Apex IT Group, LLC

A Tectonic Shift in Power

Baseline - RSS Feed — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:02:55 +0000

Mobile technologies and social media have changed the balance in company-customer relationships, shifting power to the people. - Lets take a brief trip to the not-so-distant past, a time when companies had the upper hand regarding interactions with customers. They could pretty much control the dialogue, and it was primarily one way: Businesses mailed and emailed information to customers. If there was a problem, customers ...

Protecting an Online Business Investment

Baseline - RSS Feed — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:02:49 +0000

How to sustain growth without opening yourself up to security problems. - Forward-thinking companies with long histories embrace change to grow their businesses, moving from brick-and-mortar to e-commerce. Incentives are compelling, but theyre transacting more and more business in an increasingly dangerous environment in which cyber-criminals use sophisticated attac...

Linux Developers in High Demand

Baseline - RSS Feed — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:02:43 +0000

While some sectors of the economy have seen dwindling prospects for job-seekers, Linux developers have their choice of opportunities. Linux programming skills are in high demand, and those who can do the job can command higher salaries and choice job perks, according to the first-ever Linux-focused jobs forecast from Dice.com and The Linux Foundation. Recruiting Linux professionals is a top priority for the vast majority of organizations in 2012, the survey finds. Many companies, however, find recruiting Linux developers challenging. "Linux jobs have become some of the hottest jobs in all of tech," says Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. "Clearly, hiring managers throughout the IT tech sector understand this, and are aggressively seeking Linux professionals. It is our job to meet this demand by ensuring developers and systems administrators have access to the community networking opportunities, and the Linux training they need to take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity." More than 2,000 hiring managers took part in the research. Dice.com is a leading career-focused hub for IT professionals. For more about the survey, click here. - ...

Tron, HAL, Robocop and Moon Reimagined as a Tortured Romance

Technology Review RSS Feeds — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 01:27:00 +0000

A music video transforms familiar scenes into an unlikely exchange.

Watch this mashup of clips of cinema's most memorable "unfeeling" machines and you'll quickly get the idea that our greatest fear of artificial intelligence is that will treat us just like people do.

Connect the Dots: Cloud Backup Meets PSA Software (And More)

Intronis Guest Blog — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:30:59 +0000

It is Winter Release time here at Intronis, and as you might already know, there are quite a few cool features in this update to our cloud backup platform for MSPs. They include the ability to monitor your customer’s backup via mobile devices, but I am particularly excited about one specific addition to our product – our new integration with ConnectWise. Let me tell you why.

In 2010, at the request of numerous MSPs, we introduced our first ConnectWise integration. It was our first attempt to integrate with a PSA, and while our intent was good, the final product only went so far toward meeting the needs of our channel partners.

When I joined Intronis in the fall of 2010 and started talking to our partner base, it was evident that considerable demand existed for more integrations with additional PSA vendors, and that based on what we could see out there, there was an opportunity to really move the needle forward on what we could do with an integration.

During the next six months, we worked with the team at Autotask. Dozens of our joint partners collaborated with us to document their requirements and expectations. The result? We created an Autotask integration that delivered on our partner’s requirements and delivers a positive impact on their business. More than 100 partners now use our Autotask integration, and more are joining those ranks every week.

With our experience in building an Autotask integration under our belt, we knew our ConnectWise integration suffered by comparison. ConnectWise’s new Managed Devices API provided us with an opportunity to deliver a much deeper integration, and I believe that our joint ConnectWise partners are going to like the result. From service ticket integration to billing integration, the end result should be streamlined process and lower MPG for our partners.

Speaking of MPG, last month I blogged about our commitment to lower your Manhours per Gigabyte and our desire to help our channel partners save time and create operational efficiencies. Tight integration with your PSA vendor of choice is one of the most impactful ways that we can see to help save time and effort in your day-to-day operations, and saving time and effort means increased profitability. We are committed to delivering a data protection solution that is reliable, easy to implement and manage, and profitable. So take a few minutes to check out our Winter Release, and keep your eyes and ears open as we move through 2012. We have some great developments in store for you.