by the selected non-profits for upgrading and enhancing their information technology solutions. Our goal is to assist by delivering technology solutions that will improve their operations, advance communications and increase productivity, so that these agencies can more easily achieve their charitable goals.

Our selection committee had the difficult task of reviewing the 26 applications that were submitted by non-profits from around the region. Clearly there is a need for information
technology solutions that can assist non-profits in meeting their mission and goals within the local community.

The 6 organizations that have been selected to receive the IT Makeover funding are Committee to Aid Abused Women, Friends of Washoe County Library, The Ridge House, Casa de Vida, Good Shepherds Clothes Closet and Tahoe Youth and Family Services. The selected organizations provide valuable assistance to the community. They also have specific IT needs that mesh well with the goals and services that IQ Technology Solutions and Microsoft Licensing have identified for this campaign. While many of these organizations need new equipment, the real impact that we hope to make is in the way that they leverage technology to create new opportunities and stronger
organizations. In the following weeks I will highlight the work that these organization do and the IT challenges that we will be assisting them with.

We would like to recognize the selection committee for their work in identifying the recipient organizations. Our thanks go out to Matt Booher of Legacy Supply Chain
Services, Lauren Gustus of the Reno Gazette-Journal, Gretchen Bietz of the Nevada Discovery Museum and Joanne Ryan of Server Technology, as well as Lawrence Tam, Eric Ristine and Dan Ludlow of Microsoft Licensing.

We would also like to thank all of the organizations that applied for this campaign.  We
recognize that the work you are doing is changing lives and helping to make our region a better place to live and work.

I have many examples of businesses trying to save money or time by purchasing from a national electronics dealer only to find out later that the equipment would not work in their office environment. The most recent example was a local non-profit that we were visiting as part of our IT Makeover campaign.

This organization had recently received some funding for IT purchases and had ordered a number of computers and peripherals that they desperately needed to run their operations. It probably seemed natural for them to contact the office supply store where they buy staples and pens; after all they have an aisle full of computers and printers.

The problems began when the organization got the systems and attempted to set them up. The computers they ordered include the Microsoft Home operating system which was not compatible with their network. While they had the licenses to run the proper version of Windows 7 it was not easy to install this on 12 systems and update the drivers to make the consumer systems work in a business environment.

This same organization had also made a decision on which laser printers to purchase based upon the apparent cost of toner. A toner replacement cartridge was $50.00 for the printers they chose while the cost for a true business printer was $70.00. While is seemed less expensive, the fact that they failed to take into account was the page count per cartridge, although the business printer cartridge was a little more expensive it was
capable of printing more than twice as many pages.

There are many other potential problems with buying consumer or small office equipment from these retail electronic stores. In many cases the warranties are not designed for business users and the equipment may not have the reliability or manufacturer support for business use. Security should be another major concern; you won’t find systems or devices that have business level security features in off-the-shelf products.

The lesson here is for all businesses to get expert advice when buying products that will be critical to your success. In the case of the non-profit, we were able to get them better product at the same price with features and warranties that were not available from the big-box store.

Written by Steve Cerocke, President of IQ Technology Solutions; as seen in the RGJ

Following these principles in your day-to-day business operations is about developing a culture of continuous improvement.

Improvements come in many shapes and sizes. Businesses may look for ways to reduce costs, add new services, expand operations, become more efficient, increase capacity, attract and retain better talent, enhance customer satisfaction and so on.

The opportunities can be bountiful as long as an organization knows how to identify and pursue them.

Where to start? The most successful businesses know how to exploit common triggers that provide the most opportunities to improve.

Look for the following triggers within your business, and then ask employees at all levels to participate.

•  Financial planning: Cost-reduction strategies are most apparent when an organization is in the middle of its financial planning.

•  Strategic planning: Look for ways to add, expand or modify existing services that your organization provides to increase competitiveness.

•  Metrics and reporting: Business reports are perhaps the most common way to identify areas of weakness, under-performance or change.

Be sure reports are meaningful and analyzed by people capable of creating action-items based on the information provided.

•  Customer surveys: Of course, client feedback is one of the most valuable ways to understand how your organization can improve. Conduct them regularly for all your client interactions.

•  Audits and assessments: Perform formal deep-dives into aspects of the business. Sometimes audits may be based on industry standards. A gap analysis can tell a lot about the areas a business may be falling short.

