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Healthcare workers are stressed. Physicians have burnout and the highest suicide rate among the traditional professions. Nurses somehow soldier through it all, but everyone in healthcare who provides support to physicians and nurses feels the stress.

A few innovations, like medical scribes, have eased the burden a bit and let physicians focus more on the patient and less on the EHR. Though this is helpful, the entire healthcare industry needs a boost into the 21^st century. The obvious solution is better for EHR systems.

What if EHRs were intelligent enough to record everything and populate the records automatically?

That day is not far off. Speech recognition is advancing by leaps and bounds. All the physician would have to do is correctly pronounce the name of the field, then begin speaking about the patient and their visit.

Of course, the EHR will require review before it’s final, but the burden of data entry would be greatly reduced. EHR records have some of this functionality already; they can search for diagnosis codes via voice, for example.

However, the developing abilities of AI and other technologies are good enough that we can now ask how they can be used to improve communications between staff members—and between staff and patients.

What Are Some Communication Problems?

The biggest, and potentially the most critical problem is getting information back and forth between nurses and doctors. This is still often done by pager, which is a technology first developed in the 1950s.

With a pager system, if the physician does not respond, the nurse has no way of knowing if the doctor got the message. This increases tension and will prompt more pages to the physician, which will increase frustration on both ends. A smartphone with voicemail (and automatic transcription of voicemail messages) avoids the problem and does not require the physician to answer.

The same logic applies to communications with patients. Many health systems are now using patient portals that allow email between the care team and patients. Yes, health systems need to drive office visits, but requiring an office visit for everything would swamp any practice. Like so much of health care, the division between what is charged for and what is not rests on old traditions that barely acknowledge what technology can do. So far, bundled payments are the only option that makes sense and allow the health system to decide how to obtain revenue.

What Really Counts?

Research on communication has shown that there are five important aspects of healthcare systems:

1. All communication should be two-way, with acknowledgment of receipt at both ends.
2. Communications technologies should be as simple as possible. The tech should not get in the way of the message.
3. Communications technologies should foster and automate to the extent possible, collaboration among the healthcare team.
4. Communications technologies should be designed to make mobilizing the right resources at the right time easy.
5. Support has to be ongoing. 24/7/365 tech support is essential. Redundancy and automatic failovers when systems falter is essential.

What’s The Future?

McKinsey, the world-renowned consulting firm, thinks that we are in a “quiet period” in AI development when things being perfected now in labs will burst on the scene in five years or so and produce dramatic and disruptive changes. One of the areas of high interest is “virtual agents,” software entities that can play the role of humans.

The key difference here is that AI virtual agents have improved a great deal. They’re no longer static programs that answer calls and ask us to press “one” or press “three” if we want to hear everything in Spanish. They can learn from their own operations and become better and better over time.

Right now, Amazon offers tools for building “skills” into its Alexa products. AI-enabled virtual agents can learn to run a healthcare organization. Gartner, a consulting firm, estimates that by 2022 it will be possible to reduce the “toil” components of nursing by 50%, freeing up time for patient care instead of administrative duties. One has only to be a patient and watch the nurses and support staff see that this is probably optimistic. Healthcare organizations are still pretty much at the start of the learning curve.

What Are The Barriers To Change?

Healthcare organizations are legitimately concerned about several factors related to data and its use:

• Privacy
• Security
• Errors in data
• Errors in analytic results due to outdated or just wrong data
• Compliance

Conclusion

Privacy and security worries can be greatly reduced by moving data to the cloud, using either the public cloud, private cloud, or a hybrid cloud. Regardless of which is used, security will be greatly enhanced, and privacy risks reduced.

Errors in data can be handled by error-checking software, but the price paid for that is “alarm fatigue.” This is an area that is ripe for AI. An AI can learn the practice patterns and idiosyncrasies of the entire staff, knowing that an error for Dr. Jones is not an error for Dr. Smith, who likes off-label uses of drugs.

Alarms can quickly be reduced and accuracy improved. This inherent capacity to adapt to the wide variations in practice in health care organizations is one of the great strengths of AI and can be a major selling point for pushing adoption of the technology. And this, too, represents improved communication.

New grants from Health and Human Services are aimed at boosting the health information technology for smaller hospitals.

The United States Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is awarding $125 million in grants to community health centers to, among other functions, improve their use of health IT in primary care.

Healthcare By The Numbers

Community Health Centers (CHC), usually invisible to those with private insurance or Medicare, provide basic health care to one in twelve US residents. For certain populations, the percentage is far higher – one in three people in poverty, one in five rural residents, and one in seven children 17 or younger. There are 1,400 CHCs in the US, which together operate more than 11,000 point-of-care sites and serve 27 million Americans. 1.4 million of those served are homeless, while 355,000 are veterans.

