Tag Archives: Microsoft PowerPoint

About 1725 days ago Tools on Managing Technology

No Fly Zone: Virtual Meetings

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Poor Karen Pierce Gonzalez. Not long ago, an out-of-state client of her California public relations firm needed her at a face-to-face meeting but had cut its travel budget. To save money, the client booked her on a weekend flight with multiple stopovers from an airport that wasn’t even close to her home. “I was exhausted from sitting in horrible airport chairs during the stopovers, plus the meeting was scheduled for late Saturday night and Sunday morning,” her usual time off work, Gonzalez recalls. “I don’t see how they could have gotten their money’s worth from me.” If only Gonzalez’ client had considered a videoconference, she could have participated from the comfort of her own desk during regular office hours and the client could have saved itself the hassle and expense. With air travel and gas prices still sky high, more small and mid-sized businesses are using videoconferencing and online meetings in place of in-person visits. In fact, 42 percent of 610 business travelers and corporate travel managers responding to a June poll by Business Traveler Magazine said they were exploring alternatives to business trips, including video- or Web conferences. Technology finally lives up to promise When videoconference systems debuted in the early 1990s they promised to revolutionize how companies conducted business. Things didn’t exactly work out that way. Hardware in those early systems was glitchy and transmissions traveling over too-slow computer networks resulted in choppy pictures that lagged behind audio feeds. Thanks to high-quality graphics, high-speed Internet connections, webcams and voice over IP, videoconference systems, and Web-based online meeting services are miles ahead of where they used to be. Add to that companies looking to cut travel budgets — and lower their carbon footprint — and you have the perfect combination of factors pushing online meetings into widespread use. “Videoconferencing is a whole different experience today than it was a few years ago, and it’s more affordable, which is driving it down” to smaller companies, says Brett Shockley, CEO at Spanlink Communications, a Minneapolis communications reseller that markets videoconferencing and other communications networks to small and mid-sized businesses. While some high-end videoconferencing systems run well into six figures, services exist for just about any budget. At the lowest end are services such as DimDim, a free, open-source, Web-based online meeting tool that lets up to 20 people share PowerPoint presentations, files and video without having to download software onto their desktop. Meatier versions of DimDim’s software cost $99 a year for online meetings of up to 100 people and $1,999 a year for up to 1,000 people. Even mid-sized companies are remodeling conference rooms to include expensive telepresence systems featuring wrap-around-style screens and HD-quality video from companies such Cisco and HP to avoid flying salespeople and managers to face-to-face meetings, says Spanlink’s Shockley. Spanlink uses telepresence rooms for its own business, to hold meetings with far-flung employees and make presentations to new customers. “I fly two or three days a week but I can’t be on the East Coast, West Coast, Florida and Canada in the same week,” Shockley says. Using videoconferencing “I can leverage my time and be closer to the customer.” Not to mention cutting his travel costs. Road warriors and companies that don’t want to take on the burden of buying videoconferencing equipment themselves can rent videoconferencing rooms by the hour at FedEx Office, formerly known as FedEx Kinko’s. The shipping and business services company has videoconferencing systems in 122 locations around the country, starting at $225 an hour. Meanwhile, Gonzalez, the California public relations agency owner, is hoping her customers start using videoconferencing soon. “While it isn’t warm and fuzzy, it still serves a great purpose,” she says. SIDEBAR: Videoconference and Online Meeting Vendors Here are some additional videoconference and online meeting services suited to small businesses: Adobe Connect Pro — The Meetings module included in this recently upgraded Web conference and e-learning lets a user customize the look of their online meeting space, among other features. Connect Pro also has modules for presentations, training and events. GoToMeeting.com — Citrix’s videoconference service for small businesses was recently upgraded to include free VoIP and audio conferencing for PCs and Macs. IBM Lotus — The venerable communications and productivity program includes features people can use to simultaneously send instant messages, share documents and launch Web confernces. Microsoft Live Meeting — The Microsoft service lets people schedule, start or join audio or video online meetings from Outlook. WebEx — Cisco purchased this online meeting pioneer in May 2007 and six months later introduced a version of the service for sole proprietors called MeetMeNow that’s $49 a month and includes personal video conferencing and Web meetings that can be launched from Microsoft Office programs.

