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The Microsoft Office Store is well populated with apps, many free and some paid. If you have not had a look before at what’s available I would encourage you to so now,

Here are some of the top apps I recommend for business users:

clip_image001 Evernote: Evernote for Outlook is available to users of the new Outlook.com and Office 365 users using Outlook 2013, Outlook 2016, and Outlook on the web. The add-in allows you to clip email messages and attachments from Outlook directly into Evernote. You can also attach notes from your Evernote account to any email you’re writing in Outlook. Instructions to install and use from Evernote.

clip_image002 Wunderlist: Wunderlist is an amazing free app – perfect for creating and managing To Do Lists for yourself or groups, assigning tasks to others and creating reminders. I connect mine directly into Outlook using the app and can send emails to my various to do lists with a couple of clicks. If you haven’t seen Wunderlist before then go to the website and check it out.

CRM and Workflow Tools like Insightly, Nintex, Zoho, Nimble and Salesforce as well as many others all have an app. If you use these CRMS then you should be powering up with the app in Outlook.

clip_image003clip_image004 Accounting app Xero has an app. Even Uber has an app to remind you of your next ride.

So get into the store today and see what apps you might be able to use to improve productivity and connectivity between Outlook and your other business tools. There are also plenty of apps for Excel, PowerPoint and Word.

Contact us if you need help adding Apps to Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel or Word.

Microsoft Azure

As a Silver Microsoft Small and Midmarket Cloud Partner we have access to technical support, demos and trial scenarios as well as engineers and solution proposals. We are currently implementing Microsoft Azure storage systems for several clients and would love to talk to you about how you can reduce costs and make data more accessible for teams. Backup solutions, virtual machines and other cloud services exist as well.

Contact us today for a chat about Microsoft Azure

Update on the Various OneDrive Sync Clients

clip_image005Most of our clients have now been upgraded to the new OneDrive Sync clients. If you haven’t and want to please contact us now. Email tim@jethromanagement.biz and ask for assistance.

OneDrive now has a dual purpose client. It can sync your personal Microsoft Account OneDrive data. It can also have added to it a business account – and thus sync your Office 365 OneDrive for Business account. This can be selective so you do not have to sync the entire drive in one go but can select specific folders.

If you want to download it yourself go here. https://onedrive.live.com/about/en-us/download/

The old OneDrive for Business sync tool is still contained in Office 365 and syncs SharePoint libraries. The old limitations on numbers of folders and files still apply but Microsoft are developing a new version without these limitations and have committed to delivering that this year.

Contact us today if you need helping syncing your dataa

Follow Us On Social Media

As always Jethro is your web, cloud and technology specialists. I am constantly learning new things and spending time researching, playing and testing new systems and reading about other people in the IT world doing the same thing. If you want to follow along with what I share in various spaces, then connect with me:

Have you considered cloud storage for your data? There are lots and lots of options right now and I want to explore some with you in this newsletter.

Cloud storage

Data storage has never been cheaper than now, and never before has there been so many options. Cloud storage has so many benefits over local data storage and in nearly every case is cheaper and more efficient.

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Location

Cost

Description

Business Risks

PC / Laptop Hard drive

Free

Local storage only, no duplication of data

Drive failure or loss of machine = total data loss

Server or NAS

$2000-$5000

Fast local storage with data drives in RAID array for loss prevention

Total loss from theft or fire can be mitigated by cloud backup with Azure

USB attached Backup Drive

$100-$200

Duplicates data from local machine (if configured correctly)

Risk of backing up corrupted data, no version control (unless using Windows 10 File History) Can still be lost with pc

Dropbox – free version

Free

Online storage and access from anywhere – can be synced and shared with others

Risk of data loss if other user deletes – malicious data etc. No SLA with Dropbox

Authentication is not controlled corporately

Dropbox for Business

Cost – $17 per user per month min 5 users

Online storage and access from anywhere – can be synced and shared with others

Version control can eliminate loss, SLA with Dropbox mitigates safety of data, can be authenticated with Office 365

OneDrive (personal)

Free

Limited to 5gb per user but allows for sync of data and access anywhere

Authenticated using Microsoft ID not Office 365

OneDrive for Business

Free to Office 365 users

Office productivity Suite included

1TB user space – syncs data and access anywhere, can be shared with inside and outside organisation

Controlled by office 365 authentication and administrators have control of data.

