techSOAP

Outlook and Google Apps Make Sweet Love!

Ok, so the most common complaint I’ve heard from people who haven’t enjoyed their switch to Google Apps, has been the loss of the rich experience that using Outlook with Exchange brings a user. 

Welcome the Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook!  This will allow Google Apps Premier and Education customers to have full featured syncing with Outlook’s Mail, Calendars, Contacts and Google’s GMail, Contacts, and Google Calendar.  Here some highlights from the Google Enterprise Blog:

Key features include:

• Email, calendar, and contacts synchronization. For email, the plug-in uses the offline Gmail protocol, which is much faster than IMAP or other methods.

• Free/Busy lookup and Global Address List functionality, which makes it easy to schedule meetings with your colleagues, regardless of whether they use Outlook's calendar or Google Calendar.

• A simple, two-click data migration tool which allows employees to easily copy existing data from Exchange or Outlook into Google Apps.

Watch it work in this 3 minute video:

 

This represents a major improvement and a compelling reason for companies to ditch their Exchange server.  Heck it even makes the data migration into Google Apps super simple!

 

Technorati Tags: google apps,google,smb,IT,business,gmail,google docs,outlook,exchange,microsoft,technology,SaaS

Apple just ruined the release of Windows 7.

So today the technology world held its breath for the announcements coming from Apple at their WWDC conference.  Most rational rumor mills were proven right:

• Cheaper iPhone
• New iPhone hardware
• New iPhone 3.0 software
• Lots of info on Snow Leopard
• various laptop lineup juggling

I think the most startling in that list is how Snow Leopard will be released.  They said, September for $29!  $29 for an operating system upgrade?  That’s FANTASTIC!   Whereas Microsoft has announced that Windows 7 will be released October 22 with no clear bottom line upgrade price, or source, or reason to upgrade from Microsoft.

There is one specific feature of SnowLeopard that will help it with it’s business costumers.  EXCHANGE Support native in Mail, iCal, AddressBook!  That’s right, for the last year we’ve had better Microsoft Exchange integration for iPhone users than for Mac users.  In September, redemption comes to those who’ve suffered through Entourage. 

Nevertheless, Microsoft’s style and marketing only looks more and more cloudy as Apple continues to deliver simple to understand, easy to reach innovative technology with clear messaging.

• How clear is your message about your product and its roadmap?
• How are being strategic with the roadmap as it relates to your direct competition?

Technorati Tags: apple,iphone,snow leopard,windows,windows 7,release,smb,it,exchange,microsoft,entourage,outlook,switchers

How to get your LOCAL business listed on Google….

There are lots of possibilities for businesses to get listed higher up on Google, but for local businesses it’s never quite been worth the expense unless you could find the SEO shop that really, REALLY, knew their stuff.

Enter Google Local Business Center.  Its a free service that let’s you create a local business listing complete with description of your business, catalogs, menus, pictures, and videos if you choose.  It’ll make sure your business pops up on Google Maps as well as more accurately in searches.

You can even create coupons that’ll appear if someone clicks on your listing either from Google Maps or via a Google search.

Seems like a great solution for the local businesses that would love to have a way to appear more often in front of their neighborhood customers.

Technorati Tags: smb,google,search,SEO,maps,business,google apps

Google's Enterprise Strategy - Yes they seem to have one!

For the longest time, since Google Apps was released in fact, the question on my mind has been "What is Google's Real-World Business Strategy?"  Well with one of their latest announcements it's seems they may have one.   With Thursday's announcement of Google Apps Directory Sync they offer a nice bridge to the world of enterprise system administration.  LDAP integration is a feature that will certainly help streamline user account management control, as well as help make one security model a reality.  It's only one way though, so don't worry about Google screwing up your directory with updates from their side.  Interestingly, this update comes via Postini and their directory sync tool. 

So what is keeping you from embracing SaaS, or the cloud, or Google Apps?   So here's what available via Google Apps in real-world business operations:

• Email = Gmail
• Word Processing/spreadsheets = Google Docs (still needs some work)
• Collaborative Calendar = Google Calendar
• Unified Messaging (IM and voice)  = Google Talk
• Intranet = Google Sites
• LDAP Directory Services = Google Apps Directory Sync

UPDATE: Add to this list Google Apps Connector for Blackberry Enterprise Server coming in July! A simple plugin installed on your Blackberry Enterprise Server will allow for full integration between your native BB apps and Gmail, Google Calendar, and contacts!  It even includes access to your Global Address List.

This list is shaping up rather nicely I think. What about you?

Technorati Tags: SaaS,cloud,google,google apps,ldap,enterprise,it,smb

Let virtualization change you!

