August 2016

Get More Free Tips, Tools and Services: www.Syscon-inc.com 630.850.9039 Are Your Backups Safe? It’s only natural that when you hear of a disaster you think it couldn’t happen to you. We’re not just talking about fires and floods. That’s why, even though we’re told constantly that we should diligently maintain a working backup recovery system because all our company’s data could be lost in an instant, we tend to brush off the advice. Yet disasters do happen when you least expect them, and they can happen to anyone. So to illustrate the importance of staying on top of your data recovery system, here are three tales of “data gone wrong.” After all, there’s nothing quite like a good horror story to inspire action; any chance something like this could happen to you? Toy Story 2: Gone! One morning in 1998, the animators at Pixar Studios working on Toy Story 2 noticed that Woody’s hat started disappearing. Then his boots… Then all of Woody – gone! Other characters started disappearing too. A rogue command in their system had started wiping out data. No problem, the team thought, as they pulled out the backups. Unfortunately, the backups were bad and only had data from 10 months ago. Luckily, one of the project leaders who’d just had a baby had recently asked to have a copy of the film installed at her house. So they drove to her house and escorted her computer back to the studios “like an Egyptian Pharaoh.” And as we now know, Toy Story 2 was saved. Moral: It’s not enough to simply run backups. You need to periodically check to make sure the data is actually getting backed up and nothing is corrupted. In our 30 years of experience, this doesn’t just happen to the big guys; any business could go through this. 46,000 Insurance Customer Records: Lost! In 2010, Zurich Insurance announced it had lost a backup tape containing confidential data from 46,000 customer records as it was being transferred from one site to (continued on page 2) We love this stuff! Our passion is helping businesses use technology to run their organization successfully and profitably. Your Image Here What’s New This monthly publication provided courtesy of Catherine Wendt, President of Syscon Inc. August 2016 Welcome! August is a busy month as we wrap up summer vacations and continue celebrating 30 years in business. We have a special bocce ball event for our staff and a guest at Pinstripes. We even have a special Syscon puzzle to put together. Lots of software changes to check in on—Windows10 upgrade, Sage 100 Contractor v20 upgrade. We have blogs and videos on the website and in this newsletter. Take a few minutes and catch up on the latest so you’re prepared. Just a reminder: our office will be closed on Monday, September 5th for Labor Day. We hope you enjoy a safe and fun ‘end of summer’ weekend. See you in September! -- 1 of 4 - All Things Tech August 2016 The DiCosola Group is a boutique construction and consulting company offering a high level of detail that meets the custom needs of their clients. This family-owned business has over 20 years of experience in the construction business, and they value the investment that their commercial and retail customers make with every project. “We really understand the look and feel that each client is trying to attain. We then take the design intent and provide our client a product that often exceeds their needs and wants – all within budget,” says Marie DiCosola, Office Director. This company’s team consists of Project Managers, Project Engineers, Designers, and Supervisors. One of the reasons that The DiCosola Group excels in the market is that they are realistic, honest, and competitive. “We are rarely the most expensive nor the cheapest,” says DiCosola, “but we provide a realistic budget for what a project is going to cost.” Visit www.DiCosolaGroupChicago.com to see some amazing photos of their work – you’ll see some beautifully redone office spaces and luxury homes from all over the Chicagoland area. Client Spotlight: The DiCosola Group Are Your Backups Safe? Cont’d from p1 another. To make matters worse, it was later revealed that it took a full year for their headquarters to learn that the tape was missing. While there was no evidence that the data had fallen into the wrong hands, it was not encrypted and therefore easily accessible by anyone in possession of the tape. The company was slapped with a £2.3 million fine from the British Financial Services Authority. Moral: If your backups are physical, make sure they’re transported and stored securely in a location away from your computer. And regardless of whether your backups are physical or in the cloud or both, make sure they have strong passwords and security. Backups may seem like a low priority, or even an unnecessary expense; we hear this all the time until they really need the backup and it’s not there! If your data was lost, it would cost your company dearly; How much are you owed and who owes you? Did you pay that