When the advice is sought by one of our active business customers, it’s quite straightforward to remind them that their PC is actively maintained by our engineers. This means that we’re already performing the necessary maintenance tasks across their infrastructure so that they don’t need to worry about installing and running any of these utilities.

The challenge comes when the advice is sought for a computer which we don’t maintain (a customer’s home computer, for instance). In this case, we have to look into the software and give our best recommendation on how to proceed.

Today, I was asked to look into a list of the “Top 10 Cool, Useful, Fun Freebies of 2010.” As I drafted my response, it seemed smart to share this with our customers and friends.

So…

Here’s my response to each of the 10 titles presented to me today:

1. Abine TACO. This utility claims to help protect a user’s browsing habits online and prevent unknown participation in Google’s “behavioral ad targeting” and other similar advertising methods from other advertisers. A quick search online reveals a number of users who are unhappy with Abine (the company who purchased TACO from its original author), and the software seems a bit bloated to me. Instead of TACO, my recommendation is that users download and install AdBlock Plus to remove unwanted advertising from their web experience.
2. SlimComputer. New consumer computers often come pre-loaded with a ton of unwanted software, which can slow down the system, annoy the user, and reduce the usability of the new computer. SlimComputer is similar to my personal choice in program removal, The PC Decrapifier, but SlimComputer also takes advantage of live feedback from other users. Whereas PC Decrapifier only knows about software that the authors of PC Decrapifier add to their database, SlimComputer relies on the combined community knowledge of all their users to understand which software is generally consider “unwanted”. Either program will likely do a fine job of cleaning up a new computer.
3. Microsoft Security Essentials. Anti-virus software has been around a long time, and there are many options to choose from. My personal favorite has always been Avast Home Edition, but Microsoft’s newly released Security Essentials seems promising. There is rarely a need for multiple anti-virus software applications on one system, so I’d recommend removing any competing products as soon as Security Essentials is installed, but I’d say that users should feel free to try this new title from Microsoft.
4. Identity Finder. Claiming to protect your identity by removing sensitive information from a computer, this software seems to cater to the paranoid user. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of protecting personal information, but shredding personal information stored on one’s own computer seems a bit much. For users who do want to keep their PC sanitized, this seems like a good choice of software. For me, I’ll stick with keeping my info on my computer but keeping my PC safe from exploits.
5. Hulu Desktop. Watch TV on your personal computer. Rad.
6. Microsoft Fix It Center. Nothing replaces the value of a knowledge person to correct problems on a PC, but Microsoft Fix It Center is a great start for the simpler problems faced by everyday users. Got a problem on your PC? This is a great place to start.
7. AVG Rescue CD. This downloadable CD image is a great tool for someone knowledgable in PC maintenance, but it’s not for the faint of heart. It’s a great way to clean up a virus-ridden PC, but should be used with care by someone who knows what they’re doing.
8. Duplicate Cleaner. Searching an entire hard disk for files that are the same, this software will offer to remove anything it finds to be redundant. The biggest benefit for this software is disk-space savings. This is a good tool for a particular use-case, but it’s a bit unnecessary for regular day-to-day use of a computer. Use it to free up some space on a full hard disk. Otherwise, I wouldn’t waste the time.
9. Speccy. From the makers of CCleaner (which I highly recommend), this tool will take an inventory of a system and share the details of the hardware. It’s a bit useless as an every day tool, but will prove indispensable when trying to identify hardware for some reason.
10. Secunia. Another tool for the technically minded, this tool will help to identify software which needs to be updated on your personal computer. Not a bad idea to run this one every month or two.

I’m quite surprised at the technical nature of most of these programs. Many of these are far from useful on an everyday basis, and a couple of them are more technical than many people will be comfortable using. That said, none of these (except maybe Abine TACO) seem to be inherently dangerous.

Install away!

I spent some time today pondering why I’d consider the service “excellent”, and I realized it all has to do with predictability.

The staff always steps aside as I pass them in the hallway. The alarm clock is always turned toward the bed during the evening turn down. The hotel staff always greets me when I pass the lobby. I’m sure there are a million other things they do to make my stay spectacular, and I’ll never notice even a small fraction of them.

How can your business be predictably excellent?

