by Malcolm Newdick, of Riverbank IT

New technology is great - new ideas, new features, and new ways of working. On the other hand, it can also mean new bugs and problems. So it is important to identify new technology that really works, and works in the sense that it can deliver real benefits.

An area that is really taking off is hosted services. Suppose you need some new software, for example a better customer management database.

Traditionally, you would buy the software, pay for installation, and then worry about management and backup.

Now think again. Why not just pay a monthly fee to someone who will provide the software to you as a guaranteed service?

They have all the responsibility for the hardware, software, management and backup. You just get on and use it.

Areas you should look at for hosted services include sales and marketing, customer services and help desk, accounts, team-work and collaboration tools and, of course, Internet backup.

The benefits of hosted services are: l No capital costs.

l No set-up time for hardware or software.

l No backup issues.

l No upgrades to worry about.

l You only pay for the service you use.

l You have access to powerful software that you could not afford to buy.

l You can get to your information from any Internet connection, any time.

On the other hand, they have their downsides too: l You have to fit into the service on offer.

l How can you guarantee security? Who else might be looking at your data?

l Dependence on the service provider. What would you do if the hosted service disappeared?

l Increasing cost. What starts out as a low-cost service for five users can become an expensive service for 20 users.

What makes hosted services possible is broadband. Fast and reliable Internet access makes it a realistic option to commit your business to web-based software.

With almost universal availability of broadband, increasing reliability and increasing speed, hosted services are on the rise. Make sure you consider them next time you are looking at new software.

If you are looking for improved internal communications, instant messaging is an option.

We are not talking about the public systems some people use on their computers to chat with friends and family when they should be working. This is a professional version, limited to the people you wish to include, giving them the ability to fire quick questions and ideas to other people.

Instant messaging is positioned between telephone calls and e-mail. It has the immediacy of a phone call, because you know that the other person is there and on-line.

But, like e-mail, it does not have to interrupt them. And with increasing volumes of e-mail, quick questions easily get lost in the deluge. Instant messaging plugs the gap.

As a result, it is possible to send quick messages to people in the office - even if they are on the telephone - and communicate with staff working at home or at client offices.

Another consideration is what would happen if your server failed? How long could you wait for it to be back up and running? Would three days be acceptable? Or would three hours be the most you could wait without damaging your business?

Server recovery software, or at least affordable server recovery software, is relatively new to the small business market.

The software takes regular snapshot images of your server operating system and configuration. If the server fails for any reason, or is stolen, you use this image to recreate the server.

What makes it really special is what it does when you restore the image to a new server.

The software is able to take the image and modify it, so it will run on a completely different server. This ability to restore to different hardware is a major advantage.

Do not confuse server recovery software with backup. In many ways it is the opposite. Your backup normally contains your data, whereas the server recovery image contains just about everything else, except your data.

If you have a server that represents a single point of failure within your organisation, think about the total cost of a failure, in terms of wasted time and lost business.

That is the value of server recovery software.

n Contact: Riverbank IT Management, 01844 278036, www.riverbank.co.uk