New Microsoft Office 365 Plans for Business

As of 1 October 2014, Microsoft revised their Office 365 for business plans. Enterprise plans remain the same, but here’s the new line up for small to mid-size businesses. Office 365 Business Essentials This plan does not include Office applications to install on your PC, notebook, tablet or smartphone, but you can access Office Online for Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc. … Read More

Follow What Your Competitor is Doing Online.

“Want to know how many website visitors your competitor is getting? No problem. How about their top keywords or top performing advertisement? That’s there too…” Every now and then we’d like to shine the spotlight on a cool new piece of technology that’s going to help your business. It may be a physical product, web application, software tool… whatever it … Read More

SharePoint planning tips – Part 3

Information Governance. That term sounds big and boring, right? Something that requires writing a big, boring document and downing double shot espressos to stay awake whilst doing so. I hear you yawning and asking, is this something we really need to consider for our Office 365 SharePoint deployment? Well, if you focus on keeping it simple, it can be a … Read More

SharePoint planning tips – Part 1

One of the most powerful features of Microsoft Office 365 is SharePoint Online. But before you jump in and configure your new SharePoint site, it’s worth taking a step back to do some planning exercises. SharePoint has the ability to provide a technical solution to business problems. Constraints within the business, when broken down into their components, are usually comprised of … Read More

Managing teams in different locations

There is an escalating trend for companies to have teams and individuals working in different locations and time zones. As this global workforce intensifies, more and more business owners will be faced with the challenges that a dispersed workforce presents. The most common issues we have seen arise include: Managing people in different locations Aligning the way dispersed teams create … Read More

Developing your cloud strategy – part 2

In our previous article, we began to explore our concept of cloud strategy.  We covered off on the first step, which involves making a leap from dabbling in cloud platforms, to having a business with a cloud strategy at its core.  The next two steps are designed to build out the strategy in such a way that business value is delivered via document … Read More

Developing your cloud strategy – part 1

Spoiler alert; we’re about to deliver a 3 part series and it is going to use the word “cloud” many times.  But if you’re keen on the advantages that cloud can offer you, read on.  We’re going to outline a framework for creating your cloud strategy. If you can answer yes to one or more of the following questions, this article … Read More

3 ways technology is changing organisational structure

It’s amazing to consider how the workplace has changed.  Technology has enabled us to completely restructure how we communicate, work together, manage and measure productivity.  Rather than reaching any kind of plateau, technology is set to further evolve our work environments and how we interact with our peers and managers. Evolving the Org Chart. “Darwin said that it’s not the … Read More

End of XP Support Action Plan

As we’ve mentioned previously, XP support ends April 8, 2014.  At the risk of sounding like we’re repeating ourselves, it’s crucial that we communicate the importance of paying attention to this milestone – or should we say more accurately, tombstone. It is reported that of all the operational computers in the world, between a quarter and a third are still … Read More

Information Strategy; taking stock of your information assets

An information strategy is not usually the first thing that founders and managers put in their business plans.  But it is essential at some point to take stock of the information that is moving throughout your organisation and to formulate a strategy that values it as the critical asset that it is. Information is an asset Every organisation has a … Read More