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News Newsletters 2006 March 2006
Filled with relevant information about the rapidly evolving IT landscape, the Simpler-Webb newsletter is a must-read.
March 2006
Release date: 3/1/2006
Simpler-Webb launches content-rich newsletter!
Many of our clients have mentioned that they would like to hear from us on a variety of technology topics. In response to this feedback, Simpler-Webb is introducing a quarterly newsletter which will highlight industry trends, provide insight into valuable service offerings, outline key initiatives to serve our clients and showcase client success stories and best practices. We hope you find this newsletter to be valuable and we look forward to your feedback!
To recap 2005, we made great strides in service offerings and growth, and would like to thank our loyal customers for their continued patronage. The team at Simpler-Webb spent much time this year building out our tool set with a management console, expanding our expertise into areas such as VoIP, and adding additional resources to serve you better. You will be hearing from other members of the Executive Team about some of these exciting updates.
For 2006, one of our main initiatives is to create a forum where Simpler-Webb can interact more with our clients. In February, we will be holding the first of three client summits (segmented geographically) at our corporate headquarters in Austin, Texas. These summits will incorporate sessions on best practices for topics such as Network Continuity Planning and Digital Rights Management, a roundtable discussion for clients and much more. The night prior to each summit we will host dinner for attendees so they can network with their peers and members of the Simpler-Webb team. I am excited about these events and hope to see you there!
As I watch the trends in the marketplace, it has become apparent that IP Telephony (IPT) adoption rates are increasing at a fairly rapid rate. At Simpler-Webb, we strive to stay on top of the skill curve as well as bring you the latest technologies to run your business more efficiently and cost effectively. I am pleased to announce that Simpler-Webb is about to complete the Cisco IPT certification program and we are now offering services to help you take advantage of the benefits from an IPT deployment.
2006 looks full of promise with many exciting opportunities for our clients and for Simpler-Webb. Happy New Year and we look forward to seeing you soon.
Regards,
Jeff
Industry Perspective ::
Are you ready to ditch your PBX system for Voice over IP?
We might consider VoIP a re-emerging technology in that Cisco and other industry leaders such as Avaya and IBM have been working on Voice over IP technologies for over a decade. The adoption rate has been slow in the past, but we have seen an up tick in last year and a half with voice deployments and Cisco delivering over 4.5 million phones. In addition, a recent trending report on IP Telephony completed by Forrester Research Analyst Elizabeth Herrell stated “IP Telephony (IPT) has lost its immature label and is now generally favored as the migration path for PBX systems.” The recent acquisition of Skype for $2.5B by eBay is an indicator that calling over the Internet is going mainstream. Yahoo! also has a beta of a voice product for Internet-based calling and added this capability to Instant Messenger at the end of last year. Trending for the enterprise is on track as well and was reinforced recently at Interop (formerly N+I) in December, when VoIP was noted as one of the top 3 technologies for 2006. One of the main drivers for adoption in the enterprise is the inherent value for mobile workers which tend to increase on a yearly basis. Banks and Credit Unions see IP Telephony as an integral part of the Branches of the Future which boast to include kiosks, video conferencing and other advanced member services.
Much of the fear of being a pioneer in adopting VoIP in your business is being put to rest. The technology is becoming more robust, applications are being driven to this format, and even the Telecom giants such as SBC and AT&T have developed strategies and services to bring this technology to the marketplace—both for consumers and enterprises. Certainly the innovation of the last 10 years is starting to show the fruits of its labor.
One of the main objections for VoIP has been that the cost of long distance has dramatically reduced over the last several years. Since businesses were already seeing a drop in their telecom expenses, it was felt by many that the cost of the deployment couldn’t be recouped. Although, this was true it appears that the rate reductions have slowed if not stopped mainly due to the fact that the telecommunication companies cannot afford to provide long distance at a lower rate. Also, to remain competitive, Telecommunications companies need to provide differentiating services to their clients. Relying on the older technologies to deliver new voice and data solutions would be too costly and likely unreliable.
The benefits of a VoIP deployment are fairly well supported by now with the argument for small to medium-sized businesses being the strongest. Small businesses, in particular, are able to slash their telephone expenses substantially. If teams are remote, mobile, or you have several branch offices, the cost savings and employee productivity soars. The ability to get a hold of your staff no matter where they are increases customer satisfaction. An added benefit is a more elegant means to collaborate with remote teams. The cool factor of being able to send video images and graphs to those you are speaking with real-time shouldn’t go without mentioning as well.
Credit Unions are seen as a likely benefactor of a VoIP deployment. In addition to improved expense ratios for telecommunications costs, CUs can also benefit from improved communication services and personalized member services such as intelligent call routing. This ability to transfer and reroute calls between branches will certainly improve member satisfaction. Success stories with financial institutions such as Suntrust in Birmingham, AL where the bank received cost savings of $5.7M annually since the deployment and Mountain America CU has cut $50K a year in long distance charges for calls to their remote branches while gaining the ability for employees to integrate voicemail, e-mail, and faxes at their desktop.
Implementing Voice over IP does require a solid understanding of your network, telecommunications expenses, and the overall security of your infrastructure. These trends and client benefits are reasons that Simpler-Webb is incorporating offerings around IP Telephony which includes VoIP. In our next issue, we will look at this topic more expansively as we highlight the importance of the converged network.
