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 The CTSI Tech Times
Monthly Updates from Your Business's IT Department
September, 2009 - Vol 1, Issue 5
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| Upcoming Area Events |
10/3 - Texas Tech vs. New Mexico
10/10 - Texas Tech vs. Kansas
State
10/12 - Columbus Day
10/16 - National Boss's Day
10/17 - Texas Tech at Nebraska
10/24- CTSI Tech Tailgate -
Texas Tech vs. Texas A&M - Join us before the game in lot C-4 for food, football, and fun! Brought to you by Cisco.
10/31- Texas Tech vs. Kansas
To have your event listed, please contact us.
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| Milestones |
- Brian Alley celebrated his seven-year anniversary with CTSI in September.
- Sarah Knowles joined the CTSI team, serving as a Dispatcher.
- Melanie Granzow will be helping us out this semester as a Marketing Intern.
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From David's Desk...
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Football season is well upon us, that wonderful time of year where each Saturday is a fun-filled event. Nothing compares with the excitement surrounding a Fall college football match-up, especially one between in-state rivals.
I am pleased to announce that CTSI and Cisco will be hosting a Tech Tailgate event, beginning two hours before kickoff of the Texas Tech versus Texas A&M game on October 24th. I would like to personally invite you to stop by, enjoy some good food, and take an opportunity to sit and visit with us in a family-friendly environment. We'll be set up on the south side of the C-4 parking lot. We value our clients, and always enjoy a chance to interact with you outside of the traditional workplace.
Cisco has partnered with us for many years on providing outstanding solutions to our clients. We are thrilled to have the privilege to team up with them on such a fun and spirited activity. We look forward to the pre-game festivities, and we hope to see you out there!
Until next time,
David D. Baucum
President, CTSI
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Unified Communications Explained
|
 One of the buzzwords currently being used in business and technology is the term "Unified Communications." It sounds important, and much fuss certainly is being made over the term, but what is it? The name isn't exactly self-explanatory.
Simply put, Unified Communications is a broad term used to describe the integration of all of your means of exchanging information. It is a combination of voice communication (phone calls), voice mail, e-mail, wireless, video, presence information, call routing, fax, customer information, and numerous other services.
By combining these items through a single, "unified" path, one can suddenly do things that they never could have before to become more productive, save money, and improve response time.
Starting off, you can conveniently run your computer, video, and voice data over the same physical line. No more running multiple cables or installing a multitude of jacks. Every PC and phone becomes a "node" on your network, greatly simplifying things. But that's just the beginning...
For example, by using "presence information" (knowledge of whether an employee is at his or her desk, and is not currently on the phone) and combining it with call control (how an incoming call is routed), you can intelligently route calls from customers to employees that you know are available. Such a setup greatly improves the perceived service a caller receives, and optimizes the efficiency of your staff.
By adding interactive voice response (IVR) to the above setup, you can further increase your group's productivity by handling some of your clients' calls automatically, or by having the system gather some preliminary information. With IVR, callers can verbally respond to menus or questions asked them by the phone system, saving you time and money.
Now, throw in Computer Telephony Integration (CTI), and your employees can have the customer's information pop up on their computer screen before they even answer the call that has been routed to them!
And that's just one of the customer-facing advantages of using Unified Communications. Imagine what you could do within your company with voicemails that appear in your e-mail inbox, the routing of incoming faxes as e-mail attachments to their intended recipients, and instant text or video messaging. The possibilities are endless.
For additional information about Unified Communications, and how it can help you to become more productive and provide better support to your customers, please feel free to contact us at CTSI. We'd be glad to help you determine the best approach for your particular situation.
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Going Green: Technology Tips to Reduce Energy Consumption
|
 "Go Green." These two little words bring up images of organic vegetables, compost piles, and recycled cups. But, businesses don't have to go that far to see some significant savings in the pocketbook. The technology industry is a major consumer of the country's energy. Below, we share a few "green" tips for users to prolong the life of equipment and save a little money along the way:
- The most obvious ways to save are easy to point out. Turn off your computer and your lights when leaving the office for the day (except when CTSI asks you to leave them on for an patch or upgrade, of course). It may take a few minutes to start up in the morning but turning off your machine saves energy in the evening and also increases the life of hardware. Look for technology devices that have the Energy Star label. Energy Star is the government's seal of energy efficiency.
- The Department of Energy also recommends that monitors be turned off if you're going to be away from your desk for 20 minutes or more and turning off the computer if you're going to be gone for two hours or more. One misconception on monitors is that screensavers conserve power--they don't. Turning your monitor off is always the recommended option.