Of course, I could simply do everything myself. I could run the entire business with no outside help, removing any opportunity for business growth or diversity. If you want something done right, do it yourself, right? But this would just be silly. My entire team knows how much of a bottleneck I can be to our processes since I have so much going on. Thinking that things would better if it were just me is ludicrous. For instance, next week I’ll be in Las Vegas, and the week after I’ll be in Dallas. There’s no way I can do everything myself. And I don’t want to.

So, how do I keep quality high within our organization but also not get roped into doing everything myself? Simply put, I teach my team how I think instead of telling them what to do. It’s something I call “pre-emptive questioning”.

Here’s what I mean by that.

Instead of me making every decision within our organization, my goal is to empower our team by helping them understand how I think so that they can make decisions without requiring constant input from me.

This mindset is most critical early on in any decision-making process.

Many problems arise which ultimately require my approval but most of the research will be done by another member of the team. When these situations arise, it is my job to set the stage for this decision to be made. If I simply ask my teammate to research the situation and then come back with a recommendation, it is very likely that I will have more questions when he comes back the first few times. This creates a long and drawn out period of back and forth questions which can be frustrating to he and me both.

The other option is that I provide my teammate with the questions that I will need answered in order to make a final decision, and then ask him to research the situation and bring back a recommendation. By pre-emptively questioning him about the situation, I am increasing the likelihood that he return with all the information I will need to then make a final decision.

For example…

Just last week we had a problem in our data center which required us to make a purchase. We could decide to fix the issue with a cheap but possibly short-term fix, or we could use this as an opportunity to fix it long-term with an upgrade.

I brought our lead systems engineer up to speed on the issue to get his input and insight (I truly did want his opinion on what to do). He suggested a particular fix, and we disagreed a little on the exact implementation of this fix. As we went back and forth, I came to a realization: I could remain very hands-on to this situation, and allow it to slow down other initiatives in the organization, or I could empower my colleague to handle the situation while I remained focused on my other responsibilities.

I wanted to empower him. But how?

Instead of telling him I wanted it done my way and sending him on his way, I explained what criteria I wanted him to use when making a decision. His instructions were not “go buy a new server”. Instead, I articulated what things I wanted him to look into, what dollar amounts I wanted him to be sure he knew, and what specifications and calculations I wanted to be sure he had uncovered before making a purchase. With this information, I sent him on his way.

Now, the situation is “owned” by him. He hopefully has an understanding of the parameters within which I want a decision to be made, and he’s now been empowered to make the decisions he needs to make within these parameters.

Although he’ll need to check in with me to actually make the final purchase, he now knows what things I’ll want to understand before I’m comfortable giving the go ahead. And he has the information he needs to present me a complete and coherent recommendation, being sure to address all the items that I’ll need addressed.

Hopefully, we’ve reduced the number of times I need to interact with this situation to two: first, to explain how I want the decision made, and then, second, to give a final once-over to the final decision.

As a service provider, I find it important to develop the Rezitech and MSPintegrations brands, and to be sure that our customers think of us often. To accomplish this, we need our SWAG to be memorable or useful – or both. This is a difficult feat to accomplish with so many options available, and I simply don’t have the time to keep up on what’s available. I’m also not the creative guy around here, and my ideas are probably only going to be memorable as my staff laughs at me for ordering yet another box of monitor squeegies that we’ll never be able to give away.

With this in mind, I was quite excited to join Kyle Kalma of Clear Media for lunch yesterday (we met at one of my favorite Fullerton restaraunts, The Olde Ship). Kyle is the local SWAG genius (oh, SWAG stands for Stuff We All Get, in case you were wondering) and I used my lunch opportunity to learn more about Clear Media, their products, and a little bit about what makes Kyle tick.

The thing that stands out to me about Kyle is his desire to create a long lasting relationship with his customers. The SWAG industry is filled with one-shot sales guys who want to sell whatever they can and then move on. Kyle, on the other hand, would rather talk me out of a poor purchase so that he can continue to earn my long-term business. He definately understands the value of relationships and building long-lasting business partnerships and I value that about him. He strives to understand our business and customers so that he can make some great recommendations (he came up with a killer idea to follow up to our recent StickerTrav campaign — it’s going to be hilarious).

I’m thrilled to consider Clear Media our partner thanks to Kyle’s excellent work.