The quality of care provided in CHCs is demonstrably good. 67% of diabetics treated at community health centers achieved a glycosylated hemoglobin (A1C) level of 9% or less, compared with 57% of patients overall. 63% of those treated for high blood pressure achieved control, compared with 56 percent of patients overall. 90 percent of CHCs provide mental health care. 70% provide addiction treatment, including medication-assisted treatment.

Coordinated delivery of primary care services by CHCs is cost-effective. Overall, their cost per patient is 24 percent less than for patients overall. Their patients have 25 percent lower admissions than the overall population and, when admitted, have 27 percent lower costs. With healthcare costs rising at alarming rates, this is a pretty big deal.

The CHC patient population faces the challenges of poverty, locations distant from care sources such as tertiary care centers, possible disability, obesity, homelessness, and substance abuse. It is a challenging population to treat. The use of electronic health records (EHRs) helps with continuity of care and avoidance of unnecessary and duplicative testing and prescribing, driving service costs even lower.

Healthcare Services Available For Everyone

CHCs serve all comers. Even in Massachusetts, which has achieved rates of insurance coverage as high as 97% after the start of MassHealth (which was one of the inspirations for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), 36% of those seeking family planning services at CHCs in Massachusetts were uninsured. (Of course, if the patient has insurance, the CHC bills it.)

CHCs have demonstrated a positive impact on mortality. After the start of the CHC program in 1965, mortality among those over 50 fell by between 7 and 13 percent. This reduction is between 20 and 40 percent of the poor/non-poor morality gap, even when the simultaneous start of the Medicare program is considered. Why would a drop of this magnitude be seen in a population that was, courtesy of Medicare, suddenly insured? Part of the answer lies in the fact that CHCs penetrated rural areas where primary care had simply not been accessible before they arrived.

Targeting Major Health Risk Groups

One of the major health issues for the CHC population is smoking Although smoking has fallen to 16% of US adults, rural and poverty populations – the population largely served by CHCs – remains high. Use of EHRs to target smokers for intervention by CHCs has been effective. A study in New York City, where 18.9% of those with Medicaid were smokers, found that using EHRs to flag smokers for intervention by their primary care providers increased the number of interventions from 27% to 54%. The residual question is why, if all smokers were flagged and providers were notified to provide interventions, only slightly more than half responded.

The rates of smoking varied widely among the 19 CHCs involved, ranging from a low of 19% to 75%. The CHCs were paid an additional $20 for visits with an intervention documented in the EHR. Perhaps this payment was just too low to function as an incentive. One of the fruitful areas for research is how much pay is needed to produce improvement in provider performance in pay-for-performance programs.

Alternatives To Opioids

The experience in New York City with smoking interventions can serve as a model for other campaigns: obviously, opioid use is low-hanging fruit. Interventions using EHRs can be devised for providers to review the care of their patients with chronic pain and consider modalities other than opioids. These options might include drugs like gabapentinoids, physical therapy, and injections by a pain management specialist. Alcohol use is another target. So is obesity. Alcohol abuse accounts for 88,000 deaths per year and up to $224 billion in economic costs. The cost of obesity is estimated at $190.2 billion in health care expenditures alone – around 21% of annual medical spending. The CHC population is a ripe target for obesity-related interventions.

Conclusion

Increasing penetration of EHRs in CHCs and the use of EHRs to target interventions for the challenges the patient population of CHCs face is a potentially productive area. It will serve to demonstrate the power of electronic health information to improve both individual and public health, saving the nation billions in the process. This should also help Americans improve their overall health.

Gone are the days of hanging out a shingle and waiting for clients. With the advent of the Internet, lawyers only advertise in the yellow pages if they want to. Nearly everyone goes to their computer—or another digital device—when they are searching for anything. Looking for an attorney is no different.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), marketing has never been easier, or more complex. Just as soon as one becomes acquainted with Google’s algorithm, it changes. Aside from paying an online marketing website like LawLytics, what can you do? Fortunately, there are clear guidelines to what works and what does not, if you know where to look.

Which SEO Actions Are Generally Unsuccessful?

When online marketing, or any marketing for that matter, has been attempted and failed, it is easy to wonder, “why?”. Unfortunately, the answer is seldom clear. If you knew what you were doing wrong, you most likely would not be doing it.

One aspect that could be causing the SEO marketing strategy to flounder is if the wrong “expert” has been hired. This could mean that he or she is not qualified for the job. Perhaps their skills or experience-level were misrepresented. Maybe their expertise is in a field other than SEO for law offices. They may be using outdated techniques, breaking search engine guidelines, or even outsourcing their work.

