The Fin Forum

Once the ideal for masculine build was that of the body builders who competed in the Mr. Universe pageants.

Gone are the days when the musclemen, the Mr. Universes and Mr. Americas were king! Now a slimmer more normal athletic look is IN. Six pack abs attract more attention than do big biceps!

To get that look as fast as they can, many are doing exercise for abs or are putting a 6 pack abs workout into their daily routines.

Sure, exercise is important, but you cannot get six pack abs or a flat stomach area through exercises alone. It takes more than that.

Achieving that six pack abs look demands a professionally laid-out plan, step by step. One method does not work for/fit all. You’ll need a plan laid out with your body type and your needs in mind. You are not likely to pull the information you will need out of popular publications and body-building tips.

For a short while you will need the services of an experienced trainer, one who has a record of success with many different people, body types and circumstances. Expensive you say? Well, you don’t really need to hire a professional trainer personally! There are ways to access their knowledge and experience without having to have them physically present.

All the professional guidance and advice you will need to know how to get a six pack fast is readily available. Just click on any of the links in this blog posting to get details.

If you want to have six pack abs for your self, here is what you need to do: 1. Settle yourself into the determination to do it; many others have, so can you. 2. Avail yourself of professional advice and planning. 3. With the professional advice in mind, formulate your own specific plan. 4. Follow your plan step-by-step. 5. Stick with it until you succeed!

– Cynthia Flowers

So, why is buying a MLM lead list a bad idea? Some may say it really works, and is worth spending money on a list of leads even if it just puts 1 or 2 people in your business opportunity. Really? Let’s say you buy a list with 100 people on it for $50.00. You call them all up and end up sponsoring 4. You rejoice because you sponsored 4, after all, it is a numbers game, right? Wrong!

This is one main reason why buying a lead list is bad. It treats people as a number and not as a person who is looking for a good opportunity that can change their lives. Secondly, it produces a pee-poor attitude in you, the recruiter, who cannot see them as anything else but a number that benefits you. Shame on you and your upline. They taught you wrong.

Third reason is this. You do not know anyone on that lead list. You are starting off in the same disposition as a spammer. What benefit does that give you? Wouldn’t you rather have a lead list of 100 people that you generated, instead of bought. Now you own that list, and everyone on that list has searched for you and given you that ownership. This means if 4 out of the 100 become part of my business, and the other 96 do not, I have not lost anything. I still have 96 people that have ascribed value to me and trust because I gave them something that benefited their lives. I can still have the potential of making money with them in other things I can offer aside from the MLM opportunity. Understand?

Many already have an opportunity they are involved with. I may end up just becoming an information coach to them helping them do their business better. A list is built when we build relationships with people over time and when we can become a trusted, valuable, reliable source of beneficial. A lead list is a relationship list of mutual benefit between parties. Friendships are established that last for many years to come. See, these people on my list are not numbers, they are people with hopes and dreams, aspirations, and families. They hurt, they laugh, they sing, they suffer and abound, just like us!

So, what type of list do you have?

Article written by Joseph Young, freelance writer, developing artist and MLM coach.

A industrial diesel generator, also known as an industrial generator, is the combination of an electrical generator and a disel engine to generate electric energy.  The most common uses for diesel generators are to power construciton sites or used as an auxiliary power supply for vehicles such as mobile homes or RVs.

Diesel generators range in all types of sizes starting from 8 kVA that can power homes to 2,000 kVA generators that are used for large office complexes or factories. 

Ships also use diesel generators for main propulsion, but also to power their lights, fans, winches, etc. 

Industrial diesel generators that operate without a connection to an electrical grid are known to be operating in island mode.  Generators that operate in island mode often is the primary source of electricity for isolated communities, which often need at least three generators and sometimes up to 20 generators.

In addition to their main function as supply energy during power failures, industrial diesel generators also support main power grids for peak shaving and grid support.  Peak shaving is taking the load off the utility grid during peak energy times and the generators support the grids in emergency standby mode.

