Archive for the ‘Tech Stories’ Category
What Is Adware?
Adware is one of many “malwares” or malicious software programs that are unknowingly installed on your computer when you visit online sites and download freebies. When you use share files or visit sites with free downloads of wallpaper, videos, or music, some of these sites will send along adware software with your download.These malwares are a rapidly growing threat to all computer systems. It is estimated that in the first three months of 2005 over 80% of computer users had some type of malware software program running on their computer, without their knowledge.
Although it is much less a threat to your computer and information than spyware is, what adware will do is cause pop up banners and advertisements to appear on your computer. These advertisements are displayed on your computer no matter what program you might be using. What the people who place this type of nuisance software on you computer say is that adware advertising helps them to recover costs and allows them to offer you those freebies you want.
What you want to do to stop adware from appearing on your computer is to first run an anti-adware program. Run this program on demand regularly. Along with an anti-adware software program run your regular computer virus scan on demand also.
Check the security level on your computer. You security level setting should be at least medium to help protect you from unwanted downloads.
Do not download free files from the internet, period. When downloading any software read the end-user license agreement. Some of these agreements will state that when you download their software you are also agreeing to accept a downloaded spyware that may be placed on your computer at the same time.
Be aware of threats to your computer, and your personal information.
What happens after you have your IT service contracts? Are you scared that your customers are going to stump you or you won�t be able to provide the response time you promised?
IT Service Contracts: Confidence Comes with Experience
Just start offering and selling your services. Go slowly until you build up that confidence level. Confidence is not going to come through training; it�s not going to come from reading a report or preparing a very well-thought-out template. It�s going to come from actually starting to sell these IT service contracts and going out and servicing them.
Start with relatively small accounts and then ease into larger accounts. That doesn�t mean you should totally dismiss the idea of taking on a much bigger one if it falls in your lap, but just be aware that the ideal way to do this is to start with accounts that are on the small side of being able to afford that kind of service.
IT Service Contracts Require Advance Preparation
Without managing the sales call process and taking them from sales call to IT audit, you�re not going to get to the service contract. You need to have something concrete to propose and take them in that direction.
Otherwise you�re just going to be in reactive fire extinguisher mode, where they�ll call you when there�s a problem but there�s no recurring long-term relationship. The maintenance contract is what binds the two of you together like a marriage.
IT Service Contracts Will Make Your Business Profitable
It�s very difficult to make a go of IT services when you�re just waiting for the phone to ring or you�re just doing a couple hours here and a couple hours there. It�s a lot easier to find the right kinds of clients that need long-term hand-holding, long-term oversight and long-term assurances an outsourced IT department provides. They know you are going to take care of long-term projects and upgrades; be the intermediary with the phone companies and ISPs and web hosts and specialty application developers; and deal with anything and everything that relates to IT.
Then they also, of course, want the peace of mind that you�re going to be there to bail them out of an emergency. The big thing that really holds this all together is your IT service contracts.
The Bottom Line about IT Service Contracts
Without the IT service contracts, you will be keeping your fingers crossed that customers will kep calling and that you�re going to have that long-term relationship. The service agreement is what virtually guarantees that long-term relationship. That�s just why IT service contracts are so vitally important.
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Right after emergency service calls is a good time to offer IT service agreements. You�ve just saved the day and you�re at the high point.
Customers have to like, know, and trust you. After an emergency, they love you! They love you because you saved the day; they now know you of course because you just spent the last 16 hours working non-stop to solve this problem; and of course they trust you because you delivered on what you said you could do.
Future Damage Control
Once you fix an emergency, they�re very receptive to talking about how to prevent this kind of panic from happening in the future. Then you can give them a proposal that will include the ongoing maintenance by your company in the form of IT service agreements. So that�s a great time to ask for the service contract.
Offer IT Service Agreements after Conducting IT Audits
After IT audits, customers are wondering what do to next. If they have agreed to an audit, they are more than likely looking for someone that they can call on a regular basis. They want someone who�s going to look out for their needs, who�s going to take a long-term approach to making sure that everything they�re buying fits well with their existing investments, and that it makes sense for their business and fits in with different things going on in their industry.
For someone to sign IT service agreements, they need to be a paying customer of yours. Once they become a paying customer of yours with an IT service agreement, they�re essentially more of a client, because they�re beyond just being a transaction-oriented customer. They�re in it for the long haul, with a long-term client relationship.
