independenceIT

Independence IT has announced it will return as a sponsor of Musikfest.  One of the summer’s hottest Lehigh Valley attractions, Musikfest 2010 will be held August 6-15 in downtown Bethlehem, PA.  The event is a pro-arts initiative of its parent organization, ArtsQuest, which aims to celebrate the arts and culture of the Greater Lehigh Valley, PA area.  By becoming involved with programs like Musikfest that foster a sense of community and culture, Independence IT is having a positive impact on the region.

Since its inception in 1984, Musikfest has become well-known for organizing fun-filled festivals for a great cause. Drawing artists from nearly every musical genre, Musikfest attracts a crowd of more than one million people to celebrate music and the arts together.  This year, the ‘fest offers more than 300 performances over the course of ten days on 14 different stages – 11 of which are free and require no admission ticket thanks, in part, to sponsors like Independence IT.  Confirmed acts include Lynyrd Skynyrd, Counting Crows, Norah Jones, Augustana, Adam Lambert and Martina McBride.  All proceeds from Musikfest are donated to a variety of nonprofit groups in the region, including The Banana Factory, ArtQuest’s community arts center and gallery in Bethlehem.

“At Independence IT, we’re pleased to again support Musikfest this summer,” said company CEO Tony Whitton.  “For more than a decade we’ve been helping small companies in the Lehigh Valley get the benefits of using technology to grow their businesses without the hassle of owning and maintaining it.  Sponsorship of Musikfest enables us to extend our involvement with the local community in a fun and meaningful way.”

By securely providing all the business applications an employee needs through “the cloud” (i.e. over the Internet), Independence IT helps companies give their workers the freedom to work where and when they will be most productive – in the office, at home, or on the road.

Go to our event page to see some of our employees with their signs. But, we can’t win. So, print the sign, take your picture, and enter it into the contest.

See the pictures:
On the Road Photo Contest
Contest Ends on June 30, 2010

View the guidelines and print the sign at:
www.independenceit.com/ontheroad

Independence IT,  today announced that it has completed its semi-annual SAS 70 (Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70: Service Organizations) Type II audit.  This certification verifies that Independence IT has the proper internal controls and processes in place to deliver high quality services to its clients.    

 SAS 70 Corp., a licensed CPA firm, performed the audit and appropriate testing of Independence IT’s controls that may affect its clients’ financial statements.  Tested on five elements of internal control, including Control Environment, Risk Assessment, Control Activities, Information/Communication and Monitoring, the SAS 70 Type II audit report includes Independence IT’s description of controls as well as the detailed testing of its controls over a minimum six-month period.   Independence IT completed its first SAS 70 audit in 2006.

 “Serving as the virtual IT department for our clients, it is critical that they have peace of mind that solid internal controls and processes have been established at Independence IT,” said Tony Whitton, CEO at Independence IT.  “We are committed to providing our clients with the highest quality services and this evaluation process demonstrates our ability to deliver consistent and reliable services and helps our clients meet the requirements of governmental and industry regulations, such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA.”

 “Many of the Independence IT clients rely on their systems to process or store sensitive data,” said Joseph Kirkpatrick, senior auditor with SAS 70 Corp.  “As a result, Independence IT has implemented best practice controls demanded by their customers to address Information Security risks.  Our third-party opinion validates these controls and the tests we perform provide assurance regarding the managed solutions provided by Independence IT.”

 SAS 70 Type II is a widely recognized auditing standard for service organizations that was established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).  The standard demonstrates that an organization has adequate controls and processes in place.  Federal regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, Gramm-Leach-Bliley and the Health Insurance Profitability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) require corporations to audit the internal controls of their suppliers, including those that provide technology services.

Download Our Free Industry Whitepaper – 8 Reasons to Outsource Your Desktop in The Cloud

http://independenceit.com/whitepaper.asp

Happy New Year!

Lehigh Valley Entrepreneur is an online video magazine for entrepreneurs and the business community.  Chip Buck was this month’s featured entrepreneur and explained the concepts of cloud computing.  You can find his video on the home page of their web site.  It is also located on their Technology Page under the title:  Cloud Computing Defined.

http://www.lehighvalleyentrepreneur.tv/

From now until 12/31/2009, IndependenceIT will waive all setup fees for new clients signing up for our hosting services.
　
Every little bit helps. You’ve heard that phrase a hundred times. In the current economy, we are all striving to live those words and search for cost savings for our organizations. With IndependenceIT’s hosting services, our clients are able to stretch their IT budget and improve technology practices—a true win/win. We hope over the coming weeks we can reach more companies and show them how using our state-of-the-art information technology can reduce costs, improve technology and breath new life into an organization.

Many IndependenceIT clients view their decision to embrace professional hosting and IT management as a “game-changing” moment. Whether your business sees economic recovery on the horizon or you are fighting for every advantage, IndependenceIT can help you meet your challenges.

　
If you have any questions on our setup fees or any of our services, please contact IndependenceIT’s Sales Team. We will be glad to discuss this information in greater detail.

www.independenceit.com/contactus.asp

  888.299.4552    888.299.4552 ext.3

Just today, I read an article about hackers who are targeting small businesses and gaining access to their bank accounts.   The link to this article is listed below.  No organziation, no matter how small, is exempt from becoming a target of computer or data theft.

We are constantly on the lookout for these types of stories to make sure we know what the “enemy” is doing and to help us protect our clients from these invasions. 

Please make sure that you have excellent security in place to prevent this from happening to you.  If you have questions about the level of security in place for your organziation, please call us to discuss how we protect our clients and how you can benefit from our services.

http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/topstocks/archive/2009/08/26/gangs-scam-small-businesses.aspx

independenceIT announces new promotions within the organization:

Charles Buck was recently promoted to Chief Operating Officer (COO).  Chip will also continue to act as the Chief Technology Officer.

Jason Shivok was promoted to Technology Manager.  Jason moved up from the Technology Group where he held the title of Senior Engineer.  

Michael Kincaid was promoted to Operations Manager.  Previously, Michael was the Senior Operations Engineer and Supervisor.

Congratulations everyone on a job well done and good luck in your new positions.

Are you or your employees thinking about telecommuting but you are not sure how to manage it?

independenceIT will manage the technical aspects of the project.  We can have you telecommuting on the 1st day of using our service - easily and very cost effectively.

Are you unsure about how to manage your employees if they are telecommuting?  There are many great resources on the Internet on this topic.  Here are some resources to start:

www.telework.gov

http://webworkerdaily.com/2009/06/26/ciscos-take-on-telecommuting-and-productivity/

Well, Monday we launched the new iIT brand identity.  The initial customer buzz is very positive, seems people really identify with the new name – it fits !!