March 26, 2010

The administrative office is moved!

Those of you that have visited the old AMRCON office know that a part of the complexity that we’ve been battling through was the fact that our support and administrative floors were completely separated from floor to floor. The upstairs administrative office has been completely vacated from 92D Broad Street and as of today I am proud to say is up and running at the new location at 1070 State Route 34 in Matawan. The new floor plan will have everyone on the same floor. Although not everyone will fully enjoy having me walk the support floor more often, logistically our office will run that much more efficiently having everyone an arms reach to provide the support to our clients.

Although were not in our permanent seat locations, I am living it up a bit with 20 feet of windows working temporarily in the conference room. The new office has a total of 70 feet of solid windows. A different feel completely from the old office and will benefit my entire staff. Sounds funny right? How will we benefit? Studies show that employees (me included) are in better spirits with more sunlight, thus why some people get into a slump in the winter months because of the shorter days. Now don’t get me wrong traffic watching does no one any good, but I’m very excited to be able to provide such a nice office with many amenities to my hard working staff.

Brenda, Alexis and myself are the only staff that will be working out of the new site until the downstairs support office at 92 Broad street is moved next month. This way our administrative work load will not be disrupted with the remaining build-out tasks that keep us going back and forth to the new office. If you visit us you will find the three of us in the front of the office ready to greet our visitors, vendors and clients.

This was just a quick post to keep everyone up to date. More news to come during the week. I welcome all to stop by and say hello. I’d be more than happy to give a tour and answer any questions. It’s all coming along and working according to plan. A great site to visit for anyone to check out an office move, or new build-out for a new space. Dee Rudko – CEO

March 16, 2010

Wright Line helping AMRCON with proven solutions!

Wright Line has been a partner of AMRCON since it’s beginning. In fact I have been working with them in other businesses since 1998. Their furniture technology and lifetime guarantee were among 2 of the top reasons they were our first choice. So let me take you through a brief history. In 1999 the company that I was with purchased data center, office furniture and advanced network operation center furnishings, which were employed for several years. The solutions were second to none. It went through aggressive daily use and maintained perfect utilization and appearance. In 2008 the original company was absorbed by a company that decided to close that office. AMRCON purchased the furnishings and shipped them to Keyport, were they were redeployed into our NOC, back office and other areas. We needed very little refitting and Wright Line was happy to provide new CAD drawings on how they could be redistributed. If you’ve visited the office over the past 2 years you would have seen the solutions. Now that AMRCON is moving, Wright Line has agreed to assist us in new designs to refit the furniture once again and make certain that we are getting the maximum out of our assets.

This will now be the 3rd home for some of these pieces. The point is that even when items were damaged in shipping Wright Line was there. Even when we needed new pieces to fit new configurations, Wright Line still produced the parts. Even when we needed to purchase new solutions to add to our office and match to existing aspects, Wright Line was able to provide the solutions. We’ve always been able to get parts quickly, service to assist us in reassembly and getting new CAD drawings to get an idea of how things were going to look. The bottom line is AMRCON has a personal story to share here. We have a proven track record with an investment originally made over 10 years ago, still innovative, still providing a great solution for years to come. What do you look for in a furniture solutions provider? Are you working direct with a manufacturer or a broker/dealer? There is a difference I invite you to contact our representative with any questions at anytime Dennis Kilgariff dennis.kilgariff@wrightline.com or 215-778-5483.

So here is a peek at what AMRCON will be deploying in the new site, click on any of the drawings found on this page. Take a look around and let us know if you have any questions. These drawings and more will be available in the new office, where each CAD drawing will be posted on the corresponding walls. We will have before and after shots to give you an idea how you might be able to use Wright Line in the future.

March 4, 2010

AMRCON’s New Product Offering Brochure

 Recently, we spent countless hours developing the best representation of our company in a full-color printed brochure. We redeveloped our Mission Statement  and executive staff biographies and learned what our clients think about our company. We wanted the brochure to tell the story. And when you read it, I think  you will find we did just that.

Although AMRCON is not the only Managed Service Provider ”MSP” out there, we know we set ourselves apart. In fact through the process of speaking to our clients for this brochure, we found several instances where we earned the business because of our native abilities. I think the MSP business is about customization and adaptation. We’re very proud to have Proctor & Gamble from a competitive experience. When we asked what made the difference, we were very surprised to find that our experience and thorough process of treating each client’s individual needs as the template to provide our ODS services. Although we have guidelines, protocol and process, one of our biggest assets is the ability to make sure we fit the client and not the other way around. I see other MSP’s out there doing the opposite. Read the testimonials  in the brochure or under Testimonials.

