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Technology is an incredible tool. As such, many homes and businesses incorporate technology in their very fabric. Now, that’s great when technology works, but it’s terrible when it doesn’t. Many businesses these days have become completely dependent on computers and their accompanying systems. Small businesses are more susceptible to computer problems because they don’t have a dedicated staff like large enterprises do. As such, it is important to know what to look for in a technical support company.

Unfortunately for most people and businesses, they think about this kind of thing once the stuff hits the fan. Then they usually get desperate and choose anyone that seems like they can help. What you want to do is develop a relationship with a tech support company before you actually need them. This will help you choose someone who is reputable and delivers results.

Most small businesses can really be served by a technical generalist. This is someone who knows a lot about a lot. This is someone who can help your network if suddenly it comes down. This person should also be able to troubleshoot computer and server problems. But really, it all comes down to what types of problems you will encounter. For small business, this mostly involves computer problems resulting from viruses, malware, etc. Most users are their worst own enemy and will end up trashing their own systems. You may have the occasional network issue. Software application support may or may not be something you need to consider. The moral of the story here is to assess your potential support needs. This will go a long way to choosing a great match on technical support.

Okay, you’ve done an inventory. You have a general idea of what you may or may not need. Now it’s time to start talking to potential tech support companies. The goal is to select two potential companies that you can call on at any time to get help. Why two? Well, sometimes one will be so bogged down that turn around times are useless. Also, one of the companies may go out of business or leave town. When you call the companies, you will want to let them know that you are checking out potential tech support companies. You want to know what services they offer, what their prices are, and what their wait times are. Now, this initial conversation is as much about the information as it is the process. You want to get a feel for how you are handled as a person and a company. Tech support companies are notorious for being bad customer service outlets. This is paramount. If you are going to be dealing with someone when the stuff hits the fan, they need to be very good at customer service.

Now, price is also a big part of the equation. Some places will give a per incident price and then tack on fees if the incident goes over a certain time requirement. Others will have a contracted price that is flat with certain service level agreements. It’s important to weigh out the different price structures. If you need technical support a lot, then a flat fee would probably be most advantageous.

The last thing I want to talk about is quality of service. You want a company that will do whatever it takes to fix your problem. This means that they hire technicians who really care about solving the problem and treating customers right. If a technician ever talks down to you, I would hire a new company. A technician should be able to tell you what’s wrong in layman’s terms. If they speak over your head, ask them to explain it in terms you can understand. Any technician worth his salt should be willing and able to do this.

Remember, the secret to getting a great tech support company is finding one before you need it. Call around and talk to the folks. Note how they treat you and how they price their services. Dig in a little and see if they are patient with you. Trust me, a little time and work now will save you thousands of dollars later.

Paul has been writing informative articles like this for 6 years. He created a post on his tech blog that offers up a few suggestions for good wireless laser printers.

Credit repair software is one of the best ways to bring financial stability back on track. Now, individuals can easily use such a software to repair and increase their credit score without any professional assistance. Undoubtedly, a right software can benefit you a lot, but you need to know where you can find the best one for your credit repairs.

Getting an individuals financial stability back on track after a period of money hardships can mean taking advantage of several different financial products. This is especially true if a person has damaged their FICO score and is looking to get a loan in the near future. If this is the case then some work will have to be done to restore their financial files to a positive rating. Taking advantage of a top credit repair software program may be the answer to get things back on track. Here are some helpful tips for places to purchase these type of computer programs.

An office supply store is an excellent place to check when looking for this. These kind of stores typically carry all sorts of financial products in their inventory including programs that can be installed on computers. Check with the local yellow pages or newspaper ads in order to find the nearest office supply store.

A computer tech trade show will likely have vendors that sell all types of electronic and computer based programs. Most businesses sign up to attend these shows in order to create more awareness about what they sell. A person can check with the chamber of commerce of or a local community center to see when one will be in the area.

The world wide web is an outstanding source for finding anything. There are countless websites and internet based resources that can help a person find computer gadgets and programs. Good places to check are on web based marketplaces, financial business sites and lending sites.

Since a lot of people have suffered from financial hardship in recent years, it is likely that individuals have a relative, friend or coworker that has had to use this type of product. Talking to this group of people may lead someone to resources where a product of this sort can be bought. Relatives, friends and close co workers are usually happy to help out their loved ones in any way they can. It is worth it to approach these people and see what type of results are produced.

Finding places to purchase top credit repair software is a matter of getting connected with the right resources. One should get good results from office supply stores and computer tech trade shows. The internet is also another outstanding source to tap into when looking for products. Individuals may also find it worth it to speak with acquaintances such as relatives, friends and co workers.

