So, you have a new phone or have just migrated to Microsoft Office 365 and you want to know how to setup your email on your mobile or tablet. While both Android and Apple native email applications work just fine, by far the best experience is gained by using the Microsoft Outlook for Mobile app.
Can my prospects and customers book time with me online?
Just occasionally you encounter a piece of software or online service where you think … “where has this been all my life?”
Trying to find a mutually convenient time for a meeting and the usual rigmarole of “you send me your dates and I’ll send you mine” is enough to drive both parties to distraction. Equally, trying to engage with a new customer via a submitted website form can lead to similar issues .. sometimes you just can’t get together for that all-important initial chat! Wouldn’t it be fab if your customer or prospect could just book a time online that reflects your own diary commitments? Well .. if you use Office 365 Business Premium (now Microsoft 365 Business Standard) or some Office 365 enterprise packages then you can … for free!
Two-factor authentication (MFA) – little pain, big gain
The rise and rise of the cloud
The use of cloud computing continues to grow rapidly. Packages such as Microsoft Office 365 and Google G Suite are very widely used across businesses of all sizes for a multitude of purposes, including e-mail, file storage and file sharing.
Legislative requirements are also driving wider adoption of functionally specific software, including cloud accounting to meet HMRC’s ‘Making Tax Digital’ requirements. Many businesses will be familiar with well-known packages such as Xero and QuickBooks Online.
Popular, but also a target
What value is a Service Level Agreement?
Indeed, good question! Marketing gurus preach that companies such as ours should offer guarantees to their clients based on Service Level Agreements. However, having reviewed many Service Level Agreements, they are frequently so carefully worded and qualified that the headline “guaranteed response time” becomes valueless; a document that looks cast iron in an effort to win your business but in fact can let you down when you most need it. This is a tactic to which we do not subscribe nor will adopt. Here at EasylifeIT™ we do things differently.
Regular Windows Updates are proven to be in your best interests.
NO! Please don’t do that. While it is true that Windows Updates can cause the occasional issue, the vast majority fix a multitude of sins and close security holes that have been identified as a threat to your PC or laptops security. On balance, leaving Windows Updates on and doing them regularly is hugely in your best interests.
Don’t forget Office updates. Microsoft Office is usually updated when you updated Windows and it is important for security that you do. Make sure that “Receive updates for other Microsoft Products when you update Windows” is enabled in Windows Updates Advanced Options.
SharePoint is a Document Management System.
I am often asked if SharePoint can be used as a document management system – this is quite an odd question as that is exactly what SharePoint is…so how did we get to the point where that is questionable?
SharePoint has been through quite a revolutionary journey from petty file share to modern Intranet in a box. However, we seem to have got to a point where the visual has overtaken the reputation of the functional. So, let us clarify and answer the question asked:
So, what do we need from a Document Management system?
Ok, I know, Shakespeare didn’t actually say that, but it’s an interesting question right now, amid this Covid-19 pandemic, isn’t it?
If there is someone that wants to buy, why wouldn’t you sell?
In the first two weeks of the lockdown, the question I got asked the most was should I carry on marketing, is it crass? Well, my short answer was “yes, you should carry on marketing”. The question I am now seeing everywhere is “should I still sell?” Simply put, if there is someone that wants to buy, why wouldn’t you sell?
So many businesses are having to adapt and change their offering to stay afloat, so why would you go through all that change and then not sell?
Dislocation: A look at the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on our daily lives and our businesses
No, this is nothing to do with Phil and Kirstie, just a look at the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on our daily lives and our businesses. In particular, the impact that dislocation can have on our ability to rationalise the present and plan for the future.
Dislocation is defined as ‘disturbance from a proper, original, or usual place or state’. Suddenly, our sense of normality is ruptured and, in the midst of a global pandemic, we have the added stress of worrying about family, about ourselves and about our business livelihoods.
A little behind its competitor Zoom, Microsoft has enhanced personal privacy of video conferencing in Teams by introducing “b...
What should be included in a business continuity plan?
[lwptoc]
Unpalatable, but predictable
You’ll be glad to know this isn’t another Coronavirus article. Businesses have been faced with severe threats to their survival long before anyone had heard of COVID-19 – floods, fires and other localised disruptions are not new. Pandemics do remind us however that unpalatable events can and will happen.
COVID-19 is unusual in recent history because its consequences for business have been so severe and so widely felt. And it brings into sharp focus the relationship between likelihood and impact. Once in a lifetime events are, by definition, very rare. But when they do strike the pain can be relatively high. We may be less able, or perhaps less willing (sometimes with justifiable good reason), to prepare. And – yes – let’s be honest – that justification may be that reducing the risk is prohibitively expensive and we decide therefore that it is a risk worth taking.