Internet Explorer patch now available

Following yesterdays story about internet explorer Microsoft have now released there patch which aims to fix the issues that have occurred. It is available for people to download so we encourage you to get it as soon as possible to ensure your computer is as safe as it can be. The patch can be downloaded on anything from Internet explorer 5.01 to 8 Beta 2. According to statistics from Symantec, users from Asia have been the worst affected by the vulnerability. If you have any questions regarding the patch please feel free to contact us and we will do our utmost to assist you.

Microsoft are to release a quick fix for Internet Explorer

After the story a couple of days ago about the problems that are currently effecting Internet Explorer users Microsoft has released a statement that they aim to release a quick fix for the problems which are believed to have effected over 10,000 websites.

The patch is expected to be available today which users will be able to download from the Microsoft site. The issue with the browser means that criminals are potentially able to steal passwords and other confidential information. This could cause great issues and Microsoft in all fairness have been quick to build a patch for the problem.

Internet Explorer is the chosen browser by many and there was a great worry that alot of people could be effected by the problem. Experts had been suggesting that people use other browsers such as Firefox and Opera until the problem was fixed. Tonights patch release will hopefully fix the problem and people will be able to use the browser once again.

BACK Consulting to attend sister companies launch event

BACK Consulting will be attending the DGOD + BACK incontact launch event today at the companies headquarters. The BACK Consulting team are looking forward to attending such an event with their sister company. We hope to see you at the event and look forward to meeting so many new people. If you havent replied to your invitation you can still come down today and attend the event. Simply arrive and tell us your name and company. Remember to bring your business cards.

If you were unable to attend the event but would like to discuss something with either BACK Consulting or BACK incontact then please get in contact with us and we will be more than happy to discuss your needs.

Microsoft warns that all Internet Explorer users could be at risk

An unpatched security hole in Internet Explorer which has been exploited by hackers could affect all internet explorer users Microsoft has explained today. When the flaw was originally discovered it was thought to only affect Internet Explorer 7 users. However, it has today been revealed that all users, no matter what version they are using, could potentially be affected by attacks.

It is recommended that all security settings on the internet security setting should be put on high and access control lists should be used to counter the malware. If users do suffer an attack from the malware than it is possible that data on their machine is accessible.

Microsoft has not said when there will be a patch available and their next monthly patches are not available until 13th January. However, it is expected that something will be released before then.

Cybercriminals using PDFs to put malware on other peoples computers

A year-end report into cyber threats has found that cybercriminals are increasingly using PDFs to store malicious malware. Most email and web filtering allow all PDFs through their scans as they are a trusted source. However, this has been recognised by the cybercriminals and they are now attempting to put malicious software into the PDFs which can access your computer and collect any confidential data you may have.

Therefore we recommend you set up some security settings on your PDFs to ensure only the intended recipients can access them. It is also important that you only open PDFs if you know they are from a reliable source. Ensure all of your antivirus is up to date to try and prevent any malicious programs being put onto your computer. If you need any assistance or have any questions regarding the issue please feel free to contact us.

Cybercriminals using PDFs to put malware on other peoples computers

A year-end report into cyber threats has found that cybercriminals are increasingly using PDFs to store malicious malware. Most email and web filtering allow all PDFs through their scans as they are a trusted source. However, this has been recognised by the cybercriminals and they are now attempting to put malicious software into the PDFs which can access your computer and collect any confidential data you may have.

Therefore we recommend you set up some security settings on your PDFs to ensure only the intended recipients can access them. It is also important that you only open PDFs if you know they are from a reliable source. Ensure all of your antivirus is up to date to try and prevent any malicious programs being put onto your computer. If you need any assistance or have any questions regarding the issue please feel free to contact us.

BACK Transcribing

As the economy is worsening there is no better time to get in contact with us regarding our BACK Transcribing service. We can save you thousands so you can turn your secretaries into Fee earners. Our service is also offers a 300 minute FREE trial. As long as you have the equipment we can get you started within 24 hours. We offer better than 99% accuracy, Safe and Secure environment, 24 hour turnaround time meaning your files will be waiting for you when you get into the office in the morning.

For more information please visit our website www.backtranscribing.com. If you would like to speak to one of our team please call us today for more information.

We also offer an Affiliates programme which is ideal if you want to introduce our service in your area. If you are interested in the programme or would like to know more about it please feel free to contact us and we will be more than happy to assist you with your needs.

Investment in Technology is key

Prime minister Gordan Brown has today said that invesment in technology is extremely important to help the country get out of the downturn that we are currently experiencing. He claimed that we should invest out of the downturn paying particular attention to 21st century technology. Therefore, there is not a better time to get a technology audit carried out. For a fixed price we can come in and evaluate the technology that you use. Once we have carried out the audit you will receive a free report which will outline areas that you need to improve and suggestions of ways forward. You dont have an obligation to go ahead with any work but we will be more than happy to discuss your needs. If you feel we can help you out please feel free to contact us for a chat.

Who is connected to your wireless LAN?

As wireless internet becomes more popular both within homes and in businesses it begs the question as to who is connected to your wireless LAN? In the past simply discovering that an unknown Access Point (AP) was nearby was sufficient to get alarm bells ringing. However, as more and more people use wireless technology hundreds of unknown Access Points can be found and therefore simply rogue discovery is not enough to help IT administrators understand the risks. However, not every Access Point is a rogue one and in a business park complex you will find many Access Points from neighbouring buildings.

Therefore keep your eyes and ears open in your office to ensure you don’t get affected by any rogue attacks on your network. If you need any assistance with your IT please feel free to contact us.

Low Cost Website Design coming your way

We are always looking at new ways to help other businesses and this is especially the case during the current economic climate. That is why we are launching our new Low Cost Website design package which gives you a web presence but at a minimal cost. The service will be coming active in the next few weeks so keep an eye out for the official launch. The introductory offer will see a basic 5 page website with a contact form. You can select whatever content you want and you can have the pages named to whatever you want. You will be able to select your company colours and use your own logo. You will get a domain name included along with 1 email address. All of this will be available for £199.99 + VAT. There are many extras that you can add for a small extra charge.

If you have any questions before the service is launched please feel free to contact us and we will help you with your needs.

New Climate change act will have an impact on IT

A new law which has been aimed at fighting climate change could have an impact on IT and could affect all businesses in the UK. The new law which has been brought in aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050. It is anticipated that the IT sector will see an increase in costs to comply with the new laws and regulations which have been introduced. Therefore companies should be planning ahead to ensure that they can face the new challenges in the most cost-effective way. There is a potential for an environmental technology revolution.

If you would like to discuss your current IT solution and try to find ways of becoming more efficient with the use of cost effective solutions please do give us a call.

Christmas could increase malware

We like to keep our clients and the people around us free from malware and alike. Therefore we thought that we would provide you with some information that you may find of some use.

Research that has been carried out by Websense has warned that Christmas could see an increase in the amount of malware that is being sent. These emails will tend to have links in them which takes the user to an animated card. However, when the user clicks on the link they are effectively allowing malware onto their machine. Once this happens the user will not know that the malware has been added and will not know what information they are leaking to other people. Therefore our advice at Christmas would be to ensure that all of your antivirus software is kept up to date and we encourage that you don’t use these links which take you to animated Christmas card. We don’t want to sound like the Grinch but we do want to look after your IT security.