Although this may improve their bottom line, it does nothing to forward your practice. A few of the other reasons your SEO may not be working include the following:

• Buying AdWords (pay-per-click)
• Distributing unwarranted press-releases
• Fabricating or embellishing performance reports
• You have not devoted enough time to learning proven SEO strategies
• Paying for guest blogs or links on prestigious legal publications
• Reusing content, whether yours or someone else’s
• Using a “one-size-fits-all” or and “SEO for Dummies” approach

Perhaps, your SEO efforts were paying off and suddenly, you discover your online presence has disappeared. Alternatively, your marketing strategies may have been working and then merely stopped. Often this is because of the nature of SEO and Google. In other words, Google’s algorithm has been updated and what used to work, no longer does.

What Are Easy, Successful SEO Actions?

There are several steps that a law firm can take that are easy and effective. Most of them require very little time out of your busy day. In fact, a few only need to be done once to reap the benefits.

First, make sure that your local directory listings are correct. Go to Google My Business and claim ownership of your business. Then, go to “duplicate locations” and remove any copies of your business to avoid confusing prospective clients. Do the same on YELP, etc. This makes it easier for people to find you.

Next, request and post positive online reviews. This helps you maintain existing clients and convert potential ones. It is important to manage this strategy yourself. To use powerful, SEO-friendly words, someone without a legal background may inadvertently alter the meaning. This could not only reflect poorly on your business, but may also cause trouble with Google.

Finally, you want to cultivate a proactive social media presence. This is intended to support your law firm’s high-quality website, which is the official introduction to the company. Having accounts set up in Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter allow you to interact with potential clients. It also provides free advertising.

How Long Does It Take to See SEO Benefits?

How quickly SEO works depends on quite a few elements. Additionally, following a good SEO strategy to the letter does not guarantee success. It does, however, drastically improve one’s chances. The time it takes for a firm to see SEO benefits depends on the following:

• The amount, quality, and uniqueness of website and social media content
• The formatting of the website and social media pages
• The size of the market
• The size of the niche clientele

Another aspect that negatively affects how quickly SEO works is how complicated the website is. Generally, if the design of the website has a fancy design, it detracts from the message. Complex images and fonts make navigating the website difficult. This drives people off the website and to other more straightforward options.

What Should a Law Firm Ask Before Hiring an SEO Company?

For more complex marketing strategies, many law firms choose to hire outside experts. Unfortunately, the SEO field is rife with charlatans exaggerating their skills and experience.

Before beginning the search, Google suggests reading Webmaster Guidelines. Then, ask prospective companies the following questions:

• How long have you been in business?
• Do you have an office, or do you work from home?
• How many full-time employees do you have?
• Do you outsource any of the work?
• Do you follow Google’s Webmaster Guidelines?
• What is your legal background?
• Do you understand legal ethics?

Follow up on any answer that sounds suspicious, or discard the notion of working with that company right away. Lastly, ask them for a full list of everything they intend to do or provide to your firm. They should know their business well enough to supply you with a detailed outline of a strategy tailored for your company.

In Conclusion

There are many ways of using SEO attracts clients. You can easily do the basic steps yourself. For a more comprehensive strategy, an all-in-one website system for lawyers, such as LawLytics, can be helpful. It uses cutting-edge practices and SEO-friendly pages to communicate with search engines. It showcases attorney bios, testimonials, and case results. This enables lawyers to spend their free time polishing content, and less time stressing about strategy.

Earlier this year, Intel introduced their new 8th Gen Intel Core vPro processors. Marketed as the way to help businesses of all shapes and sizes make the digital transformation, Intel compels customers to “Leave Inefficiency Behind.” With the new upgrade, Intel boasts that it will optimize productivity with Windows 10, help guard company assets, and also manage company costs.

With more than 100 new 8th Gen Intel Core processor-based business PC designs to choose from, Intel believes this upgrade will revolutionize computing. Both consumers and businesses today want and need to work faster with fewer problems, and the new processor will deliver that and more.

What Exactly Is So Great About the 8^th Gen Intel Core Processor?

One would expect the new generation of Intel CPUs to be markedly faster than the Intel Core 7 processor. According to most reviews, the performance gap between the newest, 8th Gen “Kaby Lake Refresh” chips and the old 7th Gen “Kaby Lake” can be experienced from the time the user pushes the power button.

Intel doubled the number of cores from two to four, increased the clock speed and optimized video capabilities. This upgrade results in (depending on what task the user is performing) up to 90 percent faster. Let’s look at a breakdown of the 8^th Gen Core by various tasks.

Synthetic Testing

Synthetic testing is a method of comprehending a user’s experiences with a software application by forecasting its behavior. According to Geekbench 4, a scoring system that separates single-core and multi-core performance and measures GPU performance in areas such as image processing and computer vision, the 8^th Gen Core is vastly improved. Comparing the differences between a 7th Gen Core i7-7500U and an 8th Gen Core i7-8550U processor, Geekbench 4 indicated a 60 to 90 percent improvement, depending on the laptop device.