About 1725 days ago Mobility Tips and Tricks

No Fly Zone: Virtual Meetings

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Poor Karen Pierce Gonzalez. Not long ago, an out-of-state client of her California public relations firm needed her at a face-to-face meeting but had cut its travel budget. To save money, the client booked her on a weekend flight with multiple stopovers from an airport that wasn’t even close to her home. “I was exhausted from sitting in horrible airport chairs during the stopovers, plus the meeting was scheduled for late Saturday night and Sunday morning,” her usual time off work, Gonzalez recalls. “I don’t see how they could have gotten their money’s worth from me.” If only Gonzalez’ client had considered a videoconference, she could have participated from the comfort of her own desk during regular office hours and the client could have saved itself the hassle and expense. With air travel and gas prices still sky high, more small and mid-sized businesses are using videoconferencing and online meetings in place of in-person visits. In fact, 42 percent of 610 business travelers and corporate travel managers responding to a June poll by Business Traveler Magazine said they were exploring alternatives to business trips, including video- or Web conferences. Technology finally lives up to promise When videoconference systems debuted in the early 1990s they promised to revolutionize how companies conducted business. Things didn’t exactly work out that way. Hardware in those early systems was glitchy and transmissions traveling over too-slow computer networks resulted in choppy pictures that lagged behind audio feeds. Thanks to high-quality graphics, high-speed Internet connections, webcams and voice over IP, videoconference systems, and Web-based online meeting services are miles ahead of where they used to be. Add to that companies looking to cut travel budgets — and lower their carbon footprint — and you have the perfect combination of factors pushing online meetings into widespread use. “Videoconferencing is a whole different experience today than it was a few years ago, and it’s more affordable, which is driving it down” to smaller companies, says Brett Shockley, CEO at Spanlink Communications, a Minneapolis communications reseller that markets videoconferencing and other communications networks to small and mid-sized businesses. While some high-end videoconferencing systems run well into six figures, services exist for just about any budget. At the lowest end are services such as DimDim, a free, open-source, Web-based online meeting tool that lets up to 20 people share PowerPoint presentations, files and video without having to download software onto their desktop. Meatier versions of DimDim’s software cost $99 a year for online meetings of up to 100 people and $1,999 a year for up to 1,000 people. Even mid-sized companies are remodeling conference rooms to include expensive telepresence systems featuring wrap-around-style screens and HD-quality video from companies such Cisco and HP to avoid flying salespeople and managers to face-to-face meetings, says Spanlink’s Shockley. Spanlink uses telepresence rooms for its own business, to hold meetings with far-flung employees and make presentations to new customers. “I fly two or three days a week but I can’t be on the East Coast, West Coast, Florida and Canada in the same week,” Shockley says. Using videoconferencing “I can leverage my time and be closer to the customer.” Not to mention cutting his travel costs. Road warriors and companies that don’t want to take on the burden of buying videoconferencing equipment themselves can rent videoconferencing rooms by the hour at FedEx Office, formerly known as FedEx Kinko’s. The shipping and business services company has videoconferencing systems in 122 locations around the country, starting at $225 an hour. Meanwhile, Gonzalez, the California public relations agency owner, is hoping her customers start using videoconferencing soon. “While it isn’t warm and fuzzy, it still serves a great purpose,” she says. SIDEBAR: Videoconference and Online Meeting Vendors Here are some additional videoconference and online meeting services suited to small businesses: Adobe Connect Pro — The Meetings module included in this recently upgraded Web conference and e-learning lets a user customize the look of their online meeting space, among other features. Connect Pro also has modules for presentations, training and events. GoToMeeting.com — Citrix’s videoconference service for small businesses was recently upgraded to include free VoIP and audio conferencing for PCs and Macs. IBM Lotus — The venerable communications and productivity program includes features people can use to simultaneously send instant messages, share documents and launch Web confernces. Microsoft Live Meeting — The Microsoft service lets people schedule, start or join audio or video online meetings from Outlook. WebEx — Cisco purchased this online meeting pioneer in May 2007 and six months later introduced a version of the service for sole proprietors called MeetMeNow that’s $49 a month and includes personal video conferencing and Web meetings that can be launched from Microsoft Office programs.

About 1848 days ago PCs, Laptops, and Notebooks

Will the iPhone Fly as a Business Tool?

