Tuesday Tip: Manage Email Using Rules

by Tony Rushin

Last week David gave some tips for combating Spam.  But how about managing email that isn’t Spam, but you also know it’s not urgent?  One way to manage emails of this nature is to use “Rules” to divert the email to where you want it even before it hits your inbox.

For instance, I get a daily notice from the Atlanta Business Chronicle.  This is something I’ve requested, so it’s not Spam, but I don’t really want it going to my inbox.  I can set up a rule that moves all of these emails to my “@Read” folder so I can read them at my convenience (for me this is twice a week, early in the morning).  The easiest way to do this is as follows:

• The next time the Atlanta Business Chronicle email comes to my inbox, right click on the email then go to “Rules” and click on “Always Move Messages from Atlanta Business Chronicle:
  

• Then I simply click on my “@Read” folder and hit OK:
  

That’s it.  Have fun applying rules to manage your email!

Network 1 Consulting is a 14-year-old, IT Support company in Atlanta, GA.  We become – or augment – the IT department for professional services companies: law firms, medical practices and financial services firms.  Our IT experts can fix computers – but what our clients really value is the industry-specific best practices we bring to their firm.  This is especially important with technology, along with regulations and cyber threats, changing so rapidly.  We take a proactive approach to helping our clients use technology to gain and keep their competitive advantage.

 

ACT! vs. Cloud-based CRM for Small Businesses

Should I continue to use ACT! or should I move my CRM to The Cloud?

by David Gracey

This is actually a question we are getting from many of our Commercial Real Estate related clients – many of whom currently use ACT!

The starting point for all provider/solution comparisons should be functionality; i.e., does the solution do what you need, or, can the provider configure and customize the solution to do what you need (now and in the future)?

Additional criteria need to be taken into account as well when evaluating Cloud CRM solutions: provider viability, architecture and technology, references and support. Below is a list – provided by Saugatuck Technology Inc. – of leading, influential, and emergent Cloud-based providers of CRM solutions, many if not most of which can meet the majority of user needs.

• Ardexus Mode www.ardexus.com
• Pivotal CRM www.cdcsoftware.com
• C2CRM www.c2crm.com
• First Wave Technologies CRM www.firstwave.net
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM www.microsoft.com
• NetSuite CRM+ www.netsuite.com
• Oncontact Software CRM www.oncontact.com
• Optima Technologies ExSellence www.optima-tech.com
• Oracle Siebel CRM www.oracle.com
• Right Now Technologies CRM Suite www.rightnow.com
• Sage Software CRM www.sagesoftware.com
• Salesforce.com CRM www.salesforce.com
• Salesplace CRM www.salesplace.com
• SAP CRM www.sap.com
• SugarCRM www.sugarcrm.com
• update software Update seven www.update.com

Any discussion around moving to or deploying CRM in the Cloud should weigh the potential benefits:  lower costs, focus on core competencies, predictable expenses, and business agility.  And the challenges of the Cloud should also be included in the discussion: downtime, service level agreements (SLAs), information security, data access if Cloud vendor goes out of business, system integration and software customization.

When evaluating the potential of CRM in the Cloud, Commercial Real Estate related companies – as well as other small businesses – should weigh the benefits and challenges to determine the appropriate solution for their CRM needs.

Network 1 Consulting is a 14-year-old, IT Support company in Atlanta, GA.  We become – or augment – the IT department for professional services companies: law firms, medical practices and financial services firms.  Our IT experts can fix computers – but what our clients really value is the industry-specific best practices we bring to their firm.  This is especially important with technology, along with regulations and cyber threats, changing so rapidly.  We take a proactive approach to helping our clients use technology to gain and keep their competitive advantage.

Tuesday Tip: How to Fight Spam

by David Gracey

Unsolicited email, affectionately known as “spam,” is at best an annoyance and at worst an office productivity killer.  It can, however, be controlled with a few, relatively easy steps.  (Incidentally, the term “spam” is widely believed to have been derived from the classic “Monty Python” sketch which featured Vikings singing of the virtues of eating Spam)  The most important tool to fight spam is to get a good spam filter, which does a pretty decent job of allowing only legitimate email through.  Consumer-oriented email providers such as Comcast, AT&T and Earthlink provide their own filters.  Businesses rely on more advanced spam firewalls and outside services to provide protection against the unwanted Inbox invaders.  These filters block about 90% of spam.

In addition to the basic step of getting a spam filter, here are 3 easy steps to keep your Inbox clean.

