Automated sales tools

Marketing collateral, sales tools, and automated reports can save a lot of time in preparing quotations. But will they alienate your customers or win you business?

Deploying and supporting XP SP3: use our expert tips to resolve incompatibility and installation issues

The third service pack (SP3) for Windows XP was released in May this year and while it’s a relatively stable and straightforward cumulative upgrade, there are some minor installation issues that you’ll want to be aware of before you roll it out — and if SP3 is already there, they might already be generating support calls.

Virtualizing Small Business Server with Hyper-V Server 2008 R2

The challenge and reward of running SBS 2008 on Microsoft’s free Hyper-V Server platform.

The latest Windows and Blackberry email handsets for business

Almost any phone does email, and there are dozens of Windows Mobile and BlackBerry models around. But if your clients want the latest high-end handsets, which of them are ready to do business?

Setting up Google Gmail Mobile in Google Apps

Installing Utimaco SafeGuard Easy

Protect a range of different versions of Windows with whole disk encryption with Utimaco SafeGuard Easy.

Saving power, saving money with a green energy audit: cut printer costs and create power plans

Cold mornings and the clocks going back are going to put up heating and lighting bills for businesses as winter draws in, but increasingly IT is putting up the electricity bill too. Power prices have increased significantly this year and it’s not yet clear whether they have peaked. Offer customers a power audit that covers printing, servers, desktop PCs, storage and peripherals or include it when you’re planning a new deployment to sweeten the deal — and try it out in your own office to find out how much you can save by managing IT power.

Hardware Recycling: Making money from green

Dealing with end-of-life hardware can be a burden for it consultants, but managing recycling and trade-ins for clients provides a business opportunity, as well as a chance to help the environment.

Managing and migrating firewalls

Firewalls can provide you with a host of information about what’s going on inside and outside your customer’s network. But that information isn’t necessarily easy to manage and analyse.

Do you get your cut from the cloud?

Cloud computing stands to be the most significant transformation for the IT industry in a generation. Analysts predict that within a few years, almost all companies will run at least some of their IT in the cloud; a minority will run all their computing that way.