•  Regulations: Compliance can lead organizations to all sorts of improvements as they attempt to meet the demands imposed by regulations like Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA.

Most businesses already have some elements of a continuous improvement program. I encourage organizations to look at these common triggers and adopt consistent ways to pursue improvements while engaged in them.

Ultimately, remember that nearly every activity or event in a business can present an opportunity to improve. Improvement begins with a shift in mindset that must begin with an organization’s most influential people.

Written by Aaron Boigon, Vice President: as seen in the RGJ

Bobby got out of the Marine Corps in 2005 and rejoined IQ as a field technician, encouraging a handful of other veterans to join the team as well. At this time IQ was just beginning their transition into the Managed Services model that exists today, and Bobby began as the first full time Managed Service (MS) employee. Bobby recalls seeing the change in client attitudes as they moved away from the old break/fix model and said he enjoyed the MS clients who appreciated the proactive service and seemed to have a better understanding of the importance of their IT.

In January of 2012 Bobby was promoted to a Consultant on the Professional Services team. In discussing what he likes about IQ and what has kept him around all these years Bobby says, “I definitely like the people I work with the most; secondly, the ability to work with technology and the fact that you never stop learning.”

Moving your IT systems and services to the Cloud means a shift from traditional office based solutions to computing services that are delivered from remote datacenters. These services may include hardware, software, storage and other pieces of the IT infrastructure. When these services are moved to the Cloud the business costs for IT shift from a capital
expenditure to an operating expense and pricing is based upon demand, similar to consumption based pricing from a traditional utility company.

The potential benefits of a Cloud computing model include cost savings, increased IT capabilities and improved reliability. Recent statistics from a study released by Microsoft show that 63 percent of small to midsize businesses are using Cloud services. The research shows that businesses expect the adoption rate of cloud services to continue especially in the areas of data storage and backup, collaboration and business-class email.

There are a lot of questions and concerns that businesses need to consider when building a strategy for adoption of cloud services. Some of key points that we discuss with clients are centered on security, availability and disaster recovery; here are some things to consider:

Security – There are 3 types of security to consider; physical, data protection and network threats. Cloud service providers have physically secure datacenters with multiple levels of access control and 24/7 monitoring. They also have data protection and threat detection systems and staff that are too costly for small businesses to build, run and manage
in-house.

Availability – Most businesses don’t calculate the cost of IT system downtime. Lost worker productivity is one part of the equation but there are also support costs and the potential for business disruption and lost sales. Cloud service providers specialize in building highly available and redundant infrastructure. While you might be able to build similar solutions
into your office environment they are very expensive to purchase, install and maintain.

Data Protection and Business Continuity – Having your software, data and backup solutions in the Cloud gives you a fast and economical way to implement a robust disaster recovery plan. Using Cloud based solutions mitigates risk of data loss or business interruption from theft, fire or natural disasters. A recent study by Aberdeen Group shows that the average downtime for businesses using Cloud based services was 4 times less than
non-cloud users and that Cloud users suffered fewer outage events per year.

A move to Cloud can be a competitive advantage. By leveraging this utility based approach to IT your business can improve IT security, speed adoption of new services and build a more resilient infrastructure for your critical IT resources.

Written by Steve Cerocke, President at IQ Technology Solutions

Questions like these are important when it comes to understanding how well your business compares with others in your industry. It always is a good idea to spend time gathering this kind of industry information, which might help to improve the business or avoid costly mistakes.

Here are some simple ideas you can start pursuing today to help you gain the upper-hand:

• Industry periodicals: Nearly every industry has a number of magazines, journals, online blogs and webinars that discuss common industry problems and potential solutions to these problems. For example, pick up a medical journal today, and you are bound to find one or more articles discussing Electronic Medical Records solutions and how this technology is affecting patient care.

• Events: Expositions, tradeshows and events are great places to meet with industry-specific vendors and to network with other businesses similar to yours. Do not forget to attend events put on by your local business and economic development-minded organizations.

• Vendors: Be sure to keep your eye on the major vendors in your industry. We find similar businesses often use the same line-of-business applications. Implementing these applications or learning how to leverage them better can bring tremendous value to your organization.

• Peer groups: Remain on the look-out for local, regional or even national peer groups that you can join. Businesses in the same industry often are more inclined to assist each other if they are in noncompetitive markets.