Box for Business

$17 per month per user, min 3 users

Built for businesses this storage solution has local sync, active directory SSO and good admin controls

 

Google Drive

15GB free

Online and offline access, but no collaboration offline. No productivity suite included

Online browser apps only, and no support for many MS Office features. Basic documents and spreadsheets only

SharePoint

Free to Office 365 organisation accounts

Document Management system with check in/out, version control, workflow, fine grained security permissions

Training and support costs

Azure Storage

Many different options and pricing calculator is complex

Data storage can be local or geo redundant, with multiple retention points and access anywhere

Training and support costs

There are many others as well but these are the major ones being used in businesses today. We can assist you in determining what is the best solution for your business and how to identify the risks and costs associated with each option. Then we can implement and train your staff.

Contact us today for a free discussion about cloud storage options for your business.

Microsoft Azure

As a Silver Microsoft Small and Midmarket Cloud Partner we have access to technical support, demos and trial scenarios as well as engineers and solution proposals. We are currently implementing Microsoft Azure storage systems for several clients and would love to talk to you about how you can reduce costs and make data more accessible for teams. Backup solutions, virtual machines and other cloud services exist as well.

Contact us today for a chat about Microsoft Azure

Google Analytics Dashboards

We have been developing dashboards for a number of clients that take Google analytics data from their websites and display information in an easy to view and understand dashboards. The tool to view this data is free, but there is a small time cost to develop data dashboards and customise them to your website.

Here are some examples:

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Follow Us On Social Media

As always Jethro is your web, cloud and technology specialists. I am constantly learning new things and spending time researching, playing and testing new systems and reading about other people in the IT world doing the same thing. If you want to follow along with what I share in various spaces, then connect with me:

Do you find the idea of writing content for your website daunting, impossible, or even just don’t know where to start?

Welcome to our 31st Newsletter – wow the numbers are starting to add up! I take approx. 2 hours a fortnight to write this newsletter. During the 2 weeks prior I stash articles and news I think might be good for the newsletter in an email folder ready for when I sit down to write. This means that I have in the last 15 months created 31 blog posts on my website that all contribute to my SEO and are great for marketing as well. And I can point customers to some of the frequently asked questions answers there as well.

You could adopt the same strategy. I am sure you could write 300-600 words about something you do or know like the back of your hand that you wish your customers knew! Talk to us about how to get your website working harder for you.

SharePoint Changes Coming – New Document Library

SharePoint Document Libraries are changing. The new User Interface includes:

  • New Quick Launch menu on the left
  • Updated Library Search that shows results almost instantly
  • Removed the Ribbon for a simpler and actionable menu
  • Added document “Pinning” to always have them at the top of the library
  • Easier wording for sharing content with “Get a Link”
  • Users can Right-Click to bring the contextual menu up
  • Library Views management added in a menu via an ellipsis
  • Save your current filtered and displayed columns as a View with the click of a button
  • New Details pane shows information like properties, versioning and more
  • Quick access to manage the properties of documents without navigating to a different page or form
  • Versioning shown as activity
  • Alert Me button put into evidence
  • Move or Copy files within the library
  • A new Grid View
  • Create Links to other files or anywhere really and have them available as a “file” in the library
  • A new image viewer to quick preview them from within your library

We can help you understand and use these new features, and take advantage of the benefits of using the libraries online in a browser rather than just opening in a synced folder on your desktop. In fact, there are many, many features that are just not available to you on your computer you can access online.

Get more detailed information about the new SharePoint interface.

Talk to us about the Office 365 Features you are not currently using and How you Can Benefit from Them

Get Access to Our Digital Producer

Jethro-Facebook-Check-your-websites-health

Do you wish you had your own Digital Producer with over 10 years’ experience to look after your website? Why not borrow ours?

Our expert consultants will review your website, create a high level report and provide prioritised recommended actions to help you create a more effective website.

For only $99* you can find out:

  • How to optimise your website as an effective sales tool for your business
  • Ways to ensure your brand is reaching the right audience
  • If you are getting a return on your marketing investment

CONTACT US NOW ON 0414 770 002 FOR your Site Analysis

*Terms and Conditions Apply – contact us for details

Office 365 Updates

Over and above the SharePoint library changes these recent updates were rolled out:

  • A new tool for migrating your Evernote notes to OneNote
  • PowerPoint Designer enhancements
  • New language support in Office for Mac and Skype Translator, plus collaboration and Power Pivot updates
  • For business users, Skype for Business meetings experiences and voice services are being expanded
  • Video viewer statistics are rolling out in Office 365 Video
  • A new reporting portal in the admin centre is rolling out
  • New update options are available for Office 365 ProPlus
  • Office 365 Connectors is here
  • The redesigned OneNote Class Notebook—designed and built with teachers—is available worldwide
  • And for devs, there’s a new site for keeping up with the latest news and resources.

