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The Apple iOS Notes application is a great tool with so many practical features.  However, many don’t know about these hidden tools to extend the Notes experience.  Check them out here.    

The Apple’s Notes application is built into all versions of iOS. Ever since the release of the original iPhone in 2007, it’s been the perfect way to handle word processing on-the-go.

Notes will get a significant overhaul when iOS 11 is released in the fall of 2017. If beta versions are any indication, you’ll be impressed with the new capabilities Notes provides.   Here are just a few of them:

Notes Stationary

With Notes, iOS 11 you’ll be able to change the default stationary—select yours from a range of lined and gridded paper styles.  Change the default style for all your notes, or on a note-by-note basis. Just tap the “New Note” button and select the “Share” arrow. Or from your computer keyboard hit “CMD” + “N”. Once you select the “Lines & Grids” option, you see all the styles to choose from.

Superior Organization

The iOS 11 version of the Notes app has some great options for organizing. Until now, Notes appeared on one screen. You could create folders, but extensive organization wasn’t a possibility—Until now, that is.

In iOS 11, all you have to do is swipe the title of a note with your finger to open up a new list of organizational options. In addition to moving and deleting notes, you can password-protect a note. This is perfect for people in enterprise environments who share devices like iPads.

Pinning

You can also pin a note to the top of your list, so it’s always within reach. To do this, simply swipe right on the name of the note, and release. The note will be pinned in place so it can’t be moved even if you organize by date created, or alphabetize by title, etc.

Moving and Deleting Notes

Previous versions of Notes allowed you to quickly delete a note or move it into a folder with a few swipes of your finger. This basic functionality remains in the iOS 11 version—However, it’s gotten a significant makeover.

Now, when you swipe on a note and select “Move,” you won’t see a list of all the folders you created. Instead, you’ll see icons that represent things like attachments and images.  This lets you quickly view your options so you can move your note. All you have to do is tap on the folder and the selected note will move there instantly. This won’t take more than a few seconds.

However, when you attempt to delete or move a password-protected note, you’ll now be prompted to enter the password (or use Touch ID depending on the settings on your device). You won’t be able to do anything unless you provide the proper credentials, which, again, helps to keep your confidential information private.

If at any point you make a mistake when it comes to moving and organizing your notes, all you have to do is physically shake your iPhone or iPad for a second or two to undo it. You don’t need to go through the menu system.

More New Features

The new iOS 11 Notes app comes with advanced features that add value for enterprise users in particular. If you own an iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil, you can now sketch anywhere in any note, at any time. Certain text tools that were only in the macOS version of Notes, will now be available in iOS 11.

Use the camera on your device to scan paper notes and save them in Notes until you move them to the folder of your choice. Previously, this feature was only available in third-party apps, most of which will now be unnecessary.

These are just a few of the new, hidden features in Notes iOS 11.  If you’d like to learn more for your business in Omaha contact InfiNet Solutions at (402) 895--5777 or [email protected].

This article will discuss data security at most companies. It will look at some of the biggest mistakes company makes when securing data and some possible solutions.  

Today we use technology in almost every aspect of our lives. While that can be a good thing, there is a negative side to it. Anyone with the right technical know how can gain access to your company’s data, which they can use to destroy your business empire.

No matter the size of your company, you will need to create a plan that ensures all the data generated is secure. This plan is known as a security program. The program provides the framework that helps to keep the whole organization safe.

Some of the Biggest Mistakes that You Can Make in Securing Data:

• Lack of a System on Where to Store Important Data.

When a system is not in place on where sensitive data should be stored, it increases the chances of it ending up in an unsecured location. One way to solve this is if a company creates a policy that categorizes what type of data is considered sensitive.

• Cloud Misuse.

When a company stores data on the cloud, they are essentially storing their data on a hired computer. That means they have no control over it. If the data is of a sensitive nature, then it needs to be encrypted before being placed on the cloud. It is also important to understand the policy of the cloud services provider. It is especially so if you are required to share encryption keys with them.

• Failure to Protect from Internal Threats.

One of the best examples of this kind of leak was the “Snowden” leak. The issue of the leak was because of weak governance issues. For instance, in this leak, the person managed to copy many gigabytes of data without any hindrance. Organizations need to be careful about giving employees access to data when they do not need it.

To fight off any chances of internal leaks, an organization needs to address the insider threats with appropriate controls. The controls need to be able to identify the damage and tell how much data has been stolen.

• Trusting Technology.

One of the biggest mistakes a company can make is to have faith in its technology. It is important to note that as you work to improve security, hackers are also working. They are designing new and creative ways on how to get past your security. It is thus important that you have experts who conduct regular tests on your system. That way, they can help identify any potential leaks before they occur.