- Plug electronic equipment into surge protectors. That way, it's easy to turn off several devices at once and your equipment is protected as best it can be in the event of a lightning strike or other weather phenomena that could damage your technology assets.
- Printing is another area that could use a little green inspiration. Using double-sided printing should be a standard procedure. Utilizing this printing method saves a great deal of paper and takes up less space in filing cabinets and notebooks.
- Notebook computers use much less energy than the traditional desktop model. Additionally, today's notebooks have a long battery life which allows for easy energy conservation simply because it does not have to be plugged into an outlet all the time.
"Going Green" is not easy. However, if we all do our part this will be a cleaner world and a better place to live. And, conserving energy through making small adjustments with today's technology also impacts us monetarily. In these uncertain economic times some extra money is always a welcome sight!
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Tips of the Month
|
Some handy time-saving shortcuts for both beginners and experts:
-
Everyone knows you can copy and paste cells in Excel, but a lot of times you want to do it quickly in a specific way. Turns out there are two simple keyboard shortcuts that let you copy cells quickly.
Move your cursor to a cell that you want to copy. Suppose you want to copy it down five times. Hit Shift+Down Arrow four times to select the four cells below your current one. Then press Ctrl+D. Whatever is in the first cell is copied to fill the remaining cells. (Whatever was in those cells is overwitten.)
You can do the same thing to the right with Shift+Right Arrow and Ctrl+R.
-
Most people know that if you press the "Print Screen" button on your keyboard (which may be labelled "Prnt Scrn") you'll capture a screenshot of everything on your screen.
However, you may not know that if you press Alt+Prnt Scrn, you get a copy of only the currently selected window. You won't get the taskbar or any other windows on your display. Then you can run a program (such as Microsoft Word or the Paint application included with Windows) and press Ctrl+V to paste in the screen shot.
- When in the Calendar view for Microsoft Outlook and browsing around different dates, you can press Alt+O and you'll jump to today's date.
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Staff Spotlight
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Meet Sarah Knowles
Sarah is one of the newest members to our CTSI family. She is coming to us from C.H. Robinson Logistics Company. We are excited to have her on-board, and want everyone to know a little more about her.
What is your title, and what do you do at CTSI?
Tell us about your family, and pets (if you have any)
- I have a wonderful husband named Jeff and an 11 ½ month old little boy, Ty. Ty just started walking, so he is keeping me very active these days.
What do you do in your free time? (hobbies, places you like to visit)
-
I spend a lot of time with my family, especially my son. I do enjoy gardening. This past season I grew tomatoes, squash, zucchini, and green chilies. I recently traveled to Port Aransas on vacation with my family. We were there during the off season, it was empty, and I loved it.
If you weren't working in the business technology sector, what would you be doing?
-
I would be an artist. I would paint and do crafts.
Tell us your favorite things about Lubbock.
- My husband is a Texas Tech Alumnus, so we love those Red Raiders. Lubbock is the perfect place to be centered between our families in Snyder and Eastern New Mexico.
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| Helen's Recipe of the Month |
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Helen Burns, CTSI's Purchasing Manager, has been with the company for almost nine years. In addition to her purchasing duties, Helen serves as our unofficial party coordinator. Helen (with help from our administrative assistant, Nancy Clark) makes sure we celebrate every staff member's birthday as well as various holidays by providing a wide range of delectable treats. Without further ado, from Helen's kitchen to you, here's a recipe--enjoy!
Super Sliders
Sandwiches:
1 Dozen Hawaiian Sweet Rolls
1/2 lb shaved deli ham, turkey, beef, or pastrami
4 oz grated Colby-Jack cheese
Sauce:
1 stick butter, melted
1 tbs dry onion flakes
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp mustard, any variety
Divide the deli meat and cheese evenly and place between sliced rolls to make the sandwiches. Place in an 8 X 11 baking pan. Combine the sauce ingredients and pour over sandwiches. Cover and refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours. Bake (covered) for 15 minutes at 350 degrees, then remove the cover and continue baking for 10 more minutes. Serve warm.
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See You Next Month!
Miss a prior newsletter? See our newsletter archive.
Thank you for giving us the privilege of serving you! If there are any topics that you would like us to cover in future newsletters, please drop us a line.
