Sales Automation:

• Account, contact, opportunity and activities
• Basic workflow
• Customisation of Objects and Fields
• Data mapping, transformation, migration and data validation
• Notes and Attachments
• Lead Management, Routing and Assignments
• E-mail templates and tracking
• Analytics, reports and dashboards
• Product catalogue
• End user training

Note there are many areas not included in the above, such as territory management, full lifecycle management, contract management, customer portals, Service dashboards, etc., but the above is more than enough to improve your business and establish a foundation for the future.
.
The five days roughly include:

1. Image called How CRM works is from one of the web based providers called Zoho.   See www.zoho.com

By Dexter Duncan

Cloud Computing has passed its’ hype peak in the marketplace.     Even though cloud computing technology conferences started appearing around five years ago, mainstream adoption is still a couple of years away.   The first users of cloud computing are mainly small businesses, start-ups, enterprise test environments and rogue departments.   Large enterprises are adopting a “private cloud” which are exclusive hosting services allowing IT departments to control services offered and hopefully help split costs based on usage.

We note that many IT “infrastructure-as-a-service players, including those in Australia are offering ability to have a hybrid network where you maintain your existing network and use public resources for peak periods.    The reason we claim that cloud computing is still a couple years away is mainly because only a few players are offering the “brokering” service that is required to make it easy to purchase computer (i.e. cpu, memory or storage) resources “on demand”.       A true cloud computing offering gives you a commodity service where you only pay for what you need (PAYG).    Most of the cloud services offered are based on signing 1 to 3 year contracts which are not much different than the traditional hosting services offered over the last decade.   The best offerings will allow you to pay per month.    We are not aware of generic compute services that allow you to pay based on hours of metered usage such as your gas, electric or water bill, yet this flexibility to offer an hourly based service is what is required for true cloud computing.

Issues to adoption.

Perhaps it is old news that one of the biggest stumbling blocks to adoption is “security”, yet those offering cloud computing services often have better security than the average enterprise network.     Macquarie Telecom, for example, would have much better security than the average server farm network.   They’d have a much better chance offsetting the typical “denial of service” attack.

The real gotcha’s on moving your information to the cloud is more related to control and privacy.     If you have no control over where your data is stored, you are more vulnerable to data being made available.     As an example, it is easier for US authorities to gain access to data in 3^rd party services than it is if stored on a PC.    “Privacy” is therefore defined differently once you hand over your data.        The US authorities can also use national security as reasons to confiscate your data.    Even using encryption methods to guard privacy, you’d still lose control.       So mandating that the data stay in Australia is a good start.

The other issue of adoption is the plethora of different IT systems.    Many legacy systems were not build to work on cloud computing technologies.     Small companies usually are more nimble since they are not lumbered with complex legacy systems.

Why Small Companies are early adopters?   Centralized service delivery and utility based pricing are the essence of cloud computing.   Software as a Service is part of the overall delivery of cloud computing where you can pay for specialized software to be hosted on a per use bases.     Small companies can shop for cloud based accounting packages, e-mail and CRM which all have pay per user pricing available.    The advantage of paying per user is you do not have the huge one-time capital cost and on-going maintenance.   You instead have an operational expense that can be expanded or reduced based on your business needs.
While this is still not true cloud computing, it is a step in the right direction.

See our website for more:

www.EmpowerIT.com.au

or

www.EmpowerCS.com.au

About the author: Dexter Duncan is a Manager at Empower IT Solutions. Contact Dexter at dd@EmpowerIT.com.au

Productivity is often about doing one thing at a time, often best when focused on your computer at your desk.   Many are already using their private smartphones, iPads or laptops to organize their life and work which is extending productivity further.    (Some call this the Bring Your Own Device, BYOD, policy.)    Blackberry phones used to rule the workplace since they handled applications like email really well.    Phones have gone beyond e-mail, with the iPhone on its’ 5^th generation, Galaxy III leading the Androids and a plethora of more smartphone and new Pad like devices coming out under Windows 8.   You should be using these portables to help you get ahead.

