Group Messaging for any mobile phome

GroupMe is a group messaging service that lets you stay in touch with groups of people via mobile phones and the web. The service allows you to effortlessly group text with the people in your life that are important to you. It’s totally free and works on every cell phone.

Group Messaging: Start a group with people already in your contacts.  When you send a message, everyone instantly receives it.

Photo Sharing: Capture your group’s moments as they happen and share them instantly within the conversation.

Location:Share your location with the people in the group.  Find you where your friends are and see them all on a map.

GroupMe works on nearly every cell phone and is now available in 15 languages for iPhone and Android.  Founded in May 2010 and accquired by Skype in August 2011. 

Every business’s clients/customers are its key to survival. As such, businesses have been focusing on Customer Relationship Management to ensure they keep up to date with all their customers. To do this, they have been using programs like Microsoft Dynamics CRM - is your business using Dynamics CRM?

Last year, Microsoft released the online version of its popular Microsoft Dynamics CRM software, taking advantage of cloud services and giving users the ability to access the software from anywhere. With the release came the same features as the offline version, plus some extra ones. Here are four features you can take advantage that’ll make using CRM Online that much more efficient.

Set Personal Default View If you use or view one section more than others, say that the majority of your work is done with accounts, you can set CRM Online to open to accounts.

• Choose which folder or heading you’d like to serve as your default.
• Click the View tab, and select Set As Default View in the top left of the screen (just under File).

Enable Additional Languages When you first start a new account with CRM Online, you will be asked to pick the main operating language. Microsoft calls this the Base Language. It is the language the system will work in unless otherwise specified. Once this has been set, you can’t change it, you can however change the language of CRM Online’s display and help screens, or add another language. This is useful for businesses that have a multinational working environment and want to give their employees an easier way to communicate.

To enable different languages:

• Click: Settings select System followed by Administration.
• You’ll see a Languages option, click it.
• In the page that opens, you’ll see a list of languages along with their status. Click the box beside the language you’d like to enable.
• Press Apply and the language’s status will change to enabled.

Once you’ve enabled the language, you can change Online CRM to show the new language by:

• Click File and select Options.
• In the window that opens, select Languages.
• You can select to change the User Interface Language (display language) and help language here.
• Click OK and you’ll see the interface has changed.

However, you won’t be able to change the language unless you are a system administrator.

Save CRM Shortcuts in Outlook Did you know that you can jump to folders in CRM Online from Outlook? It can be done by using Shortcuts.

• Open Outlook, and look for Shortcuts in the navigation pane (typically on the left).
• There’ll be space below shortcuts, so right-click on Shortcuts and select New shortcut. You can also hit “S”.
• A popup window will open displaying a list of options. Find your Online CRM organization name and press the white triangle beside it to open a list of subfiles.
• Find the file or location you want, select it and press OK. You’ll now see the location under Shortcuts in Outlook.

Sharing Charts Often you’ll be working on a project and be asked by colleagues how you made the chart, or if you could share the chart with them. Instead of sitting down and showing, step-by-step, how you made the chart, you can share it with them as long as they are also Online CRM users:

• Find the chart you’d like to share, click Charts at the top to display only charts. This’ll make it easier to find the chart if you also have other files in the same folder.
• Press Click here to view the chart on the right of your screen.
• Under the Chart ribbon, you’ll see the Share button. Click it.
• A new window will open, select Add User/Team.
• From this window you’ll be able to search for teams and people to share the chart with. Click the box beside their names, followed by Add and then OK.
• The people will show up in the previous window with share options. Click which permission you’d like to give the people, followed by OK.

The users you have shared the chart with will now be able to see it.

There are many other features in Online CRM and we would be happy to help you discover them. If you would like to learn more, please contact us.

“Microsoft PowerPoint”, “presentations” and “effective” are three common buzzwords used throughout all businesses. Heard separately, most employees are comfortable with each, but put all three together and a problem appears: Many presentations are simply not effective. Is this true for your organization?

It’s important that you, that as a manager, you ensure that your employees are creating PowerPoint presentations that are effective. Here are a few tips you can give to your employees to help them improve their presentations.

Simplify and minimize The best presentations are simple and minimal, often shifting focus from the presentation to the presenter. Minimal presentations follow the 6-6-6 rule. There should be no more than: 6 bullet points per slide, 6 words per bullet and 6 slides full of words in a row. Being visual creatures, you should encourage your employees to create slides with engaging and related visuals. A caveat: be sure that you have the rights to use the images.

