Microsoft Project 2010 tries to make this task just a little bit easier by introducing an easy, central way to plan out each project and even compare them against one another.  Planning works in every stage of a project, as you can pick and choose just how much detail to include in each project’s file.  Even when the central phases of projects are unclear, you’ll still be able to plot out what you do know and make realistic estimates for the middle stages of various projects.

The new Timeline feature shows at a glance what work needs to get done and by whom.  You can keep track of key milestones, so you’ll easily see whether you’re behind or ahead and by how much.  The timeline is easy to share and easy to understand in its most basic view.  It can also be expanded to see exactly what’s involved with each individual milestone.  You can add milestones based on what’s already in your project, so once you’ve plotted it out you needn’t do so again.

Since Microsoft Project 2010 is based on the same design as many other Microsoft Office products, most people will find  it very easy to use.  Even if you’ve never used a Microsoft Office product before, the “Ribbon” is designed to be intuitive.  It’s easily modifiable to place your most important information in front of you at all times.  If you’ve used Excel in particular, you should find it extremely easy to use as many of the features are similar.

Perhaps one of the most useful tools is the Team Planner View.  This allows you to list which employees are available to work on a certain task and how best to use them.  You can drag each job established in the project on to the resource best equipped to handle the job.  At a glance, you can then see how well you’ve organised your available resources and whether or not they’ll actually be capable of handling their assigned workloads.  This is also an easy way to communicate to everyone what’s required and when, especially if you have a Microsoft server installed and can seamlessly share between employees.

Start organising your projects better today with Microsoft Project 2010.  If you think it would suit you, you can call your IT support to install the necessary software and arrange a training session so everyone in the company can make use of this fantastic software.

1. Be understanding about your restrictions.  Your IT department or IT company may necessarily limit the types of software you can install on your PC for security reasons.  This is usually not down to anything that you would install, but not all employees are of the same calibre and it’s very important to ensure your PC remains operable.  Unlicensed software, for example, can get your company sued, and there is similarly the chance that an illicitly downloaded program infected with malware will spread to the network.  Most programs are not appropriate for work use anyway; keep dodgy programs to your own personal computer.
2. Ask about updates. Are you responsible for installing all Windows Updates to your PC, or will you have to wait for your IT technicians to take care of the job?  If it’s your responsibility, it’s important to keep your computer completely up to date with the latest security fixes and patches.
3. Be careful with your emails.  Unfortunately spam monitoring systems are not always up to snuff, and if you open an illicit attachment, you’re placing your entire network at risk.  Don’t click on any emails in your spam folder unless they’re from a sender you trust, and if you see a strange email in your normal inbox make sure to remove it.
4. Install employer-approved virus prevention and malware software.  If your computer already has such software, make sure you run regular virus scans.  If your company approves of you leaving your PC on after work hours, schedule the scans to run when you’re not at the computer.  This will prevent any annoyance on your end, as you won’t be required to sit around while your computer slows down to search for viruses.  If you do not normally leave your computer on overnight, set it to run during your lunch hour or scan your hard drive manually during meetings.
5. Go light with installed software.  If you are given the green light to install personal software and data on your work PC, don’t go crazy with it.  Ensure you have a license for all of your downloaded programs and that you can demonstrate what purpose it serves for your business.  Permission to take more control over your PC does not mean that you should allow virus laden or illegal programs on it; you should instead be a bit more careful. And, for personal reasons, remember not to store any of your own data, like pictures or music, solely on your work PC.  Should an update go awry or you get a new PC at work, you’ll still have that information at home.

Use these five important tips to keep your PC running smoothly and speedily.  If you do have a problem, ensure you notify IT support as soon as possible to prevent damage and lost productivity time.