For those reading and learning about Managed Services for the first time, we discuss what it’s all about and where it spawned from. Although many MSP’s come from a combination of other service models, AMRCON is proud to say that it was formed back in 2005 as a native MSP. Our clients recognize this through our process always having the Managed Service practice in mind. This is quite evident through our SLA, agreements and other aspects where you will find AMRCON providing unprecedented guarantees and service offerings such as using the term “unlimited” quite often. I think this says a lot because we show that we stand behind our preventive and proactive methods by providing guarantees. This is yet another difference. 

I don’t want to give it all away so I invite you to read the brochure or look through the top navigation of this site to learn more about AMRCON. If anything perks your interest as a company in need of our services, a consulting firm looking to get into Managed Services, or just curious to learn more, feel free to give us a call.

Upon completion we found that our website really needed to reflect the great job our creative vendors did with our brochure, so we closed the old website and converted everything over to the blog where the blog and website prefixes now resolve. It was a key step in taking advantage of the blog content which has done very well for us in SEO “Search Engine Optimization” and building traffic to our site. We do this by keeping the site living and breathing. AMRCON was lucky enough to have started a newsletter following back  in 2007 which we eventually migrated from paper, to email, to web-based content which far outlives previous media. Now our posts are available forever online. This helps us build a presence. If there are any companies out there looking to learn more about the use of a blog and other social media objectives, know that AMRCON has not only developed these solutions for ourselves but countless other businesses. Contact us for more information.

March 1, 2010

AMRCON is Moving Our Operation to Matawan NJ!

AMRCON has been bursting at the seams for some time now in our current location at 92 Broad Street in Keyport, NJ. We’ve spent the past 18 months looking for a larger office space, but have just not been able to find a good fit. As you can imagine, it took quite a bit of careful thought to insure a move is right, not only for AMRCON, but also for our clients.

I am happy to tell you that we’ve finally found the perfect spot where AMRCON can continue to grow and serve our clients best.  As of May 1, we’ll be moving to our new location at 1070 State Route 34, in Matawan, NJ. 

Why are we moving?

When AMRCON opened for business in 2005, we chose the retail store front location on Broad Street in Keyport to provide easy access for our business clients and residential walk-in clients.   As AMRCON’s managed services clients grew, we were able to leverage the space just above the retail storefront to expand the business.  It allowed us just enough space to triple the amount of employees and double our space over the past two years. Today AMRCON has hundreds of clients all over the tri-state area, so location is a perk only if it serves our clients well. Although the Keyport area has been very good to us, it simply does not have the right location to allow us to grow. I personally love Keyport and proudly live only a few hundred feet away from our office. However, with the high profile clients on our roster, steady growth of our business and the need for more room, we decided to move to a more suitable office just in neighboring Matawan.

What does this mean to you and should you be concerned?

At AMRCON, we have helped dozens of businesses, large and small, move from one location to another.  Given that experience, we are confident that we have the talent and project management skills to deploy our new location with minimal, if any, affect to our valued clients. The move will carefully be staged in the best interest of not only our business clients but also our residential following.

Phase 1 of our move, the construction of our new office suite and the vital communications configuration that is critical to our client support, is already underway and expected to be complete by March 30th.  All infrastructure, such as supplemental cooling, our network operations room, security, alarms, communications and electrical aspects will be operational the moment we move.

On April 1, we will begin Phase 2, when we move non-critical aspects of our offices such as inventory, administrative services, and smaller items that can be moved. One weekend in April, still to be determined, all furnishings will be installed or moved from our current site. Our staff and equipment will still be operating at 92 Broad St., where we will continue to provide the same quality support services to our walk-in clients until April 30th. AMRCON will be 100% moved to our new location on May 1, and in place for business.

During this entire process we have made every effort to minimize the potential risk of outages. In fact, we only expect a small outage during the late evening on a weekend during our normal service window of maintenance. Parallel platforms will be set in place for fast turnover with virtually no downtime. Our walk-in clients can visit our new site as early as April 2^nd.

