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Business Enhancement Diagnostic Test |
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The value of a business is largely driven by a company’s pre-tax EBITDA (Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), also known as adjusted earnings. However, there are many intangibles that also play a large part in determining business value. If a business owner recognizes and enhances these intangible factors in advance, he or she can maximize the value of the company. Although every business is unique, buyers tend to evaluate potential acquisitions in a similar manner. Drawing upon our experience in the marketplace, Sun Mergers & Acquisitions has developed a diagnostic questionnaire to enable business owners to identify potential areas to improve in advance of selling their company. This analysis focuses on management, human relations, sales and marketing, operations and finance. There are 22 diagnostic questions and related action items that will help a business owner to recognize deficiencies and take pro-active steps to enhance value. If you would like to receive the Business Enhancement Diagnostic, please email sg@sunmerger.com.
This article was contributed by:
Stephen Goldberg
Managing Director
Sun Mergers & Acquisitions
(201) 727-1300
sg@sunmerger.com
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IND Launches "Dust to Diamonds" Technology Outreach Program
Helping Our Community Thrive, Through Technology, Passion and Drive! |
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IND has launched a program to support local charities and non-profit organizations by providing free technology equipment that has been donated by corporate customers. IND will act as the facilitator of the connection and also offers data scrubbing services to the donating company.
IND's Dust to Diamonds program recaptures the value of used technology equipment so that significant savings and benefits are realized by non-profit organizations, while at the same time decreasing the amount of usable technology equipment that needlessly goes to landfills.
As part of the program, IND reviews potential donations from donor organizations for placement at participating nonprofit organizations. IND also provides free pickup and delivery of equipment located in Northern New Jersey.
Learn More
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Viruses Come in Many Different Shapes & Forms |
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The Internet brings with it the ease of finding something at the touch of a button but it also can bring several dangers to your network and your computer. Without the right protection, your computer is subject to many of the dangers that the Internet holds. Always be on alert for viruses as they can completely destroy your computer system and network. One way to help protect against these potential issues is by making sure that your Anti-virus software is always up-to-date. Many dangers to be watchful of come in the form of a virus and can be identified as follows:
E-mail virus: This type of virus travels when a corrupted file attached to an email is opened. The virus then goes into the user's address book and sends the same attachment to each contact and replicates itself from there. While, the virus travels by e-mail, it does not travel outside the message -- it travels in files attached to e-mail messages only.
Time bomb: This type of virus is programmed to activate after a certain amount of time.
Trojan horse: This type of virus seems to be something else, such as a game, but when opened is actually a virus that moves throughout your computer.
Worm: Worms make copies of themselves as quickly as possible on as many computers as possible by finding a security hole in a network and then quickly copy themselves from computer to computer.
The implementation and management of antivirus protection is crucial to maintaining a stable environment. Internet threats are spreading at rapid speeds, but fortunately there are outstanding anti-virus software packages available with diverse features to counteract these menaces. Your network could be suffering from viruses and other types of malware that are preventing you from achieving optimal performance and you may not even know it. Do not allow your systems to be vulnerable to these potential dangers. If you don’t know if you’re protected, or have not regularly updated your anti-virus software contact IND today.
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Vista Preview: Organization of Vista - An All New Look |
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Windows Vista gives you more flexibility when you search and organize your files. New controls, like the Instant Search box and Enhanced Column Headers, make it simple for you to manage large amounts of on-screen data in any way that you want.
Desktop Search
With Windows Vista, you no longer have to remember where you store every file. Instead, to find a file, you need to only remember something about it, such as a word contained within a document, the artist of a song, or the date a picture was taken. Powerful, integrated desktop search capabilities help you find just about anything on your computer quickly, without having to search for it by browsing through folders. For example, in the new Start Menu, it is as simple as typing a word, a phrase, a property, or any part of a file name into the embedded Instant Search box to instantly find the file that you want.
A new yet familiar look to the Start menu in Windows Vista.
To make searching even more efficient, Windows Vista enables you to add or edit file properties or data associated with a file, like a keyword on a document, the artist of a song, or the event where a picture was taken, to make it easier for you to find in the future. For example, you could add a "graduation" keyword to photos taken at a graduation ceremony when you save them to your computer. Later, just search for "graduation" in the Instant Search box in the start menu or the Windows Photo Gallery, and all the graduation-related pictures will be displayed.
Instant Search is available in any Explorer window, giving you easy access to your information anytime you need it.
Search Folders
Windows Vista introduces Search Folders, a powerful new tool that makes it easy to find and organize your files—wherever they may be on your PC. A Search Folder is simply a search that you save. Opening a Search Folder instantly runs that saved search, displaying up-to-date results immediately.
For example, you could design a search for all documents that are authored by "John" and that contain the word "project." This search, titled "Author John/Keyword Project" is saved as a Search Folder. When you open this Search Folder, the search runs, and you see the results immediately. As you add more files to your computer that have the author John and contain the word "project," those files will also appear in the Search Folder alongside the other matching files, regardless of where they are physically saved on your PC. It is simple and fast.
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Enabling Built-In E-Mail Archiving |
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Most e-mail clients include a way to archive your email (i.e. store it somewhere else on your computer so that your inbox is not so full). There are several advantages of doing this, not the least of which is helping your computer to run faster and your email to work quicker. Outlook, one of the more widely used email clients, allows you to configure its AutoArchive capabilities in the following manner:
1. Choose Tools, Options. Outlook displays the Options dialog box.
2. On the Other tab, click the AutoArchive button. Outlook displays the AutoArchive dialog box.
3. Use the controls in the dialog box to specify how you want archiving performed by Outlook. If you get an average amount of e-mail, archiving every two weeks (the default) should be sufficient. You should make sure the other settings result in moving older items to the archive folders and deleting them from your regular inbox area.
4. Click OK twice to close all the dialog boxes. Outlook (and some other e-mail clients) allows you to specify archiving on a folder-by-folder basis. In Outlook, just right-click a folder and choose Properties. In the dialog box, use the AutoArchive tab to configure archiving for the specified folder.
If you do not already use archiving in your email system you should strongly think about it. Even some online emails allow you to archive, but be careful when doing as they only allow you to store a certain number of emails and will stop archiving when your limit is reached.
In addition to the manual features to auto-archive your mail there are many automation options to perform these tasks company wide so you can be sure that everyone in the organization is archiving. If you would like more information or assistance in setting this up in your environment contact IND today!
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