So you manage IT, manage technology, and mange people. Do you know what you are doing? No really do you? I guess it all depends on where you come from and your attitude. Some of US IT managers come from the techie side of the house and have no formal management training. Other’s of us come from the business side of the house and have a lot of training. Still the question remains, do you know what you are doing?
In a leadership role it is …

We are looking to become a Microsoft Partner.  If you are a small outfit you may want to look into partnering with Microsoft.  A couple of benefits are you can say you are a Microsoft Partner and to some customers that may be valuable.  Also you can obtain a limited number of licenses for software like Exchange 2003, Windows server 2003, and Office 2003.  The discount is well worth the effort to gain partner status.
software, microsoft, microsoft partner

The SpectraLogic T50 that I mentioned a while ago will ship tomorrow.  We will probably spend the next month configuring and testing our backup solution before I will say we are in production.  Many times companies put backups on the back burner, Don’t!!  Even big companies lose data by accident, check out Google latest blunder.
google, spectralogic, backup

I never knew Google had an SMS service, but recently was shown the site by my CFO.  We spend a great deal of money on 411 calls from our cell phones.  He offered the solution that we can SMS Google for 411 listings, weather, stocks, and driving directions.  It’s not a perfect service, but I was highly impressed with the features.  Go check it out.
google, sms, google sms, 411

Are you looking for a fairly simple way to inventory your LAN machines.  I have been testing an open source package for about 2 months now and it works wonderful for my needs.  Check out OCS Inventory.  Leave comments if you need help but the setup and use is pretty straight forward.

Microsoft Vista will be out later this year.  As an IT manager, CIO, or other persons making technology decisions you probably want to start reviewing Windows Vista along with Office 12 (possible renamed Office vista).  I am generally not a fan of a new OS until after the first service pack, but Vista does have some inviting features.  Vista will be divided into multiple versions, I have listed them below for you to get started with, more will follow after I research and test Vista.
The versions that follow are divided …

I have been given the task of determining presence for all employees.  For those that do not know what presence is, basically it is determining where you are at and what your status is.  Are you at work?  Are you on your cell phone traveling?  Are you at home? If you are at work are you available?  My task is not to track location as much as providing status of employees while at work.
Those that have gone down this road before know what technology I am thinking of, Jabber.  Jabber …

Have you ever tried dual monitors?  I have for about 3 years now and I will never go back.  The efficiency gained with a dual monitor setup is well worth the additional cost. I highly recommend it for all technical departments. I have also seen efficiencies gaining in call centers, accounting departments, and tech support departments.  When you have dual monitors you can easily maximize multiple windows.  Anyone that needs to read information from one application and type in another application will see a huge benefit.  This helps reduce the …