René Sloos

In the last three days, I have been traveling and attending meetings to help our distribution partner, Ingram Micro. In my role of Small and Medium Business Alliance (SMBA) council member, I help Ingram to validate and improve their programs for our market segment.

Shouldn’t you just decide who to buy from, pay them for their products and/or services, and finish the transaction? If the vendor doesn’t meet your expectations you have a fight and select another vendor, right? I don’t think so. In the complex field of Small and Medium business technology products it is all about building relationships!

Ingram Micro plays a critical role in our success to deliver state of the art IT solutions to small and medium sized businesses in the Calgary and Red Deer area. It matters that the computer systems in a business are always up and running. More and more of clients are requesting redundant Internet connections, because they can’t afford any down time. A quick disaster recovery strategy allows our clients to recover quickly from a server malfunction.

In most small businesses today, no information technology means no business! The Ingram SMBA program helps us to select and support the right technologies for our clients. The same robust products that the enterprise clients use, but for an affordable small business budget. Once a year Ingram hosts a North America wide conference event. Last year this event was in Charlotte, and it was a great opportunity for us to meet a number of manufacturers, who use use Ingram Micro as their distribution channel.

The result of my visit to this event was that we started a relationship with Meraki Wireless Networks, a manufacturer of innovative wireless solutions. As a direct result of this event we have acquired $25,000 of net new sales by selling a Meraki wireless solution to a college in central Alberta and we will also be providing wireless services for an event in May in the Calgary Convention Centre. This shows that an investment in building relationship with vendor partners and the distribution channel can definitely pay off!

In our meetings in the Buffalo location of Ingram we had tour of the impressive Solution Centre and also had an opportunity to educate vendors HP, Cisco and AVG about dealing with the SMB Channel. I am already looking forward to attending the SMBA conference at the end of August this year in Orlando! Thanks to al the folks at Ingram to facilitate the SMBA council members and give us the opportunity to provide feedback. Listening to determine how they can help us better is a great first step, to act and implement improvements will be the next step.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Uncategorized Alberta, Bulletproof InfoTech, Calgary, computer help, Ingram Micro, Red Deer, Small Business Technology

It is amazing how many small professional services companies in Calgary and Red Deer are finally catching on to the “Paperless Office”. The irony is that since the invention of the term, “Paperless Office”, the paper industry has sold more paper then ever! Going paperless is not a technology it’s a mindset!

In the last couple of months, we have had discussions with a number of professional services firms about the benefits of electronic client records. In this blog we will discuss the benefits of going paperless for a Legal Practice.

The Calgary Courthouse is finally starting to book trials in an electronic way. Think about it, how to align the calendars of judges, lawyers, accused, witnesses and so on is not a trivial task. In a recent visit to a local legal firm I was baffelled to learn that one of the partners did not have a computer in his room. I am not sure about you, but that is not the guy representing me! A legal firm can save a tremendous amount of money by giving the lawyers the ability to have electronic access to their client’s information while in the courtroom. In this scenario it is imperative that the information can be accessed in a safe and secure manner.

At Bulletproof InfoTech we utilize our good friends at Scorpion Software, who have created a product called AuthAnvil to ensure secure remote access on a small business budget. A law firm should also considering investing in a speech to text solution, like Dragon Naturally Speaking for the legal industry, which will drastically cut down on the time it takes to transcribe a live or recorded conversation. The legal profession is finally coming to the realization that Information Technology can actually be an asset instead of a cost to their business model.

In my opinion law firms should partner with an IT Service provider who is aware of the applications that make billing and accounting easy like LexisNexis PC Law, or case management software like Abacus Law 2010 legal software, and then get help with implementing software for speech recognition, and other productivity enhancements like Exchange Server email and full integration with iPhones or BlackBerry devices.

If you run a professional services company and want to discuss the benefits of going paperless, please contact Bulletproof InfoTech, (403) 206-2233 or info@bulletproofit.ca for a free consultation.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Uncategorized Abacus Law, Alberta, Authanvil, Bulletproof InfoTech, Calgary, Dragon Naturally Speaking, Legal, Legal industry, Legal Infomation Technology, Legal profession, LexisNexis, Nuance, PC Law, Red Deer, Scorpion Software

When someone asked me a year and a half ago if I would consider becoming a Dell reseller, my response was not very favorable. “Are they not cutting us out as the middleman?”. A year ago we went through a merger, and the other party was a loyal Dell Partner, while we were a loyal partner of another (two letter) company, whose name shall remain anonymous.

