Use SaaS for Enterprise Resource Planning
SmartBiz.com (02/20/07) ; Lyons, Bill

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) can help small and midsize companies simplify their business procedures and lessen operational expenses by automating and incorporating supply chain procedures. Industry analyst research, however, shows that smaller businesses frequently fail to use everything that ERP offers. As such, they usually witness steeper overall cost of ownership, while not recognizing the business worth expected from their technological investment. There are several steps small and medium-size businesses can use to choose, install, and utilize an ERP solution. Choosing a Web-based ERP solution constructed on the Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery model is a good idea for those companies that want to circumvent the price and complexity of installing a company-wide system. The ERP application suite needs to fit the company; this can be done by obtaining an end-to-end suite of applications able to simplify and incorporate all of a company's procedures, and to conduct multi-site and multi-currency transactions. It is important to depend on the expertise of the technology partner, who should be able to work with the information technology team during every step of the ERP process. The company and the project team need to be educated about the ERP solution, and the technology infrastructure must be evaluated.
http://www.smartbiz.com/article/articleview/1967/1/42

The Lights Go Out Yet the Work Goes On
New York Times (02/20/07) ; Katz, Marty

Small businesses can have difficulty preventing data loss, due to limited resources, but new inexpensive, and even a few free, products can help a small business have the same data loss prevention systems as Fortune 500s. A redundant array of independent drives, or RAID, is system that spreads information over a series of multiple drives so that when one drive fails it can be replaced and data can be reconstructed to prevent loss. Until a year ago a RAID system could cost tens of thousands of dollars, but new four-drive models are available for around $699. Inexpensive powerline modems can be used to keep the secure backup device away from the business's data center to prevent both from being lost to physical damage. Uninterruptible power supplies, essentially batteries, are available for about $40 to prevent power failures from damaging data backup systems, and off-site storage can now be obtained through internet services for little or no fee.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/20/business/smallbusiness/20backup
.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Seven Ways to be Mistaken for a Spammer
SmallBizResource (02/13/07)

Businesses should be wary of having their emails labeled by electronic services used by the recipients. The spam feature provided on email services could prevent the company's marketing emails, newsletters, and customer contact information from reaching the recipient if the person clicks the spam button. Companies have helped prevent this scenario by stopping emails to those customers that have asked the businesses to do so. Ferris Research analyst Richi Jennings recommends that companies confirm that their unsubscribe links are functional as to not offend recipients. In addition, companies should refrain from passing the customer's email address to other businesses or marketing other services or products beyond the scope of their initial email exchanges. Companies can also help avoid being listed as spammers by keeping track of computing resources that store customer information.
http://www.smallbizresource.com/document.asp?doc_id=117254

Best of Breed Vs. Big Security: What's Best for SMBs?
SearchSMB.com (02/19/07) ; Rothman, Mike

Customers in the security technology field do not want to always purchase what are considered the "best of breed" applications, and in fact many companies act according to myriad motives. This is even more true today than 10 years ago because today the top ten firewalls, email protection systems, or any other specialty tool often offers the same basic level of service because technology has advanced and spread around so much. Small- and medium-sized companies especially shy from purchasing the top-notch and then integrating them because of both too high cost and too little IT staff. Some companies want integrated products, while others have control-orientated IT staff that want to integrate products themselves. Some companies purchase for very-specific security needs, while other IT buyers have allegiances to certain companies, and some for instance tend to buy what are considered "underdog" companies, or mostly where they have personal contacts.
http://searchsmb.techtarget.com/columnItem/0,294698,sid44_gci1244
212,00.html

CHANGE@WORK: It's Information Collaboration
Newsday (02/18/07) P. F07 ; Kitchen, Patricia

Gartner Inc. predicts that within two years, 50 percent of firms globally will be employing wikis. Companies are using them as worker-written, updateable, and searchable data sources that can include acronyms, sector terminology, case studies, and client data. Businesses are also utilizing them as human resources site, in certain cases replacing the corporate intranet offering information on policies, benefits, and new-worker orientation material. In addition, wikis are being used as social networking sites, where workers can find out about their co-workers through personal pages. Wikis are a subset of the comprehensive "mass collaboration" movement, which includes social networking and blogging, states technology strategist Don Tapscott, who also co-authored "Wikinomics, How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything." He notes they are part of a change from hierarchical to a more open management structure in which individuals are asked to "collaborate across old silos." Wikis obtain, organize, and make available to everybody in the department or company the information that may just exist with individuals or that gets voiced during casual conversations, Avenue A/Razorfish strategy consultant Amy Vickers.
http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzkit185097743feb18,0,6205034.
column?coll=ny-business-columnists

Storage and Backup Is Only Getting More Important
CPA Technology Advisor (02/16/07) ; Johnson, Randy

Corporate data storage sometimes can be an entangled mess, and the first order of business in solving data retention problems is creating a data retention policy, so a company first can divide the "wheat" data to be saved from the chaff. Corporate servers should use two or more hard drives for data retention and safety as the best policy to protect network data against harmless or catastrophic failure. This also enables a network to continue running if one hard drive has a problem. This Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) standard works well in almost all servers, except Dell services with Pertec controllers from 2004 through 2006. Companies looking to protect themselves in case of fire, theft, or other physical damage institute a tape-rotation policy. Depending on the monthly, weekly, or daily saving rotation used, this provides various levels of detail backup. Because tapes have 99.6 percent reliability, the best practice requires using two lines of taping backup. Some prefer offsite backup systems that are connected via the Internet to a primary network to store data elsewhere. Some companies use DVD, CD, Blu-Ray, or SAN technology as their backup hardware tools.
http://www.cpatechnologyadvisor.com/article/article.jsp?siteSecti
on=15&id=1475