The official blog of WynWeb Technologies' Managing Consultant, Wayne Anderson, bringing you local views on how emerging technologies and news stories may impact your business.
Please note that these blog entries are an informational opinion based on publicly available information and should not be considered technical or business advice nor relied upon for any purpose. Each of our customers' situations are different based on unique needs and circumstances. Please contact us if you would like advice or services specific to your situation.
12:17pm
Should I upgrade to Office 2010?
I like to tell my customers to concentrate not on the question of what software do they want but why do they want to buy a certain thing or other?
What in the new version of software is going to make a difference for your business? How will it earn you money?
Spending money to upgrade to a new version of Windows or Office may make your computer look better or run slightly cleaner or faster. These usually are not, in themselves, good reasons to make the switch.
Think about what your business does and what the Office software is used for. What things can you not do today that you would be able to do with the new software? Can you put a number of dollars that will be generated in sales to go along with that?
The other thing to consider here is how much money did you spend on the old version of software? If you decided to buy your current product based on it lasting your business 3 years, potentially you are throwing away part of your past investment if you decide to upgrade only a year in.
We absolutely can help you make the transition and learn how to use the new software, however at WynWeb Technologies, at the end of the day, we want to make sure it will be a purchase that helps to drive your business forward!
Posted By: Wayne Anderson
10:52am
Should my staff get certified on Computer Stuff?
Most small to medium businesses reach a point where someone in the company starts to think about doing more of the computer work and less of the "everything else" that they might be assigned.
Often this is a natural extension of the early state of the business -- there not being enough need for someone to do IT full time, someone who has a "regular job" does it as an in-addition-to duty. As the business grows, the demands of the tech stuff become more and more a part of that individual's daily work for the company.
Once a person transitions into the technical role, sometimes they start to think about the training and certification which is available in the space. Getting a certification often requires an investment of not only money to take the exam but also for training material and the time to get ready and pass the test.
Most small businesses know the abilities that the individual doing technical work has and hence certification may not serve a lot of value. In this kind of environment, one of the reasons you might consider certifying your in-house tech person(s) would be to help make sure that they have exposure to many of the technology features your business does not use now but may use in the future.
In a case where your company is considering hiring someone or bringing in a consulting company, like WynWeb Technologies, the certified status of the individual can help as a beginning to assessing the individual. Look for experience, does that person have experience which matches the certifications they possess? If they claim that they do security work, have they done security work in the past?
Your business should not trust certification to be the sole defining factor in bringing in new tech staff or contractors, but it should be an element to consider in finding the right person or firm.
Posted By: Wayne Anderson
08:46am
Is my business affected by this Net Neutrality thing?
Recently the industry has seen a well-publicized battle over something called Net Neutrality. Essentially, large telecommunications providers who provide internet service would like be able to earn money from places on the internet that use up a lot of bandwidth.
The argument is, essentially, that a very few websites, like YouTube, use up a lot of traffic on the internet and that to support all of that traffic going across the internet, companies like Comcast, Verizon, and Qwest would like to be paid to handle that much information.
The problem with the concept is that theoretically all of that traffic is already being paid for -- by the end users. So companies like Google (who owns YouTube) are crying foul. Why should they pay Verizon when they already pay a lot of money to have their own internet connections AND all of the people downloading videos are paying for internet connections as well?
For most small businesses, this fight will be a non issue. The only businesses which could see an impact from the ongoing fight would be businesses which are dependent on moving a lot of information to a lot of people. If your business is focused on providing music, video, or animations over the internet, then you will likely want to follow the outcome of the discussion.
Most non-technology businesses should be able to ignore the discussion as no matter what the outcome of the ongoing industry battle is, it will likely not affect either the ability to deliver non-technology products or immediately increase any of the costs of gaining customers (such as with a standard online website).
Posted By: Wayne Anderson