• Failing to Invest Enough in Data Security.

When a business faces a data security challenge, it will most times look for a one size fits all solution. In such a case, the company may end spending too little to protect the data effectively. However, a business has to be willing to go further than this. It has to look for the most secure means of keeping its data secure.

• Failure to Protect Physical Devices.

One of the easiest ways to hack a network is by using a device that is already accepted into the system. However, some organizations do not have measures in place to deal with the loss of physical devices. A good organization should have a mechanism that ensures stolen devices can no longer be allowed to access the system.

• Failing to Take Care of the Human Factor.

An organization will spend a lot of money implementing the most complex security measures. However, most organizations drop the ball when handling the human factor. The staff is not well-trained on how to stay secure. There needs to be a training program for both new and existing employees. As changes are made to the security program, employees need to receive additional training.

Some of the most important Tips to Stay Secure.

If these measures are not being implemented at your organization, you need to start implementing them if you want to stay safe.

1. Make Use of Strong Passwords.

One of the easiest ways of keeping your organization secure is by implementing a strong password. Ensure that everyone who has access to your network makes use of a strong password. Use a combination of all character types on your keyboard for the best password. You should also ensure that your password is at least 8 characters long.

Never use any personal data as your password. Additionally, avoid using variations of personal data to create your password. Besides that, ensure that you change your password after every 90 days. It is also important everyone to have his or her own password and username. Having a generic password for everyone is dangerous.

2. Make Regular Software Updates.

Another simple but effective measure to keep your data safe is to keep all programs updated often. There is little use in installing the latest software if you will not make regular updates to it. Data is only as safe as the most recent updates to the system.

3. Encrypt Portable Devices.

Portable devices such as laptops are quite easy to steal. It is thus important that you take the extra step to ensure they are safe, even when stolen. One of the easiest measures to keep them safe is to encrypt them. The encryption software will make data on your hard drive unreachable unless they have a password.

4. Make Regular Backups.

Ensure that all company data is backed up to a secure offsite storage facility. Thus, even when your systems are compromised, your data will still be secure. The general rule of thumb is that backups should happen once a week. Getting data corrupted is painful but failing to have a backup can be even more painful.

Conclusion.

When creating any security measures, the top leadership must lead by example. They must be willing to spend money on programs that help to educate employees. It is important to note that data security is an ongoing process that will require regular revisions.

On July 5^th, 2017, disaster struck a series of hospital networks in Michigan. Caro Community Hospital, Caro Medical Clinic and Caro Quick Care all lost access to not only their desktop and laptop computers, but also phones, email services and even patient records. A message on a computer screen confirmed administrators’ worst fears—They were a victim of ransomware.

According to Caro CEO, Marc Augsburger, the ransom note provided a single email address to use to determine the payment required to recover the locked data. The hacker specified a payment of $120,000 should be made in Bitcoin!

Instead of paying the hacker, hospital administrators decided to quickly shut down all electronics following the attack. This caused a great deal of disruption, but the damage was mitigated due to IT policies and procedures that were already in place. Hospital staff were well trained on keeping paper-based records in the event that such an incident occurred. All computers and other devices were also backed up remotely on a regular basis, so it was only a matter of time before Caro could get its systems back up and running.

What made this ransomware attack so unique was the extent of the machines affected.

Traditional ransomware strategies seem to be one of quantity over quality. The files on a single infected machine are quickly encrypted, and the ransom is typically a few hundred dollars. This particular strain didn’t just affect servers, computers and other devices, everything connected to the Caro network was affected, including the VoIP phone systems that were operated by those computers.

Make no mistake—The disruption was absolutely a bad thing, but the situation could have been far worse were it not for these policies. They also helped guarantee that no personal information of employees or patients was compromised during the attack.

It took nearly two weeks to get all hospital operations back up and running. Caro administrators contacted both the FBI and the local police in the immediate aftermath, both of which are still searching for the person or people responsible. The FBI indicated that this was a brand-new strain of ransomware, and one that they would continue to watch out for in the future.

The State of Malware  

As the Caro hospital staff discovered, ransomware is the “latest trend” in terms of cyberattacks. To say that the digital world is getting more dangerous is something of an understatement:

• There were 22 million new malware samples in the first quarter of 2017 alone.
• A new malware specimen is emerging every 4.2 seconds, a pace that’s getting faster all the time. To put this into perspective, there were only about 6.8 new malware samples discovered in the entirety of 2016.
• In 2015, attacks occurred at a rate of about 1,000 per day. Fast-forward just a year later, and that number climbed to about 4,000 per day – an increase of 300%!
• The number of phishing emails is also on the rise. In the first quarter of 2016, 92% of phishing emails contained some form of ransomware. Just a few months later, that number grew to 97.25%.