Complete Customer Satisfaction

Days after completing a website for our client they were on the phone to us again. They had just taken over another business and needed a new website for it. They were so impressed with the service and result that we delivered that they want us to meet with them to discuss the requirements for their new business. We were more than happy to oblige and are meeting with them in the near future to discuss ways forward with their new website. It just shows how our excellent service has been proven again and for the client to want us to build another website shows that we do the job well. It is always good to hear such positive feedback from our clients.

If you would like to chat about your website requirements and see what we can do for you please do get in touch with us.

Datacentre to heat local swimming pool

Although this may seem to be a bit of a strange story to post i read about this and thought it was very interesting, and a little strange. HSBC have recently announced that they have submitted an application to build an environmentally friendly £300m data centre in North Yorkshire. Now although this doesn’t seem too strange the fact that the excess heat that will be produced from this data centre, the largest and most important centre facility in the world, will heat a local swimming pool which is nearby. The centre will be a key location to deal with the processing of banking transactions.

The centre will take two years to be built and will have 100 staff occupying it. However, this is all subject to planning permission being granted. Less than 25% of the site will actually be built on and the rest will be used to enhance the local wildlife and ecological habitats.

Website Project Completion

The past week has seen the completion of another one of our websites for a client. The project has come to a completion after a busy month whereby we met with the client many times to ensure we delivered them exactly what they wanted. A lot of hard work and effort by the team has seen the website go live much to the clients delight. We are very pleased with the final product and some of the unique features that we have added. The website also incorporated some flash programming from our flash specialist and once again he did not let us down.

If you think you could benefit from any of our services or would like to have a chat about what we could do for you please feel free to contact us.

Content Management Systems

BACK has recently completed a fully featured content management system for a large client after months of development. This specialised system gives the user full control over all aspects of the site from editing CSS to changing stories, pictures, layout, formatting and much more with a simple and well designed interface.

The approach taken was one of complete object access with all items treated as potential variables stored in a database. This takes things a little further than the standard CMS which has the basic news items as editable and gives a larger degree of control. The project has taken in a wide range of staff from project managers, developers, creative designers and of course the end user. The system has received unanimous welcome from the client and moves them onwards from a static website to a tool useful for direct and targeted marketing.

Low Cost Transcription Services all the way

As more and more people find out about our low cost transcription service more people are keen to take advantage of our brilliant deals. Clients are finding that they are cutting their secretarial costs by over 50% turning their staff into fee earners over night. As the current economic climate is so uncertain, practices are finding every way possible to try and reduce their costs to help them survive during such difficult financial times.

If you think that you could benefit from our service why not give us a call today and we would be more than happy to discuss your needs. If you decide you want to try the service why not take advantage of our 300 minutes free trial which gives you the opportunity to try our service to see if you like it; you WONT be disappointed. We can have you setup very quickly and have you saving costs in no time.

300 Free Low Cost Transcription Minutes For You?

BACK has seen an increase in the number of clients seeking to gain cost savings by trying out the 300 minute free trial and subsequesntly taking up the full service. After sending the initial templates the transcription team are dedicated to turning your work round under SLA times we state. The best thing is that if the client is not happy with the service then all you have to do is tell us exactly that.

If you would like to try us out please contact us today.

Retail Sales down, Why not open an online store

It has been revealed today that retail sales have dropped and stores are now reducing some of their prices to try and encourage shoppers to come into their stores. Therefore, there is no better time to introduce an online store which will allow you to sell your products over the internet but with minimal costs to you. Here at BACK we offer an excellent ecommerce package which will allow you to get up and running and have your products online. Have you ever thought about how many more people you could be advertising your product to?? Your target audience will increase massively overnight if you open an online store and the only real cost is the initial setup of your system.

If you would like to have a chat with any of the team about introducing an ecommerce package why not give us a call. We will be more than happy to discuss your needs and see what we can do for you.

There is never a better time for Low Cost Web Design

As the credit crunch kicks in there is never a better time for a professional low cost web design service. Here at BACK Consulting we have recognised this and made sure we provide you with an unbeatable service. Companies are trying to attract as much business as possible during the current climate and therefore there is no better time to set yourself up with a web presence. We understand that you are looking to save money at the moment and trying to spend as little as possible. This is reflected in the prices that we are charging. If you would like to know anymore about our new Low Cost Web Design package then please contact us and we will be more than happy to assist you.

Microsoft introduce cheaper servers for small businesses

To help businesses save money and compete in a global market Microsoft has introduced cheaper servers. During this particularly difficult time period for all companies with the current economic crisis this may come as a relief for small firms looking to spend on their IT.

Microsoft has said that the new cheaper servers will help keep the costs of setup and ongoing maintenance to a minimum. There are also flexible licensing plans available to customers.

If you need any assistance with purchasing a new server or would like to talk to us about what would be best for you then please feel free to contact us and we will be more than happy to assist you with your needs.

When Is The Right Time For Low Cost Transcription?

The credit crunch is taking its toll on many law firms across the UK and Ireland and as such these professional services are looking at ways to cut costs. BACK Consulting have a perfect solution to enable this in these financially tight times. If you are using a digital dictation system then why not outsource your transcription instead of getting it done in-house. Research with our clients that typical cost savings are between 40-60% so you can see that once you take the step to try this you will not go back.

The best part about it is that we attach no catches. If you want to use the service then use it. If you don't then just tell us and you can stop! It is that easy. If you would like to chat to someone regarding this service then we'd be delighted to talk - just contact us.

Tips For Creating a Data Driven Web Application

Once you have decided that you are wanting to explore the boundaries of the IT world external to your company you may then start wondering how to do it. Essentially you have all your business knowledge and processes contained within your systems and you are looking at ways of opening thee up in ways that add value to what you do.

There is a wide range of technology out there and multiple companies who can help you achieve these goals. Make sure you get a few in and discuss your needs clearly. Look at what technology they prefer to use and assess its implications to you. For example the solution may involve creating a SQL Server database and this will mean you have to purchase licences. Or a MySQL database so you have to ensure that you have the skills set on hand in the event of any issues arriving.

Sketch out your processes and what you are trying to acheive from this application. If you are a retail operation then your ultimate aim is to sell things. If you are service orientated then you may want spend more time explaining what it is you do. Whatever your aim try and visualise and conceptualise your thoughts.

In order to match your expectations with the implementations delivery you should follow the steps above and have regular updates on the progress of your project. It is important that you catch any issues early and take correctional measures to keep costs to a minimum.

By following this few tips your project should get you what you desire. If you would like a no obligation chat about your needs or are considering a data driven website application then please contact us.

BACK Consulting Affiliates Program - Low Cost Transcription

BACK Consulting Limited are delighted to announce the launch of their affiliates programme for low cost offshore transcriptions services, initially for the legal services and law firm markets across the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States of America, Australasia and English speaking Pacific Rim and former Commonwealth countries.

We offer dedicated staff for your clients at highly cometitve and attractive rates, from as little as $1,900 USD per month for a full time dedicated transcriber / virtual secretary with no holidays or other staffing issues.