One of the decisions we had to make moving forward, was to decide who was going to be our leading vendor? We created a list of pro’s an con’s of each vendor, and hands down Dell came out as the clear winner! A year after our merger, my opinion about Dell has changed 180 degrees. They really want your business, they are genuinely interested to help your business succeed and they don’t seem to have traded price for quality. We consistently have had quality issues with the other brand, and really lost valuable business relationships because of it!

As an added bonus, as a reseller you can actually make a margin selling their systems. Bulletproof InfoTech is an IT service provider for the Red Deer and Calgary area in Alberta. Our clients are businesses in the Exploration and Production (E&P) Oil & Gas area, Accounting and bookkeeping firms and other small to medium sized businesses. Fixed fee IT support allows our clients to predict their expenditure on IT and Dell Partner Direct helps us to deliver quality systems and services to our clients.

Yesterday night the team from DELL Partner Direct was in Calgary informing the partners about improvements to the product line and the Dell Direct program. It was a great event and helped me position these new offerings for our clients. It was particularly interesting to see and touch the new Latitude E6400 XFR a rugged laptop that is ready for filed duty. Way to go, keep up the good work, and it is great to have someone to talk to who knows what is going on versus an organization where the left arm does not know what the right arm is doing. Give Dell a chance to impress you.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Uncategorized Alberta, Bulletproof InfoTech, Calgary, Dell Computers, Dell Partner Direct, Latitude E6400, Red Deer

It is amazing how many small professional services companies in Calgary and Red Deer are finally catching on to the “Paperless Office”. The irony is that since the invention of the term, “Paperless Office”, the paper industry has sold more paper then ever! Going paperless is not a technology it’s a mindset!

In 2009, we have had discussions with a number of professional services firms about the benefits of electronic client records. In this blog we will discuss the benefits of going paperless for an Accounting Practice.

What are the benefits of going paperless for an accounting or book keeping organization? There are still companies who will collect all receipts, statements and invoices in a shoebox and once in a while “dump” the “administration” at their book keeping/accounting office. This means you need to have physical access to the information in the shoebox in order to maintain the books.

What if you could convert the documents in the box to bits and bytes in electronic documents? You can, by using a scanner and a document management program like Doc-It. You can link these digital files to the client information in programs like CaseWare to keep a complete record of your client information.

A Calgary based accountant’s firm, with a really creative approach, where a number of book keeping tasks are outsourced to India, needs to ensure all their client’s information is digitized using scanners. At the end of the day, the information is posted on a shared server and the India crew works over night to complete the book keeping tasks. An innovative idea that renders real results when you show your clients that their work was completed overnight! With the proper systems in place a reliable paperless solution is starting to take shape.

A system like this, can also easily being utilized for a company where a number (or all) employees (or contractors) work from the comfort of their own home! Let’s face it, our workforce is moving away from the centralized offices in the urban centers with long commutes to and from work. Generation Y wants to get the job done but have the freedom to choose when and where.

It is critical to ensure that reliable systems are used to store this information. It is equally important make sure to have a solid backup and disaster recovery plan in place just in case things don’t go as planned. PIPEDA the Personal Information Privacy Electronic Document Act needs to be taken into account, as you need to guarantee the privacy of your client’s financial information. We offer real Bulletproof solutions that will remove your worries about privacy and reliability.

If you run a professional services company who wants to discuss the benefits of going paperless, please contact Bulletproof InfoTech, (403) 206-2233 or info@bulletproofit.ca for a free consultation.

Going paperless does NOT mean not using any paper at all, it just means using less paper.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Uncategorized Accounting, Alberta, Book Keeping, Bulletproof InfoTech, Calgary, CaseWare, Doc-It, Red Deer, René Sloos

Bulletproof InfoTech, an Alberta based Microsoft Small Business Specialist and Gold Partner has been awarded Microsoft’s top small business honour during their annual awards gala in Toronto Thursday.

Alberta is back on Microsoft’s map for leading the way in innovation, client service and overall satisfaction in the small business community.

The Microsoft IMPACT awards are an annual event which showcases and recognizes the work and focus on client satisfaction, Microsoft Partners exhibit daily in their business communities and with their clients from coast to coast here in Canada. Over 26 awards ranging from those focused on complex software development solutions, technology solutions which empower business and companies who passion is serving those with efforts outside technology. This year’s award ceremony was held at Wayne Gretzky’s in downtown Toronto on Nov 12 and was attended by Microsoft employees, executives and partners from all across Canada.

“Our annual IMPACT Awards celebrate the most innovative technology partners who have shown superior service to customers and are real leaders in their respective fields,” said Corinne Sharp, National Director, Canadian Partner channel, Microsoft Canada Co. “As true IT heroes, technology partners like Bulletproof continue to raise the bar with customers by helping them maximize business performance.”

