Tell Me – Why Aren’t You Using Microsoft Teams?

by Felicien | Mar 7, 2018 | Education

Stop Taking Unnecessary Risks!

by Felicien | Mar 7, 2018 | Education

Follow These 3 Easy Steps To Stay Safe
If you’ve ever been a victim of identity theft or have been affected by a cybersecurity data breach, you remember the anger and frustration you felt at a violation you had no control over. Don’t feel defeated – arm yourself with the latest in cybersecurity protection protocols!
Cybersecurity is an intense word, but do you fully understand what it means? Maybe you think it’s not important to you, so you don’t pay attention…
“I don’t shop online…”
“I don’t use social media…”
“I don’t pay my bills online; I only write checks…”
Unfortunately, even if all of the above applies to you (though we sincerely doubt that!), you can still be affected by a cybersecurity breach, and trust us when we say it does matter. We’ll tell you why, and how to protect yourself.
You might think you can avoid cyberattackers – “hackers” – by avoiding the Internet as much as possible, but the reality is much more complex. Your name, your personal information, and your identity are each online in some form. Even individuals that only make telephone calls to their bank are prompted with questions to verify their identity, and that information is stored in the bank’s software. Paying an electric bill in person at a local Department of Utilities won’t prevent someone from needing protection, either, and for the same reason. Cybersecurity is an issue at the heart of every aspect of life – even medical records are migrating to digital format these days, simplifying the process by which medical professionals need to access patient history to expedite care.
Consider the other side of the coin on this, too – cybersecurity is critical for organizations that store this information. Consumers need to know their information is protected, and we have a right to privacy and protection. The more PII a company stores, the greater the risk for which they assume the burden of proof of protection.
Cloud data storage of personally identifiable information (PII) leaves consumers vulnerable to a cyberattack in all aspects of life, from global enterprises with which they do business to their local machine at home or work. Got a credit card with Citibank? Over 360,000 Citibank credit cardholders had their data stolen in a cybersecurity breach in 2011. In 2013, more than 40 million consumers with Target credit and debit card accounts were affected. More than seven million small businesses had sensitive information exposed in a data breach with JP Morgan Chase in 2014. In one of the worse cybersecurity breaches of all time, in terms of volume and data sensitivity, the records of 80 million Anthem patients and employees were accessed in 2015, including social security numbers. Major data breaches make news reports more often than we like, reminding us of the dangers presented by hacking and phishing, malware, identity theft, and much more. Once a hacker has obtained your name, address, and personal information, they can then use this data to represent you online and try to infiltrate your desktop system to access even more personal data, to plant a virus or ransomware, or even mine cryptocurrency.
Does all of this sound like a foreign language? You don’t need to be a technical whiz to be able to protect yourself. A few simple measures can go a long way toward increased cybersecurity. The great news is that you can do a few things on your machine, at home or work, that can increase security. Follow these tips for improved protection:

Use best practices for passwords.

Passwords should be unique

Create a different password for each computer and each website or web portal you access. If a hacker can determine one password and you use the same password for multiple accounts, the hacker now has access to more than one of your accounts and can cause that much more damage.

Passwords should be complex

Create passwords using a combination of capital and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols like ?!@#$%.

Change your password regularly

Changing your password for each computer and website or web portal you access at least twice per year is wise. Even if a hacker can figure out your password for one machine or location, changing the password in a matter of days or weeks from that time can minimize the damage the hacker can cause.

Know your privacy settings.

Maintain a realistic perspective on your risk

Every major organization performs routine risk assessments. Why wouldn’t you have a realistic perspective on the risks you face and do whatever you can to protect yourself? Trust us when we say you can’t afford not to!

Verify your privacy settings

You can verify the privacy settings on your desktop or laptop by clicking on the “Start” menu in the lower left corner of your screen, “Settings”, and then reviewing the options shown. On the right side of this menu, you’ll also see suggestions for how to restrict privacy, and as you read this you’ll know we encourage the maximum privacy settings!

