New Drupal Sites

I'm on a Drupal kick recently.  I can't get over how easy it is to roll out secure, reliable, high performance, content systems on the web using this open source platform.  This sure beats the money most small business owners spend for a similar web hosting platform.

Average: 4 (2 votes)

Hiring your first full time IT person

An organization can benefit greatly from the right full time person.  The first person any organization hires is critical, you need the right balance of leadership, administration, technical ability, temprement, and a cultural fit to your work environment.  You may choose to hire someone and continue to outsource for some of these areas.  Your organization may have enough IT work to support a full time person, however the challenge is getting the right skill set to make the investment worthwhile.  There are several categories of IT staff based on skill, technical experie

Average: 5 (1 vote)

5 IT mistakes by small business owners

Let's just get right to it.

1. Don't take investment advice from the tech school graduate.

Average: 4.5 (2 votes)

Pioneer Launches websites using Drupal CMS

Pioneer recently launched a website built on the Drupal Content Management system for B and B's French Wine Club and No Banana Splits! An effective strategy for youth ministry. 

Drupal is an open source Content Management System.  Drupal has an excellent modular design and a full application programming interface.  Drupal content is stored in the database which makes it easy to manage and manipulate.  My client can now manage every aspect of their website.  They have the keys.

Average: 2 (4 votes)

Outsource e-mail, have you asked the right question?

Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) is far and away the best solution for small business email.  It is hard to argue with the pricing, features, support, and simplicity of implementation.  There are a few limitations of SBS to consider and some costs to doing internal email that are often overlooked.  The question that you should ask as a small business owner is "Should I host my own email".  Consider some of the costs associated with internal email.

Average: 4.5 (2 votes)

Who is trying to get into your network?

Average: 4.5 (2 votes)

Google Analytics - Know what's happening on your website.

About how many new visitors did you have on your site this month?
What pages are they visiting?
How are they finding you?
Do you have any idea what they were looking for when they came to your website?

Google Analytics can give you a window into this information and much more.  http://www.google.com/analytics/.  It is very easy to implement and it's free.  You place a couple lines of code on each of your pages and it will start tracking all visits to your site.  Here is a sample of what you get.

Average: 4.3 (3 votes)

Security represents the biggest issue on your network.

CEOs Rank IT Risks Above Terrorism.. Was the title of the news alert which caught my eye.  There are a couple of things which ring true to me.

Average: 4 (3 votes)

Outsource E-mail?

I used to have a really cool Windows Server loaded with applications that ran my business.  I liked my server, and I spent a lot of time with my server.  I would patch my server often and check the spam filter, update virus defition files, and work the server error logs.  In short, my server was well fed, well maintained, and in good health.  I would spend about two hours a week working on my server.  Not much to ask for a good email, web, and file server.

Average: 4 (5 votes)

Small Business Disaster Recovery, How different is it from Big Business?

Small Business Disaster Recovery, How different is it from Big Business?  It isn't from a design standpoint, but it is from a resource and planning standpoint.  Let me explain.  A comprehensive disaster recovery / business continuity plan includes a combination of methods to protect against a disaster which include disaster prevention, disaster recovery, data protection, and remote sites as well as documented process and procedures with audit processes.  Many large organizations had some type of disaster planning in place prior to 9/11, however since most organizations h

Average: 4.6 (5 votes)