Learning as much about ransomware and other forms of malware is the key to ensure your organization doesn’t suffer the same fate.   

If you had to make a list of the worst cybersecurity threats facing businesses today, it’s this particular strain of malware that can encrypt all of the files on a computer and network. This means that every kilobyte of data on a machine is lost forever, unless you’re willing to pay a hefty fee to the criminal holding your data hostage.

According to a study conducted by Friedrich-Alexander University, most of these attacks are successful because of overconfident users. 78% of people claim to be aware of the risks associated with clicking on unknown links in emails, and of phishing in general—Yet they go on to click on these links anyway.

Because ransomware infections are most often the result of accidentally downloading a malicious file, many assume it’s a situation where a little common sense goes a long way. Recent events have proven this isn’t enough.

As a business leader, it’s important for you to understand that ransomware is just one of the many types of digital threats that should concern you. Hackers are getting more sophisticated all the time, and the key to staying protected involves making an effort to stay one step ahead of them. Cybersecurity training for your employees is essential.

If you’re in Omaha and would like to find out more about cybersecurity issues, OR if you’re interested in cybersecurity training for your staff, please don’t delay—Contact InfiNet Solutions at [email protected] or (402) 895--5777.

The technological resources that your small business uses on a daily basis are more than just “tools” in the traditional sense. In many ways, they’re the very foundation from which your 21st-century operations are built.

• IT is how you communicate with your clients, guaranteeing that you can perform the type of work that meets their needs and exceeds their expectations.
• It’s how your employees communicate with one another, and come together to form something much more powerful than any one of them could have on their own.
• It’s also how you address the challenges of today while getting ready for the demands of tomorrow—Carving out a competitive advantage for your business that will carry you through into the next decade and beyond.

However, none of this makes any difference if your subpar IT service company is killing your chances.

Many IT service companies get a low score from their clients. Lengthy response times, reactive approaches to technology, excessive turnover rates and high prices with poor value are all among the many factors that small businesses have just “learned to deal with.” But you shouldn’t!

Here are a number of reasons why you should replace your subpar IT service company with a competent one.  

They’re Not the Only Ones Who Know Your Network.

One of the major reasons small business owners are hesitant to look for alternative IT service companies is the fear that they won’t be able to find another that knows their network like their existing provider does. Regardless of the quality of your relationship, you can’t argue that it’s taken time to build. Third-party representatives have come in and examined your system, what you need, and what you’re trying to do. It will be difficult, if not next to impossible, to start all over again. Right?  Wrong.

In truth, your service provider should be documenting every aspect of your IT infrastructure in detail. Diagrams, passwords and asset documentation should all be readily available to you. All of this information can be turned over to your new provider, giving them an excellent starting place to make your IT foundation stronger than it was before.

Your IT Isn’t as Unique as You Think It Is.

We’re not saying that your business isn’t unique in the marketplace. Undoubtedly, there are things you do that nobody else can match — This is likely why you have such a strong relationship with your customers in the first place.

Luckily, this doesn’t extend to your IT infrastructure. Sure, things were built with your specific business in mind. However, a true IT expert will have seen it all before. Competent network engineers are ready for anything and everything they encounter.

The Transition Won’t Be as Tough as You’re Anticipating.

High-quality IT service providers are used to taking over for competitors who aren’t living up to their customers’ expectations. While it’s true that there is always the potential for some risk, it’s nothing that good short- and long-term planning can’t resolve. Remember that you’re bringing a new company into the fold—So leverage the power of their experience to your advantage.

The Benefits Outweigh Any Potential Disadvantages.

All of this gives way to the most important factor of all—the fact that the benefits will far, outweigh any perceived negatives you may be worried about. Sticking with your subpar service company isn’t just killing the return on investment for your IT assets, it’s literally stifling the growth of your business.

• It’s making it harder, not easier, to do the essential work you’re responsible for.
• It’s causing you to lose hours of productivity due to unintelligent infrastructure design and unnecessary catastrophes like server failure.
• It’s causing you to play catch-up because you’re being reactive rather than proactive.

A truly great IT service company is more than just a solutions provider. They’re a partner in your business success.  They’re not just proactively maintaining your IT environment, repairing small problems today before they have a chance to become bigger and more expensive ones later—They’ll act as your virtual CIO, providing you with the expert insight and advice you need to align IT with your long-term strategy.

