Why is it profitable to use Private Cloud Hosting & Managed Cloud Services?

This post was updated to reflect current trends and information

In the current modern times, the success of any business (small, medium or large) is directly related to the capabilities of its IT infrastructure.

The need for information technology is always growing within any business. This need often overloads the physical IT infrastructure of any company, and the IT team becomes very stretched. Using Private Cloud Hosting provider, instead of on-premises physical infrastructure, gives a business several significant advantages. Following are some of the major advantages:

1 – Private Cloud: Reduced starting costs

The costs of the purchase of equipment, its installation and continuous support not only greatly affect the budget of any enterprise, but often becomes a showstopper in the development of IT infrastructure, and therefore the development of the whole company. Outsourcing to a private cloud hosting provider, companies will have the ability to host their software solutions in the Cloud, saving them on expensive hardware costs, and most important, the recurring management and continuous upgrade, support and starting cost.

2 – Increase in flexibility and speed of implementation of IT solutions

Adopting a Private Cloud and Managed Cloud Service provider, companies can quickly adapt their IT infrastructure to their current needs to fit their own business.

This will add flexibility and efficiency to a company’s IT solutions, and save a lot of money, since it will no longer need to reserve unnecessary equipment and human resources not needed.

The flexibility of a Private Cloud will allow a company to rapidly adjust it to its more important projects, and not abandon them, because of the cost of purchase of new equipment or the labor cost for implementation, add to it the long-term maintenance. Accelerating the implementation of new IT solutions increases the efficiency of any business.

3 – Purchase and support of equipment – this is no more a company’s headache

Using a private cloud infrastructure, a company will save a tremendous amount on hiring the highly qualified and expensive employees who were previously engaged in the purchase of equipment, its continuous support, and ensuring network accessibility. Now companies will be able to concentrate on more important strategic tasks.

By delegating responsibility for the operability of IT equipment to a Managed Cloud Provider, companies get the opportunity to concentrate on their core business and increase their effectiveness.

Managed Cloud Provider

Namtek Consulting Services is the right choice if a company is looking for reliability, security, competitiveness and a personalized approach. Our long-term proven expertise in the market of IT systems and infrastructure, allows us to implement almost any cloud infrastructure project. Our platform is a virtualized platform running on sophisticated SANs and hypervisors. We use brand new state-of-the-art equipment and hardware and host it in a couple of Tier II secured data centers in Montreal (Canada).

Want to try launching your first cloud project? Contact us and our technical consultants will assist you in recommending the best cost-effective options for your business.

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Business Continuity: How to Avoid Downtime and Data Loss

Business Continuity: How to Avoid Downtime and Data Loss

How can businesses restore their backup data without incurring downtime and loss? Let’s quickly go over a brief description of a Business Continuity.

What is Business Continuity?

A Business Continuity solution is the combination of the latest backup technology and advanced processes to will ensure the business continues as usual in case a disaster strikes. It comprises of a BDR hardware device, could be a really small depending on what’s needed. It can extract and backup complete computer systems, both on a virtual and a physical machine, and can store it on both on the equipment itself and in cloud storage.

The company will benefit from double security. If something happened to the real hardware device, the data could be quickly restored from the cloud.

The goal of business continuity is to reduce downtime and reduce recovery time so that business processes do not interrupt or stop.

The top causes of downtime

Let’s look at some common causes of downtime and the costs associated with this business interruption:

  1. Human error – accidental deletion/change to data continues to be a key driver for data loss, impacting productivity specially if workers must spend time repeating previous work.
  2. Ransomware attacks, malware, data corruption – data can be lost or damaged due to malicious cyber-attacks, or through hardware/software faults.
  3. Hardware failure – despite improving hardware reliability, laptops still last on average just 3 years, making data loss due to sudden hardware failure a reality.
  4. Hardware theft or loss – as the workforce becomes more mobile, it is more likely devices such as laptops are lost or stolen.
  5. Environmental events – we hear more and more about natural disasters and the impact they have on businesses. Whether it is fire, water damage, or a tornado, you need to put safeguards in place to protect clients’ business data.