Sincerely,
|
3223 S. Loop 289, Suite 556
Lubbock, TX 79423
Voice: 806.793.8961
Fax: 806.793.8968
www.ctsinet.com
|
|
The CTSI Tech Times
Monthly Updates from Your Business's IT Department
September, 2009 - Vol 1, Issue 5
|
|
| |
| Upcoming Area Events |
10/3 - Texas Tech vs. New Mexico
10/10 - Texas Tech vs. Kansas
State
10/12 - Columbus Day
10/16 - National Boss's Day
10/17 - Texas Tech at Nebraska
10/24- CTSI Tech Tailgate -
Texas Tech vs. Texas A&M - Join us before the game in lot C-4 for food, football, and fun! Brought to you by Cisco.
10/31- Texas Tech vs. Kansas
To have your event listed, please contact us.
|
| Milestones |
- Brian Alley celebrated his seven-year anniversary with CTSI in September.
- Sarah Knowles joined the CTSI team, serving as a Dispatcher.
- Melanie Granzow will be helping us out this semester as a Marketing Intern.
|
|
|
From David's Desk...
|
Football season is well upon us, that wonderful time of year where each Saturday is a fun-filled event. Nothing compares with the excitement surrounding a Fall college football match-up, especially one between in-state rivals.
I am pleased to announce that CTSI and Cisco will be hosting a Tech Tailgate event, beginning two hours before kickoff of the Texas Tech versus Texas A&M game on October 24th. I would like to personally invite you to stop by, enjoy some good food, and take an opportunity to sit and visit with us in a family-friendly environment. We'll be set up on the south side of the C-4 parking lot. We value our clients, and always enjoy a chance to interact with you outside of the traditional workplace.
Cisco has partnered with us for many years on providing outstanding solutions to our clients. We are thrilled to have the privilege to team up with them on such a fun and spirited activity. We look forward to the pre-game festivities, and we hope to see you out there!
Until next time,
David D. Baucum
President, CTSI
|
Unified Communications Explained
|
One of the buzzwords currently being used in business and technology is the term "Unified Communications." It sounds important, and much fuss certainly is being made over the term, but what is it? The name isn't exactly self-explanatory.
Simply put, Unified Communications is a broad term used to describe the integration of all of your means of exchanging information. It is a combination of voice communication (phone calls), voice mail, e-mail, wireless, video, presence information, call routing, fax, customer information, and numerous other services.
By combining these items through a single, "unified" path, one can suddenly do things that they never could have before to become more productive, save money, and improve response time.
Starting off, you can conveniently run your computer, video, and voice data over the same physical line. No more running multiple cables or installing a multitude of jacks. Every PC and phone becomes a "node" on your network, greatly simplifying things. But that's just the beginning...
For example, by using "presence information" (knowledge of whether an employee is at his or her desk, and is not currently on the phone) and combining it with call control (how an incoming call is routed), you can intelligently route calls from customers to employees that you know are available. Such a setup greatly improves the perceived service a caller receives, and optimizes the efficiency of your staff.
By adding interactive voice response (IVR) to the above setup, you can further increase your group's productivity by handling some of your clients' calls automatically, or by having the system gather some preliminary information. With IVR, callers can verbally respond to menus or questions asked them by the phone system, saving you time and money.
Now, throw in Computer Telephony Integration (CTI), and your employees can have the customer's information pop up on their computer screen before they even answer the call that has been routed to them!
And that's just one of the customer-facing advantages of using Unified Communications. Imagine what you could do within your company with voicemails that appear in your e-mail inbox, the routing of incoming faxes as e-mail attachments to their intended recipients, and instant text or video messaging. The possibilities are endless.
For additional information about Unified Communications, and how it can help you to become more productive and provide better support to your customers, please feel free to contact us at CTSI. We'd be glad to help you determine the best approach for your particular situation.
|
|
|
| |
Going Green: Technology Tips to Reduce Energy Consumption
|
"Go Green." These two little words bring up images of organic vegetables, compost piles, and recycled cups. But, businesses don't have to go that far to see some significant savings in the pocketbook. The technology industry is a major consumer of the country's energy. Below, we share a few "green" tips for users to prolong the life of equipment and save a little money along the way:
- The most obvious ways to save are easy to point out. Turn off your computer and your lights when leaving the office for the day (except when CTSI asks you to leave them on for an patch or upgrade, of course). It may take a few minutes to start up in the morning but turning off your machine saves energy in the evening and also increases the life of hardware. Look for technology devices that have the Energy Star label. Energy Star is the government's seal of energy efficiency.
- The Department of Energy also recommends that monitors be turned off if you're going to be away from your desk for 20 minutes or more and turning off the computer if you're going to be gone for two hours or more. One misconception on monitors is that screensavers conserve power--they don't. Turning your monitor off is always the recommended option.