Coming soon:

  • Enhanced Automatic Replies (out of office). When users set an automatic reply (Out of office) When users set an automatic reply (out of office) message with an end date in Outlook on the web, Outlook can now automatically decline meetings for that period of time as well as decline any future invites that the user receives for a date in which they are away.
  • The new admin centre will get improved search, additional user list management functionality and enhancements for the mobile admin app.
  • Microsoft is updating the default Office 365 portal experience for users to make it more intuitive and consistent across devices. The new home page simplifies access to your services and recent documents, while making it easier to install applications with 1-click.
  • Microsoft is delivering a new sync client for OneDrive for Business that will provide a faster and more reliable sync experience. You’ll begin seeing this change starting May 15, 2016, and rolling out over the coming months.
  • New Safety tips in Outlook. Exchange Online Protection (EOP) already protects your organization with industry-leading spam and malware prevention. However, these attacks are so well crafted that they look legitimate. Sometimes putting messages into the Junk Email folder isn’t enough. Over the coming weeks, we’re going to provide additional information when users check their email in Outlook on the web, and in Outlook. Moving forward, as an example, a red Safety Tip in an email will mean that the message received contains something suspicious. We recommend deleting these types of email messages without opening them. We’ll continue to add more features to Safety Tips to ensure users have the best, most protected experience.

More Office 365 Update information online.

If you want any more information on any of these features, how to use them or how they might affect you please contact us

Follow Us On Social Media

As always Jethro is your web, cloud and technology specialists. I am constantly learning new things and spending time researching, playing and testing new systems and reading about other people in the IT world doing the same thing. If you want to follow along with what I share in various spaces, then connect with me:

Choose great images for your Facebook ads

Facebook have been creating some great content helping business owners better utilise their business pages. This latest article talks about how to choose great images for your Facebook ads that pop out in peoples feeds, ensuring you get seen and hopefully clicked on.

And of course the whole point of Facebook advertising is to drive customer engagement, attract visitors to your website and make sales or inquiries you can convert. So that first impression is vital.

The photos should have single focal points, visual consistency, work for mobile and be eye catching.

Why should you be running campaigns on Facebook or your website even?

Jeff Bullas says:

Marketers need to realise that a strong trend is emerging called continuous marketing. It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t run “campaigns”. The reality is that being found online (found in

social network updates, Twitter streams and in a Google search) requires constant SEO activity and content creation, publishing and marketing.

clip_image006Creating, curating and marketing content that is fed into the jaws of the social media beast needs to be relentless or you will be left behind and you will be lost in the web noise.

To do this well requires implementing marketing automation that leverages your time and resources.

If you need help choosing your photos, creating your ads, running campaigns or just better photos then talk to us today

Office 365 Updates

There are a lot of updates in the last 4 weeks since I last reported. Most are admin or backend updates. The major one being the admin panel has been completely updated. If you login to office 365 as an administrator you will see the new admin panel now by default. Ask us if you have any questions about navigating it.

SharePoint and One Drive for Business sharing invitations now last 90 days. If you share a document or folder with an external user, the email invitation link now lasts for 9o days before it automatically expires.

The One Drive for Business website has been upgraded to a new clean, intuitive, and beautiful interface. You can switch between tile or list views while easily organizing with drag-and-drop functions, and many other improvements. You can switch back to the existing “classic” experience, with a link on the bottom left of the screen. Eventually the “classic” experience will go away, but not until Microsoft has listened to feedback and ensured everyone is ready for the change.

Talk to us about the Office 365 Features you are not currently using

Is Your Website Working For You?

Do you receive good quality inquiries that you convert to sales? Are you selling products through your site?

Many businesses have websites that have sat idle for years. What is known as brochure ware sites are simply nothing more than an expensive business card or flyer about a company with an about page usually out of date or information that isn’t really relevant to selling anything, maybe a products or services page and hopefully a contact page with contact details.

We have surveyed hundreds of websites for 7 main components that we believe are essential if a website is actually going to sell anything, attract new customers, or even get enquiries coming in. Most unfortunately fail in 5 or more of these categories.

We can analyse your site for $99 and provide a full report of what your site is doing badly.

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CONTACT US NOW FOR your Site Analysis

Understanding Power Management on Surface Devices

Surface is in a class of devices that uses Modern Standby rather than traditional S3 Sleep. This allows Windows to manage power consumption right down to the individual hardware components. The net effect is near instant resume times and more efficient power consumption (read longer battery life!) Modern Standby also helps keep devices protected by installing latest Windows Updates even when users are on the move and the device is in standby.

