It also caused controversy last month when its value increased dramatically, showing all the signs of a tech bubble. After peaking at $266 per Bitcoin on April 10, the value is now down to around $106. Real-time value is available at Mt. Gox.

So how does this affect businesses? The number of companies accepting the currency is growing, with WordPress, OkCupid, Foodler, Reddit and a bar in New York among them. Some businesses have even offered to pay their employees in Bitcoin.

As the currency grows in popularity, there could be more pressure for businesses to accept Bitcoin payments. However, you could accept a Bitcoin as payment today, and it could be half the value tomorrow. On the other hand, it could be twice the value, but that’s a dangerous way to do business.

Some say the currency is more secure than cash. It is kept online, so it can’t be stolen from your office or robbed from your bank. But a hacker could potentially steal it from your digital wallet, and there would be no way to get it back. This happened to one Bitcoin owner who lost 25,000 Bitcoins in 2011. They were worth $500,000 back then, and they would have grown in value to $6.65 million at the peak of the bubble.

For now, it’s probably best to learn about the risks and be cautious. Bitcoin could be the future of currency, or it could be a trend that has seen its peak. Leave a comment below to let us know what you think.

The post What is Bitcoin and how does it affect businesses? appeared first on Convergence.

Service Migration
The migration of your services usually involves much coordination between you and your vendors. It is important to review which services you currently maintain and, at least 60 days before your move, validate connectivity and viability of services at the new location. If you can have your internet and phones working at your new location a day or two before the move, it will help for a smoother transition. Please remember that if you have services that rely on a static IP address, such as email or web services, other steps may need to be taken to preserve continuity during the move transition.

Infrastructure and Equipment
Be sure the new office has a secure room with sufficient space, cooling and independent power for your server/network equipment. This is also a great opportunity to practice good cable organization and labeling when connecting your equipment at the new office. Labeling and documentation will help mitigate downtime in the long run. When planning for your new office space, network cable infrastructure is usually redone, modified or retrofit to meet your specific needs. Some commonly overlooked considerations when planning your network cabling other than to your computers are: shared printers; centralized and ceiling or wall-mounted wireless access points; and, if IP phones are used, a separate and independent cable for your phone and computer is ideal.

Cloud Feasibility Analysis
This is the perfect opportunity to conduct a cloud feasibility analysis. Does it make sense to move some services to the cloud? Can you consolidate some of your physical infrastructure by using cloud services?

This is just a starting point. We can help you with the transition.

The post Technical considerations when moving your business to a new office appeared first on Convergence.

A traditional Chief Information Officer (CIO) offers full-time strategic IT analysis and management but is usually out of the price range for small and medium sized businesses. On the other hand, a Virtual Chief Information Officer (vCIO) is outsourced, providing these services at a lower cost.

vCIO duties include the following:

• Offering extensive guidance on new IT initiatives.
• Laying out an IT budget.
• Preparing your business for technology changes.
• Providing regular reports on your network’s health and security status.
• Implementing a business continuity plan.

As a resource to your internal IT team, your vCIO will help you avoid pitfalls and select technology solutions that best meet your company’s objectives and budget. A vCIO can help you implement IT solutions or simply provide guidance and let your IT team take it from there. The value lies in the increased efficiency and lowered IT costs for your business.

Contact us to learn more about how a vCIO could benefit your business.

The post What is a vCIO? appeared first on Convergence.

1. Click File in the top left corner (this should work in any application…Outlook, Word, Excel, etc.).
2. Click Account (or Office Account if you’re in Outlook).
3. Under Office Background, you can select from a menu of choices to customize the top bar in your applications. I chose Doodle Circles (see example below).
4. Under Office Theme, you can select white, light gray or dark gray. The default is white, but that was too bright for me so I switched to dark gray.

More Office 2013 tips:

• How to change your Outlook profile photo

The post How to update your background and theme in Microsoft Office 2013 appeared first on Convergence.

