Article written for the Surrey Chamber of Commerce by Tony Richards, Managing Director of Computer Strategies.

Over the years of writing articles I have mentioned the importance of backing up all your computers on a regular basis in the case of a disaster – big or small.

To date we have put in simple solutions that enable our clients to recover to backups from the previous evening.

With the ever increasing importance of computer data together with the need for more than a 9 to 5 operation, we are offering our clients a portfolio of backup services that will enable them to recover systems in minutes rather than many hours.

We are very excited to introduce these technologies. Normally such recovery capability was only seen in large corporations with huge IT budgets. These very affordable technologies are now available to companies of all sizes.

Over the years we have talked to companies who have never tested if their backups worked correctly. Often the exercise was seen as too costly and time consuming to contemplate. A real bonus of this new technology for backup and recovery is that it is so straightforward to recover test systems in a test environment.

You will then be able to sleep better at night knowing, and having seen that, you can have your computers up and running in no time at all after a major disaster.

If you have any questions or you would like a full review of your current backup procedures please contact us.

Tel: 01483 238260.

Guy Howle recently joined Computer Strategies to assist with our marketing. Guy started at the beginning of November last year, having come to the UK due to his house being partially destroyed by the catastrophic floods in central Thailand.

Guy quickly established himself as a member of our team, and began setting up best practices for raising the profile of the company. Among many other things, he mastered a new email distribution programme we adopted for distributing emails to our customers, and made some important changes to, and regularly updated, the website.

Guy has now returned to Thailand where he now remotely manages the day to day marketing activities for us. Before departing for Thailand, at the beginning of January, he introduced a comprehensive marketing programme including a new Customer referral initiative, regular press releases, and in the near future, a sales incentive programme for our staff. This will see Computer Strategies increase its footprint within Surrey and the home counties, gain new business and retain current clients.

He has 15 years of marketing and multimedia design experience. He has worked for Toyota, a leading multimedia design agency in London, and established and managed marketing departments for companies in Thailand.

The Help Desk function is a very important part of our business and it is a key component to the success of our business. We have recognised for some time that the Help Desk has needed a dedicated manager to ensure that we provide the high level of support to customers which they have come to expect. Over the last 12 months we have seen the number of support tickets increase significantly and it has become clear to us that we need to put a management structure in place to meet these challenges.

With immediate effect Neil is promoted to the position of Help Desk Manager. Neil will be responsible for the management of the Help Desk and for ensuring that all customer needs for remote support are managed, prioritised and co-ordinated by the Help Desk in a timely manner.

Neil will continue to be assisted by Craig and Cormac and he will manage their day to day activities. All other staff will be expected to co-ordinate with Neil when working in the office and to assist with support tickets unless otherwise scheduled to work on specific projects.

I am sure you will join us in wishing Neil every success in his new role.

John & Tony

Thomson Ecology – A virtual star is born

Guildford based Thomson Ecology, the UK’s leading ecological consultants, is using the latest ‘virtualised’ green technology to help safeguard some of the nation’s most precious protected species and habitats, courtesy of a new IT infrastructure which has been designed, installed and managed by local IT support company, Computer Strategies.

Founded in 2004, Thomson Ecology provides niche consultancy advice, surveys, research and training in all aspects of ecology. Thomson Ecology has enjoyed significant business growth and now employs over 100 people. This has placed increased demand on the company’s existing IT infrastructure. Quick to avert a potential problem, the Directors of Thomson Ecology and Paul Bussey, information systems manager called in IT specialists Computer Strategies, Guildford to advise on an appropriate solution.

“We are a young, vibrant business with three remote offices and we carry out numerous scientific surveys on site in remote locations. As workloads increased it became even more important that our IT system was 100% reliable.” explains Paul.

Computer Strategies proposed a new virtualised system, a framework that allows more than one computer system to run on the same computer hardware. Implementing this ‘green’ technology can reduce electricity consumption as well as the cost of hardware and necessary floor space. At the same time, virtualisation simplifies the difficult task of implementing disaster recovery plans.

According to Tony Richards, managing director for Computer Strategies “Basically Thomson Ecology just outgrew their existing infrastructure. With more staff, larger volumes of data to process and manage, the system became slow and unstable. Maintenance time increased which resulted in more downtime. This is just unacceptable in such a busy commercial environment.”

