Back in October 2008, JamesCash.co.uk joined HTG11, the first HTG Peer Group in the UK.  HTG groups consist of up to twelve IT companies who meet for two days every quarter to share ideas and best practices, plan and set goals, report financial data, and hold each other accountable.

Since we joined, HTG has been of massive benefit to JamesCash.co.uk and we’ve been able to benefit from the experience of our peers in a variety of ways.  For example, we were able to quickly select Connectwise as the platform on which to run our business, and we have worked closely with other members to get up to speed and obtain a faster initial return on our investment.

A typical meeting goes like this:

Day One

08:00 – 10 Minute Update: Each company presents a ten minute update on the last quarter including a review of the goals that were set at the last meeting. Failure is not an option.

10:30 – Business Plan: Each company presents a one page business plan that was developed in advance of the meeting.

12:00 – Lunch & Learn: This is sponsored by a vendor who will have around an hour to make a presentation to the group.  Vendors play a key role in the funding of HTG and cover the majority of costs.  Vendor sponsors include Connectwise, Zenith Infotech, HP, Sonicwall, Microsoft, Level Platforms and Emerson Power at the Platinum level.

14:00 – Sales Mastery: Each company shares their processes and answers to discussion questions around the area of sales.

15:00 – Employee Benefits: Each company shares a list of their employee benefits and answers to discussion questions.

16:00 – Challenges of a Difficult Economy: An open discussion around the challenges of a difficult economy.  Each company shares information about how they are changing their approach.

17:00 – Meeting closes for the day.

19:00 – Dinner: Sponsored by a vendor who attends and participates in discussion.

21:00 – Work continues in the bar!

Day Two

08:00 – Best Practice Idea Exchange: Each company presents a written best practice idea that has made/saved money involving a new technology, product, vendor or practice.

10:30 – Comparative Bidding: Each company presents a proposal completed before the meeting, based on a given scenario and specification.

12:00 – Lunch & Learn.

13:30 – Managed Services: Each company shares their best practices.

15:15 – Goal setting: Each company sets three goals to be completed by the next meeting.

17:00 – Meeting closes.

It’s easy to see from the agenda how this benefits JamesCash.co.uk.  We’re seeing rapid improvement in the way we operate and that’s in large part down to our involvement in HTG11.

As HTG11 is a new group there are a couple of spaces still open for new members.  If you are another IT company reading this, and you have five or more employees, and you’re interested in participating, please call me on 01384 880660 or email james@jamescash.co.uk.

This week saw the release of Windows 7 Release Candidate by Microsoft.  This is the latest version of Microsoft’s desktop operating system, scheduled for full release later this year and the replacement of the much maligned Vista operating system.

I downloaded Windows 7 RC as soon as it became available and I’m currently running it on my main laptop which I use all of the time.  So far, I have to say that I’m very impressed and my system is running significantly quicker than with Vista.  I’ve also installed 7 on an older low-spec netbook computer and performance is perfectly acceptable – I would have to say that it seems quicker than XP too! 

A couple of our clients have enquired about the new OS and we’ll be installing 7 for a couple of them to try out the RC.  If you would like to try it out, see the Microsoft Windows 7 site for more information.

Aside from the speed improvements, application compatibility will be far better than Vista when it was released.  Microsoft say that almost all applications that run on Vista will work on Windows 7.  There is also an “XP Compatibility” mode that will run older XP applications in a virtual machine, transparent to the user.

The lower hardware requirements of Windows 7 should mean than many users will be able to upgrade without having to fork out for new hardware.  Clients with Open Value Subscription Licensing or Software Assurance won’t even have additional licensing costs.

Windows 7 brings a whole load of improvements over previous versions in the areas of search, the taskbar/start menu and UAC whilst delivering useful new features such as encryption of removable drives, aero-shake, stacking and gamma-curve.  We’ll be bringing you more information about these in future blog articles.