Microsoft Office is a wonderful collection of tools that any business can get value out of, and it’s so popular that it makes up almost half of the office productivity software market. We thought we would share some tips that will help you get even more value out of the software solutions found within it.
Google Workspace is an excellent tool to get work done, but you might often need to download your files to continue using them elsewhere or share them with someone else. In situations like these, downloading is easy and effective, and better yet, customizable; you can change the format in Google Workspace and everything. Here’s how it’s done.
To the layperson, a business is a business is a business. From your customers to your employees, they don’t always view businesses on a sliding scale. For the enterprise business, this is an advantage, since most digital tools are developed with the B2B enterprise space in mind. For the small business, there are definitely times when the software they use is more than they will ever need and it can be more expensive than they would normally need. In today’s blog, we’ll go through a few technologies that enterprise businesses use that small businesses can use too.
Many businesses rely on the concept of a shared network, where all computers have access to centralized folders and drives so documents can be accessed by everyone. While it is likely that your IT department has already taken care of the nitty-gritty details of this, we thought it might be helpful to put together a short guide on how you can map a network on your personal device on the off-chance you want to set up a shared network for your own personal reasons.
If you use a network-connected printer, you might need to know what its IP address is. Let’s discuss how you can find your printer’s IP address within your Windows 10 settings, as well as why you might need to know it.
Have you ever tried to send large files, like video files, via a service like email? It simply does not work. For cases where you need to send multiple files or those that are larger, attaching them to a message is not going to cut it. In instances like this, you can compress files using the built-in tools found in Windows 10.
Google Workspace, the solution formerly known as G Suite, is an extremely popular productivity suite in the business world. Just like other productivity solutions and tools, there are plenty of keyboard shortcuts that you can leverage for maximum efficiency. Let’s take a look at some of these shortcuts that you can use for Google Workspace.
Using the Outlook Polling Feature To create a poll, pull up Outlook and start a New Email. Proceed as you would with any email, filling out your subject line and identifying who it should be sent to. You can then insert a poll by clicking into the Insert tab and selecting the Poll option, or by navigating to the Options tab of your message, clicking Use Voting Buttons, and selecting Poll. A window will appear that allows you to specify the question you want to ask your recipients, as well as the capability to customize your answers. You can add additional responses by clicking +Add option. Be warned, the poll has a character limit of 330, many of which are taken up by the poll structure itself, so keep your polls brief. To authorize multiple responses, you can toggle the Multiple answers button to green. Once your poll is completed, click Insert poll into email, and it can be shared. Reviewing Your Results Once you’ve created this poll, the results will appear to you in your version of it. So, if you keep it brief, Microsoft has provided a very useful way for its users to collect feedback. You can also review your results—as well as how the vote broke down amongst your users—by clicking on Review answers or the button labelled Open in Excel. A Few Caveats You should be aware that this feature is only available to those using a Microsoft 365 hosted email account, with a subscription to Microsoft 365. So, does this sound like something you could use? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!
While these potential threats are frustrating to look out for, that is exactly what needs to be done to prevent their success. Here are five tips to help you spot a phishing attack before it is too late. Extreme Urgency When somebody is trying to phish you, they often rely on you panicking and not fully thinking through the message. That’s why, whenever you receive an email labelled “urgent” and written in an intimidating tone, you need to take a few breaths and consider it a little more. There is no questioning that email is an extremely valuable communication tool, but at the same time, would it really be how you sent someone an urgent, time-sensitive message over something like a phone call? Even if it does come in via a phone call, any message you receive should be carefully considered before you act. Attachments Email gives business users so much utility, but that also lumps in those who make cybercrime their business as well. Email makes it much easier for a cybercriminal to send along a malware payload, hidden inside an attachment. Therefore, you should never click into an email attachment that you didn’t anticipate receiving, and even think twice about the ones you did expect. Many organizations—like financial institutions and the like—are favorite ruses of cybercriminals, despite the fact that these organizations will either use a dedicated solution to reach out to you or call you directly before sending along an attachment. Unless you know with confidence what an attachment contains, it is best not to click on it at all. Spelling and Grammar Errors Let me ask you a question: if you were to receive any kind of written correspondence from a business, whether it was an email, a letter, what have you, would you take that business seriously if it was riddled with mistakes and misspellings? Unlikely. Businesses are generally very aware of this, and usually put forth the effort to ensure that the materials and messages they send out are carefully edited before they distribute them for this very reason. Would you trust this blog if every other sentence featured a misspelled word or misused punctuation mark? In a phishing message, however, the individual writing it is actively banking that their reader won’t be paying too close attention, making such errors less important. While this isn’t a hard and fast rule, it is a good way to keep your business safe. Requests for Personal Information In a similar vein, does it make sense that a business that presumably already has your sensitive information would reach out and ask for it again via email? No, it doesn’t, and that’s why legitimate businesses tend not to do this. While this is also a generalization and there will be exceptions, a scammer will generally be the only party to request sensitive and personal information over email. A legitimate business will have a different tool they use to collect this data if they need it, as they need to abide by the compliance and security requirements that are likely imposed on them by some regulatory body. Suspicious Links Finally, we need to discuss links, particularly those that come included in a surprise email. Links are remarkably easy to manipulate, so while you may think you’re visiting another business’ website […]
Identify an Agenda, and a Moderator to Enforce It The first step to having a productive meeting is to have a general idea of what will be discussed in the time allotted for it. Not only will this help to minimize tangents and other conversations that aren’t conducive to the meeting’s goal, sharing it ahead of time gives the participants a chance to organize their thoughts. Once the meeting is underway, you also need to make sure that it stays on the track that your agenda set for it. This means that it needs to be somebody’s responsibility to guide the meeting’s trajectory. Giving one of the participants the capability to mute and unmute other participants as needed is a useful option to consider, if need be, along with these responsibilities. Selecting the Solution There are a lot (repeat for emphasis) of collaboration and remote meeting options available right now, so you have plenty to consider implementing to support your operations. While we aren’t going to make any specific recommendations, we want to go over a few key considerations to keep in mind as you weigh your options: What functions and features will your remote meetings require? How many people does the conferencing platform need to support? Can your other tools and solutions play a role, either via integrations or concurrent use? With the answers to these questions in mind, you’ll be better able to select the option that fits your precise needs. Compare Notes Finally, when your meeting is over, it helps if everyone contributes to the meeting’s record. This helps prevent steps from being missed and can clarify everyone’s goals after the fact. By sending this summary to all involved once it is prepared you can ensure that your meeting has concluded with everyone (almost literally) on the same page. What have you done to make the most of your remote meetings? Share your tips in the comments!