It’s important to put your business’ security first, even if you think the chances of a disaster striking your company are unlikely, you never know what can happen. Eliminate data loss and downtime costs with a Business Continuity solution like QBR and get that peace of mind you always wanted.

Having a simple, secure, automated way to protect and recover business data can reduce the risk of data loss.

How to choose a Business Continuity Solution

Finding the right Business Continuity solution for your company isn’t always easy. However, if done correctly, your critical company data will be secure 24/7 and easily restorable in case of a disaster. Even if unexpected disasters, such as fires, floods, or simply equipment failures, are unlikely, your business should always be prepared for them.

Here are 5 key points to look for when selecting a Business Continuity solution:

1.      It should backup and restore files easily, with a simple and quick implementation process and a flexible upgrade policy.

2.      The solution should provide multiple recovery points, in order to go back in time and have the option to restore from any given backup. On top of this, these recovery points should be compressed and stored on its own hardware storage device.

3.      It should be able to export the backups as HyperV or Vmware files for deployment on any virtual environment.

4.      It should offer a quick and efficient “bare metal” restore; which is the process of restoring a complete “virtual machine” sitting on the local device into a physical machine.

5.      It should be a hybrid solution, that is based on virtualization, both on the local device and in the “cloud” (hybrid solution); this entails a backup done of a whole physical or virtual machine into one file and sent to the “cloud” after compression and encryption.

When selecting your Business Continuity solution, it’s also important to look at the specifications of the technology as well as the vendor. When you find a business continuity solution that has all of these key points and specifications, like the QBR solution, your business will be able to meet or exceed your Recovery Time Objective (RTO).

Do not risk your business! Choose the safest and right insurance to back up and restore your data with QBR.

Contact us today!

Total Data Protection Business Continuity Services

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ERP System to Support Continued Growth of Your Business

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How to choose the best user training method after ERP, CRM or ECM implementation

“If you think education is expensive — try ignorance”. — Derek Bok, president of Harvard University.

User training is one of the puzzle’s pieces which allows you to create a complete picture of a successful implementation project. Attention should be paid to end-user training in the case of implementing such IT systems as ECM (Enterprise Content Management), which will be used by many employees.

user training fter a new ERP, CRM or ECM implementationNo less important is the training of ERP and CRM users, because they are aimed at solving complex business problems. Whether an implemented IT system or business application becomes a productive and useful tool for a company, directly depends on the well-organized training for end users.

In this article, we will look at end-user training in terms of process organization.

We will examine a different kind of ways to organize end-user training on implementation projects, limitations, advantages, and disadvantages of each approach, as well as our experience in applying some of these methods on IT implementation projects.

These days, the most popular methods of organizing end-user training are:

  • small group training in a computer lab;
  • face-to-face workshops;
  • webinar seminars;
  • training videos integrated into the system;
  • e-Learning.

Let’s review each method for various parameters: the number of users, the effectiveness of training, training schedule, complexity and cost.

Small groups user training in the computer class

Small groups user training in the computer classThis training method is optimal for organizations where the number of users working constantly with the new system is limited to several tens. The method is most effective in terms of the quality of education. Computer room user training is also recommended if the majority of employees do not have practical experience in using the automation systems. In this case, it is recommended to conduct full-time training with practical exercises. Based on our experience, such a format is most often used to educate a workgroup first.

Advantages

Disadvantages
· Possibility to present material in greater volume or with more detail

· A more guaranteed result from training

· Animated dialogue with the teacher, possibility to ask questions

· Opportunity to get practical skills

 · A limited number of users at once

· The high cost of training per participant

· The duration of training due to the combination of theory and practice

 

Full-time seminars for users

end-user trainingThis method is optimal for organizations with 100-200 users (it could be in case of ECM implementation). This training method is less effective than the previous one, but at the same time, it retains the ability to ask questions and get answers to them in real time. It is recommended to make a video recording of the training seminar, so in the future, end-users can refer to it and refresh their knowledge.