Take advantage of built-in security tools.

Updates!

Operating systems from Microsoft will regularly release updates for applications and security, and we strongly recommend regularly checking for these updates and installing the latest security packages.

Windows Defender

Windows 10 comes with a built-in tool called Windows Defender that helps protect your user experience against pop-up screens, slow performance and threats from spyware and viruses.
Microsoft’s default settings have Windows Defender automatically enabled for users.

It’s important to note that in professional environments, IT departments commonly establish guidelines for security and password protocols. While the above are best practices that you can follow to protect yourself, you should always follow the policies and procedures set forth by IT security teams.

These tips are catered for a Windows 10 system, but the basic rules apply to any operating system.

Don’t fall victim to a hacker this year – take the proper approach to cybersecurity and protect yourself from vulnerabilities. See more details by watching this short video and taking the proper steps today.
Make 2018 the year you have an ironclad cybersecurity program, for your home and your office!

Vanilla Ice Was Right – “Stop. Collaborate and listen!”

by Felicien | Mar 7, 2018 | Education

Microsoft Teams provides a rich environment with a wealth of apps and features, including a customizable user experience. Here are tips for making the most of Microsoft Teams.
In 1989, Robert Van Winkle (better known by his stage name, Vanilla Ice) gave the world some valuable advice –  “Stop. Collaborate and listen!”
He raised a valid point nearly 30 years ago that professionals are shifting the focus to today; listening is a critical component of collaboration. Listening is one of the primary steps in the communication process, and communication is the foundation of collaboration. Pretty deep insight for a decades-old pop culture song that wasn’t meant to provoke deep thought!
What the song did not focus on was how collaborations relate in today’s tech-savvy world – understandable since cellphones had extending antennae and weighed about four pounds in 1989. In 2018, the goal of any collaborative environment is to merge team members, conversations, and content in an easily accessible location. For example, the team behind Slack – the widely-used collaborative platform after which all other collaborative platforms are now modeled – took what they didn’t like about various solutions already on the market, made vast improvements and then married these improvements with what features they did like. The result was a freemium platform made available for everyone to enjoy. Millions of users later, Slack seems to be doing something right.
The team over at Microsoft agrees, which is why the buzz was in overdrive recently with the tech world in full gossip mode about hints that Microsoft was in talks to acquire Slack. No matter how little truth there may be to these rumors, the fact is Microsoft did not acquire Slack, and instead released their solution for an Internet-relay chat (IRC) program: Microsoft Teams.
You might say Microsoft did the same thing Slack did, in that the developers over at Microsoft picked apart Slack, categorized what they liked and what they didn’t like in terms of features and functionality, and made their solutions with their version of improvements. Rather than come up with a catchy name, they stuck to the basics and called the program after the users it was designed to support: Teams. Built-in branding, right? The definition of a team is “a group of players forming one side in a competitive game or sport”. Taking this definition one step further, a team is a group of individuals that share a goal and works together toward this common goal (or goals). Each member of a team has individual strengths they contribute, together supporting the collective achievement of the goal.

Microsoft Teams itself is a collaborative effort: users can submit feedback for features they would like to see added to improve the overall end-user experience. Microsoft has already included a few added features post-launch based on user-submitted requests.

This entire concept is the fundamental spirit of collaboration. What is most important in any collaborative effort is the community, communication, and information. This spirit is clear in Microsoft Teams, with the combination of workplace chat, meeting space, notes forums, and file sharing. The focus on user experience in the design of Microsoft teams is significant and obvious from the start. Users can see the variety of integrated apps in the tab gallery accessed in the user main navigation menu at the center of the top section of your screen, or in the Store experience found in the left navigation menu, at the bottom. Team admins are able to customize the user experience to cater to team requirements.
Microsoft Teams supports a host of third-party integrations, with Team admins having control of settings for what apps are available to their respective users. Do you need help with adjusting this feature? Here are the steps you’ll need to follow:

