Could you benefit from an upgrade to Office 2010?

There are so many benefits of using Office 2010 that now may be the time for you to upgrade.

Some of these benefits include:

  • Improved visual tools – allow you to express your creative and visual ideas. This can help you to engage with your visual prospect better when giving presentations or creating proposals. Why not use Excel’s improved tools for better data visualisation. This will also help you make more informed business decisions when you need to.
  • Boost productivity with easy to use tools – improved navigation through the menu allows easy access to tools. The tools in Outlook can help you reduce
    information overload! And help manage e-mails more efficiently.
  • Create your own sophisticated marketing material- In PowerPoint you can create amazing digital content in 2010 that comes to life with cutting edge audio/video capabilities and animation enhancements. You can also create timelines and brochures in Word and Excel too.
  • Protected view – Office 2010 provides a Protected View feature to help Protect and guard you against malware in your e-mail attachments and Internet files, as well as your documents.

Microsoft offers a 60 day trial offer so why don’t you take a test drive and see for yourself? Click HERE and download a copy now.

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What does your e-mail say about your Company? Part 2

Finally! Fame at last!

Since the inaugural edition of “Joined Up Thinking” I have had many clients come back to me to ask how they can control signatures across their companies. You may think why – you would want to control signatures? Well a uniform signature gives continuity to your brand and can protect you against legal action.

Let me explain.

An email signature management console can deploy a standard email signature across your user base. You can include your awards, accreditations, testimonials, Twitter and Facebook pages and excerpt of a case study with a link to your website for visitors to read more. Most importantly you can include a standard disclaimer at the bottom of your signatures too. Now a disclaimer is very important. Have you ever thought about what you would do if one of your staff accidentally messaged the wrong individual with confidential information? Well a disclaimer could help in this circumstance.

There is a solution that most of our clients currently use that will allow you to do this. It is a solution that works brilliantly as an Anti-SPAM and Anti -Virus solution and also doubles up as an email signature management console. Interested? Well give me a call and I will explain more….

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What do your e-mails say about your Company?

Recently I was tasked with finding a venue for an event we are due to hold in July (I will tell you more about this Next month). I had requested various quotes from venues in Birmingham so whilst sifting through the myriad of proposals I couldn’t help noticing how different the signatures at the end of each email was. Some were very basic showing the senders name and company name only, other signatures included the company address, telephone number and web address. For me the email’s which stood out more where those that included much more within their signatures. Many listed their awards and  accreditations, some included testimonials, Twitter and Facebook pages. One email I received had an excerpt of a case study with a link to their website to read more (which I duly followed…).

Well to cut a long story short – as a prospect it made it easier for me to whittle down my list by choosing the venues that had best showcased their “wares” and given me valid reasons to pick them over the other suppliers at a glance. I did pick a venue – The ICC. They happened to be the company that included a link to a case study, which took me to their site and got me looking around!

So the moral of my story is – create a signature that truly encompasses your company’s attributes. The awards you have won, the partners you work with, what your customers/clients say about you and how your clients/prospects can stay in
touch with you. It may just be the edge you need to close that deal!

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Dual screens –Sims verdict!

I have been using dual screens for a while now and here is my verdict!

Working with dual screens has allowed me to work more efficiently and quickly in everything I do.  Sometimes (like right now!) I have my Outlook open on one screen and Word on another screen. This allows me to draft my blog in Word and monitor incoming e-mails at a glance.

I can easily keep monitoring Twitter, e-mails, LinkedIn, Skype, CRM, Office or specialist software such as our online portal. For you this may be Sage, Lotus notes, QuickBooks or any other specialist software. 

Whatever line of work you are in dual screens allow you to compare screens easily – for example comparing products to purchase. If your job involves a lot of research in which you have multiple applications open like OneNote, Word and Internet Explorer dual screens allow you to spread this.

Of course there is an additional cost involved in buying an additional screen but you will definitely notice the improvement. Let me know how it goes!

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Top 10 things to look for when buying PCs for business

When looking for or considering purchasing new PCs for a business there are many things that you need to consider. Here is a list of the top 10 things that will help you be a happy and more informed business shopper. 

  1. First things first – You need to choose between a desktop PC or a Laptop. If you have many users who need to work remotely or who are always out of the office then it may be a better solution to choose laptops. However PCs have a better shelf life, and the ability to upgrade the hardware. This then means PCs have a longer shelf life and are more durable.  
  2. An average small Business PC requires 2GB RAM. For those who need to run multiple applications like Sage, CRM, CAD or specialist software or for those with little patience 4GB RAM is preferable!
  3. If you decide to buy a PC ensure it has the capacity to upgrade the hardware, specifically the ability to insert more RAM for the future. This will allow you to increase the performance speed as with time this tends to become slower.
  4. Ensure it has Windows 7 Professional on it. This will allow you to connect your PC up to your server and or work in a work group environment.
  5. Make sure you buy AV protection for your PC and remember that AVG does not permit its use for business purposes! A robust solution such as Symantec is recommended as it won’t hamper the PC/ Laptops performance.
  6. Many businesses use Office on a day to day basis and Office 2010 can help boost your performance with easy to use tools. If you’re not sure, then most PC’s come with Office 2010 60 day trial. Or you can download a 60 day trial from Microsoft too. Please remember to get a professional version as this includes Outlook.
  7. The processor in a PC also plays a key part in the speed and efficiency of a PC/Laptop ensure it is a Dual­Core processor and runs at 3.2 GHz. This will ensure your business applications run smoothly with little glitches. If you want something more powerful then consider a quad-core processor. 
  8. Most PCs come with 500GB Storage capacity as standard as this is plenty if you plan on storing most data on your server. Most Laptops vary in storage capacity but it is suggested that you should have at least 250GB.
  9. Also consider how you are going to back up or secure this data. If you have a server in place it is recommended that you get users to store data on this. This will then allow you to back up from one central location. If you do not have a server it is recommended that you back up data on to a external device like a hard drive.
  10. Don’t forget to check that the PC includes a new keyboard mouse and of course a new screen if required!

 

These pointers were brought to you by Simple Sim! If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. If there is a topic of interest which you would like me to cover please let me know and I will do my best to cover it!

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