Absolutely none of this will be possible if you stick with your subpar service company. If so, you’re hurting your chances of successful growth for your business.

Even though the decision to switch is appropriate, replacing your subpar IT service company can be stressful. Luckily, the hardworking team at InfiNet Solutions is ready to stand by your side every step of the way. If you’re in Omaha and would like to find out more about this or other IT related topics, please don’t delay — Contact us by phone at (402) 895--5777 or by sending us an email to: [email protected]

Radio and television station KQED has been taken “back to the stone ages” because of an advanced ransomware attack launched in June of 2017.  No one is sure how the ransomware got into KQED’s system.

Ransomware brought this public television and radio station to a grinding halt— All Internet-connected devices, tools and machinery were cut off in an attempt to isolate and contain the  attack that infected the station’s computers. More than a month later, many remain offline. Although the station has continued its broadcasts, it’s found that functioning in a non-Internet world is extremely frustrating and difficult.

This incident highlights the need for businesses like yours to protect themselves and their IT devices from debilitating cyberattacks.  We’re more vulnerable today than ever before.  It’s up to you to take proactive measures to protect your business.   

Ransomware: An Old Threat Reborn

Ransomware isn’t new. In fact, it’s one of the oldest types of malicious software programs, and is becoming increasingly prevalent as more people rely on IT and Internet connections for their day-to-day operations.

Ransomware essentially locks a user out of their system, or holds data hostage until a ransom is paid. Once the ransom is paid (generally through a wire transfer or cryptocurrency transaction), the data or service is unlocked, and (theoretically) the user can recover their data.

However, there are more issues of concern:

• Ransomware is a type of virus, so it can self-replicate throughout computers, servers, and other devices operating on the same network.
• Paying the ransom doesn’t necessarily mean your system will be unlocked. Some forms of ransomware are designed to just disrupt, while others may have been long abandoned by its creators.
• Paying the ransom can be expensive. While some ransomware attacks only amount to a few hundred dollars, others can be in the range of thousands—especially those targeting large enterprises.
• Paying the ransom doesn’t mean your data hasn’t been copied or otherwise breached. You still need to react as though your data has been shared, including confidential identity and financial information.

KQED’s Ransomware Attack

KQED’s ransomware spread quickly throughout their network, including their Internet of Things devices. The ransomware then encrypted data on their Microsoft computers, but was halted before it could encrypt a significant number of systems. The problem was that it had already infected the network; if the system was brought back up, it would only continue to propagate. Consequently, Internet access had to be removed for many of the systems until the issues could be properly isolated and dealt with, device by device.

To avoid further infection, all Windows computers had to be wiped and restored, and KQED had to upgrade its security measures. This attack came in the wake of—but was not related to—several global ransomware attacks, which took down computers throughout the world.

In order to decrypt the files, the ransomware requested approximately $3,637 for each file to be decrypted. The total ransom requested was in the millions, which was impossible for KQED to pay.

How Can You Defend Against Ransomware Attacks?

In the past, many security systems were limited to only identifying already known attacks. This meant new vulnerabilities and custom attacks were impossible to defend against. KQED was vulnerable to attack even though it had relatively up-to-date security—This may have been the case because its security system was running based on antiviral templates.

New security systems scan for the presence of ransomware attacks and can mitigate the majority of these threats, not only by identifying individual attacks, but also being able to identify suspicious behavior. Machine-learning algorithms and artificial intelligence have now made it possible to scan for the behavior of potentially malicious programs.

KQED was struck by a new piece of software that had not yet been identified. However, it’s unknown whether its suspicious behavior might have been flagged by a more advanced threat-detection system.

Note: In addition to having up-to-date security measures, your systems must be regularly backed up. You should be able to deploy a backed-up instance of an entire system to protect your organization from virtually any threat—including physical hazards such as fire or earthquake.

KQED had a single network composed of many different devices, which couldn’t be reset altogether. The ultimate consequences for KQED were that:

• They couldn’t complete a significant amount of work for weeks.
• Online broadcasts went down for more than twelve hours.
• They lost a significant portion of their work and weren’t able to use their computers or the Internet for a substantial amount of time.
• It took weeks to even begin to repair the damage—and these are weeks the station will need to pay for in terms of man hours and IT costs.

All of this could have been prevented through better security measures and security training for their employees.

Cybersecurity is our specialty and priority at InfiNet Solutions. Cyber threats are growing exponentially, and we’ll block them by eradicating all potential security weaknesses. Your systems will be protected by a next-generation firewall, antivirus, and spam-filtering system. Plus, we’ll conduct security awareness training for you and your staff on an ongoing basis, so they can recognize a threat in an email, or on a web page.

