IDC’s Top Technology Trends of 2015

As we enter 2015, technology analysts and firms worldwide have an eye on top tech trends of the future. Here is what IDC predicts for the next year.  

The year 2014 is about to end and technology predictions for 2015 have already begun to pour in. In such a report by International Data Corporation that was recently issued, the next year is going to be greatly influenced by Amazon’s creativity and popularity!

The following are some major highlights from the IDC webcast:

The Popular Amazon-Like Innovation

Since a significant portion of today’s business world is dominated by Amazon, IDC believes most industries will embrace Amazon-like innovation in 2015. With the same level of innovation, China will join amazon to rule the technology world, with special focus on achieving higher business efficiency at low costs.

Wireless Data will Grow Fast 

The telecom sector will have wireless data as the fastest and biggest growing segment of its overall spending. The new hybrid approach will make a baseline of telecom services accessible for all.

Phablet as the New Face of Mobile Growth

Compared to recent years, the sale of tablets and smartphones will slow down. Phablet brands will grow their sales to 60%. Business mobile apps will dominate the app market. 

5 Cool Things You Missed At the Softlayer Cloud Computing Workshop

Softlayer recently concluded their Asia-pacific tour, and in case you missed it was every bit worth it.

Softlayer just finished its Asia Pacific leg of its workshop educating attendees about the unique cloud solutions the company offers. Needless to say that the workshop kind-off strengthened the already well-established fact that Cloud is the future of all technology. But for startups this future is hard to come by as adopting the cloud is no straightforward task. The basic intention behind the Softlayer workshop was to acquaint startups to the cloud, and basically bring them to a level of ease.

Here are the Five coolest things you may have missed by not being at the workshops:

1. Bare Metal Servers

As snazzy as it sounds, it actually is. Softlayer’s use of bare metal servers to run networks that are not only faster, but require low levels of storage and maintenance as compared to other physical servers. Attendees at the workshop were acquainted with this new physical technology that helps Softlayer deliver better performance and speed.

2. Access

Perhaps the most engaging part of the workshop was where the attendees were taught how to make their own cloud networks, work with APIs. This section was especially a big hit with people attending the workshops.

3. Interaction

The interaction section was organized to bring businesses closer to each other. To get acquainted with what everyone else was doing, the problems they face and measures that are employed to take care of these problems was one of the highlights too.

4. History

Not everything was about the future. Softlayer also laid emphasis on the history of Cloud and helped attendees learn about the genesis of a global player that is now everywhere.

5. It was Free

Yes, it was absolutely free. All that knowledge, interaction and information - even the snacks were free. One just couldn’t leave empty handed.

Chinese investors look to Singapore after USA, a study by EIU finds

Singapore, according to a recent study, has become the second-most attractive destination for investors from China. In first place, the United States still holds its own, but Singapore is fast catching up.

As per the study Singapore notched up a score of 54.6 out of 100 as compared to the States’ 57.5. The study was conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), which placed Hong Kong in third with a score of 50.2. A total of 67 economies were evaluated based on their worth for investors from China.

The top three are unchanged from the survey last year, as they are developed economies favored by investors. The ratings take into account the market capitalization, the operational hassle, and the probability to expand etc to arrive at a consensus for investing locales. Singapore and Hong Kong feature so high in the list mainly because of their openness to foreign investment.

According to the EIU Singapore has managed to trump Hong Kong to second place as it provides a diversified platform, while Hong Kong is restricted to a few sectors alone. It is therefore understandable that Singapore has the capacity to attract more investors as compared Hong Kong. For Singapore, the Chinese investment total has gone up to a whopping US$2 billion from the paltry US$20 million in 2005.

Japan has meanwhile, slipped to a lowly rank of 6^th despite being the closest neighbour. According to the EIU, the reason for this is years of deflating economy and no impressive economic growth to show. Chinese investors have therefore chosen to look further than many would expect them to. The States lead the list as normal with US$3.9 billion worth of investment from their Chinese counterparts. One of the main reasons behind this, as the EIU puts it, is the vast natural resource inventory that the US provides and the level intellectual property they can serve up.

