Tag Archives: Carmi Levy

About 2029 days ago PCs, Laptops, and Notebooks

BlackBerry Applications for Business

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Suffice it to say, the BlackBerry has become an indispensable tool for millions of small and mid-size businesses, largely in part to its reliable push-mail solution that delivers messages to your phone as soon as they arrive in an inbox. But in order to maintain its competitive edge, the Waterloo, Ontario-based Research in Motion understands it needs to open up its doors to third-party applications to help businesses remain productive while on the go. “There has been phenomenal growth in applications available for the BlackBerry platform,” confirms Tyler Lessard, director of independent software vendor alliances at Research in Motion. “We are signing new partners every day and being approached constantly by people who are looking for ways to increase the mobile capabilities of their applications using the BlackBerry solution.” The following are a few recommended applications that can help you and your employees stay in touch, keep organized and remain competitive, wherever business takes you. Be sure to check with your cell carrier for availability and pricing. TeleNav Rather than purchase a separate GPS unit to help you navigate from point A to B without getting lost, or finding relevant location-based info, a GPS-enabled BlackBerry lets you have it all on one device. Small and mid-size businesses “especially benefit from services like TeleNav because they save on travel time and they reduce the need for road warriors to call in for guidance,” says Carmi Levy, senior vice president for strategic consulting at AR Communications, a Toronto-based marketing communications firm. “[Employees] work more independently, consuming less office time and spending more time in front of customers.” eOffice from DynoPlex eOffice lets you easily access and manage all your documents, wherever and whenever — all stored remotely on your office PC, through a password-protected virtual hard disk on the Internet. As if it were stored locally on the smartphone, you can now retrieve, review, edit, and save documents — such as Microsoft Word or Excel files. “Attachments are an increasingly frequent reality for anyone who sends and receives e-mail, and although the basic BlackBerry OS allows Office files to be viewed, the experience is severely limited,” says Levy. “DynoPlex’s eOffice is often good enough that users can leave their laptops at home and travel lighter on business trips.” SpinVox This voicemail-to-text service can save you time because there’s no need to dial in to pick up your voice mail. Instead, an accurate transcript of the voicemail message is text messaged to you automatically so you can simply read the message on your BlackBerry. After all, you might be in a meeting and unable to answer that important call from a client, your boss, or a member of your staff. Well, now you can discretely glance at a text message which has the content of the voicemail message on your phone. Nuance Voice Control from Nuance Communications Consider it an alternative to using your thumbs to type your way through all of your BlackBerry’s functions — such as making calls, drafting an e-mail or adding a calendar entry — as you can use the power of your voice to take command. Your spoken words are transcribed into text for, say, an e-mail message, or you can choose to send your voice clip as an e-mail attachment. “Voice-activated control and navigation can remove the last barrier to on-the-road productivity — the tiny keyboard — from potential objections to wider mobile deployment,” explains Levy. WebMessenger from Apptix This all-in-one instant messaging (IM) client supports a broad range of services, including AOL, MSN, Yahoo, Google Talk, ICQ, and Jabber. For small and mid-size businesses with mobile employees that need to routinely interact with the home office in real-time, “the presence awareness offered by an always-on IM client can be a compelling driver of productivity,” says Levy. “Road warriors can get answers to their questions more quickly, which allows them to spend more time servicing customers and less time waiting around.” Other BlackBerry applications to check out: “We find that organizations are interested in applications that access [small business] CRM and accounting packages such as Goldmine, ACT, and Quicken,” says RIM’s Lessard. Impatica Showmate allows mobile professionals to deliver PowerPoint presentations directly from their BlackBerry smartphone. MobiMate’s Worldmate Live and Handmark’s PocketExpress can greatly enhance personal productivity and efficiency while traveling with tools that include flight status updates, rental car information, and world weather. Virtual Reach’s Viigo is an RSS reader that can track, download, and display critical pieces of regularly updated content, such as news, stock values, and sports.

