Sage Computer Associates

April 2008
In this issue

►Greetings
►Seeing Double
►Weakest Link In Network
Security
►Not Easy Being Green
►Sage 25 Challenge

To help celebrate our silver anniversary, we offer the SAGE 25 Challenge. Send us an email (or snail mail) with the story of the time our staff provided outstanding service for your company. We will honor three clients with an 8GB Ipod touch. Entries can be in the following categories:

1. SAGE staff going way beyond expectations

2. The implemented solution greatly increased client productivity

3. SAGE pulled our company chestnuts out of the fire (or flood)

We hope you will have as much fun remembering the things we have done for you, as we will have reading about them. In addition, one of our staff members will also be awarded an Ipod based on your submissions. Entries need to be received by April 30th. Please email to info@sagecomputer.com.

Thanks for your support and we look forward to the exciting opportunities the next 25 years will bring.

Lunch & Learn

We invite you to join other SAGE guests for the upcoming series of monthly informational, fun and tasty seminars.

Click here for more information!

1 Computer Drive South
Albany, NY 12205
518-458-9300
info@sagecomputer.com
www.sagecomputer.com

Greetings,

Welcome to the April edition of our Making Business Smarter E-Newsletter!

Well, Tax Day is now past and we all can concentrate on earning money for our business. We want to keep you up to date with technology advances that can help your business be more profitable.

We are repeating an item from six months ago about dual monitors on the desktop. We now have many clients who have embraced the dual monitor solution and are benefitting from significantly improved information worker productivity. Typical users include (1) Lawyers – one monitor has the document that is being modified and the other monitor has the appropriate legal research tool open; (2) Accountants – one for the client’s scanned in source documents open and the other for the client’s tax forms; (3) Bookkeeper/Clerk – one for the scanned in vendor invoices and the other for the Accounts Payable system. As the price of monitors drops to less than $250 for a 19” wide screen, this productivity enhancer becomes more and more cost effective. Call us to discuss.

Our Security Practice continues to grow. We are holding a Security Lunch and Learn on May 22nd at our office. The topic is “Security: Keeping Your Business Your Business”. We will discuss the current scope of security threats and how to keep them out of your network. With the Hannaford (loss of customer credit card information) and Veterans Administration (loss of a laptop with un-encrypted patient data) fresh in our minds, it is both a timely and important topic. Please sign up early, seating is limited. For more information click here!

Finally, April is Earth Month, and we are now seeing real progress in transforming Information Technology into Green IT. Server consolidation and power efficiency are just two of the many ways we can help you become more green. For your next project, we will help you minimize power consumption while increasing computing power.

Enjoy the beautiful spring in Tech Valley.

Seeing Double - Practical Productivity
By Jane Cage, HTS COO

Do you have the luxury of doing only one task at a time? If you’re like me, I would guess the answer is probably “No”. I find myself answering email, working on a spreadsheet, looking at an accounting issue and searching for info on the internet all at the same time. It’s just become part of the way that we all work. Most computer users, however, are forced into single-tasking because of the way they see their work – on a single monitor. Windows XP and VISTA provide desktop users with the ability to “spread” their desktop across multiple monitors.

The Weakest Link in Network Security
By Peter Alexander
Reprinted with permission from Microsoft Small Business Center

Your small-business network may be protected by firewalls, intrusion detection and other state-of-the-art security technologies. And yet, all it takes is one person's carelessness, and suddenly it's as if you have no network security at all.

Let me give you an example.

In March 2006, a major financial services firm with extensive network security disclosed that one of its portable computers was stolen. The laptop contained the Social Security numbers of nearly 200,000 people.

How did it happen?

It's Not Easy Being Green!
Written by: David Tan, CTO

Traditionally, standard business practice for Information Technology has dictated that the primary focus of IT decisions and initiatives is based on the economic impact and viability. In other words, how much will it cost, and how much will it save me over time, and when will I recoup my investment. This mindset has started to change drastically in the last year or so, as companies adopt a Green IT mentality, and start to consider not only the economic impact of their decisions, but the environmental and social as well.