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It’s A Mobile World
by Wade Kilgore, VP of Technical Operations, Axxys Technologies
I recently travelled to Denver, CO for a business trip to meet with some of our current vendors, as well as to meet new potential vendors. Every quarter Everything Channel, a channel focused research and events group puts on an event called XChange. This event allows somewhat of a sneak peak for us of what is new from our vendor partners, and to evaluate the new technology to see if it fits in the tool bag of solutions and offering we provide here at Axxys.
It’s no secret that one of the recurring themes from the past few quarters has been “mobility” and “the cloud”. We all want to be able to access our data from anywhere, on any device, at any time. The proliferation of connectivity options through Wi-Fi, 3G/4G, WiMax, and smart devices is making this mantra of anywhere – anytime easier than ever.
One of the most impressive technologies I saw this past event, was actually not a new technology, but rather a refined technology. And ask anyone around the office, I’ve been beaming and telling everyone about it since the minute I saw it. That technology is the Lenovo ThinkPad X1. The ThinkPad X1 is Lenovo’s new business tablet device. Think something like the iPad, or any other tablet type device that is on the market, only better.
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 is a business tablet aimed at business entities as opposed to a consumer tablet being made to work in the corporate world. It boasts several similar characteristics such as storage size (available in 16, 32, and 64GB), front and rear facing cameras, wireless LAN and 3G capabilities, accelerometer, gyroscope, etc. It even runs the familiar Android OS using an NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor. You can expect over 8 hours of battery life with Wi-Fi enabled, and over 16 if using it disconnected.
So what makes the Lenovo different from the other devices?
For starters the screen layout is a little different, with a 10.1” 1280x800 TFT screen that supports both multi-touch and the ThinkPad Tablet Pen. This is a digitizer style pen as opposed to the capacitive stylus required for many of the current consumer tablets. This means that writing, drawing, etc. is more precise with a fine tip as opposed to the mushy-rubbery stylus devices.
Next are the built in connections to other devices. There is a mini-HDMI connector for connecting to external displays, a USB 2.0 connector for connecting thumb drives and other peripheral devices (without needing special adapters), a micro USB connector, and a dock connector.
There is also an SD card slot for adding storage to the device so you can easily transfer documents via the SD Card, USB port, or various Wi-Fi and network options.
So what are the benefits for Business Professionals?
· Stay connected to colleagues and friends with email, pre-installed social networking applications, the 2MP front facing camera.
· View and edit Microsoft Office documents with pre-installed Documents to Go by DataViz.
· Write naturally and jot down handwritten notes that automatically convert to handwritten text, mark up documents, and draw pictures with the accurate pressure-sensitive ThinkPad Tablet Pen.
· Comfortably type long emails, create documents and enter data in forms or spreadsheets, thanks to the convenient ThinkPad Tablet Keyboard Folio (available separately) with built-in optical TrackPoint mouse.
So what are the benefits for IT Managers and IT Professionals?
· Easily deploy and provision multiple devices with Lenovo’s custom imaging service and zero touch deployment solution.
· Provide easy and secure e-mail access with Good Technologies and Cisco VPN support. Access to ActiveSync, user data, and SD cards can also be secured.
· Purchase and deploy corporate applications via company unique Application Shops
There are scenarios where the iPad, the Galaxy, and all of the other tablets are a good choice for personal use, and even for some business usage. However, if a company is going to adopt tablet technology for use in their business space, it really is worth looking at the ThinkPad X1 by Lenovo. This device is the first tablet I’ve seen that is seriously geared toward the business user. These will release in late August and will be a welcomed addition to my tool bag.
5 Steps to Create and Execute a Technology Plan
by Courtney Kaufman, Marketing Manager of Accent Computer Solutions, Inc.
As an owner or business executive have you ever contemplated your business objectives and come to realize that your technology is in the way of your plans?
Have you had a great idea about improving business operations or productivity and found out that you just don’t have the right computer systems, or that it will cost a ton of money to upgrade? Would you like to know what the new trends are and how they could benefit you?
Technology planning helps answer the above questions and many more that you may not think to ask. The primary goal of a technology plan is to support your business plan objectives and to keep productivity and compliance issues front and center. Here are the five steps in creating and executing a Technology Plan.
