C.I.M. Solutions Blog

HP TouchPad Dead

cimsolutions — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 12:28:15 +0000

One week after my Tablet BLOG post advising people not to purchase the HP TouchPad they cancel the entire product.
HP is now blowing them out for $99 but is it worth it even at that price?
What will you do with it and how long will it be supported?
This is why it is important for business to work with a Mobility Consultant and not just walk into your local electronics store and purchase what the kid wants to sell you.

Is a tablet right for your business?

cimsolutions — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 14:01:15 +0000

The number 1 question I have been asked for the past 6 months is, “Should I get a tablet?”

The answer I give to this question every time is, “It depends”. It really depends on many things. The best way to determine if tablets can help your business is to spend 30 minutes with a mobility specialist. They will be able to go over some of the key benefits and see if your business is setup to handle tablet computing. Here are some of the key business questions.

Do you currently have a way for employees to have secure remote access?
Do your employees need access to a CRM or sales system?
Do you have sales people that still carry around catalogues and price sheets?
Should you get a laptop or a tablet?
Do you want to keep all of your notes and files with you?
Do you have to take freehand notes in meetings and share them with a team?
Do you have to carry a portfolio of work with you?

Once it is determined that your company can benefit from tablet computing you then have to determine which tablet platform is best for your business. It is usually best if your entire company uses the same platform so data and apps are easier to share. Here are some facts to help you determine which platform is best for your business.

Apple iPad
- 9.7” display, dual core, pseudo multitasking, Apple iTunes focused.
Blackberry PlayBook
- 7” display, dual core, real multitasking, strong Blackberry integration.
Google Android
- there is dozens of Android tablets. They range from very low end to high end corporate models. The new Android OS is a very robust platform with larger support than the Apple iPad.
HP webOS
- this is a very new platform that may not get enough support behind it to last. Going with this platform is real gamble currently.
Windows 7 Tablet
- the only reason to run this current version is if you need a very strong support for Microsoft applications and easy access to a corporate network. This platform is being replaced next year by Windows 8 Tablet and will be a much better tablet platform.

There are some additional tablets on the market but they are specialized products made for certain uses and industries.

If you are an Apple Mac user or you live your life through iTunes then an iPad is probably the best choice for you. Otherwise there are some very good tablets about to come out that have very strong enterprise features and security. The new Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet will be the first fully secured and managed tablet on the market and you can get a 3 year onsite warranty.

Let us know how your business is using tablets to save time and money.

Sean Jennings is a Mobility Specialist at C.I.M. Solutions Inc.

He can be reached at (905) 458-5090 x322 or sjennings@cim-solutions.com

How Microsoft Office 2010 pays for itself within months.

cimsolutions — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 12:00:48 +0000

September 20, 2010

BBOT Trade Talks Article

How Microsoft Office 2010 pays for itself within months.

There are many amazing new features in Office 2010. Some of them are just updates to existing features, others are ones that will save you $100’s per month. Here are some of the new features.

Picture / image formatting within Office 2010
- Now you no longer need a picture editing to edit pictures. You can even edit pictures within the program you are working in.
Work together and collaborate real time on the same document
- In Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote you can edit and work on the same document with multiple people even when they are located around the world.
Enjoy the office experience at multiple locations and multiple devices
- Office can now be used on mobile devices and web devices.
Stay connected with your office and Social networks
- The Outlook Social Connector lets you send and receive email from various online messaging services.
Broadcast your PowerPoint presentations to anyone without additional software
- You can now broadcast your PowerPoint presentations to multiple people for them to view real time without them having to have PowerPoint.
Create powerful Excel charts using quick tools
- New features in Excel like Sparklines and Slicers let you filter and segment your data so you spend more time analyzing and less time formatting.
Manage large volumes of emails easily
- Outlook 2010 can organize your email into conversations and create quick step macros so you can do multiple steps with just one click.
Create and deliver amazing presentations within PowerPoint
- PowerPoint 2010 lets you embed video directly in your presentation. It also lets you trim, add fades and effects all from within PowerPoint. There is no need for additional video editing software.
Track all of your notes and ideas in One Note
- OneNote 2010 is the ultimate digital notebook. It can organize and track text, pictures, audio and video files. It will track page versions and automatic highlighting and liked notes.