The most common ways of staying in touch and keeping organized have evolved over time.    As e-mail, texting, web browsing, documents and tools to remind and save time are all essential in most offices, the below are a great place to start with mobile apps.     Most of the below are easy to use and install and are available on iPhone and Android.    Some require basic knowledge which any tech head can figure out and a few require an “expert” to configure.   Prices range from free to monthly user fees.

1.      The basics – Phone, SMS and e-mail for communicators

Sample apps in the basics include Viber, Skype, Fring, Text Free, textPlus, WhatsApp and Sparrow.

The most used aspect of your smartphone is the talking, texting and e-mails.    These can lead to huge monthly bills and all companies would like to control these costs while leaving their staff on a plan.      Viber and Skype are both applications that use the data network to make calls and have chat sessions, without impacting your call minutes.  This saves you plenty, especially in international calls and texts.

Most office have a mixture of fixed (expensive) telephone and internet based VoIP lines.  Fring is Voice Over IP (VoIP) option that extends your VoIP phone in your home/office to your mobile.    This means you can answer your office phone while on the run, often more productive than forwarding the phone or checking for messages.

If you have high texting bills, consider using TextFree and textPLUS.   These are SMS specialty applications which use the data network to save you heaps on your text minutes, especially international.   WhatsApp Messenger allows you to send video messages too.

Most phones allow you to add your Microsoft Exchange based account to your phone.    Some find value in combining multiple accounts on their phone. For iPhone users, the app called Sparrow removes frustration of managing your Mac email and gmail with one tool.

2.      The intermediate – storage, syncing and note taking for organizers

Sample applications for storage and syncing your files between multiple devices include SkyDrive, Box, Dropbox and Google Drive.   Microsoft’s SkyDrive and Google’s Drive are perhaps best positioned to store your files for free in the “cloud” giving you access and hassle free backup no matter where you are in the globe.  SkyDrive, Box and Dropbox sync files locally across multiple devices and the cloud allowing to quick local (off-line) access on multiple devices.    All of these apps are also great for files sharing, collaboration and updating/reviewing documents, presentations and spreadsheets in a team.      They also work with photos and videos.

Sample applications that make it easier to take notes or make lists include Evernote, Remember the Milk, TeuxDeux and Any.DO.    Some tools for teams include Asana and Orchestra for tasks and projects.  Evernote allows you to attach photos, save articles and organize your notes, where the rest are more task lists.

3. The advanced – aggregating for roaming warriors

Sample advanced applications for those always out of the office include CamScanner, Slice, Tripit, RosterZero and some approval apps in SharePoint.  CamScanner – turns your phone into a document scanner.  Slice aggregates receipts from your multiple e-mails to store them in one place. Tripit manages trip itineraries in one place.  RosterZero allows you to roster your staff using touch based interface.   Approval apps for SharePoint make it easy for you to review and approve/reject travel requests, expenses and leave while out of the office.The best productivity tool is to switch everything off and focus on your priority at hand.  The above sample applications allow you to do your work from any mobile device.

See our website for more:

www.EmpowerIT.com.au

or

www.EmpowerCS.com.au

About the author: Dexter Duncan is a Manager at Empower IT Solutions. Contact Dexter at dd@EmpowerIT.com.au

References:

1. Apps to slash your cell phone bill: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/09/16/apps-to-slash-your-cell-phone-bill/?cmpid=app_pulse&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews
2. Best Android Productivity Apps:  http://www.businessinsider.com/best-android-productivity-apps-2012-8?op=1
3. PC Mag:  http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2395940,00.asp

After playing with Windows 8 and Office 2013, I feel we are on the verge of a huge productivity improvement for businesses.     You can download Office 2013 preview for yourselves and experience the difference.   It is easy to “roll-back” to previous release if needed.

This is perhaps the first time in a long time where hundreds if not thousands of small changes to existing product are gathered in a single product release to produce a major difference for ordinary office folk.

Firstly, let’s cover what is meant when we say “Office 2013”.      Office 2013 includes common packages as:

-          Microsoft Word

-          Microsoft Excel

-          Microsoft PowerPoint

-          Microsoft Outlook (for e-mail and calendars)

Secondly, what are the changes that make it worthwhile?  The short answer is, there are hundreds of small changes that make the overall experience enjoyable.    A few of the high value ones are listed below.

1)      Easy to back-up your data. 

