August 2011
In this issue:

HTS Referral Program
The highest compliment you can give us is the referral of a new client. If you know of anyone who could benefit from any of the services we provide your company, please keep us in mind.

Click here to learn how you could earn a $100 American Express gift card in return for your referral!
 

Do you ever feel like you live life with one foot on each side of the fence? You want to do one thing but are still attracted to another? I know people who have a hard time deciding what they want for lunch. For crying out loud, it’s just lunch. Make a decision!

I am working with a man who is launching his own business and he has really struggled with what market to target and how he will approach them. Truth is, his business will fit several specific markets and he has been changing his mind constantly for the last few months regarding who he wants to serve. I finally asked him to write down every potential target market he could think of for his product. I then had him scratch off anyone he did not want to service, which left a short list of people who would benefit from his product and whom he felt like he would enjoy working with. Then I simply said: "Pick one."

Continue reading to make a decision

Just for Laughs

Quote of the Month

"I have never been jealous.
Not even when my dad finished
fifth grade a year before I did."

 — Jeff Foxworthy
 

The "Other" Button
by Jane Cage, CFO, HTS

We have a new phone system here at the office. I've been busy configuring buttons, learning new shortcuts and setting preferences so that I can be more efficient in my use of this new tool. I know from practical experience that what I learn in the first couple of weeks will be the majority of what I learn about the system. Have you ever considered that the same principle applies to a tool you have been using at your computer for probably years now – the mouse?

Microsoft has made many improvements to increase your efficient use of Microsoft Office products by taking advantage of a key that we seldom use – the right button on the mouse. Office 2010 takes incredible advantage of the right click. Almost any task that you would perform by going to a menu can be accomplished by using the right click. Type anything in Microsoft Word, then right click. You can change the font, the numbering, find a synonym or build a hyperlink. Right click inside an Excel spreadsheet and you can insert, paste, filter and format.

Wonder what else you can do by clicking the "other" button? Watch this short video from Microsoft Office Casual and find out.

The Mitel Freedom Tour Bus is making a stop at our office in Ames, IA, on September 23rd! We would like to invite you to take a private tour of this rolling state-of-the-art communications demo center. Mitel Telephony solutions experts will be on-hand to demonstrate the company’s full range of business communications solutions and to answer all of your questions.

We will also have hands-on demos of Microsoft Office 365 and Lync 2010, HP Thin Client & Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, SonicWALL Next Generation Firewalls & Application Control, and the HTS WorryFree IT Suite!

There are a limited number of tour spots available, so please click here to learn more and register at your earliest convenience so we can arrange a session for you and your group.

If you are not in the Central Iowa region and would like to learn more about any of these solutions, please arrange a demo at your location!

Save with Mitel's Find Your Voice offer

Not getting what you want out of your current phone system? Then it's time to make your voice heard – and save money, too! The Mitel 5000 HX system is the perfect solution to help you find your voice and through October 31, 2011, you can get three phones for the price of two when you purchase and trade-in qualifying phones!

Learn more about this offer and act quickly because October 31st will be here before we know it!

National Preparedness Month: Have a plan to recover

September is National Preparedness Month, driven this year by Agility Recovery, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Ready Campaign, and Citizen Corps. This campaign is an effort to encourage Americans to prepare for emergencies, whether it is at their homes, workplace, or communities.

The percentage of small- to medium-sized businesses that never recover after a disaster is staggeringly high, especially since the steps to putting together a disaster recovery plan are simple.

You never know when disaster might strike. Heartland Technology Solutions knows this very well – only weeks after we finalized our business continuity plan, a deadly tornado struck Joplin, MO, where one of our locations is based. While our location in Joplin was thankfully unscathed, hundreds of other businesses were destroyed. We could have been one of them, and we have seen how businesses can recover if they have a plan.

Take some time this month to begin preparing your business in case of a power outage, fire, earthquake, tornado, hurricane, or other disaster. There are a number of helpful resources online that can lead you through the stages of preparing.

• Educate yourself with Agility Recovery’s upcoming NPM webinars and archived webinars from PrepareMyBusiness.org.
• Plan how you will stay in business and recover with downloadable resources from PrepareMyBusiness.org and instructions from Ready.gov
• Test your business continuity plan with a checklist and live meetings
• Know how to get the help you need to protect your business with disaster assistance

Disaster recovery solutions: More accessible, and more necessary, than ever before
used with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Site

Very few of us would hide our life savings under our mattress with confidence that those funds would remain safe and sound. Financial institutions provide us with a plethora of options for the safekeeping of our money, so it's crazy to think that we'd opt for hiding all of our cash in the bedroom.

The equivalent of hiding cash under a mattress is actually fairly commonplace in many businesses. Companies frequently store all of their data and information in just one place, leaving them vulnerable to dire consequences should catastrophe, whether physical or technical, occur. Unfortunately, few companies that undergo significant data loss resulting from a disaster can pull things together quickly and effectively enough to survive long-term, further underscoring how imperative it is for businesses to have effective disaster recovery solutions in place.

Continue reading for business continuity options
 

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