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The Bottom Line

Technology News That You Can Use


Special points of
interest:

End of Life for


Windows Server
2003

Pet Technology

Meet Your ASK


Team Member

Home Automation

ASK Referral
Program

In This Issue:
The Pebbles
Perspective

From The Desk


of Mike Maddox

Meet Andy
Langhart of ASK

End of Support
for Windows
Server 2003

Content Filtering
101

Wink Home
Automation

Bottom Line IT

January 2015

Issue 4

Client Spotlight - Gourmet International


We recently spoke with Mike Nitzsche
and Monica Nitzsche - Borys, who
together own and manage Gourmet
International located in Caledonia,
Michigan. Gourmet International is a
leading importer and distributor,
specializing in European
food products. They
are the exclusive
importer of many
quality lines such as
Dallmayr premium
coffee, Schwartau fruit spreads, Breitsamer
honey, Feldkamp breads, Alb Gold and
Bechtle noodles, and Hengstenberg
vegetables and condiments. The
assortment is sweetened with super
premium chocolate lines such as Reber,
Pernigotti, Chocolate Santander, Hachez,
and Butlers. Newest to their portfolio is a
brand called Beauty Sweeties that
promotes a healthier lifestyle. They also
work closely with domestic manufacturers
so that they can offer the best possible
selection to their customers.
Gourmet International currently services
all 50 states with a devoted staff in sales
and customer service. They have a strong
reputation for reliability, extremely
responsive customer service and a
professional staff with
decades of experience
from varied perspectives.
With over 60 employees
and a new state-of-the-art
computer system, they strive to
consistently exceed their clients
expectations. The staff and field sales reps
are always ready to help with product
selection, merchandising strategy and
marketing programs.

Technology plays an integral part in


serving our clients said
Nitzsche. Gourmet International has
heavily invested in hardware and
software that makes the ordering and
delivering of their products much more
efficient. It also helps to eliminate the
possibility of mistakes and ultimately
increases customer satisfaction.
Gourmet
International has
partnered with
ASK to provide
the Total Care
Support
Mike Nitzsche
Program. This
has allowed the IT person, employed
by the company, to be much more
strategic in how he delivers his
services. When asked about ASK,
Nitzsche said Total Care has
automated many of the daily tasks that
our IT person would spend time on,
allowing him to concentrate on finding
additional business efficiencies.
ASK also provides an automated and
monitored backup solution that keeps
data completely safe called ASK Backup
& Rapid Recovery. The solution allows
the data to be virtualized in the event
of a disaster. Nitzsche also said, We
know that ASK keeps our data safe and
that if something happened, we can be
back up and running very quickly...our
clients will appreciate this when orders
are shipped on time! ASK has allowed
us to focus on providing great products
and service to our customers and not
worrying about IT and computers said
Nitzsche.

For more information about any of the articles in this issue, please visit our website at www.JustASK.net

The Bottom

Welcome to

Some fun facts:


The coldest
temperature ever
recorded in the
world was -128
Celsius or 198.4
Fahrenheit, in
Vostok Station in
Antarctica in 1983!
The worlds tallest
snowman was built
in Bethel, Maine.
It took 5 months to
build and stands
almost 114 feet
tall.
According to the
Guinness Book of
World Records, on
January 28, 1887, a
15 inch wide, 8
inch thick
snowflake fell in
Fort Keogh,
Montana!
The all-time world
record for the
largest snowfall in
a single day was
set in the United
States on Dec. 4,
1913, when
Georgetown, CO
received a
staggering 63
inches of snow,
more than 5 feet.
People with
chionophobia are
simply said to have
a fear of snow.

Page 2

The Pebbles Perspective


Winter has come to us
once again, and it can be
really
hard for
my
friends
who dont have a warm
place to stay. Many of
my pet friends lose their
way in the cold and unforgiving wind and need
help from people to provide shelter and a good
meal. There is a great
way that you can support
your favorite charity this

time of year by shopping


at Smile.Amazon.com. By
going to
this site
you can
choose
the charity, like animal
shelters or rescues,
which will receive a percentage of the purchase
price as a donation from
you and Amazon. There
are many charities to
choose from. Any help
that you can provide for
my four-legged friends is

greatly appreciated. For


more information on this
go to AmazonSmile Information. Remember that
you can give all year long
too. Happy Holidays!

