Tabush Group's Cloud & Managed IT Blog

CIO Magazine’s Jennifer Schiff recently interviewed IT executives to find out what questions customers should ask before hiring an IT consultant. Their answers are insightful and ones that you should be able to address.

According to Tabush Group's owner, Morris Tabush, customers should ensure a prospective IT consultant has experience providing services to their type and size of business. Morris explained, "An IT consultant who typically works with Fortune 500 companies will have a difficult time serving the needs of an SMB (small-to-medium sized business)—and a consultant who has been in the finance industry his entire career may not have the experience needed for, say, a manufacturing shop." Morris has been a successful New York IT consultant for many years, so his words of wisdom are definitely worth considering.

When it comes to productivity suites, Microsoft Office has won the title for the undisputed champion of the world. Many organizations and professionals use all of the programs in the MS Office Suite on a daily basis, which makes Office incredibly popular.

Additionally, Microsoft Office 2013 training is widely available, so becoming an expert with its use can be accomplished within a couple weeks. However, while there are a lot of advantages to MS Office 2013, there are also some disadvantages as well.

If you’re trying to decide whether or not you should upgrade to MS Office 2013, it’s important to be aware of the benefits and advantages that come from using Microsoft’s newest productivity suite.

When a natural or man-made disaster occurs, it’s a troublesome experience; but it can be a beneficial lesson learned when planning for the next crisis. When you consider events like the 2011 Japanese tsunami, it’s no wonder effective offsite back ups and business continuity solutions are such an important topic today.

A report entitled Beyond the First 48 Hours published by PricewaterhouseCoopers in January 2013, recommended that corporations think past a crisis:

“Businesses, including small ones, must implement long-range plans for reestablishing operations and preserving their company’s brand. They must have effective Business Continuity Solutions in place that include Offsite Back Up and Disaster Recovery Plans to safeguard business data via offsite storage.”

On April 8^th, 2014, Microsoft will officially end all support, security fixes, vulnerability patches and software updates for Windows XP. Any PC running on the operating system after April 2014 will be subject to hacking, cyber-attacks, data and identity theft, and network intrusion; both via individual machines and across internal networks.

It’s important for small-to-mid sized businesses to plan in advance, with the end of XP near.

In my 15+ years in IT consulting and managed services, I've seen people make a lot of mistakes. So I’m listing some of these in the hopes that you won’t make them yourself:

Across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), including the majority of Mississauga, intense rain knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of residents. The rain also managed to flood some roads and major highways badly enough that drivers were forced to abandon their vehicles.

Allowing employees to bring their own device and use it at work is very popular due to the benefits of increased productivity and cost effectiveness. With BYOD , employees provide their own technology, which means their more likely to work on their own time. 

If you own or run a business this may sound like a winning proposition; although there are risks with BYOD when an employee is fired or let go. You must inspect their iPhone or laptop to ensure it doesn’t contain company information and this may not always be possible.

Before now, Apple has focused primarily on the consumer market. However this never stopped enterprise and business customers from using their products. Now for the first time, Apple is releasing Apple iOS 7 with its new software features designed for business users.

Functionality is extremely important for business users today, and Apple has addressed this need with iOS7. Apple recognizes the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend, and has tailored their products towards current business needs.