The Long Range Option
Another option is a slightly longer sales cycle that can take anywhere from a couple weeks to a couple months. In this case, your customer realizes that they are not happy with their current technology provider. Perhaps, they�re not delivering as promised; the response time is starting to slack off; they feel they�re padding the bills; there�s personality conflicts; or changes in priorities. A lot of different things can happen and they�re actively shopping for a new consulting firm, a new technology provider to work with.
In those cases, usually the natural step is after you�ve walked out and you have tons and tons of notes and lots of things is to propose to them that you come back and do IT audits. The IT audit is a great segue into proposing IT service agreements.
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In addition to knowing your skills and being moderately qualified, keep an eye on the size of companies you want to target for IT service agreements. Going after 60 stations, 100 stations, or 150 stations is not the best place to start.
Start Small
Start with something that�s more comfortable and more approachable for your technical skill set. This will probably be someone in the 10 to 35 PC range with one or possibly 2 servers. They will not typically have wide area network connections. Most of their needs will be with Windows and Office and things you�re probably already comfortable with. Definitely start with some smaller small businesses before you progress onto larger ones.
IT Service Agreements Require Regular Communication
In terms of maintaining customer expectations, keeping up and keeping in contact with customers on a regular basis, whether it�s emails, phone calls, or dropping by is extremely important. If the service agreement is set up correctly, you and/or your technical staff should be at a client�s site at a minimum of once a month on-site.
In most cases, it�s going to be at least twice a month. Open lines of communication, staying in touch on a regular basis is extremely important if you want an extra quality control tool to make sure that you�re actually meeting and exceeding their expectations.
Use Surveys to Evaluate IT Service Agreements
Send a survey on a regular basis. Once a year is the minimum. Do this a couple months before you�re ready to give them their renewal. Feel free to adapt that to twice a year or quarterly if you want. You can even make it a little less formal but the key is to keep asking for feedback. Keep asking on how you can improve, how you can continue to deliver via your IT service agreements.
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Your CD is 1.2 mm thick disc of almost pure polycarbonate plastic, approximately weighing 16 grams. Often, your CDs carry aluminum layers that make their reflective surfaces, which are protected by lacquer films. Gold is but rarely used for data longevity, such as in some limited-edition audiophile CDs.
Your CDs normally have directly printed lacquer films, not adhesive labels. The process of directly printing the lacquer films on CDs is often termed as cd printing. Usually, the lacquer films on CDs have ability to absorb ink and are printable. Normally, the methods used for cd printing are � INKJET PRINTING, THERMAL TRANSFER PRINTING, SCREEN-PRINTING, and OFFSET PRINTING.
INKJET cd printing uses CMYK Inkjet printers to put tiny droplets of liquid ink onto specially-coated CD surfaces. The CMYK Inkjet printers are usually automated robotic systems that load and deposit CDs automatically after some initial manual setups. The inkjet cd printing results are amazing in high resolution and vibrant colors. Inkjet cd printing is ideal for small runs with photographic quality print, or when you desperately need fast results. However, in Inkjet cd printing, your �per unit prices� do not drop, and thus you may find inkjet cd printing uneconomical as compared to silkscreen cd printing, or lithographic cd printing.
THERMAL TRANSFER cd printing is the process based on melting a coating of colored ribbon onto the surfaces of your CDs. The thermal transfer printers contain two ribbons � one containing panels of cyan, magenta, yellow and black, and each color is printed individually onto the second ribbon- the transfer ribbon. This cd printing is cost effective for small runs and offers you superb finishing superior even to lithographic cd printing. Offering quick and excellent results, the thermal transfer cd printing has grown very popular for small runs.
SCREEN cd printing a printmaking technique that creates a sharp-edged image using a stencil. SCREEN printing is also known as silkscreening, or serigraphy. The screen cd printing is a cost-effective method for larger quantities of CDs. It is most effective with simple designs of few colors. The screen cd printing offers fine finishing results in vivid colors. Your �per unit� cost becomes pretty frugal, when you order over 1000 units in screen cd printing.
OFFSET cd printing is a widely used cd printing technique where the inked image is transferred (or “offset”) from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface. It is often called Lithographic (Offset) cd printing, when used in combination with the lithographic process. This cd printing has become the most common high-volume commercial printing technique nowadays. This cd printing technique offers fine results in highly detailed photographic images. This is the perfect option if you need upwards of 1,000 units based on highly detailed artwork, producing a superior finish to silkscreen printing at a relatively comparable price.
You can choose your cd printing and cd printing services, according to your need and requirement. You may find your cd printing service at your local area, or you may hire your cd printing service online. Of course, you can find lots of cd printing services online, but you should choose the most favorable one.