Hi All,

Hope you are well and enjoying the wonderful British summer. Well it is the last Monday of the month and you all know what happens on the last Monday of each month...Top tips a la Ang! Sorry this edition is later than usual – pretty busy July but I wanted to make sure you get this as promised on the last Monday of the month.

I know you have all been waiting for this month’s email with baited breath (a girl can dream can’t she?) so here goes – I hope you like and as usual if there are any areas you want me to investigate for you do let me know!

Tips to help you become productive, reduce costs and get more CUSTOMERS!!!!

In no particular order, these tips I hope will help you achieve the above and they have ALL been test driven by myself (the things I do for you...) - Seriously I employ all the tips listed regularly, bar the digital pen which I trialled at an exhibition recently got hooked and have since ordered for me and the rest of the team!


1. The Digital Pen

As I mentioned above, I attended a gadget expo recently and one of the products I trialled which completely blew me away was the E-Pen. You can find out more about it at www.e-pens.com/mobile_notes.htm. If like me you are constantly making notes at sales meetings, client service meetings, seminars etc then this little gadget is truly a godsend. It basically acts like a normal pen (complete with ink) and you write on normal paper – no digital tablet or anything. What I like best is you don’t even have to write in a special way – just write normally and the e-pen will recognise the text! Amazing! I have lost count of how many times I have returned from a meeting and have tried to decipher my own handwriting and have struggled to do so (yes my handwriting is really that bad) but the e-pen can! And it works with MS Office too! It recognises drawings too so brill for architects, engineers and marketers!

2. Get to the top of Google FREE

This is great. Forget Adwords, Forget website optimisation (for now...we will talk about this later), you can get to the top of Google simply be featuring on an index – FREE. I highly recommend http://www.freeindex.co.uk/. Simply register your business, add a few blurb about the business, attach some images, get a few testimonials and you are good to go! In the last month we have received 5 new business enquiries from Free Index. Not bad when you think it is all FREE. And because search engines simply love directories (remember search engines absolutely adore content and these directories are content rich) they will always rank highly. Another good free index is http://www.businessmagnet.co.uk/.

3. Start Tracking

Do you know how many people visited your website today? How about last week? How about last month? If you do not know how many people are visiting your website then you are missing out on a trick - a big one! In the UK we still do not get how powerful the internet is in terms of generating new business. Businesses still see their website as just a postcard where people can get information from. Wrong! Your website is your best salesperson – costs little and works 24/7 for your business. Not knowing how many people visit your website is like running a restaurant and not knowing how many covers you do on a daily basis. We use Google’s Web Analytics (give me a call if you want to know more about how this works) which I think is great. You can also get web page counters (there are many free ones out there) not as in depth as Analytics but at least they give you some insight as to how well your page is working. Just in case you are wondering, http://www.supremesystems.co.uk/ had 8 unique visitors to our site today, 27 last week and 101 visitors for the month of June! J

4. Give something away FREE

So you know how many people visit your site but do you know who they all are? Do you know what they are looking for? If the visitors to your site don’t actually complete the Contact Us form or actually call you then you will never know who they are – another lost sale L. So give them something for FREE..in exchange for their contact details for you to follow up with. Most people will gladly give their details in exchange for “valuable information” (the onus is on “valuable”). Check out our website at http://www.supremesystems.co.uk/ on Friday. We are trialling out our new giveaway (a search engine optimisation ebook) you may like it...sign up and get a copy!

5. The Cute PDF Writer

Another one of my “can’t do without” software – Introducing the CutePDF Writer. Easily converts any document into PDF easily. http://www.cutepdf.com/. I use the free version so don’t bother buying the “paid for” version.

6. Go Green – Save the planet and Save Money

Going Green is all the rage at the moment and I always try my darnedest to ensure that in everything I do I take the environment into consideration (I am not a saint mind..I do have my bad days...). There are many ways you can help the environment but one of the gadgets we use at Supreme is GreenPrint – it ensures you only print the pages you need (It does not print any blank pages etc). If you print a lot of paper this can save you money – paper, cartridges etc. Check it out at http://www.printgreener.com/