The study also predicted, that by 2017, China’s outbound investment activities will easily overtake the incoming investment drive and make China a net investor in the global market.

How to Choose the Best IT Service Management Model for Your Unique Business Needs

When it comes to improving the quality of services and the level of customer satisfaction within organizations, IT Service Management (ITSM) is the most effective tool. However, you can’t expect to get results unless you have the right ITSM model that best suits your type of business in place.

Here is how you can choose the best ITSM model for your unique enterprise:

Identify Your Requirements

The first thing is to identify what exactly you want from IT Service Management. For example, when ITSM is an integral part of your business operation, where in your business would you like to use its principles and processes the most.

You’ll find it easier to select between traditional outright ownership model and Software-as-a-Service when you know what aspects you want to improve on. Whatever your requirements, however, your choice will come down to the two major factors ultimately –availability and resource capability.

Understand the Difference between ITSM Models

Each ITSM model has its pros and cons, so it’s up to you what you want to opt for and what not. And yes, remember that you won’t find a solution with a one-size-fits-all approach. Take time to study and compare the available options and choose the one that best meets your business requirements.

In the last couple of years, SaaS has gained huge popularity as a service management delivery model. It is faster than outright ownership and consumes less time, money and effort. Also, it is a more elastic and scalable solution that allows you to add more users when required.

Know What You Can Afford

There are many differences between traditional IT support and the latest managed IT services. Where in-house solutions require you to have your own infrastructure and hardware, on-demand professional services take the entire burden of managing things all by yourself off your shoulders.

If you want less burden, SaaS is always a better option. Your service provider will be fully responsible for managing the entire IT aspect of your business. Plus you’ll be paying for only what and as much you've used. That means it’s based on the pay-per-use system and is more cost-effective. 

Turn Your Clients into Fans

We are all in the business of creating wealth. Yes, each one of us!

As a service provider, if you really wish to turn your clients into fans, you’d have to learn the art of “creating wealth” for them.

Here’s what you can do:

1. If they are paying you $100, set yourself on a mission to help them get a positive return on this investment.

2. Be professional; that doesn't mean you cannot care for their interests as friends do.

3. Promise less and deliver more; help them add your company to their “circle of trust”.

4. Be genuinely concerned about client’s business interests and if the need be, walk an extra mile when you can.

5. Stick to a strong code of business ethics; don’t hesitate to show it.

6. Exhibit honesty even if it means you suffer bearable losses; you will gain on other fronts for sure; it’s the law of the Universe.

But the wealth here is not just money. That’s just one of the many things. Wealth may include money, happiness, satisfaction, spiritual growth and everything else that matters to us mortals. Whether your clients understand this simple concept or not, be aware that they are subconsciously seeking it from you.  

Give it to them and they will admire you forever. Needless to mention, when you create wealth for others, it comes back manifold to you! Thank the grand scheme of the Universe for that. 

Hybrid Clouds: When You May Want to Use Them

When moving into the cloud, you should know what to expect from your cloud provider. For example, where the public cloud offers flexibility and cost-efficiency, the private cloud ensures optimal security. And when you want the best of both worlds, the hybrid cloud is the only option!

Here is what you may need hybrid cloud computing solutions for:

Benefits of Both Worlds: 
A hybrid cloud can allow your small business to get the benefits of both the public and private clouds. You can accelerate your noncritical business operations with the cost-effectiveness of the public cloud, as well as make the most of the firewalled safety of a private cloud for protecting your sensitive data and applications.

Enhanced Scalability and Cost-Savings:
The hybrid cloud frees businesses from the responsibility of purchasing and setting up expensive hardware. They don’t even need to hire or expand their own IT staff and on-site teams. This is how they can save time and money both.

Better Accessibility: 
You can access your programs and applications at any time within the hybrid cloud environment. This allows you to build a mobile and more active workforce and expand your operations ahead of your current location.