HAVE A VISION
This is where your mindset needs to be on the vision for your company as a whole.
First, picture the business as you want it to be, paying no mind to technology – just the business. Out of this exercise will come ideas of how your business should perform as a whole.
Do you see what you want your staff to be able to do, what roadblocks or bottlenecks you want to be eliminated, what job function you would like to see automated, etc.?
Thinking about it this way takes the actual technology (hardware, software, etc.) out of the picture and gives you an infinite number of possibilities to get where you want to go. This will give you a better idea of what you need to do.
EVALUATE WHAT YOU HAVE
Now get together with your IT provider or your CTO (Chief Technology Officer) and draw out exactly what systems you have. This should be a visual representation of your systems and processes. The document should provide comprehensive details regarding the systems, versions, Internet Service Providers, security, and risk related to hardware and software age, as well as compliance with regulations.
MAP YOUR ROUTE
There may be many ways to get to your planned destination. Technology changes rapidly, but that gives you options you may not have had even just last year. Considerations for which path you should take need to include your budget, your risk tolerance, legal compliance, anticipated company growth or contraction, and necessity for change.
This is where your CTO or IT provider will present you with all of the technology options for how your business can get from your current position to your vision.
BUILD THE PLAN
Building your plan is a simple matter of understanding the goal and putting budgets and dates together to execute the plan. A solid technical architect is required to design and compile the appropriate solutions that meet your expectations. The design process should include a hybrid of all technical options available.
START THE JOURNEY
The actual execution of a technology plan can be challenging to say the least, but it should not be so frustrating that you wish you had not started the process. A good technical team will be able to make the transition relatively painless.
Improve Your Reputation via Email and Voicemail
by Chris Geiser
It’s a virtual world. Winning the respect of your co-workers and customers often depends upon your performance within the modern messaging platforms of email and voicemail. If you leave rambling or incoherent voicemail messages or occasionally find yourself in email stalemates with your colleagues, despite excellent your job performance elsewhere, your career trajectory could still suffer. Today, we’ll discuss how modern messaging problems emerge, how those problems impact our colleagues’ impressions of us, and how we can head off those problems before they negatively affect our professional reputations.
How to Email Better
Email is a determinedly casual form of messaging. You try to keep it light and to the point, but your email, on occasion, shows a flair for the dramatic. This must be squashed.
The Sender Would Like to Recall the Message
In email there’s something exciting and potentially dangerous about knowing that your message will be received instantaneously. If you think about it, before email was invented we never had a message medium where we were allotted as much time as we wished to prepare a response. Then, with just a touch of a button, we could drop our unfettered thoughts on our recipient’s desk. Email eventually became our tool of choice for most communication, especially when we wanted to have our thoughts recorded for potential future reference. Some of us might even admit that we now favor email in situations where we want to avoid personal contact with another. However, email has become a blessing and a curse.
To: Myemailslave@dowhatisay.com
Have you ever been amazed at someone’s tone in their email messages? You know she would rarely be so cavalier on the phone and certainly never so offhanded during a face-to-face meeting. Doesn’t he know that he’s damaging his fragile rapport with the people he depends upon the most? If, as English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote in 1839, “The pen is mightier than the sword,” then for some, email must feel mightier than an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. For all its magnificence, email without a compassionate tone, has the power to alienate colleagues and jeopardize future cooperation. It’s a wonder we don’t spend more time training each other on how to avoid such pitfalls.
Things Going Downhill? Pick Up the Phone
At one point or another we’ve all had a colleague forward us an email thread of a dozen or so replies, each more catastrophic in tone than the one before. As you review it, you sense the moment when things went to the dark side. Usually, it’s a rather simple issue, just poorly communicated. Then, one of the correspondents becomes certain that the other is out to get them. And so begins a string of unhelpful, unclear, and/or defensive emails. The emotional fallout, distraction, and loss of productivity affects both the sender and the receiver (and whomever else got cc’d). In most cases, this escalation to personal conflict could have been avoided had either correspondent swallowed hard and just phoned their colleague. It’s amazing how quickly the sound of another person’s voice often diffuses a mounting crisis. The human voice can be disarming because it gives us the opportunity to use our non-verbal cues (laughter, pitch, tempo, uh-huh’s, etc…) to express our sincerity and win back our correspondent’s cooperation. Oftentimes, it’s only after it’s clear that neither party is out to force defeat upon the other that the real issue can be fully engaged and resolved (usually within a series of follow up emails, oddly enough).
eHail You!