Alberta firm wins top honour

Bulletproof InfoTech was named “Microsoft Small Business Specialist of the Year in Canada” for their work with Sinneave Family Foundation (SFF). SFF Provides leadership and innovation in a family and science informed, lifespan approach to autism interventions, education and research. SFF had unique IT needs prior to their engagement with Bulletproof. As a non-profit agency during tough economic times they required an innovative technology solution which would increase efficiencies around the office, allow them to work securely from outside the office and especially work within their budget. Bulletproof provided SFF with a Microsoft based solution which met all their needs and kept their overall IT investment with their budget. Leveraging Windows Small Business Server 2008, SharePoint and Office 2007, SFF now has a technology solution which all them to focus on what is important to their organization the most, the families they serve.

SFF is now engaged in Bulletproof’s netSHIELD program, a fixed-cost and worry-free service many clients throughout Alberta use to kept their technology solutions in top shape enabling them to meet their business goals without worrying about information technology getting in the way.

“Bulletproof offered us a well-rounded IT solution, keeping us secure and allowing us to focus on what we do best. They offered us a solution that saved us thousands of dollars in licensing costs and their staff was very responsive to our needs and easy to work with. Their service techs are absolutely the best in the business!!!” stated members of the SFF team.

Read more on how Bulletproof helped Sinneave Family Foundation with all their Small Business computer and network support.

This is Bulletproof’s first Microsoft IMPACT award. Bulletproof was also named runner-up in the Microsoft overall Client Experience award category in 2009. In 2009, Bulletproof Networks (Red Deer) joined forces with CompuConsult (Calgary) to create Bulletproof InfoTech. Bulletproof works in our community, members of our team serve local service organizations, scout troops and volunteer with both the Red Deer and Calgary Chamber of Commerce. Bulletproof is an active leader with Heartland Tech Groups and the Calgary Entrepreneur Peer Group where they engage with businesses around the globe and right here at home with solving business challenges in today’s new world of business. Bulletproof has offices in Red Deer and Calgary.

If you would like to discuss this recognition with Bulletproof please contact Stuart Crawford, VP Business Development at 403.206.2233 or email stuart.crawford@bulletproofIT.ca.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Uncategorized Alberta, Bulletproof InfoTech, Calgary, Impact Awards, Jeff Anderson, Microsoft; Small Business Server; SBS; Dell; EqualLogic; iSCSI; SAN, Red Deer, Stuart R. Crawford

Hot off the wire, Bulletproof InfoTech announced as a finalist for this year’s Microsoft IMPACT awards.

What does this mean for those in need of a computer repair, IT service or computer consulting firm in Red Deer, Calgary and throughout Alberta?

Many small businesses right here in Alberta run computer networks which are built on Microsoft solutions at their core. Businesses use Microsoft Exchange, Windows Server, SharePoint, SQL Server and a wide range of technologies to run their business and to ensure they are productive. Whether it is Windows XP or Vista computers, Office 2007 or an accounting solution built on Microsoft Dynamics, having the right IT partner in your corner is a needed asset for a number of companies.

Your business must have a computer support firm you can trust. A firm who puts your business needs first and a firm who understands where you are today and where you need to get to. This is not a “nice to have” it is the cornerstone to business success. Information Technology systems can make your break your business. When you have the right system, your team is productive, staff are happy and revenues increase. When you make the wrong decision you will see an alarming increase in expenses, a revolving door of people and lost opportunities.

Bulletproof InfoTech has been recognized by Microsoft Canada this year for our work in the Small Business Community and for creating a great customer experience. Isn’t it your time you had a pleasurable customer experience with your technology support firm?

To learn more about the Microsoft IMPACT awards click here.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Uncategorized Alberta, Bulletproof InfoTech, Calgary, Impact Awards, IT Support, Microsoft Canada, Red Deer

Enter Online now at http://www.whataboutme.ca.

Business in Alberta want to maintain the Alberta Advantage in the global marketplace.  Bulletproof InfoTech and our sponsors have come together to reward two Alberta businesses with breakthrough Information Technology combined with leading small business consulting services to stimulate their business.

Many business owners have approached Bulletproof InfoTech over the past few months as the recession shows it’s ugly head here in the province of Alberta sharing the challenges with doing business in today’s new economy. However, many of us are committed to maintaining the Alberta Advantage in our business and demonstrating to those around us that Alberta is still a wonderful place to do business in Canada.