Despite these headaches, I have learned about some Office 2013 features that I’ll be sharing over the coming weeks to help anyone dealing with the same questions I encountered. This was my first question…

How do I update my profile picture in Outlook 2013?

When I logged into my new Outlook account, I quickly noticed there was a photo attached to my emails. That’s cool, except it was an old headshot, and I didn’t know how to change it. Luckily it’s pretty easy:

• Go to your Outlook contacts (now labeled “People”).
• Select Business Card view from the menu at the top of the page (see photo below).
• Click on your own business card.
• Click on your photo to the right of your name and company information.
• Select the new photo you would like to use, and click OK.

Alternatively, you can click on your name in the People section, look under the “View Source” category and click on Outlook (highlighted below). The editing field will open up, and from there you can click on your image to change it.

Do you have an Office 2013 question? Ask us on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ and we might answer your question in an upcoming post.

The post Changing your profile photo in Microsoft Outlook 2013 appeared first on Convergence.

Here are the steps you can take to disable the autocorrect feature in Windows 8:

1. Go to your Charms Bar (press Windows + C).
2. Click Settings.
3. Click Change PC Settings (located at the bottom of the Settings column).
4. Click General.
5. Go to the Spelling section.
6. Turn off “Autocorrect Misspelled Words” option.

Now that you’ve turned off autocorrect, here’s how to get out of this screen and back to where you were in Windows 8 land:

• If you’re using a touchscreen device, swipe this app off the screen.
• If you’re using a PC, move your cursor to the top of the page until it becomes a hand icon. Click and drag this app off the screen.

You can see more Windows 8 tips here. Let us know if you have any questions.

The post How to turn off the autocorrect feature in Windows 8 appeared first on Convergence.

Exempt / Non-Exempt: Exempt

Job Status: Full Time

Job Pay: DOE

Job Category: Level II

SUMMARY

Convergence Networks is Portland’s first and largest Managed Services Provider (MSP).  We are continuing to have aggressive, dominating growth in our market space. Convergence is seeking a well-qualified and experienced IT consultant (VCIO, Generalist) with a strong mix of IT/technical skills as well as business knowledge to join our group of consultants working with our existing client base and helping our vCIO, New Business Specialists onboard new clients into our Managed Services Offerings. Candidates must possess a strong customer service oriented work ethic. Successful candidates will need to have a diverse technology background coupled with outstanding communication skills and be highly customer service oriented.

Responsibilities include working closely with business owners by providing technology recommendations and budget forecasts for existing and future technology requirements.  Additionally, you will be designing and managing IT projects, visiting with customers, and interfacing to explain critical IT issues and solutions. Internally, you will work closely with network engineers and administrators to deliver wide-ranging projects and services.  As this position interacts primarily business owners and executives, being knowledgeable in both IT and business is essential for this position.  This position is a dynamic and fast paced mixture of consulting, account relationship and management and defender for our SLA both internally and externally.

REQUIREMENTS

Ideal candidates will also possess the following skills:

• Previous experience working for a Managed Services Provider, with a very strong understanding of the MSP model, pricing and best practices. You must become the trusted expert to our clients, and for that reason we are looking for a very skilled person.
• Patience and strong customer services skills. You will be working with a myriad of business, technologies, applications and personalities.
• Work effectively within a team, as well as independently.
• Strong understanding of business and IT functions.
• Be able to communicate effectively with business owners.
• Strong Project Management and Communications skills.
• Specific in-depth understanding of the following product lines:
  • Multi-server, high-availability virtualization technologies (VMWare required, HyperV also preferred)
  • Microsoft technologies including Exchange, Windows Server and Small Business Server.
  • TCP/IP stack.
  • Firewall, routing, and switching technologies.
  • Cloud technologies including Office 365 and Google Applications.
  • Online backup system concepts and best practices.
  • Knowledge of ConnectWise and Kaseya is strongly preferred.