Microsoft is making key changes to how it offers office virtualization: It’s great for companies, and here’s what to expect.

Virtualization has greatly benefited from falling costs and increased ease of use in the past year. That makes it a whole lot easier for providers to talk about virtualization as a solution to more common business problems, especially for midsize companies. And Microsoft, no surprise, has also been keeping an eye on this trend. The result is a long-awaited update to Windows virtualization that indicates changes in the market and a new paradigm for how Microsoft is approaching the virtualization trend. That may sound a little technical, but it’s actually very exciting. Here’s where Windows virtualization is heading, and why we like what we see.

Virtualization is growing more common via security and choice

Virtualization isn’t growing more common just because providers think it’s trendy and try to sell it; It also has answers for growing problems with data management. Take security, for example. Localization is growing increasingly dangerous for companies that are targets of hackers, and hackers are increasingly targeting smaller companies with less security. When you keep data on a local hard drive — especially a mobile hard drive on a phone or tablet — it becomes far less secure and far easier to steal. The security solutions for this problem are limited, but virtualization provides a better answer by allowing the information technology staff to group data on server hard drives and allow only limited access, as necessary, from other devices. Data is made available but becomes far more difficult to hack.

Another reason virtualization is a growing standard is “choice,” something that Microsoft is marketing heavily. Basically, this means that employees can work from any device they choose in pretty much any location as long as they can access their virtualized desktops. Providers can offer similar services no matter what machines a company likes to use, allowing for a lot more flexibility and compatibility.

The CSP will be offering usage rights — if partners want to offer them

Okay, onto the big news from Microsoft and the CSP or Cloud Solution Provider program, which is Microsoft’s fancy way of saying “online partners who sell our stuff.” The problem was that for years, Microsoft wasn’t quite sure how to sell virtualized services. It tried to package them in odd ways, and many companies were turned off by the high costs and limitations associated with virtualization programs — specifically, strange hardware requirements that didn’t make a lot of sense at the time and made even less as virtualization became more popular. Partners just weren’t on board.

So Microsoft has decided to turn this ship around by allowing partners to sell their own virtualization use rights for Windows 10 subscriptions. They will be able to host services either through Azure or through other third-party hosting partners. This allows for much greater freedom in creating virtualization packages and passing them successfully on to customizers. There will be various licenses for the new Windows 10 Enterprise and Microsoft 365 packages. Buy one of these packages and virtualization rights are basically included from the beginning, including for customers that don’t necessarily have per-user licensing or who don’t use a Windows client. Bottom line, this is Microsoft saying, “All right, everyone can virtualize services on our platform now.”

The new certification program

In addition to the new licensing options, Microsoft is also creating a new certification program for those third-party hosting partners that we briefly mentioned. If a third party wants to host Microsoft-ready virtualization, it will need to earn this certification. It’s Microsoft’s way of ensuring a bit of product and quality control. This was always going to happen, and it’s a good thing; setting some parameters on how to offer virtualization services is necessary to keep these new CSP subscriptions from going completely off the rails. Expect a lot of common virtual machine providers to immediately sign up for this certification process.

The rise of low-cost Windows machines

Microsoft’s change on virtualization wouldn’t be complete without talking about Windows 10 Cloud and other Microsoft plans for the future. It’s become pretty apparent via leaks and official statements that Microsoft wants to start offering a trimmed-down version of Windows 10 that operates primarily from the cloud, including machines specially designed to run Windows 10 Cloud.

This would be an interesting move for Microsoft, which probably has its eye on Chromebooks; the ultra-affordable, lightweight laptops running Chrome also depend on cloud software for most of their capabilities, and while they can’t do everything, they are very popular for a certain type of buyer or business looking to cut costs. Microsoft doesn’t like the idea of Google having a monopoly on this idea, so it’s stepping up with a cloud device of its own. What this will look like isn’t entirely certain yet, but virtualization is likely to be a big part of the plan. Even if you aren’t especially interested in virtualization, keep an eye out for these affordable Windows machines in the coming months.

Final note: cost scaling and complexity

Two final points about this big Microsoft change: First, cost scaling is still a little uncertain, especially for the end user. The new model is promising, but virtualization may still be a costly prospect. Prices are likely to be driven down over time, especially since Microsoft’s move encourages more competition, but don’t expect everything to be affordable right away.

Second, while virtualization has been simplified, we don’t want to promise anyone that it will be simple. With multiple providers and hosting companies offering competing ideas, it may even get more difficult to find out exactly what your company needs and what will save you the most money. If you are interested in virtualization, the first step is to sit down with your IT experts and start a thorough research project to find your options.