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Gadget geeks will forever remember June 29, 2007, as the date Apple unleashed its much-hyped iPhone, a digital Swiss Army Knife that fused a handful of features — mobile phone, camera, media player and Wi-Fi-enabled Web device — with a graceful touch-based navigation interface. It became a sought-after consumer sensation, and remains as one to this day, but it seems Apple and third parties are trying to find a way the iPhone could also double as a clever business tool. But is there room for the iPhone in a world dominated by powerful smartphones with cutting-edge e-mail delivery, such as the BlackBerry? We spoke with analysts on whether or not it’s possible. Nathan Dyer, senior analyst for enterprise mobility at the Boston, Mass.-based Yankee Group, believes it can happen, and transforming this consumer product into a business tool will likely come from Apple opening up the platform to software developers. “The ‘holy grail’ in the mobility space for businesses is maximizing productivity and effectiveness of its workers, regardless of their location,” says Dyer. “Mobile workers need access to the same applications and corporate data that they have in the office — and it’s these third-party software vendors that will provide the infrastructure hooks to make the iPhone ‘business class’.” In March 2008, for example, Microsoft officially announced it was offering built-in support for Exchange, it’s messaging and collaboration platform, on the iPhone. “This is significant,” believes Chris Hazelton, senior analyst, mobile device technology and trends at IDC, a Framingham, Mass.-based technology research firm. “With Exchange ActiveSync on the iPhone, mobile businesspersons can connect to a company’s Exchange server behind a firewall.” Hazelton says Microsoft is also considering building Excel, Word, and PowerPoint accessibility into the device, which also means those receiving corporate e-mail on the iPhone can view and edit Microsoft Office attachments. Pro: Intuitive design and functionality When asked what might help the iPhone’s chances of catching on as a business device, Dyer says the device is extremely powerful and intuitive to use. “It takes complicated functionality, such as Wi-Fi integration and embedded Web searching, and makes it intuitive to the user.” Dyer adds, “The Safari Web browser on the iPhone has enormous potential to shift how workers access and generate content.” Hazelton says the iPhone’s popularity makes it an attractive alternative to other smartphones: “When I look at the history of the BlackBerry, it was a sign of prestige that you were important enough for the company to give you email anywhere you need it,” says Hazelton, “and now the BlackBerry is a standard for mobile workers.” But maybe it’s time for BlackBerry to move over, because there’s a new status-symbol for business users. “Now the iPhone has that air of elitism and prestige — executives want the iPhone in their world — so IT departments believe they have to account for that,” says Hazelton. The iPhone’s extras, such as a camera and music playback, also make it an appealing phone, says Hazelton. “You’ve got this willingness to carry device with you — you can load it up with music, movies, photos, and podcasts, which can make a long flight for an executive a better one.” He adds that the HTML browser is perfect whether you’re checking inventory or sports scores. Con: Lacks a compelling productivity story for IT Despite its growing popularity, Apple doesn’t have very much brand recognition — especially among IT departments — argues Dyer. “That, and the iPhone lacks a compelling productivity story to justify investment at this point.” One common issue, for some, is the “soft” keyboard, opposed to the BlackBerry or Treo with its button-based QWERTY keyboard (note: some BlackBerrys offer a condensed “SureType” keyboard). “The messaging interface [on the iPhone] is very cumbersome and takes some time getting used to,” says Dyer. But Hazelton says the keyboard isn’t an issue for everyone. “Yes, with the iPhone you actually need to look at the keyboard because there is no tactile feedback, it’s a different type of experience, but I can’t say one type of keyboard takes longer to type an e-mail than the other.” Hazelton says not many iPhone users know you can drag your thumbs across the soft keyboard and lift up when you get the desired letter. “If you can master this, you can text as fast as any BlackBerry.” Finally, security is an issue for all mobile devices, claim Dyer and Hazelton. The iPhone is no exception, especially as it has built-in Wi-Fi connectivity. Hazelton, however, says the next-generation iPhone software should support Cisco Virtual Private Network (VPN) and other security measures to help protect company data.

About 1938 days ago Tools on Managing Technology

Lean and Mean IT Budgeting for the Shaky Economy

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The financial page is no fun to read these days for anyone. The 2008 housing market forecast is grim warning of an even longer slump than first predicted, with double digit drops in real estate prices anticipated in many areas of the country. Oil is trading above $90 a barrel, which a few years ago would have been considered apocalyptic for the economy. The Federal Reserve is shoring up a nervous banking industry’s shaky credit market. And 2007 was definitely the year of the Bear for stock markets, leaving lots of unhappy investors with battered portfolios. What happens on Wall Street, unfortunately, doesn’t stay on Wall Street. The year 2008 could easily turn Main Street into Pain Street. This means businesses of all size — especially smaller, younger businesses — could soon find themselves looking to downsize their spending fast for survival. If and when that happens, every area of the business will be under scrutiny for cost-cutting and proving its return on investment (ROI). Why IT is a target Because IT is typically one of the biggest chunks of the operating budget, it’s also one of the biggest and most obvious targets when it comes time to get lean and mean for hard times. “IT spending is highly dependent on economic conditions. Our survey data indicates that IT executives have already scaled back their expectations for IT spending increases in 2008,” says Frank Scavo, president of Computer Economics based in Irvine, Calif. Another attraction to slashing the technology budget: most IT departments don’t have their own revenue streams to bolster. Typically they don’t make money; they save money. This is actually more valuable to a company’s bottom line. Companies pay taxes on money they make, but not on the money they save. That $100,000 in new revenue may net only $70,000, for example. Saving $100,000 means $100,000 less taken away from the company coffers. Where to start That being said, here are some tips to save by cutting back IT expenses: Don’t start anything new. This includes avoiding new projects or implementing new technologies or applications. The biggest new commitment to avoid, however, is people. “Each organization is different, but regardless of the company size, the largest single line item in the IT budget is personnel. For some companies, this might mean delaying a planned increase in full-time headcount. Instead, rely on outside contractors to provide needed services on an as-needed basis,” says Scavo. Make do with technologies already in place. Just because the technology industry wants businesses to upgrade their software and hardware approximately every three years, doesn’t mean it’s necessary. Gregory Nelson, a technology advisor for startups and chairman at SCORE in Naples, Fla., advises businesses to save money by avoiding operating system upgrades, like Microsoft Vista or Apple’s OS X. He also recommends boosting the efficiency of PCs around the office by spring cleaning their hard drives. Run more routine maintenance chores, like defragmenting and uninstalling applications that aren’t being used. Get a little more speed out of your computers and there’s less need to buy new ones for awhile longer. Bargain shop for the necessities. Both hardware and software don’t hold their original retail prices for very long. Look at the eight gigabyte iPhone, for example, that started at $599 when it was released in June of 2007 and dropped down to $399 three months later. Wait for the big price drops that inevitably come after a new version has been out for awhile and perhaps already been supplanted by an even newer version. “A top-of-the-line high speed wireless router goes for triple that a reliable medium speed router goes for and for many companies it will do just as good a job,” points out Nelson. Play hardball with technology vendors. “Look at equipment that is coming close to end-of-lease. Does it still have useful life? Know the fair market value for that equipment and go to your leasing company with an offer. Leasers really do not want to take back equipment, if they can avoid it. You may be surprised at what they’ll take,” says Scavo. Look for hosted solutions and outsourcing opportunities. Especially for smaller businesses, it’s often cheaper to just outsource certain jobs like short-term projects and tech support. This might also be the year to hand over applications like CRM to a company like Salesforce.com that can host and manage it much more cheaply than dedicated staff in-house. What not to cut For business owners who may end up needing to quickly cut back their IT spending this year, it would be wise to do so with a scalpel and not a chainsaw. There are some technology expenses that are definitely expendable, but IT has its sacred cows. Slaughtering those areas could mean slaughtering the business itself. Here are some areas to protect from the bean counters: Security. No matter how tight the budget gets, no company can afford to compromise on network security. Firewalls, antivirus software and spam blockers are only as good as their last patch or upgrade. If a business doesn’t keep up with the latest upgrades, it makes itself vulnerable to attacks or data breaches. The severity of financial consequences far outweighs any savings. Business critical software. Its one thing to take a pass on the latest version of PowerPoint. Book-keeping software, for example, is another matter. Any application that the business itself relies on to run its daily operations must be kept up to date. “This could be software that needs upgrading to remain on a service contract. Or, for example, database software that houses mission critical data needs to be kept at a release level that is supported,” says Nelson. Licensing agreements. It’s a tempting thought to just let them lapse and keep using the software. Don’t even consider it. It puts the company under a tremendous liability. The potential risk of damages, both financial and to the company’s reputation is staggering.

