One of the certainties of modern life is that the world around us always seems to be changing in some facet. This is especially true of the telecom industry. The Ma Bell world of our parents is completely gone and now a myriad of choices sits before us as individuals and businesses. Yet with all this change the telephone and internet service are two things we rarely think about as long as they work.
Perhaps it is time to think about these things not only at home or work but at places we volunteer our time and energy. Most non-profits have some sort of phone service and internet access. They probably have had the service with the current provider for years. If it isn't broke then there is nothing to fix or is there? Even if your non-profit only has one provider available there may be some savings available to the organization. The traditional phone market is still one of the most over-regulated markets in the country. Plans available to the business change fairly frequently and if your non profit is in a competitive market or on the fringes of it there may be a lower rate available.
Talk to the Treasurer who is usually looking for ways to save a few dollars and volunteer to take a copy of the bill to call or go by the local office of your provider to see what is available as options. Review the invoice for plans and rates and highlight key things like long distance, services and internet speeds along with the corresponding costs.
When starting this conversation with the sales person make sure that you let them know up front that you are on a fact finding mission and need to report back to others about the best cost options along with any required contract commitments. Most sales folks will be happy to save your company money if it means that you extend your service even if it lowers monthly revenue for the provider. This seems counter intuitive but locking your group in for an additional time span is preferential to the non-profit changing providers.
The longer it has been since your organization last reviewed its account with its provider the more likely they are still paying too much for things like long distance or paying for unused or out of date services. In the area of internet service speeds the available speed is usually higher than it was just a 2 to 3 years ago. If the current plan is that old it is quite possible that an increase in speed is available for less money. This is the ultimate win-win for a non profit. You not only save money on cash outflow but likely increase productivity for that part time staff person or volunteer who is sitting there watching the hourglass go round while waiting for the page to load on a browser.
So volunteer to save your organization some money they can better use to help others. You will spend a couple hours but the improved lives of countless others will benefit all of us.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Friday, August 7, 2015
Internet and Telephone for the 21st Century, Goals and Part One of the Puzzle
The recent release by the FCC of rules regarding the change from copper to fiber is a small step in the right direction. American's need upgraded service since too many are still on an aging copper systems for phone and internet. If they have DSL it does not qualify as high speed. The real question is how do we as a nation accomplish this feat.
First we need to decide how long it should take to achieve this changeover. At the current pace it appears that the end of this century is not as likely as certain places freezing over first. What is a reasonable goal. The realistic goal of equipment manufacturing and manpower in a lean telecom industry would point toward a long time frame of 30 or 40 years. This is far to long. A more reasonable goal from an economic standpoint would be 10 to 15 years for 80 percent of Americans and another 10 for the last 20 percent.
The second part of the equation is how to accomplish this task.
The telecom industry is still mired in the first half of the 20th Century when the myriad of byzantine regulations, tax rules and deals were cut that made Ma Bell a government sanctioned monopoly.
The starting point for a discussion would be to change the whole way telecom companies book and depreciate the change from copper to fiber. Currently those rates can vary from just a few years to decades. What we need to do is change the way the phone companies can deduct these expenses for tax purposes and perhaps also for their financial statements.
The way to push the upgrade from copper to fiber through as quickly as possible is to make the cost of the change not as a new purchase of new assets but as an expense that can be deducted when the the new equipment is put into service. When the phone company turns a whole area from copper to fiber and gives universal service of fiber to the home or business then all monies expended for that part of the project can be expensed by the phone company.
The size of the area could be as little as a neighborhood or subdivision. A key point is that no area may be bypassed due to ease of installation or economic reasons. The companies can not be allowed to 'cherry pick' the upgrades. This means that central office equipment can be deducted only when all lines in the office are converted from copper to fiber whereas the equipment and lines in the field could be deducted once all households and businesses in that area are converted to fiber. This provides incentives for quickly changing whole regions while giving quick recovery as segments of fiber are brought on-line.
The benefits of whole towns and areas gaining access to real high speed lines in the 100mb range would be in economic development, content availability and sustainability of infrastructure.
