Here are 3 ways you can put your office’s flat screen to work.

You’ll need:

A flat screen TV with web browsing capabilities. Don’t have web browsing on your TV? You can buy an Apple TV for $99 to get all the functionality you’ll need.

1. Display promo graphics in your lobby.

Dynamic lobby graphics are sure to impress your visitors as soon as they step in the door. You can create your own images to display or you can hire a professional graphic designer to setup your graphics. . The dimensions for your graphic will need to be 1280 pixels wide by 720 pixels tall. Once you have your images ready, you can set up a free account with Flickr, and connect your Flickr account to your TV (either via a native app on your TV, or through AppleTV’s Flickr app). It will take a few minutes to get your Flickr account setup and connected to your TV, but once the initial work is done, swapping out photos will take seconds. You’ll just need to log in to your Flickr account and add and remove images as needed.

Here’s a PowerPoint template you can use for your lobby graphics (includes 5 colors). Just add your images and text and save the slide you wish to use as a JPEG.

2. Ditch the projector.

Wouldn’t life be so much simpler if you never had to see this again?

With AppleTV, you can use a program called AirParrot to mirror your computer screen. You can use it to display a PowerPoint presentation, or share a screen in a client meeting (without having to sit uncomfortably close to each other).

3. Display Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s).

Setup a KPI dashboard on your TV to access a single view of the information you need to make better strategic decisions. KPI dashboards can be displayed on any device that has a web browser, so displaying on your TV will be a cinch. We can connect your existing systems to a KPI dashboard so you can access all of your key metrics in real time.

Examples of KPI’s:

• Finance: Gross Profit Margin
• Sales: Sales Per Rep
• Healthcare: ER Waiting Times

 Learn more about Nexxtep’s KPI dashboards.

The post 3 Ways to Put Your Office Flat Screen to Work appeared first on Nexxtep Technology Services, Inc..

First, let’s take a look at how well our 2012 predictions held up:

Richard Baker’s (Account Manager) 2012 Predictions:

• Businesses will want more than email on their smartphones. They will want all of their business apps to work on their smartphones. Some examples of these apps are sales apps, quoting apps, and researching apps.

True. According to CDW’s Small Business Mobility Report, email apps are used most for work-related purposes (80% of mobile users access work email from their devices). However, calendar apps (76%), GPS/navigation apps (69%), document reading apps (56%), social media apps (45%) and file storage apps (40%) have also become widely used for work purposes. It’s clear that users want to use their devices for work, but business app developers are working to keep up. Just 16% of businesses offer custom, internally developed apps.  Growth in line-of-business app use is more difficult to measure, but projections show that mobile application development will outnumber PC application development by a ratio of 4 to 1 by the year 2015.

• Businesses will use social media more and more, but will need help managing it. They will particularly need help analyzing what works and what doesn’t work.

True. You nailed this one, Richard! According to a recent survey, 94% of marketers are using social media marketing, and 83% believe it’s an important part of their overall marketing mix. The biggest challenge they face? How to track the ROI on their social media marketing efforts. The report also shows that since 2010, the percentage of marketers who outsource some or all of their social media marketing activities has grown from 14% to 30%. Behind design and development, analytics is the top area that marketers are outsourcing.

• Businesses will learn just how important mobile security is–the hard way. I’m not referring to hackers and viruses, although that is a concern as well. I’m referring to what happens when people lose their mobile devices, either by accident or to theft. Please remember that company secrets are on your phones. You need to treat them like you would your business computer. Make sure your mobile devices are locked with a pass code, and that you have the capability to wipe all of your data in the event that you lose it.

True. According to the FCC, between 30-40% of all robberies in major cities are cell phone-related. Not only that, cybercrime on mobile devices has increased dramatically over the last year. If you haven’t already done so, make sure you check out our post on how to protect the important business information on your mobile devices.

• Online sales on mobile devices will quadruple, thanks to the Kindle Fire and advances in using NFC (near field communications) to make payments using mobile phones.

