Susanne Dansey’s Blog

Each presentation I take as part of these events always comes with a few surprises. Many are one-woman-bands who are looking to for inspiration and answers on how and where to start in business. This time, there were a fair few who were comfortable with IT but still, and worryingly, a large number of those attending who don’t back up their IT.

It’s not unusual though…

This is basically how part of my presentation goes:

A few weeks back I had quite a bad week. First, my car gets broken into; then on returning back to a friend’s house we discover it had been burgled, and then I get a flat tyre driving down the M4. *sigh* It was a pretty rubbish week…

… but I had car insurance, they had home insurance, and I had a famous three letter recovery company to help me.

All seem like necessary evils until you need it.

So, how many people use their computers to email and store information and files regarding their business? (everyone puts their hands up)

How many people DON’T back up these computers? (about 75% of the audience put their hands up reluctantly and shift in their seats)

At this point, I’ve pretty much made my point but I labour it a bit longer…

How many days do you think it will take to recover your data and get back up to normal business activities if your computer was stolen or lost the data through corruption? (I’m generous and say three, although statistics are a lot higher). Let’s assume your daily rate is £100 (more £500 for most) and multiply it by three. That’s £300 even before you’ve tried to do some business. At what point do you think you can’t afford to back up your machine?

Then I pull out a USB hard drive which cost me £80 for 320GB memory. We do the maths and they all make plans to go and buy one at the weekend.

Businesses start up all the time, and everytime one does, someone new wants to grasp the fundamentals of IT but doesn’t know where to start. Many come from larger organisations where the IT was sorted on their behalf; and most don’t relate the focus they have on securing their personal posessions and wellbeing to the same way they should for their businesses.

When I was a reseller, I used to make sure my clients understood IT was part of the business plan. I made sure I sat in on business meetings and usually I was able to spot shortcuts for them to help aid their business - most revolved around how to better communicate and manage their customers. They told me their problems and I gave them the solutions. They were small businesses looking to grow; I was part of a small business looking to grow - there was a trust relationship which helped give my clients the confidence to think better about IT. It was just a case of breaking down the jargon and making the answers simple to achieve.

The same goes for any business. It’s pretty hard to sell a product or service if the buyer doesn’t get it.

Hopefully, the audiences I speak to go away feeling better about IT. Many stop to talk to me afterwards; many want to ask me about Vista nowadays - they buy the product because it’s pre-installed and don’t know where to start. Just because there are help guides and small blue round buttons in the top right of the screen, doesn’t mean people are going to help themselves.

People deal with people and they will always choose to ask rather than look for themselves because they wouldn’t know where to start. One of the ladies in the audience asked me something which goes a little bit like this:

When I want to find someone to help me with my IT, I find it particularly difficult to know who I should talk to. You hear from others who they use and sometimes it’s great. But most times, you worry about finding someone and then they move on leaving you none the wiser and if that’s the case, where do you go from there?

Again, I brought IT back into the real world and compared it to when you go for a hair cut. Now, this obviously doesn’t apply to everyone but most ladies have experienced the odd hairdresser looking at their hair with distain and saying ‘who cut this last?’. The reaction from said customer is usually one of embarassment as they mumble their reply. (everyone nodded and agreed)

So then I suggested the Microsoft Small Business Specialists and explained that they were small businesses like them who had gone through similar growing pains but with a specialisation in IT (audience scribbles down details).

To find out more about Microsoft Small Business Specialists, click here. I cannot recommend them more than I already do. They rock. They aren’t spoken about enough but they are incredibly important in supporting an incredibly important market sector that no large organisation has had the time or resources to fully support (it’s a labour of love) so far.

If you want to know whether there is a Small Business Specialist close to you click here and type your postcode into the search to find out.

Don’t leave IT on the backburner. IT is about having the right technology in place to support your business information.

For more information on how and what you need to start to understand it a bit more, click here.

Products to consider: Microsoft OneCare (also available from Small Business Specialists in box format), Microsoft ForeFront (suitable for businesses that have a server-based network).

Next stop; Southampton.