The key take away point is the change of the conversion of copper to fiber to a maintenance expense rather than a capital investment.
First we need to decide how long it should take to achieve this changeover. At the current pace it appears that the end of this century is not as likely as certain places freezing over first. What is a reasonable goal. The realistic goal of equipment manufacturing and manpower in a lean telecom industry would point toward a long time frame of 30 or 40 years. This is far to long. A more reasonable goal from an economic standpoint would be 10 to 15 years for 80 percent of Americans and another 10 for the last 20 percent.
The second part of the equation is how to accomplish this task.
The telecom industry is still mired in the first half of the 20th Century when the myriad of byzantine regulations, tax rules and deals were cut that made Ma Bell a government sanctioned monopoly.
The starting point for a discussion would be to change the whole way telecom companies book and depreciate the change from copper to fiber. Currently those rates can vary from just a few years to decades. What we need to do is change the way the phone companies can deduct these expenses for tax purposes and perhaps also for their financial statements.
The way to push the upgrade from copper to fiber through as quickly as possible is to make the cost of the change not as a new purchase of new assets but as an expense that can be deducted when the the new equipment is put into service. When the phone company turns a whole area from copper to fiber and gives universal service of fiber to the home or business then all monies expended for that part of the project can be expensed by the phone company.
The size of the area could be as little as a neighborhood or subdivision. A key point is that no area may be bypassed due to ease of installation or economic reasons. The companies can not be allowed to 'cherry pick' the upgrades. This means that central office equipment can be deducted only when all lines in the office are converted from copper to fiber whereas the equipment and lines in the field could be deducted once all households and businesses in that area are converted to fiber. This provides incentives for quickly changing whole regions while giving quick recovery as segments of fiber are brought on-line.
The benefits of whole towns and areas gaining access to real high speed lines in the 100mb range would be in economic development, content availability and sustainability of infrastructure.
The key take away point is the change of the conversion of copper to fiber to a maintenance expense rather than a capital investment.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
False Tax Filings and the future of the current tax system
The rush to computerization of the filing of income tax returns has resulted in savings in cost and increases in accuracy for both the government and the taxpayer. The recent suspension by Turbo tax in on line filing has brought to light a weakness in the system of identifying and securing taxpayer identification and funds. The purpose of those filing false returns is to gain access to funds from the government through refunds and credits. It appears that the Federal Government is in better shape to deal with these false filings but the states are lagging behind. For either group it appears that it may be time to rethink the complexity of the current system which creates the burden of massive filings and opens the door to massive fraud. Perhaps with a much simpler system which did not require filings by individual taxpayer the opportunity for fraud could be substantially reduced to the point that it would pay for folks to try to commit the act. This could take the form of a national sales tax with the elimination of the income tax for individuals or a flat rate taken from paychecks or some new and innovative point of taxation this scourge could be stopped and the cost of collection lowered for both the government and the taxpayer
Monday, September 8, 2014
Are You a Celebrity with your Online Data?
The recent problem with salacious pictures of celebrities of celebrities appearing online shows that most folks are not stopping to think before putting something online. Americans as a rule general prefer convenience over privacy in the ways that computers interface with them. This may be fine for some things but not in an area where the content is sensitive.
Business users will shake their heads at the foolhardiness of putting such sensitive data online in a way so easily hacked by determined users. Naked pictures may be more tantalizing but just as serious is sensitive business information. The impact to your career and those of your co-workers can be devastating by leaving exposed information of value to competitors. When millions of dollars are at stake the morals of many in our world will disappear if they ever existed at all. Assuming that all of those who share the market place are ethical is just as naive as the hacked celebrities.
What areas should be considered as worth the time of reflection before proceeding to putting something down on the proverbial paper. Areas may include email, electronic notes left on your computer, company intranet, web pages, electronic discussion groups (internal and web based), and documents you compose and print from a computer. Each of these methods of communication and documentation come with varying levels of risk for both hacking and revelation of sensitive information.
