No matter where in the world we are at, no matter who the client, we have seen one small problem destroy the largest projects…lack of employee communication.  Often, Inevat is called in to provide consulting services to companies that are missing deadlines for one reason or another. Executives and employees alike all seem to have a finger to point at someone else. “The process is to complex” is a common complaint from employees, and “No one ever updates us on the progress” is our favorite executive complaint. The fact of the matter is both these symptoms stem from the same problem, poor communication.

The fact of the matter is if there is a communication break down, it will destroy most every project in your company. Employees need to have a safe and effective way to communicate with both each other and management. Often times this can be achieved with something as simple as daily status meetings. These meetings allow a standard time for immediate staff (smaller groups are better) to air non-personal and constructive criticism regarding current items on the docket. This meeting also serves as a constant ping to ensure everyone is on the same page and assistance can be acquired early if necessary.

Occasionally, meetings are just not the right option for communicating statuses and criticism. This can be due to the fact that employees work in different physical areas across multiple time zones or even be too overloaded to stop work for 10 minutes.  In a situation like this, alternative modes of communication should be arranged.  Email and Instant Messaging, while effective for quick and small issues, are often not the best solution.  In our history we have found avenues such as email quite often become either to impersonal, or are simply lost in the clutter of everything going on during the day. In cases where employees cannot communicate directly, consider some of these other options: Phone conferences, Professional Project Management software (yes we prefer @task), or even custom developed intranet portals.  These modes allow for dedicated communication free from distraction of non-related materials.

Another item to be aware of to assist in fostering communication in the workplace is safe communication. Safe communication requires a few ground rules.  Safe communication should not contain any personal attacks. Items like “It would be easier to work with Dave if he showered occasionally,” may be valid, but are often better taken up directly between a supervisor and the employee with a sensitive tone. Second, safe communication should be constructive.  If you do not like a process, consider bringing other solutions to the table. Third, emotions should be kept in check during communication.  Try not to cry, yell, sigh, moan, or otherwise inflict your emotions on others. When emotion enters the conversation, many people find it hard to remain calm. Lastly, safe communication requires active listening. If you want your opinion to be respected, you need to respect others. Keep in mind, respecting others opinions does not mean you have to agree, it just means you have to listen. Thoughtfully contemplate others ideas without feeling the need to defend your own and you may find their ideas will improve the process.

The one main item that we have noticed in successful companies everywhere in the world is effective communication. Enabling communication makes for more effective project, better processes, and happier people. If those benefits aren’t enough, remember this; a happy workplace means a more productive workplace, a more productive workplace means a more valuable company.

The first thing you have to know about your interview is that if you made it this far, the company is interested. Very few people are going to waste their time interviewing candidates they can’t see employing. This advice will hopefully help you to remember to relax, take a deep breath, and enjoy your interaction instead of fearing it.

Now that we have gotten over the fear of the interview, we need to make sure we are physically presentable. NEVER wear shorts to your interviews unless you know of otherwise. We have had the privilege of interviewing two people in shorts, we will not interview them again. Your clothing should be neat, clean, and appropriate for the position you are applying for. Often a shirt and tie for men or a skirt/slacks and blouse for women are the best option. Remember, this first impression may mean about as much as anything you say during the interview.

Another major item we look for in interviews is confidence. Inevat employs technicians and staff that believe in themselves. We appreciate that you may be nervous, but during your employment we guarantee you will have more of those scary moments. When asked questions, avoid phrases like “Uhm” and stuttering. Take your time to answer the questions coherently and reasonably. Make eye contact, keep a smile on your face when appropriate. If you act confidently, we will be more confident in hiring you.

Finally is the part most people freak out on, questions. I will admit, I have been known to ask some unusual questions to see if I could get people to relax and think. The whole goal of questions is not to uncover some big secret, it is to make sure you can communicate effectively and identify where and if you would really fit in the company. You should always be prepared to answer the basic questions like: “Why did/are you leaving your last job”, “Have you ever had a difficult situation you had to deal with at a previous job”, “What are your biggest strengths”, “What are your biggest weaknesses”, and my personal favorite “Why are manhole covers round?” All reasonable questions asked of you at the interview should be answered. The question does not have to be relevant to the job to be valid.

The biggest thing to remember here is the interviewer is trying to find you a place within their company. Help them by relaxing and being honest. No one wants a constant nervous nelly or serious Sam and their company, at least not at Inevat. Show some personality, have some fun, and land the job.

One of the amazing things about owning and working with owners of businesses is the pure number of resumes that tend to flow in. Sadly, most resumes we look at tend to follow the same conventions, the same layouts, and the same old look. The main problem we have with that…it is like trying to choose a toilet at a public restroom, none of the options look particularly appealing.