Increased Agility and Performance: Using a hybrid cloud, you can move your programs flawlessly between the public and private clouds. This is how you can meet all your IT requirements in a cost-effective manner, since you don’t need to build and maintain your own in-house computer 

Carefully Evaluate Access Controls over Data for Greater Security

The most common way of accessing data within organizations is through the applications that build, edit and maintain it.

Today, however, several new methods of data accessibility are evolving and coming into use. Network Operating System, Database and Primary Server are the best examples.

Regardless of what means of data accessibility you are using as a business, it is important to frequently evaluate your access control for betterdata security!

Here is how you can do it:

Be Strict about Access Control Passwords

Logical access controls associated with passwords and other login credentials encompass a variety of data security methods and components. This is the reason why IT veterans emphasize the importance of following and repeating the password standards within enterprises of all types and sizes. Once you begin to follow these guidelines, you can make your passwords and credentials more reliable.

The idea is to:

• Make it as difficult as possible for hackers to guess and break passwords. Keeping the length of a password perfect is one of the ways of achieving it.
• Another useful trick is to increase the complexity of password characters, making it almost impossible to crack them. It is even more important to keep changing password patterns from time to time.
• Last but not least, help your employees and associates to develop a habit of logging out of all the systems before leaving the workstation. This will prevent unauthorized access to critical data and information.

Restrict the Applications

All the read-write (RW) applications allow a user to access the underlying data and information. So, make all such applications that you are using restricted to any users who doesn’t need them. That means not all employees should be able to access all applications. Try to get applications that have unique access controls.

Secure Server and NOS 

These two means of data accessibility are highly prone to multiple security-related risks. The first step towards making them more secure is to follow basic password standards, particularly for a sever. In addition, consider examining all the sharing activities taking place via the server and NOS.

Forbid the sharing of your crucial data, excepting some authorized members or a group of users. For example, there is no need to share a spreadsheet made for financial reporting with all users.

Use Firewall Control

When it comes to allowing or disallowing critical data access to users, firewall is always the best option. It is equally important to frequently test it for flawless access controls, especially for users entering externally. Once you have a firewall up and running, it will force the system to authenticate every external user according to your set access rights. 

Cloud Storage: Comparison of Providers and Solutions

The term “Cloud Storage” is sufficient in itself to stir up a debate in even the sanest of conversations. However, even the most anti-cloud naysayer would agree that cloud is the best solution for disaster recovery. Enterprise cloud storage providers understand that their clients are looking for security, reliability and redundancy. They are also aware of the fact that there is a lot of fear about the safety with most companies taking a staggered approach when moving to cloud storage, from archive backups to live storage. 

So, to make it convenient for you to select the best service for your company, below is a list of top 3 cloud storage providers who are well equipped with the resources to handle your company’s bytes in bulk:

1.      Amazon S3          

Amazon S3 comes under AWS umbrella and covers major internet hubs including Pinterest and Reddit. It costs $0.055/GB per month if you occupy over 5,000TB on Amazon's cloud. In case the data you’re storing does not fall under the mission-critical variety, then the company’s Reduced Redundancy Storage (RRS) reduces the price to $0.037/GB per month.

You can opt to store your data in any one of the many geographic locations. You can however lower the latency by selecting a location close to your home. However, considering a disaster recovery standpoint, choosing a distant location makes sense too.

2.      Google Cloud Storage

Part of the Google cloud Platform, Google Cloud Storage is specifically designed for big businesses in need of big-time storage requirements. Google storage services are charged at highly competitive prices, with 4,500TB costing $0.054/GB per month. Also the Durable Reduced Availability, as compared to Amazon S3 is slightly cheaper at $0.042/GB per month.

To safeguard the data of your enterprise, Google stores it redundantly at several different geographical locations. In addition, the company offers a little more piece of mind by constructing its own proprietary security technologies into Google Cloud Storage.

3.      Rackspace Cloud Files

It can rightly be said that Rackspace knows cloud computing pretty well. Below the 1PB/1024TB threshold, the prices charged by the company starts at $0.075/GB per month on a purchase of over 500TB of storage. However, the prices increase slightly in case you require less storage.