Close, but not quite. Online sales that take place on mobile devices are projected to increase 110% this year. NFC payments have not taken off quite yet, but they probably will in the next year or two.

Ryan Williams’ (VP of Business Development) 2012 Predictions:

• We’ll see more “line-of-business” applications being accessed and used via mobile devices.

Hard to Tell. Again, this is difficult to measure, but as I mentioned with Richard’s prediction, projections show that mobile application development will outnumber PC application development by a ratio of 4 to 1 by the year 2015.

• Working away from the office will become more commonplace (from home, in the field, etc.) as more line-of-business applications are accessed via mobile devices.

True. According to a study from Wrike (via Payscale.com), 83% of workers spend at least part of their day working remotely (up from just 43% in 2009). Not only that, 66% believe their office might go fully virtual within 5 years.

• Amazon is going to take over the world. They are doing everything right. For example, they have built a tablet that rivals Apple’s iPad at a much lower price point. You can stream movies and music (competing with Netflix and iTunes), purchase items in the huge Amazon marketplace, and of course, read books. Amazon is building an entire ecosystem, and they will come out on top.

Mostly True. Amazon has done quite well this year, but they haven’t quite taken over the technology “world” yet. Thanks to their Kindle Fire lineup, Amazon has doubled its tablet market share quarter-over-quarter in the last year. Global domination is still a very real possibility.

• The big three will be Apple, Google and Amazon. Microsoft will become nearly irrelevant. Microsoft’s most popular offering is its Windows operating system, but as software moves to the cloud environment, operating systems will become much less important.

True. Microsoft appears to be on the path to becoming irrelevant. Initial sales for Windows 8 and the new Surface tablet are lackluster, and the “big three” don’t even seem to recognize Microsoft as a player in their fierce competition over tablets, search, smartphones, eCommerce and more.

Here are Richard’s predictions for 2013. Check back with us next year to see if these come true!

1) Tablets will get cheaper and cheaper. When prices reach $50 for an Android tablet, the possibilities will be endless. They will become a fixture in every car, home, school, store and restaurant.

2) Businesses will find that if you don’t have an app built for mobile, you are falling behind. Consumers are using browsers less and less to find what they need. According to Gartner, mobile app downloads will reach 81.4 billion worldwide in 2013. That number was 45 billion in 2012.

3) Mobile payment technology will push ahead with better and more secure solutions. It takes 26 hours for the average person to report a lost wallet. It takes 68 minutes for them to report a lost phone. At some point we will look back and wonder why ever handed our credit card to a complete stranger in a restaurant for him to process. We will wonder why we ever swiped our credit card at a gas pump that any teenagers can easily hack.

Other predictions:

Department stores will stop selling CDs. (Ryan Williams)

Apple will finally release the Apple TV. (Taylor Hutchison, Helpdesk Technician)

How about you?

What are your predictions for 2013? Let us know in the comments!

The post Technology Predictions for 2013 appeared first on Nexxtep Technology Services, Inc..

Scenario 1: Break-fix vs. Proactive

An accounting firm’s staff is using old workstations that need to be replaced.  

One-Man Shop:  Steve, the managing partner for the firm, calls the same computer guy who ordered their existing workstations years ago.  He hasn’t heard much from him since then.   The computer guy sends over a quote for the new equipment and orders the new workstations.   A few days later, he comes in to install them.  For a few weeks, everything is working perfectly, but then Steve notices a dramatic increase in the number of viruses the staffers are getting.   Steve calls the computer repair guy, who had not installed or recommended antivirus software or a firewall.  The computer guy is up to his ears in work with other clients and won’t have time to address the issue for another week.  Steve didn’t invest in a support contract with a technology consultant, because he wanted to save the firm money.  However, the viruses infecting their workstations are costing the firm thousands of dollars in billable time every day.

