Ulistic Projects Blog

Microsoft 365 and its suite of office productivity tools, has some new features for 2019. Microsoft 365, formerly Office 365, is the collection of business software for publishing, communication, mail, presentation, and accounting. The suite of programs including Microsoft Word, Excel, Publisher, Outlook, and PowerPoint have been designed to make work simpler and provide a way for greater collaboration and sharing to take place between internal and external work teams.

Many of these new features should be available to users in Q1 of 2019. These include enhancements to PowerPoint, Word, Outlook, and Teams, to name a few of the offerings available to Microsoft 365 users. Each of these new features is discussed in further detail below. This is an overview of what’s new, how the feature works and what you as a business user should expect.

Microsoft PowerPoint Editor and Forms Updates

Intelligent proofing has come to Microsoft PowerPoint. It is similar to the functionality users have known in Microsoft Word and that has also been available in Microsoft Outlook since the last part of 2018. It takes the machine learning capabilities and natural language process that exists in the program to proof, edit, and make recommendations to users based on the content of the presentation being created.

Things like wrong word choices, misspelled words, and improper grammar are detected in this feature added to PowerPoint. Office Insider users should have access to this enhanced feature with Microsoft 365 users coming online shortly in Q1 of 2019. To determine its availability, a user simply can click on SELECT FILE > OPTIONS > PROOFING. The boxes, “Frequently confused words” and “Mark grammar errors as you type,” should be checked, indicating the availability of the feature.

An additional feature that should be a welcome enhancement for users is the availability of forms in PowerPoint. Feedback, surveys, and questionnaires can be administered simply and easily with the adding of forms to this software program. Forms has been a standard within Word and have now come to PowerPoint. Users interacting with students or in a training environment looking to administer quizzes, or questionnaires with participants now have the facility to do so within PowerPoint.

Microsoft Word Collaboration Enhancements

Writing with Microsoft Word has become even easier in 2019. A new feature allows users to bookmark, or rather, create notes within a document as a reminder to return to that spot in a document. The feature is called inline TODO and it is as simple as typing the word “TODO” (all CAPS) as a placeholder in a document. The user will then have the ability to type a note as a reminder of some thought or action they wish to insert and can choose to continue writing or exit. The TODO placeholder is perfect for those times when a user loses their train of thought and needs to look up additional information or seek the advice or opinions of other members of the team for clarification.

These entries are tracked as To-Dos in the To-Do app, which can be viewed online or on a mobile basis. Every time a user returns to the document, the to-dos that have been coded in the document appear instantly as a reminder. A user (logged into SharePoint or creating a document shared in OneDrive) can also use the “@mention” feature to direct a message to another user within the team to look at the TODO denotation in the document. Office Insider users have immediate access to feature (in preview mode) while Microsoft 365 users will have access to TODO soon in 2019.

Creating and Managing Tasks in Microsoft Outlook

Task features that used to be available only in the desktop version of Microsoft Outlook have been released to web-based users. It allows for greater mobility and less dependency on the desktop for managing important tasks and project workflow. The ability to drop emails into the task icon previously has been limited to desktop users. New for 2019 is the ability of web-based Outlook users to also drop related emails into the task icon in order to properly manage and stay informed on any changes, updates, and any other important communications that may impact a given task.

The same goes for the ability to schedule tasks on a calendar. Where before a user would have been dependent on the desktop version of Outlook to perform scheduling, the new web-based enhancement allows users to perform the same function online. Once scheduling of a task takes place on the user’s calendar, it will be carried over to a mobile user’s To-Do app. Note that this capability is only available to those business customers opted-in the new Outlook.

With organizations working increasingly advanced technology into most aspects of their daily operation, it only follows that employees and customers may occasionally need help using those technologies and fixing problems they encounter. Help desks have emerged as the primary method for giving IT users the support they require to work effectively with technology as they complete their tasks and contribute to their organization’s success.

What is a help desk?