The five existing servers were replaced with two VMWare Servers, a flexible hosted virtualisation platform which creates access to up to 8 virtual servers. The system is dynamic and extra RAM and disk space can be assigned as and when it is needed.

Computer Strategies worked through several weekends to ensure minimal disruption whilst the new system was installed. “Tony and his team managed to transfer all our existing data and get the new system up and running with just one hour of planned downtime which is incredible given the task in hand.” Says Paul.

“We now have a reliable, future proof system which can grow as we do. We have reduced our energy consumption and improved our operating efficiency. For example staff in the field carrying out a protected species survey can make much better use of mobile technology to access the network and relay data much quicker than previously. Plus, we can trial new software programmes in hours rather than days as it used to take before.”

“Using Computer Strategies as project managers was a smart move on our part and I would definitely recommend the virtual approach to any business owner in a similar position to us.”

For further information on how to update IT operations through virtualisation please contact Computer Strategies on 01483 238260 or visit www.computerstrategies.co.uk

Latest contract takes Guildford IT firm on round the world tour

Guildford based IT support company, Computer Strategies, has been on a world tour spanning four continents in as many years, supporting global engineering contractor, 2H Offshore.

Having experienced considerable growth over the last four years, 2H Offshore, an independent engineering company working in the deepwater oil and gas industry, has set up a network of global offices in several key locations to support their ongoing exploration projects.

To enable this continuing growth, 2H Offshore turned to Computer Strategies to support their own in-house IT team in bringing their IT infrastructure up to speed, devising and implementing a top calibre network to facilitate the company’s increased workload and connect their offices around the world. For the team at Computer Strategies this meant a worldwide tour spanning 2H Offshore’s global network of offices in Aberdeen, Kuala Lumpa, Beijing, Perth and Rio de Janerio.

“The 2H Offshore project has been great to work on and it’s been a remarkable experience for our team installing this network in such a diverse range of surroundings. The new technology that we have installed for 2H Offshore will directly improve their day-to-day operations and facilitate their future expansion plans whilst dramatically improving their overall efficiency levels” said Michael Vaughan, global trouble-shooter at Computer Strategies.

Like many growing companies, 2H Offshore had found that their previous IT infrastructure was limiting operations. As part of the new system, Computer Strategies created site-to-site Virtual Private Networks to allow each office to communicate via the web in a completely secure environment. An SQL server was also installed and remote users connected enabling employees to work from home with maximum efficiently.

Tim Eyles, managing director at 2H Offshore said: “The globally shared network that Computer Strategies has installed for us ensures that at any moment in time, each of our offices around the world has access to the same information. Another key aspect of the new system has been the installation of locally secure backup facilities for each location, which is imperative for some of our offices where the power supply and networks can be less reliable.”

“As soon as the decision was made to update the whole of our global IT capabilities, Computer Strategies were the only company we could entrust with the task. Having worked with them previously on various smaller projects from our headquarters in Woking, we were very impressed with their knowledge and experience, which lead us to discuss our options to install and maintain systems that will ultimately prove time saving and user friendly for all of our employees around the world.” Added Tim.

For further information on how to update your IT operations, please contact Computer Strategies on 01483 238260 or visit www.computerstrategies.co.uk.

Investors in People – Going from strength to strength

Computer Strategies has been an Investor in People since 2005 and was successfully reviewed against the Standard on 8th November 2011. An extract from the assessor’s report is shown below:

“This was the assessor’s third visit to the company and the overriding impression is of an organisation that is evidently keen not to rest on its laurels but aspires to continually improve its practices, including those relating to the people side of the business. The Investors in People ethos is a cornerstone of the leadership and management culture. Although the company has grown, the directors have retained a personal touch and sustained their commitment to investing in their people and rewarding their efforts. Interviewees were proud to work for Computer Strategies and evidently committed to delivering a high quality service to clients. There was a wealth of good practice in evidence in relation to the Standard to support the assessor’s conclusion that the organization merits retaining its recognition as an Investor in People.