A Team admin needs to login to the Office 365 Admin Center (or “dashboard”): https://portal.office.com
In the left navigation menu, expand Settings and select “Service & Add-ins.”
Scroll and select Microsoft Teams.
In the pop-up menu that opens, you’ll see several Settings options. Choose “Apps”. These settings are divided into two groups:

The first group, “Default Apps”, are premier apps that are part of Office 365, like Flow or OneNote. These are toggled on and enabled.
“External Apps” are applications created by partner developers and are not necessarily associated with Microsoft other than these developers publish apps to the Microsoft environment. Adobe Creative Cloud is an example of an application in this group.
Click “Save” and changes are deployed immediately.

Team admins have control over what apps are available to – and seen by – your users, to maximize productivity through user experience. Microsoft Teams suggests turning off apps for which you don’t use or plan to grant user access.
Other settings Team admins can adjust for users in the Settings menu include allowing of sideloading external apps; apps you might develop yourself fall into this category. There is also an option to allow Microsoft to automatically update with apps they add and integrate. Apps are often added, and enabling automatic inclusion is one less “update” a Team admin needs to consider.

“Apps” is one of the big buzzwords of the year. Apps are software applications designed to simplify a process. Of the thousands of apps available, only a select few are chosen by an organization for regular use, with the intention of improving productivity, thereby increasing revenue.

Partner apps add significant value to the Microsoft Teams environment, contributing to the collaborative environment. Recent partner apps added to Microsoft Teams include News, Weather, and Wikipedia Search. An example here is the recent announcement of expanded Education partner apps to be included in Microsoft Teams, helping educators and students with a tailored experience for learning environments.
On that note, Microsoft has heard user requests to be able to manage apps by security group, and this is a feature Microsoft plans to launch in the coming months. In the meantime, make the most of Microsoft Teams by studying all apps that can be integrated at the user level, reviewing your settings for managing apps for your users, and customize your Team’s user experience. Remove apps that are unnecessary.
The ultimate goal of Microsoft Teams is to provide a completely customizable experience that can be managed by an admin and drilled down to users based on the needs of the organization – and its users – providing a priceless and indispensable tool for teams and organizations.
How can Microsoft Teams help you make 2018 your best year yet? Find out which new and exciting apps are waiting for you – and your team – today!

Is Organizing Your Staff A Little Like Herding Cats?

by Felicien | Mar 7, 2018 | Education

Stop Struggling – Try Microsoft’s Team Planner

Microsoft’s latest and greatest app is called Team Planner. It’s an amazing tool that lets people organize any task. Of course, it was developed with corporate America in mind, but this type of app would be great for planning anything from a birthday party to a wedding. The app has been well-received and is now being used around the world in every type of business or enterprise.
Designed for Projects of Any Size
For those who work with teams every day, it’s clear why this type of app has been so successful. Any company or department that has worked on a big project understands the frustrations. There’s just no easy way to manage a big project with lots of players involved. How do you assign people to specific tasks? How do you upload documents so everyone has access? How can you find out each person’s current status?
In the past, programs developed to streamline project management have been large, unwieldy conglomerations that most team members could hardly understand. Each task was so cumbersome it was often easier to just work without project management software. This is where Microsoft really excels, because their developers have been down this road before. They know the pitfalls and drawbacks. With each generation of software, they’ve gradually eliminated time-consuming obstacles. They’ve fine-tuned the app, sanding off its rough edges and now what’s left is a really intuitive solution that works well for both corporate America and individuals.

