The field of IT Support arose from the common issues that businesses face with technology, and IT Support professionals help companies cope with hardware and software issues every day.

And yet, what is the best way to approach IT support?

Consider the diversity of businesses in the marketplace today. Some companies don’t require a daily monitoring of their technology systems, and problems rarely arise. Other companies utilize a vast network of systems that require a variety of technical knowledge in order to keep potential issues at bay. And there are plenty of companies that lie somewhere between the two, technologically speaking.

Fortunately, companies don’t have to have a dedicated staff position for addressing computer issues. Outsourcing is a common practice for all sorts of business functions, and IT Support is among the most outsourced. As an outsourced support provider, an IT professional can help a business to keep their technology systems running smoothly while also helping the company to toe the line on operating costs.

Whether billed on an as-needed basis or as a flat monthly fee, outsourced IT support can help a business to maintain both the integrity of their computer systems as well as their operating budget. But hiring an IT Support firm requires careful consideration.

Consider the following questions when hiring an IT Support firm:

• How many years have they been in business?
• How many employees do they have? Do they have the staff to cover your business, especially if you have multiple locations?
• Do they have a physical office that you can tour?
• Can they provide references? Can you find online reviews of their company?
• Do their service hours mirror your business hours?
• What is their guaranteed response time?
• What is their response time for emergencies?
• Are they able to provide remote support?
• Will they monitor your systems and anticipate issues?
• Will you have a dedicated assigned rep and/or technician?
• What certifications do their technicians hold, and do they provide ongoing education for their employees?
• How many years’ experience, on average, do their technicians have?
• Do they have experience in your field of business and/or your systems?
• Do they track their service performance and provide reports?
• What is their fee/billing structure? Do they charge an hourly rate or a flat fee?
• Do they provide for an early termination of contract?

To be sure, this list of considerations is quite lengthy. But it’s also very thorough, and if you are considering giving access to your sensitive data to an outsourced firm, you must seek out the answers to each of these questions.

Lieberman Technologies can answer each of these questions and provide you with IT Support that meets your company’s unique requirements. Call me, Jeff Brown, at 812.434.6648 or send me an email at Jeff.Brown@LTnow.com and let Lieberman Technologies provide your company with the IT support it needs.

Lieberman Technologies provides IT Support to the Evansville, Newburgh, Henderson, and Tri-State area.

Article #1 in a Series

Lieberman Technologies can help you with regular, automatic, offsite backups

Loss of data can occur for any number of reasons — hardware failure, power surges, natural disasters, stolen or lost computers, viruses and malware, human error – and this data loss can be devastating to a business.

While you can’t really plan for a disaster, you can take steps to minimize the impact. Loss of data can and does happen, and if your files aren’t regularly backed up offsite, they do not exist anywhere except on your computer.

Why a regular, scheduled offsite backup? We find that many companies manage their backups of their systems using an unsecure methodology. They backup the wrong data and files. They rotate their backup media. They leave their backup copy at the place of work. And sometimes, they fail to even make a backup. Such inconsistency leaves a business vulnerable. If a business backs up the computer operating system but not the data, then lost files cannot be recovered. Rotating backup media results in confusion when attempting to locate data. A backup copy left at the place of business can be destroyed if there is a fire or other disaster. And failure to make a backup means that lost files are lost for good.

All of these are compelling reasons to use Lieberman Technologies for backing up your data. Regular, automatic, offsite backups are the best way to protect your data and your business from unforeseen catastrophe. Offsite backup will allow you to keep original files and copies of files for an indefinite period of time. For files that will not change, we recommend that these files be copied to a CD/DVD. Finally, structuring your hierarchical directory tree is critical to insuring that all you wish to backup is actually backed up.

