Connect People, Information & Processes
With a SharePoint Starter Site
By Jane Cage, HTS COO

Everyone can agree there is not a business around that wouldn't benefit from better processes and shared information. SharePoint, a Microsoft product designed for networks running Windows Server, is a web-based application that enables anywhere-access for individuals or groups who are working together on projects. Team members can share files, calendars, contacts and secure information through a browser anywhere they have web access. Read below for answers to some of the basic questions surrounding this great application.

"How could YOU use SharePoint?"

Your small-business network may be protected by firewalls, intrusion detection and other state-of-the-art security technologies. And yet, all it takes is one person's carelessness, and suddenly it's as if you have no network security at all.

Let me give you an example. In March 2006, a major financial services firm with extensive network security disclosed that one of its portable computers was stolen. The laptop contained the Social Security numbers of nearly 200,000 people. How did it happen? An employee of the firm, dining in a restaurant with colleagues, had locked the laptop in the trunk of a SUV. During dinner, one of the employee's colleagues retrieved an item from the vehicle and forgot to re-lock it. As fate would have it, there was a rash of car thefts occurring in that particular area at that particular time, and the rest is history.

The moral of that story is clear: No matter how secure your network may be, it's only as secure as its weakest link. And people - meaning you and your employees - are often the weakest link. It's important to note that poor security puts your business, as well as your partners, at risk. As a result, many enterprises and organizations, such as credit-card companies, now specify and require minimum levels of security you must have in order to do business with them.

So what can you do? Here are nine ways to minimize the risks that people can pose to the security of your company's data:

"Don't be a stranger now." You've surely heard that expression, a most hospitable one. But for small business owners, a returning customer is essential to survival.

For the entrepreneur, it's important to understand how to build a base of customers who return to your business time and again. Here are seven ideas and strategies to consider:

1. Repeat customers cost less than new ones. Studies show that it's less expensive to bring existing customers back than to attract new ones. It makes sense, considering the expense of advertising, marketing, media and other tools necessary to lure new customers. Also, getting a new customer's attention can often be a matter of timing.

"Prospects will only listen to your pitch when they're ready to buy or make a change," says Ed Brennan, chief creative officer of Harrison Leifer DiMarco, a marketing and public relations firm. "That means you have to constantly be in the hunt to find those few that are ready to make a switch."

Read more steps

April 2008
In this issue

       ■  SharePoint Starter Site
       ■  The Weakest Link in
            Network Security
       ■  Get Repeat Customers
       ■  Microsoft Outlook:
           SharePoint Calendars
 

Work with
SharePoint calendars in Outlook 2007

Multiple calendars giving you multiple headaches?

Stop juggling back and forth and start seeing your calendars all together in Outlook 2007.

When you link your calendar from a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site to Outlook 2007, you can view and work with the SharePoint calendar right alongside your Outlook calendar. When you make changes in one calendar, the two calendars are synchronized automatically. You can overlay the calendars to make viewing your complete schedule even easier.

 Watch the demo to see how.