We offer a 300 minute (dictation time) free trial to any potential client and pay an attractive $500 sign on fee to all affiliates per seat signed and an ongoing revenue stream of $300 per seat per month for the whole life of the client !

Plese contact us for our brief bulletin sheet and sample affiliate agreement.

If you would like to consider becoming an affiliate reseller and adding a new revenue stream, email me today to schedule a chat and see how you can join the BACK affiliate group.

Data Loss happens yet again

People’s faith in the government to keep personal data safe has been dealt another blow. There has been yet another case of data which has been lost.

This time has seen the personal details of one of the biggest public sector websites exposed to unauthorised access. There are around 12 million users of the government gateway which provides a number of services including online tax returns. The site was temporarily closed at the weekend as it emerged that an employee had lost a memory stick which held peoples usernames and passwords on.

The memory stick was later found in a car park in Staffordshire where the contractor is based (Atos). The contractor had said that the memory stick had been removed from the premises.

According to the Financial Times the DWP are considering terminating the contract with Atos Origin. The DWP have claimed that the memory stick had details of a handful of individuals but has said that it was a serious breach of rules.

When will we ever be able to trust the government with our personal data. Time will tell.

Cutting IT projects during a downturn is a bad idea

It is a major misconception that during a downturn companies should stop investing in their current IT projects. During tough times IT project spending is often cut which can be a huge mistake. It will mean that the company will not achieve the productivity gains that it first set out to with the project. If you continue to spend on your IT investments it will mean that after the downturn has passed you will be far more efficient and productive than your competitors. If you have already spent a lot of money on the project it would be a mistake to simply cut the project halfway through as the company would have wasted all of the money on the project.

So if you currently have an IT project underway continue the project and you will be better for it in the long run. If you need any assistance with an IT project please feel free to contact us and we will be more than happy to assist you.

Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista released this week

A select group of testers will get there hands on Windows Vista service pack 2 this week. As part of the development and testing for the service pack Microsoft are allowing a small group of testers access to Service Pack 2 so that they can evaluate the package. There is no final release date for Service Pack 2 as it will be based on quality and will only be released when Microsoft thinks it is right to do so. The pack will look to address specific reliability, compatibility and performance issues.

Lets hope that there is not the same issues that arose when the service pack for XP came out and caused many people chaos with there system.

Major patch released for critical windows vulnerability

Microsoft has issued a warning in advance that it is to release a “critical” windows patch. It is expected that there is a serious vulnerability involved as there is a lack of information about the patch for Windows 2000, XP and server 2003.

The update has been released by Microsoft and it is highly advisable that organisations and individuals update their system. It is over a year since Microsoft last released an emergency patch ahead of its scheduled security updates on the second Tuesday of every month.

There have been reports by analysts saying that Microsoft must consider the issue to be serious for the company to rush out with this type of update. Ensure you update your computer now!

Is the credit crunch affecting your IT?

As the credit crunch kicks in more and more businesses are looking to save money instead of spending it. Are you finding that this is effecting the organisation you work for? Are there conflicting views as to whether investing money now on your IT systems could save you money in the future or is your company looking at short term plans? Let us know your views.

Here at BACK consulting we can help you invest your money wisely in your IT systems but at competitive prices. We are here to help your business grow and are vendor neutral meaning that we will always find the most cost-effective solution for you.

Another poor case of information loss

After yesterdays story about the importance of IT security and having policies in place today’s story highlights the issue. The Ministry of Defence has lost a hard drive which contains armed forces data. One of the few organisations you would expect to have the most stringent security in place to ensure something like this does not happen.

The drive could potentially contain 100,000 records for members of the armed forces and 600,000 recruits according to reports. The hard drive was used in the testing of one of the armed forces administration systems and they do not know if any of the information was on the hard drive.

The drive went missing from a “Secure location” in Hampshire and the armed forces can not say whether or not the drive was encrypted. This seems like a very basic mistake and you would not expect this from such an important party.

This illustrates that it’s more important than ever to ensure you have a stringent security and data leak policy in place. If you would like to discuss your needs please give us a call and we will be more than happy to assist you.

Security more important as fraudsters target bank accounts

It is more important than ever to ensure you have a security policy in place as fraudsters target bank accounts. As credit is now harder to acquire due to the economic crisis fraudsters are targeting existing bank accounts. As there are more restrictions on credit due to the credit crunch it is a lot harder for crooks to open new accounts using fake identities.
According to the all-party parliamentary group there has been a fall in the number of traditional forms of identity theft where crooks use stolen or false documents to open up an account. However, the group have said that there has been a sharp rise in cybercrime where crooks use the internet and email to try and access people’s accounts.

Currently there is a bogus email that is going around from HMRC asking for peoples bank account details so that they can process the tax rebate that they were promised. This is a scam and any recipients should ignore this email.

If you would like to discuss your personal or company IT security give us a call and we would be more than happy to discuss this with you. IT security is vital so ensure that you have it in place.

People don’t have confidence in companies keeping personal data

You will remember one of my recent blogs whereby I was talking about the security of personal data and how companies treat your information. Well a story today has revealed that 90% of people in the UK do not believe that their information is safe with companies. Over half of people also revealed that they do not think banks and retailers do enough to protect them. The firm RSA are have carried out the survey as a background for national identity fraud prevention week which started this week.

56% of people surveyed have suggested that they are more concerned about identity fraud and security than they were six months ago. A far more scary fact is that was revealed is that 850,000 people have lost work documents or laptops. This is an extremely worrying revelation and would indicate that companies must consider their security of personal data. Organisations should consider a data leak policy and there is no better place to look than BACK consulting. Give us a call today.

Economic crisis sees job losses in some of the worlds biggest firms

It seems that even some of the world’s biggest IT firms are being affected by the current economic crisis. Accenture, a management consultancy firm, has announced that they are going to have to cut hundreds of jobs. Days after they announced major rises in there annual sales they have announced that job losses are going to have to be made. It has said the cuts are to balance the skills of the workforce.

Another major ecommerce business, eBay, is cutting 10% of its workforce because of slowing sales rates. They are axing around 1,000 jobs to save around £85m in costs a year, although they are spending £740m on three acquisitions. The company is to announce its third quarter results next week and it has already warned analysts and the market that they should prepare for the worst.

Outsourcing – your views

Today I thought I would ask my readers about what they thought about outsourcing. As outsourcing is increasing, especially within western countries, I believe it is important to find out your views on the matter.

Do you believe that outsourcing is worthwhile for the companies? Do you think that quality is jeopardised from outsourcing work to other companies? In my personal opinion I believe that outsourcing is extremely effective. It allows you to bring industry experts into your organisation who will know what they are doing and be able to do the job efficiently and effectively. It means that you do not need to employ people and train them to a level whereby they are competent to carry out a job. On most occasions it also works out to be far more cost effective.

Here at BACK consulting we specialise in Legal technology, Information Management systems, technology audits and websites. Why not try contacting us and see if you can outsource some of your work to us.

Risk Management – Are you planning for the worst

Risk management is an important aspect of any business and it is important to ensure that a business has a plan in place in the case of something happening to their IT system. Do you know what the risk management plan is at your firm?