How to Begin
Begin by Opening MS Office 365. There you’ll see all the apps available. Planner should be shown as one of the tiles on the page. Click on the interface and Team Planner will open to the Dashboard. You can also launch the app from the “app launcher” icon in the upper left-hand corner. At the dashboard page, you can view all ongoing projects. This is also where you create a new project.
Let’s say you want to create a project for your company’s new marketing video. Just click on the “Plus” sign. Next, you’ll fill in project details including a name and description of the project. As you create tasks, go ahead and assign each one to a member of your team. You can include as much or as little information as you need to. The app also has a chat feature that allows team members to connect. Workers find it helpful to have a built-in chat feature. As they discuss the project, both parties can see the plan’s progress and find out what each member is working on.
Planner uses a handy tool called “Buckets” and you can give descriptive names to your buckets. Place all related tasks in one bucket. This prevents you from having to search around for specific things. Click on My Tasks for a comprehensive list of your own projects. It’s easy to see where you are and what you need to do next.
Email Notifications
As the project leader assigns new tasks to team members, an email notification is sent to each one. This ensures that everyone knows what they’ve been assigned to do. From now on, there’s no confusion about who should be working on what. These types of snags can prevent a project from moving forward the way the boss expects it to – those days are over with Team Planner.
Transparency in Every Task and Project
Ever worked on a big project and not known its status or who was working on what? That’s happened to all of us at some time. With the Team Planner Dashboard, you can quickly see who has been assigned to what task. You can also view any attachments, images, videos or other task-related information.
As each person completes a task, they mark it done. That makes it easy for the team leader and others to check the project’s progress. No more playing phone tag with the PM and team members for progress updates.
Organize Your Work Visually
For those people who work better when tasks are more visual, Team Planner is a good solution. Each project has a board that allows you to easily organize tasks, placing them in buckets. It’s easy to view the project’s current stage. If someone has to drop out of the project, just drag and drop to assign it to someone else. Teams work together in unison. Anyone can update or change the status of an assignment. With Team Planner, project collaboration is a breeze.
Best Features
Built for Office 365, Team Planner lets you attach files to tasks, work together on those files, and even have conversations around tasks without switching between apps. With this app, all discussions and deliverables stay with the plan. That way, nothing can fall through the cracks. Want to know what you should be working on next? Click on My Tasks for a comprehensive list of your own projects. It’s easy to see where you are and what you need to do next.
Microsoft Flow
Microsoft Flow is a SaaS cloud service that makes it easy to get all your favorite apps to communicate with each other. It works with Microsoft programs like Outlook and OneNote, but also includes over 100 other programs that people use daily and find handy. Automate time-consuming tasks, such as emails. Set up a flow that notifies you with a text message when you receive an important email from a client. Emailing your customer using Outlook with project updates. Manage approvals all in one place. With just the tap of a button, you can set up and accomplish many tasks that once took days to complete.
Conclusion
No matter what type of work you do, great teamwork is the key to success. That’s one of the reasons why Microsoft developed its new app, “Team Planner.” With this program, it’s so much easier for teams to create plans, assign tasks, share files and get organized. That’s the key to any project succeeding. All team members must be working together toward a final goal. When everyone has a clear idea of what the project is all about and what should be completed next, your project will get completed on-time and on budget.

Unlock The Secrets Beneath The Surface

by Felicien | Mar 6, 2018 | Education

Microsoft has released the newest addition to its Surface product line-up – the Surface Book 2. We take a look at hidden secrets of this gadget and see what new features make it worthy of an upgrade from the original Surface Book.