For example, my organization belongs to several national peer groups that give us insight into innovative solutions to common problems, new technologies and changes in
customer needs.

Written by Aaron Boigon, Vice President of IQ Technology Solutions

One of the things that prompted me to write this column was a comment from a customer service technician on our managed service team. He was surprised at what seemed to be an increase in new account setup requests. The team manages over 1000 computer systems across our client base and one of the things that we track is user account setups and deletes. This account tracking is based upon us either setting up a computer for a new hire or deleting an employee account due to employment termination. I asked him to run a report to confirm what he was seeing and the results mirrored his observations. From 2009 through 2010 there were 82 new account setups and for 2011 through March of 2012 there have already been 210 new account setups, with many of them coming in just the last few months. This statistic clearly shows that our clients are hiring and it is corroborated by what they are telling us about growth in their businesses.

There are many things that make our area a great place to live and work. That fact is not lost on the new businesses that are choosing northern Nevada for expansion or relocation. We recently attended an event put on by EDAWN to welcome CustomInk to the area. This online t-shirt design and printing firm is headquartered in Virginia and just opened a west coast sales, service and production facility in Reno. Their president, Marc Katz, spoke at
the event and described the process that they went thorough before choosing Reno for their expansion. Marc talked about the workforce, quality of life and business friendly environment that led to his decision to locate in northern Nevada. CustomInk plans on adding 100 local jobs and growing their company to $100 million in revenue over the next 2 years.

EDAWN played a critical role in attracting and assisting CustomInk in its expansion and this is just one example of many new companies coming to the area. The future health of our local economy is tied to economic development and continued diversification of our business base. Recent steps by northern Nevada’s two primary economic development authorities (EDAWN and NNDA) to define and implement a cooperative agreement will provide even greater exposure to the Reno, Tahoe and eastern Sierra region.

With more businesses moving into the area and existing businesses adding new jobs, the forecasts for the local economy are better than they have been in quite some time. We still have many challenges to overcome and the progress may be slow but the fact is that we live in a great part of the world and the efforts of business leaders, government and development organizations are working to assure the economic vitality of the region.

Written by Steve Cerocke, President IQ Technology Solutions

This is just one issue associated with finding, managing and incenting a new generation of workers. This new workforce is the most technically adept age group to enter the workplace and their approach to work, pay and quality of life is significantly different from their older peers. Because of this, a new set of management tools and human resource strategies will be necessary to attract and retain this valuable pool of talent.

The business use of social media and alternate means of digital communication is growing. I don’t know of any company that is not thinking about how they can best leverage these technologies to help grow their business, attract talent and increase productivity. Let’s take a look at a few ways that these tools and the new generation of workers are influencing the way business is done today.

Hiring – The traditional methods of advertising job openings are being replaced or enhanced by the use of social media. Posting a help wanted ad on an electronic job board may attract a few candidates but the existence of the post is enhanced by using social media to find potential candidates. The instant communication and the speed at which news of a new job opening can travel though social sites can help uncover great candidates that may not be actively looking.

Managing – Working 9 to 5 is out. The new normal is working when it is convenient and when work does not get in the way of life. It’s not that the latest generation hates the regimented work routine, they just don’t get it. They want to work whenever they can from wherever they are. Building the technology, processes and capabilities to enable flexible work schedules and virtual office capabilities will help attract and retain talent.

Incenting – It’s not that money and the job are not important, they are just not more important than life. With a flexible work environment and incentives tied to productivity and creativity, it is much easier to motivate the younger generation of employees. Incentives that give employees time and opportunities to explore other interests are more valuable than traditional rewards. Technology can help by providing a digital toolset
that will allow employees to manage their own time and efforts.

Social media and digital communication are not going away, so embrace the power and learn how to harness it for the benefit of your employees and your organization. Think about how great it would be if your employees were tweeting and facebooking about what a fantastic company they work for.

Written by Steve Cerocke, President at IQ Technology Solutions

1. IQ and MSLI Announce Fourth Annual IT Makeover Campaign
2. Technical Training Creates IMmense Benefits for Business
3. 2012 Outlook
4. How to Plan Your IT Approach to Facilities Changes
5. It’s Anniversary Month at IQ
6. Information Technology Trends and Services for Small to Mid-size Organizations

Tell us your thoughts. Which were your favorite blog posts and why? Anything new you’d like to see us discuss?