Business Topics
Many BizNix presentation topics have less to do with the details about technology and more to do with making better business decisions. Here are a few examples of these topics:
Hiring Computer Literate People
What does it mean to be computer literate? What computer skills do people need to be productive employees? Do these skills ever/always trump skills that are specific to your business? This presentation will challenge your assumptions about this issue.
Certifications
If you need to hire a technical person to run your network or support desktop computer users, do you seek out someone with a computer industry certification? Are they always more competent than those without certifications? How do certifications affect salaries? This presentation will bring you up to speed on the issues.
Local Outsourcing
If you're a small business, hiring consultants and service firms is often the best value for computer support. Bigger companies do better with their own support staff, but where's the break-even point? This presentation examines various factors and strategies for outsourcing computer support, including application support.
Linux On the Desktop?
Linux is great for backroom applications like servers but how useful is it for the desktop? That depends on who you ask and what you want to do. Years of vendor monopolies, proprietary hardware, and intellectual property issues put a crimp on using Linux for some applications, like multimedia. However, in most other ways, Linux is far more secure, and enjoys a very low total cost of ownership - depending on how you define TCO.
Mac On the Desktop?
Apple's Mac product line lost the battle of the corporate desktop years ago but the main reason was purchase price. Windows-based computers may cost less at purchase but the long term cost of ownership is high: you need extra-cost virus and SpyWare scanners, you suffer down time while recovering from viruses and attacks, etc. If Windows insecurities result in identity theft the cost could be extremely high. Todays Macs are much more secure than Windows, have a well-integrated and sexy grahical interface, have a lower operating cost, and can also run Windows. It's worth a look.
Ready for SaaS?
Software As A Service. It's what many of us will be using in the post-PC software world. SaaS is here now - Google Apps is one example. This presentation will cover the tradeoffs of this new way of computing.