1. Install remote tracking software on each and every laptop computer, particularly those with important data on them.  This software should allow you to find your laptop if it’s stolen and remotely turn off all access to it.  Windows passwords are not normally secure and can be hacked very easily with external programs, so it’s essential to be able to remotely lock the PC and prevent any thieves from getting access to valuable information.  Ask your IT support company for the best software available.
2. If you’ve been entrusted with a nice phone by your company, don’t show it off.  Even if you have it hooked up to a low cost business VoIP phone system, the loss of your phone will cost your company money for both the hardware and services used by the thief.  It’s tempting to want everyone to realise that you are in fact a big executive and make a lot of money, but it’s also dangerous.  If you’re free with that phone and someone is looking out for an easy theft, they’ll quickly target you because you’re advertising its availability.  If they don’t know you have an expensive mobile, they won’t be interested.  Simple.
3. Similarly, don’t advertise the presence of your laptop or mobile on public transportation.  If you need to get work done, that’s one thing, but don’t whip out your mobile just to check your emails on a crowded bus.  Thieves will follow you to get your stuff, especially if you’re getting off in a quiet area.
4. Preventing the loss of certain items is considerably more difficult.  It will likely happen regardless of what you do to try and stop it, but you can make losing items less likely by simply keeping an eye on them.  Never check your laptop in a suitcase at the airport, always keep it with you.  It’s also worth trying to fit it under your seat rather than putting it in the overhead compartment to prevent mix-ups.  Believe it or not, people do steal things on planes.  If you have to put your bag on a luggage compartment in a train or bus, make sure you’re sitting right by it.  It’s obviously best to keep it with you.
5. Keep your mobile in a secure location.  Putting it in an inside coat pocket is the most secure option, but not if you’re going to take your coat off and carry it.  Your other best option is the front pocket of your pants, if they have pockets, as thieves generally target back pockets with visible, wallet or phone sized bulges.

It’s difficult to completely prevent thefts and loss of business equipment, but if you follow these simple tips you should minimise the risk of it happening to you.

CEO Giles Sirett said, “We are passionate about cycling at Octavia and believe that this new scheme is win-win situation. It helps us to keep fit, cut costs and improve customer service while reducing carbon emissions and road traffic.”

He continued, “We carry out around 100 business journeys a week across London and like everybody were frustrated with the amount of time we wasted in travelling across the Capital. As most of our journeys are under 30 minutes long the cycle scheme is proving to be a very inexpensive and fast way of getting to our customers.”

Although the directors at Octavia are all keen cyclists, this was a decision taken primarily by the company’s staff, as Giles explained. “We have a docking station located right outside our office and our employees had been talking about it for some time. We polled the staff to see if they would be interested in using this service instead of public transport and over half said they would. We are now aiming to complete between 40-50% of our London journeys by cycle by the end of this year.”

As an IT services company, Octavia’s customers are dependent on them to keep their critical IT Systems operational. So when something does go wrong it is vital that Octavia’s  engineers can quickly get to the customer’s site to get them back up and running, preventing costly downtime. “For the City and West End we can now virtually guarantee that we will have someone onsite within 30 minutes using the cycle hire scheme,” said Giles. “Before, how long it took us to get there was dependent on the vagaries of public transport and congested roads. Now these factors don’t matter as a bike is not affected by them.”

As well as ensuring that their engineers can be on a customer’s site quickly, the scheme will also help save Octavia money. “We estimate that we will be saving between 20% and 25% on our travel costs annually as a result of our staff using the scheme,” concluded Giles. “I am really pleased with the results and I would urge other businesses that have to make frequent trips within London to consider the scheme as well. What I find appealing is that as a company that works with the latest technology, we are using one over 100 years old to improve our response times. It just goes to show that the latest thing isn’t always necessarily the best!”

Word 2010 hasn’t made many changes to things it does right.  The ribbon is staying largely the same as it was in Word 2007, which is certainly a relief for those who were already frustrated by the drastic changes made from Word 2003.  The functions you’ve used will still be in the same places.  If you’re still using the earlier version, now is a great time to upgrade, as at this point there have been significant improvements in functionality and layout.  You can now customise the ribbon if you’d like to access certain functions more readily than others, which should make your workday much smoother.

In addition, Word 2010 boasts the same collaborating features that the rest of the new Office suite enjoys.  In the case of documents, this generally allows both of you to type at the same time, with a handy chat window near the bottom for discussions about your work.  You can work together without having to be in the same location, so it’s ideal for companies with employees that frequently travel or work from home but might still need to give input on important documents.  If you’re collaborating in the office and run SharePoint Foundation 2010, you’ll be able to use this functionality even if you’re behind a firewall, and you’ll even be able to run a voice call through just the software.  Non-business users can use the free Windows Live service to chat and collaborate with others.

It’s also even easier these days to recover documents you accidentally closed without saving.  You can recover different versions of documents, even if you told Word not to save them.  This is done through Microsoft Word’s new backstage view, which is a new way to organise all of your file management in one place; it replaces the more traditional File menu and represents the largest change in versions.  They have also made it easier to browse and search through your document with new tools redesigned specifically for this purpose.

Microsoft Word 2010 also has new, more sophisticated image editing features that not only allow you to edit imported pictures but to create formatting effects on text and shapes created directly in Word.  Create professional looking headers and shapes by adding shadows, glows, reflections, gradients, and bevels directly to text.  It’s also easier than ever to create themes, so you’ll be able to maintain a branded presence across all of your platforms.  As with PowerPoint, you can also edit images directly in the document, making your experience more seamless than ever.