A great rule taught in business schools across the country is: KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). Refrain from using confusing words, jargon, uncommon acronyms and irrelevant information. Keep it short, sweet, and to the point. Following these rules will help engage the audience and hold their attention for a longer period of time.

Be consistent “Consistency is key” - a saying often used but rarely followed in the creation of PowerPoint presentations. You should ensure that grammar and spelling are all consistent, and errors are minimal, if existent at all. Have another employee or manager review it for errors and inconsistencies.

For the slides, use the same background and font throughout. The easiest way to ensure this is by using a template. A word of warning: don’t use templates that are heavily animated because they can cause significant distractions, and don’t choose backgrounds that are similar in color to your font. The best slides have a light color for a background with a darker font for your text.

Summarize The goal of most presentations is to build interest and inform or update the audience. In fact, the majority of audiences just want a short summary so they can develop their own questions to ask after the presentation, or at a later meeting.

When creating the presentation, be sure to keep the audience in mind. If a presentation is being made to IT managers, chances are it does not need to have advanced financial spreadsheets. If you are presenting on a topic that has lots of graphs, extra information, or appendices, put the most important information in the presentation and the rest in a handout. This will keep the audience’s attention on the presenter, not the slides.

Practice, preview, review Practice makes perfect. In an ideal world there would be hours and hours to practice and tweak a presentation. Normally, that’s not true. Schedule at least a comparable amount of time the day before a presentation for a dry run. Always review the presentation with your team and ask them for feedback. This will help encourage employees to keep improving and developing themselves.

For more tips and tricks on giving presentations using Microsoft PowerPoint and other Microsoft products, please contact us.

Social media has really become a major way for businesses to get their name out and gain exposure to the many different people on the Internet, build their brand and find new customers. With the large numbers of people currently using the Internet, it makes sense for businesses to have some form of online presence as they will be able to connect with more customers.

Social media, once called a fad, has become the norm and is going to be with us for some time. A large number of companies already have an online presence, and are taking advantage of the benefits that social media can bring. Here are a number of things you can do to get your social media adventures underway.

Be Clear on Social Media It’s important that before you start looking into the different forms of social media that are out there, you are clear on what social media is, and what it isn’t. Social media is a way to meet people, and share content and ideas with them. For companies it’s a form of non-traditional marketing - think of it as soft marketing - it’s not meant to be the place where you flog your products, rather a place to develop interest in your company, so people will want to do business with you. By using social media you can show people who your company is, and connect with them on a more personal level. If you are clear on what social media is from the beginning, there’s a higher chance that you’ll be successful when you develop your online presence.

Before You Launch Into Social Media There are a number of things that your company needs to have either already done, or considered, before you jump in:

• Have a website: It’s a good idea to have a solid website with information about your company, contact information, products and services. Most potential customers will look at your website after looking searching for you online, and before they choose to do business with you, so your website needs to provide the relevant information they are looking for. If you don’t have a website, or feel yours is lacking, it’s easier than ever to get a professional looking site. With a quick search you will be able to find some competent designers.
• Get educated: It will be beneficial to educate yourself on current trends regarding social media. This can be done by simply going to social media websites, taking the free introduction tours and reading blogs related to the sites. Beyond that you should also research your competitors’ websites and Internet presence. Observe what content they have online, and more importantly: what they don’t have. It will also help to connect with and observe industry experts, see what they post online, and note the style and tone they use. This will help provide you with a sound knowledge base from which you can then create a more effective online presence.
• Set goals: As with any step in business, you should have a plan with realistic goals. Aim for results that are achievable for your company. If you’re a small, local IT company that focuses on providing support for banks, don’t expect to have the same massive hype that Microsoft and Apple do. Clearly set objectives and review periodically.
• Develop a focus: In real life, you can’t be all things to all people. The same goes for social media. You need to develop a focus on what type of online content you would like to share. You should aim to create content that your customers will want to share with people.
• Stake a claim: You should to go to the main social media websites - Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube - and reserve your personal and business usernames. This is important because it will make you look more professional by having the same username across all sites, and users will be able to find you easier.
• Ask for help if you need it: While some companies make social media sound easy, it can be deceptively hard to master. If you feel lost, or are having a tough time with it, there are knowledgeable consultants out there who are happy to help.