An excellent example for the need of a risk management plan is the incident that recently occurred at the Swanwick Air Traffic Control Centre. Many flights were delayed and some were even cancelled because of the problem that occurred with there IT system. There was a failure in the link between the centre and other air traffic control systems. Some of Britains biggest airlines were caught up in the frenzy including Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton. Luckily Swanwick had a plan in place which meant that some flights were still able to continue with there journeys. Air traffic controllers had to revert back to manual ways to ensure that the skys above were safe. This is a perfect example which clearly emphasises the need for a risk management plan to be put in place no matter what type of organisation you are part of.

BACK consulting can help you with your risk management and ensure that even if something goes wrong with your IT system you will still be able to function.

Building the next generation IT department

Outsourcing has become more popular over recent years as organisations look to become more efficient and use the skills of experts in the industry instead of training people to carry out a particular role. Has your organisation in the past few years chosen to outsource more?

Changing the skills of an IT department is a top priority and directors should not hold back from the fact that IT outsourcing will happen. Many IT departments have recognised this and have remodelled the skills of staff inside to make the most of the staff on the outside. This involves developing more business, commercial, contractual and people management skills alongside more strategically minded technical people.

The pressure for IT departments to outsource has increased dramatically over the past few years. According the analysts at Gartner, the value of IT outsourcing contracts in Western Europe will be worth 228 billon Euros by 2011. Between 2002 and 2006 it increased by 1.5% a year and yearly increases of 5.6% are expected between 2006 and 2011. Therefore, IT departments are going to have to face up to the fact that they could well end up outsourcing some work in the future and should be prepared for this so that they can be as most efficient as possible.

Project Management in demand throughout organisations

A survey carried out by training company Parity, has found that 64% of companies have expressed that project management is the skill that is in most demand within their organisation.

The survey found that 75% of companies will be investing in project and programme management training for employees in the next year. The survey questioned 225 IT professionals at 50 of the UK’s largest companies which revealed that 66% said that they were too busy to do as much training as they should or would like to do.

A spokesman from Parity said that there was a clear demand among IT staff to develop and accelerate their learning in areas that are important to the success of a business.

There is no reason that staff should not develop their learning especially as there is a desire by professionals to learn and the training courses are available for employees to go on. Therefore there needs to be changes to contracts and workload schedules to enable people to carry out training.

If you are a company that need management of a project then give BACK consulting a ring. We will be able to guide you in the right direction and get you on your way.

Data Loss: How to try minimise risk, liability and the loss of reputation

There is a growing awareness among various regulators and the general public of data security issues. In the past couple of years there have been several cases whereby vast amounts of public data has been misplaced or lost and very regularly found by general members of the public. This comes as a great concern as would be expected. If we trust organisations to keep our private information then they should respect this and ensure all data is securely stored. Many organisations have faced substantial fines because of there behaviour with private information.

A study carried out by Poneman found that 37% of respondents said that they terminated their relationship with organisations because they had received a notification to say that there was a breach in their data security.

There are various basic steps which can be taken by organisations to try and avoid such incidents occurring. There should be human and operational controls in place to ensure staff are fully trained and know what they are doing. This is especially the case if third party companies are dealing with private information. Technical measures should be put in place such as audit trails to track information and ensure that contractual requirements are being met. Firewalls and encryption and access control should be put in place to ensure that private information does not get in the wrong hands. Organisations should also ensure they have plans in place in case there is a loss of private information. If the press gets a hold of the news that an organisation has lost private data than there reputation could be wiped out. Therefore organisations should know how to deal with such events to try and limit the damage as much as possible.

Half of all firms expected to freeze their IT budgets next year

Analyst, Datamonitor say that half of all organisations will freeze their IT budget next year. The survey was carried out against 8,130 IT decision-makers at organisations worldwide.

The report revealed that many organisations are looking to cut back on IT expenditure in 2009. The only exception is the healthcare sector which is planning to increase its spending on IT in 2009.

The report has pointed out that this is not solely down to the economic downturn and has been apparent that this would happen for the past couple of years. Organisations are changing there approach and are becoming far more wary of the global economy and considering this a great deal more when deciding on whether to invest in IT.

More than 50% of the respondents said they expect to keep their IT budgets the same in 2009, with 13% of respondents suggesting that they would see a cut in there IT expenditure in 2009. 37% of respondents suggested that they would still anticipate having their IT budgets increased in 2009.

Retail and manufacturing industries are being hit the hardest because of increased interest rates and a fall in consumer demand as people look to make savings wherever possible. The healthcare industry is looking at increasing expenditure with 57% of respondents suggesting that there budgets would rise in the next year.

Meltdown in Finanacial services expected to effect IT spending

Reports today have suggested that the meltdown in the Finance sector, the sector that spends most in IT, will reshape the IT industry. It is believed that the current crisis will have an effect on both IT professionals and IT suppliers that deal with the sector both directly and indirectly.

As the financial institutes cuts its budget, IT suppliers will be met with a fall in their revenues and an increasing pressure to deliver for efficient systems as IT departments look for higher returns on their investment.

According to a report by Gartner it is anticipated that the Financial sector across Europe will spend £74bn this year on external IT this year. However, Financial services analyst firm Towergroup has suggested that there will be a dramatic drop in technology spending across the industry as the top spenders either exit the business or reduce their overall comitments to IT investments as a whole. With so many conflicting reports it is hard to believe what will and wont happen. It seems that it simply will be time that tells the story. What are your views on the issue and are you someone that works in an IT department for one of these firms? Let us know your thoughts.

CIOs’ information desert

Thirty years after computers became mainstream it is nerving that software projects still come in over budget and late because of CIOs inability to manage to IT projects says Tod Nielsen, Borland’s CEO.

It is important to improve a CIOs ability to manage an IT project to try and combat the issue of projects going over budget and in some cases being many months late. CIOs are able to see dashboards that show the status of the company and how they are progressing. This dashboard covers all departments expect for IT departments. Instead IT departments simply use a traffic light system which is usually only measured by red and green. Whenever there is a problem the project goes into red on a graph which they measure progress. However, shouldn’t there be a stage in the middle? If there was a progressive sliding slop this would enable project to be managed more effectively and more importantly would help keep projects on time and to budget. If you need any help with managing projects efficiently why not give BACK a call. Our warm and friendly team can be with you from start to end.

Is your system secure?

Today I thought I would ask the question – Is your system secure? There are many hackers out there who are continuously trying to hack into systems. Does your system have up-to-date anti virus software? Well it is important that all precautions are taken to ensure you have an anti-virus program installed and that you ensure it is fully functional and up-to-date. This will give you the best chance of stopping any new viruses effecting your computer.

Have you recently had a technology audit carried out to ensure that your system including your server is safe and secure. Is your server in the correct environment? Do you ensure backups are taken in case there is a problem? Do you have a disaster recovery plan? Let me know your answers to this.

If you need any help or would like some guidance with your system security please free to contact BACK consulting at any time. We are always happy to assist with your enquiries.

Despite rough times IT expenditure to grow

Many IT analysts have said that they believe IT spending will grow despite the troubles of many high profile financial institutions like AIG and Lehman Brothers expressing recession fears.

Traditionally, financial institutes have been some of the biggest drivers in the IT industry, as many major banks and insurance firms spend billons of pounds a year to maintain and upgrade their IT infrastructure.

