“Be an angel, take a look at my laptop – it’s not working.”  If you are a Business Admin, I bet you have heard that before.  What that statement really means is drop everything else!  This is a priority because this laptop belongs to my boss, who happens to be an Executive and is about to embark on a journey to New York to present to a great prospect.

The days of printer frustrations are slowly but surely becoming a thing of the past. As the cloud has been growing and developing the cloud printing industry has been growing right alongside. Services such as Google's Cloud Print, Ezeep and UniPrint are leading the way and making printing easier than ever.

As you read this post, keep in mind there is no “perfect” solution. All options – be it an in-house network or a cloud solution – have both upsides and downsides. Your selection has to be determined on a case-by-case scenario before you can come to a complete conclusion on which option will work best for you.

Long ago, (well early 1980’s) the inter-department memo consisted of a paper memo which was moved around the company with check boxes to ensure receipt. Thank goodness, email and distribution lists seriously advanced communication practices, however, data was still a challenge.

As we see 2013 moving further and further away in the rear view mirror, I wanted to reflect on one of the most significant technology advances in 25 years that occurred full swing last year. It is now not only easy but extremely prudent for small to medium sized businesses (SMB) to move to the cloud right away!
A Mixed Batch Solution
Over the years, I’ve held many sales and sales management positions and have worked in partnership with most of the large Technology companies like Microsoft, HP, IBM, EMC, Oracle, NetApp, and a few more.

A key benefit to the cloud is scalability. This allows a business to upscale or downscale their IT requirements when needed. For example, a company creates an incredible product and it starts to take off. The business is growing at a dizzying rate and it’s time to expand.

What’s your reaction when the “Check Engine” light goes on while you are driving your car? Do you immediately head to your local mechanic to have it diagnosed? Are you a DIYer who stops by the local auto parts supplier to get a free scan, or perhaps you own your own OBD2 scanner and use it to retrieve the error codes? Or, do you just continue to drive around hoping that it will eventually go out? The problem with that is the light usually doesn't go out – it just stays on, glowing at you as if to say “Hey, we have a problem here…..don’t ignore me!!!” I've known some people who cover it with tape just to feel less guilty.