If you have questions or concerns about our move, please feel free to call our offices. I’ll be more than happy to respond. –  732-705-5057

What are the benefits? (Larger, Parking, Conference Center, Tech Area)

Our new office is much larger and provides the ability to expand in ways that we could only hope for in our old location. For instance, our tech troubleshooting room will be completely isolated from the Network Operation Center “NOC.” Providing dedicated space to both entities provides more space for more business, and enables more AMRCON employees to handle walk-in clients or support calls coming into the NOC.  Our new suite will have greater security, with card level access dependant on security clearance. Video surveillance, call recording and compliance will be key aspects of continued concern. We will also benefit from a 4-hour battery run time, and a backup generator, at a location that has rarely had more than 5 minutes of downtime over the past 4 years.

Clients will have better access to the highways for on-site meetings, as well as easy access to the rail system. The parking is more than sufficient, and our new office provides a very comfortable ambiance through our atrium and into our office suite. Our employees will have a more comfortable work environment to provide higher quality support.

Just as we were excited to open our doors five years ago in Keyport, we are equally thrilled to be moving to this new location.  We hope you all come to visit.

In the end what will it accomplish?

We have found our new home at 1070 State Route 34, in Matawan. Our new, larger space will allow us to concentrate on continuing to grow and improve our products and services. Our business clients will notice a tremendous improvement in resources and capabilities, and we expect our walk-in business to triple in the next year. We plan to continue to earn the loyalty of our existing and future clients.

This is all possible because of you, our valued clients. Thank you!

Stay tuned, more news about our move to come.

Dee Rudko, CEO AMRCON

February 17, 2010

February 2010 Recommended Top Picks

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January 26, 2010

AMRCON 2010 Company Kick Off

Even with the economic warnings of 2010 being similar to 2009, AMRCON has completed their 2010 kick off after another growth year. We rallied the troops at the start of the month to announce our end of year reviews, 2010 business plan and strategic overview of the year’s goals. We’re going to post some of those highlights here.

After review of last year we made the determination that our social media and networking groups provided the highest value in business development. Learning from that experience we plan to continue the current groups as well as take on 2 more seats in various meetings across Monmouth county NJ. I welcome anyone looking to grow their business to ask me about my findings and or to learn more about getting involved in the best group for you. I’m more than happy to assist you. AMRCON allocates nearly 10%-15% of its weekly man hours devoted to networking and business development groups. This does not include my time which is nearly 50% in business development. I strive to increase that even further, but I still play a major role in administration as well as financial management of the company.

We successfully completed our brochure project which has left the end result of a 12 page brochure that tells the AMRCON story better than ever. Feel free to download the PDF link to the latest version and be sure to distribute as you might see fit. We’re very proud of the outcome and the work that our graphics and publicist professionals have done. Craig Gunter with INCA Graphic, and Tricia Krietzberg with Krietzberg Creative are 2 of the best people in the business. Anyone requiring their services please feel free to reach out to them and reference this blog. The primary purpose and overview for the brochure was to further “Telling the story” without having to schedule an appointment or conference call. We now have the ability to making sure our story is told more than my personal business goal of 10 times per week. Anyone looking to expand their virtual sales force needs to have a solid marketing collateral campaign. We feel very confident that we have done so. Comments are welcomed. The brochure will also be permanently be posted as a link within this blog.

OK, so it’s true AMRCON will be expanding it’s offices again this year to include new administrative offices and eventually the move of our NOC to seat double the employees currently employed. This also provides the ability to start building out AMRCON to be more of a demonstration site for prospects looking to kick the tires on build-out projects, security and more.

The last bit I’ll share that is going to be a big deal to watch is coming from our new products development group. Just to touch on it, we will be launching an innovate new solution for the small business market looking to have a single solution that provides support, infrastructure and hardware required to implement and maintain a small growing business without the cost traditionally involved in doing so. This packaged solution will be something to watch in the marketplace and is scheduled to launch prior to the summer. It will be covered further in our blog site, local media as well as other publications.

Since we have a variety of clients, prospects, and vendors who watch this blog. I welcome anyone to contact me directly to ask about anything that may have sparked your interest about AMRCON, business development or any other bit of information I can share to help you in your business.

October 20, 2009

Windows 7 launch October 22nd 2009!

