Accent Computer Solutions Named One of the Top-Performing SMB Channel Partners in the U.S.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif., Jan. 15, 2013 – Accent Computer Solutions, Inc., leading IT service and support provider in Southern California, today announced it has been named to the SMB 500 list. Unveiled at the 2012 “Turn the Tables” Fall SMB Invitational in Rancho Mirage, Calif., the inaugural list celebrates the top 500 fastest-growing Ingram Micro U.S. channel partners focused on small and midsize businesses (SMBs). Ranked at number 394, Accent Computer Solutions grew its business with Ingram Micro by more than 79 percent growth between June 2009 and June 2012.

The SMB 500 list was derived from the more than 20,000 U.S. solution providers and MSPs who work with Ingram Micro’s U.S. SMB Business Unit. Those channel partners named to the list demonstrated a consistent, average three-year growth rate of more than 200 percent. The list also takes into account select criteria such as company size, overall technology category revenue growth and innovation with SMB business engagements.

“We are honored to be recognized for our continued growth and success in the managed services industry,” said Marty Kaufman, president of Accent Computer Solutions. “Accent provides the services of a complete IT department to businesses in a wide variety of industry sectors, and we continue to grow as more businesses realize the benefits of outsourcing some or all of their IT functions.” (more…)

The Best Gifts of the Year You Can Actually Write Off

A positive work environment starts with great resources. So, go ahead! Improve your workplace and take advantage of Uncle Sam’s bonuses before it’s too late.

Section 179’s final year…  If you’ve been waiting for the perfect time to update your office or upgrade your equipment, it’s here! Section 179 allows businesses to write-off certain types of equipment purchases, upgrades, or improvements and have been increased for the 2012 tax year.

Companies can write-off up to $139,000 and small businesses that are not profitable in 2012 can take a 50% bonus depreciation on new equipment only. I know what you are thinking…what qualifies?

Most equipment your company uses everyday is included.  Things like new or used office furniture, computers, peripherals, even off-the-shelf software are all included. The only catch is your new equipment must be purchased and ready to use by December 31, 2012 to qualify for the deduction. So, start planning now!

New computers for everyone!  Speed up your workflow with new machines. A good rule of thumb, if your computer is over 5-7 years old it’s time to upgrade. The computer industry has evolved leaps and bounds over the past decade and most new machines have double the processing power and come standard with better video cards, higher memory and extras like CD/DVD drives or burners.

The three major things to consider when purchasing new computers for your office are power, storage, and memory. These key factors will determine how functional the new equipment is for your needs and how long the computer will be operational for your company.

Add a second or third monitor.  If you’re tired of using the top of your screen to view a file and the bottom of the screen to enter information in another program, two or three monitors can help streamline your efforts. With a multi-monitor workstation you’re able to multitask even more! You can display your e-mail on one monitor and review material on another. This is fantastic for business users who need to respond promptly to clients or coworkers. Upgrading is fairly straight forward. All you need is a video card to support the new display structure and a new monitor to add. You can increase productivity for everyone in your office with this one simple gift. (more…)

New Security Breach Notification Laws: What You Need To Know

It’s Monday morning and one of your employees notifies you that they lost their laptop at a Starbucks over the weekend, apologizing profusely. Aside from the cost and inconvenience of buying a new laptop, could you be on the hook for bigger costs, and should you notify all your clients?

Maybe, depending on where you live and what type of data you had stored on that laptop. Forty-six of the fifty states, plus Washington D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, have security-breach laws outlining what businesses must do if they expose any kind of client or employee personal information, and practically every single business is directly affected by these laws. (Currently, the only states without such laws are Alabama, Kentucky, New Mexico and South Dakota, but that is likely to change.)

An Emerging Trend In Business Law

Since companies are storing more and more data on their employees and clients, states are starting to aggressively enforce data breach and security laws that set out the responsibilities for businesses capturing and storing personal data. What do most states consider confidential or sensitive data? Definitely medical and financial records such as credit card numbers, credit scores and bank account numbers, but also addresses and phone numbers, social security numbers, birthdays and in some cases purchase history—information that almost every single company normally keeps on their clients. (more…)

Ways to Keep Your Data Safe

Written by Courtney Kaufman
As featured in the September 23rd issue of The Press Enterprise

Courtney Kaufman

Courtney Kaufman

In business, information is everything. Without your client database, financial records, documents, or email, serving your customers would be nearly impossible. You need continuous access to your system to keep your business running smoothly.