In future posts each of the aforementioned areas will be discussed in more detail. For now the key thing is to stop for 3 seconds and ask the question:
Do I want to make a permanent record of this item?
Business users will shake their heads at the foolhardiness of putting such sensitive data online in a way so easily hacked by determined users. Naked pictures may be more tantalizing but just as serious is sensitive business information. The impact to your career and those of your co-workers can be devastating by leaving exposed information of value to competitors. When millions of dollars are at stake the morals of many in our world will disappear if they ever existed at all. Assuming that all of those who share the market place are ethical is just as naive as the hacked celebrities.
What areas should be considered as worth the time of reflection before proceeding to putting something down on the proverbial paper. Areas may include email, electronic notes left on your computer, company intranet, web pages, electronic discussion groups (internal and web based), and documents you compose and print from a computer. Each of these methods of communication and documentation come with varying levels of risk for both hacking and revelation of sensitive information.
In future posts each of the aforementioned areas will be discussed in more detail. For now the key thing is to stop for 3 seconds and ask the question:
Do I want to make a permanent record of this item?
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Do you still need MS Office?
Do you still need MS Office?
The question is so unthinkable to many in the business and home community that they laugh it off as a joke with out even thinking through the question. It is a serious consideration in today's tight economic climate and in particular for smaller businesses where economies of scale do not allow the luxury of enterprise licensing and budgets. MS is moving toward a subscription model that will push up the actual cost of owning MS Office. Even with the deals that make the cost around $99 a year for most small businesses. This will allow an employee to put the software on their laptop, home computer, work tablet and another two devices. The initial reaction of many is to want to split those 5 devices over multiple users but the license is written for that to be one user not multiple users. The normal 5 year life cycle of a laptop will add $500 to is cost verses the alternative.
The first alternative is a windows laptop and one of the open source office programs. This can result in a savings of $500 for the company but comes with the risk of not having enough functionality. If the needs are fairly minimal then this could be a good option. The drawback is that the end user will need retraining and time to adjust to the new interface. There may be additional problems if the file format is not 100% compatible.
The second alternative would be to switch to an Apple platform. This will negate some of the cost savings due to the increased cost of the Apple hardware, but the programs that come with the hardware are functional and allow individual cloud transfer between various devices along with a basic web based interface for use on Windows computers. The advantage of the Apple devices is increased resistance to infection from viruses and their quality of manufacture. The disadvantage besides cost is the lack of IT vendor familiarity with the software and equipment and the still evolving support from Apple for management of devices.
The key objectors will likely be the heavy Excel users in the Accounting Department. Excel is the lifeblood of many accountants and their ability to sign or not sign off on purchases can make the difference in adaptation of new items. If Apple or Open Source office suites wish to make greater penetration of the business market then they should concentrate on improving their spreadsheet software.
Even with all this it is still worth the consideration of alternatives to MS Office. Have your key user try it out and you may save some money.
The question is so unthinkable to many in the business and home community that they laugh it off as a joke with out even thinking through the question. It is a serious consideration in today's tight economic climate and in particular for smaller businesses where economies of scale do not allow the luxury of enterprise licensing and budgets. MS is moving toward a subscription model that will push up the actual cost of owning MS Office. Even with the deals that make the cost around $99 a year for most small businesses. This will allow an employee to put the software on their laptop, home computer, work tablet and another two devices. The initial reaction of many is to want to split those 5 devices over multiple users but the license is written for that to be one user not multiple users. The normal 5 year life cycle of a laptop will add $500 to is cost verses the alternative.
The first alternative is a windows laptop and one of the open source office programs. This can result in a savings of $500 for the company but comes with the risk of not having enough functionality. If the needs are fairly minimal then this could be a good option. The drawback is that the end user will need retraining and time to adjust to the new interface. There may be additional problems if the file format is not 100% compatible.
The second alternative would be to switch to an Apple platform. This will negate some of the cost savings due to the increased cost of the Apple hardware, but the programs that come with the hardware are functional and allow individual cloud transfer between various devices along with a basic web based interface for use on Windows computers. The advantage of the Apple devices is increased resistance to infection from viruses and their quality of manufacture. The disadvantage besides cost is the lack of IT vendor familiarity with the software and equipment and the still evolving support from Apple for management of devices.