Much of the organisation’s practices in relation to the Standard are exemplary and this review highlighted a number of strengths. A particular strength is the approach to people management where the directors are open to ideas, take a genuine interest in their people and are generous with their time and support. They are evidently keen to ensure that people are given an equal opportunity to develop and meet their personal/career development aspirations as well as the needs of the business. “

Cormac Kerins – New member on IT support desk

I Studied IT for 4 years at the Institute of Technology in Dublin to gain my degree.

Directly after college I worked for Sage for 2 years starting off doing technical support and then software support. I left in November 2008 to travel throughout the United States and Australia. After this I moved to Australia and settled in Melbourne for a year, worked as a Network engineer and also did Helpdesk support.

I had a short stint at the National Library of Ireland supporting their IT before I started in August for Computer Strategies as an IT support specialist. I’ve only been here 3 months but I have learned a vast amount about different technologies and am still continuing to learn. What I love about the job is that it is never repetitive and there is no set menu, so to speak, on a day to day basis. We have a solid and experienced team which is a major benefit for someone like myself looking to gain as much experience and knowledge as possible.

I’m a massive fan of athletics and football and hoping to catch a few Manchester United games while I can.

Guy Howle – From Crocodiles to Computer Strategies

I’ve been living in Thailand the past 8 years, and had to leave in rather a hurry after unprecedented floods swept through my village there. Having been rescued by boat from my balcony, navigating through crocodile and snake infested waters, dodging local gangsters and warlords, I finally made it to Blighty!

During my time there I ran several businesses: a multimedia company, a touch screen advertising company and more recently set up an English school. I have a background in marketing and digital media and am now helping Tony and the team with their digital marketing. It’s great to be able to assist and give the company a bigger, better and more defined digital footprint. We’re aiming to establish a digital marketing plan for the New year which will channel the right messages to the right targets in the most cost effective manner.

Gadget Geek – Lost your iPhone?

If you are one of those people who seems to ‘misplace’ things from time to time, then you may be interested to hear about a free service from Apple for iPhone 4 and iPad owners.

The ‘Find my iPhone’ service will help find your missing Apple kit, either by browsing to www.me.com on a standard Internet browser or by using the ‘Find My iPhone’ app on another iPhone or iPad device.

Once detected, the location of the device will be shown on a map. Options then include displaying a message on the phone or playing a sound to help you find it (even if the phone is on silent). It is also possible to lock the phone or to wipe it, permanently deleting all data.

Sound useful? To try it out for yourself, navigate to ‘Settings’, ‘Mail, Contacts, Calendars’, ‘Add Account’, ’mobileme’ on the handset.

Find My iPhone was made free of charge with the iOS 4.2.1. You should bear in mind that the service only works when the device is in range of either a mobile network or a connected WI-FI receiver.

Guildford based IT support company, Computer Strategies, has been on a world tour spanning four continents in as many years, supporting global engineering contractor, 2H Offshore.

Having experienced considerable growth over the last four years, 2H Offshore, an independent engineering company working in the deepwater oil and gas industry, has set up a network of global offices in several key locations to support their ongoing exploration projects.

To enable this continuing growth, 2H Offshore turned to Computer Strategies to support their own in-house IT team in bringing their IT infrastructure up to speed, devising and implementing a top calibre network to facilitate the company’s increased workload and connect their offices around the world. For the team at Computer Strategies this meant a worldwide tour spanning 2H Offshore’s global network of offices in Aberdeen, Kuala Lumpa, Beijing, Perth and Rio de Janerio.

“The 2H Offshore project has been great to work on and it’s been a remarkable experience for our team installing this network in such a diverse range of surroundings. The new technology that we have installed for 2H Offshore will directly improve their day-to-day operations and facilitate their future expansion plans whilst dramatically improving their overall efficiency levels.” Said Michael Vaughan, global trouble-shooter at Computer Strategies.

Like many growing companies, 2H Offshore had found that their previous IT infrastructure was limiting operations. As part of the new system, Computer Strategies created site-to-site Virtual Private Networks to allow each office to communicate via the web in a completely secure environment. An SQL server was also installed and remote users connected enabling employees to work from home with maximum efficiently.