Featured Technology ::
Managed Server Keeps You Up & Running
Keeping servers current with the latest upgrades and patches, and ensuring back ups are appropriately taken care of is time consuming and mundane. This doesn’t deter from how important these tasks are in ensuring business critical applications stay up and running. With never ending IT staff demands or potentially no internal IT staff, many of these duties tend to lag behind – increasing the risk to your business.
Simpler-Webb has the solution. Our Managed Server offering relieves you of the daily management of your systems so you can focus on other critical aspects of your business. We proactively manage your systems to ensure business critical systems and applications are available and running optimally. Around the clock monitoring of system health ensures our team can resolve emergent issues as they arise—no matter what time of day they occur. An added benefit is proactive life cycle management, where our staff will make recommendations to best align your IT expenditures with the direction of the business. Our featured client story in this newsletter shows how Bluegrass Bit avoided a system failure with Simpler-Webb Managed Server services.
Client Success ::
Bluegrass Bit gets concrete results from Simpler-Webb Managed Services
Managed Servers and Managed Security from Simpler-Webb provide Bluegrass Bit with needed IT expertise, cost efficiency, and improved reliability
In 1979, Nick Jenkins set out to create a leading concrete demolition company. Today Bluegrass Bit, based in Greenville, Alabama, is the premiere concrete cutting and demolition contractor in the United States. Evolving from explosives to silent demolition with the use of robotics, Bluegrass Bit is the only company in their field to combine both technologies. With their capability and strong customer commitment, Bluegrass Bit’s customer base has grown substantially with many household names such as Exxon, Kimberly-Clark and Proctor & Gamble.
Bluegrass Bit, like many small to medium-sized businesses, understands that leveraging Information Technologies (IT) to run their business is essential to remain competitive. With 25 technicians in the field and a management team with core expertise in hazardous operations and concrete demolition, Bluegrass Bit found that the skills in their workforce weren’t able to support their growing IT management needs. After an exhaustive search for a firm to virtually manage their IT functions, they found the team at Simpler-Webb had the right experience, skills and customer commitment to be their IT partner.
Building a Strong IT Infrastructure
To better understand Bluegrass Bit’s needs, the Simpler-Webb team completed an assessment of the client’s current hardware, software, and other pertinent components of their IT infrastructure. This deep dive revealed business and IT processes, configuration of all equipment, potential security issues, deficiencies in disaster recovery including incomplete backup data, and details of the overall network architecture.
Based on the existing infrastructure and customer requirements, Simpler-Webb recommended and deployed an upgraded network architecture to improve performance and an intrusion prevention system for a more secure environment. Next, the Simpler-Webb team began the extensive process of updating all desktops and servers with the latest software upgrades and patches to improve system performance and reliability.
With all essential components in place, the team at Simpler-Webb created and executed a business continuity plan which included backing up all information daily and ensuring data accuracy. “We frequently see clients schedule their backups, but then they don’t regularly check the files for accuracy. They end up finding the backups haven’t been working properly the hard way-- once they have lost their data and it isn’t recoverable. Simpler-Webb takes care of this process for Bluegrass Bit so they can recover 100% of the data should they need to,” stated Tom Meunier, Managed Server Product Manager at Simpler-Webb.
As a Managed Server customer, Bluegrass Bit doesn’t have to worry about the maintenance of their IT and business infrastructure applications anymore. Simpler-Webb maintains a close relationship with Bluegrass Bit and monitors their IT infrastructure 24/7 to ensure high availability and optimal performance. As Bluegrass Bit’s business changes, Simpler-Webb offers solutions and adjustments to align their IT initiatives with business goals and objectives.
Disaster Thwarted
Recently Simpler-Webb received an alarm indicating a server hard drive running a business-critical application began operating in a degraded state. Simpler-Webb immediately contacted Bluegrass and let them know the server might fail if a new hard drive wasn’t installed quickly. “If you lose one drive in the RAID array, performance suffers,” said Tom Meunier of Simpler-Webb "A greater concern is if a second drive in the array fails too which means the system is lost."
Simpler-Webb ordered the replacement hard drive immediately. As expected, the degraded hard drive failed over the weekend before the replacement drive was delivered, but Bluegrass Bit remained operational due to the RAID disk configuration implemented by Simpler-Webb as part of the initial Managed Server set up. Once the new replacement drive was installed on Monday morning, system performance returned to normal without further operational impact.
Prior to engaging with Simpler-Webb, employees would have come into the office on Monday morning to find the system had failed and their data most likely lost due to a faulty backup system. Simpler-Webb’s system design changes, diligent monitoring, and quick response allowed Bluegrass Bit’s employees to remain productive with no permanent loss of critical business data.
The Impact—Reliability, Productivity, Cost Savings
Bluegrass Bit realizes many benefits of working with the Simpler-Webb team. For a significantly lower cost than hiring a single system administrator, Bluegrass Bit is able to tap into a team of people with a wide range of expertise no matter what time of day. The constant monitoring ensures performance is optimal and outages are avoided. Employees can focus on what they do best knowing that their IT needs are completely taken care of by Simpler-Webb—consistently and flawlessly.
"We are happy to pay Simpler-Webb the management fee every month to have our needs taken care of without having the cost for a full time employee. Our partnership with Simpler-Webb has worked out especially well for us because there isn’t a lot of IT expertise where we live. With Simpler-Webb we receive top notch services and have the feeling of being in a big city," said Lisa Mullen, Bluegrass Bit.
Simpler-Webb News ::
In January, we had the honor of receiving the following designations which emphasize our extensive Microsoft expertise and our focus on serving small business markets.