MozyPro online backup is a life saver
June 9, 2008
The non-profit I work for uses MozyPro to backup all our machines.
It works great for us. We only backup about 35 gigs, but after the first backup the subsequent backups happen quickly. (I usually don’t see it happen anymore as it happens while I’m sleeping.)
It runs $0.50 per gigabyte, per month. Cheap compared to many of the services with comparable interfaces and features. They have server editions that run the same plus $7 per month per server. It works for USB attached storage as well, but I’m not sure about NAS devices.
It has an easy administrative interface, and sends weekly email reports detailing each machines last backup time, space used and space allotted. For the most part it’s ‘set it, and forget it.’
My favorite part is I can right click in any directory and choose to “Restore Files in Folder” and it gives me all the files that have been backed up from that directory. I double click the file I want and it downloads it from our Mozy storage back to my pc instantly. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve deleted a file and had to restore it months later.
If you have any questions about it feel free to comment below. Their site should answer most of your questions. They usually run a promotion every month for 10% off by typing the month’s name in the coupon code box. (i.e. “JUNE”) Also, if you sign up for a year or biennial subscription they give you from one to three months free.
Research Post: Homeshoring
September 26, 2007
I only hit snooze once, then I make myself get out of bed and start the day. The clock says 5:30, but it feels more like 3:30. Guess I should have gone to bed earlier. After doing the necessaries I find clean running clothes and hit the pavement. Forty-five minutes later I’m back in to do some core exercise and stretching. Then I start the coffee and hit the shower. By seven I’ve got breakfast in the bowls and vitamins on the table. Fifteen minutes later the kids are all up and trying to pull themselves up to the table and making sounds similar to a Lawnboy failing to start.
After getting the boys off to school the youngest and I make our way to the office. Around 9:00 I settle into my office chair and begin using my email machete. Just under the garden window in my basement sits my desk. Ten feet over sits my daughter’s pink and purple kitchen set, along with a good assortment of movies and other toys. My dog likes to lie just on the other side of my desk so she can keep an eye on both of us while laying prone and napping. I’m one of 15 million estimated telecommuters. (CICHOWSKI)
My commute consists of going from my kitchen down to the basement. My coworkers contact me through phone, email, instant messaging, and video messaging. While I do enjoy lots of perks, it does take discipline and consistent scheduling of tasks. My company also gains some great benefits, but with these benefits comes some special considerations and planning.
Corporations are looking to telecommuting, or homeshoring, mostly as an alternative to offshoring customer service centers and to keep cost down when compared to brick and mortar phone service centers. Costs are lowered by not having to build a building to house the workers. Heating, cooling, lighting, furnishing, and maintaining that same space is gone as well. With many companies they are able to hire part time workers to fill their positions and then adjust staffing on the fly as the work load increases or decreases. Most workers are willing to follow this flexible work patterns and changing schedules because they are generally more content. This leads to lower turnover among the telecommuters and thus lowers cost of training for the employers. (Simonds)
Employees who telecommute also like the lower costs. With rising gas prices, commuting to work creates an increasing cost to working outside of the home that exceeds standard of living increases. Flexible schedules allow those who are involved with family to schedule around those school and extracurricular events. These workers are more content, as mentioned earlier, also because they are able to work in their preferred environment as opposed to a cubical or small office. (Bailor) Who needs casual Friday when many work in pajamas, and even those that don’t still work in casual comfortable clothes?
There are some special requirements to support this emerging workforce that traditional in office workers don’t need. Technologically speaking the company must have some preliminary policies and guidelines in place. They must consider the employee’s role in the company. Will they be on the phone mostly, or more technology development, or employee support? Forms of communication must be standardized based on specific scenarios regarding flow, origin, and destination of the communication. Policies must be developed and in place to decide what the company will pay for and maintain, and what the employee is expected to pay for and maintain. Examples include broadband, extra phone lines, computers, types of phones, modems and routers, and security. Based on these policies other standardizations must be made regarding what software and hardware will be used, how often it will be maintained and replaced, and if other activities will be allowed related to the employee’s personal life. (Simonds)
Depending on how much oversight you have for your employees there must be varying degrees of software used to monitor their activities and current working status. Also, software used for training and evaluating should be in place to help each employee set goals and improve. Hardware may be involved in the monitoring needs as well, especially for customer service work when using voice communications. Hardware for securing the data transmissions must be used to protect both the company and the customers. Firewalls or VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) are the most common solution to security. (Gaudin)These are often determined by company policy related to who is responsible for purchasing and maintaining the hardware and software. Along with the computer needs phone requirements must be established. Whether using traditional POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) or VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone systems must be able to support employees from several locations, transferring and routing calls to terminals outside the main office. (If there even is a main office.) (Bailor)
Educating employees through both online training and face to face training seems to be the best business practice among the larger firms supporting remote workers. Some requiring on-campus training as often as every three months, others offer strictly online training or support. (Bailor)
This new workforce must possess certain skills that aren’t always needed in the traditional work place. Most importantly, these employees must be have a foundation of technical knowledge and be able to do troubleshooting independently before requiring assistance from the help desk. These workers must also be able to separate themselves physically and mentally from the sirens of home life. (Bailor) Distractions are a plenty when at home, and those who cannot remove themselves will struggle in the work from home position. Often these two main skills are held by the work-from-home-force because employers are taping a college educated group that is willing to forego the higher pay for the flexibility of schedule, lack of commute, and non-required work attire. (Gaudin)
There are social benefits to this emerging work style as well. Employers are engaging a group that wants to work, but wants more to be at home or must be at home. This group’s reasons for wanting to work from home range from parents of school age children who need the extra income, to those who are physically disabled and find the traditional commute and office building to be a difficult environment to accomplish what they need to begin work each day. Working at home also has benefits for employees who only want to work part time, but couldn’t afford to pay for the commute and then only work two to three hours. All of these factors help contribute to employees being able to be more involved with family, and allow those parents who have not worked for a period of time to re-enter the workforce gradually, even building a resume to move on to a different job later on.
The environmental benefits are obvious, but must be stated. Fewer cars are traveling on the road, especially during rush hours. Lastly, large inefficient office buildings are not being heated and cooled to provide space for these employees.
Works Cited
Bailor, Coreen. “Home Bodies.” CRM Magazine January 2007: http://www.destinationcrm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=6543
CICHOWSKI, JOHN. “Time to end commute and work from home.” 17 9 2007. North Jersey. 22 9 2007 http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkzJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3MTk3MDU1JnlyaXJ5N2Y3MTdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5Mg==
Gaudin, Sharon. Telecommuting Takes Flight at JetBlue. 3 3 2006. 22 9 2007 http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/career/article.php/3589071
Simonds, Lauren. Remote Possibilities: Creating a No-Office Workforce. 5 10 2006. 22 9 2007 http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.co…le.php/3636261
