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Customer Referrals
It is widely recognised that the way a business grows and develops is dependant upon how that business delivers its service to its customers.
We have been working very hard at AKM to improve our level of service to you by introducing new initiatives and internal processes. It is our mission to ensure that we do all that we can to guarantee that your experiences with AKM and its team is of the highest quality and standards.
There are many of you that already recognise the services we provide and how much of a positive impact we have on your business and its operations. So why not share our services with your colleagues and business associates?
Every time you recommend a business to AKM for any of the services that we can provide, we will offer you a gift of our technician’s time as a thank you.
It’s as simple as that, what have you got to loose?
Please see our Customer Referral Scheme for full details.
Ely Chamber
The Ely Chamber of Commerce is looking to organise a business exhibition allowing businesses to showcase their services and meet potential customers.
We would really appreciate your feedback. Do you think it is a good idea? What would you like to see?
Please complete our quick survey to measure your thoughts on having a business exhibition in Ely.
Coming Soon - Sage HR
Changes in employment legislation mean that remaining compliant and managing your people is more important than ever for small businesses.
Even when a company does not manage its own payroll, there is still a need to manage staff through appraisals and disciplinary procedures, or to control absences.
Sage will be launching a new HR program at the end of November. The program will include all the features available in Sage Personnel with the addition of the new report designer, an improved user interface, document management and Microsoft Excel integrated reporting. Sage HR will also work alongside Sage Payroll 2007 to deliver the complete people solution.
If you are interested in finding out more about this program once it is launched, please contact tammy@akm-it.co.uk.
Web Based Support
At AKM we have a web-based call logging system to record all support issues and queries for our customers.
For those of you that are subscribed to our Assist Platinum, Assist Platinum Plus and Assist Emerald Plus service you already have direct access to this web based system to record, monitor and track your reported issues. Nothing is hidden, all detail is available to you so you can check and evaluate the service AKM is providing to you on a regular basis.
As part of our mission to improve the level of service provided to our customers, we have introduced a number of changes with this call logging system.
- Now every time a call is recorded for your business, the key contact will receive an email to advise that it has been received and assigned to an individual within the AKM team.
- Every time that call is updated by one of the AKM team, the key contact will receive an email advising of the action taken during that update process.
- When that call has been completed, the key contact will receive an email to advise the total time taken by the AKM team to resolve the reported issue.
- At all stages of that calls life cycle the key contact is encouraged to view its progress via a web link.
The next big change is that again for our Assist Platinum, Assist Platinum Plus and Assist Emerald Plus customers the key contact will receive an email on the 1st of each month that summarises the calls or actions that have taken place on the account during the previous month. If you don’t receive one then it means that you haven’t needed us during the period.
If you would like to view use the system but have forgotten your login details, please email helpdesk@akm-it.co.uk.
The Techie Bit - Firewalls
What is a firewall? A film starring Harrison Ford perhaps? In computing terms it is generally a piece of software, hardware or both that protects a computer or network from the internet.
Different forms of firewall include the following:
- Personal firewalls such as the Windows XP service pack 2 firewall, Mcafee or Norton Internet Security. Generally for use on a standalone PC with an ADSL internet connection.
- Firewall appliances such as layer 3 switches with embedded software. Many ADSL routers perform these functions, others include SOHO fireboxes, Draytek Vigor routers, Nokia IP and CISCO Routers.
- Proxy servers which act as an intermediary in any internet communications. You request the website from the proxy, the proxy then gets it from the internet for you.
Firewalls can also be a combination of systems used to produce a security policy that will protect a network.
For most of our customers with ADSL broadband connections your router will act as all the firewall you’ll need. They hide your internal network from the outside world by giving your computers addresses that can’t be accessed from the internet, a process called Network Address Translation.
Imagine your internet connection as a multilane highway (the M1 for example) there are lots of lanes going each way. Some come out of your network and some come in. In the most basic of arrangements your router will stop any inbound lanes like a big roadblock, while outbound traffic is allowed.
A process called “stateful packet inspection” allows only information you request back through the roadblock while other traffic remains blocked. Imagine the policeman on the roadblock only letting red cars through and only on a specific lane.
Firewalls let you allow people in to see a webmail system, or access a PC for remote desktop but block any other forms of access to your network. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) Firewall router will allow users with a password, complete unrestricted access to a network and will encrypt anything sent across the internet. These are ideal for businesses that want home workers to access their documents, emails and databases from remote locations.
A firewall doesn’t offer complete protection for your network, they can be compromised by misuse. Downloading peer to peer files sharing programs from the web can open up access through software firewalls and in some cases have completely disabled software firewalls. Many websites will surreptitiously download programs that do the same without you noticing. The tendency is for people to always click the “allow” button when faced with a choice. For this reason we always recommend that you have a router for your internet connection. Please be very careful when downloading programs from the internet. Anything that lets you download free music and movies could be highly illegal and at the same time compromise the security of your PC, Network and all of the data it contains.
If in any doubt please contact a member of the team at AKM.
Sage Offers
Instant Accounts
OFFER 1
Upgrade to Instant Accounts v12, buy Instant Payroll and get Instant Forecasting FREE
Pricing for those without SageCover on Instant Accounts - £159.14 ex. VAT
Pricing for those already with SageCover on Instant Accounts - £144.16 ex. VAT (20% discount for SageCover)
OFFER 2
Upgrade to Instant Accounts v12, buy Instant Payroll and get Instant Forecasting FREE plus SageCover.
As part of this offer, customers who renew or buy SageCover on Instant Accounts AND Instant Payroll, get FREE SageCover on Instant Forecasting for one year
Pricing is as above plus £84.26 ex. VAT for Instant Accounts SageCover and £84.26 ex. VAT for Instant Payroll SageCover
N.B. This offer is only available to Instant Accounts customers. This is a suites offer and items must not be bought and then resold as individual units. Instant Upgrade Suites are available from 1st August 2006 until 30th September 2006.
Meet the Team - Dan
There is another member of the AKM team that many of you have never met or spoken to. Dan does exist, he sits quietly in the corner, programming databases, making sure that all run smoothly.
Dan joined the team over 2 years ago and came from a company that designed and built its own Payroll software. His key role was the development of the software for the open market and managing any subsequent glitches within the program. Unfortunately restructuring within the business meant that he needed to find a new job and that’s when he joined us. Lucky us!
Dan is the key programmer within AKM. He helps design, build, implement and support all the Information Management Systems that AKM have provide to our customers. He is an expert in Visual Basic and Access VBA programming and is getting to grips with Visual Basic .Net more and more each day.
Personal bit
He has been living with his partner now for just over 7 months and they are blissfully happy (give it time I hear you cry!)
He is has a 5th stripe in Kung Fu and has been practicing in the sport for 3 years. Suffice to say he is very good at it!
He has a passion for motorbikes and often travels around the UK for bike shows and ‘get togethers’ and we all know that these entail lots of beer!
He hasn’t got a nickname yet – any suggestions?
if you would like to provide us with feedback about any of our products or services please email feedback@akm-it.co.uk or complete our anonymous feedback form
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