Technology Update - August 2008

TechnologyUPDATE In this issue: Summer is the slowest season of the year!... . . . . . . . . . . .1 The Top 3 Most Expensive & Deadly Computer Disasters... . . . . . . . . . . .2 Angie hits the nail on the head again . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Back to basics.

ContinuITSM Brings Peace of Mind to SMBs . . . . . . . .4 Want to Hit Your Computer With A Hammer?. . . . . . . .4

Altronics Communications, Inc. 13017 Wisteria Dr. Suite 298 Germantown, MD 20874 Phone/Fax 1-888-890-7770

A HUGE Thank You! Dear Martin and Patricia: What can we say?

Giving Connections is such an awesome idea - makes everyone feel so GOOD about going out into the world to network - takes the drudgery and shyness out of sales and marketing and has everyone patting themselves on the back for being a good citizen and engaged in their community.

You are brilliant!

And for us - what a special way to make new friends - not just to tell our story, but to hear others tell theirs. It reminds us what a privilege it is to be in this great and diverse community. When Julie, Becky and I can digest last night and think through all our new connections, I know we will have some new ways we can promote our activities - finding new volunteers, vendors, donors, and yes, clients. Thank you for moving us in new directions.

Barbara Garlock Interfaith Works

Summer is the slowest season of the year!

I don't know who said that summer is slow!

Summer has been a roller coaster for us so far!

We have had a number of new projects in July that have kept us very busy. One of the most interesting is The Warrior Within (www.the-warrior-within.org) our first social networking site. The Warrior Within website is a community of individuals who have been through “The Enlightened Warrior Training camp”™ and received their graduate certification. The site has been a huge hit and we're not even done implementing all the features yet.

We've been working on a couple of smaller sites, a remodeling company website and a framing shop website. They are not released yet but we will make sure to announce when they are ready to be viewed.

To crown the month, we had a great GivingConnections Event. Once again, we met for business networking and we had a great time. There were 46 people registered and the place was packed.

The recipient of all donations was Interfaith Works, a non-sectarian interfaith coalition of more than 140 members and affiliated congregations representing over 65,000 families, working together to meet the needs of the poor in Montgomery County. They were thrilled with the event and made great connections (check the sidebar with their feedback).

As we are growing our organization we could not be more excited. Dori Kelner of Sleight-ofHand Studios (www.sohstudios.com) approached us to help and she will be organizing our networking events in Northern Virginia.

The first event will take place in September.

Please stay tuned for the details!

13017 Wisteria Dr. Suite 298, Germantown, MD 20874 toll free: 888.890.7770 - www.altronicscom.com

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In all the excitement, I was not able to write and publish July's newsletter (I apologize), so here is August's issue with great information about preventing computer problems and facing downturn with a different attitude. I also dropped some bits of online marketing and explained how a campaign online can make a huge difference to your business.

Take time to read it through and send me your feedback at mposse@altronicscom.com. If you are interested about a particular topic please let me know and I will do my best to include it in a newsletter.

Finally, if you belong to an organization and would like to present your members with topics such as "Network Problems Prevention", "Small Business Security", "Small Business Continuity" or "Online Marketing Strategies" please let me know, I would be happy to discuss the opportunity with you.

Next Giving Connections August 28 in Rockville to Support The Salvation Army.

Place is still TBA at clossing of this edition.

Register at www.giving-connections.com

August 2008 Page |1

TechnologyUPDATE The Top 3 Most Expensive & Deadly Computer Disasters...

And How To Prevent Them From Happening To You! ave you ever lost an hour of work on your computer?

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Now imagine if you lost days or weeks of work - or imagine losing your client database, financial records, trade secrets and all of the work files your company has ever produced or compiled.

Imagine what would happen if your network went down for days and you couldn't access email or any important information on your PC. How frustrating would that be?

What if a major storm, flood or fire destroyed your office and all of your files? Or if a virus wiped out your server‌do you have an emergency recovery plan in place that you feel confident in?

How quickly do you think you could recover, if at all?

Many small business owners tend to ignore or forget about taking steps to secure their company's network from these types of catastrophes until disaster strikes. By then it's too late and the damage is done.

While it's impossible to plan for every potential computer disaster or emergency, below are the top three biggest threats and disasters that wipe out businesses and simple, easy steps you can take to dramatically lower the chances of them happening to you.

Threat #1: Viruses. Today, viruses are still by far the most common type of network security threat. Viruses can do a wide range of damage from displaying

a steady stream of annoying popup ads to freezing your entire network and corrupting your data. Not only can a virus corrupt your files and bring down your network, but it can hurt your reputation. If you or one of your employees unknowingly spreads a virus to a customer, or if the virus hijacks your e-mail address book, you're going to make a lot of people very angry.

