Thus various software applications are quite important in the competition of a company against its competitors. Well developed software can enhance the day to day operations of a business considerably. Thus, this automatically causes the demand for computer consultants to go up considerably.

A computer consultant can be a considerable help when it comes to the development and maintenance of all types of business software. Moreover, a computer consultant can help to keep your computers in shape too.

Choosing a Consultant

The importance of choosing the right computer consultant for your company is very high. The cost of various software and hardware for your company will be high to begin with, so you will need to make sure that your computer consultant can keep them on top condition.

Of course, choosing the right consultant may not be as easy as it seems. In fact, choosing the right computer consultant on the first time can be quite trying for many companies.

There are two main categories of computer consultants on the market. The first type of consultant is responsible for the maintenance of your hardware systems. The second type of computer consultant will be mostly concerned with the development of various software for your business needs and desires.

In overall analysis, computer consultants are usually hired on a long term basis, while sometimes they may be outsourced for full time by the company. If a computer consultant is retained, then he will mostly be responsible for software development for the long term projects. Short term computer consultants are usually employed for hardware purposes.

Hence, it is important for you to make up your mind about what kind of a computer consultant that you need for your computer company. By identifying your needs carefully, you will be able to choose the right consultant for your company.

For example, if you need a special firewall for your company, then you will need to make sure that you get an idea of what a firewall is. Being aware of the problems can help you choose the right consultant.

Once you have identified your needs and requirements then you can go to the next step. In the next step, you will be able to choose a proper independent computer consultant for your business.

If you are going to use a ready made software package such as the Microsoft products, then you should be able to use a short term computer consultant who can help you to find them from a reseller. The consultant will then go about installing them and educating you about their uses. However, if you need special software prepared for your company, then you will need to hire a consultant knowledgeable in programming.

How to Look for a Computer Consultant

There is various ways to look for a computer consultant. You can look on the Internet to see scores of consultants. As a second alternative, you can easily use the Yellow Pages for a proper consultant. If you need some extra information, then you can also contact the Better Business Bureau.

Of course, some computer consultants are listed in various Chambers of Commerce in your local city. You can check for their contact information there or you can contact any one of the Computer associations to help you choose the right computer consultant in your area.

Here are some tips to help you create logos, pamphlets, design business cards, etc. to go along with the theme of your web site.

Do you want a corporate web site design that is both appealing and functional?  Are you looking for a professional, yet affordable web page design?  Are you looking for a reputable Web site design company for your custom website design needs?

When you call on website development companies, you’ll be looking for a professional design company that prides itself on supplying visually appealing web page designs that will make your business work better; Clean web design that keeps your visitors at your site, and a professional custom web design service that will motivate your clientele into doing more business online than ever before.

Some companies struggle with new web design technology, and some companies never delivered on their promises. Look for a company that does work that’s  guaranteed. Ask if they have a guarantee that is supported by an active Quality Assurance and support program that begins with the first contact and continues long past your acceptance of the final work. These tips will assure you of performance and satisfaction.

Contact Jeff Atto of Concise Computer Consulting, LLC, located at 2150 Franklin Road, Bloomfield Hills, MI.  Please contact us for any question about your home computer or laptop.  248-745-8255

My email address is info@concisePC.com and our website is http://www.concisePC.com

Concise Computer Repair services these Zip Codes and beyond:
48007, 48009, 48012, 48017, 48025, 48030, 48033, 48034, 48037, 48067, 48068, 48069,  48072, 48070, 48071, 48075, 48076, 48083, 48084, 48085, 48098, 48099, 48178, 48220, 48237, 48301, 48302, 48303, 48304, 48306, 48307, 48308, 48309, 48320, 48321, 48322, 48323, 48324, 48325, 48326, 48327, 48328, 48329, 48330, 48331, 48332, 48333, 48334, 48335, 48336, 48340, 48341, 48342, 48343, 48346, 48347, 48348, 48350, 48359, 48360, 48362, 48363, 48366, 48367, 48370, 48371, 48374, 48375, 48376, 48377, 48382, 48387, 48390, 48393

This article was submitted by Right Now Marketing Group, LLC

Viruses – A virus is a small piece of software that replicates itself. A virus might attach itself to a program such as a spreadsheet program. Each time the spreadsheet program runs, the virus runs, too, and it has the chance to reproduce (by attaching to other programs) or wreak havoc. E-mail viruses – An e-mail virus moves around in e-mail messages, and usually replicates itself by automatically mailing itself to dozens of people in the victim’s e-mail address book. Worms – A worm is a small piece of software that uses computer networks and security holes to replicate itself. A copy of the worm scans the network for another machine that has a specific security hole. It copies itself to the new machine using the security hole, and then starts replicating from there, as well. Trojan horses – A Trojan horse is simply a computer program. The program claims to do one thing (it may claim to be a game, or a “free” piece of software) but instead does damage when you run it (it may erase your hard disk). Trojan horses have no way to replicate automatically. They are called Trojan horses because they are sometimes disguised as normal computer programs.

