WinWeb

Data Storage In The Cloud

April 7, 2010

A small business that does not have a data storage policy in place is taking an unnecessary risk. The consequences of data loss can be extremely severe and will often lead to a loss of revenue for the business involved.

There are numerous threats to small businesses that do not take adequate data storage measures. Computer viruses can cause havoc and destroy data on the hard drive of unprotected computers. Even without a virus, computer hard drives have a limited lifespan. They are notoriously unreliable and often fail for no obvious reason without any warning. This would be disastrous for your business if you did not have a back-up in place.

Traditional methods of data back-up are useful, but if a major disaster strikes your business then these are often lost too. Fire or theft is unlikely to occur to your business, but if it did, would you be able to pick straight up from where you left off? In reality, major fire or theft incidents often lead to the eventual closure of a small business because they are unable to get back to how they were.

Remote data storage in the Cloud guarantees the safety of your business records, regardless of what might happen to your computer or physical business premises. Can your small business afford not to use remote data storage?

How we can help…

WinWeb.com understands that business continuity is essential for success. This is why we provide the following services:

Online Disk – Backup your files to our servers: the only place they are guaranteed to be safe. Could your small business continue to function if all your data was lost? If you answered no, try our service today.

Webmail – Keep your email safely stored online and accessible anywhere. So, even if your computer crashes, you don’t have to lose all that vital correspondence.

Store your data remotely and access it remotely from anywhere using WinWeb. If you want to know how remote data storage could work for your small business, just contact us today.

Does Your Small Business Need An iPad?

February 4, 2010

Apple have launched their latest offering, the iPad, and in the way that only Apple can they have most certainly got people talking; although not all of the comments about the iPad have been singing its praises. So, what functionality aspects of the iPad make it a must-have for small businesses? Or is it a case of style over substance when it comes to the iPad?

The main function of the iPad that will make it beneficial for small businesses is the ability to access the internet from wherever you are, using 3G technology. This will allow iPad users to visit any website they can from their PC or Mac from the iPad; for WinWeb users in particular this opens a whole host of possibilities. When the iPad and WinWeb are used simultaneously a small business will be able to send e-invoices and e-quotes to customers wherever they are. Those cumbersome train journeys will never again be wasted hours as you will be able to be in contact with customers and potential clients on the go!

The ability to access your email anywhere that there is 3G capability or a WIFI hotspot is also a major positive; never again will you miss an email whilst you are out of the office. The application that Apple has developed to allow users to use iWork on the iPad means that users will also be able to create and edit documents on the go. These reasons alone, added to the fantastic screen, portable size, 3G capability which sets it apart from most Notebooks, and quite frankly, gorgeous styling means that the iPad has our thumbs up!

Try WinWeb’s OnlineOffice free for 30 days to see how useful it would be to be able to access all your small businesses information from anywhere, at any time!

An Online Address Book For Your Small Business

February 1, 2010

In our home lives misplaced address books are inconvenient, but very rarely would they cause significant disruption to our daily lives, let alone cause a quantifiable financial loss. When it comes to our businesses, however, losing contact details for our all important client base can be devastating.

By storing all our important contacts details in an address book, or even on a hard drive, our small businesses are at risk of losing the details of potentially thousands of clients should the address book become lost or the hard drive crashes. How is it possible to avoid this, though? The answer lies in storing all your contacts remotely, by using what is known as “cloud storage”. This facility enables you to store your contacts, and all their details, remotely; not only protecting them from potential loss or damage but also meaning you can retrieve the appropriate data from anywhere, at any time.

By using the “Contacts” element of WinWeb’s OnlineOffice you are able to quickly and easily transfer all of your Outlook contacts in to your WinWeb address book, where they are securely and safely stored for you to access with ease and convenience wherever you are. Details of clients’ transactions can also be stored in conjunction with the details you would expect, adding an extra element of versatility and ease therefore giving your business the edge over your competitors.