Help desks, or managed operation centers, provide consistent, critical support services to the employees within an organization, and in some cases, their clients. Help desks are run by personnel with extensive technical knowledge who are well-versed in managing, troubleshooting, maintaining and upgrading the various technological tools used by companies across industries.

While some businesses have in-house IT support through designated staff members, that option is often not tenable for many smaller organizations with limited employees and resources. Outsourced technology support allows them to focus their energy on more integral aspects of their practice. Even mid-size and large businesses, however, benefit by partnering with third-party entities that offer expert help desk support and gaining access to an additional resource for their internal IT staff.

What are the benefits of outsourcing help desk support?

Outsourcing IT support provides a number of advantages, particularly for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Here is a quick look at 10 ways your operation can benefit through outsourcing IT:

1. Cost-savings

Maintaining an in-house help desk can factor as a hefty expense into an organization’s annual budget, especially when benefit packages and other perks are taken into consideration. By entering into a contract with an outsourced help desk, you can tailor the services to fit your specific needs and financial position.

2. Increased Flexibility

Working with an outside provider for your IT support gives your employees flexibility, allowing them to work a broader range of hours without having to worry about not having support should they encounter a problem. Even when working remotely or outside peak hours, they can access a live representative for support.

3. Immediate Response

Help desk specialists are only a phone call, email, or support ticket away. As third-party providers manage IT support for multiple organizations, they will have several technicians on-call to address issues on demand. With a consolidated pool of employees, their efforts can be spread more effectively across the businesses they serve. If the technicians cannot fix the issue remotely, they will respond in person to fix the issue on-site.

4. Diverting Management Responsibilities

Working with a third-party service provider means they will handle their own IT team, relieving you and your human resources department of that responsibility. The firm will oversee the management of their own employees—from recruitment and hiring to training and retention—and take care of tracking their hours and performance, as well as addressing any personnel issues.

5. Access to More Resources

Most companies do not have the financial freedom to acquire the latest IT equipment or jump on emerging technological solutions. Providers whose sole purpose is managing technology, however, will have not only the most current but also a wider variety of resources. This helps even the playing field, especially for small businesses, allowing them to take advantage of advanced technologies without bearing the entire financial burden of procuring them.

6. Support from Highly Trained Specialists

Much like with resources, third-party IT firms can offer a wealth of expertise. Their tech specialists come equipped with a wide range of credentials, training and prior experience with businesses similar to yours, which gives you a strategic advantage. When your organization encounters an IT issue, one of their team members likely will have specialized knowledge and skill-set to troubleshoot that problem.

7. A Preventative Mindset

Help desk engineers are generally in the business of providing maintenance, as well as incident management to prevent problems before they occur. They can offer advice on upgrading old systems and software and suggest other technical solutions to address the root cause of recurring problems. Help desks also track important performance indicators and metrics via remote software, to compile data on average time for technician to accept ticket, average time to resolve problem (or close ticket), average number of tickets per day/user, issues occurring after business hours, communication pertaining to a ticket, and other areas. This statistical reporting is then used for continuous quality improvement.

8. Priority on Partnership

Third-party firms are invested in fulfilling their contract and building a long-term relationship with the organizations they serve, so they will approach help desk support with a cooperative attitude. One of their goals will be to make communicating and collaborating on tasks with the employees, or end users, smoother and less frustrating. The tools they recommend will be designed to bolster this partnership and help employees feel empowered when it comes to using technology, which in turn augments company morale and productivity.

9. Increased Customer Satisfaction

Many companies use outsourced help desk services, such as call flow support, to take care of their clients’ needs or give them technical support when they are using the organization’s website, purchasing products online, or making inquiries into services. Sharing the burden of this task with an external provider frees up employees to focus on their core competencies and daily responsibilities. Additionally, customers benefit by having their problems immediately addressed, which increases customer satisfaction and helps the business both attract and retain clients.

10. Peace of Mind

For many organizations, experiencing excessive downtime because an IT system is experiencing issues can be detrimental. With a team of industry-leading experts in your corner, you can rest at ease that your IT is being taken care of. You won’t have to use your internal employees and their valuable time to fix a problem that resides outside their area of expertise. Your trusty help desk will have the issue under control.

