Business Technology Roundtable

You never know when an unexpected turn of events is going to keep you out of your office. You may not live in earthquake country, or a hurricane zone, or a tornado corridor, but that doesn't exempt you. Everything from fires to broken water mains to police actions can unexpectedly mean that you're suddenly not able to do business where you thought you would that day. Acquirent, an outsourced sales execution firm based in Evanston, Illinois, knows this all too well. When its eleven employees were told to evacuate the premises unexpectedly one day, they had no choice but to pack up and go. But the disruption was surprisingly minimal. Built-In Business Continuity Because Acquirent offers outsourced sales services, founder and CEO Pete Kadens had a high level of confidence in choosing an outsourced phone system. He had deployed Geckotech's hosted IP phone system , which meant that his telecommunications capabilities weren't even inside the affected location. "We all ju...

In a global economy, professional services firms must differentiate themselves from their competition in increasingly creative ways. Rockwell Technology Group, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based software development firm, serves customers across the U.S. Midwest and Canada, including manufacturers, insurance companies, and management services. Because its customers are widespread, it needed to come up with a way to quickly and securely deliver software updates and patches for systems it had developed. As a way to save both time and money, it uses WebEx Workspace , a hosted extranet service, to post the results of its work for download by customers. The alternative would be to burn the software onto a CD or DVD and either have it delivered by hand or shipped overnight. But by using WebEx Workspace, Rockwell garners several advantages. Saving Time, Increasing Security One advantage is that the software updates, which may be necessary to make a business process more efficient, are immediately av...

In the online network connected business environment, security is more critical -- and also more complex. Today, network security requires constant monitoring and management. All businesses now experience vulnerability on an infrastructure that often extends to many locations. Managed service providers can create a comprehensive security offering that enables you to maintain the level of protection and control you require. They can manage some or all of your network security functions -- giving you access to their dedicated manpower, 24-hour safeguarding, as well as routine maintenance and management of disaster recovery. Finding the right security solution for your organization begins with establishing your priorities and becoming informed about alternatives. The following describes typical managed security service offerings, and how you can apply them. Managed Firewall Firewalls protect internal and external networks by restricting the types of network protocols and traffic allowed ...

Managed services provider Verizon Business has added an interesting twist to its security toolbox. Traditionally, managed security services are tactical: they monitor a network for potential attacks, using virus signatures and other definitions. Earlier this month, Verizon upgraded its customers' security capabilities with what it calls its " Risk-Correlation Service ," designed to add strategic insight to security. The RCS works with vulnerability scans -- either those it does for customers or those from vendors such as McAfee, Qualys, and others -- to determine where potential vulnerabilities exist. The service also documents your system to create a map of devices and the business processes that run on them. "It marries threat information with vulnerability information," says Jonathan Nguyen-Duy, Director of Product Management for Verizon. Calculating Risks The result is a Web-based scorecard that shows Verizon customers not only where potential problems exist...

Many traditional businesses maintain separate networks for data and voice communication. With a converged voice-and-data network, companies can often reduce costs and gain significant productivity benefits. However, the cost of implementing and managing the solution internally can be prohibitive. A more affordable option is to out-task IP communications to a managed services provider . This arrangement avoids initial CapEx and provides economies of scale -- because the service provider already owns the required infrastructure. You can choose from several options for managed IP communications services. The following describes typical managed IP communications service offerings, and how you can apply them. Business IP Telephony Services This includes both subscriber and group calling services. Companies that need sophisticated PBX features can use a managed IP telephony service. Many small businesses can also receive the functionality that they require with a managed IP telephony soluti...

Turmoil and struggles in the financial services sector are splashed daily on the front page of newspapers around the world. The industry faces a number of monumental challenges that are threatening and shaping its future. To remain competitive, forward-looking firms need to: Reduce costs Improve cross-sell and up-sell results from existing customers Shift capital expenditures to operational expenditures through variable costing and on-demand capabilities Progressive companies in the financial services sector are aggressively using managed services technology to address some of these current challenges. Serving Market Growth The financial services sector currently spends more than 2.5 times more on technology than other industries. The way they can attack challenge number one is to shift the management of desktops, data centers, and call centers to a managed services model. Companies are using this option not just to reduce costs, but as a way to reallocate investment into growth initia...

Service providers offer a variety of options for managed services. The following describes the first of the top three most popular managed services, and the associated options, to help you determine which services would be most useful for your company. Businesses gain both tactical and strategic advantages when adopting IP Virtual Private Networks (VPN). In the short term, they benefit from cost-effective, secure network connectivity to branch offices and secure access to remote workers, teleworkers, and global partners. In the long term, they position themselves to take advantage of new value-added, IP-based applications and to support more users and applications at a lower cost. Choosing a Best-Fit IP VPN Solution Cisco commissioned the Yankee Group to describe the decision-making process that enterprises used to select one of three broad types of IP VPN managed services (click on image to enlarge). You can use the decision tree to determine which of the three options for managed I...

