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April 2007
In this issue...
√ Liberty Flooring
√ Disaster
Ready
√ Filemaker Training
√
Get in the Race
√
Employee
Spotlight
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Not Too Late to
Get
in the Race
 The Philadelphia Race for the Cure will be held on
Mother's Day, May 13th, starting at the Art Museum in Philadelphia.
Once again, IT Solutions has formed a race team that will consist of
staff, friends, family, and clients, and anyone else who wants to be
a part of the effort. It’s not too late to join us for this
fun-filled day for a very worthy cause and there is no limit to the
team size. Participation includes walking or running in the race,
making a pledge to someone in the race, or making a direct donation
to the team.
The 5K race (a
little over 3 miles) or walk begins at 8:15 a.m. Last year, almost
40,000 people ran or walked in the event and raised more than $3
million. With your help, IT Solutions raised over $13,000 and
finished in the Top 10 fundraisers out of more than 700 teams that
participated.
For our part,
IT Solutions will match the first $10,000 of pledges and donations
made on behalf of our team. Our ultimate goal last year was to use
this matching money to become an official race sponsor in 2007 and
turn this into an annual mission. We succeeded in this goal and
believe that we have a great chance to accomplish this goal again
with your help.
Our team has
already been formed online (Team Code "IT Solutions") and you can
join the team by
clicking here and signing up as a runner or
walker, pledge participant, or online donor. Just remember to use
the "IT Solutions" team code so your donation will be
matched.
Feel free to
pass this notification on to as many people as you like. The more
people we get involved in this effort, the better. If you have any
questions about the event or about the Komen Foundation in general,
please contact
Lauren Kane or
215-886-7166 x39.
We hope to
see you at the starting line!
Please forward this newsletter to anyone else in your
organization who might be interested!
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 Success
Story:
A Stress-Relieving Workout Leads to
Cure for Client's IT Headaches
Background
Liberty
Flooring is a fast-growing commercial flooring company that
specializes in resilient, hardwood, and carpet installations.
Founded in 2002, the Cinnaminson, New Jersey-based Liberty
works independently and with contractors on comprehensive
projects in and around Philadelphia. Following an initial two
years of getting operations up and running, company revenues
really started to take off in 2004, going from $2.5 million
then to $10 million today.
The
Challenge
As with any
business, the fast growth brought its share of headaches, a
number of them caused by challenges in information technology.
The primary pain was a result of a peer-to-peer network
lacking centralization of data, including e-mail and backups.
SPAM was a major bottleneck, as was having users dispersed
among multiple offices. In addition, ineffective technology
consulting support slowed down workflow and interfered with
efficient communication. The person most often required to get
control of the chaos was Chief Financial Officer Andrea
Walheim. When not performing her regular duties of managing
Liberty’s finances, Andrea was the internal point person for
IT issues. Last fall, when IT problems started to become more
the norm than the exception, Walheim knew she had to make a
change.
"We had
two separate locations with a peer-to-peer network at each,"
explained Walheim. "When we needed to share files they were
emailed back and forth. There were separate copies of
everything on each network at each location. We knew we had to
consolidate under one roof in order to improve communication
and efficiency in the company but we did not even know where
to begin in regards to our IT challenges," she
added.
Read the full story |
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| Central PA FileMaker Training Now
Available
 IT Solutions is pleased to announce we're now offering
FileMaker Pro training courses in South Central
Pennsylvania. Location is the brand-new conference
center at Lancaster-Lebanon IU 13's Burle Business Park
location in Lancaster, PA. Visit our training web site for rates, dates,
and directions. Or call 866-PICK-ITS and ask to speak
with a member of our FileMaker training team.
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Is Your Business Disaster-Ready?
By Jeff
Wuorio
Reprinted with permission
fromMicrosoft Small Business
Center
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Hurricanes,
earthquakes and other natural events are disasters in
every sense of the word. Lives are lost, property
decimated and entire communities disrupted.
For your
small business, these events can be just as devastating.
But there's a great deal you can do — both to prepare
before a disaster strikes and afterwards, to get your
business back on its feet
quickly. |
Here are 10 tips to
better protect your business and, if damage occurs, what you
can do to speed your recovery.
First, here are
tips to help you protect your business:
1. Identify what
you need to protect. Many businesses spend far too much
time piling up the sandbags without considering what really
needs the most protection. Your first step in adequately
preparing your business for a disaster is to identify what
matters most and take steps to address that. "If you run a
food service business, if you lose electricity for 24 hours,
you can lose $50,000 to food spoilage," says Donna Childs,
co-author of "Contingency Planning and Disaster Recovery: A
Small Business Guide." "Look into backup power supplies and
make sure any possible damage is covered in your insurance
policy."
2. Develop a
specific disaster plan. Next, map out precisely who will
do what if some sort of disaster occurs. Who will be in charge
of evacuation or of making certain that important documents
and data are safely secured? Designate a meeting spot outside
of your business. Share the plan with your employees and keep
it up to date. "The last thing you want is trying to figure
out what to do while a disaster is unfolding," says
Childs.
Read more |
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Employee
Spotlight
Justin
Ozol
Name:
Justin Ozol
Title: Consultant
Education:
Penn State
First job: Fencer
Little Known fact
about you: I was an alternate for US Nordic Combined '84
Olympics team
Home:
Plymouth Meeting, PA
Word
that best describes you:
Assiduous
Like best about
your job:
Free internet
The most important lesson
you've learned:
Perception is paramount
Life motto:
"Do, or do not. There is no try."
Greatest fear:
Being found out.
Person most interested in
meeting: Stan Lee
Most influential book:
The
Catcher in the Rye
Favorite movie:
The
Matrix
Favorite restaurant:
Morton's
Favorite vacation spot:
Vacation.
What's that?
Favorite way to spend free
time:
Decompressing
Add Sound Effects to Your PowerPoint
Docs
Add sound effects to your
presentation in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007. Set them to start
and stop when you want them to, and see how to make a sound play for
a specified number of slides. Also learn how to play a CD with your
show.
You may want to introduce
a slide or make a point by including a sound effect. This course
tells you how to play sounds in a presentation, either by inserting
a sound file or by playing music from a CD.
For an inserted sound,
choose a way to make it start and specify how long it should play.
Hide the sound icon if you want, and trigger the sound by clicking
something else. After completing this course you will be able
to:
•Insert sound files and select how
each one should start and stop.
•Set up a slide element so that it
triggers the sound.
•Guarantee that your sound will
play when you present.
•Play a CD for a slide show and
select the tracks you want.
SEE DEMO |
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