With offices worldwide switching to the newest version of Microsoft Office 2010, it’s important to learn what’s different before you choose to invest in the switch.  The new version is most recommended for those still using Windows Office 2003, as the updated functionality will become essential in the years to come.

Some of the most exciting new options presented in this version of PowerPoint are the image editing features.  When your image is projected onto a huge screen, you want to make sure it looks its best.  Previously, you would probably have had to use a different program to get it to look just right.  Microsoft doesn’t want you to have to switch any longer and have built surprisingly robust photo editing tools into this version of PowerPoint (as well as into the rest of the 2010 Office suite).  You’re able to crop, change colour saturation, temperature, brightness, and contrast, and apply a host of artistic filters like paintbrush, watercolour, and mosaic.  You can even remove unsightly backgrounds, focusing on the part of the picture you need the most.

Even more helpful for business users is the ability to collaborate real-time on presentations with colleagues near and far.  You won’t find that you’re locked out of a presentation because someone else is working on it.  Instead, you’re able to see their changes in real-time and can start a conversation right in the window, so you can work together without extra steps or hindrances.

Video is a huge focus these days in the professional world.  Rather than switching between programs to display your video and the slides relating to it, you can now embed and even edit videos right inside PowerPoint.  You’re also consistently linked into the web, so the minute you’ve given your presentation at a conference, you can share its URL worldwide at the click of a button.  Even if your audience doesn’t have PowerPoint installed, they’ll be able to see your slides.  And if you really want them to feel like they were there, you can turn your presentation into a video and share it through any video site you like.

PowerPoint has also had a few smaller changes to the way it normally works.  There are a few new slide transitions and animated effects that replace and add to the existing, somewhat old-fashioned options.  Microsoft has also changed the “ribbon” navigation bar slightly to make things a little bit easier to look at and find, with a new feature called “backstage view” where you can share, save, print, and publish presentations easily.  You will also be able to open multiple presentations in different windows – so if you need to tweak two at once, you can even have them open in two different monitors for ultimate ease of use.

From a business perspective, Microsoft Office is one of the most valuable and most important productivity suites available.  It’s virtually a requirement.  With these upgrades, PowerPoint is certainly going to get better, and we’re already looking forward to viewing some of the amazing slideshows that will result from the improvements.

1. Pick a relevant domain.  First of all, try and find a name that’s as close to your business’s name as possible.  This will help you show up in search results and, as a bonus, is easy for your future customers to remember and return to.  Your domain address should end in a .com if you are aiming your business internationally.  If you’re sticking to the UK, a .co.uk address will serve you better.  By all means purchase other domain extensions, so wayward searchers can still find you, but redirect them to your main address.  A .com or .co.uk address will indicate that you are a genuine and authoritative web site.  Sometimes, a .org can carry similar prestige, but those are generally more suitable for non-profit organisations.
2. Choose a qualified designer to put together the site. You may want to use a freely available, mainstream tool to manage the back-end, like Joomla or Wordpress for a blog, but it’s important to have a modern, sophisticated design to maintain your professional appearance and tie in with your overall brand.  Keep in mind that you’ll want to maintain your brand’s image across the web, so ensure your chosen brand logo is easily adaptable and resizable across the web.
3. Set up your social presence across the internet.  Claim or set up your business listings on Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, and Bing Maps.  Take advantage of review services such as Yelp and ask frequent customers to write reviews for you.  If your business warrants it, set up social media profiles with your name and branding.  Even if you are unsure of your strategy going forward, it is well worth claiming your business’s name on Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare (if you have a physical shop).  That way, whenever the need arises for you to make use of the services, they are already set up and ready to go. It’s always best to ensure that your name is represented by you and you alone to maintain the integrity of your brand and the consistency of your appearance everywhere.

It’s important as well to have reputable IT support in order to manage your servers.  Once you’ve gone to all the trouble and expense of designing, building, and setting live a new website, the last thing you want to happen is for it to go down.  Talk to your IT support team or outsourced IT support company about the requirements your new site may have and the servers you’ll need to ensure it stays up at all times.

You’ll have a number of considerations for setting up an office.  By far the most important question to ask yourself is how many employees you plan on hiring and whether or not your business is the type that will expand massively over the following years.  You’ll need to estimate your data usage, storage, and internet requirements so you can determine what type of server you need and what type of broadband you should sign up for.

You’ll also need to make a choice about your phone system.  Do you have a traditional PBX system in mind?  If so, you’ll need to determine how expensive it will be to buy or rent the equipment and handsets as well as working out how much it would be to add on extra extensions in case you need them in the future.  If you choose a VoIP system, you’ll likely have to ensure you have the best quality broadband for your area, though it will probably be cheaper overall.