The author of this article is associated with Credit Umbrella Inc. that has earned a reputable name for offering TurboScore software credit repair. Software provided by them is 100% legal.

If you have been on the sidelines in regards to investing in a training management software then this article is for you.

By now every organization, big or small, for profit or non-profit, should be tracking their people’s training and education investment.

It is not enough to send a tech to learn the new version of SQL from Microsoft, hopefully he passes on the first try, and then start migrating your own and your client database software to the new version.

Have you calculated the costs involved? do you keep track of the cost? what if the tech leave the next year? was it worth training him, did you get a decent return on your investment human capital?

If you are unsure about all those questions then you should be thinking about what a better system of tracking your employees training.

The simplest method would be an excel sheet.

Using Microsoft office or Google apps create an excel sheet with the following column: training description, employee, class cost, class time, days employee absent for training, employee hourly rate, exam/certification, compliance related, notes

This simple sheet is the bare minimum you should have to capture the cost, time, and any other detail to get a better view of the total investment you make into your workers.

Alternatively, you can get a training tracking software that will have a much better and secure tracking features, reports, and integrations with third party software like PeopleSoft and SAP.

The nice thing about these employee management softwares, is their more advance features.

My favorite is the tasks notifications and email notification feature that lets employees know if they are behind schedule in finishing their training, and of upcoming training if they want to get a head start. too many workers start their training and never finish. unfortunately this is costly for you since, what with the actual cost of the course and the fact that you have uncompliant and educationally behind workers. So keeping them motivated and informed with their progress will help the compliance rate of your staff.

It can also give you visibility into your workforce’s training performance, how well are they doing and how effective is the course that are taken. This will help you determine if you should continue with the course or change it with another that might be better suited or better designed for your organization and your staff.

Most of them come with a dashboard within learning management system ( LMS ) which is the central interface for the users and supervisors.

All this should be enough to convince you the importance of a training tracking software to help keep tabs of and manage your employees. You can either use a simple excel sheet or an advanced training management software with more than enough bells and whistles to satisfy your needs.

One last thing I would like to add is also the psychological impact on the employee himself. The more you keep tracking of the training, the more staff training will be important to your organization, the more important staff training is, the more the staff will feel better about their organization.

This positive feedback loop will increase moral and is worth every penny of the cost, time, and effort to manage your organization’s training expenditure.

I share practical tips and tricks to help you become a pro at elearning, eclasses and learning management systems. – Find out more at: http://www.lmslogin.org

Finding a Tech co-founder nowadays is like finding a sexy girl to date. They do hang out, but no one knows where. The demand and supply gap is huge and with many people willing to try their “Billion dollar App idea”, with a ‘give it a shot’ approach, the search for the right Tech Co-founder is likely to grow even more intense. I was part of the organizing team at TiEcon’s ‘Founder Finder’ event, and it wasn’t a pleasant experience there, The event was marked by an abysmal ratio of tech co-founders to the number of startups.

While the pain area is well-known and many people are trying to address this in their own way, I wanted to share a few insights based on my own experience on how startups can improve their preparedness, search outcome, and subsequent fitment with their newly discovered co-founders.

You love your idea. Would your co-founder love it too?

So you have a billion dollar idea, but so does everyone else. I take care of the business development activity for my startup Axiswebart.com, which provides web and app development services. I come across close to ten people every month who have billion dollar ideas. Many of these ideas do not see the light of the day or die in the heads of their founders.

You love your idea but what is the proof? What market research have you done? Are you expecting someone to join your idea and code a prototype for you so that you can test your market? Techies are not dumb after all; they have access to the same set of news/start-up ideas that you do. If they can work on their prototype and have 100% of the equity why should they join someone else at a minority stake? These are a few questions you must answer yourself before looking out for a co-founder.

Have you validated your assumptions?

With the size and magnitude of mobile users/internet users, you can create a $10b market for any business idea in excel sheet. Everyone using WhatsApp is your target market? It has 500 Million downloads as of today; the question is how many of them you can reach out to? Who has validated your assumptions besides you? Do you have a study to refer to? Have you even discussed your idea with someone and they found it exciting, or is it in stealth mode?

Where are the funds? Is your fund your personal saving? You will exhaust it in building your product only, then how are you planning to raise money? Of course, a prospective techie co-founder would need convincing answers before coming on board or committing something to you.

Are you clear about tech co-founder’s role?

Not all techies write code nor do they write the same code. I know it looks real stupid but, you need to know what you are searching for before you can search one. Which technology is suitable for your idea? You can do a web application in PHP, Java, Perl, Ruby on Rails or Python. A mobile app can be written using ten different languages.

