We're back!

The observant amongst you would have noticed that techbytes took a little holiday in 2009 - but, we're back now. Were projectfive unusual in bucking the economic trend and having a very busy start to the year? It would be great to hear from you if you've noticed similar success stories.

We've got lots to update you on - but to save you from having too long read this month, we've left a few articles in reserve for the next edition.

This newsletter contains the usual blend of information, but with a little more humour thrown in - take a look at our highlights of the April Fool stories that did the rounds earlier this week. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

Kate Lester, of Diamond Logistics, has contributed this month's guest article - a nice little look at the benefits of outsourcing (without mentioning 'technology outsourcing' once!). We hope you find this useful.

But first, I'll start with an important update on Internet Explorer 8 - it will be pushed by Microsoft at the end of April...

Steve Coburn.

April Fools news round-up...

Need a holiday?

Outsourcing – the User’s Guide
by Kate Lester, Managing Director of Diamond Logistics

As sick as we are of the terms ‘credit crunch’ and ‘recession’ you can’t escape from the realities of an economic downturn.   Sales aren’t easy to come by and margins are affected so it’s essential to look at costs to survive.  The company still needs human resources, a despatch department, a marketing guru and a financial director – it’s just you can no longer justify that cost on a full time basis.

With five weeks holidays now the acceptable norm, employers’ NI contributions set to rise, not to mention sick pay, maternity and paternity leave and employment law issues, the costs of employing staff has never been more expensive.  What do you do?  The wise companies are outsourcing.

Click here to read the whole of Kate Lester's guest article

What are we doing this month?

Preparing for Talks, Seminars and Exhibitions seems to be the trend this month. We'll be exhibiting at the forthcoming Guildford Grow Your Business exhibition (on the 13th May), and the North Surrey Business Expo (Kempton Park on the 23rd June).

Plus, Steve will be talking at an Outsourcing Seminar run by Harrison Rose, Baker Tilly, Decherts and Standard Life. With a company chosen to represent each main discipline, we're pleased that projectfive have been chosen to represent the outsourced IT world.

On the technology side, the team are working to welcome several new customers to the fold with a couple of server installations; install a Leased Line connection for a prominent local solicitors; and prepare an updated and comprehensive Disaster Recovery solution for an equally prominent local accountancy firm.

And, believe it or not, we now own two SMART cars. The designs for which are being worked on at the moment - we hope to have them on the road very soon.

Thank you for reading techbytes - we hope you found it useful, and didn't miss us too much.