More than ever companies are looking for ways to improve.  If you're not they you are doing your clients or your company a disservice.  I challenge you on this, let virtualization change you.  I remember being a jr sys admin and having to try and restore our Exchange 5 server by myself with my boss out of town.  I was scared out of my mind.  It took me all weekend but I figured it out, waited for the tapes to catalog, then restore, then replay the database.

That all seems so foreign to me know.  Virtualization has changed the life of an IT consultant/manager.  Don't get me wrong you can still screw up big time, but recovery (in a well managed environment) has become something that should breed confidence in a job well-done.   The flexibility afforded to IT folks by virtual machines means the hardware and services offered to your users are moving farther apart.  "The server is down." excuse doesn't fly in a virtualized enterprise.  If the "Server is down" then you drag and drop to get it up again. Every key area that used to be filled with excuses when things went wrong has been improved in a virtualized environment:

• backups
• disaster recovery
• number of servers needed
• cost
• adminstration
• uptime
• performance

Nothing replaces the good IT consultant/manager.  There isn't one thing that can make a bad IT consultant/manager good either.  Virtualization either makes the good ones look even better or helps the bad ones continue to look bad.

 

Technorati Tags: technology,virtualization,vmware,hyper-v,IT,management,CIO,change

Guest blogging over at Kaseya's blog...

Hey everybody, sorry it's been so long since my last post.  I have been doing lots of  writing some under my name some for others, but I wanted to send you over to Kaseya's blog, where I will be contributing on a regular basis.

Click Here to read my post.

 

Technorati Tags: ITSP,IT automation,ITIL,MSP,customer service,SMB,IT,blogs,kaseya

What are the Top 5 Questions about SaaS?

As I am getting closer now to having our app ready for deployment, we are going through the major objections or problems we see coming from customers when talking about SaaS and how that affects the way they use software to run their business.  Read them below and then let me know what you think...

Here are the Top 5 Objections to SaaS that we've come up with:

1.  How secure is my data?

2.  Will there be any servers onsite?

3.  What happens if my Internet connection goes down?

4.  How secure is my data again?

5. Who do we call if things stop working?

 

Technorati Tags: SaaS,business,technology,web 2.0

Have you built a virtual bridge from the IT to the business?

Okay, so many of you have built or are building out your virtualized infrastructure.  You may have sacrificed your desktop refresh budget to pay for your SAN and VM licensing, but have your looked at the numbers of your business outside of the IT department?

Do you know any of the key finance numbers for the business?  If you are an IT Director or consultant, ask the owner/ceo what numbers he's watching; which are the most important?  What else is happening within that business due to the current economic climate?  Some companies are treating this time as an opportunity for growth and market share acquisition.  Some are just hoping to survive. 

If you know the key metrics why not try and leverage your IT budget to reduce costs for the business?  Don't wait for the owner/CEO to cut your budget, find ways to tell him how you can save money. 

One of the best ways may be leveraging managed services and IT Automation.  Kaseya is a great tool to reduce administration costs, employee headcount, and too INCREASE service levels to your user base. There are others in this space, like Zenith InfoTech, but via some inside information I think Kaseya can fit either the MSP or the IT Department itself better than Zenith.

 

Technorati Tags: IT,MSP,business,virtual,automation,budget

Joys of a startup...

With my new role I have been thrust, albeit willingly, into a role that is part tester, part project lead, part software designer, part technology consultant, part IT guy.....if you have ever worked for a small startup you know what I mean. 

One of the best things about working for a startup is that we all wear many different hats; titles don't mean a ton internally, and there never seems to be enough hands for all the work that needs to be done.

I must say it's very exciting and challenging.  Any startup veterans out there with some pearls of wisdom?  I am all ears.

 

Footnote:

Politics is politics no matter the size of the organization, the difference for a small company is that it's harder to escape the people that you have to politic with. 

 

Technorati Tags: web 2.0,business,startups,SaaS

Starting a new adventure with SaaS....

We interrupt our regularly scheduled SMB IT article for this important announcement:

As of November 1st, I will be working with Golden Eye Dealership Solutions.  GoldenEye is a SaaS company who's product is a Dealer Management System.   It's an exciting opportunity where I will be responsible for everything from Pre-sales through Customer Engagement and delivery.  It's a GREAT product, that is now ready to help auto dealers everywhere break the bonds of the dominant DMS players with amazing features and functionality at an incredible value. 

I have loved working for myself at the TECHgrove, and will continue to do that at a very specific level which will include exclusive hand picked consulting engagements, executive technology coaching, and IT ghost writing/blogging.  Please feel free to contact me for any of those needs.

Here at techSOAP.net I will still focus on SMB IT with a little spillover into SaaS and the infrastructure that goes into delivering a world class SaaS product, but rest assured my goal will be for you to be delighted with the content.

Here are some other places to follow me, including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn...check the sidebar for even more.

 

Technorati Tags: SMB,IT,SaaS,DMS,consulting,coaching,technology,blogs,business