Costs vary widely for diesel generators, depending on their size.  If you’re looking to use for a generator only for short term use, you can look into generator rentals to find companies who rent industrial rentals out for specific amounts of time.  As for fuel costs, a modern diesel generator will consume between .28 and .4 litres of fuel per kilowatt hour. 

If you run your AdWords campaign well you’ll know that some keywords generate very profitable traffic to your website. You will also know that most keywords are not profitable. Finding out which are good takes time and the method of uncovering the profitable niches keywords requires analysis, thought, testing and measurement.

I run a campaign that uses just three keywords to generate a steady flow of cash into my bank. I advertise a specific service using these three keywords and earn a commission whenever I deliver a new customer to them. I don’t get involved in lead capture or anything like that for this campaign. I just drive targeted traffic to the service provider’s website via my affiliate link.

The same three keywords have been highly profitable for over 18 months and generally generate in commissions 3 to 4 times what I spend on clicks.

So would I be prepared to disclose these keywords to you? Only for a price.

These keywords are responsible for producing an automatic income stream for me and will probably continue to do so for years to come. They are obscure. They took a lot of research and ingenuity to find and I am now benefiting essentially from the intellectual property I have tied up in my AdWords account.

Many companies have a huge intellectual property investment in their Pay Per Click campaigns without realising it. So I thought it would be interesting to try and put some value on this just so that advertisers became more aware of the true value that a well-run campaign delivers.

I’ll keep the mathematics simple and so there is some inaccuracy in my calculations. The point is to demonstrate the principle rather than perform an accurate assessment, something which would require actuarial skills.

So here goes.

Suppose I spend $500 a month on a particular campaign and that it produces $1500 a month in income. My profit, which is automatically generated, is then $1000 a month or $12000 a year.

If this income stream was going to carry on for ever (which it won’t) then we could give it a capital value of the annual income divided by the current interest rates. If interest rates are 5%, then the capital value is $12000 divided by 0.05 = $240000. This is the amount of capital you would need to place on deposit with a safe institution to receive the equivalent annual income.

Realistically I know that my income from this campaign is much less secure than money in the bank but that doesn’t stop me making an estimate of its capital value.

Suppose I give my campaign a life-expectancy of just 2 more years. That is 24 months of $1000 a month profit or $24000. (I am not bothering to calculate the time value of money here which takes into account the fact that money now is worth more than money later. It is the magnitude I am after rather than precision.)

If these figures applied to my campaign, each keyword would be worth an average of $8000 to me. If the campaign had a life-expectancy of 3 years instead of 2, the value would be $12000 per keyword instead.

These are shockingly large figures.

So the questions you should take away from this article are:

1. Have you ever stopped to work out what some of your keywords are really worth to you?

2. Have you ever stopped to think carefully who you are disclosing your campaign details to when you ask someone else to manage your AdWords account for you?

As an AdWords Account Manager I look after my clients accounts as if they are assets of their businesses. My job in some respects is to grow the value of those assets as well as to deliver high ROI and profitability.

It’s hard to imagine that this water garden  began as a concrete parking lot. After the space was enclosed the space with brick walls and began paving the lot with plants. The formal design, anchored with geometric shapes. We got all of the pond supplies online.

Our  garden water features measures only 30 feet by 30 feet but it feels much larger. A small space works very well as a formal or structured garden,  because the order and geometry of formal designs expand the space by leading your eye through it.
Keeping the plant material in scale is also very important. Dwarf boxwood for the hedges. To keep the structure of the garden from being cold and hard, take advantage of the vertical space as well; climbing roses and jasmine spill over the walls, softening the design.

We recommend limiting color and types of plant material in a small garden to avoid visual confusion. My garden has a lot of blue , yellow and white. The plant material is very limited, repeated from place to place so it moves your eye around the garden. A casual small garden. And don’t forget about the Watersports Equipment.

Try many things. One of the things to consider trying that works so well in this small garden is the “outdoor room” concept. Living walls filled with azaleas, camellias, tea olive and loquat help give the space a much larger and more welcoming feel.