The nature of OnlineOffice also means that the contacts stored in your remote address book can easily be shared with colleagues. So, why not give it a try today; it’s free for 30 days! Just go to www.winweb.com.

Back-Up Myths Debunked

January 31, 2010

Keeping current backups is vital for your business. Without it, you could easily lose critical data and cause serious problems that may result in a loss of revenue. Many people take unnecessary risks with the safety of their information.

The most common false assumption people often make is that they don’t need to back-up because they have a relatively new computer or laptop. Although new hardware is statistically less likely to fail, hard drives are notoriously unpredictable and could potentially fail at any time. A slight electrical spike or dropping a laptop can also be enough to lose all of your data.

Some people rely on USB flash memory sticks to save their work. These are good because they are far more robust than traditional hard drives as they don’t have any moving parts inside to dislodge. However, these also have drawbacks. Flash memory has a limited lifespan and the data it contains can only be overwritten a certain number of times before it will eventually fail just like a solid state drive. The other problem with USB sticks is that because of their small size they are extremely easy to lose. A common fate for many drives is a trip to the washing machine via the pockets of your laundry!

Another frequent excuse for not keeping back-ups is the mistaken belief that it is too difficult. It requires very little effort on your part, especially if you choose to back-up to the ‘cloud’ like WinWeb customers do. All it involves is uploading the latest version of your files to your OnlineOffice console as soon as you finish working on it. You then have a permanent copy of that file that you can instantly access from anywhere in the world.

Try backing up your data, and OnlineOffice’s other fantastic features free for 30 days at www.winweb.com

A Secure Online Software Suite from WinWeb

January 27, 2010

Some small business owners are still reluctant to embrace Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) because of fears over the security of their data. At WinWeb we understand that our clients need to know how we keep their data safe, but we can only reveal a certain amount of what steps we take to protect them before it becomes a security risk.

No security system is ever perfect, but there are a set of data protection standards required by law which we believe that we surpass by a huge margin. Our servers are located at the major internet nodes worldwide to ensure the fastest possible connection.

For 15 years, the global backbone of WinWeb physical security has been provided by Telehouse Europe (http://www.telehouse.net/). The servers are housed in a fully air-conditioned and cleaned environment, coupled with an automatic fire prevention, detection and extinguishing system. We also have servers in a completely separate second secure location that continuously back up all your data, ensuring that even in the very worst case scenario any potential data loss would only last for a matter of hours. Servers are monitored around the clock for any abnormal activity by our trained staff.

Our customers also have the option of exporting their own data as a backup if they wish. Even the most cautious business owner can see that security should not be a barrier to using our online software suite.

Try a range of WinWeb’s services free for 30 days, just by visiting the website.

A Virtual Address Book for your Small Business

January 18, 2010

Keeping track of your business contacts can often be quite difficult. Nowadays, you will often have multiple phone numbers for each contact and then an e-mail address in addition to these. This quickly becomes confusing and difficult to manage.

The traditional address book is now obsolete. They are difficult to search quickly and very easy to lose. This is why the online address book included in the Contacts module of OnlineOffice is extremely useful for small business owners. You can access your full list of contacts from wherever you are in the world.

The online address book is fully integrated with the rest of OnlineOffice. This means that you can quickly e-mail clients without switching over to e-mail software. You can also easily view the history of the customer or supplier and all previous transactions that you have had with them. Also, you are able to send a contact an e-Quote directly from within the address book.

It is easy to look through your entire contact list using the search bar. You can even arrange your contacts into custom groups to make sorting easier. If you already use Outlook then you can import your existing contacts and you can also export a copy of your address book data if you wish.

You will never lose track of your contacts again using OnlineOffice.

Find out more @ WinWeb OnlineOffice

Don’t Let the ‘Deep Freeze’ Impact your Small Business

January 7, 2010

Much of Britain ground to a halt yesterday as Arctic conditions severely disrupted transportation and infrastructure services.

