This month our panel of experts includes Robin Singh, general manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa for GRIC Communications; Richard Millman, marketing director of PC World Business, Ed Macnair, head of content security for NetIQ Europe, Middle East and Africa, and John Mahon, vice president of marketing for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Tally Systems. If you have a query for our team you can send an email to online.feedback@theguardian.com.
· I recently decided to enable my personal laptop with wireless computing capabilities, hoping to take advantage of the "hotspots" that are cropping up in coffee shops all over London. After doing some research to find the most cost-effective option, I have become entangled in a web of costing structures that make mobile phone payment schemes seem black and white. Can anyone explain why wireless billing is so complicated?
RS: It's complicated for several reasons. Access charges differ for each of the wireless technologies (Wi-Fi or GPRS) and most providers offer only one or the other.
Individual providers have their own pricing schemes, which can vary widely and geographic coverage varies by provider. Your chosen provider may not be everywhere you require. If that's the case, your options are to pay roaming charges (expensive and often not available) or take an additional provider (two accounts, two bills, two pricing schemes, two passwords, etc).
Help is at hand: aggregating companies allow you one global wireless service, providing one clear and affordable rate for multiple access methods and a single, consolidated invoice, significantly reducing costs.
Furthermore, you would have access points throughout the world, with the same advantages. Their various sales partners offer a number of different pricing and billing options, including usage-based or fixed rate.
· I've heard that says a lot of small businesses are suffering huge downtime because of easily fixed faults. What are some of the most common and how do I avoid them?
RM: The majority of IT problems encountered by SMEs are very easy to fix, and in many cases avoidable. The most common problems include data storage, back-up, security, printer failures and log-in difficulties.
Recent independent research found that SMEs are each losing up to 1% of revenue each year due to IT failure and the employee downtime which it causes - an alarming average of around £6,000 per year per SME. Excessive downtime is completely unnecessary.
Most problems stem from poor network maintenance, ageing hardware and inadequately skilled IT staff. My advice is that SMEs take a more structured approach to network management, carry out regular maintenance, and either provide better training for support staff or recruit the services of an IT supplier which understands SMEs.
· The recent MyDoom virus led to chaos in our systems - loads of emails coming through, some pretending to be from us and therefore not getting caught by our spam filter. What can we do to prevent damage to our working time next time?
EM: Email "spoofing" is the term referring to email that appears to have originated from one source when actually sent from another. MyDoom was particularly prevalent because it took this approach, and in many cases used the recipient's own name to disseminate the virus.
To prevent the spread of viruses or worms that use similar social engineering techniques to MyDoom, NetIQ recommends that companies use gateway proxies for scanning and filtering email and web content entering the network. By restricting all executable code, organisations are also protected against viruses like MyDoom before traditional anti-virus vendors release anti-virus signatures.
In addition, organisations should restrict access to non-business related sites and web-based email systems in the workplace, which seriously increases the risk of infection from virus.
Employers need to set and enforce user policies in advance of a virus attack, as well as implement software to cut these risks to their system security.
· I have a small sales team out on the road using laptops and PDAs. They come to the office for our weekly meeting, but it doesn't give our IT manager enough time to update applications and anti-virus software. With the likes of MyDoom and Fast threatening to imprison the bosses of companies with unlicensed software, I need to find a practical solution.
JM: You are describing "mobile client management". The best systems allow you to remotely connect to mobile devices and monitor application usage, make an inventory of all hardware and software, then match this data to purchase records to ensure license compliance.
Look for a system that can automatically deploy the latest software, and is bandwidth aware, able to gear up or downs in response to users who sporadically connect to the network often over low bandwidth links.
This will ensure that everyone receives the critical patch/hot-fix/application without disrupting the business.