Technology Consultant: Steve calls a technology consultant who sends an engineer and an account manager over to conduct a thorough assessment of their network. Afterwards, they make recommendations for equipment replacements, and also identify areas where Steve’s firm is at risk.  Not only that, they work with Steve’s firm to find ways for his staff to work more efficiently.  For example, they helped the firm move all of their paper files to a digital, searchable database that staffers can connect to from anywhere.  The technology consultant identifies business problems and tries to solve them over time, rather than offering quick fixes to computer glitches at a bargain rate.  What initially seemed like a large investment pays off in a few months, and it reflects on Steve’s P & L statement. His staff is billing an average of 30% more hours since partnering with the consultant.

Scenario 2: Transparency

Claudia is an associate at a 30-person law firm specializing in personal injury.  The firm’s website is outdated, and she’s been charged with the task of getting a new website built. 

One-Man-Shop:  Claudia calls a local web designer to build the new website.  He sends her a mockup and quotes a few hundred dollars for the new site.  It’s up in no time, and Claudia barely had to lift a finger.  However, one day she conducts a test search in Google to see if her firm comes up for personal injury lawyers in her small town.  Her website is nowhere to be seen on the first page results, so she calls the web designer to ask if he can help.  He tells Claudia that her website isn’t search engine optimized.  She didn’t request SEO, so he didn’t provide it.  He offers new pricing to optimize the site, but Claudia decides to partner with another SEO service.  When Claudia tries to hire another consultant to help with the issue, the web designer is reluctant to give up information or control of the site to an outsider.

Technology Consultant:  Claudia calls a technology consultant with an in-house web design and development team.  They ask her about more than just color scheme and design, and try to nail down why the firm needs a new website and what they want to accomplish with it. The team involves Claudia in every step of the process, from the initial mockups to training, so that she can update and edit the website herself.  At the end of the project, the firm has a beautiful new website that is optimized for search engines and mobile devices.  When Claudia doesn’t have time to make changes herself, someone from the web team can do it for her, in a matter of minutes.

Scenario 3: Vendor Selection

Linda is the CFO of a property management company that needs to move all of their backups offsite. This data includes sensitive information about their tenants and employees.  

One-Man-Shop:  Linda calls her computer repair guy to come in and make recommendations for an offsite backup service. He finds a relatively cheap, easy-to-install solution and sets it up in the main office.  A few months later, Linda is reading financial news and discovers that her offsite backup vendor is embroiled in legal controversy and has been accused of fraud.  Linda is concerned that her data is not in good hands, and she asks her computer repair guy to replace the system with another solution, which doubles her company’s installation costs.

Technology Consultant:  Linda calls on a technology consultant who carefully evaluates the backups that are currently in place.  They recommend a secure offsite solution and install it. Behind the scenes, the consultant carefully analyzed several vendor options before making a selection.  They chose the vendor that not only had the best service offerings and highest reviews, but one that was well-established, with strong financial backing and a promising future.  The new backup system works very well, giving Linda peace of mind knowing her company’s sensitive information is out of harm’s way.

Scenario 4: Expertise

Fred’s company is hiring five new employees, who need email addresses, computers and smartphones setup.

One-Man-Shop:  Fred’s computer repair guy can order the new computers, but he doesn’t have the expertise (or the desire) to help with the email accounts and the smartphones.  Fred has to call two separate vendors to get the email accounts and smartphones set up.  When a new employee stops receiving email on his smartphone, he has no idea who to call, so he asks Fred for help.  Fred doesn’t know whether to call the cellular provider or the email hosting provider.   He spends half the day on the phone trying to resolve the issue with both vendors.

Technology Consultant: Fred hires a technology consultant to handle the setup of the phones, email and computer equipment.  The consultant’s engineers install everything and set it up to work together seamlessly.  When the new employee’s email stops working, he calls the consultant and submits a support ticket.  The problem is fixed within a couple of short hours, and all it took was one phone call. Fred was never interrupted.