invoice or was it still open? What are your payroll reporting numbers and what taxes were paid and when? When you compare the cost of re-entering or replacement to the relatively minor expense of keeping good backups, the choice is clear. The effects of a data disaster run the gamut from minor annoyance to a death knell for the organization it happens to. We don’t want that for you. If you’re not using one of our backup solutions, or you haven’t tested your backup lately, be sure to call the office right away. We’ll be happy to take a look and put your mind at rest, or get you a solution that will give you peace of mind – 630-850-9039. Love what we do? Love how we do it? When you refer someone to Syscon and they become a client, we’ll reward you for your time, and thank you for your vote of confidence. Contact Brian Bruns at Syscon to share the contact details and sign up for our referral program. BBruns@syscon-inc.com Welcome, Chris Jopa! Please welcome Chris Jopa, our IT Coordinator handling Customer Support and Scheduling for the Tech Group. Chris went to Illinois State University and has a background in IT, math, and business. He has a passion for coding and anything technical, so he fits right in with the crowd here at Syscon! He’s enjoyed getting to know our clients; we’re not surprised since we have great clients! Cathy & Larry Sightings Catherine presented her Core Business Presentation to the C12 East Valley Business Group. This was an in-depth analysis of Syscon covering many facets of the business. Larry is planning another bicycle ride this fall. If you’re interested, let us know and we’ll get you the details. Be a fountain, not a drain— Cracker Barrel Quote Get More Free Tips, Tools and Services: www.Syscon-inc.com 630.850.9039 -- 2 of 4 - Shiny New Gadget Of The Month: The techno-geeks over at Hello Inc. have just released Sense, a device that helps you wake up feeling great. A tad smaller than a baseball, this little sphere sits on your nightstand next to your bed and monitors conditions in your room while you sleep. Things like temperature, humidity, light, and sound in your bedroom are tracked, along with your body’s slightest movements as you sleep. It pairs with your smartphone so you can see patterns and change conditions in your room to get the best night’s sleep possible. Sense can play any number of soothing sounds to help you drift off to sleep. Then, when it’s time to rise and shine, it gently wakes you up at the best time in your sleep cycle. It’s priced at $129, and you can find it at hello.is and other online retailers. Construction Corner For our clients who use Sage 100 Contractor Part I: S100C v20 Upgrade The Real Story Sage released the official upgrade to version 20 for Sage 100 Contractor in May 2016. This release and the information that has been provided about it have created a lot of confusion with our clients. Here is the real story about this upgrade and our recommendations for clients using or moving to Sage 100 Contractor. Why is version 20 so different than prior versions? Version 20 is the much anticipated release that uses Microsoft SQL Server instead of the older format "xBase" or "flat" files to store all of your company data. This is a very important and a much needed improvement. Why did Sage make this change to a program that works so well? Microsoft SQL Server is a very efficient way to store data. By moving to this type of data storage, Sage 100 Contractor will be more robust while running multiple users on a network and will be able to handle larger companies with greater ease. There will be speed improvements. For example, any longtime user of Sage 100 Contractor knows that pulling up a list of AR invoices from the client (3-6) screen can take a long time. The time to pull up about 708 client invoices was reduced by 50% from version 19 to version 20. What does this mean to you as the user? The user interface is almost exactly like the current version 19, so you will have no trouble getting your work done after the upgrade. The login process is a little different; the menus, data entry screens, and workflow are the same. Most custom reports written in the Sage 100 report writer will upgrade with no changes. The administration of the program is a little more complex to manage the Microsoft SQL Server - the database engine. A more sophisticated way of storing all your company data requires more management. The good news is that the average user is not going to be involved in this part of the program. If you are currently hosting your Sage 100 Contractor with Syscon, we will take care of the administration of the SQL Server for you. Otherwise, you will need to get your IT support involved in the installation, setup, and maintenance of the SQL Server. You may need to consider different data backup options that support Microsoft SQL Server. This sounds too good to be true! Are there some "gotcha's" involved? YOU BET – Although the user experience for