Well having trialled Zendesk for a while, i have decided that it is time that i updated my Old Help Desk Solution that i had in place.

The reson for this is that i have found Zendesk to be scalable, easy to manage as well as easy to engage customers on modern platforms, an example of this is twitter integration – generation of tickets from an email and mobile applications for major platforms such as IOS and Android

an added bomus of Zendesk is that it conforms to cloud computing, is not managed on my servers so is one less thing for me to worry about

I have changed the domain mapping so users can still visit the support centre by navigating to

http://support.laronline.co.uk

sending an email to support@laronline.zendesk.com

Or by using Twitter @LAROnline

In the future i will be integrating Zendesk to WordPress which is the back end of this website

Cloud computing -  A phrase that has been batted around over the past year or so. A simple principle, however as with some other new technology’s everyone seems to have a different definition.

Now the industry that I work in, ‘The Cloud’ is referred to quite often. however it normally denotes   infrastructure that were not concerned with or have no control/viability over, for example the rest of the internet,

Cloud Computing -  is the delivery of computing as a Service rather than a product.
Resources,  software & Information are provided to the users as a utility. basically virtual servers available over the internet, without end user knowledge of the physical location and configuration

Now as i use many different types of devices. I am a big fan of storing data centrally, making it easy for me to access the required information from anywhere at any time. i do this mainly via hosted services,   space i rent out at a Data Centre’s, central Servers etc….  Cloud computing differs from this. Cloud resources could reside on-premise or off-premise at a service provider location. Cloud computing can take the form of public clouds, private clouds, inter-clouds, or Hybrid Clouds.

You begin to see the benefits of Cloud Computing when you think about what IT infrastructure always needs – A way to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. This is why it goes hand in hand with Virtualization. Cloud computing encompasses any subscription-based or pay-per-use service that, in real time over the Internet, extends IT’s existing capabilities.

The fundamentals of it are something that i find interesting so intend to embark on a few Cloud Computing projects, hence i have created a new category in my blog

….. Watch out for more to come

Steve Jobs – a visionary for Apple. Not only a great business man and product designer but i quote a phrase from him  what  i think everyone should interoperate into the professional career

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

I was approached by Alpha Upholstery in late 2010  in order to commission a website for them which would help to better promote their business, reach a greater target audience and provide a means of contact for their customers.
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I am currently working on a website for Alpha Upholstery. One of the things that the client asked for was a News section. Now i wanted to impliment this in such a way that would allow them to have access and update their own News Content.

For this reason i decided to implement a blog for them, Hosted at LAR Online -  giving them a sign on means that they can keep their news section of the website dynamic and freas

I was there for a week in order to manage & implement a LAN migration  of around 2000 end users. This included Cisco Switch Setup, IPT installs and installing Ethernet & wireless capability.  I was responsible for the management of  30+ engineers to ensure that tight deadlines were met
To read more CLICK HERE
To see a testimonial from NSC Global CLICK HERE

www.alphaupholstery.co.uk

Well after a lot of communication with the old website providers for Alpha Upholstery i have finialy had the IPS tags ammended and the domain assigned to my registrar who in turn have pointed it to their nameservers, which direct it to the servers to which i host. The DNS has now propagated globally  and www.alphaupholstery.co.uk has been swallowed up into the LAR Network

…. Also took the opertunity to develop a ‘Under Construction Banner’ too  :D which i adapted from a user @ Deviantart

I just finished implementing an invoice system for LAR Online

due to work i am doing for clients at the moment i wanted to set up an invoice method that could not only keep track of payments   but also deal with the hassle of re occurring invoices .

As a result i have implemented Siwapp this is a freeware tool that is licensed under  MIT

… Some features include

• Simple & straightforward
  It does only one thing, but does it very well.
• Comfortable
  Everything is placed where you are expecting to find it.
• Useful
  Manage invoices with different serial numbers (as rectification invoices).
• Pretty
  Obtain printable pdf versions of the invoices, with a professional look & feel.
• Flexible
  Save drafts of your invoices and continue editing them later.
• Productivity – oriented
  Automatically generate invoices on a periodic basis.
• Anywhere
  Bill from any internet connection enabled place using a secure & restricted access.
• Secure
  Meets all your privacy and security requirements, and allows you to backup your data on your computer at any time.

this can be accessed via

invoice.laronline.co.uk

With Various Web Site projects that i have been undertaking recently. I have been researching a way to allow my users to view reports on their websites that i have designed, hosted or both. Enabling them to see vital statistics such as number of visits and where them visits were referred from or geographically located

I wanted to incorporate not only a user friendly report but perhaps a system that emailed them the information periodically without me having to initiate it

Obtain support for LAR Services

I am Currently working on a Support Desk. This system will allow clients to log in and submit support tickets for help, advice, or requests on services that i provide. I found that using a ticketing based method will allow me to keep track of my work load more easily

I only have a few more thinks to go  over so it should be live very shortly

However the beta is available by either clicking on the above image or navigating to

http://support.laronline.co.uk