Spreadsheet Testing

Testing large spreadsheets with Excel, the 8th Gen Core showed it is worth the upgrade. When running a macro that matches 65,000 names with their addresses, most 7th Gen-powered processors finished between 2 and 3 minutes. The 8th Gen finished the same task between 1:08 and 1:32, depending on the laptop. The spreadsheet test showed a 55 to 70 percent jump.

Single-threaded app results were not as remarkable. When running a macro that matched 20,000 names and addresses in OpenOffice Calc, using only a single thread, the 8th Gen Core was just around 10 to 11 percent faster than the 7th Gen models.

Graphics

Overall, laptops with 8th Gen Core processors demonstrated improved performance in the graphics department. The integrated GPUs are still not good enough for playing top-end games though. Not as easy to assess, most test scores are showing an improvement ranging from 17 to 39 percent, contingent on the device and app used.

App Loading

The 8th Gen Core processor will cause your apps to load faster as well. Varying on the device and the app, most test results showed a 50 to 55 percent jump over the 7th Gen processor.

Video Transcoding

Probably where the 8th Gen processors score improved the most is seen in transcoding film clips. The 7th Gen-powered processor took an average of 30 minutes to contract a 4K video down to 1080p resolution, using the transcoding tool, Handbrake. When using the 8th Gen Core processor, the same task was completed in just 19:37 minutes. Being profoundly optimized for video, the 8th Gen shows a 53-percent improvement. This will no doubt be a big bonus for users who enjoy streaming videos.

Summary

The performance advantages of 8th Gen Core processors differ by the task and device. That said, it shows a marked improvement especially when working on multi-threaded assignments. Businesses and consumers who need to improve their work experience should definitely consider upgrading to a model with the 8th Gen Core processor. The user experience will be greatly enhanced and you can get important tasks completed faster.

As with all big breakthroughs in computing and Information Technology, the price will be higher right after the new processor hits the market. Within a few years, prices should level off so that the laptops sporting the 8^th Gen Core processor are more affordable.

Depending on your budget, here are some devices you might consider purchasing:

• Lenovo ThinkPad X280 – 12.5″ – Core i5 8250U – 8 GB RAM – 128 GB SSD
• Dell Latitude 5591 – 15.6″ – Core i5 8400H – 8 GB RAM – 256 GB SSD
• Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga – 14″ – Core i5 8250U – 8 GB RAM – 256 GB SSD
• HP EliteBook 1050 G1 – 15.6″ – Core i5 8300H – 8 GB RAM – 256 GB SSD – US
• HP ZBook 17 G5 Mobile Workstation – 17.3″ – Core i7 8750H – 16 GB RAM – 512 GB SSD – US
• Acer Aspire 5 Laptop – A515-51-89UP
• Acer Spin 5 Laptop – SP513-52N-85DC

How Do We Choose An IT Service Provider?

10 Critical Things To Look For

If your IT company doesn’t return your phone calls, their prices are too high, or they run in to “fix” things only to run out before you find what was done, you need to choose another IT Service Provider.

But what should you look for?

With the rapid changes in technology, how are you supposed to know which IT company is best for your business needs?

We’ll tell you here…

Have you ever heard the term Managed Service Provider (MSP)?

It’s important that your IT company is and MSP… meaning that they provide what’s called Managed IT Services.

What Are Managed IT Services?

Managed IT Services allow you to offload all of your IT services and solutions to a service provider (an MSP). Your MSP assumes all the responsibility for 24-hour monitoring and maintenance of your IT system.

Why Is Using An MSP So Important?

Using Managed IT Services is critical to the success of small to mid-sized businesses today. Most don’t have the resources to hire a team of tech experts and keep them on-call 24/7.

Your Managed Service Provider will act as your outsourced IT department. It’s a much more affordable way to access the comprehensive IT systems that larger business enjoy.

This also ensures that your technology and data will always be accessible, reliable and secure.

And, with the services your MSP provides, your company will be set up to better compete against other businesses like yours.

Sounds like a dream come true, right?

But… you must find the right IT MSP company for your organization.

Which brings me to the main topic here…

What Should You Look For In A Managed IT Service Provider?

Not all IT companies are the same…

Here are 10 things to look for…

Make sure that your IT Service Provider:

1. Responds quickly to your calls. Every company has different processes, and response times vary. Ask for their guaranteed response times:

• How long does it take for them to respond?
• How fast are issues typically resolved?
• How long will it take if you require onsite support?

Make sure they back up their answers with facts and metrics.

2. Is an IT Advisor and not just a repair service. Look for a subject matter expert in the industry you serve. If you run a healthcare practice, make sure they are versed in EHRs, HIPAA and practice management software.

Look for an MSP who can act as a consultant and craft a customized solution to meet your unique requirements. They should explain everything they do in plain language that you and your employees can understand, and how it will impact your business operations.