So how do you ensure that your data will be protected against fires, floods, earthquakes, viruses, and human error? It’s all about backup.

Here are the main types of backups for businesses:

On-site backup. Also known as local backup, this is where your backup data is stored at the same location as the original data. This could be in the form of an external hard drive or a tape backup that stays in the office. One advantage is that if you need to restore the system, the data is readily available. While this method is better than nothing, the downside is that if your office is damaged or destroyed by a disaster, your data will be lost too.

Off-site backup. This is storing your backup data at an off-site or remote location away from your business. With your data off-site, your information is safe even if something were to happen to your physical location. The disadvantage is that if you needed to use that backup, you may be down for hours or days while you wait for the external hard drive to arrive in the mail. Additionally, there is also a high risk that the hard drive could be damaged, dropped, or lost in transit.

Online, off-site backup. With an online, off-site backup, the Internet is used to back up your data. The backups are kept on hosted servers, or “in the cloud,” and can be easily accessed if needed. The best part about this method is that as long as you have Internet access, you have access to your data. However, if you have a lot of data, the backups will slow down your Internet due to the amount of bandwidth used. And if you need to recover your data, getting all of it back over the Internet can be an extremely slow or impossible process.

The ideal scenario is to have a combination of all three types. It is also highly recommended that the backups are image-based. Image-based backups are basically snapshots of your server so, if necessary, you can copy the snapshot onto another server and you’ll be back in business.

It will save you a great deal of time and money in getting your network back up. Best of all, your configurations will remain in place since it’s a mirror image of your previous machine. This used to be very expensive, but due to recent technological advancements, it is much more affordable.

No matter how you back up your data, regular test restores need to be conducted to make sure your data is recoverable. After all, the worst time to find out your backup wasn’t working is after the data is gone.

Deciding on a backup solution essentially comes down to budget and risk tolerance. Talk to your IT provider about your options and make sure your critical business data will be available when you need it.

Courtney Kaufman is Marketing Manager for Accent Computer Solutions in Rancho Cucamonga. She can be reached at courtneyk@teamaccent.com

5 Easy Things You Should Do To Protect Your Business Now

    Let’s face it — no one likes to think about bad things happening to them, much less planning for them. But since September is National Disaster Preparedness month, we wanted to give you a quick “brush up” on some simple things you can (and should!) be doing to protect your business.

1. Review Your Business Insurance Carefully. Most businesses carry some type of general liability insurance that would pay them if their building and the things in it were damaged. However, many businesses do not have enough coverage to replace all the computer equipment and devices, desks, art, supplies and other things they’ve accumulated over the years that are housed in their office. Make sure you review your policy every year and keep in mind new additions and assets you’ve accumulated during that year.

2. Consider Cloud Computing. One of the biggest advantages of cloud computing is that your data and assets are stored off-site in a highly secure, high-availability data center, with failover and redundancy built in. That means that if your building were destroyed and you had to evacuate or if your server melted down due to an unexpected hardware failure, everything you’ve worked so hard to create over the years is safe and not a sitting duck in your unsecured closet or server room. (more…)

Password Best Practices

Written by Courtney Kaufman
As featured in the August 26th issue of The Press Enterprise

Courtney Kaufman

Courtney Kaufman

In the last quarter, some big names in the business world had their systems compromised and passwords were leaked. LinkedIn, Yahoo, and Dropbox are just a few notable companies that were affected by major security breaches. Each breach was unique, but they all resulted in some of their users’ login credentials becoming public information.

It was mainly consumers who were inconvenienced by having their login information revealed to the masses, but businesses could also be affected. If the people whose information was hacked use the same login credentials for company sites like Salesforce.com or Quickbooks Online — or worse, your network — then your business could be at risk. If that were the case, hackers would have open access to your email, financial records, client information and other information.

