Happy Holidays from Bulletproof InfoTech
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from your partners at Bulletproof! Thank you for allowing us to serve you in 2009 and best wishes for 2010.
Please note, our office hours during the holidays are as follows:
Of course, 24×7 on-call technical support will remain available as usual.
All the best to you and your family,
The Bulletproof Team
Microsoft plays an important role with Bulletproof’s overall core business of providing the best possible computer network and IT services to business in Alberta. Microsoft is one of our largest strategic partnership relationship an now we get to play an increasingly active role in ensuring the needs of Calgary and Red Deer small business, junior oil and gas and accounting firms are looked after and now we have a voice on the worldwide stage with Microsoft.
Bulletproof was awarded Canada’s top honour with Microsoft in their Small Business category winning the IMPACT award for “Small Business Specialist of the Year” and earlier in 2009 we were recognized worldwide as the only North American Small Business partner to be named as a finalist with the “Worldwide Small Business Specialist of the Year”.
Now, our very own Vice President of Solutions, Rene Sloos has been named to the Worldwide Microsoft Small and Medium Business Infrastructure Partner Advisory Board for 2010. This unique opportunity provides Bulletproof and our clients to have a voice within Microsoft’s Business and Marketing groups. Our involvement will help influence their strategy to help our clients right here in Red Deer and Calgary plus all the small and mid-size business across the world.
Microsoft with Rene’s assistance will focus on Windows Server, System Centre and Microsoft ForeFront. All of these tools and services are critical within the small business community. Many of these Microsoft based services are used daily by many of our business clients.
Congratulations Rene on being selected for this position.
More and more computer devices such as laptop computers, telephones, iPods and much more smart devices such as iPhones and BlackBerries are available in the market with built-in wireless and people are starting to use them. How is your business offering wireless to your customers, students, staff members and whoever else my need access. What is your wireless strategy, do you have a trusted advisor who can help you?
Bulletproof InfoTech is happy to announce our recent partnership with Meraki. Meraki offers the best wireless solution for schools, cafes, small business, junior oil and gas, accounting firms and whoever else simply needs a wireless business solution which offers more than what a simple wireless access point you pickup from the nearest office supply store.
Alberta businesses are now on the hunt for a simple, consistent and reliable wireless network solution which is highly secure, easy to manage and most important cost effective. Bulletproof, together with our partner Meraki has the solution for you right now. We are so confident you can try us out for free. You just need to ask us?
Bulletproof InfoTech has taken notice and is acting on the need for secure and robust Wi-Fri networks throughout the province. There are many in the business community asking about wireless solutions asking about the benefits wireless networks bring to the following:
Wireless networks and wireless mesh networks which offer the ability for any of your staff members (when authorized) to roam throughout your business and stay connected is becoming a must. Are you offering this for your staff members, guests or conference attendees? If not, Bulletproof can help you right away with ensure your wireless needs are addressed. We must keep in mind the basic wireless routers are good for basic needs, however when your business demands higher needs for security, robustness, and the ability to grow easily, it is time to call Bulletproof to check out what Meraki can do for you.
Almost ever single coffee shop offers wireless now to their customers, look at Starbucks which offers free wireless Internet services for 2 hours every day. Starbucks is a success story with Meraki. A fellow partner in Latin America fitted the well-known coffee shop with Meraki solutions. Good Earth Cafe or Second Cup locations also offer wireless to their patrons in Calgary or Red Deer. Turn on your wireless device or laptop computer anywhere in the world and soon you will be online getting work done from the comfort of the cafe while you enjoy a fresh latte. For the business owner or site manager, are you aware of who is using your Wi-Fi network? Can you manage this easily? What happens if it goes down, what is the impact on your reputation?
We have teamed up with Meraki to offer secure, stable and robust wireless networks in Alberta. Some of our clients include private schools and post secondary education facilities throughout the province of Alberta. Even booth of the Bulletproof InfoTech locations run Meraki in-house, this allows us to demo to you how Meraki works plus Bulletproof InfoTech has always made sure we use the solutions we recommend ourselves that we recommend to you. We drink our own champagne here, we always have with everything Bulletproof offers to the business community in Red Deer, Calgary and throughout the province of Alberta.
Come by with our Red Deer or Calgary office today for a demo and see how Meraki works, ask questions to our technical team and experience it live for yourself.
Whose is a great candidate for a wireless network in Calgary or Red Deer? Schools (private, public, college or universities) can utilize everything Meraki has to offer. Meraki and Bulletproof offers an enterprise class wireless solutions which is centrally managed without having the worry of expending your entire IT budget. This easy to manage network and centrally managed solution offers your IT department or the Bulletproof netSHIELD help desk the ability to manage and support your wireless networks through your standard Internet Explorer or Firefox web browser.
All management just sits out in the cloud (Internet) which offers your system administrator or our technical team the ability to centrally support your network with ease. This saves you the hassle of running around managing your network and racking up huge IT support costs. Meraki is ideal for the small coffee shop chain, conference centre, oil and gas business who needs something. And more importantly keeps everyone on the network working, your staff productivity and your clients happy.
