The iPad has become one of Apple’s most successful devices with each version improving on the last. The latest version, the new iPad, has some pretty nifty features that include popular elements from the iPhone. Did you know that if you have a new iPad with a data connection you can share it with up to five other devices?

Here’s how you can share your data connection.

Personal Hotspot Apple calls this feature a Personal Hotspot, the community calls it a hotspot or tethering. In technical terms, a hotspot is any area you can connect to the Internet through Wi-Fi. In other words, Personal Hotspot turns your iPad into a router that can broadcast a Wi-Fi signal using your data plan.

This is beneficial to businesses with employees who spend time on the road, as they may not be able to connect to a traditional Wi-Fi network when they need to. As many wireless carriers provide near nationwide data coverage, it makes sense to use your cellular data plan to connect to the Internet.

How to turn your iPad into a hotspot You can set up a hotspot on your iPad by:

1. Going to Settings and selecting General followed by Network.
2. Tapping Set Up Personal Hotspot at the top of your screen. Your iPad will check with your cellular carrier to see if they allow this feature. You’ll receive an error message if they don’t.
3. Selecting Personal Hotspot from the Settings screen.

To establish a hotspot, press Personal Hotspot and select Off/On. You have three different types of hotspots you can establish: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or USB. If you choose to use Wi-Fi, you’ll be given the option to set a password that users will need to enter to connect to the hotspot. To connect via Bluetooth or USB, follow the instructions on the Personal Hotspot screen. To turn off the hotspot, navigate back to the Personal Hotspot page and select Off/On.

It’s important to note that your cellular provider tracks how much data you use, this includes any devices connected via the hotspot. If you don’t have a plan with unlimited data you should monitor your data usage.

Personal Hotspot is an useful feature that provides you with another way to connect with the office while on the go. If you’re interested in ways you can leverage other features of the iPad to make your job easier, please contact us.

Android Tablets have a lot to offer to businesses, they are a versatile platform that are essentially an extension of your office. Many software vendors have realized this and have started to develop business software that will make your tablet even more useful. As with most computers, there are a wide variety of tablets out there with somewhat confusing specifications.

Here’s an overview of what the main technical specifications of tablets are, and what they mean.

Screen There are two important screen measurements: size and resolution. The majority of Android tablets feature the screen size in the name e.g., Asus 10.1”. What this means is the screen is 10.1 inches diagonally. The resolution is given as two sets of numbers e.g., 1280 x 800. This is the number of pixels that make up the screen. The general rule of thumb is: the higher the resolution, the higher the viewing quality. It’s important to actually look at the screen before you purchase the tablet.  

Processor The processor is the tablet’s brain, and is measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz). A higher number will result in the tablet being able to run more applications and a smoother operating experience.

Many companies are marketing “dual core” processors. This means there are two processors acting together. Generally, the higher the number of cores, the faster the tablet will run. If you’re going to be using applications that require a lot of computing resources e.g., presentation apps, you’ll want a device with more processing power. Most users will be fine with a processor speed higher than 1 GHz.

Memory Memory is often confused with storage. While they are similar, memory relates to RAM which is used to run apps and execute commands given by the user. Most new tablets will come with 1 GB (Gigabyte) of RAM, which is more than enough to operate.

Internal/expandable storage Storage is where your apps, pictures, music, etc., are installed and stored. Many Android tablets have both built-in and expandable storage. Built-in storage is inside the tablet, and can’t be expanded. Manufacturers often include the amount of built-in storage in the tablet’s name e.g., Asus 10.1” 64GB. This means there are 64 gigabytes of space or about 16,000 songs. Keep in mind that this amount is before the operating system and essential programs are installed.

Expandable storage is in the form of memory cards that can be removed, much like your digital camera. The most common form of memory card is the SD or Secure Digital. Be careful though, as not all tablets have expandable storage and those that do have a limit on the storage capacity of the card, typically a maximum of 32GB.

Battery Android tablets are notoriously power hungry, especially with devices that have faster processors and bigger screens. Batteries are measured in mAH and the higher the number is, the longer you’ll be able to use the device.

While at first glance the technical specifications of a tablet can be a little overwhelming, they are actually fairly easy to understand. The important thing is to not be sucked in by sheer numbers alone. Take your time, read reviews and actually try the tablets before you buy. If you have any other questions about the Android platform, please contact us.

Business Intelligence (BI) has traditionally been the domain of big companies. It was costly to implement, required highly skilled employees who were in short demand to conduct it, and the software was incredibly complex. That’s all changed in the past few years due to the advancement of cloud technology. Many vendors now offer Software as a Solution (SaaS) apps that small businesses can use to conduct BI in their organization.

