In This Issue

1.      What is Automation Concepts doing now?

2.     Major changes in the Law may put your company at risk.
New Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) for ‘eDiscovery’

3.     Wireless Security – Is it real?

4.     MPLS – The next trend in voice and data.

 

1)     What is Automation Concepts doing now?

Last year, after nearly 20 years of providing IT consulting services in the Boston area, we tried to split our time between a new location in Florida and our original location in Boston. Looking back this was a mistake. On the positive side we have spent the last year gearing up on many new products, recharging our batteries, and most importantly fielding calls and getting feedback from you, our clients. “When are you going to be in Boston?” “Can you schedule some time for us next trip?” “Why not just stay up here full time?”

We have heard your calls. We are ramping back up in the Boston area. Our once a month trips are now every two weeks with plans for a full time presence by June 1^st. Please contact us today to get your projects on the books or to schedule vacation coverage.

Lessons Learned: It is much easier to prevent a problem than clean-up after one. Too often a client calls after they are in trouble. We need to be more proactive and schedule regular maintenance visits with our clients. To help make these visits more affordable we are offering a discount program for regularly scheduled visits booked and billed in advance. This will help close the door before the horse is loose. We have clients booking a few hours a week to clients booking a few hours a month.

Periodic Review: One of positive things we have heard was that clients felt that we took the time to learn their business. One of the things we have failed at is conducting a periodic review with our clients of their systems in regards to long term goals and budget planning. Scheduled equipment upgrades and replacement are much cheaper than emergency repair.

Times are tough: Most of our clients are telling us that their budgets are stretched to the breaking point. Our margins are far too thin to do much about equipment costs but we are working on a “free-trip” incentive program where we pay the mileage on billable visits of 3 hours or more.

Thank you for referrals: Like any small business we rely on referrals to generate new business. Almost 100% of our client base has come from referrals by existing clients. We want to say thank you for a referral that generates revenue by either rewarding your company with a credit on billable hours or rewarding you personally with a gift card. You choose which is best.

2)    New Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) for ‘eDiscovery’

On December 1, 2006 the New Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) for ‘eDiscovery’ went into effect. These new rules govern how and when information can and will be collected, preserved, and produced in connection with legal discoveries for Federal Court cases. In many cases these rulings have become the guidelines for these types of decisions at the state level as well.

Electronically Stored Information (ESI) is now definitively subject to legal discovery. Lawyers can no longer agree to ignore electronic content.

Several government regulations (Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, etc.) require the retention of and access to email records.  Email Archiving makes it easy and automatic to maintain the required records and to search and find specific information.

Prevent Fraud. Preserve the trail of evidence when employees mismanage company information, participate in fraud, or behave inappropriately via email. Remember there are always at least two copies of every email, make sure you have one.

Transparency. At the beginning of every case the source of information being used in a case must be divulged. This means companies must exchange information about the sources of information, including Electronically Stored Information (ESI), which could cause companies to make their IT departments available to opposition lawyers who will seek to discover information from as many sources as possible. This could also open a company’s management, storage, and retention of data practices to attack.

Preservation. When a company is notified of a case they must identify any information that is potentially relevant to that case and preserve it for the entire life of the case.

EMAIL is a Major Concern. For many companies 80% of their intellectual property is contained in their email system. For many companies intellectual property is their largest asset. In addition, email systems often contain confidential information ranging from client correspondence to employee evaluations. Every email has a sender and a recipient. That means there are (at least) two copies of every email and one is probably not in your company’s control. If your company cannot preserve the original email or chain of emails they are allowing for the possibility of opposition lawyers to interpret unmatched emails to their client’s advantage.

Email Archiving is the answer. Capture and archive inbound and outbound emails and prevent critical emails from being deleted. Store, sort and retrieve them in a timely manner while offloading your email servers.

We have already seen instances where email archiving could have helped in defending job actions and would have helped prove employee fraud.  Email archiving addresses more than just compliance - it could prove critical to your company’s defense.

3) Wireless Security - Is It Real?

SonicWALL is now delivering the ability to configure Virtual Access Points with its new Version 4.0 Enhanced Operating System. This allows multiple access points to work in harmony providing different levels of access to different users. Visiting users may have Internet only access while employees with the proper client and credentials can have full network access. We just rolled out SonicPoints for a secure network in a warehouse environment saving hundreds of dollars in wiring costs and allowing flexibility in the placement of workstations. Coupled with a Power-Over-Ethernet (POE) switch, the SonicPoint wireless access points are powered through the network cable and do not require an electrical outlet.

 4)  MPLS – The next trend in voice and data.

Multi-Protocol label Switching is the latest technology for voice and data networks. Many of our clients have involved us in projects to convert their voice and data lines as their current contracts expire. Clients often benefit from greater bandwidth at a reduced cost. If you are considering this, you may want us to assist you in the project. These conversions often involve new equipment or changes to your existing network and can be complex to implement.  In several cases our expertise bridged the gap to make the implementation a success.

 

 

Automation Concepts – Share the excitement.

The same great service,

New products and services,

A renewed spirit.