by Aurelien Parment | Aug 18, 2015 | Small Business, Tech News
As a technology administrator for your company, you’ve witnessed employees bring in their own devices to be more productive. “Bring your own device” or BYOD is becoming a hot workplace trend, with 74% of companies allowing their employees to use their own devices for work related purposes.
Combined with cloud, the prospect of employee-owned devices is enough to scare fear into even the strongest of IT managers. While some organizations have adopted rogue IT as the standard, others are still exploring solutions to help them manage the influx of technology.
One solution IT administrators can explore is Microsoft Azure Active Directory, a multi-tenant cloud based directory and identity management service run out of 28 data centers worldwide. Azure Active Directory (AD) provides an affordable and easy solution to give employees and businesses the ability to use single sign on (SSO) to access cloud applications like Office 365, Salesforce.com, and Dropbox. Azure AD is already integrated for those who have Office 365 and other Microsoft applications already in use within their organization.
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by Aurelien Parment | Aug 14, 2015 | Tech News
Going to the Cloud? Avoid these Mistakes
Bill Kleyman
“Cloud computing is a powerful, agile model that can positively impact pretty much any business out there. As long as it’s deployed properly, that is. This means good planning, a solid infrastructure, and a use-case which directly fits what the cloud can deliver.
In reality, almost all organizations using the Internet are utilizing some element of cloud computing. The differentiator is the extent and which model of the cloud is being deployed. In fact, global spending on IaaS is expected to reach almost $16.5 billion in 2015, an increase of 32.8 percent from 2014, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2014 to 2019 forecast at 29.1 percent, according to Gartner’s latest forecast. The report notes that over time, many businesses, especially in the midmarket, will eventually migrate away from running their own data centers in favor of relying primarily on infrastructure in the cloud.”
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by Aurelien Parment | Aug 11, 2015 | Tech News
The popularity of social collaboration tools is rising in many companies. According to research firm Gartner, 50% of large organizations will have internal social network-like networks by 2016, and 30% of those networks will be considered as essential as email and telephones are today. With this data in mind, the question is how business leaders in these organizations will drive adoption and measure the effectiveness of these tools.
Many businesses choosing to adopt social collaboration tools to enable effective communication across their organizations don’t need to look much further than Yammer. Founded in 2008 and now owned by Microsoft, the freemium enterprise social networking service promotes the idea of internal and external teamwork, connection, and collaboration for greater productivity.
If you’re looking to implement Yammer, there are numerous considerations prior to installation. In today’s blog post, we’ll explore these concerns in greater detail and explain why they matter.
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by Aurelien Parment | Aug 7, 2015 | Tech News
Microsoft buys sales-gamification startup with eye to CRM combo
Katherine Noyes
“Adding the fantasy sports component to its CRM offering will give companies a tool to make incentive programs for sales staff more engaging, according to Bob Stutz, corporate vice president for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, in a [sic] who discussed the news in a blog post.
Microsoft will integrate the platform into its own Dynamics CRM software in the coming months, Stutz said. It will also continue to support customers using FantasySalesTeam with other CRM products.”
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by Aurelien Parment | Aug 4, 2015 | Small Business, Tech News
The capabilities of Office 365 extend beyond the productivity solutions end-users have come to know and love. Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype and subsequent re-branding to Skype for Business from Lync added much needed communication and collaboration opportunities.
For organizations looking to get more out of Skype for Business, the next iteration has arrived. Earlier in July, Microsoft announced new Skype for Business Services in Office 365 for enterprise customers.
Here is a preview of features in the pipeline:
Skype Meeting Broadcast – For some companies, business meetings can be very large. Skype Meeting Broadcast is available to eligible Office 365 customers worldwide and enables up to 10,000 people to attend a Skype for Business meeting on any device. Bing Pulse and Yammer are integrated as well, allowing for real-time polling and interactive dialogue between attendees.
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by Aurelien Parment | Jul 31, 2015 | Tech News
Google+: A case study on App Download Interstitials
Google Staff
“Many mobile sites use promotional app interstitials to encourage users to download their native mobile apps. For some apps, native can provide richer user experiences, and use features of the device that are currently not easy to access on a browser. Because of this, many app owners believe that they should encourage users to install the native version of their online property or service. It’s not clear how aggressively to promote the apps, and a full page interstitial can interrupt the user from reaching their desired content.”
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