Small Business owners have shared frustrations around the major US banks getting hand out after hand out. The Big 3 getting bailed out and others with their hands out wanting more and more. What about the small business owner in Alberta? Who is helping them? Bulletproof InfoTech with offices in Red Deer and Calgary is doing our part to help the Alberta Small Business owner out.

The Small Business Technology Stimulus Package has been designed to assist a small business in each of Bulletproof’s core markets of Red Deer and Calgary. The successful candidates who apply online by clicking here will receive much needed computer hardware, software, stuff for play and training needed and also web marketing services to ensure and maintain the Alberta Advantage.

We are not doing this alone, many of Canada’s leading IT firms including DELL Canada, Microsoft, SonicWALL, Research in Motion, OperiTel Corporation, Scorpion Software, eKzact Solutions, Wi-Band Communications have come forward to help Bulletproof InfoTech help Alberta Small Business which contributions of services and product to help Alberta business.  Local Alberta businesses including Bridge the Gap Accounting, Symmetry Works and Progressive Management are also adding their small business offerings.

What exactly will the successful candidate receive?

•           DELL OptiPlex Business Computer System

•           DELL Laser Printer

•           SonicWALL Security Appliance

•           AuthAnvil Security Tokens

•           Blackberry Smartphone

•           Microsoft Zune MP3 Player

•           Web site review from eKzact Solutions

•           Free pass to Blackberry Training in the Fall

•           Internet Services by WiBand Communications

•           Business Stress Test from Progressive Management

•           Operational Accounting Review by Bridge the Gap Accounting

•           Personal Organizational Review by Symmetry Works

•           One year free netSHIELD Basic (up to 5 systems) from Bulletproof

Bulletproof will be accepting online applicants, click here to get started.  Starting May 14, 2009 and running through July 17, 2009 all businesses in Alberta have an opportunity to win approximately $5000.00 in new IT systems for their business. Each business will be judged by a team of judges and the successful candidates will be awarded in late July 2009.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Uncategorized Alberta, Bailout package, Bulletproof InfoTech, Calgary, Red Deer, Small Business Technology, Stimulus Package, whataboutme.ca

Are you the owner of a Blackberry Smartphone? Are you struggling with some of the basic functions of the Blackberry?

Would you love to learn great tips and tricks that will save you money when roaming, cut down on your long distance and keep your blackberry use within your budget?

Here is an opportunity for you to sharpen your blackberry skills or become a master, attend this special seminar with Bulletproof InfoTech and Swirl Solutions to learn some of best tips and tricks for your blackberry.

On June 23 in Calgary and June 24 in Red Deer, Bulletproof InfoTech will be holding a Blackberry 101 course with Canada’s leading Blackberry Training Specialist Darci LaRoque from Vancouver’s Swirl Solutions. Darci has helped thousands of Blackberry users across the world free themselves of the challenges associated with use their Smartphone.

Sessions will run from 9 – 11:30 and 1:30 to 4 in each location. Book soon, these course do fill up quickly.

Learn how to:

• save money by understanding how your voice and data plans work
• make free calls within Canada when travelling
• optimize email to reduce data usage
• empower your users with 40+ “Hot keys”
• use one key to access your voicemail
• use one key to go to the top or bottom of the message
• book a calendar appointment while talking on the phone
• take notes while on a call

Your investment in this special training is $199.00.

Register online today at http://bulletproofit.ca/bulletproof-blackberry-training/

About the Instructor:

Darci LaRocque of Swirl Solutions is a BlackBerry certified (BCSS) facilitator who is an acknowledged expert in BlackBerry and E-mail use, deployment and administration. Her programs deliver an optimal mix of content, technology, and skilled instructors - enabling students to quickly apply their new skills. For information about Darci LaRocque and/or Swirl Solutions visit, www.swirlsolutions.com

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Uncategorized BlackBerry, Bulletproof InfoTech, Calgary, Red Deer, Swirl

Wow what a week!

Last week has been a busy and an interesting one, both on the personal as well as on the business side. On Tuesday night Ellen and I had the opportunity to go to a concert of one of my favourite artists, Diana Krall. It was a wonderful concert complete with a symphonic orchestra, which really provides something extra to all that jazz! One of the things I learned that is that no matter how famous you are, you also have your own heroes to look up to. During the performance Diane referred to her hero Oscar Peterson, and she assured us that she could not play a composition of Oscar as well as he could. Even when you are as talented as Diana there is always someone to look up to! This realization begs the question: who does the most powerful man in the world, Barak Obama, look up to? Or who is the idol of Bill Gates…

Diane’s concert was wonderful but way too short! It started shortly after 8 pm, and was finished before 9:45… Next time I will certainly wonder what the value is, or if it is better to just buy the CD, which you can play over and over again.