Office 2013 works in “the cloud” and/or on premise, with free off premise storage using Microsoft’s SkyDrive.   There is also a cloud version of Office 2013 called Office 365 which I will cover Office 365 in a future article.   The synching feature on SkyDrive means you will always have access to your files no matter where you are.     If your PC gets stolen or dies, your most recent versions should be accessible on the SkyDrive from any PC.

2)      Built in social media.    

Adding quick peeks and ease of plugging in social media into documents and Outlook of a variety of social media is included out of the box.    YouTube is easier to embed in presentations and documents; LinkedIn plugs into outlook to give you a preview of the person you are sending mail to; Facebook is more integrated and embedding Flicker makes it easier to grab your photos.

3)      Ease of sharing.

In addition to above social media sharing, Office 2013 makes it easier to share and co-edit documents and share your calendar.     For documents, you send a link from SkyDrive (or SharePoint) and viewing or editing is much easier.    Everyone is working with the latest version.   (I aim to cover SharePoint 2013 as a separate topic later in the year.)     For calendars, your calendar can be made viewable for others.

4)      Ease of analyzing data through automation.

Accountants and number crunchers will love the new ability to automatically find a pattern in your Excel spreadsheet (called Flash Fill).    If you repeatedly do the same thing, Excel understands and does the work for you by “auto-completing the remaining data”.

There are also cool new functions of quick analysis by automatically recommending pivot tables or charts based on the spreadsheet data.

5)      Useful Word document features and slicker PowerPoint presentations.

One of my favorite features is the ability for Microsoft word to open and edit PDF files.    (Having to use a different program for PDF files is a pain!)    In addition to this, you can also zoom on tables, charts, images or videos with a click of a mouse (or tap of a finger on tablets).       Word also saves your position by “bookmarking” your last visited place in the document.    Folks that insert tables, charts and pictures into documents will find the automatic alignment of text very easy to use.

With PowerPoint 2013, you no longer have to fiddle with the projector to get the right settings.   The presentation mode has many more options to make it easier for your pitch to go well, including a timer, notes, zoom function and ability to quickly “look-ahead” and find slides – all hidden from the audience.

There are lots of other features such as background colour matching to your inserted photo and a local weather bar in Outlook, so I encourage you to download a free preview for upto 5 PCs in your office.

Microsoft has not released pricing for Office 2013, but you can bet the marketing machine will publish profusely once they are ready.    Marketing and release of their new mobile technologies are the only missing ingredients to make Office 2013 a phenomenal success.

Get a free pre-view on up to 5 of your office computers by going to http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/en

See our website for more:

www.EmpowerIT.com.au

or

www.EmpowerCS.com.au

About the author: Dexter Duncan is a Manager at Empower IT Solutions. Contact Dexter at dd@EmpowerIT.com.au

References:

1. http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/16/microsoft-office-15-preview/
2. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9229157/Office_2013_beta_review_Microsoft_almost_nails_it#metro
3. 18 June 2012, Microsoft Announcement on Youtube.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ervY6As5OcI&feature=related

A “clever business person” uses the “good times” to improve productivity which either helps grow the business faster or offsets any losses in “down times”.   Putting your cash to work for the benefit of growing the business usually involves investing in equipment, people or processes to improve productivity.     This article focuses on business processes.

How much should your business spend?   According to Gartner, large corporates with $10B or more in revenue spent 2.5% of revenue on IT.   Small companies spend 7% or more of revenue on IT.    (IT spend is the average across all industries and includes hardware, software, support and processes.)  They spend because they know that IT provides both the critical apparatus to keep the business going, but also has ability to automate many of their contract compliance, finance, field operations, manufacturing, sales and HR functions and therefore improve productivity.

The improved productivity gained by regular improvements is often the difference between growing the company versus downsizing & retrenchment.   Small businesses are notorious on only spending money when they need to, but as they reach 20 or more staff, little efficiencies go a long way.     Think of the amount of time spent:

1. Getting approvals for leave or travel
2. Claims for reimbursement of expenses
3. Searching for company policies or forms
4. HR or pay related queries

At least 10% of employee time could easily be spent on above, which works out to more than $100,000 per year for an organization of only 20 staff with wages at $25/hour.      Putting workflows can cost around $50,000, which means a net savings in productivity within the first year.