Fill up the garden, enclose it with vertical things and then get a decoration, like a beautiful feature and some water. Then use the space, live in it.

Long and narrow spaces: Here is an idea on how to use long narrow spaces. The garden leads to a small, formal private retreat in the back.  Creating a focal point was the key design element in this tiny garden; it’s a horseshoe bed filled with pansies and English daisies.

Boxwood is used to outline the garden and give it structure. The key with these shrubs or any plants in a small garden is allowing room for them to grow. And perfect pruning is a must. These three small gardens certainly prove that bigger isn’t always better in the garden.

Every dog owner wants the very best for their canines. Regrettably, occasionally we have to acknowledge the fact that our dearly loved dog has medical conditions that must be tackled. For this specific article, let us concentrate on what is canine congestive heart failure and how to make nutritionally reliable choices to avoid the decline in your dog’s health due to heart failure.

Heart disease is caused by an aberration in the dog’s heart structure and performance. Typically, what happens is that this deficiency causes the dog’s heart to decrease its ability to pump blood effectively which leads to ultimate cardiac failure for the poor dog. There are often no telltale signs of this ailment until it is too late so we would do well to read and learn about the best dog food for congestive heart failure - it is one of the most effective methods to avoid this from happening to your pet.

As with humans, a reduced salt diet will greatly help in keeping a healthy heart. Try cooking ¼ lb of lean beef ground meat with 2 cups of unsalted rice and 2 teaspoons dicalcium phosphate in vegetable oil. You can also use high quality commercial dog food but check the nutritional content and consult with your vet before making any alterations in the dog’s diet and lifestyle.

Another essential nutrient that should preferably be compounded in your dog’s daily food intake is Omega-3 fatty acids. This seems to not only reduce the risk of congestive heart illnesses for dogs, but with other equally critical heart ailments as well. Omega-3 is found abundantly in sea food and fish oil supplements.

Vitamin E also tends to increase the antioxidant levels in the dog’s cardiovascular reserves. Studies have constantly shown that Vitamin E helps animals suffering from heart ailments. When you are using a particular pet food, be sure to check that it has not been kept in storage for a very long period of time - particularly if it has a high unsaturated fat content. This is one factor that contributes in depleting your dog’s vitamin E.

Other nutrients that help in improved canine cardiovascular function are Taurine and L-Carnitine. L-carnitine enhances your dog’s heart rate, exercise tolerance and protection against some heart diseases. L-carnitine in partner with Taurine is acknowledged as good helpers in maintaining cardiac health for animals. Taurine specifically is thought to extend the life expectancy of canines with congestive heart diseases.

When planning the right diet, do not forget also the importance of exercise as a preventive measure for canine congestive heart failure. A symptom of this ailment is the dog’s extreme exhaustion after exercising; so when you notice that the dog is exhibiting signs of labored breathing and excessive fatigue—take him to the vet for prognosis immediately.

Hearing news of a dear pet’s life threatening condition is often understandably upsetting. A little effort and learning about the best dog food for dog congestive heart failure will go a long way in keeping your dog’s heart health. Bear this in mind and enjoy your dog’s best years yet.

Visa Prepaid travel Cards

Although giving cash as a gift is a wonderful way to let the recipient spend your gift in whatever way they choose, there are certainly drawbacks to giving cash. For instance, sometimes cash doesn’t feel like that much of a gift in the sense that it’s easy for people to just put it in their wallets and spend it gradually on inconsequential things. In addition, if cash is stolen or lost, it’s gone forever. Happily there are alternatives to cash gifts.

Visa prepaid travel provide all the flexibility of cash gifts, with many added benefits. While gift recipients spend the money as they wish, they don’t have to worry about cash getting stolen or used up without them noticing - which means your gift,present stands a better chance of being remembered. If the gift card gets lost or stolen, the owner can report it stolen and obtain another card with the remainder of the money on the card.