This may scare a lot of technology vendors as they see the demise of the financial market fall before them with the likes of Lehman Brothers declaring bankruptcy and AIG scrambling to secure billions of pounds of capital.

However, many analysts have said that it will not lead to the fall in the IT industry. Gartner research has found that spending in 2009 may slow down but it will not fall into negative growth. Although the financial market appears to be in ruins companies still need to upgrade and maintain their IT to stay competitive within the market and therefore it is believed that they will continue to spend. Even Lehman Brothers as they were falling into bankruptcy were still spending on IT.

However, there are concerns that IT workers in the finance industry will see redundancies as mergers and further possible bankruptcies take place.

Security patch may not be compatible with some applications

One of the security patches that Microsoft released last Tuesday in their monthly patch Tuesday may not be compatible with some applications. The applications are closely integrated with the Microsoft windows operating system.

ChangeBASE, who are an application testing company say that the security update MS08-052, which is designed to tackle security vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows GDI+, may struggle to work properly with a variety of applications.

Some of the applications which could be affected are: Microsoft Messenger, Macromedia Dreamweaver and Microsoft Digital Image.

The security update is part of a DLL file which is part of the graphics library for Windows XP. A number of applications contain this file in their routine installation routine, which could lead to compatibility issues when these particular applications are deployed.

Microsoft should be trying to finding a solution to this problem and I will keep you updated of any further progress.

Workplace monitoring: Risk and Reward

Workplace monitoring is a very debatable topic which is heavily discussed on a regular basis. With the looming recession workplace monitoring can be seen as more important than ever with industrial spies trying to gain a competitive advantage.

Technology is being more heavily used within organisations systems to try and combat any improper conduct and activities carried out by employees during such a critical financial time for businesses.

A recent example of where this technology has been in place and has worked is within Marks & Spencer’s where they were able to uncover the activities of the Whistleblower by reading his emails to the Times Newspaper. As managers become more paranoid about losing their competitive advantage or their company assets being exploited they will further use technology to try and combat this.

However, when you put the coin on the other side there is a great debate as to whether this monitoring of employees is actually intruding an individuals civil liberties. Is it fair that employees are constantly being watched? Shouldn’t staff be trusted? Don’t individuals have a right to some privacy? It is a great debate that has many different points of view. Let us know your views about the increased use of monitoring in the workplace.

Outsourcing used to beat downturn

A key trend for 2009 is expected to be the rise in outsourcing to try to react from increased financial pressure which is being caused by the economic downturn.

This trend would tend to support research by Forrester Research which has revealed the true extent of the economic downturn on IT departments and their budgets.

As a result of the downturn the report claimed that 43% of companies have already increased their infrastructure outsourcing. A similar number of companies said that they would also move their work offshore to try and save money.

As companies are needing to cut costs 14% of firms have said that they have increased there usage of offshore services. Although 22% of firms are not actively using offshore services they are tracking developments and are considering the benefits that they can gain from using them.

However, the research also outlined some of the disadvantages associated with using offshore services. A lot of firms questioned the quality of the work that would be done and other companies stated that it did not save them as much money as they at first thought. However, with the effects of the economic downturn companies will look to outsource some of their work to try and save money.

Microsoft plans 4 critical security bulletins for patch Tuesday

Microsoft has planned 4 security bulletins for there monthly patch Tuesday. These bulletins have been labelled as critical which is Microsoft’s highest classification. The security fixes address remote execution vulnerabilities in Windows media player, the Windows operating system and other Microsoft products.

Though this is one of the quieter patch Tuesdays of the year in terms of the number of bulletins – in August there was 11 – nevertheless they are important and should be downloaded to help protect you and your firms pc’s.

So as soon as they become available today spend 5 minutes updating your pc to keep you protected.

Massive launch to recall Sony Vaio

Sony is recalling around 438,000 Vaio TZ series notebooks worldwide that may overheat and cause burns. The problem is cause by irregularly positioned wires near the computers hinge and/or dislodged screw that can cause a short circuit and overheating.

The problem effects the Sony Vaio VGN-TZ100/200/300 and 2000 series. Any of these laptops bought between July 2007 and August 2008 for between £850 and £2000.

Sony has received 15 reports of overheating and 1 person has suffered a minor burn because of the laptop. The company has said it would inspect and repair laptops if needed.

The launch of Google Chrome

Google has now seen its Beta version of Google Chrome launched to over 100 countries. Google Chrome is a new web browser which aims to compete with the likes of Internet Explorer.

Chrome was designed to be stable, fast and clear and present a real challenge to Microsoft. Google explained how they didn’t just want a browser but wanted a modern platform for applications and webpages.

Google Chrome is based on several open source projects including components of Apples web kit and Mozillas Firefox.

Chrome is far from being fully complete but they wanted to release a Beta version to get the opinion of the open source community.

A lot of critics have suggested that it won’t compete with the likes of Firefox or IE8 just yet, but in time Google could become a major factor in the web browser platform.

Computer fault at Heathrow disrupts thousands

A computer fault in Heathrow’s terminal 3 yesterday caused problems for thousands as passengers were left stranded.

The glitch, which affected mostly long haul flights lead to 2 flights being cancelled, other delayed and thousands of bags not being loaded onto planes.

Around 3,000 passengers boarded flights not being aware that their baggage was not on board. Today there is the task of trying to reunite passengers with their luggage.

The terminal has two networks, a legacy one and a new one which has recently been adopted. It is believed that someone plugged something in to both networks and there was a conflict between the two leading to the fault occurring.

The problem in Terminal 3 has been fixed over night and everything is operational once again.

Microsoft looks to reduce piracy copies of XP

As times get harder it seems that even Microsoft are trying to find ways of weathering the storm. They have recently stepped up their efforts to stop piracy of their Windows XP operating System. Using their Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) anti-piracy software they are trying to reduce the number of people using pirated copies of XP. Microsoft believe XP Professional is the most pirated edition of XP and want to try and combat this.

Updates of Microsoft’s WGA software means that they have an improved chance of detecting stolen or fake product keys. If a pirated copy of XP is found a black screen will appear on the users computer every hour to encourage them to purchase a real license key. WGA will also display a persistent desktop message over the user’s system tray and until they purchase a real license key.

However, in the past it was found that Microsoft’s WGA software was picking up legitimate license key holders software and deeming it as a fake or stolen. This led to lawsuits been taken out against Microsoft because of these issues. It will certainly be interesting to see if their new WGA software will in fact be more accurate.

Poor “E-mail Management” is hitting firms hard

Data archiving firm GFT inboxx recently carried out a study and found that companies are not effectively managing e-mail because of poor management of staff and a lack of archiving.

The study was carried out on 260 workplace email users and found some interesting results. Over 75% of employees investigated were giving no guidance on archiving their emails or keeping important business documents. Legal guidelines are not being met and one third of employees have admitted to losing and never finding important documents.

Unnecessary strain is being put onto email servers as 41% of staff leave files attached to emails and over half of the companies do not have a limit on the size of a users inbox. End users expressed how they found archiving complex and laborious and would benefit from a single process to be put in place to do the archiving for them.

This raises questions as to whether there is a lack of infrastructure within firms regarding email policies and the storage of electronic documents. Go away today and have a think if your organisation falls into this category.