• Stop using your business email account to sign up for online services, Internet orders and newsletters that are not business-related.  Setup a free email account from Google (Gmail) or Microsoft (Hotmail) specifically for this purpose.  Use this account whenever you purchase something online or need to provide an email address to marketers or other non-business-related entities.
• Unsubscribe from distribution lists.  Since spam became a real problem about 7 years ago, legitimate marketing companies use the unsubscribe feature to opt out of email.  For years we told clients not to click on the unsubscribe link because it only validated the account.  No more!  Although there are a few spammers trolling for email this way, the vast majority of unsubscribe links actually work.  Especially if the email comes from Target, Amazon, or another legitimate online retailer with whom you have done business.
• If you use Outlook, enable the Junk Mail Filter which catches what your primary filter won’t.  It’s customizable (blacklist, whitelist) and is very effective.  Just don’t forget to check it daily to ensure legitimate email wasn’t snagged.

It will take some time but once you’ve gotten into this routine, you will be able to reclaim your Inbox.

Network 1 Consulting is a 14-year-old, IT Support company in Atlanta, GA.  We become – or augment – the IT department for professional services companies: law firms, medical practices and financial services firms.  Our IT experts can fix computers – but what our clients really value is the industry-specific best practices we bring to their firm.  This is especially important with technology, along with regulations and cyber threats, changing so rapidly.  We take a proactive approach to helping our clients use technology to gain and keep their competitive advantage.

Tuesday Tip: Windows 7 SNAP! Organizing your Desktop Windows

by Richard Stokes

If you’re like me you’ve got 2 monitors running and multiple windows and applications open at the same time (Outlook, Excel, Word and Internet Explorer) and these days desktop real estate is valuable!

Sometimes my desktop windows get cluttered and I often find myself needing to look at several windows at the same time.  In the past I would wrestle with manually resizing each window so that I could see them side by side but inevitably I would end up with a bunch of windows that either overlapped, hung off one screen or just were not big enough for me to navigate to the information I need.  Well Windows 7 SNAP is a great tool with a quick keyboard shortcut that allows me to organize these windows quickly and neatly.

In the desktop capture shown above I have 2 monitors running side by side and with 4 applications open and active (Outlook, Internet Explorer, Excel and Adobe – circled in blue).  Currently only 2 of the applications are shown – Internet Explorer in full screen mode on my left monitor and an Adobe pdf in full screen mode on my right monitor.  What I want to do is see all 4 windows neatly next to each other and don’t want to waste a lot of time resizing them – I have work to do!

Here is what I do:  On my left monitor I click on the Internet Explorer window to make it active and then using the keyboard shortcut of windows key + left arrow  +  , it is automatically resized to half my screen and to the left.  Then I click on Outlook to make it active and use the shortcut of windows key + right arrow key   +  and it is automatically resized to other half of my screen and to the right.  I then do the same for the Adobe and Excel applications on my second monitor and the end result is this:

Now I can comfortably work within each application and have saved myself time in the process.

Network 1 Consulting is a 14-year-old, IT Support company in Atlanta, GA.  We become – or augment – the IT department for professional services companies: law firms, medical practices and financial services firms.  Our IT experts can fix computers – but what our clients really value is the industry-specific best practices we bring to their firm.  This is especially important with technology, along with regulations and cyber threats, changing so rapidly.  We take a proactive approach to helping our clients use technology to gain and keep their competitive advantage.

How Mobile Devices Will Play an Increasingly Important Role in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Patients

by Richard Stokes

As previously mentioned in my Top 5 Medical Trends for 2012, mobile devices are revolutionizing patient care. In the last few years, more doctors and their patients are turning to medical applications for smartphones and tablets.

For the three month average period ending January 2012, comScore reports that over 100 million U.S. mobile subscribers (101.3 million to be exact) are using smartphones, which is up from 97.9 million in the previous period.

Smartphone users have access to thousands of apps like iTriage, where they can find possible causes, treatments, and nearby medical help for a number of symptoms. The app also stores health records.

The number of users downloading mHealth smartphone applications is expected to nearly double in 2012 compared to last year, with 247 million users, according to medical research specialists Research2Guidance.

Nearly half of the physicians in the United States use tablets, and more than 80 percent of them have smartphones.

Physicians can use features like improved cameras to more easily record the physical symptoms of patients. Mobile devices also have the potential to be used as diagnostic tools because medical imaging will be possible once new apps become available that utilize the upgraded technology. Apps can be used currently to collaborate with other healthcare professionals to make a diagnosis. Voice recognition systems like Siri, the iPhone’s new built-in voice assistant, can be used by healthcare professionals as a dictation device.