7. Get a Word ADD IN

We did this recently for one of our clients and I think it may be useful for some of you. An ADD IN is a small software built to work alongside an application (in this case Word) and helps to reduce the time spent generating documents (quotes, invoices, contracts, letters etc). Now the ADD IN we developed was on behalf of a company that generated health and safety reports on behalf of businesses. The ADD IN simply enters pre-populated information to an existing document from a database or preconfigured abbreviations. So enter ADDR1 and the ADD IN understands that it needs to include Your company address details and ADDR2 tells it to enter your clients address details. Right click and you can select from a list of preconfigured text to include within the document - in this case the client could pick from a list of recommendations to proffer to your client and this at the same time customises the entire document to reflect this solution. Hey putting pen to paper does not really do this software justice – you have to see it in operation. You will be blown away. I have one...which I use for all the quotes and contracts I send out, and it reduces the amount of errors you may make on such crucial documents....what do you mean “you didn’t know we could design software”? J

8. Get Flash Spring

Another “can’t do without” software is Flash Spring Pro – it helps convert ordinary PowerPoint presentations to brilliant Flash presentations. Check it out at http://www.ispringsolutions.com/. Best of all there is a FREE version which is very good indeed!

9. Kick off a referral programme

You know the old saying.. ”if you don’t ask you don’t get”. So get asking. Go through your database and send an email asking for just 1 referral. Give something back in return. You will be amazed at just how many responses you get back especially if you have a good relationship with your clients. Another tip..make it formal. Send a nice email, with logos etc, an image of the “thank you present” (a nice bottle of expensive wine always does the trick I find) include a form were they can enter the details of the contact and voila! Use Google to create your forms - go to http://www.google.com/ – look under more and then documents (I promise I am not on a retainer from Google) or another trusted friend Aweber - http://www.aweber.com/. While we are at it...got any referrals for moi? J

10. Go Paperless

Scan Everything! Seriously. Why still keep paper? I scan every single document I get in and recycle the paper. The government bodies will now accept scanned copies (for VAT, Tax, PAYE purposes) so why do small businesses still hold so much paper – And it is easier to find documents too especially if you have an intranet system like ours (enter document name within search section or document type, press enter and the magic of technology brings the document to you without you ever having to leave your desk). I understand there are situations where nothing but paper will do and you do have to keep some paper documents but not all...surely! Those files of bills you still keep is a great place to start!


So, there you have it, my 10 tips for you to get your teeth into - as usual any questions do let me know.

Until next time!

Regards,

Does IT make you money?

So we are experiencing the worst economic downturn since the eighties. The pound is weaker; banks still refuse to lend money to small businesses, and the government continues to implement schemes that fail to tackle the issues at hand.

In order to survive these difficult times, businesses need to learn to be smarter in how they do business. You may know that in order to maximise profits you will have to reduce your costs, become more productive and utilise your resources wisely. You also know that you can get more customers by getting referrals from your existing customers or by designing (or redesigning) a website for your business - 65% of customers find new suppliers online.

What you may not know is that by utilising IT (information Technology) more effectively, you can achieve this. A recent study conducted by the DTI identified that the number one reason why businesses are unable to compete effectively in their market place is their inadequate use of technology.

Let me give you some examples of how IT can help improve your bottom line:

1. Suffering from high postage and printing costs? Using IT you can:

• Turn your office into a "paperless office". Not only is this good for the environment but by using IT you can send your invoices, quotes and statements electronically
  
• We can help you build an intranet where customers can view their information online - so you no longer have to send samples or drawings by post or via courier;

2. Want to get more from your customers? Using IT you can:

• increase sales by anticipating your clients needs based on historic trends;
• identify your customers needs more effectively by understanding specific client requirements;
• cross-sell other products;
• identify which of your clients are profitable and which are not allowing you to spend your efforts on customers who make you money;

3. Want to get more from your resources? Using IT you can:

• consolidate your systems and make redundant systems that are costing you money;
• get more from your people by making them more productive in and out of the office;
• centralise your information, reducing the time it takes to process information;

IT should not be a resource that costs you money - when used properly IT SHOULD MAKE YOU MONEY!

Some of the best companies in the world will testify to this - Virgin, Google, and Tesco dominate their market place by simply using IT to drive their businesses. You do not need to be as big as these guys to utilise IT in a better way.

Just ask Business Link West Midlands - they believe this to be an area of such importance that they recently set up a department solely to help educate small businesses as to how they too can use IT efficiently.

So why this email?

As a Business Link Approved Supplier, we are conducting a series of assessments with as many businesses as we can to demonstrate how they too can use IT in a smarter way to reduce costs, increase productivity and maximise profits. The assessment should take no longer than 20 - 30 minutes of your time and we will discuss in detail how you currently use IT in your business.