Internet Explorer 8 Version Beta 2 released

Microsoft’s new version of their web browser has been released, Internet Explorer 8. This version is feature-complete and offers usability and safety features for faster and safer web browsing. The new web browser can be found at Microsoft’s website to download.

One of the main features of the new IE8 was to speed up web access and Microsoft has spent a lot of time in their labs to see how people browse the web. IE 8 uses web services called acceleratiors which enables users to look up additional information easier. If the user presses the right mouse button a menu appears allowing users to find directions to a shop or translation services. The user friendly appeal of IE8 should see it being widely used throughout the computing world.

Realising the benefits of Virtualisation

In recent years IT departments have been pressured into cutting costs but at the same time delivering a faster and more efficient service. How is this possible? I hear you ask. Virtualisation. Their very nature means that they are simple to deploy and can be done so without anyone noticing, unlike the physical presence of a server.

It is therefore important to ensure that there is not a mis-management as managers don’t realise the full implications of virtualisation. A strategic decision should be taken to ensure managers know the full benefits of virtualisation and the impact it will have on their IT department otherwise an organisations capability could collapse if the correct strategy is not put in place.

If you’re thinking of going virtual and want to ensure you don’t negatively effect the organisations capability give BACK a call.

Olympic success puts strain on Bandwidth

The great success at the olympics for the GB team has hit the bandwidth for business-to-business applications as employees surf the internet to find the latest results and news says ScanSafe.

The number of visits to Olympic news sites increased by as much as 8 times as Britain became more successful at the games.

Those companies that did not block access to employees looking at Olympic news could not have anticipated the great success of the team. On average employees were spending 16 minutes a day checking updates about the olympic games. Businesses networks were a lot slower as employees kept up-to-date with all of the action. In turn this swallowed up a great deal of bandwidth leading to the problems. Businesses will be pleased that the games are all over and that the event only happens every 4 years.

The internet is a crucial part of any company

I thought to start the week I would talk about an internet problem that I suffered from last week which showed me how the internet is an important part in any organisation. Throughout the week I found that the internet was either not working at all or if it would work was extremely slow. This brought great frustration to myself and other colleagues around as work was taking a lot longer than usual because of the poor internet service. I was unable to check any emails or carry out important internet research. It dawned on me how people rely so heavily on the internet but you only realise this great dependency when the service is not available.

Thankfully a new week has brought a new internet service and I can finally use the internet once again. I don’t think I will take such an important service for granted anymore and look forward to being able to carry out my work with the use of the internet this week.

Outsourcing contract disputes set to rise due to credit crunch

Outsourcing contracts could be under strain due to the financial strains put on companies because of the credit crunch. It could lead to contracts being renegotiated, reduced in scope or even terminated by 2009 as companies look at tightening their belts.

It is also believed that long term transformation projects could hit blocks as companies look at short term plans while the stability of the economy is uncertain.

It is recommended that businesses review their outsourcing contracts so they know their options and what their contract involves. This allows them to look at get-out clauses and put effective strategies in place to try and deal with the difficult economical times which could be ahead.

Royal Mail unveils plans to spend £1.2bn on IT

With the economy in the situation that it is it may be a bit of a surprise that Royal Mail have unveiled plans that they intend to spend £1.2 billion on IT related projects in the next three to four years. The reasoning behind this is the increasing competition that it faces.

Chief information officer of the Royal Mail said that a robust IT and logistics system will allow the organisation to develop new markets. This is especially the case with Royal Mails capacity to deliver the right item to the right person.

Some of the money is being spent on new wireless terminals for delivery drivers to record customer’s confirmation of the delivery of their parcel. They are also spending money on new sorting machines which will allow for standard mail to be sorted quicker and more efficiently. In total the Royal Mail have 10 to 20 IT projects on the go.

It is refreshing to see such an investment in IT and it will important to follow the progress of Royal Mails IT investment to see if their new IT strategy is effective.

The new Windows 7 is on Track

There is no better way to start the week then telling you about Microsoft’s claim that the new Windows 7 is on track and is expected to be finalised and ready for consumers as expected by 2010.

Microsoft’s Windows head Bill Veghte told Wall Street analysts at Microsoft’s annual analysts meeting that the new windows program would be released as expected by 2010.

He also said that this stayed with the promise made by Microsoft that it would be released three years after the release of Microsoft Vista which has been heavily criticised by many IT specialists.

The meeting also raised the point that IE 8 would be released in its final form by the end of this year. This should please Microsoft fans as they look to explore the new features created by Microsoft.

Smaller Businesses don’t take security seriously

A survey by McAfee of 500 companies has showed that Small and Medium-sized enterprises (SME’s) do not take their system security seriously.

SME’s expressed that they didn’t feel they would be targeted by cybercriminals as they were too small.

The sample of 500 IT decision makers from companies with 1,000 to 2,000 employees expressed that small and medium sized businesses have been attacked at least 4 times in the last 3 years.

The survey showed that a quarter of these attacks took the business at least a week to recover. This should highlight the need for SME’s to think about their system security.

44% of the respondents revealed that they thought that it was only an issue for larger organisations and they do not believe that they would be affected.

Therefore think twice the next time you don’t take your security seriously. BACK are happy to assist with your system security needs if required. Simply give us a call.

Outsourcing worth £44bn as it grows 10%

According to half year figures outsourcing has grown by 10% taking it to £44bn. The study was carried out from countries within Europe, Middle East and Africa. Over 34 contracts were signed which were worth more than £100m for the first half of the year compared with 51 for the whole of 2007 and 38 for 2006.

It was the telecommunications sector that was the highest outsourcer compared against finance and manufacturing. The outsourcing market as a whole is growing un-evenly with a lot of American businesses not signing long term contracts since 2006. The market is also changing with telecommunications and energy companies signing long term contracts whereas retail, financial and business service sectors are signing contracts for relatively less money.

It was also found by the TPI that a lot of businesses are outsourcing to firms from the Indian subcontinent. So why not contact BACK today to see if we can be part of your outsourcing plan.

Trojan used in fake F1 star crash story

Today sees a new Trojan which is being spread through spam emails about the crash of a F1 star. The email contains a video of the supposed crash of F1 star Fernando Alonso. There was no crash and the story is fake but as soon as someone views the video malware is installed onto the user’s computer. Therefore users should be aware of these emails being spread around.

It appears that virus writers like to use news stories to spread viruses using real life and made up stories. At the start of the month a similar scam was pulled with a fake story about the beginning of world war 3. These stories contain malicious malware through planting key-stroking software onto the user’s computer. The virus writer is then able to find out individuals online banking details which can lead to further chaos for the user.

The message to users would be to be very careful about what stories you read and also ensure not to open any suspicious emails. Also ensure you have suitable anti-virus software on machines to try and prevent any such attack.

Mobile broadband on the up as BT and O2 create a new managed network

In a bid to improve mobile broadband BT has announced a new managed solutions agreement with O2 whereby BT will provide and manage high speed connectivity for O2 users.

BT will design and deliver a communications infrastructure that is designed to enable them to manage an increase in network traffic as new headsets are bandwidth intensive.

BT believes their next generation network service will be better matched to their customers needs providing a more flexible package with costs matching actual traffic and revenue increases.