Here is an overview of four Business Intelligence SaaS apps that you could use in your business:

KPI KPI (Key Performance Indicator) is a company that offers a cloud based dashboard that integrates with your CRM or ERP software. It provides a way for businesses to visualize, analyze and report real-time data from your business’s key metrics. All the results can be viewed on your computer or on your mobile device.

GoodData GoodData is an on demand BI provider that offers users a base service that they can add apps to as and when needed. The whole service and dashboards are stored and run in the cloud, and are considerably cheaper than traditional BI services.

Bimotics Bimotics offers an on demand BI service for businesses in almost every major sector. They offer one suite that has data connectors, an established BI engine and analytical tools that should meet most small businesses’ needs. The suite can also be accessed by almost any mobile device.

Tibco Silver Spotfire Silver Spotfire is a cloud based SaaS aimed at individuals and small businesses. It lets users create interactive dashboards and visual analytics without the need of costly infrastructure. This app also integrates with major social media services, allowing users to put live dashboards on their blogs.

These are just four useful apps that you can use in your business. If you’re interested in how you can integrate BI solutions into your business, please contact us.

Security of data and networks, an issue that companies are taking seriously. They’re going to great lengths to protect themselves from external threats and are, for the most part, safe from them. And yet, there are still stories about how businesses are being infected by malware. If they’re safe to the external environment, where’s the threat coming from?

In recent years the majority of security threats and compromises have come from within the company. A common threat to companies is the logic bomb - malware that targets IT systems and deletes data. As a logic bomb is introduced from within the network, the blame often lies with a disgruntled employee with full access to internal systems.

Insider threats Giving employees full access to the network when they don’t need it is a common mistake often made by companies. There’s little need for an employee who does graphic design to have access to weekly sales records. This practice could set your company up for a considerable security problem in the future.

Dawn Cappelli, an insider-threat expert at the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute stressed, "These types of insider attacks happen to businesses of all sizes, from small companies to very large corporations." This is an important issue businesses should be aware of if they want to remain secure.

Take Precautions Security threats can be a particularly harsh nightmare for small businesses, as many don’t have an IT department or staff with the technical expertise needed to maintain a secure network. If you’re one of these organizations, it’s a good idea to hire an outside consultant to help you with your network security. With consultants, it’s important that you maintain close contact with them to ensure any issues that crop up are dealt with expeditiously.

If you don’t work with an external company there are a few things you should do when you have an employee leave the company. First, their accounts should be deleted immediately and their access privileges should also be revoked. Second, if you have accounts with shared passwords, you should change them to ensure an ex-employee can’t gain access to the system.

If you’d like to learn more about internal security, and measures you can take to ensure you are safe, we are ready to help you. Please contact us.

Business Continuity Plans (BCP), plans on how to provide a stable service, or recover after adverse actions, have become top of mind with many managers. Businesses have adopted such plans, or are in the process of implementing one, but owners may have missed some crucial elements that could result in an ineffective plan.

Here are six key non-IT functions and processes that need to be in place to ensure your company is ready to effectively execute your BCP.

Easy to use plans Many continuity plans have been developed mainly for the IT department, as such, they can be a little complicated to understand and follow if employees don’t have a technical background. You should aim to have a plan that’s easy to follow and can be understood by all employees.

Communicate plans Remember that your plan encompasses all facets of your organization. It’s crucial that every employee knows their role and the relevant actions to take when the plan is executed. To do this, you need to ensure that all employees have access to a copy of the plan and any changes or updates are clearly communicated.

Test plans Beyond communication, it’s important to conduct regular tests, with every quarter being sufficient. The tests should be as real as possible and span all departments within the organization. This will ensure that employees are aware of how they, and the systems, will react under duress. It’ll be beneficial to your business if the first time the employees execute the plan isn’t during an emergency.

Short term and long term plans Your BCP should consist of both long term and short term elements that can be easily adapted to meet changing business environments and the emergence of new threats. You should aim for an even mix of short and long term solutions that cover as wide a variety of situations as possible.

Ensure buy-in from all levels If you’re in the process of instituting a BCP you should ensure that the whole organization is onboard with the plan. If an employee is unsure about the validity of a part of the plan, take the time to find out why and ask for suggestions. An uninformed or uncooperative employee could be the difference between survival and failure in a disaster situation.

Update and Review After every test, staff turnover and technological update, you should review the plans and make changes if necessary. Essentially, if anything in the company changes, review and update the plan. Remember: just because you have an effective plan this month, doesn’t mean it’ll be so in the future.

Continuity plans are only as strong as the weakest link. In an emergency, the last thing you want is an employee following the wrong process or be unsure of what they should be doing. If this happens, you could see an exponential growth in recovery time and costs. We’re ready to tell you more, so please contact us if you would like to talk continuity planning.