From our personal experience of using face-to-face seminars, we can recommend combining such training with detailed user instructions (both for the business process and for distribution by roles). It is also necessary to provide resources for the organization of the first line of user support at the stage of pilot production.

Advantages

Disadvantages
· Ability to reach a significant number of users

· Low cost of training per user

· Short term training

· The possibility of dialogue with the teacher, the opportunity to ask questions, clarify

 · The material is presented in theoretical form, there is no possibility of practical use of the system (it is impossible to “touch” during the training session)

· Training material is limited, most often gives a general idea of the work in the system.

Webinar user-training workshops

end user training webinar, internet educationWebinar end-users training is optimal for companies where the number of users is several hundred and more and/or employees are geographically detached.

From our experience of conducting webinars, I would like to draw attention to the following points: webinars are devoid of “eye contact,” the teacher is hard to get feedback from the audience in real time. However, if users are employees who already have experience in automation systems, such a format is quite viable.

Advantages

Disadvantages
· Capacity to reach a significant number of users

· The ability to train users without leaving the workplace (for example, employees of company branches in different cities)

· Low cost of training per user

 · The material is presented in theoretical form, there is no possibility to practice during the webinar

· Training is limited, often gives general information of the work in the system.

· The risk of technical problems

Training videos embedded in the IT system

Training videos demonstrate the standard functionality of the systemThis method also has no restrictions on the number of end-user and the time of training. Training videos demonstrate the standard functionality of the system, without taking into account any additional modifications for a specific customer. Therefore, it can be recommended to those companies whose business processes fit into the standard functionality of the system or have been adapted to the system.

Watching videos does not replace full-training and is recommended as an addition to other formats of user training.

Advantages

Disadvantages
· No need to specifically organize end-user training.  Any user can refer to the training material at any time.

· No additional financial investments

 · Videos provide the ability to view a demonstration of the functional, but there is no way to perform any practical tasks. (Is not recommended to train in the “live” system)

· They describe the standard functionality, do not take into account the customizing system for a specific customer.

Online Learning Tools (e-Learning)

Users can independently allocate time to complete these courses, and then refer to them if necessary when performing their daily dutiesThe use of online learning tools (for example, based on SAP Enable Now, Oracle Learning, DoceboLMS, etc.) is recommended for large organizations with a large number of users working in the system, including employees who working from home-office. Users can independently allocate time to complete these courses, and then refer to them if necessary when performing their daily duties.

In terms of efficiency, the method is comparable to training in a computer class, because a user can test his knowledge’s in a practical task.

Advantages

Disadvantages
· No need to specifically organize training, users at any time can refer to the training material.

· No need a large number of employees to provide first-line user support

· The opportunity to get theoretical knowledge and still see a demonstration of certain actions in the system and reproduce them in a practical unit.

 · The high cost of distance learning tools.

· There is no possibility for live-dialogue with the teacher, for asking questions

 

If you want to learn more about user training, please read other materials:

We, as a Software Provider, truly understand how important it is to organize user training for employees. It is necessary to pay attention to users’ needs, and not only to the system being implemented. Investment in employee training will allow enterprises to quickly get the benefits that the new IT system provides.

 

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Business Continuity Services for Complete Data Protection

When software experts mention the words “business disaster” or “disaster recovery”, many top business people think about natural, or weather, events, such as floods, hurricanes, fires, ice storms, earthquakes, tsunamis, wind storms, etc. These disasters can of course occur at a company and can have devastating repercussions, such as prolonged downtime, property damage, injuries and more. The likelihood, however, of such weather events are much less likely than technological and man-made events.

Technological and man-made disasters, including hardware failures, software malfunctions, user errors, security breaches, etc., can also have devastating effects on a business’ operations, causing downtime, data loss, lost productivity, lost revenue, delayed sales, increased expenses and more. One hour of downtime can cost companies anywhere between tens of thousands of dollars for small businesses to hundreds of thousands of dollars for large organizations!