Scenario 5: Knowledge Base

A manufacturing firm uses a specialized software program to manage inventory.  One day, Pamela tries to enter new inventory, but a glitch in the program prevents her from doing so.  She can’t move on to her next task until she enters this inventory.

One-Man-Shop (Internal IT):  The firm has an internal IT staffer, but he’s really more of a hardware expert than a software expert. He spends almost an entire day trying to figure out the problem until he finally makes a breakthrough. All this time, Pamela’s work has come to a complete stop while the staffer is working on her problem.

Technology Consultant:  Pamela submits a support ticket via email to the firm’s technology consultant.  A dispatcher assigns the ticket to the engineer responsible for the account.  The engineer is also more of a hardware expert than a software expert, but he works with several software engineers who help him resolve the issue within an hour.  Pamela finishes entering inventory before lunch.

Takeaway

In most cases, the one-man-shop’s best selling point is that his services are cheaper.  With the reliance businesses place on technology these days, do you really want to place some of your most valuable business assets in the hands of a provider because he’s the cheapest?  Put your business in trusted hands with a reliable, proactive technology consulting firm.

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“Can you change the color of the cursor in Windows without downloading some suspicious software to handle it?”

The answer: Absolutely!

Windows has an option in the Accessibility menu that allows you to change the color of your cursor. For Windows XP users, follow these instructions from eHow. For Windows 7 and Vista users, follow these instructions:

1. Press the Start button
2. Click on “All Programs”
3. Click on the “Accessories” folder, then the “Ease of Access” sub-folder.
4. Open the “Ease of Access Center.”
5. Click on “Make the mouse easier to use.”
6. You’ll see a variety of options you can select to change the color and size of your mouse pointer.

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Richard’s Predictions:

• Businesses will want more than email on their smartphones.  They will want all of their business apps to work on their smartphones. Some examples of these apps are sales apps, quoting apps, and researching apps.
• Businesses will use social media more and more, but will need help managing it.  They will particularly need help analyzing what works and what doesn’t work.
• Businesses will learn just how important mobile security is–the hard way. I’m not referring to hackers and viruses, although that is a concern as well.  I’m referring to what happens when people lose their mobile devices, either by accident or to theft.  Please remember that company secrets are on your phones. You need to treat them like you would your business computer.  Make sure your mobile devices are locked with a pass code, and that you have the capability to wipe all of your data in the event that you lose it.
• Online sales on mobile devices will quadruple, thanks to the Kindle Fire and advances in using NFC (near field communications) to make payments using mobile phones.

The post Technology Predictions for 2012 appeared first on Nexxtep Technology Services, Inc..

Richard Baker:  Account Manager

1)      The cloud discussions will move from “when” to “how”.

Cloud computing definitely took the spotlight this year and became a practical option for small and mid-sized businesses. Whether you’re talking about private, public or hybrid cloud solutions, the adoption rate for cloud computing skyrocketed this year and will only continue to grow in the years to come. 

2)      Verizon will launch a 4g iPhone.

The Verizon iPhone 4 launched in February, paving the way for other carriers to offer the popular product later in the year. 

3)      Cybersecurity concerns will remain a hot topic.

This is definitely true. Small and mid-sized businesses have become especially vulnerable.  Hackers often identify SMB’s as easy targets because they have valuable information but limited resources to protect them. Click here to read 10 Security Tips for Small and Mid-Sized Businesses. 

4)      Facebook wins the location war. Foursquare loses.

This is not true…yet. Foursquare tripled in size over the last year, and now has over 15 million users and 600,000 merchants.  Foursquare has become more than a way to share your location with friends; it’s now a tool you can use to find the best deals nearby.  Facebook attempted to replicate this function with Facebook deals earlier in the year, but the project was unsuccessful and eventually pulled.  However, with Facebook nearing almost a billion users, they certainly have the resources and power to make Foursquare obsolete. 

