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Tag online back-up

Cloud , Office

More staff in SMEs use cloud than their employers

More staff in SME businesses are using cloud-based services to carry out their jobs independently of their employers’ IT department.

disksA survey of 500 SME IT professionals in the US and Europe carried out by Spiceworks found that 50% are doing so now compared to 33% in last year’s study.

File-sharing services are the least common with 24% of respondents having approved cloud-based systems, but 50% of employees are using these through their own volition.

“Web-savvy users have discovered cloud-based file storage, sharing, and synchronisation services to get around IT-owned systems. They’re accessing data, whether corporate or personal, on their own terms. IT departments are not blind to this phenomenon,” said the report.

The survey reported that 30% of companies who participated in the research plan to have a company approved cloud-based file sharing solution in the next six months.

Most staff (93%) who use unapproved cloud file sharing are running Dropbox.

When it comes to approved services, 40% of businesses will include Dropbox in their policy and 24% will include Google Apps.

The most common IT service to run in the cloud with company approval is email. The survey reported that 46% of the SMEs interviewed had approved the use of cloud-based email. This compared to 42% in last year’s study. Another 5% expect to move to a cloud-based service in the next six months.

According to the research, 67% of respondents said the main reason for using a cloud email system was to reduce the burden on IT staff. Just over half (52%) said cost savings was a reason.

NIgel_Mills_MBMCloud-based productivity suites such as Office 365 and Google Apps were used by 35% of the SME respondents compared to 14% last year. Over half (52%) said they will use these in the next six months.

When it comes to approved apps, 60% of businesses said employees are using Office 365 compared to 59% for Google Apps. But for unapproved usage 78% of businesses said employees are using Google Apps compared to 41% using Office 365.

Are you missing out ? Talk to us at Micro Business Maintenance

Cloud , Data Backup , Office

How Legal is your Software?

More than half of small businesses in the UK have either bought or downloaded illegal software – according to research conducted by the leading global advocate for the software industry.

According to Business Matters Website and Magazine – The BSA research, carried out by Vanson Bourne, polled decision makers with responsibility for purchasing software in 250 small businesses in the UK.

NIgel_Mills_MBMFor a sizeable proportion of these businesses, the way they bought or downloaded illegal software appeared to be pre-meditated. More than one in five admitted to using a software key generator for business purposes – a small programme that will generate an unauthorised but working registration key or serial number for a piece of software. It is typically used to create an illegal version of a software application.

And 70 per cent of those who have purchased OEM software not accompanied by the hardware did so more than once. The same applies to repeat downloads of normally-paid-for-software for free from torrent sites and warez sites, as well as normally paid-for software for free from other sites.

For others, the buying and downloading of illegal software appeared to be accidental. A significant amount took action to remedy the situation once they discovered they’d been duped into buying fraudulent software.

More than half of small businesses replaced the software with a legitimate copy whilst 10 per cent uninstalled the software and did not replace it. However, these actions suggest that in many cases these businesses had to pay twice; making illegal software a false economy; particularly for those downloading illegal software multiple times.

Michala Wardell, UK committee chair of BSA | The Software Alliance, comments: “The practice of downloading illegal software amongst small businesses is clearly widespread. The research suggests that a large number of UK businesses have an unclear understanding of what constitutes illegal software use, at best; and a blatant disrespect for copyright law and business ethics, at worse. It’s encouraging to see that many of these businesses have taken action to address the error, often at their own expense. But to avoid undue costs and security risks, businesses need to be more vigilant about where they buy their software from in the future. As things stand, too many small businesses are exposing themselves to unnecessary hazards.”

The study reveals an irresponsible attitude to software management. Fifty four per cent of small businesses don’t have procurement records for all of the software their organisation uses. And yet the average cost for software is approximately £17,000 per business, to perform vital tasks.

disksHandley Brustad, Trading Standards Institute Joint Lead Officer Intellectual Property said: “The BSA research confirms our suspicions that while some small businesses are knowingly and opportunistically downloading illegal goods, a significant proportion of companies are being fooled into buying illegal software. It’s easy to assume that if a website is easily searchable online, the software is genuine. In many cases, it might seem easier to just press download, than ask too many questions. Unfortunately, the opposite is the case. Small businesses are leaving themselves open to security threats, liability claims and more. While we strive to bring down dishonest traders, we rely upon businesses to take proper precautions when purchasing their software. “

Can you afford to be using unlicenced or illegal software?  Talk to us about a software audit – it could just save your business in more ways than one. Why not consider Cloud computing and ensure all your software is legitimate?

Cloud , Data Backup , Office , Online Backup

Why you should work in the Cloud

You may have heard about using cloud technology but why should you use it ? – The main advantage is flexibility and cost. A cloud service is pay as you go so you don’t have to make capital investments into your own IT set-up. For example, rather than pay NIgel_Mills_MBMthousands of pounds  purchasing the hardware, software and expertise to set up your own Exchange Server you can pay a per user per month fee to purchase it as a cloud service. There is also flexibility to increase and decrease the number of users when required.

There are drawbacks – Sure Cloud computing is an option for your IT but certainly not the be all and end all. Firstly, if you have a cloud service then you are very reliant of your internet connection. If you lose internet connection you lose access to your service. Secondly, cost needs to be closely monitored. You are effectively renting someone else’s IT infrastructure and it isn’t always cheaper in the long run. Make sure you do the maths. We are happy to work with you on that.

In summary – Cloud computing is a welcome addition to the IT landscape. It gives another option with a “pay as you go” payment plan. Its quick to implement, flexible and can lower IT costs but make sure you do your homework We at MBM are happy to help and can put a cost-effective solution in place. Give us a call for a no Obligation chat.

Data Backup , Office , Online Backup

Busy time as local company upgrades and when did you last back-up?

Its been a busy week or so at Micro Business Machines but we wouldn’t have it any other way !

Microsoft as ever moves on and a local company has taken the step to upgrade 33 machines to Windows 7 from Windows XP Pro. This has involved our engineers being on site at every stage of the process. Migration from XP pro was vital to our client as support for the product ends in April 2014. That date will soon come around – if you are still running XP please contact us to discuss the options available to you. Don’t leave it too late to plan your IT future!

MBM_42Emails_Blog_smallOn the other end of the scale we have cleaned up two Laptops  heavily infected  with viruses and successfully restored the data on those machines. The biggest issue that these problems highlighted was the lack of data backup. Had we not have been able to save the data then much of the work if not all would have been lost.

So what options do you have on Data back-up ?

The very least you should have in place is a copy of you files on some separate source – typically a hard drive stored separately from your laptop but that relies on you remembering to adhere to a strict back-up routine and removing the back-up source to a safe place. There are many options when it comes to cloud options – storing your work securely on the internet. A back-up solution can be put in place to automatically so no need to remember ! This solution will work from one to hundreds of machines and is available now.

And if you do nothing ?

So, please take a minute to think about how long your backup would take to restore and then consider if you can afford to be down for that long.

If you want an IT continuity solution that will get you working again in hours rather than days, please call us on 01902 324494 to discuss your requirements.

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