Archive for the ‘Save time’ Category

If you accept credit cards-simplify PCI-DSS

If your organization accepts credit cards, you are required to comply with PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards). This can seem ominous, so here are some tips to help you. Continue reading ‘If you accept credit cards-simplify PCI-DSS’

Posted by Mike Foster in Best Practices, Save time on July 28th, 2010.

Tags: professionals, recommendations

Save money – protect your servers from heat

In a data center, the temperature should remain a constant temperature of 70-74 degrees Fahrenheit (21-23 degrees Centigrade) for the best system reliability and comfort levels. Many of the organizations I audit have servers running very hot—especially in the summer months.
Continue reading ‘Save money – protect your servers from heat’

Posted by Mike Foster in Best Practices, Save time, Technology on July 21st, 2010.

Tags: protect, recommendations

Do you believe in human multitasking?

Can you, or your workers, really be productive doing more than one task at the same time? Checking e-mail while talking on the phone for instance?

Continue reading ‘Do you believe in human multitasking?’

Posted by Mike Foster in Best Practices, Save time on June 16th, 2010.

Tags: professionals, Relating to IT Professionals, Working With IT People

Interruptions destroy productivity

We live in this modern world of e-mail, text messages, and social media and the constant interruptions can be devastating.

Continue reading ‘Interruptions destroy productivity’

Posted by Mike Foster in Best Practices, Save time on June 9th, 2010.

Tags: Managing IT Professionals, professionals, recommendations, Relating to IT Professionals, Working With IT People

How is your disaster recovery plan?

A lot of organizations are revamping their IT systems now that the economy is recovering. Many are using services like server virtualization and thin client technology—both of which lend themselves to you having a great opportunity to make a more robust Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP).

Continue reading ‘How is your disaster recovery plan?’

Posted by Mike Foster in Best Practices, IT Security, Save time, Technology on March 31st, 2010.

Tags: Integrating Technologies Safely, professionals, protect, recommendations

Executives, does your e-mail address end in AOL?

Three different highly respected business professionals communicated with me today and each of them made comments along the lines of, “Oh—that CEO is so far behind in technology that their e-mail address ends in AOL!”

Continue reading ‘Executives, does your e-mail address end in AOL?’

Posted by Mike Foster in Best Practices, Save time, Technology on March 17th, 2010.

Tags: professionals, Relating to IT Professionals, Working With IT People

When will tech become truly user friendly?

I used a wonderful ATM in Santa Barbara recently. The main screen had a space for your PIN and the buttons for $20, $40, $100, etc. All the customer needs to do is touch 4 keys for the pin and 1 key for the amount requested and DONE! No “Enter” key. Out pops the cash! So easy.

Continue reading ‘When will tech become truly user friendly?’

Posted by Mike Foster in Save time, Technology on March 10th, 2010.

Tags: IT, secure

Banks suggest you dedicate one PC for online banking

USA Today reports that the American Bankers Association (ABA) recommends small and mid-sized businesses dedicate a computer to use only for online banking, and avoid using any other computers for online banking. While this may sound good, it can create headaches in practice.

Continue reading ‘Banks suggest you dedicate one PC for online banking’

Posted by Mike Foster in Best Practices, IT Security, Save time, Technology on January 20th, 2010.

Tags: computer security, network security, professionals, recommendations

How to know if your IT professionals are good

Executives often want me to answer the question, “How good are my IT professionals” be they in-house employees or outsourced IT professionals. The first thing I say is, “If the IT professional is like a knight in shining armor, riding his horse in to save the day every time there is a problem, that’s not the best situation at all.”

Continue reading ‘How to know if your IT professionals are good’

Posted by Mike Foster in Best Practices, IT Security, Save time on January 6th, 2010.

Tags: IT Network Teams, Managing IT Professionals, recommendations, Working With IT People

Are your employees still using single monitors?

Microsoft’s research shows that worker productivity increases from 9% to 50%: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/news/features/vibe.aspx

Continue reading ‘Are your employees still using single monitors?’

Posted by Mike Foster in Best Practices, Save time, Technology on December 23rd, 2009.

Tags: professionals, recommendations, Working With IT People