On the 10th of November 2011, InfoTech Solutions launched the school of the future competition for primary schools in Kent.  The years 5 and 6 in each school had to design what they thought schools would be like in the future.  With ideas ranging from robotic teachers to time travelling classrooms, it was extremely difficult to choose only three winning designs.  After much deliberation and discussion, the winners were chosen in February 2012.

On Friday the 23rd of March, the InfoTech team visited the second and third prize winners.  The school to win third prize was the Kingsdown and Ringwould Church of England School in Deal.  The students were all presented with goodie bags containing stationary, an Easter egg and a portable radio along with a winning certificate.  The school itself was rewarded with two Kindles and £100 of Amazon vouchers.  Their design caught our eye with its clever ideas about robotic teachers and a time travelling door.

The second prize was awarded to Elaine Primary School in Strood.  The presentation took place in front of the class and along with the goodie bags and certificates, the school won three kindles and £100 of Amazon vouchers. This presentation was especially colourful as the students were all in fancy dress for the end of their book week. Their stylish design displayed themed departmental buildings such as an art block in the shape of a paint brush and different classrooms set in different time zones.

The first prize was awarded to Clare House Primary School in Beckenham.  Their colourful and ingenious design was chosen as having ideas most closely based on future technology.  They included hover bean bags, remote teaching via video link and tablet computing. Each winning student had a goodie bag and certificate while they won a HP Multiseat server with software, accessories and installation for their school.

All of the students and schools who entered the competition should be immensely proud of their work and the difficulty that we had in choosing the winning three out of so many good ideas.  Congratulations once again to the winners and we hope that you will find the prizes beneficial to the students and the general learning environment.

IT support is one of those phrases that everyone has heard of and everyone knows what it means. However, if asked, they would most likely all give you a different answer. However, with all those answers chances are high that they have contacted IT support this week without even realising.

Also known as technical support, they are the people you contact about any technology related issues for not only computers but televisions and mobile phones too, any technology will have technical support. As the amount of technology in our lives increases, so does the need for IT support.

It’s not just our personal lives which are more dependent of technology; businesses are too and with this comes an increased need for IT support. Many businesses choose to out source their IT support to a managed service provider as this allows the business access to personnel with high levels of technical knowledge. This gives their staff and customers access to high levels of IT support at lower costs than hiring technical staff and allows employees to focus on work and maintaining productivity.

Outsourced IT support can be as detailed as you need it to be. If your question can be answered by the IT support team in minutes then that's simple to solve. If the problem persists or is complicated, IT support can rewsolve that too. Every provider of IT support is different, but generally you will find that they can provide all the IT Support and information that you need, even if it means calling back every 5 minutes.

Since its humble beginnings in 1998 California, Google has become if not the largest, then at least the most well known search engine. It has become a major part of our lives not just online but in our language where searching has now become googling.

Many of us would begin to worry if our Google phones stopped working, if Google maps were no longer reliable or if Google search itself went offline. Google has managed to infiltrate every aspect of our lives using convenience and free services, but what is the real cost of these services, what information do they get about us in return?

The answer is more than you might think. Google tracks our searches, emails, locations, calendars, YouTube accounts and every other Google service. It then uses this data to provide a simplified, streamlined user experience. The aim of this experience is to learn that when you search for ‘golf’, you mean the sport and not the car, they know this and provide websites and adverts accordingly.

Once signed into a Google service, Google aims to make information and adverts relevant to you, making a service that is not only personal but more useful. The changes that will occur in Google’s privacy policy on the 1^st of March enable the move towards a streamlined experience but what does it actually mean, what is going to change?

Rather than having a separate policy for over 60 products and services, a single overriding policy will come into force. The aim of the new policy is to enable smooth transitions between services such as Gmail and Google calendar and to allow for easier sharing by remembering the contact details of the people you interact with most frequently.

Google have emphasised their desire to provide as much choice and transparency as possible about the data they hold through Google Dashboard. The Privacy Principle will remain unchanged and Google states that they will not sell personal data to third parties with accounts able to be closed at any time.

With these changes being made to a provider that is in every aspect of our daily lives, we will have to wait and see if it will bring us closer to the utopian computer interactivity seen in the Startrek universe, or to the post apocalyptic world run by Skynet in The Terminator.

