Out of all of Microsoft’s Office programs, Excel is one of the most universally used. What started out as a fairly basic spreadsheet program has evolved into a must-have business tool. However, the more you use Excel, the more data your workbooks will accumulate.
Keeping these workbooks organized and easy to navigate can be a challenge. We can help with that. Check out our short Excel: Tips and Techniques for Managing Workbooks training video, available to you free and on-demand.
Technology moves fast and furiously. In this modern world, you need IT services for your business to run as smoothly as possible. The last thing any well-run company wants is for their IT issues to trip up working conditions so your employees are frustrated, and not being as productive as they should be. Ideally having the right technology in place can help your business to be more profitable in the long run. The question then becomes, is it better to have your IT department in-house or outsource those services? There are actually many terrific benefits to outsourcing your IT services to the right qualified professionals.
Here are 8 essential reasons to leave it to the pros at a managed IT service company for all your technology needs.
Reason #8: Increased Productivity
When companies have their IT services in-house, this can take up time and reduce productivity among the staff. It’s been shown that Managed Service Providers (MSP) who have all the right credentials can implement IT solutions for you in a much faster way. The speed and efficiency an outsourced IT company can give you will allow your business to operate at full capacity much faster in the long run. Less IT distractions equal a better working environment for your staff.
Reason #7: Focus on Core Operations
If you and your employees have to worry about IT glitches and struggles, it’s going to carry over into your daily working environment. That takes away the focus on your core operations. Your managers and employees have limited time to do their job. There are only so many work hours in a day. They can do their jobs better without having to get sidelined by IT problems they shouldn’t have to deal with.
Reason #6: Smaller Business Can Compete
Smaller companies sometimes can’t afford the kind of IT services that larger, more established companies use. By having an MSP who can give you the kind of technological advance that larger companies can afford, will make it easier to compete with the “big guys” on a global scale.
Reason #5: Risks and Threats Are Handled
Most outsourced IT companies are available for risks and threats 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s something they monitor all the time. They will be able to handle and manage these threats for you seamlessly to keep your company operationally rock solid.
Reason #4: More Security
Security and compliance issues are less of a problem with experienced IT professionals. Hardware crashes, viruses, data corruption, and backup failures are less of an issue when outsourced IT people are constantly looking out for your company’s security.
Reason #3: Implement New Technology Faster
When you outsource your IT and need updates to be made to your technology, the professionals are going to be able to put that new technology in place much faster. They can also do these updates in off-hours that won’t interfere with your working day.
Reason #2: More Experienced IT Professionals
A company that focuses solely on IT is going to have all the right credentials and certifications in place that will allow you to have the most experienced professionals in your back pocket. A highly qualified MSP also has the most up-to-date training and ongoing education of everything involved in the technology sphere.
Reason #1: Less Expensive IT Costs
This is by far the most important reason in the minds of most companies, the bottom line. By not having your IT department in-house, you are going to be saving serious monetary resources. It’s just less expensive to outsource your IT costs with an MSP that works efficiently and allows you to pay only for the services your company needs from them.
Protect Yourself from Potential Attacks Via Chrome Extensions
Learn two simple ways to set the privacy and activity settings for each Google Chrome extension on your browser and steps the company is taking to protect users.
Google’s Chrome web browser is a popular choice for businesses the world over. Managing the extensions gives you more control and faster results when using Chrome to its best. Here’s a closer look at Chrome add-ons and how to use them effectively.
And with emerging cyberthreats targeting browsers, now is an important time to know your way around the extensions.
What Is the History of Google Chrome Extensions?
Google introduced Chrome in 2008. By 2010, there were more than 10,000 extensions available in the Chrome Web Store. Today, the company does not release the number available, but it’s estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands.
That growth brings with it an increasing vulnerability to attacks via vectors embedded in extensions. The company does work to keep malicious extensions out of its store but mistakes are possible. Other extensions can invade users’ privacy.
Should I Uninstall All Chrome Extensions?
Deleting all extensions is not necessary. Instead, use these two helpful tools to manage your extensions better and control permissions you provide to the add-in.
1. Use Extension Icons
To the right of the address bar, you’ll find icons representing the extensions you’ve installed. If you right-click on an icon, you’ll see an option titled “This can read and change site data” with three options:
When you click the extension
On [the site you’re on]
On all sites
The default is the first option, which limits the use of the extension to user-activated times. If an extension is “loud,” meaning it uses a lot of bandwidth, these settings can provide more control.
2. Use Extension Settings
If you click on the hamburger menu icon to the far right of your address bar, you can click on the option “More tools” and click on “Extensions.” This will bring up a screen with a box for each installed extension. Click on the Details button for any extension you want to modify. You’ll see the three options again, but also an option to add the URLs of specific sites on which you want the extension activated.