With automated offsite backup, you provide your business with an essential safety net against disaster. If you need assistance with any of these concepts, please call Jeff Brown at 812.434.6648 or send him an email at Jeff@LTnow.com

Primary Responsibilities

• Representing Lieberman Technologies as a trusted technology adviser
• Managing the entire sales process, including prospecting, selling, negotiating, and closing
• Developing new business by working with customers to meet and exceed annual sales objectives
• Maintaining accurate records of all sales and prospecting activities including sales calls, presentations, closed sales, and follow-up activities
• Targeting qualified prospects
• Forecasting sales
• Managing time
• Managing internal resources and customer expectations
• Meeting and/or exceeding monthly, quarterly and annual quota
• Adhering to all company policies, procedures and business ethics codes

Job Requirements

• Minimum of 2 years of quota bearing new business-to-business sales experience
• Proven success in sales by consistently exceeding quota
• Working knowledge of business development activities and sales cycles
• Strong presentation and communication skills
• Disciplined, organized and able to work independently
• Able to work in a team environment
• Highly competitive attitude
• Technical selling skills
• Knowledge of MS Office applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook
• And most important, a willingness to learn, a desire to achieve and a drive to excel

Send resumes as embedded text or as an attachment to:

info@LTnow.com

and place the word RESUME in the subject line. Include salary history and specify preference for full or part time position.

Only electronically submitted resumes will be accepted.

So then, can you tell the difference between a legitimate website and one that’s phishing for valuable information from you? Can you detect an Internet scammer? Perhaps you should see just how good you are at recognizing an online phishing scam. The good folks at OpenDNS have created a Phishing Quiz. I highly recommend you take the quiz. It takes about 5 minutes and you just might learn a few things that benefit you greatly!

Even better, consider using OpenDNS’s DNS servers. By default, you’re probably using DNS servers from your ISP. I highly recommend using the servers from OpenDNS. You can use them for free! Absolutely free! If you’re not sure what this means, find someone who can help you.

Why is this a good idea? Phishing protection. OpenDNS actively tracks phishing websites and prevents you from accidentally navigating to one. You can learn more by reading about OpenDNS’s Premium DNS Service. I have been using this service for years and wouldn’t think of setting up a network without it.

When Shrode Real Estate sought to upgrade their website, one goal was to make their site more useable to the public when searching for homes and property. Their former site allowed for search but the search feature took the user to a third party site for this function. Shrode asked Lieberman Technologies to build a new site that allows the user to not only do a full search of Evansville-area Multiple Listing Service (MLS) listings, but also bring Shrode-listed properties to the forefront.

Kristy Schaefer, Office Manager at Shrode, worked with Lieberman Technologies’ Andrew Epperson to bring the new site into reality. ”We wanted more functionality and a clean, user-friendly look,” says Schaefer. ”Andrew was easy to work with and understood what I wanted.”

Shrode’s new site, built in WordPress, provides the agency with a content management system that gives them greater control of properties featured on the site. Data comes from a feed provided through the Evansville Area Association of Realtors’ MLS and can be filtered to show properties listed by Shrode as well as the entire list of properties on MLS. Additionally, Shrode can choose a featured property to list on the site home page, and change the property as often as needed.

To further make the site user-friendly, MLS search is accessible throughout, and is available as a basic search, an advanced search, or a quick search.  Properties can be filtered by agent to highlight all listings by that agent. Users can request an appointment to view a particular listing, and the system will reference the MLS listing viewed when sending the appointment request. The search feature is also integrated with Google Maps and with social sharing sites Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and StumbleUpon.

The result is a more robust site, with a clean look and a host of features, which allows Shrode to more effectively market their own properties as well as those in the larger Evansville Area Association of Realtors MLS. Most importantly, Schaefer is pleased with the result. “The new site is great!” she reports. ”It’s just what I wanted and is easy to maintain.”

Learn more about Lieberman Technologies’ web development services for Evansville area realtors.

Visit the website – www.shroderealestate.com.

What does this mean to you? The monsoon season of 2011 produced historic flooding throughout the pacific basin, with water reaching levels unseen in nearly five decades. These floodwaters inundated hard drive manufacturing facilities (among others) in October, causing significant damage and rendering these plants unusable. As the slow-moving floodwaters begin to recede, there will be a considerable lag time in getting these manufacturing facilities up and running again.