I’ve received many questions about the big launch so I wanted to take a few minutes to give you the real scoop from a trusted Microsoft Certified firm. As many of you remember Windows Vista  was not a very successful product. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has stated that Windows 7 is the result of learning from the failures of Vista through meticulously ironing out most of the wrinkles that annoyed Vista users. I’m not hear to talk about if it will have successful launch, but more of an open information forum about what it might mean to our clients. I would like to inform our clients on the do’s and don’ts as well as other easily understood facts that you should know. Let me be clear that I don’t think an XP user should run right out and upgrade, I believe a Vista user would be first in line but not right away. Be sure to ask us if its a good idea in your specific environment before making any major decisions. Our team here at AMRCON has been working with the operating system for months in our lab environment. We’re not ready to give the green light just yet.

Here are a few facts that should be pointed out:

• Windows 7 will require a clean install: One of the lessons learned from Vista was that not enough integration between OEM hardware and 3rd party software vendors was provided. Thus everyone had issues with drivers and getting applications to run. To ensure a clean slate, the Windows 7 OS will require a complete format of your current drive from scratch, then and only then will you be able to recover your data and install your applications. From a technical standpoint this is generally the right way to go and will help alleviate headaches. I would not recommend doing this yourself with out some form of technical proficiency.
• The Economic role: The economy might play a strategic role in how our clients might look at migrations. In the past new migrations were done along with hardware upgrades, it just made better sense. In today’s economy budgets and planning have been reduced. However, with the leaner version of windows you can get away with migrating on older hardware where in the past new versions meant more horsepower requirements. Both the size and memory requirements have been reduced in Win 7. An eventual migration to Win 7 might be a more cost effective solution to those behind the times. Windows XP stands as the solid OS with 71.8% market share and Vista with only 18.8%. Windows 7 will end up taking most of the Vista share and heavily over time into the XP market. Now depending on just how old your hardware is will determine if an upgrade migration is in order or going with a complete hardware refresh along with the new OS.
• XP Mode?: Since Microsoft caught a bad image with suggesting to XP users to migrate to Vista then to Win 7 when it’s launched, many people had great concerns. Business owners expressing the bad taste they had provided a plan. Win 7 will have a XP Mode where a virtual XP service pack 3 environment can run under Win 7 to avoid breaking compatibility with their older applications. We’re still on the fence with this really bringing resolve to those issues.
• User Account Control: Microsoft boasts about having the right fixes in place from the Vista era. But it has been reported on some blogs that some underlying issues may still exist, it may change with the full version release but something to think about.

Is Windows 7 worth it?

It’s going to be a case-by-case basis so talk to AMRCON about your specific thoughts. We believe it will be a reasonable option for companies looking to upgrade hardware in the new year, but not if they require any 3rd party application such as trading and business automation. These companies will need to wait for their respective vendors to play catch up first. However, they would want to consider bundling an upgrade license when they become available. It would be one less cost they will need to worry about in the future. Besides Microsoft has extended the support for XP a few more years but I hope no one waits until the very end. Reason being we’ll loose out on the full integration and usage of the already deployed Windows Server 2008 R2, Exchange 2010 and Office 2010 when they become available. Most major vendors have already provided fixes to make themselves Windows 7 friendly.

Keep posted as we continue to report on actual build-outs and migrations. If you have any questions in the meantime feel free to give us a call.

October 13, 2009

The Independent Trader

Independent traders require smart technology to obtain the bleeding edge over the markets how ever that may be defined. Even the independent trader in a trading boutique or from home can not afford to make common mistakes. Some of these mistakes can include:

• Trading over a cable modem or other non-business class Internet service. This can create latency or an unknown amount of hops between you, your public network and your exchange. I’ve just seen it too many times. When you’re using a non-dedicated ISP, you have no control over how many networks you need to pass through before reaching your destination and back.
• All hardware is not created equal. A standard desktop with 1-2 video cards will not do. Depending on your trading platform you could be creating latency just by miss use of your screens. Even a slight overlap of a window can crunch a video processor to the extend that you’re looking at 3-4 second lag-time.
• Wireless trading is never a good idea. A good old ethernet connection into a business class router is always more stable. If you have to make sure you’re using business class equipment and someone who knows what they’re doing. It could cost you!

