Accent would like to spotlight our client
KWB Wealth Managers

Click here to view KWB's video testimonial
 

Click Here to Become a Facebook Fan of Accent!

The lucky winner
of an
XBOX 360 ELITE
from our Windows 7
Lunch & Learn in Riverside!”

Dean Unger, SAWPA
 

Healthcare Reform
and the Impact on Your Business

If you want to learn how new healthcare reform laws could affect your business, then you may want to attend this upcoming Healthcare Summit at Cal State San Bernardino.

Click here for more details.

January 2010 is already gone. Can you believe it? If January is any indication of the rest of the year, things are going to be kind of crazy. We have been hustling like crazy to keep up with the requests for service and new technology implementations. I think my customers have decided to do business in spite of the economy. I hope we have made it through the worst of the storm.

This month we have something special in addition to the normal articles, tips, and spotlights. We are featuring an awesome client of ours, Kerry Bubb, the president of KWB Wealth Managers. KWB is a very professional firm that I am proud to work for. Take a look at the short video in the spotlight section on the left. If you are in need of financial management and investment services, please give Kerry a call.

We also hosted our first Lunch and Learn at our Riverside Branch office on the 22nd of January. It was a packed house. We presented Windows 7 and Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). BPOS is a great option to get the functionality of Exchange and SharePoint for just $10 per month…WOW. Dean Unger of the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority was the lucky winner of the XBOX 360 Elite. Congratulations Dean!

Marty

KWB is an independent wealth management firm that is fully focused on its clients. They focus on providing their clients with excellent service, up-to-date information, and education about their investment options. With thorough discussions of their financial goals, KWB is able to take a “big picture” approach to investment management and help their clients create a strategy for achieving their goals.

“Delivering proactive and personalized service has always been the primary goal of our entire KWB team. We want our clients to benefit from every aspect of their relationship with us – from the real person who answers the phone when you call to the state-of-the art technology that enables us to share updated and accurate information in a timely and courteous manner,” says KWB’s founder and president, Kerry Bubb.

KWB Wealth Managers’ services include:

KWB specializes in assisting serious investors overcome obstacles during their working years so they can better enjoy their retirement years.

For more information about KWB Wealth Managers Group, visit their website at www.kwbwealthmanagers.com, or give them a call at (909) 307-8220.

KWB Wealth Managers Group has been a client of Accent since 2007 - Thanks KWB!

Keeping your business running smoothly means having a network that’s stable and secure. But even minor oversights and errors can cause big problems; cybercriminals are becoming more sophisticated, and they’re increasingly targeting smaller businesses that aren’t as likely to have the security that a large enterprise would have.

Luckily, good security doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. There are a few relatively simple dos and don’ts you can follow to help ensure your security bases are covered. Here are our top five:

1. Don’t forget backups and recovery
You know you need to back up your business data, but in the long list of IT priorities, it sometimes ends up lower down the list than it should be. And beyond the physical act of performing backups, your business should have a comprehensive disaster recovery plan. It should include strategies for detecting and diagnosing problems, and the actions needed to repair the problem and get your system up and running as soon as possible, with little or no data loss.

2. Do install security updates and patches
According to a June 2008 survey by IT security firm Sophos, 81% of the corporate network endpoints they tested failed one or more basic security checks, including missing Microsoft® security patches, disabled client firewalls, or missing endpoint security software updates. And the results can be devastating. “Ultimately, machines that fail such a test represent 'low-hanging fruit' for cybercriminals and a real danger to their corporate networks," said Bill Emerick, vice president of product management for Network Access Control at Sophos. So don’t delay or skip those updates and patches — they’re an integral part of keeping your network secure.

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Some tech junkies tend to neglect etiquette in the office. E-mail is still one of the leading culprits, but newer arrivals like BlackBerrys and wireless earpieces are causing their share of social snafus. "Technology should not be an opportunity to multitask conversations," says technology etiquette expert Laurie Puhn, president of Laurie Puhn Communications . "Anytime you're [doing that], it is rude and unacceptable."

The ability to instantly send and receive e-mails and messages on your BlackBerry, PDA or smartphone requires etiquette attention. Put that BlackBerry away during meetings to let others know you're giving your full attention to the proceedings. Cell phone related violations are a major source of complaints, whether it's ringers going off at inappropriate times, loud speaking voices or the inadvertent sharing of personal information with anyone in the vicinity. Just because your Bluetooth headset is unobtrusive doesn't mean you can interrupt someone you're speaking with to take a call. It's also polite to pull out your iPod headphones (both of them) when you're talking to a colleague.

Make a good impression by being more aware of your tech habits. The old standards of turning off your cell ringer and using proper sentences and salutations in e-mails still apply. Finally, don't hesitate to respectfully bring attention to others' tech etiquette violations. "Rudeness is on the rise because we're not realizing these behaviors are rude," says Puhn, bestselling author of Entrepreneurs can set an example with their own behavior and by discussing etiquette policies with their employees.