About 2152 days ago PCs, Laptops, and Notebooks

Mac vs. PC: A Renewed Debate

In 2006, Forester Research surveyed nearly a thousand IT decision makers at small-to-mid-sized businesses in North America and Europe, and asked what operating system was employed at the company. The results were as follows: Linux — 1 percent Mac OS X — 1 percent Windows XP — 71 percent Windows 2000 — 20 percent Windows “other” (primarily Windows 95, 98 and ME) — 7 percent. “This data is not surprising,” says Ben Gray, an analyst at Forrester. “These businesses see no major drivers to get off the Microsoft roadmap.” But there are signs that the landscape has changed over the past year. Windows Vista launched at the start of the year, touted as the most secure and feature-rich operating system Microsoft has ever released, but criticized by some because of cost, usability, and hardware requirements. And then there’s the upcoming Mac OS X Leopard, which is set to launch in October with more than 300 “innovations,” as Apple puts it. And, now, there are even Intel-based Macs that can also run Windows. “It’s interesting to see how these numbers will hold up a year later and we’ll be getting this data soon,” answers Gray. Still, he’d be surprised “if we saw a jump in Mac or Linux more than 1 percent.” And so we thought it a good time to chat with experts to see which operating system is best for you and your growing business. The cost equation On average, Windows-based machines cost less than Macs, but the gap is narrowing, says Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director at Jupiter Research, a New York City-based technology advisory firm. “You’re not paying that much of a premium anymore, and pound-for-pound, the Apple hardware can offer better value,” says Gartenberg. “Obviously there are pros and cons for each choice, and your decision will also come down to what kind of business you’re running, if you need laptops or desktops, and what software you want to run on the machines.” While Windows machines are cheaper, it might cost your employees more time when it comes to configuration and support, says Carmi Levy, senior vice president of strategic consulting at AR Communications, a Toronto-based consulting firm. “One must factor in the costs associated with managing your PCs,” says Levy. “Mac machines are, on average, more reliable and stable, which means less problems and fewer calls to the help desk, which has long-term cost implications.” Vulnerability to viruses Compared to Windows-based machines, it’s no secret Macs are less vulnerable to viruses, malware, and other security and privacy threats — largely because they are less often targeted. “Part of this reason is because Macs are not as popular as Windows, therefore rogue writers of malicious software will more often target the most-used operating systems,” Levy says. But some users say that Macs are also more architecturally resistant to attacks. With the introduction of Windows Vista, Microsoft has added extra security measures to prevent users from falling victim to malware and other security threats. Does this new operating system change the game? “To a certain extent, yes, Windows Vista is less resistant to incursion than previous versions. It represents an improvement. But it’s still not everything Microsoft has laid it out to be as there have been attacks since it launched,” adds Levy. “Close, but no cigar.” Software selection There are far more third-party software programs available for Windows, likely because it’s the world’s dominant operating system, than for Mac operating systems. “If you buy a Mac you’ll have less choice. Period,” says Levy. “Instead of 10 choices [on a piece of software] you may only have one or two, which will likely result in higher costs because there’s less competition among developers and if you don’t like dealing with this company, they may be the only game in town,” he adds. Gartenberg, however, believes there is “more than enough Mac software these days” and quickly points out Mac users can run the Windows operating system now anyway, providing they have an Intel-based Mac and a program such as BootCamp or Parallels. “Now you can have best of both worlds,” Gartenberg says. “There is no longer a penalty for using a Mac today.” Other considerations While Levy says employees might save time with Macs because of less calls to call centers, he believes Windows, on the other hand, might be more familiar and intuitive than the Mac platform. “The majority of staff members already use Windows at home, so keep in mind there might be a significant training challenge on Macs — plus it might be more difficult to find IT staff that can support the Mac environment because there are fewer of them,” Levy points out. Gartenberg acknowledges that there are a few benefits to Microsoft’s platform. “You will find more selection with Windows-based PCs, such as those manufactured by Sony, Lenovo, HP, and Dell,” he says. “You will have more choice in laptop sizes and weight compared to the Mac,” he says, as Apple’s lightest notebook is about five pounds, compared to some Windows compatible machines that are now hovering right under three pounds. “And there are no Tablet PCs on the Mac, a form factor that is important so some businesses,” Gartenberg says.