So what should business owners do to ensure their networks are protected against these breaches? (more…)

The Difference Between Data Backup, Disaster Recovery, and Business Continuity

Written by Courtney Kaufman
As featured in the July 29th issue of The Press Enterprise

Courtney Kaufman

Courtney Kaufman

I’m sure you’ve heard the terms “backup,” “disaster recovery,” and “business continuity.” What most business owners do not realize is that these are three separate things and without all three pieces, their business is in a vulnerable position.

First off, data backup is just copying your data onto another device. This could be a tape drive, an external hard drive, or an offsite backup. In most of these forms, your data is being stored in a raw format. This means that your applications, configurations, and network settings are not being backed up with it, so if you needed to restore, or recover, your network from the data backup, you may be down for days or weeks.

Disaster recovery is the ability to actually restore or recover all of your files, software, and functionality, without corruption. Many times, people confuse this with business continuity, but disaster recovery is only one component. Disaster recovery just means that you can get your data back in some period of time. Also, people tend to assume that disaster recovery refers only to large-scale, natural disasters, but a “disaster” could be as simple as a critical file erased, the sprinklers went off in your server room, or the server’s hard drive crashed. (more…)

Don’t Let The Olympics Affect Your Office’s Productivity

The Olympic Games have begun! Unfortunately for most US workers, the Games are happening live while they’re at work. And for those without a DVR, it might be tempting to watch the live streaming coverage online at the office.

It may seem harmless to watch a few events online, but, aside from hindering the productivity of the person watching, it could also cause a major slowdown in your Internet speed, causing the performance of the whole office to diminish.

Many business owners do not understand the full impact of these activities because they are not watching their Internet usage and bandwidth reports. My guess is that a large majority would be concerned with the amount of company time and resources that these actions are consuming.
 
Streaming content online is one of the biggest offenders for bandwidth usage. Imagine you’re going uphill on a two-lane highway and a truck carrying an oversized load merges in front of you. You and everyone else trying to use the road are going to suffer because you can only go as fast as the truck. That’s what can happen if even one person in your office listens to music or watches a video online. (more…)

4 Questions About Backups That CEOs Need Answered

Written by Courtney Kaufman
As featured in the June 10th issue of The Press Enterprise

Courtney Kaufman

Courtney Kaufman

A common Information Technology concern for CEOs is the safety and availability of their data. They want to know that their operations will continue and their critical business information will not be lost in the event of hardware failure or a natural disaster. In order for businesses to mitigate the cost and risk of data loss, they need to have the proper backup and disaster recovery solution in place.

Here are some questions about backups that business owners should know the answers to.

1. Where exactly is your data being backed up and how can you access it? As a best practice, a copy of your data should be located offsite. You should have the account information and direct contact information for the hosting service. In the event that your vendor or IT employee goes missing, you’ll need to be able to get hold of your data. This information should be in your network documentation or somewhere you can easily access.

2. Who is responsible for monitoring the backups to make sure they’re working properly? Many times, companies don’t realize that their backups have been failing until it’s too late. Ideally, your backups should be automated so they run like clockwork. If the backup fails, it will alert your IT team so they can investigate further. Whether your backup process is automated or not, somebody needs make sure it ran successfully on a daily basis. (more…)

How Small Businesses Should Budget for IT Expenses

A question that seems to come up a lot lately with clients is “How should I properly budget for IT expenses?”  While this is a great question, there are a lot of variables that determine the answer, so I can’t provide a “one-size-fits-all,” simple answer. However, below are some general guidelines that should help you figure this out: 

1. Hardware Refresh. No one likes the cost of a network upgrade, but it IS necessary approximately once every 3 to 4 years. PCs and servers older than that tend to run slow, crash frequently and generally become more expensive to fix and support than to replace. Therefore, your budget should include an IT refresh of all equipment every 3 years to be on the safe side.

2. Maintenance. There is no “set it and forget it” when it comes to network maintenance. With cyber criminals becoming more sophisticated and aggressive, you MUST constantly monitor and update your network against cyber-attacks, malware, data loss, etc. (more…)