At this stage, it would be great if you can engage with a mentor who can guide you in selecting the right technology. Your choice of a techie co-founder would depend on technology you choose to develop your application,

Who keeps the ownership?

Are you open to give a lead role to the techie in order to get the best prototype/product? Who takes the majority stake? All major companies which you take inspiration from, e.g., Facebook, Google, Twitter, Quora and WhatsApp were prototyped, designed, developed and led by techies in the initial stage of their development. Business people joined much later to take their growth beyond organic to make their business case.

Your credentials matter.

Why are you the best person to lead this idea? What are your credentials? Many people in India use IIT or IIM tags to woo potential techie? How much that helps is something to be seen. However, remember when starting up, your commitment is more important than your aptitude or ability to execute.

I can quote many instances where my clients who started work on their business ideas but despite having paid a small amount as advance, stopped responding. They simply gave up their initial idea for something better. If you are expecting your techie to work full time on your idea and you want them to continue with your job, it would not be likely be possible until you are able to pay a decent salary to him.

On the other hand, if you both are planning to work part time, even your rapid prototype will take six months to come in the shape. Majority of tech people work 60 hours in a week and are paid an amount beyond the reach of a startup. The only thing they like to do is to watch a movie or two or grab a beer. (They are the reason Shahrukh can make 40cr in a week, and Vijay Mallya is still not fully bankrupt!). Expecting them to work on the weekend? You need to give them some extraordinary inspiration/incentive for them do that.

Are you searching at the right place?

Having everything above in order, your chances of getting the right tech person in Banglore is ten times higher than finding them in Delhi.

What is the way forward?

Hire an agency that can develop your initial prototype, and if you can validate the idea, you are more likely to get someone excited to join you. There is hardly a chance that anyone who can steal your idea would develop it as his or her own.

Hire a full-time developer/intern: Another option is to hire someone full time, but you need a good backup fund to pay their salaries.

Learn to code: Well, nothing can beat that if you can! It will take longer than usual but will be an asset with you always. You will be better equipped to engage with tech people later on.

Share equity and partner with a start-up: Partner with another startup (like my own) that can take an equity position in yours and you both can work together to build your product.

Who is a Tech Co-founder (CTO)?

This should have been the starting paragraph. I have come across many people with good business idea but little understanding of technology. A working software application, for example, has many facets like UI, Backend, App architecture, database, storage server, etc. and you are extremely lucky if you can find one person who can do it all. A right CTO is a techno business person with great product development experience, one who should be able to write/debug codes when needed. However, in my opinion, that is not the role he/she should be hired for. His/her primary role is to take the product forward from the prototype stage and build a foundation for a te

If you’re seeking greener pastures, a career in software engineering is definitely worth exploring. According to trusted sources, a software engineer salary is an upwards of 100% compared to other careers and is the fastest growing as well. The exact engineer salary will vary of course depending on the location and company, but the average numbers across the globe rings in at $90,000.

Software engineering is a field of computer science that deals with the creation of software for computers and other electronic devices. A software engineer is not to be confused with a computer programmer as the two disciplines are considerably different. Basically, a software engineer designs the programs, while a computer programmer created the codes to make them work.

Locating great engineering talent is not easy in itself so tech companies are happy to pay top $$$ for those who excel at what they do and also to keep them happy. So if you’re curious to know which tech heavyweights pay their engineers the most, the salaries of these global organizations will definitely raise eyebrows.

1. Juniper Networks – engineers at Juniper Networks not Facebook or Google are the highest paid on this list. With a base salary of $160,000, Juniper is a network component maker and a close rival of Cisco Systems. The engineer salary offered by Juniper is significantly higher than the global world average for this discipline.

2. Google – a company that doesn’t allow its employees to go more than 150 feet for food and backed by a vibrant history, Google is the second highest payer on this list, and pays its engineers a base salary of $124,520. Not only are software engineers handsomely paid, they and other employees enjoy a plethora of perks including 3 gourmet meals a day, allowed to bring their trained canines to work, and spend 20% of their time on developing ideas of their own among others.

3. Twitter – Coming in at #3, Twitter – a social media heavyweight pays its software engineers a base salary $120,000 and a bucket load of perks. Twitter has garnered a reputation of being one of the top places to work with rooftop team meetings and free food.

4. Facebook – Another social media bigwig, a base engineer salary at Facebook is no less $119,000 plus some of the most fantastic perks in Silicon Valley. The biggest and unique benefit of working at Facebook is the ability to set your own hours without compromising on a hefty paycheck.

5. Apple – with an engineer salary ringing in at $118,000, working at the Apple headquarters in Cupertino CA is truly an experience of a lifetime. Although a hard company to work for, all employees at Apple are well compensated for their time including phenomenal benefits.