GCC Church IT Roundtable session 4

VOIP

• What are you buying when you buy a SIP Trunk
  • Voice dial tone over the data connection rather than a PRI

• Bandwidth.com
• Many are seeing cost savings in the $1k’s
• Make sure your PS/ALI (911) is compatible
• Do you need to keep copper for Fire, Elevator, etc…
  • In some areas this can be done wireless

• What about Hosted PBX
  • Bandwith.com can be trusted for this.
  • Response point is second possible solution

Gapps or Exchange or hosted exchange

• Hosted exchange –
  • http://www.sherweb.com/hosted-exchange

Approachability – Friendly IT

• Users have to be able to approach IT
• How do you help your users ask questions when they should be asking question?
  • Use a Ticketing System they can ask for things they might not think to ask when chatting in conversation.
    • Zen Desk

• Ask for meeting times be proactive don’t wait
• Set appropriate expectations for the users when you will be able to respond.

Metrics

• Tracking ticketing time
• How much does a new staff member cost?
• Do leadership make Technology a priority?

GCC Church IT RoundTable Session 3

Admin or Not to Admin cont.

What happens when they have admin rights and things go bad

• SysInternals Process Explorer
  • http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx
  • http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

• If you allow Admin access you "Must" have standardization and images of each "flavor" of workstation.
• What do users "need"?
• Does Software and Hardware get purchased Centrally?
• Some applications get un happy when they don’t have local permissions
  • SteelSonic.com
  • Encryped Run As ($6.00 per license) http://www.wingnutsoftware.com/

Spyware Removal

• Malwarebites.org

Application Deployment/Virtualization

• CloneZilla
• Ghost
• Fodproject.com
• Casper Suite – jamfsoftware.com
• Mac OSX Imaging
• PrinterShare.com
• Vmware VDI
• Ardence by Dell
  • http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/solutions/en/thinpc?c=us&l=en&cs=555

Passwords

• Ewallet
• SecretServer – Multi User
• How Frequently do the passwords change

What is the burden on IT of the "pitfalls" of Social Media

• Leadership has to decided assisted with by the direction of IT what the orgization’s going to "Use" social media for… then IT has to come along side with the vision/mission
• We have to digest social media for our leadership so they "get it"
• Find an advocate for IT on staff… find someone who can digest Technology on your behalf.

GCC Church IT RoundTable Session 2

Revisit SLA of DR with Executive Team

Computer Emergency Response Team Cert – http://www.cert.org/

StorageCraft – http://www.storagecraft.com/

IM

• Allow/Block?
• Content Filtering -
• Open DNS
• Dan’s Guardian
• Sonicwall Content Filtering
• Untangle
• IPCop
• Estro

PC and Mac Solutions for Mac remote clients

• Not Blocking IM – But Archiving it?

Why do IM?

• Step between email and a phone call
• Reduce Email Ping Pong

Why Not do IM

• File Transfer conduit

Colaboration Tools

• Live Mesh
• Groove
• Adobe Connect
• Skype
• FreeConfrencecall.com
• Callaflower.com
• Mobile Content Filtering
• Convenient Eyes – Accountability Software

Spam

• Postini – $1500 min
• Resellers are a little more $$ but they provide support direct from Google doesn’t
• Barracuda
• Sonicwall
• ExchangeDefender

Inbound and Outbound filtering

• Catching outbound emails containing credit card information

Data (PCI) Compliance – how are you managing data on laptops etc.

• Policy /Guidelines
• Enabling TPM
• Cornel Spider – Searches computer for security numbers http://www2.cit.cornell.edu/security/tools/
• If its important enough to keep from people seeing it… its important enough to have backed up centrally
• Make the Network Work and make the network Secure… those two are mutually Exclusive… there has to be balance.

Admin or not to Admin (locally)

• Why Local Admin – Super rapid growth couldn’t support locked down machines

Primo Customer Service

In the past I have been known to write about customer service that was lacking… But this time I have to share some customer service that just left me speechless….

Natalie and I decided to do our own lawn fertilizer and weed control this year…. and yes by “we” I really mean me.  I just couldn’t pony up the $200 for someone to walk my lawn… I already owned the sprayer and spreader so we made the decision to go back to our own lawn care.

I purchased Scotts Weed-Be-Gone and Scotts Turf Builder Plus Weed Control and applied them as directly six weeks apart but still had some weeds growing… annoying.

So I called the customer service number and got a delightful representative who was very willing to listen to my concerns…

I know some of you might find it hard to believe, but I hadn’t called with the intention to get anything free or replaced… I just wanted to make sure that I was applying the products correctly and to see how soon I could re-apply the products.

So while we chatted the customer service representative assured me that I had read the instructions and followed them correctly and then says, “I am processing your refund check for both products, where should I send the refund”… I was speechless…. I had no anticipation of a refund, but Scotts was willing to stand behind the product they would send me a check even without sending a proof of purchase, just because I had to call and the product hadn’t performed as expected!

WOW an A+ to Scotts for Customer Service!  There is no wondering if I’ll switch brands next time I shop for Lawn Care products!  Kudos for good Customer Service… the Art of Caring about customers isn’t dead!

Why didn’t i think of this

So this weekend I was watching some tastily programming on the food network and I saw a little dive in Minneapolis making burgers with Cheddar-Jack cheese… which is fine except they put the cheese inside the burger then cook it… The result a gooey cheesy burger… I had to try.

My first attempt turned out much better than I anticipated. So with this Idea being so simple but good I had to try it and take photos.

Prepping the Burgers stuffing the cheese

The Cheesy Burger on The Grill

The Cheese Oozing out of the Burger

Tastes Better than I expected!