Gone are the days when Microsoft was primarily a software company. Granted, its Windows platform and Office 365 suite remain the foundations of most professional computing and communications. Outlook for email, Word for word processing, and on and on; these are just a fraction of the many, many ways which Microsoft enjoys the premier position as the go-to for all things business.
Microsoft products have been fundamental to professional operations for more than 30 years. The organization has kept ahead of, or in step with, technological trends or innovative concepts in order to keep consumers enthralled with the latest and greatest. When the telecommuting trend took a stronger hold on the professional workforce, Microsoft responded with their Office 365 product, allowing staff to access the Microsoft Office suite from remote locations and enable productivity without locational boundaries.
Once the iPad and other mobile or tablet computing devices became more commonplace, Microsoft recognized the market for the mobile application version of their Microsoft Office suite, to further enable mobility for professionals. Global organizations need continual workflow, with a global workforce and ceaseless operations. The next logical step was a mobile workflow device following the Microsoft go-to-market strategy!
Have you been introduced to the Microsoft Surface product line-up yet? Color us shocked if you’ve not yet at least tried a Surface Pro or a Surface Book. Maximum mobility in a minimalist package, the Surface Book offers a portable and powerful professional machine at a reasonable price point.
The original Surface Book enticed users with a compact and lightweight unit that still housed all the favorite productivity applications, with a speedy and powerful processor capable of doing all that the on-the-go professional required. A built-in HD webcam and long battery life topped off the list of features in this industry darling.
What makes the latest iteration of the Surface family — the Surface Book 2 — so enticing? Options, options, and more options! Microsoft took notice of its competition and offered this reboot in multiple screen sizes and varying features, including faster processors and bigger hard drives, but also with a lower entry price point.
Is it time for you to consider an upgrade to the new Surface Book 2? The recent grand unveiling left us intrigued. Microsoft promises four times the power of the previous Surface Book and extended battery life, which is a critical necessity for maintaining connectivity while working remotely. The versatility of the Surface Book was what drew a “cult following”, and this new iteration isn’t lacking in this department. From laptop mode to tablet mode, the two most common uses for basic needs, the simple and straightforward design doesn’t miss the mark. Detach the screen with a single button and add the Pen for the Surface Book 2 to become your digital easel.
Perhaps the coolest feature of the Surface Book 2 is on the smaller of the size options, the 13.5″ Core i5 model, which adopts a fanless cooling technology. The models with larger screens have faster processors that produce a greater thermal output, and thus still have cooling fans, but we are excited to see the direction this innovation is taking technology.
We admit that most differences between the original and this newer version are nearly imperceptible, but there are a few to note:

The hinge has been modified to take up less internal space and yet be more durable with added stiffness for better support during use in laptop mode, hoping to resolve the greatest need based on user feedback to date. This redesign has also made it much easier for users to open the Surface Book 2 with only one hand.
The keyboard has had a facelift for cleaner lines and an overall sleeker appearance.
The camera lens area has been clarified and has a forward view and a rear view – helpful for video conferencing. The camera can record at high-definition which supports facial recognition for Windows Hello.
The bezel around the screen has been slightly smoothed out.

The keyboard is now flush with the casing, and designers (and gamers) will appreciate the upgraded graphics, though the resolution remains unchanged. Older models offered already-dated graphics performance, but given the core functionality of the Surface Book this is no surprise and wasn’t a deal breaker for consumers in the market for a device like this. Added USB ports plus a headphone jack — a feature disappearing from many other models of late — help users make the most of their existing peripherals.
Top-of-the-line models offered much more of a punch for your penny with the fastest processors, best graphics, biggest hard drives – everything you could want in a machine, and around the same price point as the original Surface Book. The older versions were designed with general productivity in mind, but the newer versions – especially the top-tier models – are powerhouses.
Lower price points, more features, and faster machines all add up to one answer: a win for the consumer. The Surface Book 2 is an improvement over the original Surface Book, with notable upgrades in areas where the adoring public demanded. The greatest win for consumers is hands down the lower entry price point and the faster processors, allowing for productivity without pause. However, do the features justify the cost?
The Surface Book 2 boasts a 17-hour battery life – a duration nearly unheard of in the mobile device world. Sure, an Acer or a Dell might cost you less — and we repeat, might — but the versatility of the Microsoft machines promise use beyond the boardroom.
Microsoft is secretly labeling the Surface Book 2 a “high-end laptop”, and subtle cues are supporting this claim – aside from the obvious indicator of the higher price point compared to other mobile devices that service similar purposes. The main thing to remember here is that the Surface Book 2 is neither a tablet nor a laptop, but a marriage of the two concepts that delivers on its promise to wow.