If you just use #2 and #5 this will save you $100 per month. Office 2010 starts at $250 for business users. Office 2010 is the biggest upgrade to Office since Office XP in May 2001.

For more of the latest tehnology you can contact Sean Jennings “The Technology Guy” directly.

Sean Jennings is the Sales Manager for C.I.M. Solutions Inc.

He can be reached at (905) 458-5090 x322 or sjennings@cim-solutions.com

C.I.M. Solutions Brampton Small Business of the Month

cimsolutions — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:50:58 +0000

Small Business of the Month
C.I.M. Solutions Inc.
CONTACT
C.I.M. Solutions Inc.
70 Delta Park Blvd, Unit 3
Brampton, ON, L6T 5E9
Phone 905-458-5090
Fax 905-458-5741
Sean Jennings, Sales Manager
sjennings@cim-solutions.com
www.cim-solutions.com

Congratulations to C.I.M. Solutions Inc. On being selected The Brampton Board of Trade’s Small Business of the Month. From left, Partner Greg Baker, Andrew Chapman and Partner Sean Jennings.

Congratulations to C.I.M. Solutions, The Brampton Board of Trade’s Small Business of the Month. C.I.M. Solutions was established in March 1995 and has been based in Brampton since inception.

We strive to provide the highest level of service to small and medium-sized businesses across the GTA. We provide complete solutions that include all of the required hardware, software and services for a business to be more competitive in their industry.

Our customers have won multiple awards over the years for creative uses of technology, which saves them money or provide their service in a more competitive way.

The challenging economy has placed a renewed emphasis on efficiency and this past year our solutions have allowed companies to prosper as we provided the tools to do more with less. We have seen a considerable increase in remote access and work from home solutions. Virtualization has also become a hot offering, giving companies more options when investing in hardware replacement.

C.I.M. Solutions has a full product and service offering. With our outsourced IT Service and Support package we have an all inclusive offering for small business starting at $300 per month. Our outsourced services allow companies to avoid the costs of employing a full-time IT person without giving up the benefits of having such knowledge on staff.

With C.I.M. Solutions you do not have a “computer guy”, you have an entire IT department! Our approach is solution oriented and not just a break/ fix service.

We look after everything including online backups, disaster planning and pandemic planning, all with an eye on the bottom line. We focus on keeping our customers’ business up and running and we treat our customers’ business as if it was our own.

We take great pride in not wasting customer’s money, but making sure that they get the usage out of their equipment that they expect.

Our other main product focus is IP telephony solutions. We offer hosted solutions starting at $24.95 per month and full in-house systems for businesses with 20-1000 employees. Our telephone solutions save companies money and allow them to improve their service levels to their customers. Imagine a phone system that allows you to make and receive phone calls from any device, anywhere in the world, seamlessly.
C.I.M. Solutions has special support offerings for registered charities. We provide a heavily discounted service rate and have software partners that provide some software for FREE (with a small administration fee). These programs save money and assist in preparing the submissions for funding.

A recent success involved a charity that was considering a solution that required 6-7 servers. We felt this proposal was expensive and too complex for an organization of their size. Our recommended solution has since been installed and is providing better service using only 2 servers. It saved them money upfront, will cost less to maintain, is easier to manage and provides functionality beyond the scope of their original proposal.
AT C.I.M. Solutions We Make IT Work!

Brampton Small Business of the Month

cimsolutions — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:39:58 +0000

C.I.M. Solutions has been selected as Small Business of the month for April 2010 by the Brampton Board of Trade.