One typical service will be O2 business broadband which O2 launched on 1st May this year. The service is compatible with BT analogue lines and aims to allow a small office to access the internet and stay connected.

With download speeds of up to 20 Mbps, O2 claims that Business broadband will offer some of the best connections for businesses in the UK.

Microsoft office suite dumped for Google apps

Googles continuing success is beginning to spread throughout the business world as some organisations move from traditional applications such as Microsoft office and move to new more functional Google applications.

Following a 6 month trial the journalist group Telegraph have migrated away from the static Microsoft office suite to the cheaper, online and more diverse Google applications. After the trial they found that the Google application was better suited to the busy, travelling journalists who could do their work on the go. The application will be used to share documents and access emails. This follows a similar move by construction company Taylor Woodrow.

Could this start the spiral of decline for Microsoft as Google grows in size?

Employees using social networking sites increases IT security risk

Compared to last year there are twice as many employees using social networking sites whilst at work. 27% of UK employees visited social networking sites using their companies’ networks in a survey carried out in 2008. This compared to only 11% in 2007.

Sites with user generated content are far more open to attacks as they provide an easy way to trap users into downloading malicious applications. They can install spyware onto user’s computers without them even knowing. Therefore, there is a great risk to organisations systems and therefore appropriate actions should be taken.

Companies should either stop employees from using the sites or should ensure they have adequate security in place to ensure that they can deal with any attacks.

UK at bottom of Open Source adoption league

Research carried out by Forrester has found that the UK was bottom in the adoption of open source software with an adoption rate of only 15%.

France was found to be top of the table with 24% of companies taking onboard open source software.

It was found that organisations are adopting open source software because of the cost benefits that are yielded.

The only good news for the UK was that it is expected that it will take over Canada within the next 12 months moving them from the bottom of the league.

IE Explorer 6 users to be aware of flaw

It has been revealed that there is a flaw with the new internet explorer 6 browser. The issue is believed to be concerned with the way the browser deals with cross-site scripting attacks.

The user is left open to attack because the security protections will not function correctly. This is because the code is embedded into a specially crafted HTML document.

Attackers could steal cookies and other security information without the user being made away of these actions.

Experts have said that users should ensure that they update their browser to the latest version to ensure that they avoid any issues. Alternatively, if a user does not want to upgrade their browser than they should ensure they disable scripting so that they are not affected by the flaw.

IT departments point the finger at Senior Managers

It has been claimed that senior managers are the worst offenders when it comes to contacting their IT department for personal technology problems and requests.

Half of IT managers spend at least 10% of their time in the office dealing with technology problems for senior members of staff. Therefore questioning the need for more IT training to senior staff.

A quarter of IT managers also said that instant messaging technology was becoming more popular in the workplace and was becoming an issue for IT departments. Staff are using it more and more for personal use and are seen to be spreading office gossip and in some cases impersonating other colleagues.

It is believed that businesses are targeting the use of Facebook by employees but are ignoring bigger problems which are caused by instant messaging. The story will go on and IT departments will live in hope that one day instant messaging will be banned within the office environment.

As the Credit Crunch takes hold, he who dares wins

As the credit crunch begins to take hold it can be worrying times for IT professionals as organisations see their budgets slashed and less money to spend on development of systems. As the belts get tighter it is believed that organisations will look more into outsourcing high value-add functions like business processes, application development and IT operations.

Although many businesses are wary of spending money on IT and outsourcing it could prove to be very advantageous when the market turns around. Investing in Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) could see businesses cut costs and concentrate their resources on core business areas.

It also allows organisations to sell off assets and cut operational costs straight from their balance sheets. It therefore seems like there is no better time to contact BACK consulting who specialise in application development, IT operations and BPO. Why not contact us today and have a chat with our friendly sales team.

Firms waste £3.5bn a year through poorly managed IT investments

UK businesses are failing to maximise the value of their investments, potentially wasting £3.5bn a year says consultancy KPMG.

Therefore there is no better time to get in contact with BACK consulting to ensure your business makes the most of its IT investments.

A third of IT projects fail to deliver the expected benefits from their system or application, and over half of all projects over run. As a result of this 90% believe that IT is not bringing them the rewards that they believed it would.

Research among 125 IT decision workers found that 32% of them indicated that projects are decided on an ad-hoc basis with no or little co-ordination between IT and business planning.

Microsoft issue four new security patches

Microsoft will issue four new security patches to address vulnerabilities in SQL server database platform, the Exchange email server and the Windows operating system.

The patches will be released as part of Microsoft’s monthly security patching schedule on 8th July 2008.

None of the four patches have been listed as “critical” by Microsoft but they are deemed as being important.

A critical patch is more urgent as remote attackers can take advantage of the vulnerability without any user interaction.

Therefore, IT staff will have more time to ensure the security patches are on their system.

BT chase the title

Days after O2 topped a new survey of broadband speed BT has offered to speed up their broadband service. A service launched by BT offers to speed up broadband connection or “your money back”. However, this has been branded expensive.

As part of BT’s home IT support service they have pledged to speed up their service by 0.5Mbps. This is under the BT broadband accelerator service that offers to investigate reasons for a slow connection. Engineers will come out to individuals homes to try and investigate reasons which they believe are slowing the internet connection down. BT believes that through doing this they can achieve 0.5Mbps improvement for individuals.

However, it has been branded expensive with individuals having to pay a price tag of £90 for the service. It seems that there could be a battle beginning to gain the honour of fastest Internet Service Provider.

Blink and you will miss it!

O2 has topped a new survey of broadband speeds. Tests were carried out on connection speeds for 16 different Internet Service Providers (ISP). The tests were carried out in May on over 20,000 different lines and O2 triumphed to victory.

The average speed achieved for their 8Mbps package was 5.39Mbps. However, there is great concern that consumers are not getting what they pay for. This is because the average connection speed in Britain is on 2.97Mbps.

Although O2 is top of the league for ISPs broadband in Britain is still lagging especially when the majority of service providers only provide half the advertised speed

So if you want to win the race, it seems O2 is the one to back.

Digital Dictation – Dictating the future!

Digital Dictation is a technology that is growing as more and more legal firms take the technology on board.

All firms who use digital dictation seem convinced that they have made savings and become more efficient with the introduction of Digital Dictation. Westminister firm Campbell Hooper claims that they have made savings of £400,000 in three years with the introduction of digital dictation.

There is a huge worldwide and low-end market yet to be tapped into, and it is quite possible that a major player such as Apple may enter the market, linking its iPhone, speech recognition and digital dictation technology to deliver a more affordable solution to a much bigger client base.

Therefore, why not jump on the band wagon and also take advantage of digital dictation.

MVC Design Patterns

MVC design pattern is well established and spreading through the VS community. A bit like OOP on steriods but requiring the architect to be a lot more diligent in the seperation of files and objects.

MVC stands for Model View Controller and splits your code into three distinct areas:
1. The Model: represents the business logic and data elements of your program2. The View: the interface given the user. 3. The Controller: combines the model and the view to interpret user requests and present them via a view.

Splitting your code into these distinct sections allows you a high degree code re-use in the future. Getting to this point is not as simple as you think to acheive. A software architect often combines code at the various different levels in order to acheive a desired result but with MVC they must remember that there must be a creation of theoretical black boxes that can interact with various other black boxes.