Prevention: You must have a good backup strategy. It's absolutely critical that you keep an off-site copy of all the important files on your network. No one expects a flood, fire, hurricane, tornado or other natural disaster. But did you ever consider theft? What if someone breaks into your office and takes every single piece of computer equipment you have? It has happened.

Prevention: Obviously you need to make sure every PC and laptop in your office has anti-virus software installed. But you can't just install it and forget about it; someone needs to monitor your network to make sure every machine has the most up-todate version installed AND make sure the software isn't accidentally disabled.

What if a neighboring office catches fire or if a faulty sprinkler system waters your server room? This is another on-site disaster most people never consider.

Threat #2: Not backing up your data, and failing to keep an offsite copy of your data. It just amazes me how many businesses never back up their computer network OR only keep an on-site copy of their data. Imagine this: you write the most important piece of information you could ever write on a chalkboard and I come along and erase it. How are you going to get it back?

You're not.

Unless YOU MADE A COPY OF IT, you can't recover the data. That is why it is so important to back up your network. There are a number of things that could cause you to lose data files. If the information on the disk is important to you, make sure you have more than one copy of it.

13017 Wisteria Dr. Suite 298, Germantown, MD 20874 toll free: 888.890.7770 - www.altronicscom.com

What if your data becomes corrupt or a tape drive hardware failure erases your data? Again, your data is nothing but a memory. That's why you want to keep an off-site copy. Your data is just too important to not do everything possible to protect it.

Threat #3: Not installing the most up-to-date security patches and updates. Software companies (like Microsoft) are always discovering security loopholes in their programs that allow hackers to access your network. That is why they offer patches and updates to their users for free.

However, most hackers do NOT discover these security loopholes on their own. Instead, they learn about them when Microsoft (or any other software vendor for that matter) announces the vulnerability and issues an update or a patch. That is the hacker's

cue to spring into action; they immediately analyze the update and craft an exploit (like a virus) that allows them access to any computer or network that has not yet installed the security patch. The time between the release of the patch and the release of the exploit that targets the underlying vulnerability is getting shorter every day; that is why it's important to keep an eye out for security updates and patches.

Prevention: We recommend that you maintain your computer by always staying keeping abreast to new updates and patches and install them immediately. But be careful, some of the patches that are released by major vendors may, if installed inappropriately, break your computer as well. A review of what the patch is for and if there is any report from people with a configuration similar to yours having problems with the patch is highly recommendable.

How Disaster-Proof Is YOUR Network?

FREE Security Audit Reveals The Truth.

If you would like to know how secure your network is and if you are at risk to vulnerable attacks, data loss, lost performance and expensive repair bills, sign up for a FREE 7Point Network Security Assessment. Based in our findings we will make specific recommendations based on your needs to make sure you stay out of trouble. Sign up today by calling Martin Posse at 1-888-890-7770 x101.

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TechnologyUPDATE Angie hits the nail on the head Once again my friend Angie Sigal of Action Coach makes a great point on her weekly tip. I wanted to share the tip with you because it is so timely.

Let me run a few numbers for you so you understand why cancelling marketing is a bad idea.

Recession - Opportunity for Success?

The cost per lead generated was a little bit shy of $19, which may seem too high, but if you consider the potential of each lead you would be amazed to realize that the price is actually cheap. Let me explain.

What do these three companies have in common - Proctor & Gamble, Chevrolet and Camel?

Maybe you've already guessed from the title, but all three of these great American companies not only survived the Great Depression of the early 1930's, they actually grew. How did they do it?

First, they continued to act as if nothing was wrong and consumers still had money to spend.

In other words they continued with their businesses and did not let the news of the day slow them down.

Second, they didn't wait for demand for their products to rise; they went out and created demand even in the most difficult of economic environments.

Thirdly, they continued to advertise. Not only did they not cut back on their marketing, they actually increased it.

The moral of this story is that you can sit back and blame the recession for a downturn in business and, perhaps, fail as a result. Or you can take advantage of your competitors with that attitude and not only survive but actually THRIVE in today's economy.

Which path are you going to choose?

This brings me to ask "what are you doing for marketing now?"

I have seen this so many times that it scares me. Things get difficult and businesses cut their marketing money.

Not long ago, we ran an online marketing campaign for a client which generated 169 hot leads in 6 months. The cost of that campaign was $4,000, which included ad design, landing page/lead form and pay-per-click management and tracking (including geo-targeting, keyword selection, etc).

The campaign had a conversion rate of 8.99% and if you know something about conversion you will realize that is a pretty high conversion rate. Nonetheless, it was cancelled citing bad economy and lack of funding.

