I have a Mac computer at home and love it.
For those of us that have fallen in love with the Apple computers, it seems there has always been a big disconnect between using a Mac computer in the office versus using one at home. (Unless you are graphics designer).
Starting as an add-in with Microsoft Office 2007 and incorporated as out-of-the-box functionality in Office 2010, users have the ability to save files directly to PDF format. This post will provide step-by-step instructions to show you how to utilize this feature.
If you’re a Facebook user, odds are you’ve seen it. Joe Smith posts a new status that says something to the effect of, “Check out the picture I found of you.” It is followed by a link consisting of a series of random letters and numbers. Now, the dilemma ensues.
OMG! Joe has a picture of me?! OMG! I just have to see it. I know it looks shady and it might be a virus, but if there is even a chance that there is some random picture of me out on the Internet, it is totally worth the risk of costing my company countless IT engineering dollars too fight a potential virus.
The user can’t resist and decides to click the link. It produces a “Page Not Found” error. “Well maybe if I click on it 7-8 more times it will come up.”
At this point, that little bot that was downloaded on the first attempt now has 7-8 little bot friends. In a couple days they are going to have a web browser pop-up party on the user’s screen and their Google home page will be redirected to some site of questionable moral fiber.
The user isn’t going to report it right away because they are so embarrassed. When they do report it, they have been doing NOTHING but work for the past 2 weeks and would not even think of surfing Facebook during work hours. It is officially the anti-virus software and the IT administrator’s fault. Lengthy Safe Mode scans with software like Malwarebytes or SuperAntiSpyware find numerous infections in repeated scans eventually prompting the need for a full rebuild of the PC.
As 2011 begins, I think it is an important time to reflect on all that has transpired over the past year and what we can all do to better ourselves. This time of year always provokes thoughts of self improvement, goal planning, and reaching personal milestones.
We tend to always take the personal approach of self-improvement and ways in which we can better ourselves in regards to the typical things such as health, relationships, financial status, and kicking bad habits. However, what we tend not to do is think about a set of New Year’s resolutions from a business standpoint and customer service perspective. Specifically, looking at ways we can better our service delivery to our clients.
There is always room for improvement when it comes to customer service. My hopes are to transcend the typical New Year’s resolutions from the personal perspective to the customer service perspective. So, without further adieu, here are my New Year’s resolutions…
If you own a business laptop, chances are it is probably an HP or Dell. These two companies have dominated the PC market for quite some time. Lenovo is another big manufacturer that should be considered with these two. Lenovo acquired IBM’s Personal Computing Division in 2005 and has been making what I consider the most valued machines since.
One of the great things about Lenovo laptops is their durability. Lenovo ThinkPads are built with the intention of being dropped. These machines have a magnesium alloy rollcage to prevent the screen and internals from smashing on impact. Also Lenovo’s have a special keyboard that diverts any liquid spills out through the bottom of the laptop. Most people prefer a wet desk to a fried laptop.
Microsoft offers many different licensing options, but they can all be classified into 3 programs:
While there are benefits to each program, Volume Licensing is the most valued program in the SMB market (5 – 500 users). There are many advantages to the Volume Licensing Program, the most important are: mobile use rights, downgrade rights, and re-imaging rights.
There are further categories within the Volume Licensing program but before we examine them, here’s a common example of a licensing dilemma.
Company X wants to re-provision a server to make it a 200 user terminal server. They already have the hardware and Windows Operating System license, they just need to buy the Remote Desktop Client Access Licenses (CALs) and application licensing (Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus).
Let’s price this under the Open Business Volume Licensing program, using Microsoft MSRP pricing. Open Business is a very basic and commonly used Volume Licensing Program.
I took a day trip from Boston to Atlanta this week, 6:00am flight, never fun! However, I made things a little easier on myself this trip. Instead of bringing my laptop, I brought my iPad.
iPads are lighter and smaller than laptops, yet big enough to get more work done in comparison to my Blackberry. I was able to check all my emails, view email attachments without a microscope, review the website of the companies I was meeting with, and provide some feedback on a marketing video. And when I was ready to sleep on the plane, I listened to my music (“Lost Boys” soundtrack).
Today is my best friend’s birthday. Being a good friend, I wanted to wish him a Happy Birthday. I went on to Facebook to post a nice Happy Birthday wish on his wall. I logged in and did a quick search to find him amongst my friend list. I searched, but to my shock, he is not on Facebook!!! I began to panic and did not know what to do. I quickly logged into AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) to wish him a happy birthday, but he was not online. Oh no! This was not going well. So, I sent him an email to his work address. I was all set, until I received the dreaded Out-of-Office bounce back. How dare he take his birthday off. Again, panic set in. He will think I am a bad friend.
How am I going to solve this?
Investing an IT infrastructure is hardly ‘fun’ for most people, unless you’re an IT professional. Warranties, bundles, security packs, subscriptions, 13 by 5 support? Stepping back from my role for a moment, it looks like a giant mess. Each vendor has a different model or structure, each subscription runs out at a different time. I picture a CFO asking, “Is this all really worth it?” Honestly, I can’t blame people for thinking that way.
So here comes Hardware as a Service (HaaS).
Scope, Time, and Cost are the three recognized core constraints of any project (known as the “triple constraint” or “PM triangle”). Quality is often included in a discussion of the triple constraint as either a 4th constraint or as a sort of holistic attribute of the product of a project (The typical graphic is of a triangle with each corner being scope, time, and cost, and the middle being quality – food for thought: as a model, wouldn’t it be more useful for scope to be the area of the triangle, with the other constraints being the lines that define it such that if one were to be shortened, the others would have to be lengthened to accommodate the same area/scope? But I digress).
The reason it is difficult to cement quality within a widely agreed upon framework of project management is