If you’ve ever observed people playing any sort of game, you probably noticed how involved the players with the game are. Why do players get so into the game? Competition and the desire to achieve established goals. There’s a Web trend emerging of companies using these game elements to drive engagement and customer buy-in.

The term to describe this trend is gamification, but what is it, and how can businesses use it?

What is gamification Gamification is the application of game design techniques and mechanics to non-game applications. Foursquare and its badges is a good example of this - users check in at locations to earn points, unlock badges and compete with their friends. Do they win anything? Nothing physical, but there’s something satisfying with competing with other people to be the best.

While gamification got its start with technological related operations, it has since been integrated by businesses of all sizes. Business that have adopted elements of gamification have seen improved user engagement and ROI.

How can businesses leverage gamification? Gamification is interesting because it can be applied in a variety of different business situations. For example, here are three such uses:

• To increase employee engagement. It can be hard at times to keep your employees engaged while they’re doing mundane tasks. One of the most common uses of gamification is deploying badges to act as a motivator to encourage employees to put effort into their job. When an employee reaches a predetermined level they are recognized for their achievement. This will go a long way in improving engagement.
• To create brand advocates. You can use gamification to turn your customers and fans into brand advocates. Before they start singing your praises, they need to be given a reason to do so. The best way to do this is to create a points/reward system. For actions such as purchases or reviews, customers gain points that can be spent on other services. Think of it as akin to the points system used by credit card companies.
• To generate traffic. Many SMBs are dependent on their websites for revenue but struggle to get traffic to their site. Gamification techniques can be employed to encourage people to spend more time on, and return to, your website, almost like a modern loyalty program.

There are many uses for gamification and we’ll continue to see new and innovative ways to deploy it in organizations. If you’re interested in ways you can implement aspects of gamification in your business, or would like to learn more, we are here happy to sit down with you for a chat. Please contact us.

In April 2011 VMware purchased SlideRocket, an online tool that lets users create and share presentations. By itself it’s a useful tool for users who give presentations, which let’s face it, is almost every business owner and manager. SlideRocket’s recent partnering with Google’s cloud storage app has provided users with an even more powerful way to share and collaborate on presentations.

Google has recently released its cloud storage and collaboration app, Google Drive. What does this have to do with SlideRocket? Well, SlideRocket’s full set of content authoring tools have been integrated into Google Drive. This means that users of SlideRocket can use Google Drive as another way to create, collaborate on, and store presentations.

Chuck Dietrich, Vice President of SlideRocket by VMware, commented, “Together with Google, VMware is helping individuals and businesses embrace new technologies for collaboration in the cloud era.” He went on to note that SlideRocket and Google Drive provide users with a great way to do just that.

If you use SlideRocket and would like to work with other users over Google Drive, simply log into both services with the same account and in Google Drive select Create and More followed by SlideRocket. Once you log in and integrate your accounts, you’ll have access to your presentations without having to log in to SlideRocket.

If you’d like to know more about how you can virtualize your business, or the different products offered by VMware, we’re ready to tell you more. Let’s talk virtualization.

Social media is one of the most important communication tools of the modern era. Companies use it to connect with customers and like minded individuals, all in the name of building trust in their brand and products. While almost every company has a social media presence, they have been slow to trust employees to use personal social media at work. On average, 31% of companies block employees from accessing their accounts.

There are four distinct advantages to allowing social media:

• Increased productivity. There have been a number of studies that have found that judicious use of social media in the workplace will actually increase productivity. A study conducted by the University of Melbourne found that employees with access to social media are 9% more productive than those without.
• Increased buy-in. Employees like to feel trusted and empowered. If they don’t you can expect to experience higher turnover and lower morale. A good way to gain trust is to allow employees to use social media in the workplace. If an employee feels like they are trusted, they’ll be more likely to stay with the company.
• Recruiting. Small businesses have started to use social media for recruitment, but limit efforts to one account. If you have 10 employees in your organization, each with a social media account with 100 friends, you have the potential to reach 1,000 people. This is achievable if employees are allowed to access social media at work and are encouraged to share posts.
• Identification of business opportunities. Through the use of social media, employees in charge of sales and business development can source new clients and build fruitful relationships.

There are many advantages to allowing access to social networks at the office. If you‘re hesitant to completely open the social media floodgates, try doing so in short periods, like the final three hours of the working day.

No matter what you decide, allowing access to social media is a good practice for your business. If you would like to learn more about social media and how you can leverage it in your business, we are happy to talk with you.

The iPhone has quickly become one of the most popular smartphones on the market. When Apple launches a new version, fans line up for blocks to get their hands on it. What makes it so desirable? Well it’s easy to use and has powerful apps that users have come to rely on. Some would say the iPhone has even gone so far as to replace desktop calendars for many people.