13017 Wisteria Dr. Suite 298, Germantown, MD 20874 toll free: 888.890.7770 - www.altronicscom.com

Out of 10 leads, this company managed to bring into the shop about 5-7 of them (let's assume 5 for this exercise). They were able to convert about half the five to clients. So, out of 10 leads ($190) they converted 2.5 in clients. Each client pays between $140 to $264 each eight weeks ($560-$1056 a year), which means that out of 10 leads they were able to generate $1,400 to $2,640 a year in new business (a Return on Investment of 1,389%). Finally, if considering that each client has a lifetime value of three years on average, it means that the actual return for each $190 invested could reach as much as $7,920 in a three year term. That may not seem to like a lot of money, but the total campaign rendered 169 leads, which would represent a whopping $133,848 return on a $4,000 dollar investment.

Of course there are many factors that weigh on the actual results

of the campaign, including the ability of closing and the capability of retaining the customer as long as possible, etc. But the point is that even in the worst case scenario, and considering that one customer of yours can become multiple customers through the power of referral, you can't afford to stop marketing. You must continue doing as much marketing as you can.

When you can't do it yourself you need to call the specialists.

Once you realize that, you will find that economy could be whatever it wants because you will continue to get new customers.

If you are interested in a review of your current marketing strategies and how you can boost results and make more money without breaking the bank, give me a call. All new customers that sign up for our online marketing services during the month of August will receive a full year of website hosting FREE for one year.

If you are skeptical that we can't deliver enough leads to make the investment worth it, take a look at our warranty: "If your campaign doesn't deliver enough leads to generate income of as much as twice what you have invested, we will return all our service fees."

So challenge us! Call Martin at 1-888-890-7770 x101 and set your Marketing Evaluation today. There are people making money now while you are still thinking about what to do!

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TechnologyUPDATE Back to basics. ContinuITSM Brings Peace of Mind to SMBs ometimes we get so accustomed to our own speech that we forget that people may not understand what we do. That is why I wanted to get back to some basics about our ContinuITSM program.

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ContinuITSM is a set of services that were created to provide a highly predictable network infrastructure. The program is comprised of three basic building blocks, ContinuITSM Network Infrastructure Management, ContinuITSM Security Services and ContinuITSM Data Protection Services.

This program can be implemented on a business of any size. We have successfully provided highly predictable environments to businesses with as few as one computer and to businesses with multiple locations, multiple servers and users traveling overseas.

ContinuITSM: Most Important Benefits You'll practically eliminate expensive repairs and recovery costs. Our network monitoring and maintenance will save you money by preventing expensive network disasters from ever happening in the first place. As a matter of fact, we guarantee it.

You'll avoid expensive trip fees while receiving faster support.

Our remote monitoring software will enable us to access and repair most network problems right from our offices. No more waiting around for an engineer to show up!

How does faster performance, fewer glitches, and practically zero downtime sound to you?

Under this program, that is exactly what we'll deliver. Some parts of your system will degrade in performance over time, causing them to slow down, hang up, and crash. Our preventative maintenance and network monitoring will make sure your computers stay in tip-top shape for maximum speed, performance

and reliability.

You will have ALL the benefits of an in-house IT department WITHOUT all of the costs. As a ContinuITSM customer, you'll have access to knowledgeable support staff that can be reached immediately should you have any kind of problem or question.

You will receive substantial discounts on IT services that you are already buying. Most IT firms will nickel and dime you for every little thing they do. But with this program, you'll pay one flat, affordable rate and get all of the technical support you need.

No hidden charges, caveats or disclaimers.

You will never have to fear a big, expensive network repair bill. Instead, you can budget for network support just like rent or insurance.

You will sleep easier knowing the "gremlins at the gate" are being watched and kept out of your network.

13017 Wisteria Dr. Suite 298, Germantown, MD 20874 toll free: 888.890.7770 - www.altronicscom.com

You will safeguard your data.

The data on the hard disk is always more important than the hardware that houses it. If you rely on your computer systems for daily operations, it's time to get serious about protecting your critical, irreplaceable electronic information.

You'll finally put a stop to annoying spam, pop-ups, and spyware from taking over your computer and your network.

You'll gain incredible peace of mind. As a business owner, you already have enough to worry about. We'll make sure everything pertaining to your network security and reliability is handled

so you don't have to worry about it.

To get started, sign up for a Network Audit. This will provide a basis for determining what combination of services is needed.

Even if you already have an IT Service Provider, our assessment will give you peace of mind knowing that they really have you covered and you have nothing to fear.

If you are interested in this program or to find out how your "guy" is doing, register for your assessment at: www.altronicscom.com/27.

Present this coupon to your technician upon arrival

Are You Ready to Hit Your Computer With A Hammer?

We want to make it easy on you!

Call us during August 2008 to troubleshoot any computer problem and get 25% discount.

We will also review your computer for hidden problems and tell you if you are at risk of virus attacks or loosing data.

Call 1-888-890-7770 x 4 Expires: 08/31/2008

Cannot be combined with any other offer. No cash value.

August 2008 Page |4