Let’s face it…computer problems affect EVERYTHING—your ability to get work done at a fast pace, to meet deadlines, bill customers, complete projects, and communicate internally. If not set up and secured properly, your computer network can fail causing you to lose irreplaceable client files that could cost thousands in extended downtime, emergency recovery, and cleanup costs.
Cloud Computing is a phrase heard more and more in business circles. The economics are compelling. Most organizations today have computers and networks that do not use the full capacity of the systems and for good reason. Any system must have the "elasticity" to change and meet tomorrow's demands of your business.
I will be sharing the stage with Bob Kelly of IBM speaking at the Business Builder Breakfast at the brand new DoubleTree Hotel in Sterling, VA, this Friday morning, May 7, 2010, at 7:30 AM. The event is FREE and open to the public and registration is required. See my Facebook page for details and the link. I’ll be spaking on business plan implementation to make the second half of 2010 better than the first half. I hope to see some of you there!
Symantec revealed the existence of a bug in their products. The problem is that updated files released and time stamped after 11:59 PM on 12/31/2009 are treated as out of date by the endpoint security product. Symantec has a workaround, but weren’t we supposed to have learned our lesson ten years ago? This bug is not putting a large number of customers at risk today. Symantec is simply dating all new definition files 12/31/2009 and giving them new version numbers so users stay up to date. Symantec says they are working on a permanent solution to the problem. Amazing as it is, others are also suddenly finding year 2010 bugs in their software. Both SpamAssassin and Windows Mobile cell phones are having issues with messages being suddenly marked as from the future — it is likely they are not the only ones. I guess we did not learn our lessons in Y2K!
If you are not aware. Starting on January 11, 2010, Microsoft will be prohibited from selling one of their flagship office productivity products in the United States. This restriction will also spill over the border to the Canadian market where it appears Microsoft can continue to sell Microsoft Word as we know it. The Canadian market will benefit from the new versions which come out of this new restriction in the US. Microsoft Word is currently the leading office productivity suite in use today throughout the business community. i4i a software firm located in Toronto was successful in a recent lawsuit against the Redmond software giant claiming Microsoft infringed on their software patents in their Microsoft Word 2007 product. i4i claimed, and US courts agreed, that Microsoft infringed on its XML software product which Microsoft currently incorporates in their .docx document format which first appeared in Word 2007. First, those businesses who have purchased Office 2007 or Word 2007 can continue to use the Microsoft Office product. The fine folks at Microsoft have committed to continue the support all versions of Word including 2007. Microsoft has already promised a fix which will be compliant with the court ruling against them. Businesses in the USA and Canada have nothing to worry about and should continue to use Word. Microsoft will have a revised version of Word for sale very soon. No release date has been announced by Microsoft. Once again, this ruling appears to have no direct impact on established users of the products. I expect Microsoft will license the technology or develop their own which will offer similar services found in Word today. Businesses need to understand their versions of Microsoft are still usable and the leading word processing software isn’t planning to go anywhere. Have you tried Microsoft Office 2010 Beta yet? FABULOUS!
This Christmas we can give back to someone who needs our encouragement!!! Sgt. Daniel Thornhill was seriously injured in Afghanistan two years agoby a suicide bomber. He lost both legs, is paralyzed from the waist down and suffered severe burns on his hands, arms and body. According to one report, Sgt. Thornhill says, “They can possibly take my life but they can’t take what I stand for or what I believe in… and that’s one thing that hasn’t faltered or hasn’t wavered.” See an article about Sgt. Thornhill by clicking here . His parents are asking for help. No financial help but they would like to help brighten his upcoming birthday. They are asking that people just send their son a card for his birthday. This young man has sacrificed a lot for our country and it would be great if everyone reading this could join in and send him a card. His birthday is next week. Please help and please pass the word. This is a real simple way to give back to someone who has given so much for the American people. His address is below. Thank you. Mailing address: Sgt. Daniel Thornhill Fort Sam Houston Fisher House 3623 George C. Beach Rd Fort Sam Houston, Texas 78234 Your cards and letters will mean more than we can know to encourage this brave patriot as he recovers. Merry Christmas to everyone!
A hidden cost of medical care is in the lack of communication between care providers. This can result in duplication of tests and unnecessary fragmentation of the patients care. EMRs solve these and more issues confronting health care today. In some cases the patient received treatment or even hospitalization without the knowledge or involvement of the primary care provider or the support team. Even patients who are referred to a specialist by the primary care provider often return to the primary’s office without results or documentation of the outcome of the visit to a specialist. Communication is, of course, a two-way street and patients need to take the initiative to ask for their records when seeing a specialist. Never assume that this is happening. In addition, patients should review their own records annually to be certain everything there is up to date, inclusive, and accurate. The Government is emphasizing EMR systems as a means to end these problems and create communication between care providers at the speed of light. While it will take time for EMRs to be pervasive, the first milestone is upon us. Medical practices can qualify for up to $44,000 per physician in government funding to adopt EMRs. The condition is that an approved system must be installed in 2010 and in substantial use by the practitioners. Failure to meet these criteria will reduce the care provider’s compensation by $18,000 per provider in the practice and it continues to reduce each successive year. Care providers need to start now to select and implement their EMRs with the help of a skilled, experienced, and local computer service provider. This need not cost huge amounts of investment nor change your practice, if it is selected and implemented in a professional manner. Practices do not need to change their care processes or flow. With a simple and direct five stage approach, care providers can have the technology enabling their work to improve patient encounters and make their life much better…AND, the government will pay for it. Why wait? Patients need to be alert to care providers using paper charts and ask the care provider when they plan to have an EMR in place. Everyone benefits and the cost of waiting or doing nothing is too great. Additional information is available by clicking here: http://www.beckitsystems.com/medical_er.php
Windows 7 was released to the public last Thursday. I have been using this product since it was in Beta and never had it freeze up, crash, or otherwise misbehave. While no one should run out and purchase it, when you need a new PC, it is a great operating system. Microsoft has done a terrific job with this and hit the ball out of the park! Be sure to avoid upgrading from Vista as any upgrade has issues and leftovers from the previous version. Fresh install only if you must, but best to keep what you have and then when you need new computers, purchase them with Windows 7. You will be glad you did!
As summer arrives, so does the season for stormy weather and more unforseen incidents that threaten data. Hear how one disaster turned into a good news story! To hear the 30 second summary, click on the link below. Good News from an Earthquake To download The 12 Insider Secrets to Protect Your Data, click here.