The three most popular calendar programs are Outlook Calendar, Google Calendar and iCal. Here are the steps you can take to sync your different calendars with the iPhone. These calendars will all be viewable using the Calendar App on your iPhone.

Sync with Outlook Microsoft Outlook is the most popular email program in use, making the accompanying calendar just as prevalent. To sync your Outlook calendar with your iPhone:

1. Open Outlook
   1. Click Tools and select Trust Centre.
   2. Click Add-ins, followed by Details.
   3. Select iTunes Add-in, followed by Manage.
   4. Select Com Add-ins, Go and finally iTunes sync add-in.
   5. Click Ok.
2. Plug your iPhone into your computer using the USB cable. iTunes should open automatically.
3. In iTunes, select your iPhone. It will be located in the left hand bar, under devices.
4. Navigate to the Info tab and check Sync calendars with.
5. Choose Outlook. You’ll be able to select which Outlook calendars you want to view using your iPhone.
6. Press Sync.

Sync with Google Calendar If you use Google Calendar, syncing with the iPhone takes a few more steps, but it’s still fairly straightforward.

1. On your iPhone select Settings followed by Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
2. Press Add Account.
3. Select Microsoft Exchange. Note: Devices running iOS 4.0 can sync with more than one Exchange account. If you’re using a version that’s earlier than 4.0 you’ll only be able to sync with one Exchange account.
4. In the Email and Username fields, enter your full email address e.g., name@gmail.com. If you use a @googlemail.com account you’ll most likely get an Unable to Verify Certificate error message. If you do, press Cancel when the error message is displayed.
5. In the Password field enter the password you use to log into your Gmail account.
6. When you have entered the information, press Next in the top right of your screen.
7. In the Server field enter “m.google.com” (without the quotations).
8. Tap Next.
9. Select Calendar if you only want to sync with your calendar. If your company uses Google Calendar to setup meetings, you’ll also need to turn on Mail.

The calendar should sync automatically and show up on your iPhone within a few minutes.

Sync with iCal If you use iCal you can sync with your iPhone by:

1. Plugging your iPhone into the computer using the USB cable. iTunes should open automatically.
2. Select your iPhone. It will be located in the left hand bar, under devices.
3. Click the Info tab, followed by Sync iCal Calendars. You’ll be able to choose what calendars you would like your iPhone to sync with.
4. Press Sync.

No matter which calendar app you use, you can view it on your iPhone. There’s no need to carry around a day planner or appointment book with you anymore, just carry your phone. If you would like to know more about how to capitalize on the features of the iPhone we’re only a call away.

Collaboration isn’t a new concept. Managers and employees have been working together towards a common goal for as long as we can remember. With the heavy integration of modern technology, businesses have been taking advantage of all the various virtual options available. However, problems arise when it’s time to work together, as employees can sometimes find it tough to do so.

Here are seven tips on how to improve collaboration within the office environment.

1. Open communication. One of the keys to successful teams is the adoption and encouragement of an open communication culture. With this, teams are better able to grasp what’s going on within the company, and be more efficient contributors and team players.
2. Use the right technology. It seems like there are a million different software and technology options out there. Some of the tools available offer some fantastic features and it’s easy to get sucked in by a flashy component. It’s important that when choosing a tool you pick one that meets your company’s needs and is easy to use.
3. Collaboration tools must play well with others. It’s beneficial to select systems that can be seamlessly integrated with other tools and software used by your employees. If your solutions don’t work together, all parties won’t be able to work together.
4. Employee learning is key. When you find the perfect tool to use, be careful to take time and learn how to effectively use it. Training for the users of the tool is equally important.
5. Work hard, play harder. Teams and departments should step away from their computers and actually have face-to-face meetings at least once a week. These meetings should be a mixture of formal and informal, and offer employees a chance to come together as a team, unwind and share ideas. A team that can interact well will always work together with greater efficiency.
6. Mobilize. The smartphone is here to stay and with each passing year the number of users grows exponentially. It’s beneficial to encourage the use of these devices, and look for mobile solutions that allow users to be a part of the group while out of the office. If you do allow mobile devices, be sure to establish a clear usage policy so employees know how and when they should be using their phones.
7. Don’t just focus on internal collaboration. One of the most common mistakes companies make is that they focus on group participation within the business, but don’t provide adequate support for external interactions. Be sure you integrate tools that provide stakeholders with a way to connect and work with teams within the company.

With a team that interacts effectively you’ll see happier employees and higher profits: a win-win situation. If you have any questions regarding collaboration tools, or other ways to increase business value please don’t hesitate to contact us.