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The first business is a Car Dealer and when their Internet connection was down they could not;

• Register new cars through Revenue Online
• Use Banking Online
• Order spare parts
• Download Car Diagnostic Software
• Register Used Cars with Carzone.ie

These were just the issues that were pointed out to me. I’m sure they access otuer systems on the Internet.

The second business markets, maintains, rents and handles bookings in the Holiday and Leisure sector. When their Internet connection was down, they could not;

• Use Baking Online
• Manage Bookings via Online Booking System
• Upload/Register/Manage Property listings
• Manage their website via their content management system

In the case of both busiesses they were unable to operate without their Internet connections and in both cases they did not have a backup Internet connection.

If your business relies on the Internet to function, then you should have an alternative means of connecting to the Internet. Due to the nature of our business we have three seperate Internet connections;

• Fixed Line (ADSL) Broadband
• Fixed Wireless
• Mobile Broadband (Pay as you go broadband)

We can also access the Internet on our Android mobile phones.

So if you want to make sure that your business can continue to function, then contact your local Computer Services Provider for a simple, cost effective solution.

Also check out Do Local Online Business Directories Deliver Value for Money

It’s time for businesses to get technological

For anybody in the North Wexford area I would strongly recommend attending these After Hours events run by Gorey Chamber. They are well run and are a great opportunity to network with other people from the business community.

I was recently contacted by a sales person for a local business directory here in Gorey, GoreyBiz, who wanted me to pay €300 exVAT to be listed. The first point he made to me was, that the cost of the annual listing in the online business directory was comparable  to the cost of one ad in the local newspapers. While this is very true, it only represents value for money if your business can be found on the Internet. So the first thing I did was get on to Google and type in “computers gorey” to see how effective the directory was. Now I had expected GoreyBiz to show on at least the first page, but to my surprise GoreyBiz still had not appeared after 10 pages, at which point I gave up. I then typed in “accounts gorey” and GoreyBiz only showed up on page 4.

So I would not regard paying €300 ex VAT for a directory entry that cannot be found on the first 4 pages of Google, at best, as good value for money.

While I was doing these searches on Google I noticed that in all cases another online business directory, GoreyLinks, always came up in either 1st or 2nd place. When I checked the price, I discovered that a listing on GoreyLinks cost €40 ex VAT annually.

Now €40 exVAT for a listing on GoreyLinks, that always shows up in 1st or 2nd place on Google, IS great value for money.

The most important point is that, if you are going to spend money getting listed on an Online Business Directory, then check out their claims before you part with any money. If you are unsure, then contact your local Independent Computer Services provider.

Today things are very different. While walking the dog twice a day over this last cold spell, I very rarely saw children playing in the snow. It was only when I was talking to a collegue in Alpha Broadband (a fixed wireless broadband provider in North Wexford), that I realised what they were all up to.

He proceded to show me the traffic graphs and the traffic rose by over 60% for the period of the cold snap. There was also a corresponding drop in traffic today when the kids went back to school.  He did also note that based on his graphs most school children don’t get up until at least 12:00.

So as they say Prevention is Better than Cure. If your new PC comes with Anti Virus software, then make sure to enable it. If the computer has no Anti Virus software then the VERY FIRST THING you should do when you connect to the Internet is to install Anti Virus software.

Here is a site reviewing the most popular Anti Virus Programs. I personally use Nod32 from ESET but any of the top 10 reviewed would be fine.

Have a great and safe computing time over the holidays.

This seems like the equivalent of our Stay Safe Program in National Schools but applied to the Internet. Introducing age appropriate information about the potential dangers of the Internet through the school system and the Stay Safe program could only be a good thing.