Offer your vistors, guests and customers a wireless experience they will share with their friends today.
What does a Meraki solution offer over the standard Wi-Fi router you can pick up at any computer shop?
Let’s not kid ourselvers. You can pick up Wi-Fi routers at any computer or electronics store in Calgary or Red Deer and configure it to offer up wireless in your business, home or community centre. It will work and your vistors, staff or customers can surf the web, send mails and access resources on the network. Sounds simple enough however as your business, corporation, hotel or even your coffee shop grows how do you manage this? Especially muli-locations or buildings?
Meraki and Bulletproof can offer an central location to manage all your wireless access points. This cloud (Internet) based solution allows Red Deer and Calgary business to deploy wireless Meraki access points easily and in most occassions have secured wireless offerings up and running in a matter of minutes not days. The great thing about the Meraki solution is all of your access points are connected into the centrally managed location without the need for extra hardware saving you money.
Are you interested in rolling out wireless in your business and concerned about security and the reliability of the wireless network? If you need to control the costs associated with wireless in your hotel, school, coffee shop or business Bulletproof and Meraki can assist you right away. Reach out today to 403.206.2233 in Calgary and for those in Red Deer 403.206.2233. Meraki through Bulletproof can even offer your business a free trial.
For additional information on Meraki’s wireless access points, wireless mesh networks visit the Meraki website today.
One of Bulletproof InfoTech’s main areas of expertise and skill focuses on Accounting firms throughout Calgary, Red Deer and elsewhere in the Province of Alberta. Every accounting firm we talk to all have unique needs when it comes to their Information Technology, computer support and systems upkeep. They rely on a trusted IT advisor like Bulletproof to guide them in the right direction and many times we learn from those who serve this industry, such as Barb Anderson from Intuit.
Recently we read an article in ConnectIT, a Canadian and US newsletter focused on technology for small business here in Canada. The article Barb authored was entitled “Five accounting tips for small business as they enter 2010“. Barb is with Intuit Small Business and in her article she shared some of her insights with ConnectIT News on what small business needs to do now to get ready and also for them to win in 2010.
Barb summed up 2009 in one simple term “challenging”. Yes 2009 was a challenge for many business owners across Alberta however out of these challenges entrepreneurship shined.
Barb went on to highlight the following five accounting tips to help small business:
Bulletproof helps small business control costs associated with technology and computer systems support in Calgary and Red Deer. Your business will have reliable systems support quarterbacked by a team of experts dedicated to your business success. Call us at 403.206.2233 or 403.340.1011. We are focused on Small Business computer support.
During a recent visit to one our Red Deer clients, the topic of office efficiency was brought up during one of our quarterly business reviews (Bulletproof clients enjoy a regular meeting to discuss how business is going). Our client was wondering how his business could improve efficiencies around the office and turned to Bulletproof to help him from the IT side of the house. This topic sparked a great conversation about many different methods a energy company, accounting firm or general small business can improve some of the small things and have a huge positive impact on the business. Small business continues to struggle with how to do more with less or even how to get more done without spending a bunch of money to do so.
Many different strategies were discussed during our 45 minute business review with our client. We chatted about Microsoft Windows 7 and some of the productivity enhancements built into Windows such as jump lists, enhanced search over Windows XP and even simply shaking to minimize all your open Windows. “This is all great” said our clients however not really something that interested him at this time, Windows 7 is on the horizon but he needed something right now which would make a huge spark. He also mentioned training his staff on some of the new enhancements with Windows 7 and perhaps the challenges associated with migrating his computer platform was something he just couldn’t face at this time. They were not against the benefits of Windows however it wasn’t something that he could just plug in and go.
This “plug and play” comment sparked the conversation deeper and allowed us to review some of new changes which have been occurring in his office plus across a number of clients Bulletproof takes care of in Calgary and Red Deer. Many of our clients are moving from single displays to multiple displays and this client started to do the same. It is not uncommon for computer systems to have two or more monitors these days and many of the systems Bulletproof provides are now coming with at least two monitors. In retrospect, it was our client who mentioned that once you make the move towards two monitors you never want to go back to just a single monitor. “Nothing beats have your email in one screen and a document on another” said our client.
Many of our clients in the Oil and Gas industry in Calgary have used two or more monitors for a number of years. Geologists love having their Accumap maps open on one screen and the information about well’s production open on another. Land Managers appreciate having an application such as CSExplorer open on the right side and information about the upcoming Land Sale on the left.
Many of the accounting firms we work with also see huge benefits to multiple screen environments. Having information about your client expenses open at the same time as the general ledger have shown to increase the time to “catch up the books”. Minimizing windows or even opening up multiple windows to find the Excel spreadsheet you are working on takes away from getting a job done in an efficient manner.
It is also possible for laptop users to attached additional monitors to their notebook computers so they can enjoy the benefits of having multiple computer screens.
Bulletproof can help your small business, junior Oil and Gas or Accounting firm leverage the benefits of multiple displays. Talk to us today at 403.206.2233 or 403.340.1011.