What Can Go Wrong with Browser Extensions?
There are several risks to installing browser extensions. Here are a few of the ways extensions can do harm:
Malicious intent. Malware can be installed unknowingly that uses your computer for other purposes. Kaspersky, for example, noted a recent example of extensions that made money for the hacker by clicking on pay-per-click ads.
Hijacking. If a hacker steals a designer’s credentials, an extension can be compromised by changing the functionality or inserting malware.
Purchases. Extensions are hard for designers to monetize. That’s why many are eager to sell their code if approached by a buyer. Users are usually unaware if extensions change hands, meaning a previously well-intentioned add-on can be repurposed.
Is Google Addressing Extension Security?
Google recently announced steps it’s taking to combat the security issues with extensions. Among its changes:
More granular user permission options
A requirement that extensions only request access to the minimum amount of user data needed to operate
Expanding privacy rules for extensions. Those that carry user communications and user content will join those that handle personal or sensitive user data and need to post privacy policies
Proactive steps combined with Google’s efforts are critical to keeping your browsing and data safe and secure.
The purpose of Rules in Microsoft Outlook is to help you organize your email and receive updates if items are changed. Rules can save you time, keep on top of high priority tasks, and reduce the clutter of your Outlook inbox – if you know how to use the Rules Wizard correctly.
Basics of Outlook Email Rules
To set up a Rule, you first select the condition(s) that the email must meet (e.g., certain words in the subject line or from a particular sender), then indicate what you want to have happen when an email meets those conditions (e.g., place in a certain folder or provide an alert). It helps if you think about how you process your email. For example, you get various emails about a certain project, so you place those in a folder for that project. The condition would be that the subject line contains that project name in it, and the action would be moving it to a certain folder.
Creating a Simple Rule
Let’s create a simple rule that takes all emails with a subject line that contains the word “Proposal” and moves them to a folder in the “Smith Account.” Begin by right-clicking on a message in your Inbox. In the list that appears, select Rules>Create Rules. This will open up the Create Rules dialog box.
The Create Rules dialog box is fairly straightforward to use. The first section of the dialog box deals with the rule conditions. Check the Box beside Under Subject Contains, then type Proposal in the text box next to it. That indicates the rule is to apply to all emails whose subject contains the word Proposal. Then, moving down further in the dialog box, check the box next to Move the Item to Folder. A list of available folders pops up. Select the Smith Account folder (note you can create a new folder if needed by clicking on the New button), and click Ok. Smith Account will now appear next to the words Move Item to Folder. Next, click on OK to create this rule.
Another dialog box pops up to let you know the rule has been created. Notice there is a checkbox that says Run this rule now on messages already in the current folder. If you check that box and click OK, this allows the rule to immediately be put to use on existing emails. Otherwise, it will wait until new email messages come in.
For email rules, conditions can include sender, text that appears in the subject line, or who the email was sent to. When an email meets the conditions, then you can choose what happens next.
Available options for what happens in a simple email rule like the one we just created include the following:
Display in the New Item Alert Window
Play a Selected Sound
Move the Item to a Folder
Using Rule Templates
You can access templates for Rules by going to File>Manage Rules and Alerts>New Rule. Here the Rules Wizard gives you access to templates organized under three categories: Stay Organized, Stay Up to Date, and Start from a blank rule.
Under Stay Organized, there are templates for the following:
Move messages from someone to a folder
Move messages with specific words in the subject to a folder
Move messages sent to a public group to a folder
Flag messages from someone for follow-up
Move items from a specific RSS Feed to a folder
Under Stay Up to Date, here are your options:
Display mail from someone in the New Items Alert Window
Play a sound when I get messages from someone
Send an alert to my mobile device when I get messages from someone
Let’s run through a quick example using a Rules template. We will create a rule that flags messages from a certain person for follow-up. Note that this can be applied to an email from people or from public groups. Begin by going to File>Manage Rules and Alerts>New Rule. This will start the Rules Wizard. Under Step 1, go to Stay Organized, select Flag messages from someone for follow-up.
At the bottom of the Rules Wizard, you will see Step 2. Here, you will edit the rule description to meet your needs. Anything underlined in blue can be edited. In the case of a move messages rule, you should see something like this under Step 2:
Apply this rule after the message arrives
from people or public groups and
flag message for follow up at this time
If you click on people or public groups, then you will be provided with a list of people or public groups to choose from. Clicking on follow up at this time will open up flagging options. These include what type of flag to apply (e.g., Follow Up, For You Information, Forward, etc.) and when it needs to be completed (e.g, Today, Tomorrow, This Week, Next Week, No Date, Complete). Once you’ve edited the rule description to meet your needs, click on Next.