On Saturday morning we took our Tuscany Scout troop to “Law Day”. We visited the new Calgary Court House and had a demonstration of a mock trial, a citizenship ceremony and a hands experience in the holding cells. It was great to learn about the provincial and federal legal systems in Alberta and Canada. Now we are able to distinguish a provincial and a federal judge by the color of their robes. In the afternoon I had the pleasure to attend the Chinook Scouting award ceremony, where I was awarded a medal for good service, for my almost eight years of being a volunteer leader. A big thank you to Elka Schrijver for the awesome recommendation letter!

The guest speaker, an official of the Calgary Police force, shared some astounding numbers about how many successful people have a scouting background. Did you know that more than 70% of all astronauts have been involved in the Scouting program? It takes a community to raise our kids, please think about that next time you are asked to buy some Girl Guide cookies or Scouting popcorn. This way you get an opportunity to contribute to the success of the next generation!

On Saturday night we went with the entire family to the Calgary Stampede Coral to see a performance of the world famous Harlem Globe Trotters! These guys are magicians with basketballs and put on a real show. They also understand the art of commerce and got my family enticed for a $30 special edition Spaulding Harlem Globe Trotters Basketball, which was signed by one of the players! I am not sure of the value of the regular basketball, but that’s got to be less than thirty bucks! Anyway, the boys were playing outside this morning using the neighbour’s basketball hoop. That’s gotta be worth something!

Today is Sunday, and I am waiting with my business partner Jeff Anderson at the Calgary Airport to travel to Dallas in Texas. We are attending the HTG Summit for the first time after we merged our individual companies per February 2009 and partnered with our HTG facilitator Stuart Crawford. Although we are currently navigating some challenges, I believe that we are on the right track to become very successful in the Red Deer and Calgary small business information technology scene. Based on our pro-active approach, it will just be a matter of time before small business owners will understand that it is key, to avoid down time caused by a malfunctioning computer network.

In the next few days I will write more about our experience during the HTG Summit in Dallas.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Uncategorized Calgary, Jeff Anderson, small business, Stuart R. Crawford

In the fall of 2006 during the SMB Nation conference in Seattle, I became aware of a telephone system that used a Microsoft Windows server as the central switch unit. I was immediately sold on the merritts of the system, as it offered very tight integration with the IT environment. In the spring of 2007 I attended a week long course at Vonexus (now called Interactive Intelligence) in Minneapolis and we bought a demo unit for our own internal use. The system was quite pricey, but the marketing manager had assured me that the small business version was only going to be a matter of time. It was a quite an amazing system but there were also a few flaws, we had a lot of echo problems connecting through our analog lines and we were never really able to get SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) to work with our SIP provider. The small business version never came (note to self, don’t trust the marketing manager) and quite recently we dismantled our internal system. The experience we gained using network connected phones was priceless.

When Microsoft launched Response Point in the fall of 2007 I was excited, finally a network based phone system targeted for 5 to 50 phones! Right smack in the middle of our typical client demographics. As I started to unravel the features of the system I was quite disappointed, beside the sexy voice recognition features  there was a lot that the system could not do. There was a real lack of integration with Microsoft Small Business Server, no remote phone support, no branch office support etc. etc.

In the mean time Microsoft is at Response Point Service Pack 2, and a lot of functionality has been added to the system. More features will be added in the July time frame, so the system keeps on getting better all the time. The good thing is that we just have to apply a service pack and the new functionality magically appears without the need to spend additional money on hardware or software! To make a long story short, we have implemented Response Point since the beginning of this year in both the Red Deer and Calgary locations of Bulletproof InfoTech and we have been really happy with the results. You have to know that we are big fans of eating our own dog food, or as our marketing guru Stuart Crawford says “Drinking our own champagne”.

Today we sold our first AastraLink Response Point System to a client! It was the simplicity of operation and the ability to have a phone at the home of the owner that quite easily sold the system. In the last 3 years I have been preaching that computer guys will be phone guys and it’s great to see this vision come true. So what will happen to the phone guys? Well I have seen them move in the opposite direction, they will become computer guys, or at least infrastructure guys. I have seen on multiple larger sites where the telephone guys also provide the switches and even the firewall. By the way, we have no intent to setup large and complex telephone systems this will remain the realm of the phone guys for a long time. We just want to have an offering that jives with our small business clientele. Microsoft Response Point is the right for for these clients.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Uncategorized AastraLink, Alberta, Bulletproof InfoTech, Calgary, Microsoft, Red Deer, Response Point, Stuart R. Crawford