Companies with extended supply chains frequently need to collaborate with multiple partners -- simultaneously and visually. Yesterday at the National Retail Federation Conference in New York, AT&T and Cisco reminded attendees that they have added multipoint capabilities to their telepresence offering, which AT&T delivers as a managed service . Attendees visiting AT&T's booth participated in videoconferencing discussions with Cisco employees in San Jose, and expressed confidence that they could apply the teleconferencing capabilities in their business immediately. Collin Cupid of high-end handbags and accessories manufacturer Coach said, "It made you feel like everybody's in the same room." Sally Curtis of Planet Retail, a market research firm, said, "We can use this in our own context for communicating with customers. It's absolutely real." A couple of executives from United Rentals wanted an installation "yesterday," but were wi...

AT&T demonstrated its telepresence capabilities at this week's National Retail Federation conference in New York City. Retailers and other attendees are already talking about how the global industry could use Business Video technology to improve supplier and customer relationships, reduce travel expenses, and make supply chains more efficient. Using Cisco's TelePresence technology for videoconferencing , AT&T offered attendees the chance to participate in sessions with Cisco employees in San Jose. Chris Eubanks of athletic equipment retailer Sports Authority said, "It was one of the most real things I'd ever seen. It was like being in the same room as the people in San Jose." Carlo Pochinesta of clothing manufacturer Gucci said, "It was as close to meeting in person as you can get and yet not be in the same room together." As a salesperson, Erik Kostelnik of employment Web site careerbuilder.com found it helpful in his work. "I started readi...

As noted in Part I , global sensor manufacturer Measurement Specialties Inc. (MSI) faced multiple challenges with its managed network services provider. It suffered from excessive downtime, and the team of IS/IT director Bob Andreini spent too much time solving problems that were the responsibilities of their provider. Andreini brought in Virtela , a Greenwood Village, Colo.-based managed network services provider that works with multiple vendors of networking equipment, including Cisco. It devised a mesh network using Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology that eliminated the point-to-point problems that plagued MSI previously. He describes it as a seamless network with multiple subnetworks, "almost like a black box. Someone in Fremont, Calif., can send something to our site in Shenzen, China via the most logical route over the network." Automatic Backup At the same time, MSI's downtime has disappeared. Virtela set up a back-up DSL circuit at each of MSI's...

By any measure, Bob Andreini's network was a nightmare. Even though he had outsourced the management of the network, downtime was measured in days. His team regularly mediated finger-pointing between international telecom providers. Even the configuration of his infrastructure left a lot to be desired. Andreini, the global director of IS and IT at Measurement Specialties Inc., a $200 million manufacturer of sensors with 12 locations around the world, knew something had to change. His company had grown through acquisition, adding sites in locations in Galway, Ireland; Versailles, France; Dortmund, Germany; and Bevaix, Switzerland, a village of 3,500 outside of Neuchatel. But this growth also meant an increasing patchwork of network connections. Reliability was a challenge, especially with an IT staff of 35 and only ten of those people devoted to the infrastructure -- able to work only part-time on this key task. Downtime Here Meant Downtime There A hub-and-spoke infrastructure meant...

In a global economy, professional services firms must differentiate themselves from their competition in increasingly creative ways. Rockwell Technology Group, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based software development firm, serves customers across the U.S. Midwest and Canada, including manufacturers, insurance companies, and management services. Because its customers are widespread, it needed to come up with a way to quickly and securely deliver software updates and patches for systems it had developed. As a way to save both time and money, it uses WebEx Workspace , a hosted extranet service, to post the results of its work for download by customers. The alternative would be to burn the software onto a CD or DVD and either have it delivered by hand or shipped overnight. But by using WebEx Workspace, Rockwell garners several advantages. Saving Time, Increasing Security One advantage is that the software updates, which may be necessary to make a business process more efficient , are immediately a...

A professional education trains someone to be a lawyer, doctor, or accountant, but it rarely teaches them how to run a business practice – that's typically learned from experience. Ken Wolfe is a worker's compensation lawyer in Chicago with 25 years experience. When he hung out his own shingle, he realized that in addition to being a lawyer, he was now managing his own business operations. Among other things, that meant making decisions about choosing the best telephone system for his business needs. Wolfe thought he was playing it safe by setting up his operation with phone and Internet service from a leading telecommunications provider, using traditional technology. But before long, he realized he missed many of the services that had been available at his previous firm, which had used Geckotech's hosted IP-based phone system . Lesson learned, he switched providers after a year. Hosted System Brings Voice and Data Together Because the replacement phone system was hosted, W...