version 20 is almost identical to version 19, there were a lot of significant changes behind the scenes. This brings up two major issues. Things are going to be discovered as soon as hundreds of people are using it every day; just plan on it! Second, all third-party programs including Crystal Reports will need to be re-written to work with the new structure. We know you count on these reports to run your business, so they have to be addressed before upgrading. Check out the complete article on our blog, watch the video, or stay tuned for Part II in our September newsletter. We’ll cover more on the reports, installing the new version (and it’s different), and how to go forward with the planning and timing of your upgrade. Lawrence Wendt , Syscon All Things Tech August 2016 Get More Free Tips, Tools and Services: www.Syscon-inc.com 630.850.9039 A Great Night’s Sleep In The Palm Of Your Hand -- 3 of 4 - All Things Tech August 2016 Other Stuff Here are 3 ways LinkedIn can generate new business for you. 1) Above all, earn the ask. The more value you provide in the relationship, the more “right” you have to phone time, a free consultation or the opportunity to make your pitch. 2) Build a sales funnel. Organize your contacts and planned interactions for best results. Recognize and engage with inbound warm leads. And remember, timing is everything! 3) Target and engage your ideal prospects. LinkedIn’s search engine gives you direct access to over 450 million professionals in more than 200 countries. In minutes, you can build a hyper-targeted prospect list by job title, industry type and/or location. With just these few tactics, LinkedIn can become a powerful business-building ally. -Inc.com Did you notice the day Windows became malware? If malware is any piece of software that gets into your computer through stealth means – even if it’s a premier operating system – then Windows 10 fits the definition. Microsoft has been very aggressively asserting its selfimposed deadline of July 29 for free upgrades from Windows 7 and 8.1. And if it hasn’t been yet, you may find your computer hijacked and converted into a Windows 10 machine – whether you give permission or not. By default, Windows 10 collects advertising and personal data. It changes your computer’s configuration. And if you try to stop the upgrade by clicking the X on its dialog box, it installs it anyway. Aw, c’mon, tell us that’s not malware! -ComputerWorld.com Imagine owning the domain rights to Google.com – even for just 60 seconds… In September 2015, when Babson College MBA student Sanmay Ved happened to notice the google.com domain up for sale, he figured why not go ahead and try to buy it. To his huge surprise, the sale actually went through! He had just purchased google.com for the princely sum of $12. It didn’t take Google long to become aware that something had gone horribly wrong – less than 60 seconds, in fact. They fired off an email to Sanmay, telling him they’d cancelled his order and refunded his $12. As an afterthought, Google sent Sanmay a little spiff for his cooperation: $6,000.13, to be exact. If you squint, you might see that the number spells “Google.” But when Google learned Ved was donating the money to the nonprofit the Art of Living India Foundation, Google doubled the reward. -DigitalTrends.com, MarketWatch.com Is the IoT a "Clear And Present Danger"? According to a U.S. government report, the “Internet of Things” could deliver a disabling global attack. With smart cars, smart homes and new apps that reach into every nook and cranny of our personal lives, the IoT poses greater risks to our safety than ever before. And revealing more about your life than a novelist, it takes the invasion of privacy to new heights. True, it may help folks live longer, healthier lives. And it may boost food production. Or even improve job and lifestyle options for some. Yet the question isn't whether it’s good or not … it's how do we deal with it. One thing is for sure: good or bad, buckle up because here it comes! -ITworld.com Get More Free Tips, Tools and Services: www.Syscon-inc.com 630.850.9039 This month’s trivia question: Which of the following worldwide computer viruses caused an estimated $5 billion worth of damage? a) Code Red b) ILOVEYOU c) Melissa d) Cryptolocker Congratulations to last month’s Trivia Contest winner Christopher Vargo with BL Haurron in Michigan! Chris was randomly drawn from the fishbowl of all the names who correctly answered last month’s trivia question: Amazon was not the name Jeff Bezos originally selected for his Internet start-up company in 1995. What name was his first pick? d) Cadabra Trivia Contest: Win a $25 Amazon Gift Card! To enter: Go to www.Syscon-inc.com/Trivia and type in your answer. All correct answers will be put into a fishbowl and we’ll randomly draw the winner. The Winner will be contacted shortly after the deadline and will be announced in next month’s newsletter. Deadline: August 22, 2016 -- 4 of 4 -