Tim Eyles, managing director at 2H Offshore said: “The globally shared network that Computer Strategies has installed for us ensures that at any moment in time, each of our offices around the world has access to the same information. Another key aspect of the new system has been the installation of locally secure backup facilities for each location, which is imperative for some of our offices where the power supply and networks can be less reliable.”

“As soon as the decision was made to update the whole of our global IT capabilities, Computer Strategies were the only company we could entrust with the task. Having worked with them previously on various smaller projects from our headquarters in Woking, we were very impressed with their knowledge and experience, which lead us to discuss our options to install and maintain systems that will ultimately prove time saving and user friendly for all of our employees around the world.” Added Tim.

For further information on how to update your IT operations, please contact Computer Strategies on 01483 238260 or visit www.computerstrategies.co.uk.

Our new website went live just over a week ago.

We have made the following major changes:

1) New design
2) Added a customer testimonial video
3) Incorporated Twitter links
4) Simplified portal search page

What do you think of our site?

Can you suggest anything you would like to see?

Until recently, all PC hard drives consisted of a spinning electromagnetic disk with a mechanical head that moves across the disk reading and writing data.When choosing your next PC, you now have the option to choose a ‘solid state drive’ based on flash memory. Unlike a conventional hard disk these have no moving parts and this brings significant benefits:

Speed
With solid state drives, data access times are much quicker and are not dependent upon the position and efficiency with which date has been written. Boot-up times are dramatically cut. With a mechanical drive, data becomes fragmented across the disk layers over time as information is written and deleted. This in turn lowers the computers performance. Disk defragmentation can be run on mechanical drives to resolve this but is time consuming and commonly overlooked. With Solid State disks all data is accessed equally fast so disk performance will never degrade.

Reliability
Conventional disks have an average life span of between 3 and 5 years depending on usage. Solid state drives haven’t been around long enough to fully compare but 5 to 10 years seems to be an accepted value. This is largely down to the absence of moving parts which also makes them less susceptible to bangs and knocks.

Power Consumption
Solid state drives use significantly less power which means they produce less heat. This also means less requirement for fans and hence less noise.

Cost versus Storage
Unlike mechanical drives, cost increases greatly with storage capacity for solid state drives. So, for a home PC, if a large disk capacity is required this may not be an appropriate option. For the workplace PC however or where storage requirements are modest choosing a solid state hard drive could be well worth considering.

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Adding an additional monitor could bring a number of advantages to your computing productivity.

Most of us work with two or more programs running at a time and are constantly having to flip back and forth between email, spreadsheets, database applications etc. Various studies have been carried out on the use of multiple monitors which have shown that productivity can increase from between 10 and 40% (depending upon usage) with accuracy rates also increasing significantly.

With the cost of monitors continuing to fall (while screen sizes increase) could this be the right time for you to consider a second monitor?

2 monitor ports are the only requirement for implementing this on a PC as Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 are all designed to support 2 monitors. For PC’s with only one monitor port an additional graphics card is required.

Laptop users can setup a dual screen in the office whilst still allowing the flexibility to disconnect the second monitor and use the laptop on its own when required.

In Outlook 2010 when you open an email message to reply or forward it, the original message stays open even after the email has been replied or forwarded. If you reply to multiple emails daily then this setting can get annoying.
To make sure that the email message is closed after it has been replied or forwarded, click the Office button and then choose Options.

In the Outlook Options dialogue box, go to the Mail section and locate the Replies and forwards category in the right side of the dialogue box. Here make sure to check the Close original message window when replying or forwarding option.

Hit OK to complete the configuration, no more annoying windows left open.

Each February Computer Strategies submit to Microsoft details of a number of projects we have undertaken during the year. This is to provide evidence of our competency to continue to be registered as a Microsoft Certified Partner. We also undertake that our staff are frequently trained and are highly qualified to install and support Microsoft software.

Our Certified Partnership with Microsoft provides us with backup technical support, assistance, training and access to new Microsoft software. We make certain we know exactly how everything works in-house before we supply anything to our customers.

Added to this we have a hot line into Microsoft technical contact centre providing us with the ultimate backup support. By working with a Certified Partner you can be assured that the partner is qualified to advise, install and support Microsoft products.

It is not easy to become a Microsoft Certified Partner but we will put in the effort to ensure our customers are given the best support and service available.