Perhaps the largest problem we see with resumes that come in is the confusion of its purpose.  Our prospective employees think that we need to know everything they have ever done and anywhere they have ever gone then they cram it all on one page. For me, this feels a lot like you are trying to propose before our first date. Realistically, your resume has one job, to get you in front of us so we can find out more about you.

Think of your resume more as a marketing slick. Marketing’s job is not to point out every specification of a product, but rather the benefits and selling points that the product has over others. I’m glad you have worked with Company A and Government B, but how is that experience really going to relate to us. Take the experiences and education that you have and sell me the benefit.  My first look at your resume won’t last long, give me a reason to look back.

The next big thing you need to remember, just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t mean you need to. Inevat is a creative company. Bringing us a resume that is black in white and bullet points, it doesn’t excite us.  We very badly want to excited by your resume. Believe it or not, we want to meet with you, we just need an excuse.  How do you excite us though? Stand out from the mold with things like color, full sentences, innovative designs. You still only get one page to wow us, but do it with design and experience.

One last thing to point out, you don’t have to have a huge resume to work with most companies. If you haven’t had very much experience, wow me with your design.  If you haven’t finished schooling, excite me with some background. Have you had some customers say great things about you? Use the things you have done and are doing to catch my eye.

We look forward to receiving your resume, hopefully with some of the elements we discussed above. If it is executed well, you never know, we may be working together soon.

Well, it’s all over the internet, there seems to be a new ‘virus’ in town.  The surprising thing this time is that is for a mac.  Yes, we know, macs don’t get viruses, and we’ve got good news, its not really a virus.

Mac haters, you’ll have to get off your high horse on this one.  MacDefender is more Malware than anything else.  This vastly little program does little more than fool mac users into entering their credit card information in in order to stay “protected”.  DO NOT INPUT YOUR CREDIT CARD INFORMATION.  If you have already entered your credit card, call your bank immediately.

Removal of this little program isn’t too bad for even a beginner.  Just follow this link on over to TUAW to learn how to remove it.

Case in point that “If you don’t know what it is, don’t click it or give it your password” is good advice for macs too.

(UPDATE:  We should note that we use the term virus to refer to everything from Adware to Malware to Viruses)

Recently, it seems like several times a week that we get calls from both new and existing customers about a virus.  The one that seems most prevalent right now is fake anti-virus programs.  These programs often get installed onto your system from a website popup that claims you have 300+ viruses and you need to click to remove.  If you try and close the window, you get some ominous message like “ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO LEAVE YOUR SYSTEM INFECTED?”  As we tell our customers, if you don’t recognize it, don’t click it.  If you are ever unsure about a popup, please feel free to call us and we can log on and have it looked at.

What can you do to help protect yourself?  There are a few simple steps you can take to reduce your risk of getting viruses.

1. First, get a reputable anti-virus software, wether that means Avast, Symantec, or your favorite flavor (we happen to hate McAfee and aren’t that impressed with Microsoft Security Essentials right now).  Not having an anti-virus program is like begging the world to make your computer unusable.
2. Second, don’t browse questionable content or download things you shouldn’t.  What do we mean by that?  Facts are, if you browse pornography, hacking sites, illegal software download sites, and other questionable content, you will get a virus.
3. Beware of items being given away for free as posted on your Facebook status.  Often, these are another virus that one of your friends has gotten.
4. Be cautious of domains other than .com .net .org and other common domains in your country.  It seems to be more likely to come on a virus from a .ru than a .com
5. Don’t open every attachment and link you get.  If someone sends you an email with nothing but a link, contact them and ask about it.  I cannot tell you how many people just open every attachment, I would know, I hear from them a lot.
6. DO NOT OPEN ANYTHING THAT SAY YOU HAVE A HALLMARK ECARD.  These attachments are always viruses.  If it does not open on one computer, do not proceed to another computer on the network and open it there also.

Those are some quick tips, but those do not guarantee you will not get a virus, it will just limit the frequency and likelihood of getting one.  If you already got a virus and you are at work, unplug the network cable.  Many viruses enjoy going through and infecting every file they can get there hands on (like dd.exe).  Save your company some headache, unplug and call your technician.  If you don’t have a technician, feel free to contact us by clicking here or on contact above

It’s not everyday you wake up to mass panic, but every once and awhile, bad things happen.  Such with the case with one of our clients yesterday.

After spending some time on the road, David decided to let his kids use his work laptop to help keep them calm.  All was going well until they hit their destination and he realized that all the documents that he had been preparing for his next major appointment were GONE.  Sure, depending on the field, quite often you can just recover these or have someone redo it quickly, but not in Dave’s field.  These documents accounted for over 80 hours of work in the past week and a half.  Needless to say, Dave called me panicked.