TECHNICAL FUNDAMENTALS PREFERRED

Preferred Education and/or Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree (or higher).
• MCITP, MCSE or MCSA certifications preferred but not required.
• 8 years of relevant experience which may include IT Consultant, IT Manager, Network Administrator, or Systems Engineer.
• Training, certification or experience with HTG, SLI, and/or TrueMethods a plus.
• Previous experience in IT consulting, MSP/SMB, or IT project management preferred but not required.

The post vCIO Generalist appeared first on Convergence.

Let me clarify: an ethical hacker.

A Certified Ethical Hacker is a professional who has been trained in offensive security, receiving a certification from the EC-Council. Certified individuals have mastered the knowledge and skills necessary to hack into networks and/or hosts.

Certified hacking is also known as penetration testing, and its purpose is to assess security by essentially targeting a client’s network in the same manner as illegal hackers. Of course, all such testing is done with full authorization from the client, and the outcomes of such tests are shared via a report after the engagement. Penetration testing reveals security flaws and allows the business to remediate the issues before an illegal hacker takes advantage of their network.

But why do businesses need to go to such lengths? A security breach could result in a variety of negative outcomes, ranging from minor inconvenience or embarrassment to complete shutdown of the business. It’s easier (and usually cheaper) to proactively address security issues versus having to react to them later.

Recent events strongly illustrate that hackers are out there, and they’re targeting businesses of all sizes and industries. In some cases, they’re looking to steal intellectual property such as new product designs, business plans, and other information. In others, they’re just flat-out looking to steal money, whether by grabbing bank account logins to siphon money out of business accounts (and they definitely like to target business accounts as the balances tend to be higher), or by getting you to somehow send them money.

Either way, the threats are out there. Ethical hacking can test your networks using the same techniques the hacker will use and allow you to shut them out before the damage is done. Contact us to get started with proactive security for your business.

The post Why your business needs a Certified Ethical Hacker appeared first on Convergence.

How the list is determined
According to MSPmentor, “Companies are ranked on a range of metrics, including annual recurring revenue (ARR), total devices managed, revenue per employee, growth rates (percentage and dollar figures), and more.” Any MSP that submitted an incomplete survey or gave erroneous information was disqualified.

What it means to be in the top 100
This honor signifies our maturity as an MSP. There are hundreds of IT providers in Oregon alone. Anyone can go get a certification and start selling IT services, but they won’t necessarily be able to provide the level of service your business needs. Being in the top 100 worldwide sets us apart as a company. We’ve been around the block and have the experience to service a range of networks, from small local businesses to large international enterprises.

I’d like to thank all of our clients for their support and gracious referrals over the years. One of our company values is to always strive to be “Ahead of the Curve,” and our team takes that value seriously. I’m so proud of all the work the Convergence staff has done to grow this company with a focus on relationships and teamwork.

OK, I’m done bragging – I just had to share this great news!

The post Convergence made the top 100 list of MSPs worldwide appeared first on Convergence.

Looking to implement the new BlackBerry 10 devices in your office? Here’s the skinny.

A run down on operating systems and servers

• Old BlackBerry devices are running BlackBerry 7 OS or older.
• Old BlackBerry Enterprise Servers (BES) are BES 5 or older.
• New BlackBerry devices will be running BlackBerry 10 OS (estimated release date of first device is mid-March; the Z10 will be touchscreen-only with no keyboard).
• New server is BES 10.

The new BlackBerry devices will be able to connect natively to Exchange ActiveSync without a BES for email, calendar and contacts, which is good news. This connection would be just like Android and iPhone devices.

They won’t connect to existing BES 5 or older servers. If you wanted to use some of the additional BES policies and features beyond the above mail, calendar and contact sync, then the user would need BES 10 installed, which is no longer free.

Compatibility between devices
Additionally, older devices won’t talk to BES 10, and BlackBerry 10 devices won’t talk to older BES devices. So if it’s an environment where you would have older BlackBerries and new BlackBerry 10 devices, you would need to have two BES servers running in parallel.

Questions? Our consultants can guide you through the process.

The post What CIOs need to know when implementing the new BlackBerry 10 appeared first on Convergence.