About 2030 days ago Business Software

MS Office 2007: Worth the Investment?

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While Microsoft launched its latest Office suite of productivity programs this year without as much fanfare as its Windows Vista operating system, the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant is touting these new office applications — the latest in Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, Word and others — to be a major step forward in the evolution of business productivity tools. Two major improvements found in Microsoft Office 2007 are the user-interface (including better search) and collaboration software, both of which are designed to keep your growing business organized, productive and competitive. New Office features New interface: The older pull-down menus and toolbars interface have been replaced with a tabbed “Ribbon” that efficiently displays the commands that are most relevant for that section. An example would be the “Page Layout” Ribbon in Microsoft Word 2007, which opens up many aesthetic options to choose from. Another new feature is called Galleries. Rather than seeing a list of complex dialog boxes, users are presented with a visual set of formatting options to choose from when working on a document, spreadsheet, presentation, or database. This proves to be a faster and more efficient way to create professional-looking work. What’s more, before you make any changes, you will see a “Live Preview” of the change in your document simply by hovering your mouse over one of the options. A handy Instant Search window that lets you easily locate keywords throughout any Office application (even attachments). Online Collaboration: While this may appeal more to those in mid-size companies than small office/home office environments, another lauded program found in some versions of Microsoft Office 2007 is known as SharePoint. This tool makes it easier for employees to work together — even if they’re not in the same location as it offers online collaboration, where people can work simultaneously on documents, spreadsheets or calendar appointments over the Internet — and chat via their computer while doing so. Consider the alternative: one employee working on, say, a press release for a new product, who then must e-mail it around to others within the organization for approvals and edits, before it’s ready to be published. Now, the document can be written, edited, and approved simultaneously, even if employees are spread out throughout the world. Deciding whether to upgrade The big question remains: do these new and improved features justify the cost to upgrade for small and mid-size business? “If all you’re doing is run-of-the-mill document creation and editing, then upgrading to Office 2007 would be akin to buying a Porsche to fetch the groceries,” says Carmi Levy, senior vice president for strategic consulting at AR Communications, a Toronto-based marketing communications firm. “Yes, the new version of Office has advanced the state-of-the-art for desktop productivity applications, but why would you spend the money if your reliable old Honda is already doing the job quite nicely?” adds Levy, rhetorically. “Deciding whether or not to upgrade [to Office 2007] is one of those decisions you make after you assess what you’re going to use it for,” agrees Jupiter Research’s vice president and research director, Michael Gartenberg. “There are many new usability features and improvements in functionality, such as collaboration and sharing, but if you’re solid on an older version there’s no immediate reason to upgrade — especially if you’re on a tight budget.” Levy believes the online collaboration tools alone might justify the upgrade cost for some small and mid-size businesses, which are increasingly dealing with remote workers, branch offices, and traveling employees. “Companies that rely heavily on document collaboration — either internally between project teams or externally with customers and suppliers — might really benefit from Office 2007’s richer document sharing capabilities.” On the flipside, however, industry experts warn it might be a case of taking two steps back to move three ahead: “Upgrading to new software could slow you down for a while until you and your employees get used to the changes,” cautions Gartenberg. Small and mid-size businesses “will also have to consider the training costs of moving their employees to the new version of Office,” adds Levy. “That’s because the latest edition of the suite sports a radically new interface that represents a major change from the menu-driven environment that’s dominated Office for the better part of the last 15 years.” Levy’s conclusion: Small and mid-size businesses “without the resources and the time to retrain their users may want to wait.”