Time to Get Social When you feel you know what direction you will take, it’s time to start developing your online profiles. It can be tough to decide which social media tools to utilize. Unfortunately there is no right answer. Most small businesses follow the crowd, and this means having pages on Facebook and Linkedin. This does not mean that you should join these networks simply because they have the most users. It is recommended that you follow what similar businesses or direct competitors are doing. If they are on one service but not another, do the same to begin with, but be on the lookout for new social media sites, or features being added to existing sites.

One Thing to Not Forget There is one really important thing we can share with businesses thinking of pursuing social media: it isn’t a turnkey operation. You can’t just, “set it and forget it.” To be successful, you need to be active by posting updates, news, and above all interacting with the people who reach out to you. After all, they are your customers. If you do establish your social presence but forget to keep it up to date, you will be the company that’s forgotten.

If you would like help with your social media strategy, please get in touch with us. We’d love to hear from you.

Create diagrams online with real time collaboration!

Cacoo is a user friendly online drawing tool that allows you to create a variety of diagrams such as site maps, wire frame, UML and network charts.   Basically a web-based version of Visio with real-time collaboration that allows multiple people to work together on the same diagram.

Take a tour of Cacoo!

Spring is almost here, and you know what that means: many companies and employees are looking for a fresh start. Chances are high that if your company is going to experience employee turnover, it will happen in Q2. This means that you will probably be conducting interviews, and one of the most convenient and popular ways of conducting an interview is via VoIP software - Skype, Microsoft LYNC, etc. Do you plan to conduct an interview using VoIP?

Let’s face it, there are very few people out there who love conducting interviews. The ones that do, are journalists, the rest of us see it as a means to the end. But that doesn’t mean that you should put interviews on the back burner. Remember, the purpose of the interview is to find an employee that meets your needs and is a good fit for your business. Many of us have watched or conducted interviews over VoIP, and have walked away unimpressed, or unsure of the results. Here are some tips to ensure you get the most out of VoIP while interviewing.

Remember the Rules Many of us have another identity or personality when we are online, it’s common to see people who are usually quiet and reserved in real life become very vocal when placed in front of a computer. This also happens when people conduct interviews online, another personality often comes out during the interview. Remember: even though you are conducting an interview over VoIP, it is still an interview, and as such, you need to follow the same rules and guidelines you would when conducting a face-to-face interview. One of the biggest things interviewers forget when they conduct interviews via VoIP is that you are a representative of your company and its brand, the interviewee will form their own opinion based on what you say and how you act. Adopt your face-to-face interview persona, not the online persona.

Lights, Camera, Office? When conducting the interview it is best to pick a well-lit spot, with minimal to no distractions. Your office may be the one with Nirvana posters on the wall - which is cool - but they’re probably not the best thing to have as your background during the interview. The best spot to conduct face-to-face interviews is in a conference room, so why not conduct the online interview there? If you don’t have a conference room, pick a quiet spot in the office. Wherever you settle, be sure you are comfortable there, as chances are you will be conducting more than one interview.

When you have found a good spot, be sure to turn off your cellphone, or at least put it on silent. Also be sure to turn the various sound alerts on your computer off. Nothing is more annoying to interviewees than being interrupted mid-sentence by a telephone call, or the ubiquitous IM alert.

Test the Tech Before you conduct the interview, ensure you are familiar with the program you are using. You don’t want to accidentally mute the interviewee, or even worse, hang up on them. It is a good idea to set up in the place you are going to be conducting the interview, and check that the internet connection is stable, or if you are using WiFi, that the signal is strong. Conduct a test call with a colleague or another person to ensure that your webcam is working correctly, and you can hear the other person. It is best to do this a few days in advance, so you can iron out any glitches or problems with lots of time to spare.

If a technological mishap occurs during the interview, or you lose your connection, don’t give up and walk away, simply call the interviewee back, apologize and carry on. Better still, establish at the outset that if there is a problem, you will definitely call back. This will ensure that the interviewee isn’t calling you when you are calling them.

The Interview Remember that you are using technology for the interview, and this technology has many useful features, the most pertinent being the ability to record. Being able to play the interview back later if you feel you have missed something, or want to know other employees’ opinions, is an excellent perk to using VoIP. Be sure to let the interviewee know that their interview will be recorded, as it could be illegal to record the person without their consent.

