MS Web Apps vs. Google Docs

If you're looking for an inexpensive way to handle common business applications like spreadsheets, presentations and word processing, chances are you've looked into free Web-based services like Google Docs, says John Smythe of CMIT Solutions in Everett. What you may be less aware of is the fact that Microsoft has come up with its own free, Web-based competitor to Google Docs: Office Web Apps...read more

When and How to Upgrade to Windows 7

It has taken Microsoft 9 years, but a good, stable, usable replacement to Windows XP is finally here.

Should you upgrade from Windows XP (or Vista if you went that route) to Windows 7? Actually, Microsoft has already made that decision for you. Sometime within the next two years, Microsoft will End of Life (EOL) Windows XP. That means they won’t be issuing any more fixes, technical support and most importantly, security patches. It also means that the vendors of the applications that you use to run your business will also be ending support for their Windows XP versions. New features, fixes and technical support will no longer be available.

The Gartner Group and other industry analysts are recommending that you plan to be off of Windows XP by the end of 2012.

There are a few different approaches you can take to make the switch.

Option 1 – Buy all new PCs with Windows 7 pre-installed. You’ll be off of XP on 7 and you’ll have all new hardware to boot. It’s a good approach. The downside is that you’ll have to buy all your new hardware which can be expensive. Using a leasing company will enable you to finance the purchase over 2, 3 or 5 years.

Option 2 – Replace your old PCs, upgrade your newer ones. Chances are some of the PCs that you’re purchased in the past few years will run Windows 7 just fine. If that’s the case, the best approach is to buy new PCs with Windows 7 pre-installed to replace the older ones as they need to be retired (a good guideline is to retire your desktop PC after 4 or 5 years). Once all the older ones are replaced, purchase upgrade licenses for the remainder and upgrade them in place. This will take a bit longer than the first approach but it will cost less.

Which ever approach you take, you’ll need to be completely on Windows 7 by the end of 2012. That give you 2 and 1/2 years to make it happen. Figure out which approach you’re taking and spread the upgrade out into 5 sections of 6 months each. Every 6 months replace or upgrade the next 20% of your desktops. Don’t wait until late next year to get started or you’ll be looking at a large upgrade all at once.

And, whatever you do, don’t just expect Windows 7 to work perfectly right out of the box. Test all your applications first. More on that next month.

So What Is SharePoint, Anyway?

Many small businesses have huge problems when it comes to managing processes and sharing information. With every worker wearing multiple hats, it’s often difficult to keep track of who’s in charge of what, to say nothing of where all the information on a particular project is stored. So what do people do? They either have a short conversation by the water cooler, or they say, “Shoot me an email with the status update and your newest version of that contract.”

These approaches will get the job done – and for your average small business struggling to stay on top of a growing workload with limited staff and resources, just getting the job done is an accomplishment in itself. But if you want to get ahead by actively managing your work processes and sharing information efficiently, you’re probably going to need something like SharePoint.

What it is: In a nutshell, it’s the guts behind a good intranet (which is an inhouse website on a company's local area network (LAN) that serves authorized members or employees). Think about your ideal company intranet. It would probably include:

•  Information sharing, so that common documents like time-off request forms or expense forms were all in one place;

•  Document management, so that you could all work off the same version of the employee manual instead of the sixteen revisions you have floating around the office;

•  Collaborative capabilities, so that people could discuss individual projects or business issues in an open forum;

•  Client access, so that clients could review contracts or other documents online instead of trading endless emails.

SharePoint gives you all of that in a single package. And it’s highly customizable to fit in with your company’s structure and work processes.

What it does: It centralizes all that information that’s been floating around in email, on hard drives, on various servers, and on paper so that everybody in your organization can find what they need in one place. It helps preserve institutional knowledge so that you’re not left in the lurch if a key employee leaves your organization. It can serve as the go-to bulletin board for company announcements. And it can foster lively discussions and the exchange of ideas.

What it won’t do: Like any collaborative tool, SharePoint thrives on participation and suffers when it’s ignored. In other words, it won’t work if you don’t use it. You have to actively post documents and participate in discussions. People may resist using SharePoint at first, preferring to just email documents or do whatever their old work habits dictate. But the more you can steer people toward it, the more they’ll use it, and the more value they’ll build into it.

Sign me up: Not so fast. First you need to decide whether you’re going to go with a server-based, in-house SharePoint solution, or if you’re going to go with a hosted option. Both have their benefits and drawbacks. Talk with CMIT Solutions about which option is best for you – whichever one you choose, we can help you set up and customize SharePoint to fit your business.