3. Offers access to a team of highly trained and experienced technicians who provide on-call service 24/7/365. They should ensure that your IT infrastructure is available when and where you need it…And that you have access to specialists who can ensure you are following IT best practices.

4. Provides a guaranteed Service Level Agreement. They should monitor your network 24 hours a day to act on any issues before they cause IT interruptions or downtime that can disrupt your staff’s productivity.

5. Helps you budget for the IT services you require. A good IT service provider will offer services that you can predictably budget for, and solutions that you can write off as operating expenses rather than capital ones. Your MSP should offer a customized package of services for a fixed monthly fee that you can count on.

6. Ensures that you’ll have a highly secure IT environment so you won’t have to worry about viruses, malware, and hackers stealing your confidential data. They should use best-of-breed technologies that block data intrusions and eliminate them before they enter your network. They should also help you maintain IT security compliance for industry and government regulations.

7. Sets up Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Solutions with both onsite and offsite cloud backups to ensure you can always access your IT even if your office is closed due to a storm or other disaster. Plus they should provide continuous backups and testing to ensure your data is easily recoverable.

8. Ensures that proactive support is ongoing so you can have the peace of mind that your IT network will run as it should. This way you can focus on your core competencies rather than worry about technology issues.

9. Offers many different services and solutions you can choose from. This includes things like hosted cloud services, VoIP business phones, mobile device management, wireless services, virtual CIO services and more. Only with a variety of services can they provide the customized information technology solutions that best fit your needs.

10. Makes your success their priority. They must get to know your business and your goals. How can you tell if they’ll do this? Ask them about their clients and the success rate they experienced by using the services they provide. Any company that’s provided success for their customers will gladly be willing to share their stories and references.

There’s no doubt that finding the right IT Service Provider can be a daunting task. But armed with this information you should be able to find the right fit for your business.

As software and digital applications (Apps) continue to be developed, Internet Technology (IT) is embraced by a variety of fields that have hitherto ignored it. In law firms across the country, the old ways have been honored as traditional, respectable, and perhaps even better than modern methods. Increasingly, IT has caught up.

Digital platforms make communication and collaboration easier than ever. Accounting and billing take less time. Calendars and documents are efficiently recorded and filed. They are also easily retrieved. Sometimes, choosing the right system for your law practice is the most difficult part. Presented alphabetically, not in order of rating, here are eight of the top legal apps available in 2018.

Actionstep

In addition to law firms, Actionstep is suitable for use in government and corporate legal teams, as well as investigations and compliance groups. It boasts features that assist firms in running every aspect of the business.

The built-in workflow engine, however, enables firms to automate documents, emails, and other processes. This creates a more efficient business. Although it is reputedly the most complicated element of the software, it is the one that makes the $60 dollar a month fee worthwhile. Fortunately, there is a free trial and a free demo that attorneys can enjoy before committing.

Bill4Time

Offering flexible integration with existing management products, Bill4Time accurately tracks time anywhere from any device. The billing and invoicing features include the following:

• Billing portal
• Contact database
• Contingency billing
• Customizable invoices
• Hourly billing
• Online invoicing and payments
• Payment processing
• Tax calculations

This app offers a free 14-day trial before committing. It is ideal for companies that prefer the versatility of both cloud and mobile access.

CASEPeer

CASEpeer is case-management software designed primarily for Personal Injury Attorneys. It features campaign tracking, customizable case plans, case organization, and task management. Additionally, it provides superior document management, intake management, an integrated calendar, letter generator, as well as litigation and settlement tools. It also keeps track of data points.

A little more expensive at $55 dollars per month, CASEPeer also offers a free demo and online support.

Clio

This software provides a variety of intuitive functions. Its billing features include account tracking, document management, and expenditure tracking. It offers case and client history and management, as well as conflict resolution. Clio also boasts document indexing, archiving, and retention.

Since it is cloud-based, attorneys are able to work on their cases anywhere. The monthly rate is $39 dollars, and Clio even offers a free seven-day trial or demonstration.

Law Ruler Software

Popular with law firms of all sizes, Law Ruler focuses on the case and client history and management. Some of its unique features include:

• Automated phone dialer
• Drip marketing
• Easy-to-use reporting
• One-click “send referral” feature
• Order medical records
• Send text E-signs
• A drag-and-drop editor that helps firms build an unlimited amount of intake and case forms

Taking advantage of the free trial allows attorneys to test Law Ruler to see if it is a fit for their firm.

MyCase

Ideal for small law firms, MyCase offers easy-to-use management software. Among other things, this software features a secure client communication portal. It also provides assistance with billable and non-billable hours, mobile time tracking, case management, document management, task management, and court records searches.

It accounts for multiple billing rates and has a simple calendar management system, complete with programmable reminders. MyCase offers monthly and annually-billed rates.