The ramifications of this event will be significant and far-reaching, affecting pricing and availability of hard drives at least through the first quarter of 2012 and most likely far beyond. If you have been considering upgrading or replacing a hard drive, you should do so sooner rather than later. On average, global inventory of hard drives operates on a two-month lead time, and without a new supply to refill warehouses around the globe, hard drives will be increasingly hard to come by and quite expensive.

Lieberman Technologies has access to hard drives at this point, but as the month of November moves forward into December, we anticipate availability to be sharply curtailed. Please contact us now to upgrade or replace your hard drive. Even waiting a few weeks could mean that we will be unable to meet demand for hard drives and will need to place customers on a waiting list.

For more information on the hard drive shortage visit computerworld.com article.

If you’ve been in business any length of time, you probably already know something about Section 179 of the IRS Tax Code. Section 179 allows businesses to deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment or software purchased or financed during the tax year — provided the equipment is put into service the same year as the deduction is taken. Most importantly, the incentives in the recent Stimulus Bills are advantageous for both small and large businesses when it comes to Section 179 deductions.

Ordinarily, businesses depreciate equipment over a period of years, allowing for a small bit of tax relief each year. Most business owners would prefer to deduct the entire purchase price of equipment from their gross income in the same year it was purchased, and Section 179 allows businesses to do just that.

But what makes Section 179 special for 2011? For the 2011 tax year, limits have been raised substantially. The deduction limit for 2011 is $500,000 (up from $250,000) and the 2011 limit on equipment purchases has been raised to $2,000,000 (up from $800,000).

The investment in new equipment or software is something that most businesses carefully consider, and often delay because of the cost. However, with the new limits in effect for the 2011 tax year only, an investment in new equipment or software should be a serious consideration before the year comes to a close. Limits will return to their previous levels in 2012.

Even though Lieberman Technologies is not in the business of offering tax advice, we wanted to bring this unique opportunity for tax savings to your attention. For tax advice or further information, we recommend you contact your accountant. To invest in new computers, servers, or software, contact Lieberman Technologies.

For more information on Section 179: http://www.section179.org/section_179_deduction.html
To calculate deductions under Section 179: http://www.section179.org/section_179_calculator.html

The GETIT event will be held at the Central Library in downtown Evansville from 11:30 to 1:00. Lunch will be provided and a door prize will be given away. Registration is required.

See patheck.eventbrite.com for registration and event details.

• Jason Scriber - Henry County PVA
• Tim Jenkins - Scott County PVA

About The Contest:

Lieberman Technologies conducted a technology survey of the Property Valuation Administrators (PVAs) in Kentucky. Respondents were entered into a drawing to win one of two 3G + Wi-Fi Kindles. Winners were chosen by random draw on August 31, 2011 at 3PM CDT (4PM EDT).

Thank you to all who participated!

Congratulations Jason and Tim! We hope you enjoy the Kindle.

A: The power of the world’s most popular search engine.

It was back in July of 2011 when Google allowed it’s relationship with Twitter to expire. This relationship was the backbone for the social networking posts that appeared Google as “real-time” search results. This dissolution happened just a few days after the highly publicized launch of Google+, Google’s competition of Facebook. Speculation has since roared about the how and when Google will incorporate that with it’s search engine.

In a recent panel discussion, moderated by Danny Sullivan, Google Fellow Amit Singhal indicated that Google is actively working on bringing Realtime search back. He also added that Google was experimenting with adding data from Google+ and other sources. The “other sources” were not identified, but one can believe that Google+ will be the dominant force here.

This approach to tie Google+ into Realtime search and likely organic search engine rankings is a strong pull to have the masses join the social networking site. Google+ has seen unprecedented growth in the tech community while in private beta. Many naysayers doubt that Google+ can survive against Facebook because it doesn’t offer great advantages over Facebook. But the one key that Facebook doesn’t hold is the ~80% market share that Google dominates the search landscape with. You can bet that anyone interested in their web presence will adopt Google+ if it begins to influence where your web content ranks in the Google search engine.

Are you using Google+ yet?

You can find me on Google+.