Tech Trends To Watch In 2011…

Dec 30, 2010 // by Dan // IT Consulting, IT Support, IT Training & Coaching, Reviews, Social Media // 2 Comments

2011 Tech Predictions:

Incidents of (state sponsored) tech terrorism will rise (as will inflation and interest rates):

Microsoft will continue to flounder everywhere (Sell shares soon!) except with the office staples such as Windows and Office (Office 2010 is rather good). Apple will continue to conquer & niche the covetable product arena (Watch out for the new iPad Spring/Summer 2011):

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10 Rules for Blissful Outsourced IT Support

Dec 12, 2010 // by Dan // IT Consulting, IT Support // No Comments

Yes, Buying IT Support Sucks. We Get It!

You don’t want to buy it & we don’t particularly like selling it. However it is a fact of life…. for the moment.

Here are some rules to make the IT Support union more fruitful:

IT Support or your IT Helpdesk can only get you back to where you were. There’s probably no eureka/tadaa/love moment
IT people come in two flavours. Those that help get you out of the sh*t (Greasy hair, pocket protectors, smell funny) & those that help you do more with your IT (Look like Estate Agents, smell better and are potentially full of sh*t)
Expect to spend c. £100 per person per month for all IT ‘stuff’ (Hardware, software, training, support, connectivity – If you spread the cost over 3 years)
Treat your IT Support providers like partners. Let them in on your business plans & buy them a beer every now and then
If you don’t pay for instant gratification don’t get upset when you don’t get it
Always co-own domain or any similar login information. It belongs to you, not us/them
If moving IT Support to a new company, do it for the right reasons and remember the next guys will have to spend some time learning about you, at your expense
You cannot relinquish all responsibility to IT Support unless you pay them to do so (Having someone functionally responsible from your team reduces time and money, they don’t have to be especially techy)
Mistakes will be made. It’s how you both deal with them that counts
Play nicely. Pay their bills on time. They don’t make much money & remember – One flick of the switch at their end and you’re shafted

Spurious musings from Dan

www.theengineroom.co.uk

For IT Support in London

IT Support has little to do with IT

Dec 12, 2010 // by Dan // IT Consulting, IT Support // No Comments

IT Support Sucks

The best IT support engineers on the planet are better at managing people than IT support issues.

The Facebook generation are making geek sexy chic but at the IT support level this doesn’t necessarily carry (I’m the only sexy geek I know albeit old and soft round the middle).

Technical support positions are often filled by people with questionable people skills, even in London. All the sales meetings I go on are due to the incumbent giving bad customer service, not bad IT Support service. (I have to admit that we have lost customers due to servicing people badly, gutting, but true sadly. You can’t win them all).

If Twitter Was 1 Word…

Dec 11, 2010 // by Dan // Social Media // No Comments

Some bright spark (No girlfriend) has created a one word Twitter tag cloud from our bio’s;

Just How Big Is Google Anyway?

Dec 10, 2010 // by Dan // IT Consulting, IT Support, Social Media // No Comments

Google. Massive. Global. Not yet a scary thing yet (Their mantra is ‘Don’t do evil’ which is nice). They are big, very big, but how big?

How Did We Use The Internet In 2010?

Dec 10, 2010 // by Dan // IT Support, IT Training & Coaching, Reviews // No Comments

UK Internet Users & Usage 2010 Trends

More than 44 million people were online in 2010
Broadband penetration is 70% of households (I believe in London that’s slightly higher in most boroughs, nearer 80%)
95% of people access the internet at work
41% at home
78% of the population go online every or almost every day
18% of the population have never used the internet
Search and communities are the top website categories
90% use the internet to send/receive email
45% watch TV or listen to the radio
39% look for health related info
Top 5 sites (by market share of visits) are: Google, Facebook, Windows Live Mail, YouTube, eBay
89% of the population has a mobile phone (31% of whom have used it to access the internet)
73% of smart phone users access the internet on it at least once a day – mostly for news, weather, social networking, search, sport or music

Their Conclusions Are… Internet Time Spent By Country

Most UK internet users are heavy users (See pic)
Utility and entertainment value are fast replacing novelty as crucial drivers of consumer behaviour
Video is keeping users online longer, and bringing energy/investment into display advertising
Mobile is a whole new dimension
It has never been more important to know your audience

These distilled nuggets are c/o LondonCharlotte

Thank you to eMarketer.

Dan

Mobile Internet Usage 2010

Dec 10, 2010 // by Dan // IT Support, Reviews // No Comments

2010 – A mobile year in review.

Mobile seems to be the future of the tech world at the moment. HUGE growth.

Great video if you have time…

Thanks to mobilefuture.org

Will Android Take Over The Mobile World in 2011?

Dec 10, 2010 // by Dan // IT Consulting, IT Support, Reviews // No Comments

Android has been an absolute smash in 2010, however, delve a little deeper and you’ll see it’s only in the US?

Here is the Android Infographic that breaks down who is kicking ass in mobile phone land. I’m not convinced their predictions for 2014 are right but we will see.