Thank you, Pebbles!

From The Desk of Mike Maddox, President of ASK


I want to take this
opportunity to wish
you a very Merry
Christmas and a Happy
Holiday season. I hope
that you have the
opportunity to truly
enjoy this wonderful
time of year and take
Mike Maddox time out to appreciate
the things that we all
have to be grateful for. Simply looking at
the daily news headlines makes me realize
just how truly blessed we are to live in a
country without rampant starvation,
disease, and war.
This is also a season when most of us
instinctively look back on the year past.
Our thoughts become full of both the
successful moments and the regretful
moments. I have always looked forward
to this season of reflection. I know of no
better time to objectively analyze our
businesses, our relationships and
ourselves. I dont really believe in New
Years resolutions but I do believe in
objective analysis and realistic goal setting
both for my business and my personal life.

What went well? What areas need


improvement? What improvements are
realistic and how can they be achieved and
measured? Its cathartic and it makes me
feel like I am starting the New Year fresh
and energized.
As I begin to look at 2015 and make goals
and plans, much of my focus is obviously
on business technology. I thought it might
be helpful to share what I see as the major
areas that business owners should be
aware of. So, for what its worth, here
are Mikes Technology Prognostications
for 2015.
1. Cybercrime will elevate to entirely new
levels. When interviewed about the latest
security threat, virus or malware, I often
make the claim that we aint seen nothing
yet. Not only are cybercriminals
becoming more organized but they are
becoming incredibly well funded. Look at
the recent Sony experience for example.
This stuff is now achieving levels of state
sponsored terrorism and the bad guys are
usually not targeting large companies, as in
the Sony case. They are targeting every
(Continued on page 3)

For more information about any of the articles in this issue, please visit our website at www.JustASK.net

Page 3

The Bottom Line


(Continued from page 2)

company. They are like marauding thieves in


your neighborhood that can move at the
speed of light. They not only hit the biggest
houses on the block, they hit every house.
The proliferation of BYOD (bring your own
device) and remote access, while creating
incredible productivity enhancements, has
also left us with big security concerns. To
continue my analogy, we all have open
windows and unlocked doors on our houses.
The good news is that the good guys are
pretty smart too. If you own a business and
you have not done so recently, goal number
one in 2015 should be to have a
comprehensive security audit done. At the
very least this will identify your risk level and
then decide how much risk mitigation makes
sense. An ounce of prevention is worth
more than a pound of cure.
2. The technology revolution will hit hyper
speed. The Cloud, Big Data Analytics, 3D
Printing, Smart Machines, and a bunch of
things we havent even heard of yetthe
point is that technology has the potential to
change your business completely, either
because you find ways to utilize it for
competitive advantage or because your

Meet the ASK Team


Andy Langhart is the
newest member of the
ASK team. Andy is
responsible for
responding to proactive monitoring alerts
for Total Care clients.
This includes backup alerts and many
others.
Andy is a native of Lansing, MI and
went to Williamston High School. He
attended MSU before joining ASK this
past October. Andy currently resides
in Grand Ledge and spends his time
watching MSU Basketball and playing
video games. When not indoors, you
will find him out on his Aprilia, which is
a European motorcycle.

competition does.
3. Partnership, true partnership will
determine business growth. Technology
is a business function that has become too
complex for any business to manage solely
with internal resources. The volume of
preventative measures alone requires
outside help. More than that though, a
true technology partner is one that
understands your business and truly cares
about your success. That has to be real,
not just a line on a PowerPoint. A true
technology partner can advise on risk
mitigation, where to invest, and (just as
important) where not to invest. As I have
said for years, technology on its own, has
no intrinsic value for business. Its value is
in its ability to enable your business to
gain competitive advantage, enhance
processes, and increase profits. Your
technology partner should be measured
on their ability to deliver on these areas.
On behalf our entire team at ASK I want
to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas
and a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Off the Mark by Mark Parisi