Queue the importance of remote support.  When Dave called, we put off the lectures about backing up important data and pulled out our superhero capes and set out to get the job done.  Using some very special tools and a bit of ingenuity, we were able to work with dave to recover all of his data.  Luckily his kids had just been clicking around and happen to delete and then empty the recycle bin, but we found them nonetheless.  Had we not been using Bomgar Remote Support Appliances, Dave’s night in California would have been much longer, and needless to say, his client would not of been happy.

Chalk another win up for Remote Support offerings from Inevat, and Dave, back up your data.

It may just be 0200 in the morning here in Utah, but we have already had a painstakingly difficult, gut-wrenching, brain-numbing experience trying to purchase Verizon iPhones for customer and yes, even ourselves.  Sadly, one hour later not one phone was successfully ordered.  Not saying we didn’t get close, but as soon as the order was ready to process, it failed.

Now the whole process is not the websites fault, as we spent a fair amount of time trying to understand why some of the lines that should have been eligible for upgrades now mysteriously weren’t.  That part, for all we can figure, had more to do with our specific business rep than Verizon itself.

Verizon promised the world that their launch would go on without a hitch, well Verizon we have bad news.  With this big of an issue with just the pre-orders we are beginning to think to ourselves…is this just the launch that is going to have problems, or could Verizon be greatly overestimating their networks capabilities as well?  Perhaps only time will tell, but as for now, we will let Verizon explain to our customers why they won’t be getting iPhones anytime soon.

Chances are you have at least friend that has Verizon and that person has probably not stopped talking about the new Verizon iPhone that comes February 10th.  With all the hype though, there are some very good questions about the phone and Verizon’s service.  Let’s cover some of those questions now.

Antennagate

There was a lot of hype over the antenna problems with the original iPhone 4.  If you ask most of us here we will tell you that the issue was more with the signal calculations than the actual antenna.  The fact did remain though, if you held the iPhone in an ever so specific way, you could make the signal go down.  While there have been some antenna redesigns with the new iPhone, the root problem still exists with the iPhone as it does with all phones.  The truth of the matter however is that you have to hold the iPhone quite unusually to have any problems.  Our verdict:  This isn’t going to be a big issue, so don’t let this sway your decision.

No Simultaneous Voice and Data

Sorry folks, this one is true.  While it is easy to say, well I will never use that anyway, there are some times that it would be very useful.  Some examples of this are using navigation  and receiving a phone call, using the new wi-fi hotspot and the receiving a call, and even receiving and looking at an email with a client on the phone.  Unfortunately, this is a limitation of what is called CDMA, the network that Verizon uses.  LTE, the next version of Verizon’s network that is being built out now, will support voice and data at the same time.  If you are a current Verizon subscriber, this will not affect you, if you are coming from AT&T or T-Mobile however, keep in mind that this may be a feature you will miss.

Leaving “The Nations Fastest Network”

Sure, AT&T loves to say that they have the nations fatest network, but in our experience that is not entirely true.  Sure, AT&T may have some areas that are very fast, but they are not as consistent as Verizon.  In our experience, the speed you get from Verizon in the city, is pretty much the same speed you will get everywhere.  So yes, you may lose some theoretically speeds, but don’t fret too much, I am sure next years iPhone will be LTE, and Verizon is one of the big dogs there.  In the mean time, think about trading some possible speed for the ability to actually make phone calls almost everywhere you go.

So what do I get?

The one big thing that Verizon really has going for them, even though their network may not be as advanced is the pure amount of coverage they offer.  The biggest complaint I hear from AT&T subscribers (albeit not from all of them as many enjoy their service) is that they love the phone, hate the service.  Quite often I will be on a call with clients in Vegas and they drop.  We call again, and then 2 minutes later, we drop again.  This is something that we find is much less common on pretty much everybody but AT&T.  So what do you get?  A network that actually works where you live, work, and play (thats not a guarantee, but there are pretty good odds.)

Our overall verdict

If you are sick of your current provider, we would highly suggest looking into switching to Verizon now that they have the iPhone.  If you need a great business rep, we suggest calling the same guy we use, Patrick White.  Please contact us for his information.

Don’t worry, you’re not alone. We have been in this field for a while, and uncovered hundreds of Mac hating IT guys. To be completely fair, we have met a several that hate Windows and Linux too, they just don’t seem to be as plentiful. The fact of the matter is, most IT professionals don’t know much about Mac and they don’t want to.  There are quite a few good reasons for IT guys to hate Macs, so let’s have a look at those first.