Rackspace's unique selling point is its Akamai CDN file transfer method. Here the company can use 213 Akamai edge locations to trasfer files over the Internet that too in record time. So, instead of transferring files from one of Rackspace's origin servers, Akamai CDN is utilized to deliver the files regionally. It’s beneficial for big businesses with numerous offices and mobile employees or websites received lots of traffic globally. 

10 Ways to Start Taking Advantage of Cloud Storage

Investing in cloud computing is a good option as a lot can be shared, collaborated and stored for the use of all your links, employees and benefits. You can store your data not just locally, but remotely for a wide array of uses.

Below are 10 ways to start taking advantage of cloud computing solutions.

1.   Set Up Remote Access To Your Computer

You can use your PC as a personal cloud by setting up a remote access on it. Just install a small server application on your personal computer. You can avail the server from LogMeIn that provides free server software for Windows and MAC OS X devices.

2.    Access Data From Your Phone

You can get a dedicated way of accessing data on your mobile device as well. With various free apps available for Android, Windows, iOS platforms, you can remotely access, share and transfer content from anywhere. Tonido is one free app that runs on iOS, Windows and Android to allow you to remotely access your data over WiFi or 3G.

3.   Sync Your Music

Amazon Cloud Drive and Google Play Music are ideal for syncing your music files. If music occupies most of your storage, which you also might need for other stuffs, you should store it on cloud. If you buy your music from Amazon, it automatically gets stored on the Amazon Cloud Drive. However, if you purchase the cloud storage service starting 20/year for 20GB, you get unlimited space for your music that can be streamed on any device, anywhere.

4.  Secure Your Confidential Data

CertainSafe is what you need to secure your professional content that you need to access remotely. CertainSafe provides you encrypted cloud storage for an extremely secure remote access. You can sign up for it for $8.77 per month per user.

5.  Use it for Business Collaboration

CX, which is now only available as a paid service, is a cloud-based syncing tool. It starts at $9.99 a year to provide excellent storage and collaboration solutions for business systems.

6.   Sync Your Local Network And Get a Lot of Useful Apps

Dropbox has a certain advantage over most other cloud services. It enables LAN sync for fast syncing files over a local area network, and it offers a wide array of useful apps that use the Dropbox API.

7.   Create & Edit Office Documents

Using SkyDrive or Google Drive, you can remotely access, create and edit Office documents, presentations and spreadsheets. Moreover, Google Drive automatically integrates your Google Docs that do not use your computer’s storage.

8.  Secret Business Collaborations

Box, which is yet another paid cloud-based storage, offers file syncing for a paid business or an enterprise plan. Its recently upgraded iOS app offers 50GB free space for users.

9. Backup photos and Videos from Facebook

You can use iDrive for fast syncing, huge storage and powerful web interface. Besides, it comes with its highlighting feature that enables you to back up photos and videos from your Facebook account.

10.  Back Up Unlimited Data

The best use of any cloud storage is to enable you to create backups without curbing storage on your personal computers. Bitcasa is one service that allows you to back up an infinite amount for $99 per month.

Data Backup and Restoration Tips for Small Businesses

In today’s data-driven times, one of the major reasons for small businesses to collapse is data loss. In fact, any enterprise will grind to a halt without smooth and consistent data availability.

Despite knowing this, most small company owners let their data safety and backup plans linger on their to-do lists for unusually long. It is exactly in this gap that downtime and outages hamper productivity and overall turnover.

So, it is important that you implement a foolproof data backup strategy before it’s too late.

The following tips will become your practical guidelines as you head out.

Map All Your Backup Needs

Generally, data backup needs vary from business to business. Spend some time assessing your unique backup needs, for your ignorance will make it complicated, if not completely unfeasible, to decide on data backup methods.

Issues such as data type, size of files and frequently used files can create problems while backing up data. Proceed strategically and have patience if it the assessment process takes time.  

Know Where Your Business Data Is Kept

You can expect to protect your data unless you know where it is, and in what form. Talk to your IT support company and try to learn how much data and information you have. Ask them if your data is kept on a backup server or simply in corporate offices. You can also take advice on which new data safety and backup measures can be more helpful.