Spyware:

Spyware is defined as any software that covertly gathers user information through the user’s Internet connection without his or her knowledge, usually for advertising purposes. Spyware applications are typically bundled as a hidden component of freeware or shareware programs that can be downloaded from the Internet; however, it should be noted that the majority of shareware and freeware applications do not come with spyware. Once installed, the spyware monitors user activity on the Internet and transmits that information in the background to someone else. Spyware can also gather information about e-mail addresses and even passwords and credit card numbers.

Spyware often causes “pop-up” advertisements to appear on the user’s screen, without the user’s knowledge or consent. These pop-ups can be quite a headache, and spyware itself often slows down computers to a slow crawl.

Because spyware exists as independent executable programs, they have the ability to monitor keystrokes, scan files on the hard drive, snoop other applications, such as chat programs or word processors, install other spyware programs, read cookies, change the default home page on the Web browser, consistently relaying this information back to the spyware author who will either use it for advertising/marketing purposes or sell the information to another party. When the home page of your web browser changes without your knowledge or consent, this is referred to a home-page hijacking.

Sometimes, a computer is so badly infected with viruses and spyware that the harmful software cannot be removed without completely formatting the hard drive (deleting all files) and reinstalling the operating system. Now is when you contact your computer repair store.  Ask for the computer virus repair technician.  The tech will offer a data backup solution and note which programs you had installed, and then perform a BFR (Backup, Format, Reinstall, Restore) on your system. When the virus and spyware removal is completed, ask for instructions on how to run the programs that were installed to prevent viruses and spyware from compromising your system in the future.

This article was prepared and written by Jeff Atto of Concise Computer Consulting, LLC, located at 2150 Franklin Road, Bloomfield Hills, MI. Please contact us for any question about your home computer or laptop. 248-745-8255 My email address is info@concisePC.com and our website is http://www.concisePC.com

This article was submitted by Right Now Marketing Group, LLC

Vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Windows Operating System Opening e-mails from suspicious and unknown sources with attachments Visiting websites which claim to offer “free” software, music or video downloads File sharing websites

Concise was created to help small businesses with various technological needs such as onsite computer repair, offsite data protection, disaster recovery solutions, computer repair training, and data backup services.  Lately, ConcisePC has been responding to client demand for anti-virus and anti-spyware protection.

The damage to a business with a compromised informational technology system is catastrophic.  With bank accounts larger than an individual’s, a small business has the responsibility of protecting the critical personal information of its customers and vendors.  The result comes in the form of law suits, credit fraud and quite possibly the demise of the business itself.

Jeff Atto and the entire staff at Concise advise and educate their clients to be proactive to avoid a scenario mentioned above.  “There are plenty of actions that a client can choose,” offered Jeff.  “These actions are covered by our services that cost nothing compared to the devastation of a viral invasion or an illegal computer hack job.”

Concise Computer Consulting services the small and medium sized business community as well as residential homeowners.  Concise offers every kind of on site computer service:  laptop repair service, online pc repair, pc tech support and computer trouble shooting. Concise also offers Remote access configuration, Virtual Private Networks (VPN), Web site design, Server Administration, and Preventive maintenance in the metropolitan Detroit area.  In addition, Concise diagnoses, installs, and manages both wired and wireless Local Area Networks, and even resells computers, laptops, and servers for Dell and IBM.

When you are experiencing computer problems, the time and money lost in productivity grows by the minute. Give us a call if you are having technical troubles and let us get you back up and running … within hours.

Jeff Atto of Concise Computer Consulting, LLC, located at 2150 Franklin Road, Bloomfield Hills, MI.  Please contact us for any question about your home computer or laptop.  248-745-8255

My email address is info@concisePC.com and our website is http://www.concisePC.com

This article was submitted by Right Now Marketing Group.