The good news is that we can help. If your Omaha company has questions about IT services and what you need for the future, InfiNet Solutions is ready. Contact us at (402) 895--5777 or [email protected] to learn more about our specific data services and what we can do for you.

The Business Center apps available with an Office 365 Business Premium subscription can help to transform the way your small business does business.

If you own a business, you should never forget that although your business may be small, you still need to run it like any other business.

And that takes a lot of time.

Whether you work alone, with a partner or even employ a small team, I know that you probably don’t have any time to waste.

That is why I always share with my clients every time-saving software solution I come across which I think real value for the majority of small business owners.

The importance of business management software.

Listen. If you are trying to operate your small business without business management software, you are just wasting your time. Management software helps you run your business and prevents your business from running you. It will help you complete tasks quicker and easier while doing more business than you ever thought possible.

These days, one of my favorite business packages for small businesses is Microsoft’s Office 365 Business Premium. Office 365 Business Premium provides small businesses with everything they need to get work done better, faster, and from anywhere there is an internet connection. Office 365 Business Premium is an affordable online service giving subscribers access to Microsoft’s popular suite of business applications including Outlook, Word, Excel PowerPoint, and Access (on PCs only).

But the best feature of Office 365 Business Premium is not the unlimited access to the top business applications. It is is the ability to access the exclusive Business Center which is only available for Office 365 Business Premium subscribers.

What is the Business Center and why should I want it?

The Office 365 Business Center is an online hub where you are able to manage a collection of unique applications which give you the ability to build better relationships with your customers, close more sales with less effort. increase your online presence, and most importantly run your business quicker and easier than ever.

Which applications are available in the Business Center?

The Business Center offers several unique business applications to handle the needs of your business. These applications include:

• Listings. This application increases your company’s online presence by helping you to create and maintain your business’ listing information on popular social media platforms like Facebook, Google, Yelp, and Bing. Once you set up your basic information, Listings will walk you through the set-up procedures to make sure your customers can find you online. The great thing about Listings is that when your business’ information changes, you don’t have to change your information manually on every site. Instead, all you need to do is update your business’ information once at the Business Center, and then let Listings handle the rest.
• Invoicing. Do you want to get paid on time and in full? Of course, you do. That is why it is a great idea to use Invoicing to create, edit, and send professional-looking invoices for your customers which let them pay directly from their invoice through PayPal. Invoicing also allows you to keep track of which customers have already paid you, and which ones still need to pay. Make your bookkeeping as stress-free as possible by generating yearly and monthly reports and by importing payment records directly into QuickBooks Online.
• Bookings. Any small business which uses appointments will love Bookings. This application allows your customers to schedule an appointment without the need to speak with anyone from your company. This saves both time and money. You can place your booking page directly on Facebook or on your company’s website. Bookings is flexible enough to handle the needs of almost any business. You can edit operating hours, your list of services and their prices, and current availability. Bookings even provides business owners and their employees with a mobile app which will alert them to new appointments and provide customer information.
• Connections. Stay connected to your customers with Connections. Connections allows you to create a variety of marketing campaigns to build the loyalty of your current customers and to expand your business through the use of referrals. Offer customers valuable new offers and encourage them to refer their friends. It is easy to keep track of the success rate of each individual campaign by using the metrics which Connections provides. You

How to use the new applications to drive business.

You now have a better understanding of the power of the Business Center from Office 365 Business Premium. But you still want to know how you can use all of these applications to save time and make more money, right? No problem.

Imagine you own a local small-town barber shop. It is a classic, old-time kind of place complete with a straight-edge hot foam shave. A potential customer who has just seen an old movie which featured a straight-edge hot foam shave and is intrigued. Surely, no one offers such a shave now, especially in this small town, he thinks. Without expecting to find anything, the potential customer searches on Bing for “hot shaves near me”. Amazingly, there is one result. It is the one you placed on online using Listings. The potential customer clicks on your business’ listing and he winds up at your Bookings form. He schedules an appointment for the next day. After getting an amazing shave, he takes a photo and posts it on Yelp along with a five-star review. Then he refers all his friends to you through Connections.

Now, your customer is happy, his friends are happy, and most importantly you are happy.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is rapidly moving into new industries and sectors of business: Is Microsoft’s management software right for you?  

It’s time for even more Inspire conference news: Microsoft unleashed a bunch of new programs and plans for its partners, which means that customers can also expect some big changes down the road. One of the most interesting updates for end users was the announcement of new Microsoft Dynamics 365 features.

