From the airplane

As I fly over Osaka, Japan, beyond tired, hungry and my body numb from sitting, I ponder just how precious life and my family is. I thank God everyday for providing me with a wonderful wife and children. I miss my wife, little Blake, Sydney, and Tori already and I have yet to begin my journey on land and complete the task at hand. I wish Dana was on this trip and not me. It’s def you next time my friend . 20 hrs on a plane is killer. There isn’t enough batteries to keep my gadgets afloat.

i know that I will be ready to take a shower, and get into the concrete mattress and get the punch in the face of cheap chinese cigerettes as I enter the Hotel. I just pray that this tinge in my throat is bc of a lack of sleep and not getting sick. I’ve become a bit of a narcisist (sp) since h1n1 entered the scene with hand santatizer and vitamins.

ok back to watching people walk around like rain man. Funniest thing ever. Plane is packed full.
Stay tuned…

Airplane Security is a Joke

Today I had the pleasure of boarding several planes to reach my destination of Shanghai China. Well boarding and passing through the gates of security, they decided to pull me aside due to the amount of gadgets and computer equipment I travel with. During the investigation from the guard, he noticed I had a tool that consisted of several sharp objects, screwdrivers, and other “weapon-like” tools. Its basically a swiss army tool that has every screwdriver, knife, etc. He looked at it and put it right back in my bag. I then thought to myself, if I looked middle-eastern would he have taken that tool? I don’t know the answer to that because I am a chubby Italian man. So I thought to myself, “man how secure are we really”? I could easily use this as a weapon. As a constant traveler, I don’t feel safe on our airlines. I will bet that when I try to bring it back into the US, it will be confiscated from the Chinese Government. We will see how that pans out.
Point here is that next time you travel, test the system. See what you can pass through security and then ask yourself, “How safe are we really on airplanes”?

God Bless Everyone and Have a Positive Day!

Is Customer Service Dead?

Recently I had half a day wasted calling American Express in regards to a recent issue with our business card. The rep was not only worthless but could care less about me and my issue. Now I used to be a CSR so I know the job is not the most glorious and high-paying job, however as much I hated it, I still was corteous and kind to all the callers. This Amex rep was so rude, that they just lost my business as a customer and also my personal cards.

I am seeing a trend when it comes to customer service and quite frankly I am damn sick of it. Treat your customers right. After all, they fund your organization.

In respect to our company tekGIANTS, I make it our mantra that no matter what we are doing, we drop our lives for our clients. We treat everyone with dignity and respect and we never take for granted each and every client. From the guy hosting his web site for 10 dollars to the large clients, we are there when they need us…anytime.

These companies need to take note of their customer service and take note that if poor service is the main variable, then failure and doom is forthcoming.

The Chik-Fil-A Way!

 Ever wonder why Chik-fil-a is closed on Sundays? You would be shocked to know the amount of business they are losing because of this. Sunday is the busiest day for all restaurants. In fact, restaurants that are closed on Sundays lose on average 12% of revenue by not accomidating the church lunch-goers.

Well the answer is that the founders morals and values and instilled throughtout each and every location. And today, even without Sunday traffic, they have become the number one fast food chain worldwide. The founder is a devote Christian and believes Sundays are a day for church and family. This speaks volumes to me as a consumer because despite all the money to be made, morals and values trump the possibility of reaping the rewards of weekend business. Not to mention the family days, kids eat free, and just an overall commitment to excellence. When was the last time you have seen a dirty Chik-fil-a? Or anytime I go, the people are always so corteous and welcoming.

There is a lesson to be learned within thier vision and mantra and one we live by… And that is, don’t be greedy…maintain your beliefs, do good onto others and deliver a quality product and people will come. Even though there have been Sundays where I wanted those fries, I thought “have respect for a company that has maintained morality and values even in a down economy”.

Do right onto others, be honest and fair in business, and never bs your way to wealth. We operate as transparent as we possibly can. Our clients see our families, we know thiers, and its truly a welcoming experience. This is how we operate. A business and the owners should hide nothing from thier clients and staff. Wealth comes to those who do the right thing. You will be blessed by living the high road. Instead of speeding to try and squeeze every dollar out of your clients, look for ways to make a difference in not only thier lives, but everyone you come in contact with.

Let your clients know how much you appreciate them. Never take for granted that you are a business owner and you become successful not by how much money you make, but by the road you travel to get there.

We wish everyone the best. Always!

Is cloud computing right for you?