Viruses, Trojan, Malware, Why education is the only way

cimsolutions — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:21:57 +0000

Here is an article sent to the Brampton Board of Trade Trade Talks newspaper on November 9, 2009

BBOT Trade Talks Article

Viruses, Trojan, Malware, Why education is the only way

By now you have probably had one of the above or know someone that has had a run in with them. With 99% of all email on the Internet being JUNK or SPAM most Malware is spread through email. The new method of Malware ditribution is now via websites. 50% of all Malware infections are now from web pages. Some of the sites that have been infected in the past are Twitter and Wikipedia. I have witnessed myself an attempted infection from a product review web site.

Here are the best ways to reduce or prevent an attack.

Always run a reputable AntiVirus product. There is a disagreement if free software is worth the price. My feeling is that anything is better than nothing, but poor software can give you a false sense of security. Microsoft has released their Security Essentials and it is one of the best FREE security products available for individual computers.

Do not download software from file sharing sites. Most of the software on these sites is infected with various viruses and malware. It has even been reported that organized crime is hacking software and movies and posting them on these sites to gain access to peoples computers and money to help further their cause.

Practise safe surfing and emailing. Large companies will never send you an email with a ZIP file in it and large software companies will not send you an email with a link to update or speed up their software.

The #1 infection we have been seeing for the past 2 months is a “fake anti-virus program”. 90% of all computers that we have had to clean have this virus on it. It has come to the user as an email with a ZIP attachment from Adobe claimng to be an update or an email from a large shipping company claiming to be a label or tracking information. Do not open these emails, they are all fake. This has been the hardest virus to prevent since protection alone can not prevent it since the user is choosing to install it. The other problem is that the virus is changing every week and the Anti-Virus vendors can not keep up with it. The only way to is to educate your staff and prevent them from getting the email or opening the email.

For a link to a FREE legitmate scanning tool to see if you are infected email me and I will forward it on.

You can also contact Sean Jennings directly and arrange for a complementary assessment.

Sean Jennings is the Sales Manager for C.I.M. Solutions Inc.

He can be reached at (905) 458-5090 x322 or sjennings@cim-solutions.com

Windows 7: “Clearly, confidently not Vista”

cimsolutions — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:18:33 +0000

Here is an article that was published October 8, 2009 in the Brampton Board of Trade Trade Talks paper.

Windows 7: “Clearly, confidently, not Vista”

By now you have probably heard all the hype about Windows 7 the next version of Windows.

Here are some straight answers on what it is really about.

- Windows 7 is the latest version of Windows that came out October 22, 2009.

- Windows 7 comes in 3 versions, Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate.

Most home users only need Home Premium. Business users will need Professional if the have to connect to a server at their office. Ultimate is a combination of Home Premium and Professional and only needed by people that need full hard drive encryption or multiple language support on the same computer.

- Any PC that came with Vista can run Windows 7. Older computers that are still running Windows XP may be able to run Windows 7. Microsoft has a website that will test your computer and let you know.

- Windows 7 does run faster then Windows Vista and faster then XP on some computers.

- Windows XP can not be upgraded to Windows 7 without a complete reinstall.

- There will be a limited time Family Pack upgrade for $150 for 3 computers.

- Some of the amazing features in Windows 7 are

HomeGroup
- Automatically setup a home network with sharing files and printers
Internet Explorer 8
- The fastest and safest browser to use in Windows
Windows Media Centre
- Watch, pause and record live TV. An intelligent PVR for FREE
Windows Touch
- Use your fingers with gestures to browse and work with your PC
Aero Shake
- Grab an open window and shake it and all other open windows will disappear
Windows XP Mode
- Run your old applications seamlessly in a REAL Windows XP window
Parental Controls
- Block content, program and limit the time and how much time kids can use the computer
Backup and Restore
- Windows 7 includes built in automatic backup that you can set and forget

Anyone buying a computer today should feel confident in Windows 7 and getting the best computer experience available with Windows 7.

You can find out more about Windows 7 at www.microsoft.com/windows

You can also contact Sean Jennings directly and arrange for a complementary assessment.

Sean Jennings is the Sales Manager for C.I.M. Solutions Inc.

He can be reached at (905) 458-5090 x322 or sjennings@cim-solutions.com