It’s critical to know your Recovery Time Objective (RTO), which is your company’s maximum allowable downtime. How long can you go down and survive? If your RTO is seconds or minutes, then you better make sure you have a business continuity solution with off-site data storage.

Business Continuity ServicesMany businesses, without a proper business continuity and disaster recovery plan and solution, don’t recover from some disasters. So, before you think to yourself, “well we have beautiful weather here or we hardly ever get power outages, why should I pay for a Business Continuity Service?” – remember that your company is much more likely of falling victim to a ransomware attack, having an employee accidentally delete an important file or dealing with a malfunctioning server. No matter what sudden disastrous event occurs, you want to be protected. Ask yourself, is my company’s data worth risking? You may have gone the last 10 years disaster-free but can you truly guarantee that the next 10 years will also be free of crisis?

Business Continuity services for complete data protection

In our blog Business Continuity: A Much-Needed Insurance Policy For Your Data we mentioned the term “data insurance”. This is how our customers view their Business Continuity solution and service. They see it as an insurance policy in place to protect their company’s most important asset – their data! Companies are more and more willing to pay a monthly Business Continuity service fee to ensure that their data is 100% protected as well as easily and quickly recoverable. It’s useless to simply backup your data only to realize after a disaster struck that it takes DAYS to recover it all! Now that companies are using full management systems rather than keeping important information on paper, they realize the need for such a backup solution.

Don’t be Victim of Ransomware

QBR (Quick Backup Recovery) is a hybrid business continuity and recovery solutionWe all keep hearing about Ransomware. This type of security breach is currently a big problem for businesses, even individuals, all over the world. The likelihood of a company experiencing a ransomware attack is very high. This virus not only encrypts a company’s data but also demands payment for it to be unlocked. The governments discouraged victims from paying hackers since paying the ransom does not guarantee the release of their files.

There are many ways a company can fall victim to such a cyber attack. The most common are when computer users click on a bad link or download an encrypted email attachment. Other scams include phishing, baiting, quid pro quo, pretexting and tailgating.

Be prepared for any business disaster with Business Continuity

QBR NamtekQBR (Quick Backup Recovery) is a hybrid business continuity and recovery solution. It has the capability to store data both on premises and in the cloud. No human intervention is needed during backup. Virtual Machine snapshots are scheduled from the start at which point QBR can take snapshots at intermittent times throughout the day of the office servers and workstations to be stored on the QBR device as well as pushed off-site in the cloud. This off-site capability ensures optimal safety in case the QBR device gets damaged from a fire, flood, or other means on-site. During the restoration process, there are several options available to the business;

  1. File Restore: If the company needs to recover a specific file(s) from a specific VM taken at a specific time of the day
  2. Bare Metal Restore: If a company needs to restore a complete VM from the local device into a physical machine
  3. Export VM: If a company needs to restore the backup from the QBR device to HyperV or VMware format, so it can be deployed on a virtual environment.

With all of these options, a company’s data can be accessed almost immediately during a disaster. The whole point of a Business Continuity solution is to ensure a business remains operational, without any data loss, during a disaster.

Keep your business data safe from hackers and other disasters

It’s important to understand why total data protection is essential in today’s business world. Businesses are now run and managed with software systems so it’s important to ensure no downtime is incurred if something unexpected happens. Companies must not only protect themselves from natural disasters but also from technological and man-made events, which are much more likely of occurring. Reduce your risks with a Business Continuity solution and a solid disaster recovery plan.

When it comes to your business’ future, don’t take a chance! Look into the safest way to backup and restore your data with QBR.

Contact us today!