Practice Panther Legal Software

For a low rate of $39 dollars per month, Practice Panther Legal Software manages the billing and invoicing. It handles the case and client management and history of solo practitioners, as well as small and medium-sized firms.

Other aspects Practice Panther manages include the following:

• Calendar
• Contacts
• Contracts
• Documents
• Email messages
• Records
• Tasks
• Time tracking

This software also provides a client portal. It offers online support and a free demo, as well.

Zola Suite

With an intuitive and fast interface, Zola integrates with LawPay, Quickbooks, and RPost. It is cloud-based, but is also accessible through native iOS and Android Apps. Although it offers most of the features that other products supply, this software boasts its built-in email and robust business and trust accounting aspects. These include accrual accounting, activity tracking, asset gain and loss reporting, check writing, cross ledger posting, and tax management.

Zola is a bit pricier at $49 dollars per month for attorneys and $58 dollars per month for support staff. It does, however offer a free trial.

In Conclusion

Choosing the right software for your law firm does not have to be complicated. Begin by determining what features would streamline your process the most. Decide on a reasonable budget. Select from the top legal apps that meet your criteria and price point. Then, take advantage of the free trials and demos of each product. This way, you can invest your time and money in the technology that will provide the most benefit for your firm.

 

In today’s business world, it’s important for companies to stay ahead of the trends when it comes to the latest in tools for productivity. Office suites like Microsoft’s Office 365 have become popular among organizations hoping for more effective performance and communication.

With Office 365’s subscription plans, users gain access to the full list of Office apps such as Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher,  and Access, plus so much more.

There are endless benefits associated with Office 365 subscriptions, from the convenient communication tools, to productivity apps intended to help users make the most of their workdays. These apps are updated monthly, so you can be sure you have access to the latest features and security updates available.

Here we’ll explore why a growing number of businesses are turning to Office 365 for their business needs.

Is It Convenient And Accessible?

One major benefit of Office 365 is its accessibility. Installing Office 365 across multiple devices ensures your work goes with you, wherever that may be. Whether you’re browsing from your office computer or mobile phone at home, you can be productive. What’s more, SharePoint makes for easy sharing between coworkers. For instance, if you edit a document from your computer at home, your colleague will be able to view that same file from their phone and see the most up-to-date version of the document.

Since these documents are accessible via the cloud, users are able to customize security settings to be as strict or as lenient as required. Whether you want your entire organization or just a few colleagues to gain access, SharePoint allows for a number of options to ensure proper security for your creative work.

Office 365 also makes it easier to locate content. In office settings, there are many players involved. Once upon a time, workers were forced to go on a wild goose hunt in search of files, which may or may not be stored across any number of employees’ email boxes. Office 365 SharePoint allows one single place to store important documents, photos and communications, so you can find important files when needed most.

Today’s businesses are also on the lookout to improve organizational productivity. Office 365’s Email and Calendar options offer ample mailbox storage, the ability to schedule meetings simply and quickly, and the ability to share your schedule and availability with coworkers and colleagues.

Does Office 365 Provide Enhanced Communication?

Effective communication among coworkers, teams, and departments is crucial for growth within a company. While methods like e-mail are sufficient, the benefits of instant communication can’t be denied. In addition to traditional Email, Office 365 Business provides access to Yammer, Skype for Business and Teams.

In a business landscape with an ever-increasing number of remote workers, effective communication is key, and when it comes to chatting, you’ve got options. Skype For Business is a unified communications platform offering instant messaging, video, and audio conferencing. Online meetings are simple and offer a range of other benefits.

You can immediately see your coworkers’ availability status, share a whiteboard to allow for brainstorming in real-time and share documents on-screen in real time. And with Office 365, management is intended to be easier than ever. From user creation and deletion, to managing passwords, user roles, security and distribution lists, the program’s management tools are built for success.

Does It Have a Chat or Meeting App?

Microsoft Teams is another useful feature found within the Office 365 suite. This takes teamwork to a new level, with the ability to chat, share files, and organize meetings. According to Microsoft, over 200,000 businesses across a total of 181 markets are using Teams to collaborate with their coworkers. Recently, the company has introduced a free version, which includes unlimited chat and searches, built-in audio and video calling, 10GB of team file storage, and numerous apps. With the Teams paid version, you’ll gain access to additional storage, and enterprise security, among other features. While Skype has long been the method of choice for communication on-the-go, many users find the Teams interface to be simpler and more effective for instant feedback from team members.

Microsoft Announces Lift On Device Limits

Eager to enhance the user experience for paid subscribers, Microsoft recently announced a major change to its current subscription service. Beginning October 2, Microsoft will lift its limits on device usage for Office 365 subscribers. While the previous limit allows for 10 devices, users can now utilize Office 365 on an unlimited number of devices.