If you want to learn more, MobiHealthNews offers a complimentary on-demand webinar, Meaningful Uses for Mobile.  This webinar focuses on how two of the biggest topics in healthcare today intersect: Meaningful Use and mobile health.

Network 1 Consulting is a 14-year-old, IT Support company in Atlanta, GA.  We become – or augment – the IT department for professional services companies: law firms, medical practices and financial services firms.  Our IT experts can fix computers – but what our clients really value is the industry-specific best practices we bring to their firm.  This is especially important with technology, along with regulations and cyber threats, changing so rapidly.  We take a proactive approach to helping our clients use technology to gain and keep their competitive advantage.

Tuesday Tip: Excel Keyboard Shortcut

by Tony Rushin

If you never use Excel then save your time: this tip isn’t for you.

If you’re like me, you use Excel on a regular basis.  I use it weekly, if not daily, even if I’m not seriously crunching numbers.  I’ve been using the same Excel shortcuts for years so when Steve Guthman, IT Director at Quantum Radiology, recently sent me an email entitled “Excel tip – One of the Most Forgotten Shortcuts, for a future blog”, I was intrigued.  I’ve been using Steve’s tip for several weeks now; it’s definitely a time-saver.

Thank you, Steve, for sharing.  Here’s his tip just as he sent it to me:

F2: Edit a cell in Excel

Forget the clumsy task of clicking in the formula bar when editing a cell in Microsoft Excel. Instead, press F2 and you’ll be editing the cell right in the spreadsheet where the cell is.

Once you’re editing a cell, you can use the standard navigation keys (Home, End, Ctrl+Left Arrow, Ctrl+Right Arrow) to get to where you want, then press Enter to accept your changes (or press Esc to cancel).

For example, suppose you need to change the number “151,000″ into “15,100.” Don’t retype it! Just press F2, then press Backspace to get rid of the extra zero, then press Enter. Done!

********************
F2 saves me hours each week!

That’s all there is to it… have fun!

Network 1 Consulting is a 14-year-old, IT Support company in Atlanta, GA.  We become – or augment – the IT department for professional services companies: law firms, medical practices and financial services firms.  Our IT experts can fix computers – but what our clients really value is the industry-specific best practices we bring to their firm.  This is especially important with technology, along with regulations and cyber threats, changing so rapidly.  We take a proactive approach to helping our clients use technology to gain and keep their competitive advantage.

Tuesday Tip: First look at the new Ultrabooks

by David Gracey

Apple’s MacBook Air has raised the bar on the ultralight laptop computers, known as “Ultrabooks”.  These slim laptops are generally designed for travelling executives or highly mobile workers who just need the basics in a laptop: internet, email and the Microsoft Office.  Their growing popularity has been in large part to folks getting used to iPads and tablets but who also need the ability to have a good keyboard and work on documents while out of the office.

There are some key differences in a traditional laptop versus the ultrabooks.  Unlike a traditional laptop that has a 14” or 15” screen, the Ultrabook has a screen of 13” in diameter, they weigh around 3 lbs instead of 4-6 lbs for traditional laptops and have smaller, albeit faster, hard drives.  The keyboards are smaller although much better than working with a tablet’s keyboard.

Recently, Dell and HP have released worthy competitors that will give the MacBook Air a run for the money.    The Dell XPS 13 and the HP Folio 13 are new models for both companies and the initial reviews are very favorable.  Both of these models have a starting price of $999, however, a well-equipping model will end up costing about $1,600 or so.

Like everything else in this world, there is a price to pay for this super portable computer.  In order to pack so much into a smaller shell, manufacturers remove the optical (DVD) drive, replace larger hard drives for smaller ones (64GB – 256GB in most cases) and there is usually no docking station.  They also have a maximum RAM size of 4GB, which is plenty for basic applications but not for the performance user.  The biggest complaint about the ultrabooks, including the MacBook Air, is the shorter battery life, generally 4-6 hours instead of 8-10 hours.

Overall the ultrabook is a great option for a travelling business person.  There are some sacrifices that must be made in order to accommodate the small, lightweight design but most will find it is worth the tradeoff.

Network 1 Consulting is a 14-year-old, IT Support company in Atlanta, GA.  We become – or augment – the IT department for professional services companies: law firms, medical practices and financial services firms.  Our IT experts can fix computers – but what our clients really value is the industry-specific best practices we bring to their firm.  This is especially important with technology, along with regulations and cyber threats, changing so rapidly.  We take a proactive approach to helping our clients use technology to gain and keep their competitive advantage.