I know many of you have heard the buzz term “cloud computing”. Well simply stated, this is the hosting of data and applications in remote locations (most likely data centers). If your IT company is telling you they have a cloud and its in their garage…run!

Wikipedia defines Cloud Computing as follows:

Cloud computing is the provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualised resources as a service over the Internet on a utility basis.[1][2] Users need not have knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure in the “cloud” that supports them.[3] Cloud computing services often provide common business applications online that are accessed from a web browser, while the software and data are stored on the servers.
The term cloud is used as a metaphor for the Internet, based on how the Internet is depicted in computer network diagrams and is an abstraction of the underlying infrastructure it conceals.[4]
A technical definition is “a computing capability that provides an abstraction between the computing resource and its underlying technical architecture (e.g., servers, storage, networks), enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.”This definition states that clouds have five essential characteristics: on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service.

Now there are obvious concerns when it comes to moving your company into a cloud computing environment.

Several of these concerns are:

1. Does your cloud provider or IT provider really have a stable infrastructure to provide you with the service, support, and expertise you need. There are many local companies to Orlando make these claims and completely mislead the consumer.
2. Backups. Make sure all your data is being backed up in real-time and not nightly, weekly, etc…
3. Data Centers. Make sure your cloud is secure. To be sure of this, your provider will need to have your server, virtual or physical under its own lock and key. Additionally there are data centers that are more secure and they are called SAS70 Certified Data Centers. These are the data centers we use. They are stable and meet the requirements of HIPAA, FINFRA, and other regulatory agencies.
4. Connection to the cloud. Make sure you have enough bandwidth to support the connection. If your connection is not the same as a desktop or better then your users will not use the service. Therefore, we recommend at least a T1 connection for under 25 users. Above 25 users, we recommend a bigger pipe (internet connection).
5. Citrix. Although there are many ways to get connected to the servers, the most reliable and quickest response comes from using Citrix Software, WAN scalers and several other devices that enhance the connection.
6. Installation. Make sure your installation staff has the knowledge and experience to do the install. If not, disaster is soon to ensue. If you are at that point, please call us

Cloud Computing Future:
I truly feel that this is the future of computing for both the enterprise and the consumer market. The advantages are extreme. From saving money, saving on power consumption, to a fixed IT budget. The list of pros’ is a mile long. Cloud Computing will be the future. We will see online operating systems, online applications and everything will stream direct from the internet. This is an emerging technology that is being adapted all across the world. If your company is still using PC’s, then you are wasting your money.

We offer FREE demos to show you the quality and ease of use. Schedule a free demo today.

Is cloud computing right for you?

I know many of you have heard the buzz term “cloud computing”. Well simply stated, this is the hosting of data and applications in remote locations (most likely data centers). If your IT company is telling you they have a cloud and its in their garage…run!

Wikipedia defines Cloud Computing as follows:

Cloud computing is the provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualised resources as a service over the Internet on a utility basis.[1][2] Users need not have knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure in the “cloud” that supports them.[3] Cloud computing services often provide common business applications online that are accessed from a web browser, while the software and data are stored on the servers.
The term cloud is used as a metaphor for the Internet, based on how the Internet is depicted in computer network diagrams and is an abstraction of the underlying infrastructure it conceals.[4]
A technical definition is “a computing capability that provides an abstraction between the computing resource and its underlying technical architecture (e.g., servers, storage, networks), enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.”This definition states that clouds have five essential characteristics: on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service.

Now there are obvious concerns when it comes to moving your company into a cloud computing environment. Several of these concerns are:

1. Does your cloud provider or IT provider really have a stable infrastructure to provide you with the service, support, and expertise you need. There are many local companies to Orlando make these claims and completely mislead the consumer.
2. Backups. Make sure all your data is being backed up in real-time and not nightly, weekly, etc…
3. Data Centers. Make sure your cloud is secure. To be sure of this, your provider will need to have your server, virtual or physical under its own lock and key. Additionally there are data centers that are more secure and they are called SAS70 Certified Data Centers. These are the data centers we use. They are stable and meet the requirements of HIPAA, FINFRA

Cool iPhone App of the week

We are constantly finding great, useful iPhone Apps. One of those such apps is called:

CardSnap, and CardSnapLite

This software allows you to snap a photo of a business card. It then takes 4-24 hours and they process them on their servers, then they add it to your contacts. This is a GREAT app and what I have been waiting for. No more scanning biz cards and waiting for OCR (Recognition Software) software to add it to the proper fields. Thumbs up here. Check it out.

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