Choose the Right Data Backup System

Ways to backup important data are numerous, but it remains vital to consult a professional having years of industry experience. Generally, the best way to protect data is using multiple backup methods. This prevents data loss even if one of them fails completely.

The best options to opt for are:

1. Online Backup: Data backup through cloud is the most cost-effective option, regardless of how big or small your business is. Choose a reliable provider of online backup services, preferably the one that uses multiple backup locations in order to keep crucial data completely secure.

2. Server Backup: Small businesses that have servers to run all business activities and tasks should opt for sever backup. Most cloud storage companies offer server backup services to prevent data loss in events of system failure.

2. Disc Backup: You can use CDs and DVDs to backup all your important data and store it in a safe, offsite location later on. Another way is to use an external storage device like a USB flash device or hard drive. Disk imaging is an equally effective method of backing up data or a whole PC operating system. 

5 Ways to Protect Your Data on Your Mobile Device

Using phones for shopping and surfing socials sites are making them vulnerable to attacks. We trust our phones more than our best buddies on some occasions, so it’s high time we took some steps to protect them.

The first thing that we all must pledge is to not to go to the aftermarket next time we need APPs. Protection will not cost money at all, but getting out of a mess can be a torrid affair.

Follow these steps and make your phone your friend for life:

1. Keep It Locked

Always feed a code in your phone and don’t share it will all. In case if it is stolen, you will buy time to save your data on the phone, while the swindler tries to break in.

2. It’s A Phone Not a Safety Vault

Just because it sleeps with you, doesn't mean it has to keep all your secrets. Limit confidential information on a phone. It should not be the default location for all sensitive information, especially not data that you cannot lose at any cost. Be smart - use a secure server or a hard drive for that.

3. Beware of an Espresso Attack

Before you plug into an open Wi-Fi in the coffee shop next time, first read about the risks. An unsecured network is a hacker’s playground. In an airport, in a multiplex there are people snooping for passwords and other data all the time. Always use a VPN and open mails in secure options only. But if you really want to out run them avoid important work in the public.

4. Be an Apps guru

Always download your favorite Apps from a trusted source like Google Play or App store only. You can be assured that once you get it from them, it comes with inbuilt safety features and will have guards against malicious attacks. The biggest mistake you can make is to download them form a third party source.

5. Have an Updated Antivirus in The Phone

People who come with the foresight of an antivirus program for the phone stand to benefit in the long run. Besides Apple users, who feel no need for it, other phone users stand to benefit by installing one today. An added layer of defense never hurts anybody.

6. Take a Trip on Remote Protection Apps

Besides taking a backup of your data, installing an anti theft APP can make you sleep peacefully at night. These APPs make it very difficult for any spamster to break into your phone. They also pin point the exact location of the phone and allow you to delete all information remotely.

5 Reasons Why Your Backups Aren’t Secure Enough

When we talk about backups, people usually think of tapes, DVDs, hard disks and flash storage. Fair enough. All of these are quite useful for having a complete system backup at the end of day. A lot of people feel burned with their hectic schedule and find little or no time for taking routine backups in DVDs and hard disks.

An online backup with auto sync option is a good way to replace such old backup methods. There’re some exceptions too; some people rate offline backups as more secure alternative to online ones i.e. the Cloud storage.

Given below are 5 points which offer some of the great reasons why your cold backups are not secure anymore.

1. A Disaster Ruin Your Data

Performing a full backup may require multiple discs/disks once a recording session is finalized.

The basement area (probably) where you used to archive backups is always prone to natural calamities such as fire, flood etc. A single natural calamity can damage all of your data in seconds. Yes, they do not come around every now and then.

But, are you ready to take the chances?  

2. Data Inconsistency

Data can be replicated only when the update is complete. An erroneous or old copy of data can lead to data inconsistency, crashing the entire project.

3. Risk of Theft

Physical infrastructure on-site is prone to thefts. Unless your backups are completely disconnected from the network and stored in isolation, scammers can access your confidential data, corrupt it or just erase it.  

4. Device Failure

A hard drive or DVD crash means complete loss of data stored in it. And such failures are very common.