I just did the math, and from January to April, 2010, I went on 21 trips to 16 different places and I was gone a total of 43 days. Over the course of these four months, 36% of my days were spent on the road. Many of trips were back-to-back (I had several trips which were comprised of 3-4 destinations back-to-back without going home in between).

All this travel meant I gave up on many of my daily and weekly disciplines: I went to gym only twice in those 4 months, I gave up on healthy eating, I spent little to no time to myself, I let my personal bills get behind, and my house get quite messy. Now, it’s May, and I find my life quite out of balance.

If the first 4 moths of the year were defined by my travel schedule, I hope to make the next few months defined by my lack of travel. I will go to the gym regularly, to focus on eating more healthily, to not work constantly, and to keep up with my personal affairs. I will spend many days quietly in my office working quietly by myself, with my phone on do-not-disturb and my Outlook closed (I’ll check these a few times a day). If the first 4 months of the year could be described as crazy and unpredictable, the next few months will be defined as regimented and predictable.

I like change, a lot… but now it’s time to change my pace and slow down, a lot. Just for a little while, though. It will soon be time to travel again, but, in the meantime, I am going to enjoy some normalcy and predictability in my life.

Immediately following Karl Palachuk’s Pre-Day seminar (pre-day for Autotask CommunITy Live), join me for dinner and some great hands-on Autotask fun:  “Learn from a Pro: Pumping up the Auto in Autotask”

Date: April 17, 2010
Time: 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM
Includes Dinner!

Except From Karl’s blog… (Link):

Register for the Travis Austin Dinner and Autotask Super-User Seminar for only $29! Register Now.

When Autotask expert Travis Austin isn’t answering questions on the Autotask CommunITy website, he’s either developing innovative Autotask-centric integrations, or he’s flying around the country to consult with other Autotask customers to help fine tune their use of the Autotask platform.
Watch and learn as Travis shares a number of tips, tricks, and best practices which will surely supercharge the power of Autotask within your own company. He’ll cover basic Service Desk configuration, share some awesome workflow ideas, and describe ways which Autotask talks to third party products and platforms to save you time and increase your effectiveness as an IT service provider.

Topics

• Service Desk Configuration.
  How to use Queues, Statuses, Priorities,  and Issue Types to best manage the ticket lifecycle.
• Workflow Rules.
  Define and develop a few integral workflow rules to automate ticket flow and score points with customers.
• Ticketing Integrations.
  Learn how third party products can integrate with Autotask to automate ticket generation, modification, and escalation.
• Billing Integrations.
  Learn how to automate parts of billing, contract adjustments, and marketing strategies.

Register now for this GREAT event!

Add the Travis Austin Dinner and Autotask Super-User Seminar for only $29! Register Now.

Sign up now for Travis’ Seminar . . . Get dinner and amazing information on top of Karl’s all-day seminar!

The best deal in the SMB Space!

Register for the Travis Austin Dinner and Autotask Super-User Seminar for only $29! Register Now.

Today, I had a great lunch with Jonathan Pearson of Radiant Property Group at Corner Bakery Cafe in Brea. First off, I’m really excited to know Jonathan. When the housing bubble burst a few years back, he lost a significant portion of his income (he worked in the housing industry) and ended up having to short-sell his own home. Instead of letting that get the best of him, though, Jonathan is now using his own experiences to provide empathy and care to others who face similar situations. He and his team at Radiant regularly work with homeowners in North Orange County and throughout Southern California who are facing mortgage trouble. I’ve known Jonathan for a number of years, and I have no doubt that he should be the first person everyone should turn to when facing mortgage and real estate trouble.

Anyways, Jonathan and I spent a good portion of our time discussing blogging and how it can help SEO for any business, and our conversation couldn’t have come at a better time for me. Just last week, I spent several days in New Orleans with 10 other IT business CEOs from around the country, and website content was something we touched on, as well. One of my fellow CEOs in New Orleans also happens to be the very best example I know of a person who is excellent at blogging for business: Karl Palachuk. Karl and I also talked about blogging for business, and, based on my conversation today with Jonathan and last week with Karl, I’ve compiled a list of ideas to stimulate ideas for blogging:

Always Be Pimping

I have no idea where I first heard this (maybe from Chris Rue, but I’m sure he heard it from someone else like Erick Simpson or even Karl), but it’s pretty straight forward. The idea is to promote your products and services every chance you get (did you know that Rezitech can save money from your phone bill? I’m just saying pimping), and this includes in your blog. Whenever the opportunity arises (Rezitech can also provide your entire IT infrastructure with zero up-front investment!) you should mention how your company can help others.