About 2030 days ago PCs, Laptops, and Notebooks

BlackBerry Applications for Business

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Suffice it to say, the BlackBerry has become an indispensable tool for millions of small and mid-size businesses, largely in part to its reliable push-mail solution that delivers messages to your phone as soon as they arrive in an inbox. But in order to maintain its competitive edge, the Waterloo, Ontario-based Research in Motion understands it needs to open up its doors to third-party applications to help businesses remain productive while on the go. “There has been phenomenal growth in applications available for the BlackBerry platform,” confirms Tyler Lessard, director of independent software vendor alliances at Research in Motion. “We are signing new partners every day and being approached constantly by people who are looking for ways to increase the mobile capabilities of their applications using the BlackBerry solution.” The following are a few recommended applications that can help you and your employees stay in touch, keep organized and remain competitive, wherever business takes you. Be sure to check with your cell carrier for availability and pricing. TeleNav Rather than purchase a separate GPS unit to help you navigate from point A to B without getting lost, or finding relevant location-based info, a GPS-enabled BlackBerry lets you have it all on one device. Small and mid-size businesses “especially benefit from services like TeleNav because they save on travel time and they reduce the need for road warriors to call in for guidance,” says Carmi Levy, senior vice president for strategic consulting at AR Communications, a Toronto-based marketing communications firm. “[Employees] work more independently, consuming less office time and spending more time in front of customers.” eOffice from DynoPlex eOffice lets you easily access and manage all your documents, wherever and whenever — all stored remotely on your office PC, through a password-protected virtual hard disk on the Internet. As if it were stored locally on the smartphone, you can now retrieve, review, edit, and save documents — such as Microsoft Word or Excel files. “Attachments are an increasingly frequent reality for anyone who sends and receives e-mail, and although the basic BlackBerry OS allows Office files to be viewed, the experience is severely limited,” says Levy. “DynoPlex’s eOffice is often good enough that users can leave their laptops at home and travel lighter on business trips.” SpinVox This voicemail-to-text service can save you time because there’s no need to dial in to pick up your voice mail. Instead, an accurate transcript of the voicemail message is text messaged to you automatically so you can simply read the message on your BlackBerry. After all, you might be in a meeting and unable to answer that important call from a client, your boss, or a member of your staff. Well, now you can discretely glance at a text message which has the content of the voicemail message on your phone. Nuance Voice Control from Nuance Communications Consider it an alternative to using your thumbs to type your way through all of your BlackBerry’s functions — such as making calls, drafting an e-mail or adding a calendar entry — as you can use the power of your voice to take command. Your spoken words are transcribed into text for, say, an e-mail message, or you can choose to send your voice clip as an e-mail attachment. “Voice-activated control and navigation can remove the last barrier to on-the-road productivity — the tiny keyboard — from potential objections to wider mobile deployment,” explains Levy. WebMessenger from Apptix This all-in-one instant messaging (IM) client supports a broad range of services, including AOL, MSN, Yahoo, Google Talk, ICQ, and Jabber. For small and mid-size businesses with mobile employees that need to routinely interact with the home office in real-time, “the presence awareness offered by an always-on IM client can be a compelling driver of productivity,” says Levy. “Road warriors can get answers to their questions more quickly, which allows them to spend more time servicing customers and less time waiting around.” Other BlackBerry applications to check out: “We find that organizations are interested in applications that access [small business] CRM and accounting packages such as Goldmine, ACT, and Quicken,” says RIM’s Lessard. Impatica Showmate allows mobile professionals to deliver PowerPoint presentations directly from their BlackBerry smartphone. MobiMate’s Worldmate Live and Handmark’s PocketExpress can greatly enhance personal productivity and efficiency while traveling with tools that include flight status updates, rental car information, and world weather. Virtual Reach’s Viigo is an RSS reader that can track, download, and display critical pieces of regularly updated content, such as news, stock values, and sports.