Dynamics 365, for those who haven’t heard the term, is Microsoft’s branding of its latest CRM tools. These tools are designed to share data across multiple aspects of business operations like sales, customer services, financial designs and more. It also adds in a healthy dose of automation to make sure forms are populated and analysis is enabled as quickly as possible. It’s a very smooth solution for growing businesses, and so partners have been interested in seeing just what’s up with Dynamics features and where the service is heading. The Inspire-connected July update answered these concerns with a host of new updates. To help out, we’re going to offer a quick guide on what’s new with Dynamics 365 and why it’s worth paying attention.

Partnership with LinkedIn

One of Microsoft’s biggest Dynamics announcements concerns a new partnership with LinkedIn to further the development of the Microsoft Relationship Sales app (part of the Dynamics suite). The Relationship Sales solution now taps into the LinkedIn Sales Navigator to help connect with a variety of buyers more easily, and analyze buyer data for better lead management. Basically, if you like using Sales Navigator or what it offers, you can access that data via Dynamics to gain the same benefits plus the other Dynamics features that you may want.

Why is this exciting? Well, Microsoft has indicated that LinkedIn is just the start. It would love to partner with other companies to provide additional social network data to help fuel Dynamics tools and make them easier to use, rather than having end users skip around from tool to tool to get all the information they want. Microsoft also makes the claim that this LinkedIn partnership offers a service that is about half the cost of similar competitive solutions on the market – a bold but very impressive claim if it holds up.

Dynamics 365 for Retail

Dynamics 365 already has a “For Sales” and “For Customer Service” section, among others, but Microsoft is adding a couple new sections to address farther-reaching needs among companies, especially B2C companies who may be looking for tools more in sync with their industries. The first is Dynamics 365 for Retail: Retail is made for managing store, employee, customer, inventory and financial document data. It focuses on POS activities that bring customer data to improve each transaction and helps managers analyze what sales trends really mean for customer engagement.

Once again Microsoft’s AI features are taken out and used to help automate as much data as possible so you don’t spend too long looking for everything you need. This also extends to shift schedules, shift assignments, and absence requests.

This is a very competitive field with a lot of excellent solutions aimed at small to mid-sized companies, so it will be interesting to see how Microsoft does here. Would you be interested in switching your Retail system if that promised compatibility with the Windows platform?

Dynamics 365 for Talent

Following up the Retail option, Microsoft is also offering a Dynamics solution for talent acquisition. Here the benefits of partnering with LinkedIn become especially obvious: Microsoft is able to use the LinkedIn Recruiter data to fuel “dynamic candidate profiles” which basically means you won’t need to keep visiting LinkedIn to find the necessary information about the latest batch of recruits – it will all be ported right to Talent.

Talent will also help with onboarding by providing important resources and training steps as needed for those just joining the company – a sort of introductory tool to ease them through the process. Microsoft also promises a consolidated HR profile for each employee that will take data from multiple sources to provide a full view of each worker, their current tasks, and their productivity.

Both Retail and Talent will be available summer 2017 for those interested in adopting Dynamics 365 solutions.

Application Update Summary

Along with new Dynamics solutions, Microsoft announced several updates to existing applications that the company thought were particularly worth noting.

First, Microsoft is expanding Dynamics into new geographical areas, updating its offerings for the UK and Canada, which is good news for clients and partners who may be waiting for a full rollout. This also includes new data centers in places like the UK and Germany, which sets Microsoft up to expand its services further in time.

Second, Microsoft has introduced a local business solution that allows companies to run Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations in their own data centers, without the need to contact a provider. This is great for companies that have already invested in their own server setups but still want to use D365 for as much as possible.

Third, Microsoft is adding new prospect-to-cash integration, which is their way of saying that Dynamics can now share information between financial and sales departments. If those two parts of your company have had trouble communicating in the past, they may find it easier with D365.

Lots of Quality of Life Changes

One of the nice things about Dynamics is that Microsoft posts a list of current changes that are in development and changes that are likely to come to Dynamics in the future. Here, you can see that Microsoft has updated the software with significant amounts of integration and new forms to help out different kinds of companies. That includes expense management reports, Cortana compatibility, new forms for employee benefits, more YouTube compatibility…you get the idea. It’s tough to list all these updates, but it’s a good idea to check up on the list on occasion and see if any important features are included.

Do you have any further questions about Dynamics 365, or if could be of benefit to your organization? Why not ask someone with experience? InfiNet Solutions can help your Omaha business find the right services for your unique situation. Contact us at [email protected] or call us at (402) 895--5777.

Living in rural American often means lack of Internet access. Is it possible to get broadband in the country? What’s happening to fix the rural-urban digital divide?  