Using MVC can be both beneficial and difficult. We found it not much use for small and medium sized projects but quite handy for large scale projects with multiple developers. Extra files are created to handle code and managing all these can be difficult.

Im simmary this is a good paradigm ready to be used by people in any of the modern development languages. It allows for modularity and code re-use and that can only be a good thing. Just make sure your projects are big enough....

MySQL Snapped Up By Sun

The M in LAMP has been bought by Sun for $1 billion. MySQL in the database engine powering most of the current online data driven websites and is highly popular because of its open source status. Sites such as Facebook and Google rely on MySQL to provide scalable and reliable systems. Usually a great technology which is consumed by big business is seen as a bad sign by the open-source community but not in this case. Sun has a long established history of promoting open-source products and programming tools and MySQL will no doubt benefit immensely from having such a big player backing it.

Elsewhere in the technology realm of business HP bought EDS in a move which sees the HP service sector open to many more opportunities aorund the globe. EDS has long been involved in UK government contracts so expect HP machines to be making an appearance in a civil service office near you soon.

Your Servers Enjoying A Virtual World

The subject of virtualisation is strong in the minds of many businesses around the world as they try and eke more out of the existing software. Microsoft was forced to release Virtual Server for free and issue refunds for those who had paid for it in the face of the free VMWare players popularity. There are many companies who offer virtualisation services but be careful which one you use. As with any new technology there will always be those who are out to take advantage of the initial bewilderment and lack of knowledge in the wider community. We have staff who have worked across the entire spectrum of business from small companies to SME's to large financial institutions and we always make sure the client is fully aware of what is happening.

Why virtualise? There are multiple reasons:

1. Less physical boxes means you will free up more space.
2. Save on electricity bills to counter the rising utility costs.
3. Disaster recovery policies are vastly simplified in that as long as you can save a backup of your virtual server files off-site then you will be fully able to restore these as soon as possible.

The area of virtualisation is vast and growing everyday with new tools and technologies pushing things further. BACK Consulting would suggest you give it some thought and if you would like some advice then please get in touch.

Vista Business Upgrade Problems?

According to reports in the press it looks likes Microsofts key operating system Vista is becoming much maligned in the business world. This week the US giant GM has stated that it will probably skip a firm wide Vista upgrade and wait for Windows 7 to come along. This is due to the multiple problems found during trial runs. Microsft has stated: "We're continuing to work hard with our customers and partners on the development of Windows 7." This reinforces Steve Ballmer's comments about speeding up releases of OS software. We look forward to seeing how other businesses react to the upgrade issue.

Search Engine optimisation

Search Engine Optimisation was a hot topic back in the day when businesses were starting to find a real use for the web. Nowadays it is taken for granted but it shouldn't be! With more and more people becoming wise to the ways of pushing your brand in an online world you need to make your site stay ahead of the crowd. BACK Consulting have long specialised in this field with many large corporate clients happily relying on our expertise.

Your company needs to strike a balance between spreading its name around and avoiding the risk of becoming blacklisted by way of an over agressive policy. Companies often use online automated promotional gateways which go about a pseudo spamming campaign to gain market awareness for your website. This can come back and haunt you in the long run. We always think that a tailored approach consisting of web registrations, use of appropriate tags throughout your site, site architecture, refreshing content, web crawlers, etc. is a more effective and ethical method of recognotion.

Search Engine Optimization objective for any online business the following is essential to keep a competitive edge in today’s marketplace. The aim of this Search Engine Optimization proposal is to present you with a competitive solution to increase the traffic to your web site through Search Engines and thereby attract new clients. We use our own unique Search Engine Placement Techniques. We can help you get better search engine positioning, optimization and placement at an affordable price.

Indulge Yourself

We spend so much time worrying about projects for other people it's about time we think about ourselves! In this new semi-selfish state of mind we decided to splash out on our IT infrastructure. New powerful laptops equiped with dual view for maximum productivity allow our staff to deliver the highest levels of service and productivity possible. Every system has been reviewed including ur communication systems, project management software, development tools, off-site servers and more.

Feeling like a child in a candy shop it was good to see all the fancy technology. So when you are tired of thinking of other peoples needs...... forget about them and indulge yourself!

Dedicated Remote or Physical Server

You have an Internet based business that is growing and you want to expand your offerings and do more with you web based services. You have a dilemma: do you go and buy the hardware yourself or do you go and rent a remote dedicated server to fulfill your needs? These are tough questions and ones that the owners of BACK Consulting have had to face up to ourselves. BACK Consulting also has a sister company named BACK inContact which is a low cost legal services provider driven on the Internet but linking with different systems around the world. We designed all our own software for this web offering and have an ASP.NET application working alongside dedicated web services all with a SQL Server 2005 database in the background.

This got us thinking. We can go out and buy another bigger server and have total control over our destiny - or should I say configurable. But then we thought about it some more and also on the shopping list came:

• a dedicated leased line with guaranteed up time
• sorting out the backups
• adding SQL Server 2005
• anti virus
• anti-spyware
• obtaining and configuring a top hardware firewall

These are just a few of the issues we came up with. If you are a dedicated systems person then it makes sense to have complete control of your own destiny and therefore the purchase of a physical server is right up your street. For our own operation we decided to have a look at dedicated servers online and see if these can provide what we need. After a a spot of research we have found a good option that ticks a lot of our boxes. For example we have a dedicated and configurable firewall, a fully managed server, 24/7 support, guaranteed up-time and the server can be configured how we please. The downside here of course is that we can't get our hands on this server and just get stuck-in like we are used to but if this is not a major problem then maybe your company should have a look at this option.

In terms of pricing a dedicated remote server varies considerably dependant upon such items as the speed of connection, the level of support and the spec of the server. A good provider will give you easy options to upgrade as you get further down the line and your business grows. With a physical server you can literally crack the box open and throw in some more memory, HDD, etc. but you have to know what you are doing. Either way you give yourself some good options.

In summary the idea of having a dedicated remote server is one we have taken up for our own business needs and should be something you at least consider if you happen to be in the same predicament. Our particular example happens to be a Windows 2003 Server based system but this option makes even more sense if your seeking a Linux option for the likes of a PHP/MySQL setup. Linux is a bonafide pain the backside unless you are deeply in touch with your inner geek and have confidence in your abilities.

Hopefully you now have a short taste of what your options are in terms of the choice between physical and remote dedicated services. Good luck.

It's Up To You, New York New York.......

The time is rapidly approaching for the largest exhibition of legal related technology in the world. All eyes shift to New York for LegalTech 2008. BACK Consulting will be heading to The Hilton just below Central Park and fighting the cold to cut through the dazzling array of products and make suitable recommendations for our clients. This current credit crunch is a global phenomenon and everywhere companies with sense take a long hard look at those golden nuggets of technology that can create efficiencies and therefore save money. In a marketplace where all costs are scrutinised the wise firms offer the best service at the best value for money.

As a company we have many years experience with case management systems and their various integral partners such as document management et al. As such we take a real interest in what new technologies and innovative approaches are being utilised. If we can pass suitable recommendations to our clients then we feel our job is done. If you would like to meet a member of the BACK Consulting delegation then please contact us.