Any task or paperwork that is repeated regularly can be improved with software.   For example, leave forms, travel forms, new hires, and requests for training.   These processes are common across all industries and often automated with some workflow software and someone who knows how to customize it.    The more workflows you do, the more cost effective it can be as you have a starting cost of up to $8,000 for software and labour to automate your first process such as a leave form.

Here is a sample screen shot for a leave form which is automatically routed to management for approval(s).   Once approval is gained, payroll, staff and staff manager are informed.  On the other hand, if the form is not approved, similar notifications go out to staff and manager with the reason for disapproval.

The time savings is gathered since your processes for approving or disapproval of leave are automated which saves in follow-up, tracking and other time involved in a manual process.
In a recent interview with a Thomas Friedman, a New York Times Columnist he stated:

“The principle driving forces behind the need for a more inventive worker is access to more automation, more software, more machines and more people, and more talent of an above average quality, noting that even “cheap genius,” is a click away”  

The essence of genius is therefore the Business invests a portion of their revenue each year in IT to gain the competitive efficiencies needed to grow and/or survive in the future.

See our website for more:

www.EmpowerIT.com.au

or

www.EmpowerCS.com.au

About the author: Dexter Duncan provides marketing advice and is a Divisional Manager at Empower IT Solutions. Contact Dexter at dd@EmpowerIT.com.au

References:

IT Key Metrics Data from Gartner Group.

http://www.gartner.com/technology/consulting/key_metrics_data.jsp

By Dexter Duncan

Microsoft has jumped beyond Windows by announcing a new PC/Tablet specifically designed for Windows 8.     Called the “Surface”, this new hardware was followed up this month with a new version of Office 2013 which includes touch (i.e. tablet) versions of Microsoft word, excel and PowerPoint.    I will write more on Office 2013 in the next article.

The Surface (pictured) is not Microsoft’s first foray into hardware, but could be one of their riskiest.    iPad is already the clear leader in the Tablet market and has introduced 3^rd generation.   One of the key differences is that the Surface is both tablet AND laptop.

In an earlier article, I touched on Windows 8.     In this article I will cover “what’s new” and also put some context around the announcement.

What’s new?  

Practically all the components and technology was designed by Microsoft and have not been seen before.

Screen

• The screen is “touch” and can function without the keyboard.
• 10.6” gives 30% more viewing area than iPad.
• HD Display on basic Windows RT model

Case and Stand

• Case is magnesium, a first of a kind for this type of device.    Magnesium is very durable and light weight.
• The stand is completely integrated into the device with custom hinges similar to a quality car.   Opening and closing the stand feels like a car door.   When closed, you hardly notice it.   When open, it is very sturdy.   (see below for picture of “kickstand”)

Keyboard

• The keyboard is called a “touch cover” as it is both keyboard and cover
• The standard keyboard is 3mm thick.
• Multiple colours are available which automatically change the screen colour to match when attached.
• It magnetically attaches to screen forming connection similar to a book where you can “bend” the cover backwards under the screen.

Two Surface Specifications:

1. Windows 8 Pro

-          Full PC,

-          Full HD Display,

-          Intel Core i5 “Ivy Bridge” processor (latest for Ultrabooks)

-          upto 128 GB,

-          USB 3.0, HDMI connections

-          903 grams, 13.5 mm thick

-           42 watt-hour (similar to iPad)

-          Available in late JAN 2013 (not sure if this includes Australia)

2. Windows RT

-          Low power ARM processors,

-          upto 64 GB,

-          USB 2.0, Micro HD Video connections

-          676 grams, 9.3 mm thick

-          31.5 watt-hour

-          Available in late OCT 2012 (not sure if this includes Australia)

Although the Surface has all the things that a Corporate CIO will like, the real test for these devices will be the acceptance from the consumers.

With most of Microsoft revenue coming from Software, one might ask:  Can Microsoft do it?   Microsoft has created hardware when needed in the past.     If you think about it, they have been selling keyboards and mice with some success for a long time.    The first mouse was adapted for windows 1.0.      And they are pretty good at ergonomic keyboards.  So the keyboard is likely a winner.

