SL Powers -- Technology Newsletter

April 2007
In this issue...

►Product Focus: GN Restore
►Business Disaster Ready?
►Launch Company Intranet
►Regulatory Compliance
►Virtual Meetings

Virtual Meetings
Cut Travel Costs
By Monte Enbysk
Reprinted with permission from
Microsoft Small Business Center

The travel industry has taken its hits in recent years, and I hate to add to it. But in good times or bad, your business needs to scrutinize its travel budget to find ways to cut costs.

This isn't about safety. The skies are much safer these days. This is about economics. With today's "virtual meeting" technologies, you can boost your business's productivity and avoid extended trips and unnecessary travel costs.

"A majority of companies simply have higher travel expenses than they need," says Alisa Jenkins, a Tampa, Fla., area business and marketing consultant. "This doesn't mean you have to cut out all travel. There are still many cases where meeting face to face is best. But there are also good ways to meet virtually that can make many of your business trips unnecessary."

Alternatives to business travel — videoconferencing, Web conferencing, teleconferencing and online collaboration tools — continue to improve with advances in Internet and related technologies. Each will be addressed in detail below.

But first: When do you absolutely need to meet? Here are some scenarios mentioned by experts:

Product Focus: GN Restore
Did you know that technology advances have given us the ability to completely restore your computer network even if your all of your servers and infrastructure are destroyed by a disaster? Comprehensive network restoration is quickly becoming a necessity in the business world. Accordingly, SLPowers has developed GN Restore, a high-tech Disaster Recovery product guaranteed to get networks back online in as little as one hour after a catastrophic event.
GN Restore goes beyond traditional data-only backups to incorporate all-inclusive network restoration. This premier Business Continuity product provides small and medium-sized companies nationwide with data, program and network restoration to get their business back on track promptly in the event of a disaster.

The Need to Be Proficient
Many businesses are taking steps to safeguard their systems by employing data backup tools. Unfortunately, many are only protecting the data portion by settling on tape backup or remote Internet data backup. GN Restore's ability to recreate the entire server infrastructure ensures a smooth transition from disaster to recovery.

"We recently enrolled a business who thought they were taking all the necessary precautions by using a remote data backup service," stated Rory Sanchez, CEO of SLPowers. “After a lightning strike damaged their office and nearly destroyed everything, they learned that it would take over two weeks before they would have their computer systems fully functional again. It was a costly mistake that could have been avoided."

There are many companies offering remote, tape less data backups across the Internet with the promise that a business will be able to retrieve their data from a remote location. These services guarantee security and accessibility for data; however, it could take days, or even weeks, to recover the critical programs businesses utilize in their day-to-day activities.

SLPowers' Pledge
The Professionals at SLPowers ensure that with GN Restore, you will have your vital programs up and running in a fraction of the time of standard tape or remote data backup systems. SLPowers has founded relationships with secure data centers in California, Maryland, and Nevada for data reproduction, with the understanding that their own local facilities could also be affected by a disaster.

GN Restore is a high-quality investment for everyone, with enough value and utility to make it the one product your firm can trust. Please contact your sales associate for further information or visit our website.

Is Your Business Disaster-Ready?

By Jeff Wuorio
Reprinted with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Center

Hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural events are disasters in every sense of the word. Lives are lost, property decimated and entire communities disrupted.

For your small business, these events can be just as devastating. But there's a great deal you can do — both to prepare before a disaster strikes and afterwards, to get your business back on its feet quickly.

Here are 10 tips to better protect your business and, if damage occurs, what you can do to speed your recovery. First, here are tips to help you protect your business:

8 Tips for Launching a Company Intranet
By Jeff Wuorio

Reprinted with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Center

Many small-business owners get it when it comes to the influence and reach of the Internet. But what they may not fully appreciate is how that medium can be used exclusively within their own business.

Planning and programming an intranet — an internal Web site restricted to those within your company — can prove a boon to communication, project management and a host of other responsibilities. But using it effectively means more than building it, plugging it in, and letting it rock.

Regulatory Compliance and Small Business
Learn about the new regulatory environment and what you should do to ensure that your small business is compliant.

A new regulatory environment is affecting the business landscape, and compliance standards such as Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) and HIPAA require businesses to adhere to enforceable standards set by the government. Many compliance standards require accountability on the part of businesses, especially in the areas of data integrity, security, and privacy. Small businesses, especially in the financial and healthcare sectors or those that handle contracts from businesses in these sectors or from government agencies, are more likely to be affected by a more stringent regulatory environment.