- Plug electronic equipment into surge protectors. That way, it's easy to turn off several devices at once and your equipment is protected as best it can be in the event of a lightning strike or other weather phenomena that could damage your technology assets.
- Printing is another area that could use a little green inspiration. Using double-sided printing should be a standard procedure. Utilizing this printing method saves a great deal of paper and takes up less space in filing cabinets and notebooks.
- Notebook computers use much less energy than the traditional desktop model. Additionally, today's notebooks have a long battery life which allows for easy energy conservation simply because it does not have to be plugged into an outlet all the time.
"Going Green" is not easy. However, if we all do our part this will be a cleaner world and a better place to live. And, conserving energy through making small adjustments with today's technology also impacts us monetarily. In these uncertain economic times some extra money is always a welcome sight!
|
Tips of the Month
|
Some handy time-saving shortcuts for both beginners and experts:
-
Everyone knows you can copy and paste cells in Excel, but a lot of times you want to do it quickly in a specific way. Turns out there are two simple keyboard shortcuts that let you copy cells quickly.
Move your cursor to a cell that you want to copy. Suppose you want to copy it down five times. Hit Shift+Down Arrow four times to select the four cells below your current one. Then press Ctrl+D. Whatever is in the first cell is copied to fill the remaining cells. (Whatever was in those cells is overwitten.)
You can do the same thing to the right with Shift+Right Arrow and Ctrl+R.
-
Most people know that if you press the "Print Screen" button on your keyboard (which may be labelled "Prnt Scrn") you'll capture a screenshot of everything on your screen.
However, you may not know that if you press Alt+Prnt Scrn, you get a copy of only the currently selected window. You won't get the taskbar or any other windows on your display. Then you can run a program (such as Microsoft Word or the Paint application included with Windows) and press Ctrl+V to paste in the screen shot.
- When in the Calendar view for Microsoft Outlook and browsing around different dates, you can press Alt+O and you'll jump to today's date.
|
Staff Spotlight
|
Meet Sarah Knowles
Sarah is one of the newest members to our CTSI family. She is coming to us from C.H. Robinson Logistics Company. We are excited to have her on-board, and want everyone to know a little more about her.
What is your title, and what do you do at CTSI?
Tell us about your family, and pets (if you have any)
- I have a wonderful husband named Jeff and an 11 ½ month old little boy, Ty. Ty just started walking, so he is keeping me very active these days.
What do you do in your free time? (hobbies, places you like to visit)
-
I spend a lot of time with my family, especially my son. I do enjoy gardening. This past season I grew tomatoes, squash, zucchini, and green chilies. I recently traveled to Port Aransas on vacation with my family. We were there during the off season, it was empty, and I loved it.
If you weren't working in the business technology sector, what would you be doing?
-
I would be an artist. I would paint and do crafts.
Tell us your favorite things about Lubbock.
- My husband is a Texas Tech Alumnus, so we love those Red Raiders. Lubbock is the perfect place to be centered between our families in Snyder and Eastern New Mexico.
|
|
| |
| |
| Helen's Recipe of the Month |
|
Helen Burns, CTSI's Purchasing Manager, has been with the company for almost nine years. In addition to her purchasing duties, Helen serves as our unofficial party coordinator. Helen (with help from our administrative assistant, Nancy Clark) makes sure we celebrate every staff member's birthday as well as various holidays by providing a wide range of delectable treats. Without further ado, from Helen's kitchen to you, here's a recipe--enjoy!
Super Sliders
Sandwiches:
1 Dozen Hawaiian Sweet Rolls
1/2 lb shaved deli ham, turkey, beef, or pastrami
4 oz grated Colby-Jack cheese
Sauce:
1 stick butter, melted
1 tbs dry onion flakes
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp mustard, any variety
Divide the deli meat and cheese evenly and place between sliced rolls to make the sandwiches. Place in an 8 X 11 baking pan. Combine the sauce ingredients and pour over sandwiches. Cover and refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours. Bake (covered) for 15 minutes at 350 degrees, then remove the cover and continue baking for 10 more minutes. Serve warm.
|
|
See You Next Month!
Miss a prior newsletter? See our newsletter archive.
Thank you for giving us the privilege of serving you! If there are any topics that you would like us to cover in future newsletters, please drop us a line.
Sincerely,
|
3223 S. Loop 289, Suite 556
Lubbock, TX 79423
Voice: 806.793.8961
Fax: 806.793.8968
www.ctsinet.com
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