Office 365 Makes An Impact on Business Growth

Office 365 is making an impact across thousands of businesses, and its benefits stretch far beyond Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint. Office 365 carries with it countless commands that can be of great value to individual users and businesses. If your organization is searching for a means of enhanced productivity and communication, consider all that Office 365 has to offer. It may be just the tool you’re looking for to help your team grow.

Independent schools have a prime opportunity to increase enrollment right now. Trust in government agencies is mixed to low, and the importance of individualism is trending upwards past even science in some areas. While that trend might give all educators a tight feeling in pro-vaccination chests, the crisis of identity is leading more families to look for non-public school options.

You’re going to have to look for solutions, because you are independent and not as “lucrative” to edtech companies. You will also have to get creative because you may not get the big breaks that a large district can (discounts for larger orders, for example).

Competition

On the flip side, there are more options now, too. For the last two decades public schools have had to compete not only with private and parochial schools, but as the newcomer.

Moreover, there’s been a jump in homeschooling. Homeschooling was once the last resort of the fringe religious sect. It was also utilized for incapacitated students unable to thrive in a normal school setting. Today, homeschooling is quite popular with many parents.

In a recent study reported in nheri.org, the growth of homeschooling looks like a threatening storm:

Graph originally from “Homeschooling Growing: Multiple Data Points Show Increase 2012 to 2016 and Later”
April 20, 2018 by Brian D. Ray, Ph.D.

With the push and pull between individual rights to choose how a child is educated and the state’s need to have well-educated, prepared future citizens, Independent schools have an opportunity. To not see the great opportunity growing out of the public’s distrust of the public school system would be a mistake. When developing a technology plan, competitiveness must be of the highest priority, just after efficacy.

Money/tuition

Obviously one of the biggest roadblocks in the era of stagnant wages and uncertain fiscal futures is the tuition barrier. As the gap between the haves and have-nots widens, independent schools must find ways to reach good students whose families can’t afford to pay out the usual tuition.

The evidence of this mistrust is clear in the rise of homeschool and online school students. The barriers to private or religious education may well only be financial. Charters and schools of choice have been a bit of a stop-gap but still have not solved the issues that parents wish to see resolved. If parents have an opportunity to get their kids into a school that they have chosen, many more would do so.

At the same time, since there is that cost issue, there is stiff competition for independent schools, as well as a leeriness of parents to trust a school that is not being monitored closely – if at all – by the government. Since the standards set up for public schools do not automatically apply to independent schools, some parents can feel wary of them, thinking that the teachers may not be as well-prepared to teach.

Along with that is the old idea of the stuffy private school a la School Ties or Dead Poets Society. The idea is that parents are somehow disloyal to their neighborhoods by not having their kids in public school. Although parents enrolling their children in religious schools ostensibly get a pass, as it is a religious matter in this case, there are still negative connotations to getting your kids into private school. As such, there are a mountain of obstacles that private schools must overcome in order to be appealing to the middle and upper class in America.

You must make yourselves competitive. Educational Technology can help, but only if it is planned wisely and thoughtfully and remains within your mission.

Accessibility

Even if you don’t think that your students need accessible websites, their parents, guardians, and other people invested in their well-being may. Someone may want to check the basketball schedule. A potential new family may want to learn more about your school. There are lots of benefits to having a great website that can be read and understood regardless of sightedness, hearing levels, or mobility.

Moreover, to not do something simply because as an independent school you are not required by law to make certain adjustments is admitting that you are willing to do the bare minimum to get by. Why would parents wish to pay out of pocket for the bare minimum? Doing the right thing here will sharpen your competitive edge. Plus, there are lots of stakeholders who need accessibility adjustments in order to read your website. It’s just good business sense.

Look for edtech that will:

• Streamline your accounting, assessment, reporting, marketing, communications, and other processes.
• Are single sign-ons so that students and employees can access all of their digital tools with a single password and username combination.
• Are relatively simple to use, learn, execute, update and (if necessary) install.
• Lean towards web-based, cloud based stuff, like Microsoft Office 365 for Education (which as an added bonus is FREE!).
• Look for free or low-cost stuff – there is so much of it.
• Research to see what others are doing with this. Places like EdShelf can help.

Questions to Ask

What do your teachers and staff think they need? Survey the troops so you can understand what’s happening on the ground plus get an idea of the time commitment that new technology training might entail.

Where is digitization CRUCIAL?

Do you need more actual space in the building? Are the paper reports that you’re using inefficient?

Is this a want or a need?

Learn to know the difference. One way to prioritize is to imagine what would happen if you didn’t upgrade or replace the technology that you currently have, or if you invested in the iPads. What happens next? Do things fall apart if you don’t improve your school’s network capabilities? Does literacy automatically improve when you buy tablets? This thought experiment also shows you what needs to accompany the new technology in order for it to be beneficial.

How does this fit in with our school’s overall mission?

