The same year my mom started singing the famous line of Helen Reddy’s 1975 hit, “I am woman, I am strong, if I have to, I can do anything,” I was learning my first words. Surely, I was influenced by my mom’s struggle to find her footing as a career woman and as a mother. Many women in the ‘70s were going through the same struggle. This was the first decade in history, after all, in which women had viable choices in career and parenting. So I grew up believing that I could do both. Now, as a mom of young children with a marketing writing career, I’ve learned that doing both requires a lot of hard work and determination. But I also know that the perseverance, creativity, and flexibility that come from learning to succeed in both business and motherhood are the same characteristics that make moms essential to the workplace. Continue reading “For Business Results, Hire More Moms” »
Author Archives: Dawn Mortensen
Advice for Overachievers: How to Avoid Burnout in 2012
In today’s fast-paced business world, being an overachiever or perfectionist is considered an asset. Of course all businesses want employees who are willing to put in the extra effort, time, and love to deliver their very best work, on time. But there’s a dangerous dark side when overachieving goes to the point of staunch perfectionism, when one puts unsustainable expectations on themselves and others. It can lead to burnout. And letting yourself fall into that abyss is no good for anyone – not you, your family and friends, or your employer. Smart employers look for candidates who display a healthy “emotional intelligence,” which includes knowing how to keep a healthy work/life balance. Continue reading “Advice for Overachievers: How to Avoid Burnout in 2012” »
Tornados, Lightning, No Problem
Wisconsin-based MSP and SMB Clients Find Peace of Mind about Facing Downtime Disasters
What does a Southern Wisconsin-based Managed Service Provider do when their small and medium-sized business (SMB) clients worry about tornados and lightning strikes and have “zero tolerance for downtime”?
In Wisconsin’s Rock County and surrounding areas, customers of The Computer Center are concerned about how quickly their data and applications would be back up-and-running after a tornado – a fairly common occurrence in their area. One client, a lumber yard, is also concerned about continuity of their IT systems if a lightning strike occurs – especially with their business located near a railroad, where the metals in the ground attract a higher-than-average number of lightning strikes. Continue reading “Tornados, Lightning, No Problem” »
Cloud Storage Safety: 3 Things to Look For
Many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) already take advantage of the cost savings and ease of backing up via the cloud. But others are still wary. Nearly three-fourths of survey respondents to a July 2011 InformationWeek Analytics study cited “security concerns” as the reason they haven’t used public cloud storage. I believe these concerns are due to a lack of understanding about cloud backup security controls.
There are good reasons to trust cloud-based backup. For one, cloud backup minimizes the human failure factor. Data recovery firm Kroll Ontrack says that at least a quarter of all data loss is due to human error, such as incorrectly partitioning a hard drive or forgetting to change tapes. Cloud-based backup, however, reduces human error as it can be set to take place automatically at night and doesn’t require manual hard drive set up, tape swaps, or physically moving tapes to an offsite location. Cloud backup is also more reliable as it is encrypted then transmitted directly from the business to a secure datacenter to be stored for offsite disaster recovery. Tape, on the other hand, is fragile and not encrypted, so it is easily damaged or tampered with on the way to, from, or at the storage site. Continue reading “Cloud Storage Safety: 3 Things to Look For” »
Why Steve Jobs’ Resignation Hasn’t Made Me Lose Hope in Apple
I lost my 20/20 vision after working a summer internship on a Macintosh, my eyes constantly straining to read the mouse type on the 9-inch display. But I didn’t hold that against Apple.
In my first public relations job with Xerox as a client, I worked tirelessly to repair some of the reputation damage Xerox experienced after losing out to Apple on their capitalization of the GUI—the technology that many say Steve Jobs “stole” after a visit to Xerox PARC. But I didn’t hold that against Apple, either.
Then, Apple laid off my husband as I entered my ninth month of pregnancy with our first child. Still, I couldn’t hold that against Apple. Of course I held a grudge for a little while. But after they launched the iPod, brought iTunes to Windows, and opened the wildly successful Apple stores, how could I remain indignant? Continue reading “Why Steve Jobs’ Resignation Hasn’t Made Me Lose Hope in Apple” »
Right After Hurricane Irene, MSP Restores Client Data
Many small businesses in the Northeast walked into flooded offices with damaged servers the morning after Hurricane Irene. At least one of these businesses was able to have their server image, applications, and data quickly restored so they could access patient schedules and deal with customer payments.
After Hurricane Irene drove flood waters through the prosthodontics office of Dr. Mary Anne Salcetti, she wanted her staff to be able to quickly contact patients to reschedule appointments. She also wanted to get her practice management software up-and-running right away so as to avoid any gap in patient care or in recording payment information. Dr. Salcetti has been restoring patients’ smiles with prosthodontics, implants, and cosmetic dentistry in New York’s Hudson Valley region since 1987. Continue reading “Right After Hurricane Irene, MSP Restores Client Data” »
When MSPs Save the Data, They Save the Day
Actual photo of customer's building after hit by a tornado near Birmingham, Alabama
Admit it, you’ve thought about being a superhero—what special power you might have, what kind of outfit you would wear, the special gadgets you would create, and even perhaps a sidekick or secret hideout.
Managed Service Providers (MSPs) may not have special outfits, sidekicks, or hideouts, but they are certainly considered superheroes when they’re able to quickly restore lost data for one of their small or medium-sized business (SMB) customers. This is first of a series of blogs to feature stories about the many ways SMBs lose data and the MSPs who save the day.
If you’re a business owner who has experienced server failure, you know that loss of data combined with loss of work and customer business can be a fatal combination. A 2010 University of Texas study found that 43% of companies who suffered a severe data loss from a disaster never reopened their doors, and 51% closed within two years. Some SMB owners think such a disaster won’t happen to them. Fortunately, the business in the following example planned ahead before encountering one of the intense tornados that tore through parts of the United States this past spring. Continue reading “When MSPs Save the Data, They Save the Day” »
How Can You Lose Data? Let’s Count the Ways…
Users accidentally delete files- Laptops are dropped
- Files are stolen
- Software is corrupted
- Systems are hacked
- Thumb drives are lost
- External drives fail
- Tape storage degrades
- Viruses crash drives
- Servers are ruined by fire, tornado, earthquake, flood, hurricane, or other natural disasters
- Servers are destroyed by vandals, thieves, or other saboteurs’
- Administrators neglect to properly manage backup systems
- Appliances using substandard hardware fail
- On-site appliances fill up
- Companies do not have three-fold protection of backup, business continuity, and disaster recovery
The Forecast: Partly Cloudy
Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and Value Added Resellers (VARs) have been using the cloud for the disaster recovery component of data storage solutions for years. Even before it was labeled the cloud, various Internet, networking, and remote access technologies worked together to make remote disaster recovery possible. Microsoft’s “To the Cloud” ads began to give the average person an idea of what the cloud is about (though some argue they misrepresent it). And Apple’s recent promise of iCloud brings buzz about the cloud to the broadest consumer level yet, even catching the interest of those who may have little-to-no understanding of how it works, but love the idea of accessing their photos, videos, and music anytime and anywhere.
Yet it’s easy to wonder: Does the cloud deserve all the attention it gets? Or is it just a buzz word marketers use to add a “coolness” factor to the existing technologies it encompasses like the Internet, virtualization, and remote desktop access? Continue reading “The Forecast: Partly Cloudy” »