Cross Promote

This goes along with Always Be Pimping. The idea here is to cross-reference other blogs, websites, and references anywhere possible. You’ll see above that I’ve placed hyperlinks anywhere I could. Hopefully, some of the guys I’ve linked to will link back to me at some point, and we can all help each other get more traffic.

Blog About Your Day

Jonathan is in the real estate industry. He makes money when people move into the areas that he serves, so, in many ways, he’s selling his expertise on the area. If he goes to a cool coffee shop, event, store, restaraunt, or whatever, he could jot a quick blog about it. He could mention how great it is to have lunch with Travis at Corner Bakery (ah, shucks… thanks, Jonathan), or talk about the upcoming Railroad Days in Brea (looks pretty cool if you ask me!). By sharing cool events and tidbits of info, people will know him as an authority in his area. That makes for a great real estate guy.

Blog About Your Life

Yesterday, I took the Amtrak to San Diego for an event I did with Autotask. I could write a blog entry about how great it was to sit in a train for 2 hours instead of driving. I could talk about the fact that it gave me time to sit, relax, use my laptop, and event catch a couple nods of sleep.

Brag About New Customers

Whenever Jonathan gets a new client, or saves a family from foreclosure, it would make for a great quick blog entry. Imagine how much more compelling his sales proposition will be to new prospects if they can see a list of personal stories of families that Jonathan has helped. In my case, I can blog every time we save a customer money (we recently saved a client over $500 a month on their Internet bill! Blog to follow…).

It Need Not Be Perfect

I’m a firm believer that an okay blog entry is better than none at all. My thoughts aren’t near completion on this subject, but that’s okay… this is a dialogue, not a thesis. I’ll add more to this list later, I’m sure, and when I think of more blogging ideas to share with the world, I’ll have another excuse to write a quick entry. Good stuff!

So, that’s about it for now. Bottom line — you should be blogging and using social media to promote your business. I have an appointment to make now, so I’m going to cut this off here for now, but I’ll try to finish these thoughts in the days to come.

Some our clients have already asked me for my thoughts on this new technology. As a service to all of our clients, I’m sharing my thoughts here for your reference.

What is it?

iPad is a tablet computer. It’s flat, with a touch-screen. In a lot of ways, it’s like an iPod Touch or an iPhone on steroids, but it’s designed to support productivity. Apple’s vision is that iPad will replace a paper tablet, allowing the user to have their entire set of notes and electronic resources at their disposal, no matter where they are.

For connectivity, iPad has a wireless card (to connect to the Internet at hotspots and home wireless networks), and includes software to browse the Internet, watch YouTube videos, check email, and take notes.

Apple also announced the iBookstore, which many are comparing to the service Amazon released with their Kindle. The iBookstore allows the user of iPad to browse a virtual store of books, and purchase and then download the books they want directly to iPad. The idea is that the user will always have a huge selection of books at their disposal, and won’t need to go shopping to buy their books any longer. Instead, the user just turns on their iPad, finds their book, and downloads it (for a fee).

What’s my take?

I think the iPad is making a much smaller splash than many people had hoped it would. I am hearing and reading of many people who say they likely won’t be purchasing iPad for a miriad of reasons:

• no handwriting recognition (you can’t “write” on the screen and have iPad recognize it and change it to text)
• no camera
• “wasted” space with the bezel (the black frame around the front is quite large)
• not replacing any devices (it’s not small enough to replace a phone, and not feature-rich enough to replace a laptop — it’s simply another gadget to carry around)

I personally am not going to be buying anytime soon. I simply don’t see a good use for it in the enterprise, and I don’t think I’d ever use it. When I want power, I use my laptop. When I need portability, I use my BlackBerry. There’s never a time during my week that I’d expect to need the “powerful portability” of this device.

Since I am typing this entry with my thumbs, it will be short.

I think a parenting-class-topic should be “Data Backup”.