This takes you to some additional options for refining the rule, such as requiring that certain words be in the subject or that the email comes through a specific account. Clicking on Next allows you to add exceptions to the rules, such as making an exception for emails sent from a public group or that you have been CC’ed on.
Clicking Next again allows you to name your rule and choose from a few more rule options that are presented next to checkboxes. These rule options are as follows:
Run this rule now on messages already in Inbox
Turn on this rule
Create this rule on all accounts (this only appears if you have multiple accounts)
Once you’ve made the modifications you need, click on Finish. Outlook will provide you with a message to let you know if the rule is only run when Outlook is open. Click on OK, and everything will be set up.
Conclusion
Taking the time to think through how you process email helps you gain control of your Outlook 2016 inbox. Remember that the rules can be as simple or complex as you want them to be. If you don’t know where to start, then use one of the Rule Templates. Templates simplify the Outlook Rules Wizard process so you can get familiar with how it works.
With the business world rapidly moving towards the digitization of documents, mobile scanning apps are becoming necessary for both work and personal use. However, in our day-to-day interactions, we encounter entities, such as the government or doctor’s office that require old-fashioned forms that are printed on paper.
Sometimes we are handed a business card from someone with important contact information we need to retain. Because not everything has moved to digital media, the most useful resolution is to quickly transform any paper you’re handed into digital data, which you can store and edit on your computers and mobile devices. Once stored, you have them practically forever if need be.
Think about the amount of physical information you encounter daily that you need to retain for your professional and personal life: spreadsheets, software information, receipts, financial records, old photographs your parents have, etc. If you need to capture that data or images for future use, having a scanner at your beck and call is an efficient way to operate.
The availability of a mobile scanning app that runs off your smartphone and uses your phone cam to snap the image can allow you to capture more information. This gives you the freedom to correctly analyze and pull out the important stuff for later.
Let’s look at some of the best mobile apps out there. Some of these scanning apps are free, while others are highly affordable. Try to match up your needs to the right app.
Microsoft recently launched Office Lens for Android, a scanning app that lets you shoot photos of written materials like notepads, printed documents, and whiteboards, converting printed words in the image to editable text through OCR. Microsoft has other mobile scanning apps such as Evernote, but they’ve added some remarkable functions to this new app. The Office Lens gives you the ability to scan documents, cards, and whiteboards with your Android phone, making them more readable and editable. Best of all, it’s a free app!
If you are already an Evernote user, this app scans anything you put in front of it and sends it to your Evernote account, or another place that you designate. It has the capability to share the files with other people very easily, as well. Imagine you’re in a meeting with a number of team members or clients. You can use the app to scan a few files from the meeting, and Scannable will instinctively ask you if you want to share the images with the people in your meeting. If you have already listed the attendees in a meeting invite and you’ve granted Scannable access to your calendar, it will send them the data immediately. How’s that for convenience?
If you already have a paid Adobe Document Cloud or Creative Cloud account and use it regularly, this app is a no-brainer. Sometimes you have a piece of paper that you need to get into digital form. The Adobe Scan app can not only produce a PDF using your smartphone camera, but it can also employ optical-character recognition (OCR) to the scanned image so that you can freely edit its text. For an app that automatically detects, captures, and converts printed text to digital form, Adobe Scan is a perfect app. But once again, you need a paid subscription to get all its impressive features.
What Are The Best Mobile Scanning Apps Under 5 Dollars?
Abbyy has been in the scanning technology business for a very long time, and that gives them a leg up on the new and robust competition. Experts have been impressed with its use on older high-end desktop scanners. Its mobile scanning tool Abbyy FineScanner, is impressive as well. FineScanner does a terrific job of scanning any type of printed document. It’s very fast at snapping the photo image and also gives the user the option of color or black-and-white.
The one downside to the Abbyy FineScanner is its price disclosure. You can download a free version, but the free version doesn’t support the software’s best feature, its optical character recognition (OCR). For this feature, you need to pay either $4.99 a month or $19.99 for the year. If you sign up through the website, a free month of premium subscription is available.
This mobile scanning application has a unique feature that sets it apart from other apps under $5. The Instig CamScanner will separate the document acquisition process (take a picture of the image and turn it into text) from the document management process. If speed is important to you, this app is very fast at taking the image and converting it for you. Intsig CamScanner’s optical character recognition (OCR) is not as accurate as some of the other apps. If accuracy is crucial for you, Instig CamScanner might not be the right scan app for you to download.
TurboScan, a $4.99 app for Android and iOS, is an unpretentious app that precisely saves documents and images for you to edit elsewhere. It is not the fastest, nor does it have a processing niche like the other featured mobile scanning apps. What it does have is consistency in both its accuracy and quality at an affordable price.
Wrap Up
Technology is moving forward at a lightning fast pace. Be sure to check often for the latest and greatest scanning apps and you might be surprised at what some tech guru has come up with.