Currently, 34 million Americans don’t have access to broadband. If you’re used to lightning-fast speeds and quick downloads, it may be impossible to even imagine living without broadband or fiber optics, but for more than 10 percent of Americans, it’s their daily reality.

The majority of people without broadband live in rural areas. There, the lack of access directly hampers their ability to take advantage of the educational and entrepreneurial opportunities available online. Fortunately, there is hope for change, and many entities are working together to increase access in these areas.

In the meantime, however, there are effective ways to live, work and prosper in these areas, even without broadband access.

The Rural-Urban Digital Divide

In rural areas, 39 percent of residents can’t get broadband, but in urban areas, that issue only affects 4 percent of people. The digital divide doesn’t just mean that you can’t watch funny goat videos in the country, and if that was the only issue, who would care? It’s easy to get your own goat and watch his antics in person if you live out in the country.

The problem goes far beyond that. It’s not just entertainment that suffers. Education and business suffer as well. Even businesses not located in rural areas suffer—the lack of access means fewer online shoppers. Remember, these shoppers don’t have a lot of stores nearby, and as a result, they may need e-commerce even more than people in urban areas.

Problems With Lack of Access

Rural schools tend to have low-speed Internet connections and very high Internet costs. This means these students can’t tap into all the learning that happens online. From free online college classes to online college prep testing, these students are being left in the cold, and their schools (often already struggling with reduced funding due to comparatively low property taxes) are cutting into their budgets to afford the cost of a weak connection.

The problem affects businesses as well. New businesses are less likely to set up shop in these areas, even if all the other logistical factors are in place. Also, when entrepreneurs try to run a business in an area without Internet, they have to deal with a range of issues. Even something like increased downtime makes it challenging to have meetings online, download documents, use collaborative project-management software or do something as simple as run credit cards for payments.

The Internet in Rural America

Without access to broadband, rural users rely on slower, less reliable Internet options. Many areas have DSL, but when running over phone lines that are generations old, top speeds tend to be slower than 10 Mbps, and actual speeds tend to be a lot lower. Satellite Internet is an option in many rural areas, but access varies widely from place to place, and storms and clouds can reduce service.

Barriers to Entry

With millions of people, businesses, schools, nonprofits and others eager for rural Internet, it seems like Internet service providers would be rushing in to fill the gap. Why is that not happening? To put it simply, the cost is the main reason ISPs aren’t jumping into these areas.

To get started in rural areas, ISPs have to lay down cables. That creates huge upfront costs. In a densely populated area, those costs are defrayed by huge numbers of people signing up for service. Rural areas simply don’t have the numbers. Even if every single person and business in these areas signed up for service, there would not be enough subscribers to offset the cost of laying cable and entering the market.

Solutions to Lack of Broadband Access in Rural Areas

To improve access, private and public sectors are joining together to expand broadband into rural areas. Microsoft has pledged its support for the project, and in particular, the company’s Rural Airband Initiative seeks to work with telecom companies to bring access to 2 million rural residents by 2022. Microsoft also plans to stimulate investment through licensing, and spearhead digital training so rural residents know how to make the most of the Internet.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) also has plans to help expand access. The FCC has long been a critical driver for communication reform in rural areas, with the Universal Service Fund (USF) at the heart of those activities. Now, the FCC wants to expand the objectives of the USF to include broadband as part of the focus. The FCC wants to offset the costs of setting up cable and infrastructure for ISPs with the new Connect America Fund.

Thriving in Areas Without Broadband

If you run a nonprofit, work as a school administrator, oversee a library or engage with rural Internet as a consumer, the options can feel bleak, but there are things you can do. This advice also applies to freelancers and small businesses in these areas. First, for the sake of your organization, it’s critical to find out what’s available.

Provided you can hook up a landline, you can almost certainly get Internet over a digital subscriber line (DSL). Satellite may be faster, but that can vary from property to property based on trees and other obstructions. Expect to spend time investigating and trying out available options before you hone in on what works.

Once you’ve found an ISP, even if it’s not broadband, you need to take all possible steps to boost your speed. That can mean hard-wiring devices to your modem rather than using wifi, positioning the modem in an advantageous spot, or placing your satellite in the most optimal spot.

On top of that, consider getting involved. Find out about programs and grants that can help bring broadband access to your area. Advocate for those programs to take place in your area.

If you’re thinking about relocating to a rural area or if you’re currently dealing with the challenges of rural Internet, InfiNet Solutions can help. We serve residents throughout the Omaha area and beyond. Call (402) 895--5777 or contact us at [email protected] for more information today.