Choose Your Market

A first key step is to decide whether you will serve a business or consumer market. The choice influences who your competition will be (i.e. global IT consulting firms vs Best Buy’s Geek Squad), where and how you should be marketing, and in what areas you need to hone your expertise. You won’t find many computer consultants who try to work with both markets, simply because there are such different needs in each customer group that costs will rise and profit decrease as you try to serve both.

Use the Best, Cost-Saving IT You Can

An important method which should be both a money-saver and feather in your cap for marketing, is for you and your business to take advantage of the latest and best options in IT to make your work more efficient. For example, visits to clients sites will be necessary at times (to develop relationships, to see the hardware situation yourself, etc.) but often you should be making use of remote login systems to offer technical support and auditing of client computers. Logmein and Gotomypc are low-cost or free examples, and remote login should cut down on the extreme waste of travel expenses and time.

Another resource is the use of virtual offices and virtual receptionists. Rather than renting out a business office, you can make use of your own office, internet-ready cafes, or any location with a connection and cell phone signal. Virtual office services give you a business address, the potential to rent office or meeting space on an as-needed basis, and even locations in multiple cities to allow a traveling lifestyle. Virtual receptionists can give customers and potential customers calling in a better experience than speaking to voicemail, and at a much lower cost than a full-time, dedicated receptionist.

I want to give you one of the biggest pieces of advice you will ever receive: RAISE YOUR RATES!

Pretty wild right? That’s why I get paid the big bucks. Go ahead and just try it. The only one that may have any anxiety afterwards will be you. Your clients won’t care. Their response will be mild at best and you will not lose any business.

Why raising your rates can INCREASE business:

Consumer’s subconsciously associate value with price, and this only makes sense. After all, a $98,000 home does not have the same perceived value as a $325,000 home of the same size in a different neighborhood.  Before even seeing the homes, we immediately associate the more expensive one with finer, polished, more luxurious features. We associate the inexpensive home with the opposite.

The same is true for your business. If you are advertising $15/hour while your competitor’s all charge $65/hour, you will more than likely get LESS business.

Prospects will assume that your prices are so cheap because you either:

Are not good at what you do- or – You are not confident in your own abilities

If you demand higher prices, you are demanding higher credibility, and sending a message that you provide a quality of service that is superior to your competitors.

Even though I am suggesting that you raise your rates, I do not want you to price yourself out of your clients buying range. A $10 to $20 hourly rate increase will not break the bank, but a $40 to $50 increase might.

The best thing to do is test.
You have to test your prices and your clients response. I suggest you take 30 days for each pricing structure to give yourself enough time to collect accurate results. Document the following:

Your profits The number of calls you receive a week The number of calls that turned into clients The number of calls that did NOT turn into clients How many clients expressed concerns about your new price.

What you will most likely find is that business either stays the same or increases slightly and you do not lose any clients.

Consider my own example…
In my own computer consulting business I advertised a Total Recovery service that included a Windows reinstall, data/drivers/settings backup, and program reinstall. I originally charged a flat $125. I decided to experiment with higher prices, so I raised my rate to a flat $197 for the service.

The results? I almost doubled sales and had virtually no objections when I told clients the new price over the phone.

I have advised dozens of other computer consultants through my Computer Consulting Business In-A-Box to raise their prices, and have never witnessed a negative affect on their business. In all instances, sales went up.

Make Sure You Deliver and Justify
If you are going to raise your rates you must always deliver on your abilities and wow your clients with your work and customer service. If you take care of every person who calls, emails you, and walks into your store, they will have no problem spending a little more with you than with your competitors.

What About The Bad Apples?
If you do have a few clients leave because of your new price, chances are they are bad clients and you should have fired them anyways. The clients that work with you are the ones who appreciate what you do and will gladly refer you to all of their friends.

Conclusion
The bottom line is, you will never know until you try. The worst that could happen is you raise your rates, decide its not for you, and lower them back down. But if you do not try to raise your rates, you could be leaving a lot of money on the table.

So go ahead, give it a try.

Post your answers to these questions as comments below:

What rates do you currently charge? How does that compare to your competitors? When was the last time you raised your rates? If you’ve raised your rates already, what was the result?

For a full-proof solution on how to increase sales AND raise your rates, consider investing in my Computer Consulting Business In-A-Box. The marketing campaigns and business systems I provide you are designed to sell prospects on the VALUE of your services which, in turn, justifies your higher prices and makes it easier for them to see you as the ‘clear choice’ when choosing a provider.

