by Matt Seaton

Business Under a Hung Parliament

A hung parliament is essentially the result of split voting, leaving no one political party with a majority of seats. This is commonplace in nations with proportional representation (i.e. Germany), however the United Kingdom utilise the first-past-the-post voting system in which such an outcome is very rare.

As of the 7th of May 2010, the UK has entered into a political period in which no single party can claim an absolute majority of seats within parliament. That does indeed mean that the UK is currently governed by a hung parliament, with Labour and the Conservatives holding almost equal seating power. This comes as a particularly large shock to the Liberal Democrats, who were expecting to garner far more votes this election period. Unless final counts tip in the favour of one single party as the majority rule, the UK could enter into a term of coalition governance.

Naturally, this is not the correct forum for direct and purely political discussion (- for all the latest developments regarding the UK parliamentary status, visit the BBC News website.). However it does raise some interesting questions for what this all means for businesses in the UK.

First and foremost, the negative effects of such parliamentary upset can be felt already. The pound (Sterling GBP) fell this morning to a 12 month low, now trading at $1.4639 (2% drop) and €1.1551 (1.6% drop) respectively. On top of this, the FTSE 100 has slumped considerably, loosing 100 points shortly after opening for trade this morning. This is an accumulative effect fuelled by both the uncertainty surrounding the UK’s parliamentary situation, as well as growing fears surrounding the Greek debt crisis.

The Guardian have quoted Howard Archer, Chief Economist at IHS Global Insight, as saying

“The key factor going forward is how quickly a new government can be formed and how well-equipped it is perceived to be to have a very real chance of taking, and getting through, the necessary strong action to rein in the public finances…”

There is no doubt that UK business is in a state of unease regarding the future progression of things to come. Party leaders are looking into workable methods of forming a new government, but these discussions are in their infancy.

Industry leaders across the UK are today calling for stability at the top level of politics. The situations surrounding this entire fiasco could ultimately lead to a panic-fuelled re-entry into a state of recession. A double-dip recession has been on the cards for some time, with a scenario like this a perfect example of how rapidly the prediction could become a reality.

So as of today, business in the UK will resume as normal. No individual party changes that could have effected business (both positively and negatively) will come into play, as no one party holds judgement over another. Until solid ideas are put forward as to how progression will unfold, care must be taken to avoid the hung parliamentary status effecting UK business for the worse.

by Matt Seaton

The Importance of Security Online – Facebook’s Error

It is easy to make the assumption that a large number of internet users today make use of social networking sites; most notably, Facebook. Click here to visit our profile page.

If you happened to be using Facebook yesterday evening (05/05/2010) you may have noticed that Facebook Chat was temporarily disabled for around 2 hours. Now it is routine for Facebook to temporarily disable certain areas of their site whilst performing system maintenance, or whilst rolling out new features and updates. However they tend to do this when system usage is at its lowest, normally when the majority of US and European users are offline. Yet this period of inactivity occurred some time roughly between the hours of 6pm and 9pm GMT.

What Facebook will not jump at the chance to tell you is that this was in fact due to a widespread security breach of its privacy settings across the entire system. For a period of time prior to the temporary removal of Facebook Chat, users were able to spy on the conversations of friends through the chat module. A video better explaining the process behind the breach has been posted to Digg.com, originally found on TechCrunch, which can be seen below.

Naturally, this post is not a simple run down of this Facebook security hole. This is, however, a useful tool in highlighting the importance of security online, particularly when dealing with end-user information. In this case, Facebook responded quickly and efficiently to the issue, which is an important factor to remember when dealing with sensitive user information. The quote below is a response from Facebook regarding the security flaw.

“For a limited period of time, a bug permitted some users’ chat messages and pending friend requests to be made visible to their friends by manipulating the “preview my profile” feature of Facebook privacy settings. When we received reports of the problem, our engineers promptly diagnosed it and temporarily disabled the chat function. We also pushed out a fix to take care of the visible friend requests which is now complete. Chat will be turned back on across the site shortly. We worked quickly to resolve this matter, ensuring that once the bug was reported to us, a solution was quickly found and implemented.”

So what does this mean when looking at security as a whole? Well it certainly illustrates the fact that even the biggest online service providers can make critical mistakes. Of course, this isn’t actually a security breach as such, with no external intrusion playing a part in this particular security issue. This was a strictly internal affair. Yet it still brings to light the importance of solid security when dealing with online information.

Netwise Hosting hold security as one of the single most important factors when considering any online service solution, whether that be a dedicated server platform, online backup solution or a tailored colocation package. With speed, security and stability being our standing three-point mantra, any solution hosted on our private network is subject to industry-leading security measures to ensure external breaches are drastically minimised (or even removed entirely).

Of course, how data is handled inside the network by site users is a different issue entirely, and relies on the efficiency of site operations and users own security measures. But with this still in consideration, surrounding your system with world class top-level security is hugely important in maintaining peace of mind, both for you as a system owner and as end-users of the system.