One common oversight by both the interviewer and interviewee is time. It may happen that you need to conduct an interview with someone in another timezone. It’s important to be aware of the time difference and ensure that both parties are on the same page. Also, if you’re in an area that has Daylight Savings Time, be aware that some places don’t observe it, and adjust accordingly. If you know the interviewee is in another timezone, clearly state when you are setting up the interview time, if you mean your time or the interviewee’s time.

Finally, when conducting the interview: be aware of where you are looking. Most programs will have the other person in a large image with you in a smaller image. Look at the image of the person when they are speaking, and at the camera when you are speaking. This is the best way to replicate eye-contact in a face-to-face interview.

When you remain professional and can execute a good interview using VoIP software, you can be sure that the interviewee will be impressed and will want to join your company. Good luck! If you would like to know more about using VoIP for interviews, or other business operations give us a call - we are more than happy to hear from you.

It is safe to say that every company uses some form of Web browser. One of the most popular amongst all users is Firefox. It is particularly popular with businesses because it is free, and offers an incredibly wide variety of useful features, including plugins and add-ons. With the large amount of add-ons available, it can be a chore to pick the most useful. That’s where we come in.

At first look, Firefox is a fairly simple browser. Where it really shines though, is in the wealth of add-ons available for all users. If you were to compare different users’ browsers, it is highly doubtful they would look the same. There are some useful add-ons for small business users that can help make your life easier. Here are our top five:

Make Add-ons Compatible With New Versions of Firefox
Firefox is on an aggressive update schedule. It feels like only a few weeks pass in between each new rollout, and this can pose a problem if the developers of the add-ons don’t keep their add-ons up to date. To solve this, install the Add-On Compatibility Reporter. This useful add-on will disable version checking, allowing the add-ons to continue working. If you have an add-on that won’t work, you can send a report to the developer. It is recommended that this is one of the first add-ons you install.

Speed Dial
Speed Dial is an add-on that allows you to quickly access your favorite, or most visited sites. You set your bookmarks up to show via Speed Dial, which will show current thumbnails of the website. From there you can click on the thumbnail to go to the website. This is particularly useful if you have pages you visit on a regular basis and wish to navigate to them quickly.

OutWit Docs
This add-on is for those managers who have a ton of documents on their computer and want to quickly find one without closing or minimizing Firefox. Think of having a version of Google for your docs – you enter a query into the search bar, and up comes the results with thumbnails so you can easily pick and open the document you were looking for.

Google Global
An interesting add-on that allows you to see where your website, or any website for that matter, will show up according to the local Google page rankings. This is great for quickly viewing your presence in other regions or countries. However, this add-on will only work when on a Google search results page.

Screengrab
If you are preparing a presentation or need to take a screenshot it can be a bit of a chore, especially on a Mac. With Screengrab you can take a screenshot of just the visible part of the browser or the whole page. This will save time from having to take multiple screenshots and then stitching the images together to gain one image.

These five apps are just the tip of the iceberg, there are many more on the Firefox Add-ons page. If you would like to know more about Firefox or other Web browsers, please contact us.

 

March 2012 – Applied Tech has been recognized as a national leader in Managed Services by MSPmentor.  Managed Services providers across the world are measured by overall managed services revenue and growth for fiscal year 2011.

 Applied Tech is one of two Wisconsin-based ICT firms to make the cut.  “Our team has been offering managed services since 2005, before many companies even though about such a solution”, said President Kurt Sippel.  “We’re proud of what we have built and it’s an honor to be recognized”.

 As a managed services provider (MSP), Applied Tech offers network monitoring, help desk support, and planning of IT environments for businesses through its TechCare® Managed Services offering.  Customers receive access to experienced, efficient helpdesk technicians over the phone, remotely, or onsite as well as CIO services from our account managers.

MSPmentor is the ultimate guide to managed services and the leading global destination for managed service providers.  For more information, please visit www.mspmentor.net.

Virtualization. Many business owners know exactly what it is and what their companies are doing in regard to it. Whether your company has virtualized some or all of your business, it’s evident that there are cost savings. A recent report found that some organizations have achieved up to 269% return on investment from the process. Read on to learn how.