One of the reasons that Concise is so well respected in their industry is because they take the time to explain and teach at the same time.  Let’s face it, the information highway has its own language today.  Computer techies have always had a vernacular that tended to exclude the rest of the non-techie world.  Making things worse for us non-techies today, is the next layer of computer- speak: abbreviations of all the words that we had no clue about from the beginning.

The staff at Concise will now lead the pc tech support field by offering a series of articles with those definitions of words from the computer tech support world.  This is the first offering in what Concise hopes will be a long series of definitions from the computer tech speaker.

HONEYPOT

Wikipedia defines a HONEYPOT in computer speak, as a trap set to detect, deflect, or in some manner counteract unauthorized attempts to obtain use of information systems.

A HONEYPOT consists of a computer, data, or a network site that appears to be part of a network. But, the Honeypot is actually an isolated and unprotected deadend which appears to a hacker as valuable information.

Simply put, a HONEYPOT is a seductive decoy.  It lures the attacker into a harmless area of your system where it could be isolated, detected, and hopefully discovered by cyber police.

Another use of the Honeypot is to isolate spam.  Spammers abuse vulnerable resources such as open mail relays.  Some system administrators have created honeypot programs that masquerade as these decoy resources to discover spammer activity. There are several capabilities that honeypots provide to the administrators and the existence of such seductive bait systems makes abuse more difficult or risky for the spammer. Honeypots can be a powerful countermeasure to abuse from those who rely on very high volume abuse (e.g., spammers).  These honeypots can reveal the apparent IP address of the abuse and provide bulk spam capture (which enables operators to determine spammer’s URLs and response mechanisms).

HONEYNETS

Two or more honeypots on a network form a HONEYNET. Typically, a HONEYNET is used for monitoring a larger and/or more diverse network in which one honeypot may not be sufficient. Honeynets and honeypots are usually implemented as parts of a larger computer trouble shooting system. A HONEYFARM is a centralized collection of honeypots and analysis tools.

The next visit from a Concise Computer Consulting technician should go smoother.  And, when the topic turns to setting up a Honeyfarm for your small business’s computer system, you will immediately understand that you are not about to purchase a bunch of bee hives.

Concise Computer Consulting services the small and medium sized business community as well as residential homeowners.  Concise offers every kind of on site computer service:  laptop repair service, online pc repair, pc tech support and computer trouble shooting. Concise also offers Remote access configuration, Virtual Private Networks (VPN), Web site design, Server Administration, and Preventive maintenance in the metropolitan Detroit area.  In addition, Concise diagnoses, installs, and manages both wired and wireless Local Area Networks, and even resells computers, laptops, and servers for Dell and IBM.

When you are experiencing computer problems, the time and money lost in productivity grows by the minute. Give us a call if you are having technology troubles and let us get you back up and running …often within hours.

Jeff Atto of Concise Computer Consulting, LLC, located at 2150 Franklin Road, Bloomfield Hills, MI.  Please contact us for any question about your home computer or laptop.  248-745-8255

My email address is info@concisePC.com and our website is http://www.concisePC.com

This press release was submitted by Right Now Marketing Group, LLC.

Now you may be a very responsible computer consultant, and consistently mail all of your invoices out on the first of the month. But that doesn’t mean your clients will be putting a check in the mail to you on the 2nd.

As a small business owner yourself, you’re going to have financial responsibilities of your own that you’ll be required to meet on a regular basis. Regardless of how hard you work to make sure that your receivables are sufficient for meeting your expenses, it won’t do you any good if your invoice for that hard work winds up sitting in your client’s “to do” box, for weeks or even months.

Fortunately, there’s a very simple solution for making sure that you receive payment for your services ON THE VERY SAME DAY YOU GENERATE YOUR INVOICE.

A Factoring Company can purchase your receivables.

Once a month, or more frequently if you wish, you can email or fax a copy of each of your invoices directly to your factoring company. On the same day, the factoring company will deposit up to 85% or more of the total amount of your invoices directly into your bank account.

Then, once your client delivers payment to your factoring company, you will receive the remaining 15% of your invoice, minus the fee charged by the factoring company. The fees will vary depending on when payment was received. Fees can range from between 1.2% for payments received within 30 days to 1.6% for invoices left outstanding for longer than 90 days.

I believe these fees are well justified, just so I could know at the start of each month, EXACTLY how much money I’ll be receiving and EXACTLY on what date!

It’s also great not having to deal with making collection calls.

If a client is slow in paying an invoice, the factoring company acts on your behalf as your outsourced “receivables department”. They will make the initial collection attempts, and they will typically do it in a very professional and effective manor.