The origin of the hand salute used by militaries throughout time is believed to be an expression of friendship. Raising the right hand (frequently the weapon hand) was a sign of respect, showing your passerby that you have no rock (or similar weapon) with which to hit him. Even today, we refer to the opening of our written correspondence as the “salutation.” And yet, in email messages many of us hurry past this 2 second personal acknowledgement and get right to our ever-growing list of demands.
Why not take the time to write a sincere and simple, “Good Morning, Angie” or “Happy Friday, John”? After all, you are emailing because you need something from this person, right? There’s no easier way to cultivate some mutual respect, the cornerstone of all high-functioning personal relationships.
How to Voicemail Better
Are you like so many other voicemail message senders, guilty of phone number spewing? If so, you probably do your best to leave a concise message with polite instructions about how and when to respond. Then comes the punch line: time to leave your call back number. As your phone number is about as challenging for you to recall as your own middle name, you probably blast through the most important part of your entire message at speed of sound.
Slow Numbers Being Jotted!
It’s important to remember that returning voicemail (in most cases) is already about as fuel efficient as an M1 Abrams Tank. To return your voicemail your recipient must access their voicemail box (often with a passcode), sift through other less important messages, transpose your phone number from the sound of your voice to paper (as it’s hard to memorize a 10 digit number) and then retype your number into their phone. Make even one mistake along the way and he’s got to start all over again. If instead, you made a one second pause where each of the dashes normally separate the phone numbers, you would both demonstrate your care for your recipient’s time, as well as your wish to have your call returned.
Want to be a real voicemail hero? Try these tips:
1. Leave your phone number twice – once at the beginning of the message and then again at the end. This gives your listener a chance to confirm what they wrote.
2. Leave a direct dial number, instead of a main line with an extension or routing by receptionist.
3. Try to stick to one phone number that can reach you wherever you are. Most newer phone systems have a “Find Me” feature.
4. Offer one or two time windows to return your call; times when you know you’ll be at your desk.
5. Try to keep it brief; 1 minute, tops. Understanding that some voicemail greetings actually ask for “detailed” messages does not mean that they wish to re-listen to a 3 minute soliloquy a half dozen times to prepare for actual conversation. Anything with that much information should be saved for dialog or written in an email that can be reviewed easily.
6. Correctly pronounce your voicemail recipient’s name with enthusiasm. If they set their voicemail greeting up correctly, they will tell you how they prefer their name pronounced, you just have to listen.
Voicemail Greetings
If your work includes a lot of phone calls, here is a cast of characters with whom you may be familiar. Unless you’re in the small minority of people who need to discourage people from contacting you by phone, these voicemail greetings can damage your colleagues’ opinions of you:
1. Dead Air – Automated Attendant: “After the tone, please leave your message for, -----. “ How are we to guess who might hear this message and when they might hear it? Until our call is actually returned we cannot check this off our list of to-dos.
2. Permanent Vacation - “I’ll be on vacation from April 4th 2002 until….” Forgetting to update voicemail a day or two after one’s return is excusable by most, but getting this outbound message a week or more since a supposed return leaves the sender wondering whether their colleague is still employed there.
3. The Hoarder – “The mailbox for caller 214-555-1212 is full and cannot accept more messages.” Is there a less satisfying moment in business than communicating with a brick wall? By the way, if you have lots of missed calls, but never any voicemail messages, try calling yourself once. You may be The Hoarder.
4. The Protagonist- “I am either on the phone or away from my desk or assisting other patients or saving the rainforests from extinction…” We get it. You’re not there right now, that’s okay. We’re not judging you in absentia for lack of work ethic or moral integrity. Please let us begin leaving our message to you soon.
Want a voicemail greeting that caller’s will appreciate? How about “Hi, you’ve reached the voicemail of Tom Thompson at Acme Company, please leave me a message.”?
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