Backups for Small Business

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Every year ASE reviews some backup solutions to see if they would be a good fit for small businesses. This year 2 issues were kept in mind during the review: is an offsite solution inexpensive, and, how to better protect the data against malware like ransomware (Cryptolocker, etc…).

This year some more providers offer the ability to both store in the cloud, and, use a device, like a Network Attached Storage (NAS), in the small business office to also store backups. Some providers are implementing a solution that better protects the NAS against malware that encrypts data. Having a local backup makes restores much better and faster in the event of a disaster. Then, if that proves to not be an option, the cloud backup can be used.

I’m old fashion and prefer to call a company, as opposed to just reading the website, to discuss their services. Ask them about the onsite option in addition to the offsite service. If you don’t have any compliance requirements there are great inexpensive solutions out there providing online, offsite backup services. Your local solution (NAS) shouldn’t cost any extra. Get a quote for the amount of data you have.

Hope this helps.

Robert Lane
President/Owner
ASE, Inc.
Getting you ready for tomorrow today
703-273-8388 ext 111

ASE, Inc. is an IT technical support services and consulting firm in the Washington DC Metro area. Since 2000 ASE has focused on providing full outsourced IT department services to small and medium businesses as well as providing senior level expertise designing, installing and managing complex networks as well as security consulting to very large entities in both commercial and federal markets.  Call ASE today – 703-273-8388.

The Cost of the Cloud

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You have heard so much about “the cloud” and you probably don’t know exactly what that means but more importantly you have heard that it can save you time, which can equate to money, and money. Let me tell you what we see in the field.

As IT consultants to small & medium businesses we help them utilize what they have as well as discover what new technologies they can employ to save time and money. It is true that the cloud is an amazing thing. Here are some quick helpful facts:

  1. If you are thinking of starting a business you can get up and running much faster these days with a lot less capital expenditure. That is extremely helpful in this economy.
  2. The cloud can help you off load some very important services that your company must perform such as backups, email and, depending on what data you generate, database type services as well as financial.
  3. From a disaster recovery/business continuity perspective you can recover from a disaster and continue doing business quickly as your data is off site (like backups, email) and you can simply log in from a new location or system and get your data.

Now let’s talk about the cost. We have seen so many companies pull back out of the cloud mostly due to the cost. Many companies did the math up front and found that for their needs and based on what they had, the service they were looking to use in the cloud was too costly. Here is an example: a company of 10 people has 150 GBs of data that is critical (yes, there is a difference between important and critical data) and that data needs to have a SAS 70 Type II facility (for reasons that would take too long to explain in this article) – IF – they are to store off site. What’s more, they need snapshots of data at intervals of 6 months to be stored. Many cloud backup services don’t have SAS 70 Type II facilities nor do they do 6 month snapshots. They perform rolling 30 day backups meaning that on day 31 the data that was backed up over 30 days ago is gone or copied over. Just like many other companies in the U.S. right now, money is tight and watched like a hawk. Based on the above criteria the cost per GB averages a little over $3.00 so that means that the company would have to pay $450.00 per month for this cloud service. Many would just say, “no”.

Here is another downside. We have seen some small businesses completely outsource all of their software to the cloud (In this case the cloud is basically a company that has a datacenter who owns the software and lets the user “rent” the use of it). This means that the user owns nothing and has nothing on their server and personal systems. You may think it’s a great idea. You would until you encounter the time when you have to be or want to be productive and you have no internet connection. Remember, you need the connection to get to the server that has all of your software which is at the datacenter where all of your software is hosted – the cloud. To do this you have turn on your computer, log in, connect to the internet, log in to their server, open up the application and start working. (So much for quick productivity!) Since, in this instance, there is no internet connection AND since you have no applications on your personal system you cannot simply turn on your personal computer, log in, open the app and start typing.

What should you do? You want to take your time when making decisions about the cloud or any outsourced services. If you don’t have the time or the knowledge to research what you need find a consultant who can not only research the latest services out there but who also may be able to provide them to you. The reputable ones will research with you what you have, your needs, your budget and make the appropriate recommendations. For example, off site backups may be too expensive but hosted email – a perfect fit.

Hope this helps.

Robert Lane

President/Owner
ASE, Inc.
Getting you ready for tomorrow today
703-273-8388 ext 111

ASE, Inc. is an IT consulting, engineering, hosted and managed support services provider covering the Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC area.  Since 2000 ASE has focused on providing full outsourced IT department services to small and medium businesses as well as providing senior level expertise designing, installing and managing complex databases and network security consulting to very large entities in both commercial and federal markets.  Call ASE today – 703-273-8388.