About 2061 days ago PCs, Laptops, and Notebooks

Three Hot iPhone Alternatives

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Despite all the hoopla surrounding Apple’s “must-have” iPhone, not everyone is convinced it’s an ideal product for budding entrepreneurs or small-to-mid-sized business owners. In fact, IncTechnology explored the pros and cons of the iPhone for business. Now that the price has dropped, however, you may be tempted. But before you give in, check out these cheaper — and some would argue better suited — smartphones that can help you and your employees stay in touch and keep organized, productive, and entertained while on the go. Here’s a look at three recommended models: BlackBerry 8820 “The first thing any mobile businessperson needs in a phone is push email,” explains Chris Hazelton, senior analyst for mobile device technology and trends at IDC Research, a Framingham, Mass.-based technology research firm. “Push email,” offered in products such as the BlackBerry series of smartphones, pushes email to the device’s inbox as soon as messages arrive, opposed to a user logging onto the Internet to “pull” messages down to the handset. Available through AT&T for $299.99 with a 24-month plan, the BlackBerry 8820 offers a “push mail” solution for mobile businesspersons, who need their messages as soon as their sent. It’s also the first phone from Research in Motion with integrated Wi-Fi for high-speed wireless connectivity. Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director at Jupiter Research, in New York, agrees with Hazelton, but warns that the phone may not let you make voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) calls. “Push email is critical,” he says. “Be aware, however, the BlackBerry 8820 won’t let you make VoIP calls via Wi-Fi.” (Note: A service called T-Mobile@Home allows for chatting via Wi-Fi hotspots and seamless transition back to wireless cell service, or vice-versa, available on select handsets such as the Samsung T409 or Nokia 6086). Other features of the BlackBerry 8820 include a built-in GPS receiver, multimedia player, expandable memory, Bluetooth, and voice-activated dialing. Palm Treo 755p The latest Palm Treo is the 755p, available through Sprint for $199.99 (with 24-month commitment). Along with its intuitive Palm OS and touchscreen or thumb keyboard interface, the Palm Treo 755P smartphone offers wireless email, Web browsing, multimedia playback, and built-in support for Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. The second feature a business smartphone needs, says Hazleton, and one the iPhone lacks, is a comfortable way to input data on the phone. “It’s no secret the iPhone has some issues in the keyboard department since it’s a soft keyboard with no tactical feedback, compared to a QWERTY thumb keyboard with products like the Treo or BlackBerry,” says Hazelton. Gartenberg suggests that you make sure the keyboard is intuitive, since you’re likely using it for email or maybe word processing. “On that note,” he adds, “if opening and editing documents is important to you, make sure the phone can support applications such as Word or Excel.” Gartenberg says he also likes the fact Treo users can download thousands of applications to customize the smartphone’s functions. Unlike a closed architecture with the iPhone, phones that let you install customize applications are great for businesses and consumers alike, he argues. Motorola Q 9h Another recommended iPhone alternative for mobile businesspersons is the upcoming Motorola Q 9h smartphone, expected to ship this fall through Verizon for $199.99 (on a 24-month plan). This super thin QWERTY-based smartphone offers “3G” or high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) connectivity for broadband-like speeds in your pocket. “The iPhone lacks this technology, which could be a handy feature for a small-to-mid-sized business,” explains Gartenberg. Hazelton says the Motorola Q 9h is also ideal for entertainment purposes, including video at 30 frames per second, expandable microSD memory cards and support for a variety of music formats (including Advanced Audio Coding, MP3 and Windows Media Audio. “Personally, I like the fact the Motorola Q offers both a regular-sized [3.5mm] headphone jack so you can use your favorite headphones or you can use wireless headphones with its support for Stereo Bluetooth,” Hazelton says. When asked to give general advice on finding a smartphone for your business, Gartenberg says to figure out what you need it for, and which applications are most important to you and your company. Aside from the iPhone, there are four main platforms to choose from — RIM BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Nokia Series 60 or Palm OS. “So you need to research the strengths for each of these outside of regular phone calls,” he says. If email is important to your business, for example, consider a push mail solution and a larger keyboard. And if you need to open or edit documents, find out which platform is best for the files you work on the most, Gartenberg recommends. There is one drawback to these models, however. “Be aware none of these other platforms will have the coolness, the cache, that comes with pulling out an iPhone in public,” says Gartenberg.