What is Virtualization? Virtualization is the creation of a virtual computing environment, where one hardware system can run multiple virtual environments. Common types of virtualization include servers, storage devices, or networks. The benefits of virtualization include lower costs, improved IT management, and reduced energy consumption.

The Survey A report published by CDW-G focuses on government organizations in the United Sates. Many SME owners and managers like yourselves are probably asking, “How do study results involving the government help my business?” Well, if you look closer you can see that what the government organizations did can easily be replicated by SMEs, just on a smaller scale.

Results In recent years, many companies have had to tighten their belts due to economic difficulties. Government agencies are no exception. The results of the survey found that agencies and organizations realized investment returns as high as 134 to 269%. The survey found that if IT managers invest in Server Virtualization, Document Management, Storage Virtualization, and Cloud Computing in that order, the returns on Server Virtualization alone can help pay for, if not totally cover the cost of, the other three processes. CDW-G found that on average, the total cost of implementing all four separately is over USD 1.1million, but when implemented in order, the average cost was around USD 400,000.

While it is unlikely that SMEs will see a return on investments of this magnitude, it is highly likely that they will see increased returns if they follow this method of re-investing returns from Server Virtualization into the other three steps. In times of economic stress, this could be a huge boost to your bottom line.

Helpful Recommendations From the results, CDW-G offered some useful recommendations that all businesses can use:

• When budget cuts are needed, first look for ways to increase efficiency without service cuts.
• Review technologies and processes to identify inefficiencies.
• Consider savings and efficiency opportunities in all new solutions.
• Leverage available savings into new projects.

As with any new process, it’s equally important to ensure that you educate the users of the processes and stay on your toes to keep updated.

When we hear someone mention “Microsoft Excel” many of us will instantly think of an open spreadsheet we are working on, or have recently seen. Known by all business owners and managers, and mastered by few, Excel has become one of, if not the, most widely used business applications. While it is a widely used program, there are a number of errors that are confusing. Read on to learn about the most common ones.

While most of us are comfortable with Excel, there are many times when we have had an error pop up that is more or less confusing. Let’s face it, when we see “!#%&” characters many of us are at a loss. Here are some of the most common errors you come across in Excel, what they mean, and how to fix them.

####### This is one of the most common errors, with the # sign filling the cell. This error means that you have entered data in the cell that is longer than the cell’s size. For example, 1234567890 will show up as ##### if that column is not wide enough to fit all those numbers. This error will also show up when you have formatted a negative number as a date.

To fix this error, simply re-size the column (A, B, C, etc.) by clicking the edge of the column and dragging to the right to make larger. Or check to see if you have a negative number that is formatted as a date, and if so format the cell as a negative number instead..

?Name# This error means you have have an error in the formula or range. For example, =counif(!6:B99, “Y”) In this case, “counif” should be “countif”. Also, the “!6” should be a column letter and 6 (i.e., B6).

To fix this error, click on the cell with the error, and look at the formula in the formula bar, usually located above the spreadsheet, and correct the formula like this: =COUNTIF(A6:B99, “Y”)

#REF! If you have a formula that refers to other cells in the spreadsheet, and then you change one of those cells to data that does not compute in your formula, you will get the #REF! error. For example, if your formula for C6 is: =SUM(A1:A5, B1:B5, C1:C5) and you delete B1, you will get #REF! in C6.

The easiest fix to this is to hit: CTRL+Z, or Undo under Edit. If you made the error a long time ago and Undo does not work, then make sure all cells referenced in the formal contain valid information.

Circular Reference You get this error when you have entered a formula that includes the cell where you have entered the formula. For example, the formula =SUM(A2:A5) is entered into A5. Excel is essentially telling you that it is chasing its own tail, and can’t catch it.

The easiest way to fix this error is to simply click on the original cell, and remove the reference to the cell that the formula is entered in.

The Little Green Triangle in the Cell If you see a little green triangle in the top left corner of a cell, Excel is telling you there is an error with the formula. This is useful if you aren’t sure about what the error means. If you click on the arrow, you will get an ! with Trace Error. Click this, and Excel will give you a drop-down menu with options.

What if I Can’t Find the Error? If you are having trouble locating the error, or do not want to spend time searching for the error in a long formula, click the Formula tab and the arrow beside Error Checking. You can click either Trace Error or Circular Reference and Excel will point out the error, or provide the cell name with the error. From there, select the cell and look at the formula or data entered to determine the problem.