Help desks are aimed at helping the relationship between your business and its technology flourish. They understand the importance of keeping your systems functioning and available to the employees who rely on them to do their job. External providers can provide effective IT management and support at an affordable cost.

Of the risks your company faces on a regular basis, those associated with your IT department are likely a low concern and priority. The fact is, in today’s world most office professionals are capable of conducting the majority of their own IT work as needed for their individual devices. However, that isn’t their primary job description; their time is better used for the projects they were hired to do. There is also a matter of uniformity and consistency with how work is performed. When these issues are considered, it begins to make sense as to why a designated IT team is generally a worthwhile investment.

What Are Managed IT Services?

Just like employees are specialists in their own job description, IT people also tend to have specialties. Although IT people have the training and education required to work in any field, their personal expertise depends on their individual professional experience. Someone who has worked in architectural offices, as an example, may have a bit of learning curve when dealing with medical software and equipment. That’s not to say they “can’t” do the job and do it well, but they will take longer and likely have to correct some errors after initial setup. Hiring an outside source with specific industry experience for managed IT services is recognized as a solution for these and other problems that arise when using an in-house team.

Budgeting and Accounting for IT Expenses

With an in-house IT department, you know what you pay the employees who conduct the work, but are you aware of how much you’re really spending regarding efficiency? This can include issues with how much downtime the IT team has, and how much time other employees are spending to do some of the work themselves. Many office needs can be provided with an app, but what happens when the marketing department is using one app while the sales team uses a different app? Then you have to consider the time spent when they work together to make their work compatible with each other. An in-house IT team will likely work with each department individually rather than pointing out how efficiency would be boosted if they both agreed to use the same programming. Having an outside managed IT resource is going to be more likely to assure such inconsistencies are corrected.

Maintaining a Secure Network

To the layman, “Secure Network” can vary according to each person’s concerns. Cyber attack is something everyone who uses a computer is aware of, and certainly a threat every company faces. But there are other ways in which a network can be insecure. Imagine the nightmare of having a major system-wide failure and losing important client information. Such an incident might happen from a computer crash due to improper setup, outdated software, or even a natural disaster. It’s important to remember information has to be backed up, securely, as insurance might cover the physical damage of a flood or fire but no amount of insurance payment can cover the cost of lost data when hardware is destroyed in such a scenario.

Keeping a Backup Plan in Case of Emergency

There always has to be a backup plan in place for such an emergency. One of the worst things that can happen to a business is for clients to lose faith in the company’s ability to provide their service, and that’s what happens when you lose data. Think about how you would feel if an investment adviser had to ask you to resupply all your information with an explanation it had been lost in a network failure. You probably wouldn’t feel comfortable continuing to work with that company because even though they might be really good with financial advice, they aren’t completing the job by keeping your investments secure. Likewise, your clients are going to wonder about your professionalism if you lose their information.

Specialized Services for Your Field

Specialized services are the new norm and expectation of every business, and this concept holds true for IT personnel as well. To return to the previous example, the IT person who works with an architect knows how to set up a plotter to make blueprints, and they understand how to use software toward making graphic designs for presentational purposes. They have an aptitude for such things which is why they went into the IT business, but they still don’t have the experience to set up medical equipment and even though some software might be the same or similar, it’s going to be used differently by a doctor’s office. Someone with a specific specialty working with people in your field is merely going to be more efficient for your needs.

Trying to “Figure It Out on the Fly”

Having office workers conduct their own IT work can potentially be even more disastrous toward office morale and overall efficiency. Most people have a familiarity with computers and equipment and can figure out how to get it working, but might take all day or even settle for a less than perfect setup. Have you ever seen someone print a 20-page document one page at a time because they can’t get the printer to print the entire project as a single function? Now imagine that situation with over a hundred pages, and what else they could be working on instead of manually printing each page and then having to put the papers in proper order after spending half a day trying to make it work. An IT person fixes it by spending five minutes to clear old data and restart the printer.