About 2152 days ago Data Security

Securing Your Business Laptops (And the Data Inside)

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Small and mid-sized businesses are increasingly mobile, with up to 38 percent of the company out of the office at any one time, according to The Yankee Group. With mobility comes the need for protecting company laptops from being lost or stolen when in airports, hotels, restaurants, and even when left in the back of a cab. And that’s not all. The unfortunate reality is losing the computer itself may be the least of your firm’s worries if there is valuable company data that resides on that portable computer. “Because your critical data is walking out the corporate door every day, employees need to know how to protect that data,” says Carmi Levy, senior vice president of strategic consulting at AR Communications, a Toronto-based consulting firm. “The difference between a laptop in the field and a desktop in the office is the latter has more security around it, such as locked doors, card access, and a receptionist who allows the right people in and [keeps] wrong people out,” adds Levy. “In the field, there’s no physical barrier around a laptop, so leaving it alone in an unprotected areas is an invitation to thieves.” It’s hard for authorities to get a handle on the magnitude of the problem with laptop theft in the business world, primarily because businesses sometimes don’t want to admit that it’s such a big problem. The 2005 Computer Security Institute/ FBI study of computer crime found that $4 million in laptops were stolen that year, but $31 in theft of proprietary information occurred at the same time. However, a private firm, Safeware Insurance, which sells insurance protection against computer theft and other damage, reports that more than 600,000 laptop thefts occurred in 2004, totaling an estimated $720 million in hardware losses and $5.4 billion in theft of proprietary information. Last year, a study by the Ponemon Institute, an IT think-tank, reported that 81 percent of companies reported a loss of at least one laptop during the previous year. The good news is there is no shortage of hardware and software solutions — and a bit of common sense — that can greatly reduce the chances of being separated from your laptop and the potentially sensitive corporate information embedded on it. The following are a few laptop theft prevention tools to consider: Lock it If you must be away from your laptop for a couple of minutes, such as going to the bathroom while in an airport lounge, physically secure your PC with a cable and lock solution. “Locks are the best insurance against notebook theft — they provide security against opportunistic theft, the most common threat,” says Roma Majumder, senior global product manager for security at Kensington, a manufacturer of notebook locks. Kensington’s products include the $40 MicroSaver Notebook Lock, which features a retractable aircraft-grade steel cable and keyless four-wheel combination lock. Levy cautions users, however, a hardware lock should only be considered a deterrent: “If thieves are determined enough they can get your laptop, but you want to make it as hard for them as possible.” Encrypt it While third-party options are available, many mobile executives are using Windows Vista’s built-in BitLocker encryption technology that can protect the data on the laptop, should it fall into the wrong hands. Available in Windows Vista Enterprise and Windows Vista Ultimate, this data-protection tool encrypts the entire Windows operating system volume on the hard disk (including user files and system files) so that the data is inaccessible unless the user provides the right password or biometrics ID. “Any mobile machine must have some sort of full-drive encryption,” says Levy. “A thief may walk away with a $2,000-machine, but nothing else.” Scan it Many laptops now offer a fingerprint reader, so you — and only you — can access your important files and folders. Usually this finger scanner is located near the keyboard or just underneath the laptop’s screen. Many PC manufacturers are offering laptops with biometric security, such as HP, Lenovo, and Sony. Some companies encourage employees to use both a password and biometrics solution. A few third-party fingerprint scanners exist, such a USB-based model from Microsoft, but the Redmond, Wash.-based company suggests this accessory be used for convenience, such as not having to remember many passwords on your favorite websites, rather than to secure your company’s data. Secure it “Another risk,” maintains Levy, “is when the data leaves the machine, such as when you’re using e-mail on your laptop.” Specifically, users should log into the company’s secured network to send messages or files rather than relying on free Web-based e-mail programs. Another issue is fake Wi-Fi networks, set up by thieves in an effort to steal personal, financial, or corporate data. “Most of us think nothing of finding a free service at an airport or hotel, but we may not realize these could be rogue connections set up by criminals to steal our data — it doesn’t take much,” Levy says. That’s why it’s important to use only trusted Wi-Fi networks, such as the hotel’s secured connection.