The key objectors will likely be the heavy Excel users in the Accounting Department. Excel is the lifeblood of many accountants and their ability to sign or not sign off on purchases can make the difference in adaptation of new items. If Apple or Open Source office suites wish to make greater penetration of the business market then they should concentrate on improving their spreadsheet software.
Even with all this it is still worth the consideration of alternatives to MS Office. Have your key user try it out and you may save some money.
Friday, March 28, 2014
Microsoft Office for the iPad event is all about Azure
The recent flurry of news about Microsoft Office (MSO) being released for the iPad finally puts to rest several years of rumors and speculation which started by the now defunct paper The Daily ( @maryjofoley ). The event was in San Francisco was well run by MS CEO Satya Nadella who will bear watching to see how well he changes the Microsoft ecosystem. The focus of the event was not on the everyday use of MS Office but of the Enterprise ecosystem which Microsoft dominates in the deployment.
Nadella identified three constituent groups of Users, Developers and IT Pros. The users are not general users but those who with access to a license from their employer. This will likely be larger business entities which can justify the cost of the licensing agreement. Azure really was as much a part of the whole event as the MSO for iPad. Since you can only view the items without a Office 365 license the whole suite is only marginally useful for the small business and home user. They buy MSO when they purchase the computer and since they do not buy it again until they replace the device. They generally want to buy the software and not be obligated for a recurring annual expense especially if they keep the computer for 5 to 10 years. If you think that this is a stretch then remember how many XP machines with Office 2003 are still in use. The dissapointment that is MSO for the iPad is in stark contrast to the truly significant update yesterday - MSO Mobile for the iPhone.
The real news for the average user is that once both the OneDrive and MSO Mobile are installed it is possible to edit MSO documents on the iPhone. A useful tool for those on the go when dealing with documents that may be as diverse as the kid's homework, church and civic organizations or just the shopping list with no required Office 365 license. A loophole but a very useful one. The MSO mobile will install and load on an iPad.
The summary of this event is the fact that MSO for iPad is a non event for most home and small business users who are not pay the annual subscription fee. These users will find the MSO for iPhone a help. Corporate users will gain a whole level of productivity by being able to work cross device with tie ins from the Azure infrastructure. The real winners are the IT Pros who will have a new level of control and flexibility with Azure which I hope to post on in the future.
Nadella identified three constituent groups of Users, Developers and IT Pros. The users are not general users but those who with access to a license from their employer. This will likely be larger business entities which can justify the cost of the licensing agreement. Azure really was as much a part of the whole event as the MSO for iPad. Since you can only view the items without a Office 365 license the whole suite is only marginally useful for the small business and home user. They buy MSO when they purchase the computer and since they do not buy it again until they replace the device. They generally want to buy the software and not be obligated for a recurring annual expense especially if they keep the computer for 5 to 10 years. If you think that this is a stretch then remember how many XP machines with Office 2003 are still in use. The dissapointment that is MSO for the iPad is in stark contrast to the truly significant update yesterday - MSO Mobile for the iPhone.
The real news for the average user is that once both the OneDrive and MSO Mobile are installed it is possible to edit MSO documents on the iPhone. A useful tool for those on the go when dealing with documents that may be as diverse as the kid's homework, church and civic organizations or just the shopping list with no required Office 365 license. A loophole but a very useful one. The MSO mobile will install and load on an iPad.
The summary of this event is the fact that MSO for iPad is a non event for most home and small business users who are not pay the annual subscription fee. These users will find the MSO for iPhone a help. Corporate users will gain a whole level of productivity by being able to work cross device with tie ins from the Azure infrastructure. The real winners are the IT Pros who will have a new level of control and flexibility with Azure which I hope to post on in the future.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Change of Focus
This blog carries one post from my Model Train activities and will change to subjects that deal with other issues.
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