5. Malware Attack

Ineffective security solutions at your end may result in malware or other such attacks. 

The Vital importance of Backup System

Although, latest operating systems are being embedded with enhanced features for system resonation and backups, chances are there, you might suffer a system crash or an attack on data costing, which will meet out your business with a tragic lose. 

Therefore, it’s important to understand the significance and benefits of a backup system.

Cloud Based Backup Solutions

This is preferably the most reliable and guaranteed backup solution, which is advocated by experts around the globe. The explanation to its prestige is the protection it offers against different sorts of threats like system crashing, cyber attacks and even natural mishaps. Moreover, the solution offers essential advantages of designing the solution as demanded or required by the business.

Secured Protection

Cloud based backup solutions are probably the most secured. They ensure on time recovery of all the different kinds of data. Moreover, you can customize such solutions to suit your needs.

Effortless Use

With cloud based backup solutions, users can effortlessly learn to work with numerous types of interface and management systems, which are easy to set up and operate. This indeed helps emerging businesses to enhance their services without worrying about the threats of data loss.    

Quick and User Friendly

A crucial aspect of cloud based backup solution is that it is equipped with configuration and setup wizards that ensure development of systems rapidly. Moreover, these solutions are designed to deliver off-premise data storage alternatives and great options for eco-conscious individuals.    

Top Strategies on How to Backup Your Data Successfully

Don’t keep waiting until the disaster strikes! Have you ever imagined how your operations would be affected if few data volumes (documents, multimedia files etc.) are destroyed, stolen away or rendered useless by a malicious program! The importance of hiring a professional IT support company cannot be denied but you on your own need to be aware of top strategies on how to backup data as well. Professionals can help you better if you know what you really need for your business.

Listed below are the top strategies on how to backup files and other data –

Brainstorm and Plan Early

Make it a point to discuss raw ideas for a data backup plan with system administrators and other professionals at your company. Everyone can come up with unique ideas and help in strengthening your company’s data backup strategy. If you’re living in an area where floods or hurricanes are common, make sure backups are never stored in basements. Choose at least the 2^nd or 3^rd floor. If digital data is the lifeline of your business, it’s a good idea to take online backups. Such backups are easily accessible through web interfaces and keep your data safe from all imaginable disasters including break-ins, fire accidents, floods, earthquakes etc.

Have a Rock Solid Backup Routine

Running a business successfully demands all of your focus & energy. In the process, it’s easy to lose track of backups or other such processes that are actually very important for the health of your income stream in the long run. Even if you know how to backup a computer or understand the importance of email backup, you’d still need to have a backup routine in place. Make it a part of the daily task list assigned to a system administrator or network engineer. Never count on each employee in your organization, big or small, to take backups on their own. They might do it for a day or two but eventually, they’ll stop doing it.

Have a Personalized Data Backup Strategy

The best data backup strategy is not exactly like the one recommended by an expert. It’s the ‘modified’ strategy that has been tailored to your business’s exact needs. If data on your company workstations changes every day, you need to backup hard drive on a daily basis, for example. It’s advisable to have full as well as incremental backups. For example, you can take one full backup on every Saturday and incremental (data changes) backups on week days.

Test Your Backup on a Regularly Basis

Don’t rely blindly on backup software whether it’s online or installed on a server on your local network. IT support companies (if you’ve hired one) will do it on its own but it’s important to inquire about data backup testing. Try to recover the data backup to an alternate location on your network at least once in a month to check if the integrity of data has not been lost. Also, make sure you check ‘backup logs’ at least once a week to find out if some backup operations failed.

How to Recover Deleted Files

At times, important files get deleted due to human error, viruses or malfunctioned software programs. In some cases, antivirus programs can also delete important files. The file can be restored directly from the backup, if you’ve any. If there was no backup, you can try using a freeware or proprietary software for restoration. You can also have a look out on this article regarding hidden tips to successfully restore your files.

However, If deleted data is very important, it’s prudent to have a competent IT support services company look into the matter as they’ve expertise, tools and software for data retrieval.