Conclusion

The rest of your company is specialized by department, so should your IT. A managed IT services company can provide for your needs and due to the nature of the work, makes more sense than allowing the job to be conducted in-house. You end up with oversight for your network by specialists not only in IT work, but how it pertains to your business needs.

Who Has Been Impacted by Chinese Cyber Attacks?

At the beginning of the year, the FBI warned businesses to protect themselves from cyber attacks by foreign entities, saying activity has spiked in the past 18 months.

Hewlett Packard and IBM are among the businesses most recently targeted. There’s a National Counter-Intelligence and Security Center that manages intelligence efforts for the U.S. government. It recently launched a campaign to address continuing threats. The center warns that many companies need to be more to protect against cyber theft.

Foreign governments accused of cyber attacks against the U.S. include Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, with China receiving the most scrutiny in recent reports.

How Do Hackers Breach Company and Government Security?

According to Entrepreneur magazine, hackers create fake social media accounts to get people to reveal work and personal information. One of the ways to guard against bad actors is to carefully scrutinize social media requests from people that aren’t personal connections and to research apps before using or downloading them, as well as keeping antivirus software up-to-date.

The FBI warning including a brochure entitled, “Know the Risk, Raise Your Shield” that targets federal employees. The recent warnings follow a string of cases against individuals and organizations accused of stealing proprietary information from U.S. government and businesses.

Nine cases filed since July 2018 include two hackers investigators say are linked to the main Chinese spy agency. Knicknamed APT 10, they allegedly stole corporate and government information via cyber attacks on employees.

Has There Been an Uptick in Recent Activity?

The breach of private businesses by Chinese hackers first hit news headlines in 2014, when Sony Pictures was hacked. This prompted an agreement in 2015 between Chinese President Xi Jinping and then President Barrack Obama that curbed cyber attack for a while.

At FireEye, a cybersecurity firm, analysts track hackers working on behalf of the Chinese government. The firm’s representative says attacks are on the uptick recently. These hacking groups are referred to as Red Leaves, cloudhopper, and APT10.

Managed Service providers are among the groups targeted. MSPs supply technology, telecommunications and other services to business clients. If they can break the security systems of such companies, Chinese hackers gain access to the sensitive data of the MSP’s clients.

APT10 has routed malware via an MSP network to its business targets. However, there are many steps businesses can take to protect their employees and data from prying eyes in cyberspace.

What Should Business Do to Raise Their Shields?

U.S. businesses should take proactive measures to safeguard against cyber attacks from Chinese hackers via email, social media and other points of entry.

This includes ensuring that advanced detection tools are utilized on network and email servers to safeguard access to company data. Regular threat assessments and employee training can help. This provides a diagnosis of the state of a firm’s cyber defenses regarding advanced persistent threats that attempt to find breaches in the company’s firewall. Precautions taken against the intrusion of foreign governments include:

• Fortify access controls. Evaluate the plans, policies, and procedures that govern corporate technology to keep proprietary data safe. This could include that installation of multi-factor authentication (MFA), data encryption and solidifying a layered defense system on all possible points of cyber attacks.
• Training. Make cybersecurity education and training a top priority. Everyone from the Board of Directors and C-Suite to individual employees needs to understand how to avoid cyber attacks by avoiding fake emails, malware and weak password strategies, among other efforts.
• Incident response plan. Organization leadership and key technical personnel must develop a protocol for dealing with threats. This should include representatives from business administration, information technology and operations.
• Crisis communications plan. Align the protection policy to risk management methodologies and the business needs of employees.
• Adopt a monitoring, detection and response plan. Quickly detect intrusions and breaches via rapid-respond plans to effectively eradicate the malware or other methods of entry.

Most of us, when asked if we would prefer to pay for something we could theoretically do ourselves, will opt to take care of the task personally – even if it’s not our strong suit, or indeed, if we lack all experience entirely. This is often the case with managed IT services.