About 2122 days ago Business Software

Pump Up Your PowerPoint Presentations

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Twenty years ago, the ritual of the corporate presentation underwent a revolution: PowerPoint. Since 1987, this Microsoft program has been lampooned by everyone from Dilbert to The New Yorker. It’s been decried as evil by Yale professor Edward Tufte, in his famous screed, “PowerPoint is Evil,” published in Wired. It’s even been banned in some corners of corporate America, as Scott McNealy, then CEO of Sun Microsystems, did back in 1997. Despite its Rodney Dangerfield-like reputation that it gets no respect, PowerPoint at the same time has become all but synonymous with the word “presentation.” Love it or hate it, nowadays very few people would even consider getting up in front of a room without it. Even Al Gore doesn’t leave the house without his .ppt docs. “If you went back to 1987 you’d find it’s essentially the same program with that slide sorter view. Each version since has just added extra stuff on top. After 20 years of PowerPoint, people are ready for a change,” says Cliff Atkinson, author of “Beyond Bullet Points,” published by Microsoft Press. Countless executives who groan at the mere mention of PowerPoint would agree: it’s time to pump things up.  Primarily, there are two ways to do it. Take a more creative approach in designing your PowerPoint presentations. That, and investigate some of the newer technologies and applications that integrate with PowerPoint to create a richer, more multimedia experience with your audience. Bullet points and boilerplate templates are so-o-o 1997 As his book title would suggest, Atkinson is not a fan of the overused and abused bullet point format and he’s an expert definitely worth listening to on the subject. Atkinson produced the courtroom PowerPoint presentation for the attorneys of the winning plaintiffs in the famous $253 million Vioxx judgment against Merck. Fortune magazine at the time credited his PowerPoint as instrumental in winning the case describing it as “frighteningly powerful.” Here are some of the ways Atkinson suggests in taking a different approach. (He’ll have to forgive our format here). Simplify, simplify, simplify. Too much information on the screen is perhaps the biggest mistake made in PowerPoint. Atkinson recommends having only one thought written like a newspaper headline or in a short sentence per slide. Set the mood and tone. Does your presentation come with a sense of urgency or excitement about a new strategy or product, problem-solving, pioneering a new direction or the tone of a very formal briefing? Pick a color palette that will help set that tone. Make sure you don’t stray from the palette with a color that doesn’t match. Make key slides stand out with a specific color from the palette. Don’t use that color with the other slides. Weave content into a narrative. Storytelling is a format that hooks in everyone. Like a good story, develop your presentation with a setting, a conflict, the characters involved, and what’s at stake. Think of the details in terms of “Acts” letting them unfold in a way that builds up to the solution that comes at the end. Storyboard on paper first. That’s right: low tech, before high tech. Atkinson contends it’s often easier to conceptualize on paper, rather than on a computer screen. Put pencil to paper first, and then use that as a guide in designing your slides. Make it human. “A presentation should be a conversation. Incorporate interactivity. The media should be transparent and not distract from you,” says Atkinson. One other tip: when you’re saying your most key thought, cut the PowerPoint to black. It will jar every set of eyes in the room away from the screen and force them to focus on you. Gear up While PowerPoint hasn’t changed much over the years, new technologies that integrate with it have. Here are a few that can help make your presentations more engaging: Audience response systems. A number of vendors, such as Turning Point, sell or rent equipment that enables you to give all the audience members a keypad. You can poll the audience in real time with their answers aggregating into bar graphs, pie charts, etc. right into your PowerPoint. Try a game show format. This is especially effective in training presentations. And again, there are numerous vendors to choose from who offer a combination of software and audience response gear to turn your presentation into a high energy quiz show format with the audience. Learning Ware is one such company offering a software package called GameShow Pro 4. Additionally, they offer ring-in pads for participating audience members to hit just like contestants on Jeopardy. Slicker production value. Presentation Pro offers a number of PowerPoint-compatible solutions to make your presentations more eye-catching, including studio quality graphics and 3D transitions, software to incorporate video and sound and even a program to capture mouse movements to replay for demo purposes.

About 2183 days ago Business Software

Microsoft’s Online Services – What’s In It for You?

Commentators have been questioning Microsoft’s online software-as-a-service strategy.  Some are gnashing their teeth, worrying, “Why, oh, why isn’t Microsoft providing desktop services like word processing online?” But you know what?  I would suggest that it’s not about being able to compose word processing docs online. Who wants to have to go online to write a document anyway?  In fact, Microsoft is providing quite a lot to small and mid-size businesses already that you can put to good use — today.   There are major strategic issues at play for Microsoft and other players to consider.  But from the vantage point of a small business, the debate over online services and applications seems like a tempest in a teapot.  In fact, I would suggest that Microsoft is giving many small and mid-size businesses quite a lot of what they actually need — and are in a position to use today. For instance, let’s look at desktop applications, which are a major area of small business usage.  When it comes to the average business — especially a small business — most are not quick to look for a replacement for their desktop applications like Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel.  Why not?  Some basic practical reasons: We are still a long way from ubiquitous online connectivity. If you are really going to replace desktop applications with online applications, you’d need something close to 100 percent connectivity.  If your business is located in a big city on the East or West Coasts, you might be tempted to take for granted being online and assume that every business is online all the time.  But life is not like that in the vast regions of America where most small businesses operate.  For instance, where I live, in a small town outside of Cleveland, Ohio, I know of several businesses still using dial-up connections for Internet access — and they dial up intermittently to get online because often they are using the same phone line for a fax machine or even their voice calls.  Single-person businesses, which make up 19.5 million of the 25-plus million small businesses in this country, in particular, tend to still use dial-up.  Future visions of large population areas covered by WiFi clouds are just that in most of flyover country — future visions.  Bottom line:  we’re still not close to being online 100 percent of the time.  And until then, online applications are not practical for many businesses.  Most online applications are not as robust as Microsoft’s varieties.  Just because a business is “small” does not mean we need “small” or less than full-featured applications for our businesses.  One of the great enablers leveling the playing field in the past decade is the fact that small businesses have had access to the same office and desktop technology as their larger customers and clients and competitors.  If you are a consultant or attorney or accountant or public relations executive, you can be using exactly the same tools as your larger competitors and your clients.  You can be sending documents back and forth with Fortune 1000 clients, in the same format documents that they use.   This one single thing does more to put a small business on an equal footing with large corporations than other more expensive steps you can take to make your business appear “big,” such as renting expensive office space. It costs more to use non-Microsoft desktop applications.  Wait, you’re thinking, she’s got that backwards.  Isn’t it cheaper to use free online applications provided by companies like Google, rather than Microsoft’s desktop versions that cost several hundred dollars?  Well, any good businessperson knows there are stated costs … and then there are hidden costs.  On the surface free applications seem cheaper — hey, they’re free, after all.  But when you look at how you use them in your business, they may not have any cost advantage.  In fact, they may cost your business money because of added employee training and the need to spend time converting documents from one format to another so that clients can access them. There is considerable business value in having standardized programs that everyone uses.  I still remember the early days of word processing, when there were dozens of programs, and you wasted countless hours trying to convert documents from one format to another and manually fixing what didn’t convert properly.  That’s not an experience I am eager to repeat, because it does absolutely nothing to further my business. Meanwhile, let’s take a quick look at a few of the key online services Microsoft provides today for small businesses: If you need document templates, clip art, usage tips and assorted add-ons and enhancements, you can connect online to the Microsoft website and download them at no additional cost.  It’s a “hybrid” solution as Microsoft calls it — desktop applications plus access online for specific purposes — and it makes eminent sense given the way we use such applications. We can get an online presence, including a website, domain name, website statistics and e-mail accounts, called Office Live for free, and upgraded packages for an affordable monthly cost. You can download Microsoft’s Office Accounting Express program for free.  Yep, 100 percent free accounting software. You can download what is considered a top notch anti-spyware program, called Microsoft Defender for free. The list is longer — but you get the picture.  Microsoft has done a lot over the years to put small businesses on a level playing field with larger businesses via technology. So, will we small businesses be using online applications more extensively in the future?  Definitely.  And the possibilities are exciting.  But we’re talking future possibilities, not current realities.  For now, Microsoft is giving many small businesses like mine exactly the kind of online services we are in a position to actually use. Anita Campbell is a writer, speaker and radio talk show host who closely follows trends in the small business market at her site, Small Business Trends.