Your mission is the heart and soul of your school and everything that you plan should grow out from that central philosophy. Don’t lose your identity in the rush to be competitive.

Always Remember

Empower and support educators. Don’t pick something too complicated or time-consuming to use. Also, allow some leeway. Maybe budget a bit of discretionary funding and allow departments to choose a few software programs that will be especially helpful for their area. You must remain a competitive employer, too, if you are going to be able to compete against large public districts with contracts, unions, better benefits, and higher pay.

Teachers are what make a school work properly. The best thing to do is have continuity from year-to-year by having the familiar faces of competent, happy teachers. Educators already burn out pretty quickly, but they leave independent schools more readily than public schools. Remember to treat them well and reflect on how new technology will affect them.

What is Hashcat?

Hashcat is a type of hacking tool, and a password cracker specifically. It was created to be able to hack the most complex of passwords, targeting multiple aspects of coding simultaneously. Additionally, according to online sources including Infosec Institute, it is regarded as being highly versatile and fast in comparison to other password hacking tools, making it especially threatening.

Hashcat is capable of reverse engineering information and converting readable information into scrambled coding, which is used to crack password representations. The program can use ‘brute force’ in direct cracking, apply preconfigured dictionaries, or use rainbow tables in user attempts to gain access to sensitive information.

What’s Been Happening in Current Events?

Hashcat can currently be used to obtain passwords through multiple processes, and can be downloaded online, alongside reader access to user-friendly guides explaining step-by-step how to use the program to bypass security features. Unfortunately, this extent of general accessibility is not uncommon for modern hacking tools, and it is therefore regarded as an added vulnerability. The program can be used on Kali Linux, a version of Linux with hundreds of unique information security tools.

The current version of the program is regarded as advanced with potential for further development. It can be run across the range of common operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and OSX, and is multi-hashed, multi-threaded, and multi-algorithm (including MySQL, DCC, MD4-5, and NTLM) based. Specialized rules can be used to extend the attack mode features, hackers can limit or resume sessions created, and the program recognizes hashes recovered from its out-file upon its startup.

An external file stores a list that can be used in force attacks, and users can configure the number of threads before executing them according to their lowest priority. The program supports hex-salt in addition to hex-charset files, and over 90 algorithms can currently be implemented in an attempt to optimize performance.

Online sources such as Help Net Security provide users with steps in using the programs for attacks. For example, Hashcat can be used to hack a user’s password through a dictionary attack by first creating a dictionary with MBD5 hashes, followed by a frame capture and file dumping for targeted information storage and future access. Only a single frame may be necessary for a successful hack. Unlike other approaches, the success of Hashcat in acquiring a pre-shared key (PSK) on average may involve only a hacker’s application of its features over the course of minutes or days, thereby making it more dangerous. The versatility and options of the program provide hackers with substantial potential.

As with other recent developments in hacking and successes in hacking approaches, Hashcat increases the demand for formal and effective security protocol development as has been done through WPA3 network security protocol. WPA3 has only recently been released in its earliest form, and provides an improvement over fundamental weaknesses in WPA2 security that Hashcat is able to exploit. Online sources including Security Affairs report that experts expect WPA3 protocol to have a major role in safeguarding against Hashcat potentials in the near future.

The Robust Secure Network Information Element (RSN IE) will be considered fundamental and important in ongoing security improvements. Hashcat is currently able to target this directly, rather than using a previous hacker approach of establishing connectivity through network port authentication protocol, and exploiting vulnerabilities in the Pairwise Master Key Identifier (PMKID). These PMKID vulnerabilities are targeted in WPA3 developments and other attempts to improve network safety on a less fundamental level.

The RSN was initially created to secure 802.11 wireless networks, being an element of the 802.11i standard, but broadcasts an internal message during attempts to establish channel communications that have been exploited. Hackers can thereby access WPA PSKs from the PMKID under the current design with common protections. New WPA3 employs a Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE) that is an improved protocol for modern key establishment, resulting in a system that is much harder to attack through current common processes.

What Has Been Happening in Research and Development?

In addition to WPA3, other attempts to improve security effectiveness and efficiency have targeted vulnerabilities exploited by Hashcat, although some efforts have involved benefits from its use.

The Fundamentals of Digital Forensics journal reported that forensic analysts have been able to make use of the program in recent data recovery efforts, as Hashcat has been used by forensics experts to decrypt certain files. Meanwhile, researchers at the Technical University of Denmark reported that the program’s foundational basis of a machine learning model serve as a reference point for both forensic decryption and improved security efforts.

What’s The Bottom Line?

Hashcat:

• Is among the most effective hacking programs developed to date
• Can be highly useful to digital forensic analysts and used for positive outcomes rather than hacking
• Can exploit WPA2 vulnerabilities
• Creates further demand for WPA3 implementation