If an invoice ultimately goes unpaid, it becomes the responsibility of the computer consultant to repurchase the invoice from the factoring company and find a resolution with the client independently.

Another great benefit of factoring receivables is the ability to generate additional income outside of the regular, monthly billing cycle.

For my small business clients, my primary service is a Proactive Maintenance Plan, for which I charge a flat, monthly fee. For this fee, I provide round-the-clock network monitoring and remote computer support. These receivables are generally invoiced for and collected on or around the first of each month.

But very often, I’ll make recommendations for new projects that won’t fall under the scope of the regular, monthly maintenance plan. For example, installing a new firewall.

This project would be billed in addition to the regular, flat monthly fee. If installation of the firewall is completed to the client’s satisfaction on the 15th of the month, an invoice for the project can be created on the 15th, submitted to the factoring company, and be funded to my bank account all on the same day.

Having consistent and reliable cash-flow is critical to the survival and growth of any business. Especially to a start-up without substantial capital sitting in the bank. Factoring receivables can provide the financial stability necessary for starting a small business of your own as an Independent Computer Consultant.

But with the development of inexpensive server monitoring and remote support utilities, the support model of on-site, hourly support is headed for extinction and is being replaced by flat-fee, managed services. Small businesses are quickly adjusting to getting higher performance from their systems, much fewer unexpected problems and downtime and much faster level of response from their support provider when an issue does occur.

Independent computer consultants will need to either adapt to the new model of managed support, or watch their client base slowly dissapear.

Fortunately, transitioning from hourly support to a managed service model is neither difficult or expensive.

1. Implement 24×7 Network Monitoring
Using a web-based utility, you can keep tabs on your client’s servers and all workstations around the clock. There are plenty of these utilities available, and many are very affordable. The one I use personally is called GFI Max and costs about $13 per month per server monitored. Utilities like these provide a dashboard that lets you and your client see at a glance the current health status of all components of the network such as:
backup status
AntiVirus updates
Patch management
Hack alerts
Low drive space alerts
system Event Log warnings and errors
Windows Service failures
and more

If an error occurs, you can instantly and automatically be notified via an email or SMS alert

2. Implement Remote Computer Support
There are plenty of low cost or even free utilities that will let you setup every server and workstation you support to allow you to instantly log in to the machine remotely and address almost any issue, just as if you were sitting in front of the computer. By providing remote computer support, you can essentially be in two or even three places at once, and provide support instantly, rather than making your clients wait for you to travel to their office.

3. Convert your clients to your new MSP model
This might seem like a challenge at first, especially if your customers have become well accustomed to paying hourly rates. But there are many ways to show clients how proactive monitoring is far more cost-effective than simply waiting for problems to arise before reacting to them. You can give them a cost analysis of the actually cost of downtime, you can identify underperforming systems that would receive productivity gains thanks to monitoring, or you can even setup a 30-day tria to your new monitoring dashboard to let your clients see where dangerous, potential problems might already exist and have gone undetected because proactive monitoring isn’t in place.

But in a time where small business customers still want to know what your hourly rate is, how can we convince them that a flat-fee is the best solution for them?

You need to show VALUE!

What will they get for this predictable and affordable monthly fee?

- Greater reliability from their systems.
– More productivity.
– Less losses due to downtime.
– For about the same or less than they’d pay for hourly, reactive service.

You’ll be able to accomplish this by monitoring their systems and providing remote computer support.

Monitoring your client’s systems 24×7x365 is easily done with low cost software like GFI Max, which is able to collect real-time inventory reports as well.

Through monitoring, you can immediately identify problems such as failed backups, system event errors, virus activity, hacker attempts, etc. By preventing errors, you will reduce unexpected problems and increase their productivity.

You can provide remote support to all of your client’s workstations and servers for free by using software like LogMeIn Free. By providing remote computer support, you can increase your response time to most issues, large or small by about 100%.

The biggest complaint small business owners have when it comes to their computer consultant is having to wait for him or her to arrive, and not being notified when the consultant is going to be late.

With remote computer support, as long as the computer (or user) with the problem has Internet connectivity, you should be able to log on and work as if you were deskside. You can actually respond faster than an internal IT admin could make it across the office.

By providing basic proactive maintenance and support, you can generate an income based on predictable and reliable monthly fees, while dedicating a greatly reduced number of work hours on site at your clients. They honestly don’t want to see you very often anyway. And they’ll be happy to pay a fair rate to ensure that the less they see you, the better.