Amazon Web Services (AWS) has made another dramatic price adjustment to its popular S3 cloud storage service. By modifying the organization of its pricing tiers, it is estimated that consumers will notice a drop of at least 20% in the monthly price they pay for the technology. Keep reading to learn more about these new price variants and the options that have been added to the “Glacier” cold storage program.

Amazon has been offering cloud storage to the public since 2006. Ten years later, the company has made nearly 30 price drops for the technology service. AWS is now offering yet another decrease in its S3 cloud access, Glacier and CloudWatch Custom Metrics.

S3 Cloud Services

Price changes for S3 have already been implemented, resulting in a restructured price scale that lowers your cost by up to 30 percent. Previously, AWS separated S3 storage into six different tiers. Now, the structure will be simplified to three options (0-50TB, 50-500TB, and 500+TB), with the biggest cost reduction going to businesses in the upper tier.

Glacier archival storage/Data Retrieval

Amazon's Glacier "cold" storage is for files you don't anticipate using often. The price drop for this service is a whopping 43 percent, and now it costs only $0.004/GB/month. If you need to remove data from Glacier, you will be charged based on how soon you need it, with time-lines ranging anywhere from five minutes to twelve hours.

CloudWatch Custom Metrics

Finally, AWS is adding customized metrics for database administrators and those “behind the scenes” to allow for monitoring of computer usage and optimization of resources. The fees associated with this service have gone down as well, from $0.50 per month to $0.30 per month for the first 10,000 custom metrics.

What these Changes Mean for Your Business

The total cost difference between the old AWS cloud services price structure and the new cloud services are small in relation to the money that typically travels through the small business. The benefit is in the increased amount of storage you can afford to use, and the addition of quicker retrieval methods for removing data from the Glacier service.

Any time you’re discussing terabytes of data, you know the conversation is going to be intimidating. What may sound like a bunch of techno mumbo jumbo to you is just another day at the office for us. Contact us today for more information on what an AWS database can give you and how much you can expect to pay.

Small business marketing has often been a difficult endeavor for small business owners. Marketing involves a great deal of time, effort, and can require significant financial investment. For a long time, marketing automation was something only enterprise-level businesses and corporations could afford, but with new technology, that’s no longer the case. Read up on the five most profitable benefits of this new IT innovation right here.

Instant responses to email requests

If a customer or prospect sends your business an email via your website or a "Contact Us" form, any delay in response could ultimately cost you a client. But if you have a marketing automation plan in place, you can customize automatic email responses to respond to these leads as soon as an email is received. This lets potential customers know either the information they requested or that you will be responding in more detail soon.

Stop leaving voicemails and start closing deals

There’s a reason most people prefer to communicate via email: Keeping in touch over phone can be tough if both parties are always busy. An automated system solves this by logging when you’ve contacted leads and automatically emailing them about follow-up times. The call, email, and its response are all logged in your CRM and calendar without a single minute wasted entering mundane information.

Inbound lead assignment

When you have phone calls, emails, and meetings piling up, it’s hard to keep track of which customer goes where and who is working with them. With marketing automation software and tracking, customer service representatives are automatically assigned to inbound leads based on specialities and demographics so they can begin working on building profitable rapport right away.

Give and you shall receive

Potential clients and leads get dozens, sometimes hundreds of business emails every day. You need something to set your business apart from the rest. By offering valuable content such as “How to” guides and “Total Cost of Ownership” tools in exchange for contact information, you can provide prospects with content they actually want.

All it takes is a web form and some creative writing that ultimately leads visitors back to your products and/or services. Your automation software delivers content to anyone who provides contact information, and it downloads metrics that can be tracked and analyzed by your solution.

Never type another phone number again

Networking events mean new contacts and new leads. Although that used to mean thick stacks of business cards, cutting-edge marketing tools make it possible to take a picture of contact information and automatically convert it into a cloud database. Call-ins, scanned business cards, and received emails all get organized into a single digital rolodex with recommendations for whom to contact, and when is best to do so -- without one minute of tedious data entry.

Every business owner knows that automating mindless tasks is a worthwhile investment. But not everyone knows just what sort of tools are available to help you cut down on wasted work. Our team specializes in using technology to add value to your business, and we believe that if you’re not utilizing any of the solutions above -- that’s the best place to start. Get in touch with us today to make your marketing technology work for you.

A piece of malware known as Stegoloader continues to wreak havoc on healthcare companies that inadvertently download it under the guise of product keys. The malware steals information from infected machines and spreads itself through the compromised network. Keep reading to find out how this infection can affect your business data and what you can do about it.

What is Stegoloader?

The trojan known as Stegoloader infects machines through product key generators packaged with downloads of pirated software. Small companies have been targeted by the malware, particularly those in the healthcare industry -- and to a lesser extent, the insurance and technology sector.

Steganography is a cyber attacker term for hiding malware inside an image file. Once the image is opened on a vulnerable machine, the program gathers information and crawls through the network looking for weaknesses. Although Stegoloader doesn’t appear to be a particularly sophisticated program, it can devastate your business by stealing electronic medical records as well as installing a secondary piece of malware to pilfer banking information.

Anthem and Premera Blue Cross are two big-name victims of the widespread malware. Symantec believes that Stegoloader’s creators plan to sell healthcare data because they’re more lucrative than other information types. Symantec also believes the cyber attackers are opportunistic, taking advantage of companies that download pirated versions of popular software.

How to Avoid becoming infected by Stegloader

Because the Stegoloader trojan often lurks in illegal product key generators and illegitimate software, the best way to avoid infection is to stay away from sites that offer pirated software. Other than that, we recommend educating your employees on safe practices, avoiding unknown image files and quarantined backups, and updating operating system and antivirus software as often as possible.

When business owners download pirated software, they’re trying to cut corners to save money on business applications and technology consultants. But not only are they getting themselves in trouble with cyber attackers, they’re also messing with the law. We promise that partnering with us will end up saving you more money and hassle than the alternatives. If you’re looking for a better way to protect your company and keep your information safe, contact us today.