Best Information Source When Buying IT Products & Services

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When the time comes to purchase IT products and services where do you get the best nonbiased info? Great question huh? Well, let me ask you this: when you decide to buy a car, and you have narrowed it down to 2 or 3, how do you make the final choice? Best answer: you go to a mechanic and ask, “Which one of these do you see the least?”

Let’s build the scenario. Your company needs to upgrade its network including the server and some end-user computers. Of course any reseller, VAR (Value Added Reseller), integrator, whatever, that is authorized in just one manufacturer is going to push that product. They will tell you why they chose to sell that brand, why it is the golden challis, and how it is the best in breed for some reason that is unclear. Is that unbiased? No! A mechanic in a gas station is a service provider. The gas station doesn’t sell cars (at least not the gas stations I know). Therefore, the mechanic is a great source since he/she just services cars – almost all cars, all day, every day. The mechanic will tell you what they see less of, what major problems they work on in reference to the choices you have, and, will offer their personal choice based on your needs.

In reference to IT, you want to find a technical services provider, one that provides the IT technical services that the product you will be buying would need. For product these services cover managing servers, switches, end user machines, firewalls, routers, et cetera. If the provider sells hardware then ask if they are authorized in more than one manufacturer for that type of product. The engineers will tell you what they work on less, what major problems they see the most of at other sites, and, based on your needs what they think would be the best choice.

By services I mean voice and data lines, (telephone & internet to your office) hosted and managed services; and any service that you buy directly from a major (Tier 1) provider. Our engineers tell our clients which services they see the least problems with when working on site, which provider gives the biggest bang for the buck and which one has the best support.

Price plays a big role, particularly in these economic times. In every industry there are always one or two brands that are substantially more expensive than the rest. This is where talking to an IT technical service provider is most valuable. They will help you decide whether the more expensive product is the best way to go or not.

Hope this helps.

Robert Lane
President/Owner
ASE, Inc.
Getting you ready for tomorrow today
703-273-8388 ext 111

ASE, Inc. is an IT technical support services and consulting firm in the Washington DC Metro area. Since 2000 ASE has focused on providing full outsourced IT department services to small and medium businesses as well as providing senior level expertise designing, installing and managing complex databases and network security consulting to very large entities in both commercial and federal markets. Call ASE today – 703-273-8388.

The Small Business Dilemma: The right outsource

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stockxpertcom_id8109922_size4Who do you get to work on your company’s IT infrastructure?  Are you big enough to hire someone full time or not?    If not, what rate do you pay for the services you think you need?  I get asked these questions every week.  It’s amazing how many companies make the same mistake: picking the wrong skill sets, the wrong person for your company.  For this article I will address outsourcing – contracting someone to work on your company’s IT infrastructure.  Hopefully, when I’m done you will be able to make a good, educated decision.

You are a company too small to hire a full time employee as an IT administrator – the person who will keep the network that runs your business working.  You have a server, router, firewall, switch and a bunch of end user machines (desktops, notebooks etc… say ten of these).  You know nothing about IT nor do you want to but you don’t know how much to pay someone.   The problem is that a small business needs to look for someone who can handle a wide range of issues for a network like this.  This means someone who knows how to perform Moves, Adds & Changes (MAC), break/fix and remediation services to all of the equipment not just the end user machines, also known as clients.  If you get someone who only knows the clients then you are setting yourself up for disaster when disaster occurs.  Why?  Because the lower end administrator will have a harder time analyzing the problem, probably won’t know how to solve it and have to hand off to a higher skilled person who needs to schedule time to come see you.  All this equates to hours burned that you have to pay for and downtime.  The higher skilled administrator will figure out problems faster, solve them faster and know how to do this to handle all of the equipment you have.  This means less hours burned (most likely) and less downtime.

So what do you pay?  In the suburbs of Washington DC for on call support meaning that you call when you need help, a lower end administrator will charge from $60.00 to $80.00 per hour for skills that handle the client side and have mid level server skills.  A server expert with knowledge of various operating systems and the applications that go on servers like Exchange, and well skilled at switches, firewalls and routers for a company of this size will charge from $125.00 to $175.00 per hour.  Please keep in mind that long term contracts will affect these rates lower as the person is guaranteed a certain level of time. 

As a last note, on call services or even a routine schedule is areactionary mode (waiting for problems to occur) and will ultimately cost more long term.  Companies of the size described above should look at managed services that monitor and are proactively(monitoring trends to head off disaster or reducing traditional support time spent) supporting you network.  This is complimented by on site visits.  The savings will be realized certainly in the first year and most likely in the first six months.

For further discussions on hosted and managed services contact Robert Lane of ASE, Inc. @ 703-273-8388 ext. 111.  Robert.Lane@goaseinc.com;goaseinc-staging.coydhea2-liquidwebsites.com. ASE, Inc. is an IT consulting, engineering, hosted and managed services provider in the Washington DC metropolitan area since 2000.