Do you find technology tedious? Lack the knowledge or time to create an exceptional IT System? No matter where you work in the modern world from builders to bankers, you cannot escape the need for an efficient IT system.

IT support can allow your IT systems to run smoothly without the hassle of an in-house team. External IT support provides many benefits whatever the size of your company. IT support can improve your client relationships because however hard you try, downtime is going to affect your clients. Some may be unable to access the services that they require from your business and new prospects may choose to go elsewhere if they cannot access the information they need.

With the recent spate of hackings on large corporations, clients can become more concerned about the security of their data.   External IT support can reassure your clients by providing an uninterrupted service no matter what the disaster at your business. IT support can ensure that your business appears to be secure and stable. IT support means that IT problems are detected and solved before you even realise they exist. IT support results in a smooth client experience for your clients.

However, IT support not only prevents clients from being affected by downtime but also protects your employees. If your employees are unable to work due to a system malfunction then you could be missing opportunities. IT support allows your employees to continue working efficiently throughout a disaster.

For smaller businesses, external IT support may be beneficial compared to an in house team. Any company regardless of size has access to a dedicated, highly trained and experienced team of technicians. This allows you to focus on growing your business unhindered by IT problems, increase revenue by decreasing downtime and maintain your reputation as a trusted and dependable provider.

October 2011 saw the celebration of 20 years of investors in people and in those 20 years they have helped tens of thousands of companies unlock their value and stand out from the crowd.

In 1991 Investors in People founder Michael Howard stated “Investors in People is a standard designed by business, which will be met by business, because it is in the interest of business”. Investors in People, classed as the UK’s leading people management standard works with more than 35,000 organisations in over 50 countries 7,500 of which are in the South of England.

InfoTech Solutions obtained Investors in People status in 2005 but upgraded to Investors in People Gold in 2010. Out of the thousands of organisations awarded with Investors in People status, only 277 of these have achieved the Gold standard. The staff and managers at InfoTech are proud of their achievements and are honoured to be included in this prestigious group. This high standard is reflected in our approach to the customer and employee experience.

InfoTech would like to congratulate the other organisations who have worked hard to achieve the esteemed Investors in People Gold standard as well as those organisations who have achieve Silver and Bronze competencies.

December 2010 was the coldest December in over 100 years. As the temperature once again begins to dip below 10oC heavy snowfall is predicted to blanket the country.

While children of any age from 5 to 45 will delight in this news, business owners may be concerned about loss of earnings in the bad weather. There are several options open for consideration. If your company is not based on a main road, you could hire a gritter to clear the way for your staff, but what if their road is icy? You can't grit every road in the area.

You could try to save money by not paying staff who can't get in, but that would result in costly legal fees as the courts have ruled that if an employee wants to work but are prevented from attending through no fault of their own they are still entitled to receive payment.

Maybe you could pay for winter tyres to be fitted for all the staff members with cars, but the logistics of organising and fitting and storing all those extra tyres would be a nightmare.

However, there is a sensible solution that will maintain staff productivity and avoid loss of earnings and profitability; remote working. With InfoTech's remote access solution staff can have access to applications, data and desktops without concerns over network security or the need for company laptops. You don't even need to be an IT expert; we handle all the technical parts for you.

InfoTech's solution is less hassle than gritting all the roads needs less space than storing tyres and takes up less time than traipsing to and from court. Contact us today to see how we can help you to safeguard your profits as well as your employees before it becomes a problem.

The west's leading economic think tank, the OECD, has forecast a double dip recession this winter. This could be a concern for organisations that are still under pressure from the last recession. The pressure now is to reduce costs while still maintaining constant growth within the organisation.

In the pursuit of this goal, many companies are turning to the innovative idea of cloud computing. Within cloud computing there are three main divisions. A public or external cloud represents the most common interpretation of cloud computing. It can expand or contract as you need it to, without having to purchase more physical space, freeing up office space and finances. Virtualised resources can be accessed over a secured internet connection via an off site provider. All that is needed is a connection, meaning that work could be completed at home, or even in a coffee shop.

The second option for cloud computing is a private or internal cloud. These clouds are hosted solely for a single organisation and are generally used by larger organisations with large amounts of confidential data to protect and these can be managed internally if requested. However utilising a private cloud means that some of the benefits of cloud computing are lost as organisations still need to purchase and manage the cloud and its set up.

