What's that in the sky? It's The Cloud and it has all your documents

By Tom McDonald | Sep 18, 2013 10:05:00 AM

The Cloud.  It's the place to be.  Perhaps Sir Richard Branson will find a way for us to tour the cloud.  If anyone can find a way, it's him. 

We use the cloud when we put gas in our car.  We use the cloud to pay our bills (even if you are sending a paper check, funds are transferred through the cloud by the banks and corporations that process payments).  

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Are You Ready for Mobile Users?

By Tom McDonald | Sep 13, 2013 10:29:00 AM

Are you reading this on your smartphone or tablet?  One thing that I know for certain is that I view a majority of emails, blog posts, and reports on my smartphone.  The amount that I do this surprises me, as I once believed the screen was too small and the notion of conducting business on, well, a display the equivalent of a business card seemed impossible.  It's not.  I do it every day, and I'm sure you do, too. 

Did you know that by 2014 there will be more mobile web surfers than stationary ones? That means more prospects are accessing your business website more through their smart phones, tablets or other mobile devices than with a laptop or PC. If you thought you had time to make the switch closer to 2014, you may want to reconsider in light of new research. A recent study revealed that around 40% of prospects move on to a competitor if they have a poor mobile experience. How prepared is your business for this change? Well, if you are just starting out, the following checklist will help. 

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Five Things You Should Do Right Now to Preserve IT Support Systems

By Tom McDonald | Sep 5, 2013 7:17:00 AM

Here at NSI, we do a lot of IT consulting for network support and computer services, including vmware projects, storage, and data backup and recovery solutions for small business.  Let's jump right into the five things you can do right away to improve your businesses IT environment - One: Backup Files Every Day - As catastrophic as data loss is, the number of businesses that still are not backing up their network is unbelievable. According to the Symantec Small to Medium Size Businesses (SMB) data, only 23% of SMBs are backing up their data on a daily basis and fewer than 50% are backing up data weekly. Any number of events can result in data loss, so the importance of frequently backing up your network cannot be overstated. 

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Data loss and IT support - Don't drop the baton.

By Tom McDonald | Aug 28, 2013 12:38:00 PM

The Atlantic hurricane season is upon us.  Everyone has their fingers crossed, hoping to avoid nature's wrath.  It seems we have gone too many years with unusual weather events that challenge us as citizens, homeowners, employees, and business owners. Running an IT Support company that provides network and computer services to small businesses means we see the worst of it when a disaster strikes.  CIO's and business owners with blank expressions as water levels rise and winds howl.  Will the servers be ok?  Did I remember to do the backup? Can we withstand another four day power outage?   Here is what the experts are reporting when it comes to data loss: 

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Do You Blog?

By Tom McDonald | Aug 22, 2013 10:14:00 AM

Are you a business owner? Do you blog? We’re looking to follow local businesses who blog, tweet, or write for regional, trade or other publications, in an effort to provide well-rounded, helpful information to other NSI customers.

NSI has thousands of great clients located throughout the Northeast, and they range from the soloprenuer, to corporations with 100+ employees.  Do you, or does anyone from your company publish ongoing content?  If so, would you be interested in allowing my Client Services Team to share links, articles, tweets, etc with our customer base? Why should we promote information from a CPA, Dentist, Lawyer, or Manufacturer located in California, when you may be located right here in New England, and publishing helpful information our customers can use?

As a business owner myself, I am continually on the lookout for good local connections, advice, and ideas.  Providing helpful information to our customers is important to me.  

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