Prepaid gas gift cards are an great gift for all kinds of occasions, givers, and recipients. Just think of any event where it’s common to give cash gifts - weddings and graduations spring to mind - and consider that a gift card is so much more safe than actual cash. But don’t be limited to only these kinds of occasions. Gift cards that aren’t only for a particular store are also great gifts for birthday presents, anniversary presents (although probably not between spouses, who would like something a little more personal and long-lasting), and many more. They’re also an excellent option for employers to use to give their employees as end-of-year gifts, and you can buy gift cards in quantity, making them convenient for the giver as well.

These gift cards are also great substitutes for prepaid gas cards. They can be used at any gas station that accepts VISA so they make great presents for people going on a car trip or for family who used their precious fuel money to come visit you.

Introduction

The world has changed over the last twenty five years out of all recognition. With the extension of the World-Wide-Web there has been a massive revolution in communications and the way in which populations manage their lives. However with the introduction of computers and databases, banking on line and free exchange of information throughout the world, there is also the criminal aspect to go with it. The virus and hacking into sensitive sites is a goldmine of opportunity for people intent on fraud and illegal activities. So naturally there is a neced for the public to be protected and have total security so that they can use the facilities without harm. Such Website security and email protection systems have now become big business. As companies become more acutely aware of the dangers and risks of illegal activities they are investing in security solution technology to do something about it.

Software Security

One such company has combined the provision of secure networks, data and applications with the processes and technology involved in making sure that data is managed effectively. The service includes ensuring that bottlenecks are minimised on the network and speed is maximised; minimising data destruction and loss of productivity from spam and browsing that contravenes corporate policy and helping organisations use the technology to uphold corporate policies and comply with regulatory requirements.

During these financially challenging times you would expect companies to be economising on computer hardware and software, but instead many organisations have gone ahead investing in IT as a way of restructuring their businesses to create opportunities, thereby gaining competitive advantage. I have a theory that downturn in business is generating more illegal activity so there is more need for security technology and some companies are benefiting as a result. Every cloud has a silver lining.

The Modern World of Software Licensing

As the recession continues to bite many companies do have had to cut costs resulting in less to spend on IT and unfortunately there have been a number of bankruptcies, but that does not tell the whole story. More recently as the IT business grows ever more massive, the management of all the software and monitoring of all the licensing of software is becoming a minefield. For a large organisation where everything is run on computers with its associated software, the cost in licences is huge. There has been a fair bit of news recently about how much it has cost for UK and European businesses to bring their software licensing up to date as a result of a software audit. It seems that the federation against software theft (FAST) claim they can audit any company as they see fit. The cost of just having to reconcile license fees could tip the balance and financially cripple a business. What with the security costs of protecting your computer systems and the licensing fees and keeping up to date with new ideas, large organisations can find their IT costs spiralling out of control.

And you thought licensing your software in a physical environment was complicated, well the game has changed! Over the last three years, there has been an increasingly widespread adoption of x86 server virtualisation which has significantly changed the information technology landscape. No longer is a server workload tied to the underlying hardware as more than one workload can run on a single box. This has quite astonishing benefits in terms of high availability and disaster recovery, not to mention significant cost savings from the reduction in hardware requirements. The automatic inventory of hardware and software delivers a realistic snapshot of the IT infrastructure and provides, among other things, a reliable data pool for license management, allowing any company to dramatically optimise its license situation.

With malware increasing in both volume and sophistication and no likely slow down in sight, we believe it is now more important than ever for companies to have a comprehensive web security solution in place. Over the years it has been shown that service delivery models and benefits vary greatly and that tight integration of services at the provider level is critical. In the case of e-mail this means security, archiving, continuity and policy management.

No company could function adequately without it’s security software to protect them from the malicious actions of the criminal element.