Larger environments need even more careful planning. Many complexities can arise as soon as you add multiple markets and or execution platforms. They all work on very different technology. Each has its benefits as well as concerns. Knowing these applications and understanding the demand on properly engineered and implemented technology is key. This brings me to my next point. Not all consulting firms, professional services companies or other IT support vendors are created equal.

I wanted to touch on the independent trader since we have so many as valued clients. Next month I’m going to talk a little more about the larger environments that we support. In the meantime I wanted to share a story depicting yet another different between AMRCON on other support vendors.

For close to 2 years a trading floor in lower Manhattan struggled with problems with a software trading platform. Each time the firm would experience the issue it cost them money. Each time they had the issue they would report the problem to their IT support company who we will call ACME for the purposes of this article. They were a professional services company as apposed to AMRCON’s Manged services model of real-time preventative support. Thus the trading firm had to waite for them to respond on site to troubleshoot the issue. Both ACME and the trading firm played a serious game of cat and mouse. The client being upset that ACME could not pin-point the issue and fix it and the software vendor pointing fingers at the client network as the problem. Finally ACME stated that it was an outside issue that they did not support and the issue continued. Eventually ACME lost the firm as a client to AMRCON due to various support related and other issues. AMRCON was pleased to take charge.

AMRCON deployed its managed services model of support through its start up process which corrected many outstanding issues. Later the firm began to experience the issue with the software and AMRCON was able to capture real-time data about the problem. Now it was the first time the issue had happened while under our support model and in fact the first time we heard of the issue. Needless to say we were shocked to hear it was going on for years and was an accepted reoccurring issue. AMRCON quickly compiled the data and began aggressively monitoring all aspects of the internal network all the way through the connection to the host provider. Come to find out there was an issue with the configuration of the 3rd party software vendor. AMRCON was able to prove the issue through hard documentation, statistics, and reports. This made the vendor step up and fix the issue. Our client is no longer being represented by a support vendor who even thinks about not owning each and every issue as their own.

I’m pleased to say the that we have repaired many other fixes to their network. We’ve reduced their IT budget and AMRCON has received calls from their executives personally thanking us for the diligent work we have provided.

September 3, 2009

SBS savings through Dell & AMRCON!

Don’t keep it a secret. As a premier partner AMRCON has been using all of the current Dell specials to benefit our clients. It might be a good idea to do now what you would normally put off till tomorrow. We have access to some really good benefits and perks through Dell right now for the month of September. Including the latest line of Dell Servers that were just released. We urge anyone looking, thinking or on the fence with when to upgrade or purchase, to think sooner than later. The current promotions will not last much longer since Dell usually has their big number push the last quarter of the year, that will mean less of a deal.

AMRCON is a certified Microsoft shop and certified for Small Business Server or SBS. We’ve been deploying some pretty rewarding solutions to our clients in the past few months with the new Small Business Server 2008 and the new line of Dell Servers. We’ve been able to reduce the normal cost of the hardware and guarantee a fixed cost for the implementation since we’re very versed with the technical intricacies. This means you receive the latest in technology at a great savings.

What are the benefits besides cost? What are the real benefits of Small Business Server 2008 and AMRCON providing the professional services to implement. First let me start by saying AMRCON has a documented track record of providing leading edge technology solutions across the board. In the last few years we’ve paid specific attention to SBS installations. The benefits are many. Lets start with the global view and provide you with a few additional links for further information.

Key benefits most important to our clients that do not have an SBS server

• Integrated Exchange Server to host your own email internally – Comprehensive all-in-one server solution
• Stay connected to your customers, vendors, and suppliers through PDA access as well as web access
• Store your data centrally, more efficiently
• Stay safe with Anti-spam & antivirus integration
• Integrated technologies such as faxing from your PC

Key Benefits we’ve found most important to our clients that already have an SBS server

• SBS 2008 now allows a 2nd server to act as a Backup Active Directory Replication Server
• Easier migration from older versions of SBS
• More end user capacity, better multi site integration
• Better management console, better integration of remote admin tools

Add this solid solution to your business and see immediate benefits to your bottom line, efficiency, and productivity. Allow AMRCON to provide an ODS solution for on going maintenance/support and keep it running at maximum efficiency. Your end users, clients and vendors will wonder how you’ve made such improvements to your operations so quickly. Give AMRCON a call to find out more or for a free consultation. 

Resources

• Direct link to Microsoft Small Business Server: http://www.microsoft.com/sbs/en/us/default.aspx