End of Support
for Server 2003
Now that the
deadline for the end
of support for
Windows XP has
passed, Microsoft
has announced the
end of support for
Windows Server
2003. We know
that this notice is a
bit early, but if you
are running this
operating system,
plans should be
made for replacing
your server (s). If
you would like help
planning your server
replacement project
or would like help in
budgeting for
replacement, please
contact one of our
Account Managers at
517-676-6633.

Referral Program
At ASK, we are a referral driven business.
If you are very satisfied with your service,
we would like to ask
you to refer someone
that you think would
benefit from the same
service.
If your referral signs
up for one of our Total Care support plans,
we will give you a
$500 Visa gift card!
Please email Lisa
Coontz at
lcoontz@justASK.net

For more information about any of the articles in this issue, please visit our website at www.JustASK.net

Page 4
Taking The Hassle Out Of Technology, So That You Can Run Your Business!
3125 Sovereign Drive
Suite 9B
Lansing, MI 48911
Phone: 517-676-6633
TF: 877-ASK-4-ASK
(877-275-4275)
E-mail: info@justask.net

www.justask.net
Content Filtering 101

On the internet, content filtering is the use


of a program to screen
and exclude from access
or availability of web
pages or email that is
deemed objectionable.
Content filtering usually
works by specifying
character strings that, if
matched, indicate undesirable content that is to
be screened out. Many
questionable sites contain harmful viruses or
malware that can be
devastating to your
computers or network.
Blocking access to these
sites will help to keep
your data safe and
should be a critical part
of your over all cybersecurity strategy.

For more information


regarding content filtering or to schedule a
consultation for your
business or organization, please contact Lisa
Coontz at 517-999-0214
or
lcoontz@justASK.net.

Our Mission Statement:


ASK is committed to taking the hassle out of technology allowing our
customers to more effectively run their businesses. Our value is in our
ability to combine superior technology with outstanding service. The
customers best interest will guide every decision that we make.

Home Automation: the future IS now!


Have you ever wondered while at the
store whether you were low on eggs?
Or how about whether the propane
tank on your grill is running low for
that next big barbecue? (wishful thinking as winter begins to set in, but oh
well.)
Theres an app for that! And a device
to talk to that app! The first foray
most of us
will make into
the internet
of things will
be some gadget like this. You dont need to go further than your local home improvement store to see what the coming
trends are. Weve had webprogrammable thermostats for a few
years now, but the market is starting
to explode with possibilities! Wi-Fi
controlled light bulbs arent science
fiction, nor is it out of the realm of

possibility to be able to turn an outlet


on and off from anywhere in the world
from your smart phone.
One of the most integrated consumer
brands that you can find is the Wink
system. There are more expensive options that require a professional installation that may not deliver the flexibility
of what Wink can deliver. It is also
community driven, so if you have an
idea and it gets enough backers, they
may produce it! My favorite is the propane level checker, which measures the
level by weight and sends the data to
your phone. I love good BBQ, which
means low and slow for a long time, and
have almost ruined dinner from running
out of propane on multiple occasions.
Written by:
Thomas Wendling
ASK Technical Consultant

Bottom Line IT
Hosted by Mike Maddox and Matthew Kolberg
on the Michigan Business Network
12:00 noon every Tuesday with replays at 6:00 PM, 12:00
AM, 6:00 AM. The show will be rebroadcast on Saturday
and Sunday at 9:00 AM, 2:00 PM, 7:00 PM and 12:00 AM
Stay informed (and have a little fun!) with news, practical
tips, and the answers to your most pressing technology
questions. The hosts break down the technobabble and get
right to the bottom line for you and your business.

You can listen to the show at:


www.michiganbusinessnetwork.com

For more information about any of the articles in this issue, please visit our website at www.JustASK.net

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