Some Interesting Facts Have Emerged:

Although most IT directors would claim to know exactly how many PCs they have on their network, the reality is that more than two-thirds of organisations have a discrepancy of up to 30% between expected and actual inventories. This discrepancy poses obvious problems. How can businesses accurately budget and plan if they don’t know what they already have, and indeed out of what they do own, what is actually in use? In theory the idea of effective Software Asset Management is that organisations can direct IT assets in order to support business goals, enabling cost controls, strengthen security and improve corporate governance, all while minimising risk. Keeping track of the hardware in a large organisation is very time consuming, but then doing the same for all the licensing of software for each piece of hardware can be near impossible.

SAM and Virtualisation

Traditionally, licenses have been allocated to the physical hardware on which the relevant software is running. With the increased demand on budgets IT departments are looking for ways of reducing| shrinking| cutting} costs. Organisations have recognised for some time now that their internal data centres are extremely inefficient and have looked for more efficient approaches to give them better control over their applications and service levels, while having increased choice in the way they support their operations. Reducing cost is one of the key drivers behind virtualisation, a technology which is having a truly transformative effect on the IT landscape. There is both a growing realisation and an acceptance that the economic viability of virtualisation and cloud computing in one form or another, will represent the next big transformation in corporate computing.The expectations are huge; banking analysts say that cloud computing will be a $160 billion market within the next five years, and every major IT company is jumping on the bandwagon.

Whilst there have been concerns expressed around complexity, and “how to get started” these are becoming dispelled, as many organisations specialising in SAM, such as Softcat, have educated customers on the process and priorities and how to make it economical. According to the analyst firm Gartner, SAM helps organisations save up to 30 % of their IT budget, so it is little wonder that it’s rapidly rising up the Chief Information Officer’s (CIO’s) agenda, despite the concerns around complexity.

One example of saving on costs is where the Telegraph Media Group bought in an effective SAM strategy which helped the company gain complete control of their IT assets realising savings of £100,000 from over expenditure on unnecessary licenses. Although initially the senior managers need to be aware of the whole SAM process, there are some aspects, such as discovery and license management, that are quick and simple to implement and can deliver a much more immediate business and financial impact: lower costs, greater security, decreased risk and improved corporate governance. These initial steps will also set organisations on the road to achieving full ISO 19770-1 compliance when the time is right.Space is at an all time premium, electricity bills ever increasing, budgets shrinking, and while virtualisation is helping us fit more servers into a limited space it does not necessarily mean that the storage solutions being used are any better provisioned or utilised to their full capacity.

The vast majority of our customers pay a lot of attention to licence compliance to ensure they only deploy legal software. Alongside the constant and rising threat of audits from vendors and regulatory bodies, some vendors are taking action to recognise these efforts being made by customers - such as: simplifying license programmes, free education and raising the ethical argument to the physical users of using non licensed products. There are free tools and licence statements to help get an accurate picture of customer’s Microsoft software assets or, specialist SAM partners are available as part of the programme, to engage with customers and work through the process.The term software solutions is just the industry jargon for the operating system that allows your computer to do what you want it to do.

The Future Trends in Computing.

Under increasing pressure to deliver superior results for less cost, IT managers are considering new options to maintain the functionality of their critical resources such as e-mail management and web security. One of the latest ideas to emerge is that of cloud computing. This term describes any scenario where computing resources are accessed over the Internet and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) makes up one of the largest elements of cloud computing. The SaaS vendors provide a service where the customer does not pay for the software itself, but rather for using it. This takes care of the complexity of licensing and asset management for the IT department allowing the company to concentrate on their contractual work. The process of cloud computing helps customers to reduce the cost and complexity of web and e-mail management and security, so they can focus on their core business by eliminating unnecessary distractions.

Some compare the cloud computing revolution to that of electricity a hundred years ago when companies stopped generating their own power and plugged into the newly built electrical grid. It was more cheaper to outsource the production of electricity leaving the companies to focus on their core operations. Today a similar revolution is underway. Hooking up to the Internet’s global computing grid, massive information-processing plants are pumping into our businesses and homes. This shift is already reinventing the computer industry. The heavily publicised topics of the increased activity around all things “virtualised” and companies being audited, Software Asset Management (SAM) is becoming a key talking point of the latest products and services available.