I strongly believe your business will benefit from this assessment so much so that I can guarantee to reduce your IT costs by 20%.

If you are interested in the assessment please give me a call on 0121 236 0065 or send me an email to angela.hart@supremesystems.co.uk

Thank you for taking the time to read the email. You can find further information on our company by visiting our website at www.supremesystems.co.uk.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any queries you may have.

Kind regards,


Angela Hart
Client Services Manager
Supreme Systems

West Midlands Information Technology Solutions Showcase - Millennium Point, Birmingham 31st March 2009 from 10:00 a.m to 7:00 pm

The West Midlands Information Technology Solutions Showcase(WMITSS) will be Business Link's highest profile Event in the Region in 2009

The target is to attract 1000 visitors from SMEs across the Region to an Event which will inform them about opportunities to reduce costs, increase efficiency or develop business opportunities, motivate them to follow it through and provide them with a service - IT Advisory Service (ITAS) - which can broker links with appropriate suppliers able to deliver the solutions for them.

The event will have elements appropriate to a wide range of IT competence and capabilities and also across a many different uses of IT based technologies and sizes of company.

We will have information and support targeted at ‘Entry level’ companies looking at topics such as accessing basic software, broadband, looking after customers and websites.

We will also have information covering technologies - hardware and software systems which will delight and enthuse the Intermediate and Advanced Level users.

Time to cut costs? Making sure you get value for money from your IT by Angela Hart, Client Services Manager, Supreme Systems

As IT services providers ourselves we are advocates of the benefits of outsourcing. Technology is vital to the success of any business – IT can help you increase efficiency; improve services and ultimately their bottom line. However in the current climate we understand that businesses are under increased pressure to reduce their IT costs.
Cost cutting need to be handled with care however. Rather than a blanket cost cutting regime, businesses need to look at ways of reducing costs without necessarily reducing operational efficiency and in turn their competitive advantage.
Radical cost-cutting may answer short-term needs but can lead to higher future costs as projects that could improve efficiencies are delayed or cancelled. For businesses, it is vital to measure hardware, software and servicing not on cost alone, but in the context of performance and quality.

Top 6 Tips for effective IT cost cutting

1. Consider IT staffing.
How productive is the individual? What staffing levels are needed not just to maintain but to improve service delivery? Are your per-capita cost/performance ratios better, the same or worse than other companies in your market sector and against industry best practice?

2. Outsourcing - get the price right
Analysing outsourcing costs is even more challenging than planning internal cuts. Businesses often feel they are overpaying their IT service providers (we disagree but who are we to argue eh?) but can't pinpoint how much or why because of the lack of pricing transparency in the contract.
Costs can increase because the client wants customised services or because their IT environment is highly complex.
In such cases, we would encourage businesses to think about standardising application platforms, eliminate redundant desktops or rationalise service centres to save money.

3. Choose the right service package for your business
Sometimes businesses automatically request a premium-level service where a standard one would suffice. Discuss with your supplier what elements of your package are essential to your business and make redundant all those which are unnecessary or have little or no effect on your business. Then try to negotiate your contract costs on this basis.

4. Plan in advance
Sometimes businesses may need a job done in a rush whatever the cost. To save money, businesses should be encouraged to plan ahead. At Supreme Systems we hold regular IT Audits with our clients to try and ascertain their plans for the future and make recommendations where possible as to how we can help them achieve those goals.
Always check with your providers on the cost implications of doing work under time pressure.

5. Improve Existing Systems
Your PCs may not be running as fast as they should be but this does not necessarily mean you need to purchase new PCs. You may simply require a ram upgrade or checking to see that your systems are not infested with viruses. Compare the costs of buying a new PC (a good busy can cost anything from £300 - £600) to upgrading your RAM (a 2GB memory upgrade can cost as little as £60) that alone is a saving of between £240 and £540!

6. IT Illiterates Cost You Money!

In our experience there are two types of IT Illiterates that cost businesses money.

IT Illiterates Type 1 - Staff who happen to have some knowledge of IT but are not necessarily employed to fix IT problems. A study carried out by City &Guilds found that the majority of small businesses (59%) rely on staff with no official IT role to sort out daily computing problems. Businesses with six to 10 employees were the worst offenders, with 65% relying on non-specialised staff members to put in extra hours to fix IT issues.

More than one-third (35%) of workers have failed to get a job done on time due to lack of IT knowledge and trained support, the study found. More than half of these workers (54%), tried to solve their IT problems themselves, potentially leading to more problems.