Whether your company has an in-house IT team or is small enough that you hire only one person, chances are good you don’t spend much time thinking about whether you should update your approach. That could spell disaster for your company, though, especially in this day and age of cyber attack and data breach.

Here’s a quick look at what most people get wrong about IT management and six of the most common signs your company needs it.

Why Does IT Require So Much Management, Anyway?

The root of many companies’ unwillingness to bring on IT help stems from a fundamental misunderstanding about its nature. Most people think of computers and other technology as a blank canvas of sorts. You put your applications and software on them, type messages, input information, manage spreadsheets and message others using the systems IT makes available to you. But you rarely think about the systems themselves.

That’s a problem. If we compare it to dentistry, you’ll see why. No one would claim that you can eat and eat all day without ever worrying about your teeth. Taking care of your teeth requires both daily maintenance and constant vigil, looking out for any problems that might be headed down the pipeline. Brushing your teeth isn’t enough to stay safe and healthy, but neither can you neglect to brush your teeth simply because you watch for cavities.

Managed IT is like any other sphere requiring both care and prevention. Your daily activities are the food. Your hardware and software and network security protocols are the teeth. If they don’t stay healthy, you won’t have the tools to eat for long.

Sadly, most companies have neither the expertise nor the resources to care for your company’s IT the way it needs. The result is that they use IT systems until they break, at which time they cast about wildly for the quickest possible fix, so they can go on with business as usual. Sometimes your in-house team can handle it, but more often (at least when the problem is serious), they can’t. As for preventing those problems in the first place, that’s usually more than one small team or a single individual can handle on behalf of a company.

5 Signs Your Business Needs Managed IT Services

That’s where managed IT services come in. When you outsource your IT needs to an outside company, you have access to a true wealth of expertise and professional tools. Rather than the limited knowledge and skills of one person – and whatever budget you can put toward information technology in-house – you now have an entire business on your side.

Still, think you don’t need outsourced IT services? Here are five signs you do.

1. Tech issues stop productivity in its tracks: You’ve been there. The day was going just fine, and suddenly someone’s computer manifested a weird bug … and then everyone’s computer seemed to have it. Or maybe your SSL certificate grew outdated and no one fixed it; the network went down and no one could figure out why; half the people in the office were locked out and asked to create new passwords for no reason. These “temporary” problems might have solutions, but that doesn’t make them easy to deal with. If you’re facing a lot of them, it’s time to do something about it.
2. Your “IT guy” doesn’t have experience in your niche: It hardly bears saying that banking IT and artisanal grocery IT are not the same thing. While both require careful safeguarding of customer information, the former industry manages far more detailed, and personal data is under much greater scrutiny and is subject to particular federal laws regarding the safeguarding of information. To keep your company aboveboard, you need someone who knows exactly what they’re doing, both on the day to day, and in extreme situations or crisis.
3. You don’t have a security plan: One of the primary responsibilities of an IT staff is to ensure you have a good security plan and robust software to back it up. If you don’t have a strong defensive approach, you could find yourself at the mercy of cyberattackers and data thieves, so don’t wait for that to happen before contacting a real IT provider.
4. Your maintenance plan is casual at best: Again, many companies use a “break it, fix it” model, in which they turn a blind eye to systems until something goes wrong. With preventative maintenance, however, you can avoid many (if not most) of those breaks – but you need someone who knows what they’re doing. An expert can help you configure your systems most intelligently, reallocate resources as your company grows, protect new vulnerabilities that open up and stay on top of updates, so you’re always protected and functioning at the highest level of productivity.
5. You’re paying too much for IT: If you’ve ever asked yourself “Why does it cost so much to deal with this?” that’s a bad sign. Believe it or not, it often costs less to pay for outsourced IT, because you have access to economies of scale that you just don’t have if you employ a few people in-house. We challenge you to do a cost comparison and see what happens.