5)      U.S. wireless carriers will meter your data. Consumers will end up paying more, of course.

Unfortunately, this is almost entirely true. Sprint is the lone US carrier to offer a truly unlimited data plan. 

6)      Smartphones will be the targets of hackers and viruses.

Android malware traffic rose by 400% in 2011. As many as 4% of Android devices will be infected with malware at some point. iPhones are generally safe because they have a closed operating system that hackers cannot breach.  However, if you jailbreak your iPhone (this is a process by which you “hack” your iPhone to unlock certain features–which we do not recommend), you will be susceptible to malware. 

Five out of six isn’t bad.  Are you psychic, Richard?

Gil Morris:  Systems Engineer

1)   I see Apple becoming the largest technology company on the planet, overtaking rival Microsoft, regarding market share and thus becoming the new “target” for cyber-criminals. That said, Apple security will be a “new” market poised for exponential growth as most Apple fans have rarely seen the need for enhanced security measures like their PC using counterparts.

This is a tricky one. Apple’s market share for tablets and phones definitely overtakes Microsoft– the iPad has as much as 75% of the tablet market right now. However, in terms of operating systems, Microsoft is still the clear winner, with 91% of PC users using Windows. However, Mac users were the targets, for the first time ever, of malware this year.  The Mac Defender issue was resolved in May with a security update for the operating system. 

Here is Gil’s response:

Given the malware epidemic we see out in the field, I think folks will be looking to alternatives to Windows (Linux, Mac) when their home PCs are shutdown (or worse they suffer some form of identity theft/financial loss) by one of the multitudes of rootkits I’ve seen in the past few weeks that are targeting Microsoft operating systems like never before. The security war is so bad now I just read the FBI is spending millions and hiring several new Special Agents to just help defend against cyber-criminals! (Link to FBI story: http://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/fbi-likely-get-more-cybercrime-agents-121411)

2)   The American FCC’s current attempts to regulate the Internet will (hopefully) fail and the so-called Net Neutrality push will dissolve. I do see some form of regulation but nothing as heinous as Big Brother watching your every move online. Most modernized governments can’t even police themselves much less the Internet.

In November, the Net Neutrality regulations were passed in Congress. These regulations were put in place in an attempt to prevent Internet Service Providers from regulating how heavily people use the Internet.  However, Gil made a good point about how governments can’t police the Internet, as was evident in the Arab Spring uprisings this year. 

Stay tuned.  Next week we’ll reveal our Technology Predictions f0r 2012. 

The post Technology Predictions for 2011: Did They Come True? appeared first on Nexxtep Technology Services, Inc..

Richard Baker, Account Manager

• Pulse: Pulse is a news reader that organizes stories in a beautiful display. You can customize Pulse by adding and removing  sources.  You can have anything from the Wall Street Journal to Popular Science to ESPN in your sources list.   (Available on iPhone, iPad, and Android.  Free)

• Tweetbot: Tweetbot is a Twitter client with a lot of functionality and features. (Available on iPhone. $2.99)
• Flipboard: Flipboard is the self-proclaimed social magazine.  Use Flipboard to access your social networking accounts, browse news stories, and read your favorite blogs. If you use Flipboard on your iPad, you’ll be excited to know that as of today, the Flipboard iPhone App is available.  If you want to transfer your sections onto the iPhone version, create a Flipboard account on your iPad and login with the same account on your iPhone. (Available on iPhone and iPad. Free).

• RemotePotato: Allows me to stream media from my iPhone and iPad to my television. (Available for iPhone and iPad. $6.99)
• ESPN FFL:  I use this app to manage my team on NexxFFL (Nexxtep’s Fantasy Football League). (Available for iPhone and Android. Free.)