"In many companies, IT issues are passed on to existing staff in an attempt to keep costs down," Ken Gaines, City & Guilds' product manager for IT user qualifications, said in a statement. "However, without proper training, novices can end up costing companies far more in terms of productivity levels."

IT Illiterates Type 2 – The Friend of a Friend or the IT Novice. We recently received a frantic call from a business owner. Their email system had stopped functioning and they had been unable to receive emails for three days. As a manufacturing company, their email system was vital to their business as the majority of their business was from international clients. During our initial systems audit, we discovered that their exchange had been set up by a “good friend” who was well experienced in fixing IT issues – unfortunately he was currently on holiday and was unable to fix the current problems. On further investigation of the email set up we were amazed that the company’s email system has managed to survive for so long! Our belief is you get what you pay for and the MDs’ assertions that “he does our IT for a pint” spoke volumes.

The IT Novice – (theory trained with no real industry experience) is another IT Illiterate that should come with a health warning. We call them the IT Cowboys – who position themselves as experts in their field. You know the type. He excelled in the Open University IT Systems course and believes this is enough to set up his own IT support business - with no real industry experience, should you really trust this person with your systems? Nothing beats working with a real IT professional that is able to tender solutions quickly and effectively due to their experience. I know of one “IT Support Company” who uses consultants from another established IT provider to fix his clients’ IT issues because he simply does not have the skills himself to carry out a satisfactory fix (yes we are advocates of outsourcing but this is ridiculous!). This means that he is unable to respond to clients queries quickly and he also passes on the cost of recruiting outside consultants to his clients. What began as a cheap IT contract is now costing his clients far more than they imagined. Our advice? Always go for quality - experts over novices. If you can never get an instant fix to your problem and instead you get the “we will get back to you” spiel; if you are leaving messages for your support provider and they are taking their time to get back to you; if your onsite technicians are constantly changing (and they have little or no knowledge of the company they “work for”) beware you may have a novice on your hands!

Contact Supreme Systems now on 0800 001 5942 or email us at enquiry@upremesystems.co.uk to see how we can help you with your IT Support needs. With support packages starting from as little as 26p per PC per Day, cost cutting will soon be a thing of the past.

Credit Crunch? What Credit Crunch By Angela Hart, Client Services Manager, Supreme Systems

Despite the downturn, this is definitely not the time for SMEs to be cutting down on their IT spend.

Credit crunch or not, small businesses need to embrace technologies that encourage better efficiencies and enhance productivity. IT dependant businesses need to ensure they have in place the right support to ensure their business is able to ride the current econmic storm. Reducing your IT spend may not necessarily be the right reaction to the current economic climate and in many cases such a reaction can be catastrophic for some businesses leaving them vulnerable.

At Supreme Systems we believe that SMEs simply need to ensure they are making sensible IT choices to ensure they are getting value for money on their IT spend. For example:

1. Rethink your decision to recruit an in-house IT specialist. A typical SME with 20 users could spend up to £25,000 per annum on recruiting an in-house IT specialist. Our team of engineers can provide IT services and support for a fraction of this cost - circa £10,000 per annum. In addition to this huge saving you are tapping into a wealth of IT expertise that no single in-house IT expert can possibly have. You also avoid administrative headaches such as PAYE obligations, contractual obligations etc.

2. IT need not be expensive. Try to match your requirements with packages to suit your needs. At Supreme Systems we have different support packages designed to suit your environment and your pocket. You can see an overview of our support packages here.

3. Go as you please and Pay As You go. Never go without an IT fall back. Pick a company you can trust to provide you with support services when you please. Our competitively priced Pay As You Go bundles will give you the peace of mind of having an on call IT specialist with no additional commitment.

4. Spend, Spend, Spend. The old adage "spend money to make money" applies here although we would advise businesses to spend money on IT intelligently. Spend more on boosting your internet presence. Redesign your website and implement search engine optimisation campaigns to drive traffic to your website; spend money on introducing processes designed to improve productivity such as introducing CRM packages to help you get the most out of your customer data; consider having your own bespoke software created rather than buying software off the shelf (a common misconception is that off the shelf is cheaper than bespoke - not true!)

Right now at Supreme Systems we have various special offers designed to suit every budget. From money-off offers for website design; discounts off our Pay As You Go packages and free systems audits, we will ensure that together we can beat the credit crunch.

