Ross & Ross International

Microsoft has significantly changed the Windows 8 and Office user interface. Your employees are going to have to re-learn how to use Office Applications after you upgrade your PCs and Laptops.  Here are a few key tips to help evaluate this upgrade for your Small Business.

Small Business “Windows 8″ Planning Tips:

1. Read the Walt Mossberg article (see link below) on Windows 8 before you spend any money
2. Increase (or establish) a budget for employee Office Software training
3. Line-up extra help for your staff, including: phone and one-to-one coaching
4. Make sure your existing software will work with Windows 8
5. Identify and Implement any business process changes
6. Re-write any office manuals
7. Confirm who in IT Support actually knows anything about Windows 8. It’s new to everyone….
8. Check that all your existing PC & Laptop accessories will work
9. Budget lots of extra money to deal with the unknown
10. You may want to wait for the rest of the industry to come up to speed before you invest in this upgrade.

The bottom-line is that your Small Business Staff & Information Technology Resource “Productivity will likely go down” and your “PC Costs will go up” by implementing Windows 8 this year.

Hope these tips help….

Note: It’s important for a Small Business Owner to read the Mossberg review below before you upgrade or buy a new Windows PC.

“Microsoft is giving Windows its most radical overhaul since 1995 and even its most devoted users won’t recognize the venerable computer operating system in this new incarnation, called Windows 8, when it appears Oct. 26.”  Walt Mossberg

Windows 8 Review by Walt Mossberg – AllThingsD

Note: Business Man in Photo Image courtesy of imagerymajestic / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It’s easier than ever to go green and recycle your home, home office and small business office technology.  It’s good for your business (more and more customers like to see their suppliers recycle) and it’s good for the environment.  Outdated technology doesn’t have to end up in a landfill!

This past years, we spent dozens of hours researching all the different companies that can help us recycle.    The following is a list of the leading organizations that we found that can help you with recycling or donating technology, consumer electronics, used PCs, Laptops, Notebooks, Desktops, CDs, Printers, iPods, Macs and other computer hardware.

1-800-Recycling Programs
Still can’t determine what to do with your old electronics? visit www.1800recycling.com for other resources.

Apple Recycling
Get paid for some of your old Apple products and recycle at the same time.

Best Buy Recycle
Recycle a product to Best Buy.

DELL Recycle Program
Return PCs and Accessories to be recycled.

Epson Recycle Program
Return old Epson Printers and other products. You receive a pre-paid FedEx shipping label in the mail to return the product.

Hewlett-Packard Recycle Program
Donates used equipment to charities or recycles.
There is a small charge and you must ship the hardware to them.

IBM Recycle Program
Donates used equipment to charities or recycles.
There is a small charge which includes the cost of shipping the hardware to them.

Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition
Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition is a diverse non-profit organization engaged in research, advocacy and grassroots organizing to promote human health and environmental justice in response to the rapid growth of the high-tech industry. They have a list of San Francisco Bay Area Recycling Services.

Staples Office Products
Staples will help you recycle your old hardware,  ink and toner. Bring it to a local Store.

TechSoup
Provides help to nonprofits and schools in low-income areas.
The TechSoup web site provides a nationwide list of organizations that help non-profits.

Usedhandhelds.com
Recycle and sell your old Palm PDAs, Symbian PDAs, Pocket PCs, Handheld PCs and Accessories on this web site.

WirelessRecycling.com
ReCellular Inc. is the largest recycler and reseller of used wireless phones and accessories in the wireless industry. In 2004, over 3.0 million wireless handsets were collected, refurbished and resold or recycled by ReCellular throughout the world.

Worldwide Recycling Sites
This site lists worldwide recycling sites.

Tip: Before you Recycle or Donate a PC, make sure you completely remove all the data from the disc drives. Hiting the Delete Key does not erase your data from the PC.

Download “Darik’s Boot and Nuke” (Dban), a “FREE” Software Utility to clean your disc. The software is highly recommended by cnet.com Editors.
Click for the cnet Download Review and to Download the Software

Photo Credits: freedigitalphotos.net by  teerapun

All the best with your efforts.  Please comment with other recycling organizations  and recycling tips to help us and our readers.

Cloud based Remote Backup Services for a Small Business or Home Office

Over the last five years,  we moved more and more of our important information from paper storage to our PCs, Smartphones and to Cloud Applications.   When we completed Spring Cleaning this year, we actually eliminated “two 4-draw File Cabinets” with folders  instead of typically adding more of them.

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