November 2011
In this issue:

Holiday Hours

Our offices will be closed Thursday, November 24th, and Friday, November 25th, for Thanksgiving.
 

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.

Learn how you could earn a $100 American Express gift card in return for your referral!
 

Fight the Flu
It's hard to believe, but flu season is here. Officially, flu season begins in November, so now is the time for your business to take steps to ensure your employees are protected.

Flu related absenteeism is a huge issue for business owners and can cost employers thousands of dollars in lost revenue and productivity. Below you will find a variety of steps you and your employees can take to help prevent the flu this season.

► Download Agility's Influenza Preparedness Checklist designed to help employees and businesses take preventative action against the flu.

► Find a flu shot near you. Getting vaccinated is the single best way to avoid the flu.

► Practice healthy habits and help stop the spread of germs. Click here for six simple ways to stay healthy and fight off the flu this season.

Just for Laughs

Quote of the Month

"Once again we find ourselves enmeshed in the Holiday Season, that very special time of year when we join with our loved ones in sharing centuries-old traditions such as trying to find a parking space at the mall. We traditionally do this in my family by driving around the parking lot until we see a shopper emerge from the mall, then we follow her, in very much the same spirit as the Three Wise Men, who 2,000 years ago followed a star, week after week, until it led them to a parking space."

 — Dave Barry

Count your blessings instead of your crosses;
Count your gains instead of your losses.
Count your joys instead of your woes;
Count your friends instead of your foes.
Count your smiles instead of your tears;
Count your courage instead of your fears.
Count your full years instead of your lean;
Count your kind deeds instead of your mean.
Count your health instead of your wealth;
Count on God instead of yourself.

BYOD, Are You Prepared? Questions You Should Ask.
by Jack Safrit, CEO of Axxys Technologies

No, I’m not talking about having a party but rather one of the hottest topics in technology today. Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is becoming an absolute factor in almost every business today. Your employees, vendors, and guests all probably bring some type of personal communication device or their own notebooks to your workplace every day. Many employees are using their own devices to connect to your business networks, if for nothing more than the receipt of your corporate email. So why is BYOD a hot topic?

Many companies provide their employees laptops and smartphones to serve as their business computing and mobile communications devices. The business owns those devices, and as a result, the business can control the security of those devices and any business data that the user had downloaded to them. When Blackberry was a standard, Blackberry server handled many of the business security concerns present in mobile devices. Today, we see that burden of security falling back on the business and their IT departments as many employees are bringing their own smartphones, tablets, and notebooks to the office or are connecting to your business network remotely to do their work. And while that ability has certainly may potentially make them more productive, it certainly has made it more difficult to control access.

What questions do you need to ask about BYOD at your business?

Thanks for your feedback!

Last month we asked you to take a survey about what you wanted on our new website. Thank you for your responses! They were very helpful, and we received so many so quickly that our survey closed much earlier than we had anticipated.

We greatly appreciate your feedback. If you have any questions or comments about our website (and what you would like to see), feel free to email us at any time.

It's time for our HTS 2011 Webinar series! Our next webinar will be on December 8th, 10:00 AM CST.

Join HTS Telephony Manager Jeff Penland and Mitel Partner Sales Representative Susie Green on Thursday, December 8th at 10:00 AM CST as they explain and demonstrate how the Mitel Unified Communicator Advanced solution can drastically improve your organization's communication abilities, whether in the office or away from your desk.

Register for this webinar today!
 

Often times during PowerPoint presentations you might want to share video and audio clips. Doing this means you have to get out of your presentation, find the video file, play it, then get back into your presentation and find the slide you were last on. But what if you could play movie clips and sound files from within your presentation?

If you have these files on your computer, you can!

There are a couple of things that have transpired in the computer industry in the last month that I believe are worthwhile to note. First, a typhoon caused massive flooding to parts of Thailand at the end of August. This flooding has covered about one-third of Thailand’s surface area.

What does this have to do with technology you ask?

The flooding has had serious impact on the countries manufacturing business, notably the manufacturing of computer hard drives. Thailand accounts for approximately twenty five percent of the world’s hard drive production. Supply chains for hard drive manufacturing in other countries will be disrupted as well. Factories that produce components used in over 70% of worldwide hard drives produced by Western Digital, Seagate, Hitachi, Toshiba and Samsung have been damaged as well.

Industry analysts are noting that the reduced manufacturing capacity will cause inventory constraints and increased prices throughout the end of the year and into the first quarter of next year. Please keep this under consideration as you plan your year-end computer purchases as well as your budgeting for 2012 Q1.

On a brighter note, Meg Whitman (Hewlett Packard President and CEO) announced last week that HP will not sell off its Personal Systems Group. The Personal Systems Group (PSG) is the business unit responsible for the manufacture and sales of desktop, workstation and mobile computers. This unit was the number one manufacturer of personal computers in 2010 with worldwide revenues totaling $40.7 billion. This accounts for over one third of Hewlett Packard’s overall revenue, the number ten ranked company on America’s 2010 Fortune 500 list.

This follows former Hewlett Packard CEO Leo Apotheker shocking the technology industry on August 18th when he announced that HP was exploring “strategic alternatives” for its PSG unit. These alternatives may have included a sale or spin-off of the Personal Systems Group. In a written statement Meg Whitman states, "It's clear after our analysis that keeping the Personal Systems Group within HP is right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees. HP is committed to PSG, and together we are stronger." Hewlett Packard believes the PC business is too ingrained in the company's supply chain and other key HP operations to let it go. Computers also help promote HP's brand, and are a crucial part of the company's "one-stop shop" services that it offers to corporate customers, HP said.

"As part of HP, PSG will continue to give customers and partners the advantages of product innovation and global scale across the industry's broadest portfolio of PCs, workstations and more," said Todd Bradley, head of HP's Personal Systems unit. "We intend to make the leading PC business in the world even better."

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