Avoid the drama of a security breach in every way you can. As mentioned, the Facebook fiasco was down to internal faults of their own, but maintaining a solid barrier against external intruders is still of severe importance. Visit Netwise Hosting today for an online service you can trust.

by Matt Seaton

IT Support

It’s all very well investing in the latest technologies, and having an impressive new IT system to enjoy in the workplace; but what happens when you hit a bump in the road and see no viable path around it?

Even tech-savvy users of advanced IT systems will inevitably find themselves in too deep when it comes to particularly stubborn problems. Of course, the likelihood of a new system failing is minimal to say the least; but there is still a slim possibility that an unforeseen and entirely unpredictable chain of events could lead to a system failure – be that partial or full. It is this slim possibility that must protected against.

This is where IT Support comes in. There are many different types of IT Support package out there, but the method receiving most attention in the modern realm of fast-paced business is ‘Pay-As-You-Go Support’. In the past, third party IT Support vendors would sign organisations up to contractual support packages, with set billing periods allowing the business in question to call upon the agreed services whenever the requirement arises. This works well, provided your system is encountering major faults on a frequent basis. Otherwise, your business is simply haemorrhaging money on a service that is far too elaborate and expensive to justify the cost. After all, any respected system manufacturer today will be producing technology with incredibly low failure rates.

Modern business needs a modern solution, and that solution is Pay-As-You-Go IT Support. Your business only pays for the support it requires, when it is required. A support team will be on hand to help whenever needed, at an agreed hourly rate to ensure all costs are well understood before work even begins.

Netwise Hosting – as leaders in the field of online IT services (dedicated servers, online backup and colocation) – are able to offer businesses a highly cost-effective Pay-As-You-Go IT Support service in the South London area, from professionals with a long serving history in all aspects of IT and IT Support. Remote Support is also available to those in need of quality long-distance IT Support.

This is not a service we are prepared to roll out on a large scale at this time, so we ask any businesses interested in such a service to please contact us directly and begin discussions.

by Matt Seaton

SEO Tips, Straight from Google

I have already spent some time in previous posts explaining the importance of SEO, paying particular attention to the importance of speed (as provided by a dedicated server platform) and the quality of your content. However I have yet to explore the bigger picture.

Rather than attempting to write out a length and detailed run-down off all things ‘SEO’, I thought it would in fact be far more useful to point readers in the direction of a fantastic presentation as put together by Matt Cutts (http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/) of Google. The presentation focuses on WordPress SEO optimisation, although the advice can be more broadly applied to any type of website. Also, seeing as a large number of users on our system employ the use of their dedicated servers for the distribution of blogs, I felt this guide would be of direct relevance to them.

Enjoy the presentation.

Direct links to the content providers are here at Viddler.com and here on Matt Cutts’ blog. The team here at Netwise Hosting hope that you find these resources useful.
by Matt Seaton

The my.NetwiseHosting Customer Portal and You

Whenever we speak with our clients, one thing that comes up very frequently is the need to consolidate. That is the need to consolidate all aspects of their service into one easy to manage location. Naturally, our wide array of products allow for all base-level online services to be entirely consolidated with us, such as our dedicated server range and our online backup facilities.

However we are now interested in taking this idea of total consolidation to the next level. This will greatly improve customer satisfaction as well as entirely streamlining the processes surrounding the ownership of a Netwise Hosting contract. Every aspect of a customer’s account can now be controlled from a central online location, ensuring clients have all the information they require in an instant. Couple this with our Single Point of Contact Account Management, and it becomes apparent just how rewarding a contract with Netwise Hosting can be.

So lets explore the new my.NetwiseHosting Customer Portal, and see what it can offer you as an end-user.
Firstly you will notice that the my.NetwiseHosting section of the website differs in appearance when compared directly with the main site. This is intentional, and ensures users understand the transition they have made from the main web pages to their own personalised portal. In this sense, users are taken into their own personal space, away from the public site and can enjoy the beginnings of a truly personal online experience.

The portal also handles all billing and payment methods, which makes any required alterations and recurring payments incredibly easy to handle. Invoicing, quotes and other such related documentation can all be handled digitally through the portal, meaning a singular point of contact for every single aspect of your account is maintained at all times. Handling such documentation online also aids in ensuring Netwise Hosting’s carbon footprint remains in check; ultimately allowing us to pass our savings in consumption onto you.

my.NetwiseHosting Customer Portal

Hosting such a complete method of managing your account with us online not only makes the management of your services easier as an end-user, but also translates into the more efficient inter-personal management of clients from our end. This in turn gives greater flexibility in all areas of service deployment and support; so vastly improving relationships between clients and Netwise Hosting. And as anyone will tell you, a business based on a solid working relationship is far healthier and endlessly more rewarding than the blank faceless provision of user services.

In summary, the primary aim of this new customer environment is to make life easier for our clients through complete and total consolidation of all contact and service related processes. It also helps Netwise Hosting to better deal with our growing customer base, which again benefits clients in the more efficient management of their needs and wants. Moving on from this, we would like to invite readers to register online with our new system and give it a try. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, as the portal should reflect everything our users want.

You can register by visiting the portal here and clicking the Register link at the top of the page.

We sincerely hope that you enjoy using the my.NetwiseHosting Customer Portal, and find it a useful and rewarding tool in the handling of all areas of your services with us.