Cloud computing models will prevail with Software as a Service (SaaS) along with Platform as a Service. I believe hosting companies will be at the cutting edge of this evolution and will lead to industries becoming more service based. This will range from mobile/GPS/PRS hand held services, consumer services, services targeted at SMBs. We see this as a huge market as these guys don’t want to invest in their own technology per-se, they just want a service. Large enterprises are already embracing cloud computing and it is having a significant impact, as a way to manage their costs and deliver services to both their external customers and internal employees. In fact this move to a hosted delivery model, where the technology or application is simply made available when and where you need it, will drive a new market. We won’t be talking about Software as a Service; or Hardware as a Service… soon we’ll have a new definition - Everything as a Service.

Analyst firm, Gartner agrees that some of the biggest benefits of clouds computing “are the built-in elasticity and scalability, which not only reduce barriers to entry, but also enable these companies to grow quickly.” In the case of ScanSafe, modifications can be made from a web interface from anywhere in the world and changes are made active in seconds. Furthermore, an SLA provides a financially backed guarantee about service availability and effectiveness. Embrace storage resource management solutions, commit to thin provisioning, actively employ duplication and start using intelligent archiving you will not only save money, time, and reduced your company’s environmental footprint, you will have taken your challenges head on, controlled them and overcome them.

The ability to utilise applications such as web security on a pay-as-you-go basis will be a perfect strategy for businesses seeking greater flexibility and control over costs. According to global market intelligence firm, IDC, “The cloud model offers a much cheaper way for businesses to acquire and use IT - in an economic downturn, the appeal of that cost advantage will be greatly magnified. More and more of the focus now is moving to service based models, and managing OP-EX (Operational Expenditure), whereas discussions previously were focussed on CAP-EX (Capital Expenditure). This argument is even truer in today’s economy.

What’s New in Microsoft?

Microsoft has announced the launch of the next wave of Microsoft Office and related products. At a time when an organisation requires its communication tools to be cost-effective and flexible, Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 is able to achieve new levels of reliability and performance by delivering features that simplify your administration, help protect your communications, and with greater business mobility. Exchange 2010 delivers new, integrated e-mail archiving functionality-including granular multi-mailbox search, item-level retention policies and instant legal hold-making it easier to address compliance and discovery issues. Administrators get centralised control of all archives while users get direct access to their archived mail, including a familiar archive experience that does not disrupt the way they operate their inboxes every day. Exchange Server 2010 actively helps protect your communications through built-in defences against viruses and junk e-mail and support for an array of third party security products.

Utilizing software assurance systems to efficiently manage your software catalogue can make the task a lot be easier and provide a strong return on investment. The pressure to optimise your IT infrastructure for ever-changing business conditions requires you to be agile and that means investing in solutions that provide you and your organisation with options.

Microsoft Exchange, enables rich and productive collaboration among its users and can help achieve better business outcomes while controlling the costs of deployment, administration and compliance. The latest release of Exchange 2010 delivers the widest range of deployment options, integrated information leakage protection, and advanced compliance capabilities, that combine to form the best messaging and collaboration solution available in a simplified way to help keep e-mail continuously available for the user. With new deployment and storage options, enhanced inbox management capabilities and e-mail archiving built-in, Exchange 2010 helps you lower costs and enhance business outcomes.

Allied to cloud computing, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure is another area where a model is emerging that has enough advantages to become main-stream. VDI will cause a fundamental rethink for Microsoft in terms of its operating licensing system. The current licensing model, where device and software license were inexorably tied together, in years to come won’t be the case and Microsoft is already adapting to accommodate the new ideas. The ability to provide a unified service eliminates the need for multiple interfaces, reporting and policy management - therefore reducing management workload.