Microsoft recently released two videos as part of the Microsoft Mechanics series to help you learn more about Surface power management with modern Standby and how to troubleshoot and pinpoint issues by creating and analysing sleep-study and energy reports for affected devices.

Microsoft also released recent updates for Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 devices including a set of Microsoft and Intel driver and firmware updates that help you make the most of Surface power management options.

ask us how if you need to know more

Follow Us On Social Media

As always Jethro is your web, cloud and technology specialists. I am constantly learning new things and spending time researching, playing and testing new systems and reading about other people in the IT world doing the same thing. If you want to follow along with what I share in various spaces, then connect with me:

Who is Your Trusted IT Advisor?

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We act as a trusted advisor for many of our clients. What does that mean exactly?

Most business owners understand the importance of including their accountant and lawyer in any business changes that have legal or tax implications. It is very important to ensure that the right structures are in place to minimise tax, meet legal obligations and ensure that liability and risk are minimised and managed.

It is equally important to seek the advice of a trusted IT advisor in the same instances. An advisor sits on your side of the table, seeks to understand your business and can then make suggestions that are your in best interest. Here are some of the many reasons why this is important.

· Adding or terminating staff or employees should be done correctly. Ensuring they have the right hardware, software and access to corporate systems and data before they start work eliminates up front teething problems and gets them up to speed right away. Ensuring an employee’s access is removed BEFORE terminating reduces the risk of data theft and malicious behaviour.

  • Technology can be configured many different ways, and what could be right for one scenario might not be right for another.
  • Starting a new business, opening a new store, or even just working from home might require different security, backup solutions and data storage solutions. It is best to define these and understand the cost of implementation before the decision is made.
  • Technology replacement plans should be in place to cycle hardware every few years. These may need to be modified if changes in ownership, downsizing or scaling up are planned.

So before you make important business decisions, contact us for a no obligation free chat. We would love to be your Trusted IT Advisor.

CONTACT US NOW FOR A FREE CHAT

Kochie takes a Small Business through a Technology Makeover

David Koch from Channel 7 presented a small business makeover series with Microsoft last year. The 4 part series takes approximately 40 minutes to watch and is well worth the time taken.

If your business can relate to any of the problems presented here, or would like any of the solutions then please call us. This is what we do! Using technology correctly can improve workers productivity and business efficiency. Being able to do things for your customers your competitors can’t do may just give you the edge!

Talk to us about improving your Business Productivity and Efficiency with New Technology, Software, mobile access and better workflows

Windows 10 – Latest Version

Are you running the latest version of Windows 10 yet?

You can work it out by hitting the start button and typing System and clicking System Information.

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In the OS Version you should see 10.0.10586 Build 10586. If not, you are running an older version.

You can update by running Windows updates and ensuring it downloads this new version.

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Note: Check with us if you are not sure, or want support to running this version update.

And if you are running Windows 7 or 8 then time to upgrade – you have 3 months left for the free upgrade.

Book us in to upgrade your business or Home PCS to Windows 10 now - $150 per machine. conditions apply.

Security and Computing

Security is an ongoing battle of threats and defence. The cost to businesses to remove malware and viruses is a lot more than the small cost of educating yourself and taking appropriate defensive measures.

Are you up to date with the latest threats?

Three types of malware you should know about in 2016 Have you heard of the Brain Test, Zeus or Conficker threats? Are you safe? Read this article to learn more.

Who is most at risk of identity theft? You might be surprised to find out just who is more at risk of identity theft. Read this article to learn more. Or read our previous articles about protecting yourself and your business’s data.

Are you at risk from Spear Phishing attacks? Do you know how to recognise them and keep safe from them? There are many ways the attacks can come but the most popular delivery platform is email. As such, when opening an email it is important to know the hallmarks of a phishing scam:

  • If it asks for your personal information, play it safe and assume it is a phishing attack.
  • If you believe the email may be a scam, phone the organisation to verify if it is an official email.
  • If you do click on a link, make sure to never enter your information into the website that appears.
  • If you recognise the email address, do not take this as proof it is from an official or authentic source.
  • If you see a suspect email has an attachment, make sure you do not open or download it as it could be an infectious computer virus.

Be safe and secure online – ask us how if you need to know more

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As always Jethro is your web, cloud and technology specialists. I am constantly learning new things and spending time researching, playing and testing new systems and reading about other people in the IT world doing the same thing. If you want to follow along with what I share in various spaces, then connect with me:

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What people say..

Ian's three key issues of business highlighted areas of my business that I need to consider more.

Feedback from Free Business Seminar Jan 2013

— Kim - Business Owner

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