If you are part of a large organization, you most likely have been using Windows XP Pro, or Windows 7 Pro for a while now with good reason.  Many larger organizations use Windows server to host their Active Directory, or in lamans terms, the server that holds all of the usernames, passwords, and computer configurations for the company.  Macs just don’t play as well with these servers right out of the box.  See, these servers allow people like me to control most of the features of a windows system from the server.  For example, I can control the way a Windows system receives updates, what programs are installed when you turn the computer on, what icons are on the desktop, even what sounds the computer makes.  Macs, they think a little more independently than that.

Availability is another big reason that IT guys hate Mac.  If you think about the people you work with, most of them probably have a PC.  That simple fact plays into the hands of the IT team.  Most companies I have worked with have no less than 3 extra computers that should have probably been thrown away running Windows XP.  Bob’s computer just broke? Easy, grab that old XP tower and log into that.  It will work until I get you another system.  Most companies, other than those that have a huge mac user base, just don’t have extra Macs laying around for a few reasons.  One, I have to setup that Mac for any user that needs it, it doesn’t just work on our network.  Two, let’s face the facts people, Macs cost more than PCs.

There is one remaining thing that I really see as being a catalyst for Mac haters, reliability.  Sure, people will argue that the only reason Macs don’t have viruses is because there aren’t as many of them, so no one makes viruses for them.  The fact still remains however that malware just isn’t as big of an issue for Mac users.  Through on top of that the fact that Macs just don’t bog down in time as much as PCs do, and you have yourself an IT guys nightmare.  Not that less work isn’t a bad thing, but less work means less people needed to do the same job.  I guess if I didn’t know much about Macs, that would make me hate them too.

So we know what the problem is now, how do we fix it.  Let us make it simple for you, replace your IT guy.  Most companies under 60-70 employees really don’t need an in-house IT guy if they have a reliable out-sourced IT company to work with.  If your out-sourced IT guy doesn’t know about Macs, get a new one.  While that may not be the most pleasant truth, it is the best solution.  Mac sales are growing at a much faster rate than any PC manufacturer.  Customer satisfaction of Mac users is the highest of any computer.  The average lifespan of Mac computer is much higher than a PCs.  If your IT guy doesn’t want to help you to be part of that, he is not looking out for you.  Keep in mind, not everybody that owns a PC should switch to Mac, but it should be your choice.  Let us help you make the one that works best for you.

As the end of the year nears, almost every company we work with is looking for any additional purchases that need to be made.  Whether their workstations and servers to be upgraded or the they need some additional network gear, we never seem to have any trouble finding something if they need it.  The one suggestion that is always on top of our list, however, is the Cymphonix Box.

Cymphonix fills an amazing hole in most networks that companies are not even aware exists.  The fact of the matter is most managers and owners spend so much time having to put out fires that they do not realize they can stop some of them from ever popping up.  That is exactly what Cymphonix does for our customers that have one.  Not descriptive enough for you?  Lets look at some of the things it can help with.

Pervy Peter

Let’s face it, quite a few offices, and apparently even the federal government, have this guy working for them.  This is the guy that browses questionable if not flat out objectionable content.  Peter spends what seems to be about 80% of his time looking at lingerie websites and the other 20% chatting online.  The unfortunate thing for you is Peter is currently crucial to your operations and you can’t fire him.  The Cymphonix box configured by Inevat’s support team can help resolve this situation.  With Cymphonix, you can manage not only access, but also network speed allocated to any website or category of website.  No more porn Peter, sorry.

Sharing Sharon

Yes Sharon, everyone knows you like the Dixie Chicks and Green Day too.  No Sharon, that doesn’t mean you can download their music using peer to peer software illegally at our office.  Did you know that it’s not just Peter that is leaving you open to lawsuits, but Sharon too?  In fact, Sharon’s rampant file sharing spree could get your internet shut off by your ISP and even infect your network with all matter of viruses and spyware.  How do we fix it?  At Inevat, we suggest setting up your Cymphonix box for zero tolerance with file sharing, or at least limiting the amount of bandwidth it sucks up.

Oscar the Owner

Yes we all know the the same rules don’t apply to everyone, especially Oscar.  Oscar started this company 5 years ago with no funding, and we all have jobs thanks to him.  Oscar, with Cymphonix, you can have a free pass.  We don’t suggest you use that free pass to show your employees all the wonderful things you can do on the web while they are limited to your hearts discretion, but if you want to, Oscar, go for it.  With Cymphonix and Inevat, each department or individual user can have customized access to the internet, this way every user gets the exact amount of access they need for what they do.

And so much more

Traffic categorization, QOS, live traffic stats and monitoring, guest internet limitations, custom department access, email reports, network antivirus and antispyware, and so much more.  The Cymphonix box is the perfect write off to keep your network running smooth and safe for years to come.  Want to get on in before the new year?  Just give us a call at 801.810.5050 or contact us here.