Business Products and Services Overview

Introduction

StarLAN Consulting Services can assist you with the growth and evolution of your business information systems. We provide information management products and services geared towards the budgets and information management requirements of small to moderate-sized businesses. "That's nice," you might say, "but how is this relevant to me and my business?" The answer is that the most creative and entrepreneurial segment of America's business community - the small to medium sized business owner - is either under-served or almost completely ignored by the majority of information systems consultants and services providers. Hardware and software vendors have their own interests at heart, and those are not necessarily yours. Storefront computer shops more often than not lack the business background, experience and expertise to fully meet your business information system needs.

Big consulting firms will charge you big bucks for their services - services that are often neither scaled to your operations nor appropriate for your business methods. Unlike StarLAN CS, many consulting firms aren't interested in putting you in control of your own information systems.  As the graphic to the right suggests, there's money to be made not necessarily by prolonging the problem, but by introducing too much needless complexity to your situation. This, friends, is unethical.  Nevertheless, cost-effective and intelligent use of business automation and information management tools is crucial to the survival of your business.

Who's in Charge Here?

Who's really in charge of your information assets?  Is it your local IT guy?  The Geek Squad? Is it anybody? Sooner or later, this is one critical question that you're going to have to address. Ideally, YOU should be in charge of your business' information assets. But you shouldn't have to disappear down the techno rabbit hole in order to accomplish this. Any decent consultant tries to leave his clients in full command and control of their information systems. Not all of us operate that way, though. A smart and ethical consulting firm endeavors to place as much command and control into their clients' hands as the client is willing to take on. Fortunately for all concerned, all but the most complicated systems can be low-maintenance, low total cost of ownership affairs provided they are properly designed and implemented in the first place.

The Prosperity Trap

Business ventures that grow and prosper can sometimes fall victim to their own success. The transition from a relatively modest operation to one with multiple employees and even multiple locations can put an enormous strain on a company’s resources, human and otherwise. Small business operations often begin with informal, peer-to-peer networks consisting of two or three workstations. File sharing is often a casual affair, with users often sharing one anothers' C drives (this is terribly insecure) in order to get to common items of information. What began as a collection of Excel spreadsheets now consists of separate and specialized accounting, calendaring and other business management packages. At some point, the loosely organized network that supported the business for so long is no longer able to support the demands of new business management software packages. Disorganization, multiple out-of-synch versions of documents and files, and lack of security of proprietary and confidential business information are all-too-common outcomes. Many small business operators seldom if ever back up their data, much less the full operating system image of critical workstations and servers. This is a recipe for disaster. And it can sneak up on you.

Getting It Right the First Time

Your company’s information management systems must be flexible and capable enough grow to accommodate the demands of an expanding business. A correct decision at a critical juncture can enable your company to leverage its existing assets and grow with minimal risk and cost. But getting crucial details wrong during this growth process can pose enormous – and in some cases, insurmountable – difficulties for all concerned. Sometimes a single incorrect but key decision with respect to information system architecture or even policy can plant the seeds for costly re-building down the line.

As your business' need for timely and accurate business information grows, so also does the need for the safety and security of your business-critical data. Computer gear is a commodity - cheap and readily available. Your business-critical information is most certainly not.

Business-Critical Issues

Here are just some of the critical issues that your business must sooner or later address:

• What are the really smart choices when it comes to building your information management resources?
• What's the real Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of your system choices? 
• How will all of your gear and your software operate as a complete system?
• Is your network operating efficiently?
• Will your system scale up to meet the demands of your business as it expands?
• How are you managing the safety and security of your data?
• Are your employees aware of security issues and practices?
• Do you have a set of policies and procedures in place that would allow you to recover from a natural disaster or other type of catastrophic loss?
• Are your business information assets safe from hackers, viruses and intrusion attacks?

These are just a few of the issues that small to medium sized business operations share with their enterprise-level counterparts. StarLAN Consulting Services prospers by bringing over 25 years of experience to bear on your business issues and at a price that you can afford. Read on for an overview of our products and services.

StarLAN Consulting Services is a certified partner and reseller for a wide variety of high-performance, low total cost of ownership solutions from companies such as Microsoft, SonicWALL, Acronis, Shuttle Computer, NETGEAR ProSafe products,  AVG Professional Anti-Virus, Citrix Metaframe and 3AM Labs