Licensing the Virtual Environment

If the link between software and hardware is broken, that model doesn’t work. To their credit, the software vendors, led by Microsoft, have recently started to make changes to their licensing models to match the abilities of the technology - however, whilst these changes are on balance positive, the complexity of licensing in a virtual environment is dramatically increased. Our training deck for the SAM Team on virtual licensing runs to 35 slides - something you don’t ever want to be subjected to unless you suffer from insomnia! Intel technologies are continually addressing the complete business needs of the market and Virtualisation is a constant theme. With the recent launch of their Xeon 5500 design of server chips, it is possible to have intelligent power management that can deliver a 90% reduction in energy costs compared with servers of just five years ago. (and not just making chips go faster!)

Softcat have always maintained that good financial stewardship of software assets has the same result - and this is even more crucial in a virtual environment. We can help you make the most of the licensing terms available - did you know that licensing a server for Windows Datacentre Edition allows you to run unlimited virtual Windows Servers? - and of course ensure that you are adhering to the terms of the licensing agreement, which is critical to ensure compliance. Microsoft is certifying customers for a whole 12 months after their SAM engagement and ring fencing them from further investigation. Microsoft wants to encourage and support its customers to integrate SAM in their everyday planning and control - working with them to maximise their software investment.

SAM Vendor Programmes

A number of associate vendor partners have instigated SAM accreditation programmes and are taking a more “in partnership” approach, where their intentions are to help and reward customers for engaging in SAM. Microsoft have pioneered this sort of programme, along with the likes of Adobe, and Symantec have also launched accreditations to reassure end user customers they are in safe hands, when engaging with such resellers. The point here is that the vendors want to encourage customers, rather than the previous stance of enforcement. Finally, worth a note with regard to e-mail management, there is the added burden of efficient and effective retrieval and legislative compliance that service providers are able to lighten.

Conclusion

It is amazing how fast technology has evolved over the decades to drive our lives from every angle personal and business. Two extremely hot topics of the last year, have without doubt, been Software Asset Management (SAM) and Virtualisation. The fact is that organisations the world over are analysing their processes and costs to see how they can work smarter. The economic slowdown could be said to have a positive effect as it pushes| forces| nudges companies towards the process of change thereby accelerating the change. With the increased demand on budgets, coupled with the increased activity around all things “virtualised”, these remain two of the most heavily publicised topics and Softcat believes the business case for cloud computing is a compelling one and that certain non-core business functions, that are nonetheless necessary, are best done in the cloud, being more cost effective for the business and, in many cases, provide the most efficient service.

High Ground Texas must maintain and grow a trained workforce to stay competitive in a thriving economy. Today, local higher education institutions are certainly up to the challenge with custom tailored solutions!

West Texas A&M University offers the WTAMU Enterprise Network, which nurtures new business through its incubation system to give small businesses their best chance at success. The networks theme is, building rural Texas one business at a time. This joint effort of business and higher education is having a tremendously positive influence on the local economy, as the National Business Incubation Association reports that 87 percent of small businesses that graduate from an incubation system remain in business.

The National Business Incubation Association advances the business creation process to increase entrepreneurial success and individual opportunity by strengthening communities worldwide. To accomplish this mission, NBIA serves as a clearinghouse of information on incubator management and development issues. The association engages in many activities that support members professional development, including; organizing conferences and specialized trainings, conducting research and compiling statistics on the incubation industry, providing publications that describe practical approaches to business incubation and consulting with governments and corporations on incubator development. The NBIA endorses and promotes opportunities like the WTAMU Network in all of their efforts.

Many local higher education institutions are customizing the workforce training they offer to specific businesses.

One local college has over 40,000 students, most all of them working adults involved in some form of business and industry training programs. It is a way we partner with the community to provide a skilled workforce in a growing economy. Many colleges offers similar training programs with other businesses, including BWXT Pantex, Owens Corning Robotics and area hospitals.

Many High Ground Texas education leaders are also making an effort to tailor training to industry needs. Specialized training from the higher education level to the on the job training level makes for a more dedicated and loyal workforce. More specialized education and training provides for greater income opportunities and career advancement that leads to many years on the job. Something every employer strives for.