Total Data Protection Business Continuity Services

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EDI2XML Web Service

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6 Ways to Achieve an Easy Software Implementation

Software-ImplementationDuring the years of experience in software implementation, we have met business leaders that have various points of view on the use of IT technology such as ERP system, CRM software, as well as software implementation and software Integration in general. Perhaps you recognize yourself as one who:

Currently, do not have a software management system. You put a system implementation on hold and keep using Microsoft Word and Excel to store your sensitive data until you really have no choice but to upgrade to an ERP/CRM system

Currently, use a legacy system.  You keep using your legacy system for a few more years and continue making minor fixes here and there to accommodate the changes in your industry/business

Go through with a software upgrade anyways. No matter what you’ve heard or what you’ve previously been through during previous IT projects implementations, you still go ahead with a software upgrade because you know in the long run this will be best for your company’s prosperity and employees.

Software Implementation: Fear of Change

Why Software Implementations are known to be so painful to Business Executives? Among the most commonly called causes are price, time-consuming, and fear of big change. It’s an actual fact because often the final price is so expensive. Normally, implementations take more time than expected, while staff are resisting to the change in business processes. New systems seems too complex, so they pretend they were better off with Excel Spreadsheets and Word Documents, or their old legacy system.

Helpful Reading:

Achieving the Easiest Software Implementation Ever

Here are some pointers that will allow you to have a smooth implementation and avoid major problems, as listed above.

1.      Put together a small internal team to oversee & manage Implementation Project. Easy Software Implementation

An internal team, made up of 5 employees or less, is critical for a successful software implementation. This group should be continuously interacting with all the departments and top management as well. They work hand in hand with the ERP Service Provider.

On top of this, it is best if these employees are not distracted by their normal daily tasks as they should fully commit their time to the software implementation project. This will ensure everything is running smoothly and everyone’s needs are met.

2.      Hire a qualified IT/ERP Provider

Many Small and Medium size Enterprises do not always have an in- house IT team. Nowadays, an in-house IT team is not even necessary due to the emergence of cloud computing and Software as a Service.

However, it is highly important to hire the right Software Provider that can act as your IT Consultant and ERP implementation team for your SaaS ERP project. A qualified ERP Consultant/Provider should have:

  • the necessary IT experience and knowledge
  • a solid business understanding
  • great communication skills, as they will be working hand in hand with your internal team (as mentioned in #1)
  • provide a detailed analysis of the different costs upfront (including any potential fees for unexpected situations during implementation)
3.      Get the full support from Management

Management should remain unified in supporting the project. They should continuously encourage and motivate their teams not give up.

The support of top management is not only the financial backing but more for encouragement, as this may be a difficult time for employees to get accustomed to a new system and potentially new processes.

On top of this, as there will be a lots of end user training, it can be very helpful if management can alleviate certain team members from regular responsibilities – especially the internal implementation team during that short period of time.

4.      Make the Right ‘IT Budget’ Decisions

Management must define the role of IT before any decision can be made. IT can play a major role in meeting the company’s objectives, which is why the Accounting department should fully understand the IT strategy in order to make the right decisions regarding software investments.

It’s about seeing IT not as a cost but rather as an investment.

5.      Introduce staff to new processes & standards PRIOR to Implementation

Usually, SMEs have informal, undisciplined types of environments and processes.

The big problem is that ERP systems and other software solutions bring in procedural rigidity and discipline. This is when user resistance and conflicts are likely to arise.

Leaders need to bring in some process consistency & standardized procedures before software implementation begins. It’s all about easing employees into this new work environment.

6.      Train your whole team on how to use the new system

Investing in end-user training is not optional if you want to have a successful, smooth software implementation.Investing in end-user training is not optional if you want to have a successful, smooth software implementation. If your employees do not know how to use the system the right way, they will begin to resist and your team still won’t be working as efficiently as possible.