For more information on how Supreme Systems can help you beat the credit crunch give us a call on 0800 0015 942 or email enquiry@supremesystems.co.uk.

Despite the downturn, this is definitely not the time for SMEs to be cutting down on their IT spend.
Credit crunch or not, small businesses need to embrace technologies that encourage better efficiencies and enhance productivity. IT dependant businesses need to ensure they have in place the right support to ensure their business is able to ride the current econmic storm. Reducing your IT spend may not necessarily be the right reaction to the current economic climate and in many cases such a reaction can be catastrophic for some businesses leaving them vulnerable.
At Supreme Systems we believe that SMEs simply need to ensure they are making sensible IT choices to ensure they are getting value for money on their IT spend. For example:
1. Rethink your decision to recruit an in-house IT specialist. A typical SME with 20 users could spend up to £25,000 per annum on recruiting an inhouse IT specialist. Our team of engineers can provide IT services and support for a fraction of this cost - circa £10,000 per annum. In addition to this huge saving you are tapping into a wealth of IT expertise that no single in-house IT expert can possibly have.
2. IT need not be expensive. Try to match your requirements with packages to suit your needs. At Supreme Systems we have different support packages designed to suit your environmeny and your pocket. You can see an overview of our support packages here.
3. Go as you please and Pay As You go. Never go without an IT fall back. Pick a company you can trust to provide you with support services when you please. Our competitively priced Pay As You Go bundles will give you the peace of mind of having an on call IT specialist with no additional commitment.
4. Spend, Spend, Spend. The old adage "spend money to make money" applies here although we would advise businesses to spend money on IT intelligently. Spend more on boosting your internet presence. Redesign your website and implement search engine optmimsation campaigs to drive traffic to your website; spend money on introducing processes designed to improve prductivity such as introducing CRM packages to help you get the most out of your customer data; consider having your own bespoke software created rather than buying sofyware off the shelf (a common misconception is that off the shelf is cheaper than bespoke - not true!)
For more information on how Supreme Systems can help you beat the credit crunch give us a call on on 0800 0015 942 or email enquiry@supremesystems.co.uk.

IT Training

By Shakeel Rashid, Technical Services Engineer of Supreme Systems. For more information on our products and services please contact me on 0845 009 5430 or alternatively email me on shakeel.rashid@supremesystems.co.uk

What is IT Training?
It does exactly what it says on the tin! This is the process of educating an individual or groups of individuals in the use of IT systems and products. Training subjects can vary from software related subjects like how to use Microsoft Outlook up to hardware related subjects such as how to connect to your wireless network.

How it Works
Picture this scenario. You work for a company called Supreme Systems Ltd as technical consultant. They have just acquired a new client by the name of Kleen Point. The manager of Kleen Point asked Supreme Systems to install a new wireless network for them. Within time Supreme Systems have installed the new wireless network and provided all the hardware which was also required such as the wireless router and USB wireless adapters for the computers. Now it is your turn to show the clients how to connect to the wireless network. You would generally talk them through what each device is and what it does. For example you will tell them that the wireless router is getting an internet connection from your Internet Service Provider (ISP), in turn that router is throwing out that signal via its antennas. You will then talk to them about the wireless USB stick and how it operates. Finally, you would educate them on how and where you would insert the SSID key (this isn’t important for this document, so don’t worry about it) and the WEP key (this also isn’t important right now, it’s just an example). Smack, bang, wallop...your job is done; you have trained your clients in how to connect to the internet using their wireless router! However you might have to go over it a couple of times though!!

Who are the users of this service?
The main people who acquire this service are those who have very little or no knowledge whatsoever of a particular software or computer hardware. The main bulk of these people are young ‘to be’ future IT professionals who are studying these subjects at both college and university level. However these days there are massive conferences held in big theatres for large companies who educate their employees on the use IT or any new system which is going to be introduced into the company.

Advantages and Disadvantages of IT Training
The advantages of IT Training are endless, for starter, a customer becomes very proficient at using the IT products which you have provided. At the same time your skills are also greatly enhanced because as the more you teach, the more you learn as well. The customer can also pay to do the training whenever THEY want it. A more informed workforce means a more proficient business, which in turn means that employees are better at following orders.
The disadvantages include the trainer having to keep going over the same thing again and again in a case where a customer doesn’t understand what is going on. This can get very frustrating for a trainer and a lot of patience is required. At times, hiring professional trainers can prove to be very very expensive.

http://www.SupremeSystems.co.uk