Author Archives: Barrie Giles

About Barrie Giles

Barrie Giles is Managing Director at First Line Support. He blogs about business issues related to IT and is particularly interested in the challenges of improving customer service and responsiveness. He has a house in France where he goes whenever he can, and is a keen supporter of Watford FC. Circle Barrie on Google+

No budget gloom for Oxfordshire’s top employers

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Barrie Giles

Aspiration, perspiration, even alchemy: these were some of the words used in describing the Oxfordshire business scene at last night’s launch of the Oxford Times Oxfordshire’s Top 100 Employers report. First Line was there because we were one of the … Continue reading →

Benefits of leased lines now within the reach of small businesses

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Barrie Giles

Prices significantly down Prices of Leased Lines and Ethernet First Mile (EFM) connections have dropped dramatically over the last 12-18 months and are now within reach of small businesses. Prices start from around £400 per month for EFM connections and … Continue reading →

Which is better, Disaster Recovery or Business Continuity?

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Barrie Giles

Over the past few years businesses have thought in terms of ‘disaster recovery’ for their IT systems. This asks “what disasters would you be vulnerable to, and what plans do you have in place to return to normal working as … Continue reading →

Spam, spam, and more spam: it’s up to you to check

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Barrie Giles

SPAM… emails you don’t want and haven’t signed up for. They’ll always be with us in huge volumes. But how do you make sure you get all the emails you want and none of the ones you don’t want? The … Continue reading →

Are you addicted to emails?

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Barrie Giles

All the businesses we work with tell us they are totally dependent upon their emails. That it’s super-critical their emails never stop because they can lose business. With the current technology available it’s possible not to have to suffer any … Continue reading →

Helping people start their own business

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Barrie Giles

I went to a very interesting dinner last night. The purpose of the dinner was to introduce some local business people to a recently founded charity called Fredericks. www.fredericksfoundation.org if you’re interested in finding out more. The idea of Fredericks … Continue reading →

Limited Company – what’s the point any more?

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Barrie Giles

It seems that, as a small business I’m being asked to provide director guarantees more frequently and by more types of organisations. We are growing, profitable and have a blemish-free credit record. But nowadays that just does not seem to … Continue reading →

Is the economy really in such a poor way?

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Barrie Giles

Reading the headlines and listening to the news can make you very depressed. You can just feel like battening down the hatches when you get into work and be afraid of continuing to invest in order to grow. Yet I … Continue reading →

Christmas opening hours

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Barrie Giles

Over the Christmas and New Year period our opening hours will be as follows: Friday 23rd December office closes at 4pm Monday 26th December public holiday – office closed Tuesday 27th December public holiday – office closed Wednesday 28th December … Continue reading →

Leased line prices come tumbling down

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Barrie Giles

A leased line is a fast, reliable private internet connection. They used to be something only large corporates could afford. But like all technology, as more and more people use them, prices are tumbling really fast. A 10Mb connection provides enough bandwidth … Continue reading →