The biggest hardware success from Microsoft is from their Xbox business.   This includes Xbox live and Kinnect.       Xbox was late to market but was successful at building an ecosystem of developers and marketing a quality product.     With a similar coming from behind story, Microsoft’s aim is to overtake Apple iPad, but will most likely overtake Google Android devices (current number 2).      Unless Microsoft cracks the consumer market, they’ll need to settle for 2^nd place behind Apple. As 375 million PCs are expected to be purchased in 2013 (according to IDC), there is plenty of room for Microsoft to market their way into a success.

Call your local technology partner for advice.

See our website for more:

www.EmpowerIT.com.au

or

www.EmpowerCS.com.au

About the author: Dexter Duncan is a Manager at Empower IT Solutions. Contact Dexter at dd@EmpowerIT.com.au

References:

1. Microsoft’s      launch website.  www.microsoft.com/surface
2. 18 June      2012, Microsoft Announcement on Youtube.       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ervY6As5OcI&feature=related

By Dexter Duncan

Passwords are combinations of digits or keys to accessing your data.   A recent Forbes article covered worst passwords, some of which presumably compiled from actual data “stolen” from 32 million passwords from a hacked website.   Of the stolen passwords, the top 5000 passwords were shared by 20% of the accounts.

 From studying the common passwords, some patterns emerge, which any hacker could apply.   Some of the below are humorous.  However, if you or those around you are using any of the “worst” passwords, change them immediately to something more secure.

Sample Worst Passwords:

Some common patterns in passwords, which represent the “worst” passwords:

1)      Straight Numbers often created by sliding your hand on adjacent keyboard numbers

1. 12345678 or similar
2. 987654321 or similar
3. 111111, 123123 or similar pattern

2)      Straight Keyboard letters created by sliding your hand across adjacent keyboard letters

1. qwerty
2. asdfgh
3. zxcvbnm
4. qazxsw

3)      Words from the dictionary or common names

1. dragon
2. monkey
3. baseball
4. cricket
5. master
6. sunshine
7. princess
8. Michael or similar
9. password
10. superman

4)      Common phrases or combinations

1. trustno1
2. iloveyou
3. rockyou
4. letmein
5. abc123
6. babygirl
7. lovely
8. admin
9. tom1990

Good Password rules:

1)      Password length should be at least 8 characters long using Capital and regular letters

2)      Turn a phrase into a word – “Mary had a little lamb” becomes “mhaLITTLEl”

3)      Substitute 1, @, !, 3, 4, 5, $, 0 for alpha characters -  “hellodolly” becomes “h3!!0d011y”

Ideally, you’d use a combination of the above, use a different password for all sites and include extra numbers or &,#,! characters.    As an example, “Mary had a little lamb” becomes “mh@1!TT1E1!”

Problem with banks:

Some account websites such Road and Traffic Authority (RTA) and most banks only allow alphanumeric characters (e.g. A to Z and 0 to 9).   In other words, they do not support characters such as – !, &, and $.   The suggestion is to use number substitution, capital letters and phrases.     5 substitutes for S, 4 for A, 1 for I, 3 for E and 7 for L.    “Mary had a little lamb” is now Mh47ITT737.

Other Good Passwords and Memory:

If you cannot think of a phrase or find it too difficult, another technique to create a strong password is to interleave words and numbers.    For example, the password Mark1992 is a weak password, although easy to remember.    To create a strong password from this weak one, you can interleave the numbers and letters to become M1a9r9k2.

If remembering passwords is a problem, there are some password banks such as splash id which “remembers all your passwords in a safe space.   The idea is to log into the site, and cut and paste or apply your passwords.   See the secure password manager called SplashID at www.splashdata.com for an example of this.

Call your local technology partner for advice.

See our website for more:

www.EmpowerIT.com.au

or

www.EmpowerCS.com.au

About the author: Dexter Duncan is a Manager at Empower IT Solutions. Contact Dexter at dd@EmpowerIT.com.au

References:

1)      Forbes – 25 “worst passwords” of 2011 Revealed, by David Coursey, Nov 23, 2011

2)      Imperva’s white paper, “Consumer Password Worst Practices” www.imperva.com

See also website called www.howtoanswer.com/howto/computers/how-to-create-a-strong-password