About 2214 days ago Business Software

Technology to Solve the Boring Meeting Dilemma

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If you hate meetings and think they are a waste of time, you’re not alone. Eighty percent of employees say their meetings are unproductive and waste valuable working hours, according to a survey of 2,000 workers in 13 countries by recruitment firm Robert Walters last year. Analysts suggest some common sense ways to make meetings more productive. Have someone guide the meeting. Avoid going off on tangents. Ban BlackBerrys from the room. But beyond that, there are dozens of firms that offer software collaboration tools that promise make meetings quicker and more productive. Software lets workers collaborate on reports The argument for tools that automate your meetings goes like this: In a typical meeting, attendees spend time before preparing individual PowerPoint presentations. Each presentation takes time. After the meeting, those presentations are scrapped only to be recreated the next week. In contrast, with a collaboration tool, employees can all contribute to a discussion or even collaborate on one presentation at their own leisure during the week. A presentation on sales trends, for instance, can include data from all the salespeople in the field. That way, there is only one presentation to deliver at the meeting, rather than several salespeople each delivering an individual report. Moreover, the presentation is a living document that can be updated after the meeting as well. For example, DreamFactory, a Mountain View, Calif., firm recently released Carousel, a software program that lets employees collaborate on “dynamic reports” before and after meetings. “You can eliminate PowerPoint preparation and save a lot of time,” says company president Eric Rubin. DreamFactory charges $25 per user per month for the application. Meeting over the Web cuts down time Meanwhile, WebEx chief marketing officer Rick Faulk says just having a meeting over the Web rather than in-person tends to shorten meetings as well. “If you get everyone in a physical room, you generally spend the first 10 or 15 minutes chatting,” Faulk says. “There’s a funny dynamic with meetings happening online: People tend to get right down to business.” Patti Phillips, president and owner of The ROI Institute, a 10-person consultancy in Birmingham, Ala., finds a mix of two applications work well to limit meeting times. Phillips uses Microsoft’s SharePoint software as a collaboration tool so employees can check in throughout the week and hash out issues. “People pop in and check calendars,” Phillips says. For meetings, though, Phillips uses Elluminate, a WebEx-like conferencing tool that lets remote and in-person employees participate in meetings. “If there’s an article we want to share we can do it so everyone can see it at the same time,” Phillips says. “It’s a great way to bring people together in different locations.” Phillips pays about $50 a month to use SharePoint as a hosted application from Apptix, Herndon, Va. Elluminate’s sticker price is $180 a month for five seats, but Phillips says she pays less. More to meetings than technology While Phillips is pleased with her expenditure, Joan Eisenstodt, chief strategist with consultancy Eisenstodt Associates, Washington, D.C., warns that all the technology in the world won’t necessarily make meetings any shorter. “Let’s say we have one major issue that needs to be discussed by 10 people,” she says. “Because there is dissension, [technology] could not save time in the long run because people are going to grumble and sabotage and do all the things people do in an office environment.” Eisenstodt instead advises small businesses to allow employees to have a discussion before a meeting perhaps via such collaboration tools so that all of the pent-up anger won’t be released for the first time during the meeting. Even Rubin acknowledges that his technology will not, in the end, take the place of a face-to-face meeting: “You will still need to get everyone together to work through the issues.”