On top of this, you’ll also need to purchase all of your hardware for all employees, install operating systems and necessary software, and customise each PC to fit each role.  Obviously, you as founder would not actually do this; you’d hire a few IT experts to do it.  Instead of reaching out to whoever is available and changing things in the future, why not consider your IT support more carefully from the beginning?

If you provide us with your plan for your business, we can plan your IT needs from top to bottom, not only making suggestions for your infrastructure but implementing them and setting them up from start to finish.  We’ll make the start easier for new businesses and a move easier for businesses looking to expand.  Don’t try and suffer through it on your own; contact us for a quote today.

Peace of mind is not the least of these factors and is incredibly important to consider.  With outsourced IT support, you’ll never have to worry about your own virus protection or server hosting.  You’ll never stress about crashes or emergencies that your company can’t deal with.  Most businesses who suffer lengthy outages will lose substantial amounts of money and in many cases, will even be forced to file for bankruptcy.  With carefully chosen IT support, that worry should never cross your mind.  You’ll be able to relax and do your job, not babysit or wait on your in-house IT department.

Whenever you need an upgrade, you won’t have to stress about who can implement it or what are the likely consequences of that upgrade.  Switching your entire office to Windows 7 becomes a simple task with no extra effort on your part.  Going from a traditional PBX phone system to a business VoIP phone system is ridiculously simple and will hardly impact your workday while drastically improving costs.  Customised software to help you effectively and efficiently manage your business is just another possibility that can truly enhance everything you do.

When you need your employees to do something new with their computers, or even if many of them need a brush-up on certain skills, training is easy.  Your IT support company will take up the slack and there will be an expert ready and willing to train your staff in all the skills that they need.  You’ll know that your IT support will always talk with you in ordinary language, so you can understand what’s necessary for you to do and what you’ll need to learn next.

Since your IT support will always be ready to advise you on the latest big changes in technology, you’ll never feel behind the curve.  Your employees won’t be the ones stuck using an operating system that is already two generations old and full of bugs – they’ll be using the latest and greatest available software to help them enhance their productivity levels and grow your business.  With these tools, you’ll be well on your way to becoming the best in the field with the greatest ability to adapt to market trends and collaborate on essential products.

Plus, your servers and your data will all be completely secure; it will certainly be safer than you could have managed yourself, with round the clock guards, temperature control, and barbed wire fences.  Most people can’t manage that around their office buildings, especially the kind of small business that most often needs an IT support company; you’ll find many of them in enclosed city centres or in London, where we’re based.  Worries about server melt-downs or corruptions will be a thing of the past and a full backup will be available for you whenever you need it.

If you’re a small business and you want the peace of mind that goes along with outsourcing your IT support, contact us today for a quote.

1. Ensure all PCs on the network are equipped with effective and regularly updated anti-virus programs with real-time protection, so they’ll find viruses before the rest of the network can be affected. Your IT support company should take care of this for you, but the maintenance may be down to each individual user of the PCs.
2. Refrain from clicking on unknown or suspicious links, especially when found in email or on social networking sites.  If you don’t know the sender in any way, never click on a link in an attachment to an email.  Similarly, if a link on a social networking site or in an instant messaging program seems suspiciously unlike a particular friend, avoid it at all costs.  The most intelligent people fall prey to this simple tactic, so it’s essential to be vigilant.
3. Never installed bootlegged software, especially not if you’ve downloaded it from the internet. You may think that you’re cutting costs by avoiding paying for a license, but you’ll often be voluntarily infecting your PC with malware which is extremely difficult to remove, even after you’ve uninstalled the original program. You could suffer far harsher consequences if your software abuse gets out anyway, so it’s best to pay for an extra license and avoid both malware and lawsuits.
4. Make sensible browser choices.  Do not continue using Internet Explorer 6 or 7 because they contain vulnerabilities which Microsoft is notoriously slow to fix.  That means when a hole is found by a hacker, they can freely exploit it and Microsoft may not be able to solve the problem until after your PC has already been infected.  In general, Microsoft browsers are less secure than other choices though Internet Explorer 8 has closed a number of holes and introduced security features that are still lacking in other browsers.  If you want websites to work as they’re intended, however, IE8 is probably not the right choice, as it breaks a number of sites with its different compliance rules.
5. Install all important updates to Windows.  Updates usually include important fixes and patch up security holes that have been exposed by hackers.  They can also add new features which will enhance your every day work life.  If you’re unsure about an update, feel free to ask your IT support company whether or not it’s necessary for your business, but most security updates in particular should be installed shortly after their release.