Leigh Futch, Director of Web Marketing

• HeyTell: HeyTell has completely eliminated my desire to text while driving. It gives you the functionality of a walkie-talkie, but you can listen to messages at your leisure. When you’re driving, you can send a short voice message without having to place a phone call.  (Available for iPhone and Android. Free)

Anne Shenton, Marketing Director

• Shazam: Most of you have probably heard of this app, but it’s just too good not to share. I use it almost every day and it never ceases to amaze me. Use Shazam to identify any song that you’re listening to (live performances excluded).  Shazam will tag the song and show you all the details, including artist, title, cover art, lyrics, and more. If you have Spotify, you can play the song on your Spotify app.  If you have Pandora, you can create a station in the Pandora app based on that song. The app is free, and now you can tag as many songs as you want. It’s also available on almost any mobile device you can think of.  Learn more/download from the Shazam website.

Mike Adkins, Systems Engineer

• Menu-Planner: You can automatically pull recipes from many sites, or create your own. Once you do that, it will create the items you need and generate a shopping list. You can also sync everything to their server, assign grocery stores and prices, email menus, and a ton of other features (Available for iPhone and iPad. $2.99)

How about you?

What are some of your favorite smartphone apps?  Let us know in the comments!

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These extremely flexible technology plans  can be tailored to fit any budget.   From now on, you’ll be able to build a plan based on your budget and IT needs.

To learn more about what makes this plan different, give us a call at 229-671-1513 or visit ncare.com/contact-now..  We’d be glad to go over all the details with you, and it will only take about 15 minutes of your time.

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 1.)    Share Photos by Using a Shared Folder

Use Dropbox to share family photos with your relatives.  It’s easy.  Just create a new folder within your Dropbox folder.  Then, right click on the folder and select “Share this folder…” in the Dropbox menu as seen below.

Then your web browser will open up and you’ll see this screen.

Enter the email addresses of the family members you want to share the photos with.  If they don’t already have a Dropbox account, they’ll be prompted to register for one.  Now, every time you or your relatives add photos to the folder, everyone it’s shared with will be able to see them.

2.)    Create a Household Folder and Share it With Your Spouse

This is probably the least “fun” of the Dropbox tips, but it is a useful way to get your household affairs in order. Setup a new shared folder using the instructions I mentioned above, but label it “Household” and share it with only your spouse.  Then, you can add and collaborate on items like these:

• Household Expenses/Budget Spreadsheet
• Spreadsheet with Passwords for Banking, Utilities and other accounts you use to pay bills online.
• Vacation Plans
• Children’s Sports Team Schedules

 3.)    Send Important Emails to Dropbox

You can send files directly to Dropbox from an email using a service called sendtodropbox.com.  Just visit the website and enter your Dropbox login information.  Then, you’ll receive a special email address that you can use to send emails (and their attachments) directly to Dropbox.

 4.)    Send Pictures, Videos and Other Files to a Large Group of People

Every Dropbox account comes with a public folder.  Everything you save to the public folder can be viewed by anyone with the link.  If you have a video or picture you want to share with a group of family and friends but don’t want to create a new shared folder,  just use your public folder.

Here’s how it works:

Save the item you wish to share in the Public folder in your Dropbox.

Next right click on the item you wish to share and select “Copy Public Link” under the Dropbox folder.  Then, paste the link into an email and send it to your friends and family.  Note: this is also very useful if you want to share items with people who do not have a Dropbox account.

The post 4 Fun and Easy Ways to Use Dropbox with Your Family & Friends appeared first on Nexxtep Technology Services, Inc..

Unlike Pandora or Last.fm, Spotify allows you to listen to any song at any time.  A few months ago, I wrote about a similar service called Grooveshark. Although Grooveshark will allow you to search for and listen to any song of your choosing, the variety of music is not as extensive.  Also, Spotify’s interface is much more refined and user-friendly.

With the Premium version ($9.99 per month), you can listen to Spotify on your mobile device, and you can download music directly to your device so that you won’t need a WiFi or 3G connection to access your music.

Spotify is only in a limited release right now, and you have to receive an invitation to join. More information about the service (including how you can get an invitation) is in this article.

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