The Daily Telegraph reported today that the cost to the economy could top £14.5 billion by the end of January due the inability of millions to get to work. It’s not surprising that adverse weather conditions will have an impact on all sorts of businesses, however with modern technology any small businesses can minimise this disruption. This is where hosted online services can keep you and your staff productive despite the “deep freeze”.

Hosted online services are offered through Cloud Computing. For those new to this term, cloud is used as a metaphor for the Internet and cloud computing is used to indicate online business applications which are accessed from a web browser while data and software are stored on external servers. Not only does it reduce your costs by eliminating hardware and additional IT personnel but it also allows greater flexibility and mobility for you and your staff.

So, instead of pulling out your hair along the M4, hosted online services allow you (and your staff) to log-in to your office in the cloud and access your documents from the comfort of your kitchen table. Already you have the capability of being much more focused and productive than many of your competitors. So turn on the kettle, make some tea and get to work.

Find out more @ WinWeb OnlineOffice

Securing your Small Business Data Online

January 5, 2010

The importance of keeping back-ups can never be overstated. There are numerous factors outside of your control that could easily result in data loss for your company. With luck you will not be losing anything significant, but without a backup system in place you could easily lose all of your electronic customer records or important contact information.

There are some frightening statistics surrounding hard drive failure. It is believed that every year one in ten drives will fail with the financial cost for even simple data recovery by an expert to be very high for any small business.

Theft is also a leading cause of data loss. In the United States, 600,000 laptops are stolen every year. The FBI statistics suggest that 97% of stolen computers are never recovered. There are also a staggering 12,000 laptops lost in US airports every single week and two-thirds of these are never recovered.

The consequences of data loss can be huge. It is a very real possibility that a significant loss of data could actually do enough damage to put you out of business. Unfortunately, even if you take precautions, a massive disaster like fire or theft could even result in the loss of your backups.

Keeping an online backup with WinWeb ensures that your important files will still be safe, even if you suffer a disaster. Our customers get a massive 10GB of webspace (included in their subscription) on which to store their data, offering them security and peace of mind.

Try OnlineOffice free for 30 days @ WinWeb OnlineOffice

Complete eCommerce Solution for Small Business and Home Office

December 7, 2009

e-Commerce is more than just selling online – it is the complete value-chain from supplier to your customers, including business process improvements for your own business. Let us look at all the parts that make a complete small business e-commerce solution.

Any modern business – large or small – deals with suppliers, customers and the internal workings of running a business. E-commerce solutions help to streamline the complete business cycle:

• Business Planning
• Generating leads
• Building relationships
• Managing projects and tasks
• Online marketing & sales
• Quotes & Invoices
• Bookkeeping & accounting
• Powerful reports & tax returns

Understanding that all the above are e-commerce tasks will allow you to look for the online software components necessary to deal with all the necessary issues needed to make your business successful.

Our OnlineOffice is a single end-to-end business management system for small business owners wishing to streamline their business processes and spend more time on business development. All the above functions are covered in OnlineOffice and running a business has never been so simple and cost-effective.

Find out more about WinWeb OnlineOffice.

Unleash The Power Of Your Web Browser With OnlineOffice

December 3, 2009

It can be annoying and time-consuming when software on your computer has to regularly download updates from the Internet in order to keep you up-to-date with the latest version.

You often have to reboot your computer after installation and there is no guarantee that you will not face problems with the latest update that could take the manufacturer a long time to patch.

This is why the future of software is moving towards applications that run inside your web browser. It removes the hassle of ever having to update your software again. It also means that developers can react quickly to issues that arise and release a new version far quicker then traditional software vendors ever could.

This software model, known as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) has grown in popularity over the past few years. WinWeb have been providing this type of on-demand software for a number of years now. Users of OnlineOffice are able to check their e-mail, store files, work on their business accounts and much more – all from within their web browser.

Try OnlineOffice free for 30 days @ WinWeb OnlineOffice