For successful training, begin this process during implementation and continue after the Go-Live date as well. Follow these steps:

  • establish goals
  • have the internal team assess each user’s needs and training requirements
  • create a training program and schedule
  • have the IT Consultant/ERP Provide educate and train the users

Let’s summarize: to achieve an easy software implementation you should:

  • Put together a small team at the company to manage the Implementation Project
  • Hire a qualified IT Provider
  • Get full support from top Management
  • Define the role of IT to make better budget decisions
  • Introduce staff to new processes & standards early on
  • Thoroughly train end-users on the new software

Not sure if your business is running as efficiently as possible? Request a FREE one-on-one 1-hour consultation session with our in-house experts.

 

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How can EDI integration help strengthen your online business?

Buying tickets, gifts, clothes, equipment and even food – most of us do it online. Being anywhere, using a phone or a laptop, it doesn’t matter, as long as we’re connected to the Internet. Simple user interface, fast actions and results. It’s so easy, it only takes a few minutes. This explains why the number of online buyers is increasing dramatically year on year. For example, the number of online-only shoppers in the USA is estimated at 230.5 million in 2021, compared with 215.4 million in 2017.

Source:
The Statistics Portal “Statista

The graph above shows statistics on online shoppers who have browsed products, compared prices or purchased goods online at least once in the corresponding year. You’re seeing an increase in online shoppers every year thanks to the active introduction of Omnichannel retailing.

What is Omnichannel retailing?

Omnichannel is a business model that companies are using to enhance their customers’ experiences. “Omnis” can be translated from Latin as “existing everywhere”. In our case – covering all customer communication channels: such as physical locations, online store, social media, online chat, mobile apps and phone communications. Customers can access all products and services in the most convenient way for them, while still being visible to the retailer.

Setting up your online store

Opening an online store in today’s digital world is not difficult; however, running an online business is more challenging. Here are some of the undeniable advantages of running an online store:

  • There are no rental fees
  • You need fewer employees to run the store.
  • Companies can overcome geographical limitations
  • The best of all, it’s open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Use e-commerce best practice

To stay ahead of the e-commerce game, you need to pay close attention to detail and research the best practices in e-commerce. On the Internet, there’s some great advice for entrepreneurs starting up their online business: choose an e-commerce platform, optimize page load speed, create unique content, promote products, etc.

However, there aren’t many resources talking about the technical and logistical aspects. Critical information such as the electronic exchange of documents between an online company and its trading partners or transport companies is crucial to such a project.

Another important e-commerce practice is full integration and electronic data interchange (EDI), to improve speed, accuracy, information quality and business efficiency.

The role of EDI integration in logistics and e-commerce

Even in traditional retailing, the term “logistics” was still far from clear. One of the definitions of corporate logistics:

“Having the right item in the right quantity at the right time in the right place for the right price under the right conditions to the right customer”.

When you run an e-commerce business, whatever method of supply chain management you choose(Drop-Ship or other), you’ll be faced with a significant amount of business documentation that you’ll need to exchange with your trading partners.

Now let’s do some simple math: how much time do your employees spend on order entry, shipping, invoicing, label generation? What is the error rate? Perhaps that’s why the return rate for products sold online is so high. Research into e-commerce product returns shows:

In my opinion, the above statistics, reflecting e-commerce product returns, seem frightening. Is it possible to reduce the above percentages? Can your online business avoid these mistakes?

EDI integration improves data quality, reducing transaction errors by 30% to 40%. This integration eliminates illegible handwriting, typing errors, lost faxes/mails and transmission errors.

Think and manage your online business better

The positive effects of EDI integration will be measurable in all the following departments: trade, production, logistics and finance.

in sales:

  • The sales cycle and the quality of your customer relations are improved, as is your turnaround time.

In production:

  • Lower production costs
  • Better inventory management
  • Short production times

Logistics:

  • Reduced processing time for mailings
  • Eliminating anomalies and errors
  • disposal of paper documents
  • Significant improvement in information quality

In finance:

  • Reduce billing time
  • Reducing disputes

In conclusion, moving to EDI integration gives a company access to an undeniable competitive advantage, reduces the costs of its products and services, improves business processes and meets the demands of customers and suppliers.

Contact our experts today to find out more about our EDI services or visit EDI2XML.com

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