Don’t Wait to Get Started with Managed IT Today

In the end, your decision to outsource your IT services to a professional provider should be an easy one. It’s like getting a dentist. Is there really any doubt that your company needs one to stay healthy now and in the future?

Hint: The answer is no. If you want to stay safe from attack, steer clear of potential disaster and keep your business humming along at the most productive rate, it’s time to make the switch today.

Your business is at a higher risk for security breaches and data when you don’t utilize a managed IT services company. A managed IT service company is more affordable than you realize. Managed IT service can be priced as a flat monthly fee, a per-user fee or a per-device fee. Then your business has a fixed line-item on your budget, and the assurance that your risks are managed by a professional service 24/7.

Not convinced? Let’s look at the realities of not have a managed IT service company.

Uncontrolled Spending.

Have you looked at what your IT department is costing every month? You may be surprised at how much you’re spending, and yet, you are still unsure at how well your company’s data is protected. Unless someone within your company is monitoring your IT department, you might not even be aware of what they are doing.

Have they ensured that your data is backed up in a cloud or are they developing a new app that may or may not help your business grow? Is your firewall up to date? Are your employees well-informed on cybersecurity threats that come via email? An unsupervised IT department could be investing in hardware and software that doesn’t protect you or help grow your business.

Add in the cost of recurrent training to keep your employees up to date with the latest security threats and emerging technology, and your business could experience uncontrolled spending. Managed IT service companies offer different pricing modules so that you can pick the plan that best suits your company yet allows for growth.

Unsecured Network and Uncertain Data Back-Up.

No matter what type of business, your business is responsible for the secure storage of employee records, customer data or patient information, which is protected by HIPAA regulations. A cybersecurity breach has the potential to put your business out of business.

Besides employee and client information, your business has a considerable volume of transactional data and customer/patient history. Are you sure that your IT department could have you back up and running after a natural disaster, ransomware attack or network failure?

Speaking of natural disasters which seems to be happening more often and are more severe, do you have a disaster recovery plan? Has your IT department developed and implemented a disaster recovery plan? It’s not enough to have your data backed up to a cloud. Your business should have a plan of where you’d relocate and how you’d get back up and running again.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency estimates that 40 percent of the businesses hit by natural disasters do not reopen and 25 percent of those who do fail within the first year. The Small Business Administration found that 90 percent of businesses fail within the first two years after a disaster. Data loss is catastrophic when coupled with a natural disaster.

A managed IT services company will provide you with a disaster recovery plan that protects your data to help prevent business failure should a natural or man-made disaster occur. The recent Paradise, California fire is a prime example of what could happen to your business should the worst scenario happen. Could your business recover?

Qualified IT employees are in short supply.

According to the George Mason University School of Business, IT jobs have increased by 13 percent while graduates in IT have decreased by 11 percent. Recruiting and retaining qualified IT personnel is expensive and challenging.

If you contract for managed IT services, you don’t have to terminate your entire IT department. You might decide to have a managed IT services company oversee the complex jobs while allowing your in-house IT personnel to focus on new projects or new business initiatives instead of responding to IT crisis resolution.

Most likely, a managed IT service company is able to hire the most qualified IT professionals. Why not get these people to oversee the most complex parts of your business?

Timing of new technology purchases.

Your company could be operating with outdated technology that can’t be upgraded to new security and/or operating systems. Restoring data might become impossible with obsolete technology.

Personnel from managed IT services companies regularly attend the major technology shows and can easily spot potential problems in your existing technology systems that could create significant problems in the future.

A managed IT services company starts to work for you on the first day that you contract with them. They’ll evaluate your entire IT system and make recommendations for updates to ensure the best performance and longer operating cycle. An added plus is that your managed IT services company can recommend new products specific to your industry or business type.

Minimize risk.

Savvy businesses know that minimizing the risk of security breaches, ransomware threats and data loss is one of the best ways to ensure the continuity of the business. A managed IT services company is more than just an IT “guy” that someone recommended to you. They become a valued partner of your business ensuring that your files and data are protected and that you can focus on your business operation.