For those companies who would like to utilise cloud computing there is a third option that combines both internal and external cloud solutions. This form of cloud computing is known as a hybrid cloud and it is suggested that it is rapidly becoming the most popular utilisation of cloud computing. A hybrid cloud allows for general computing to be performed on a public or external cloud while leaving the confidential company data secure in a private or internal cloud.

Whichever system of cloud computing appeals to you and your company, InfoTech can provide you with a service that suits your company needs. To see how we can help your business or simply to gather more information on cloud computing, contact us on 0845 4666 500.

It is vital, whoever you are presenting to that your presentation is interesting and maintains the attention of your listeners. Now I’m not advocating presenting a multipoint server or new piece of software through interpretive dance. If that works for you, brilliant, but for the rest of us it is as simple as posture and position. A simple example of this is how teachers are taught to wipe a board from top to bottom rather than side to side to avoid the embarrassing bottom wiggle.

In sales presentations it can be just as simple. For every new point in the pitch move to a different location, even moving a few feet gives a break in concentration allowing listeners to carry on listening for longer without wandering off into counting floor tiles. This motion will also help the speaker as it alleviates tension and creates a relaxed impression.

Most of a message is transmitted without the need for words. If you are bored, excited, nervous or unconfident this will show in your tone. It is worth practicing the presentation until it is almost memorised so you can avoid focussing on the words so much leaving you free to focus on how you say them. Ensure that you speak loudly but without shouting. Raising your head slightly does not constrict your throat and makes it easier to project your voice further and varying the pitch can help to avoid the monotone dreaded by listeners everywhere.

When it comes to posture during a presentation, we all want to avoid the “rabbit caught in headlights” look and portray a confident, self assured person. Presenting in some ways is a lot like acting. It doesn’t matter if you are a shy or quiet person in real life, cultivate a presentation persona. With this persona, body language is key. Sit up straight and relax your shoulders while reading this. Do you feel more relaxed? If your answer is yes, then use this when making a presentation. Body language is the most dominant of non-verbal communication so how you hold yourself directly affects the success of your presentation. Try to avoid postures with your hands clasped behind your back or in front of you. If you are giving an exciting presentation, don’t be afraid to talk with your hands. If you are excited, then they will feel excited too. For a more relaxed presentation, try one hand in a pocket and directing to the presentation with the other. This works well for nervous speakers as you can have something to fidget with in your pocket like a piece of BluTack.

Remember, at all times while you are speaking, face the listeners. The floorboards and curtains have no need for your services; they are quite content with their lot in life. If you are unsure or nervous about giving presentations, ensure you are prepared, ensure you practice and even though it may be embarrassing you could even record it to listen to before the final presentation.

An exhibition of post-apocalyptic images of iconic Mancunian buildings has gone on display in Manchester. These images, brilliant and haunting as they are, serve to highlight humanity’s obsession with disaster and chaos. From Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” to the 2011 film “2012” released earlier this year and an entire game genre; people have been fascinated by disasters and how to survive them. Stores even exist to prepare you for zombie hordes, shocking as that may seem.

There is a reason that the theme of global disasters are popular throughout the world whether it is from an ice age, the core of the world heating up or aliens from outer space. It provides a plausible, except for the aliens, although highly improbable view of an unknown future and engages human imagination on a very basic level, survival.

While disasters of this size and scope are resigned to the realm of fiction, there are disasters that will have a devastating impact on the survival of your business. They can range from floods to power outages but whatever the event they can devastate sales and customer relationships.

Every business owner is aware of business changing events, but some are not prepared and protected, actually saying some is underestiamting the issue. Most are not prepared, going about their day with as much protection for their business as a cucumber is protection from the afore mentioned zombie horde.

Only 6% of companies hit by a disaster manage to survive long term, thats real statistics not fluff. So imagine 100 companies including yours who do not have an adequate disaster recovery plan. Only 6 of them would survive, is it worth the risk to your company?

Price is typically the reason why adequate solutions are not in place. As with all things technology has now made it possible to provide full Disaster Recovery of all systems in minutes and at a very low price.

Contact InfoTech Solutions today to discover how our back up and disaster recovery solutions can protect your business now and in the future, whatever the disaster, providing there is still dry land in existence and your employees can work without having to stitch fingers back on.