EasylifeIT Blog Archives - Page 2 of 4 - IT Company Peterborough, Norwich & Sheffield

May 2020 is to be an exciting month for those of us who use Microsoft Teams with some new features that will help overcome some irritations and limitations

Some Much-Needed Enhancements for Teams – Coming Your Way in May 2020

Some much-needed enhancements for Teams – coming your way in May 2020

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May 2020 is to be an exciting month for those of us who use Microsoft Teams, with some new features that will help overcome some irritations and limitations that have become more apparent in the past few weeks with us all decamping home to work.

The big one – increase in the number of simultaneous video streams

Teams until now has had a limit of 4 simultaneous video streams. The reasoning behind this has been “focus”, and for those of us who have also been using Zoom in the past few weeks, there is some merit to that! Last week I had 58 in a Zoom meeting and it was a blur and almost impossible to focus on the speaker. It is a relief that Microsoft hasn’t gone in that direction, but we will see shortly up to 9 individuals on our screen with layout adaption based on who is speaking and their bandwidth capabilities.

Expert Articles Learning Centre Microsoft Office 365 Resources

Can My Prospects and Customers Book Time With Me Online?

Can my prospects and customers book time with me online?

Just occasionally you encounter a piece of software or online service where you think … “where has this been all my life?”

Trying to find a mutually convenient time for a meeting and the usual rigmarole of “you send me your dates and I’ll send you mine” is enough to drive both parties to distraction. Equally, trying to engage with a new customer via a submitted website form can lead to similar issues .. sometimes you just can’t get together for that all-important initial chat! Wouldn’t it be fab if your customer or prospect could just book a time online that reflects your own diary commitments? Well .. if you use Office 365 Business Premium (now Microsoft 365 Business Standard) or some Office 365 enterprise packages then you can … for free!

Should I implement two factor authentication?

Cyber security and resilience Expert Articles Learning Centre

Why is Two-Factor Authentication Important?

Two-factor authentication (MFA) – little pain, big gain

The rise and rise of the cloud

The use of cloud computing continues to grow rapidly. Packages such as Microsoft Office 365 and Google G Suite are very widely used across businesses of all sizes for a multitude of purposes, including e-mail, file storage and file sharing.

Legislative requirements are also driving wider adoption of functionally specific software, including cloud accounting to meet HMRC’s ‘Making Tax Digital’ requirements. Many businesses will be familiar with well-known packages such as Xero and QuickBooks Online.

Popular, but also a target

Expert Articles

What Value is a Service Level Agreement?

What value is a Service Level Agreement?

Indeed, good question! Marketing gurus preach that companies such as ours should offer guarantees to their clients based on Service Level Agreements. However, having reviewed many Service Level Agreements, they are frequently so carefully worded and qualified that the headline “guaranteed response time” becomes valueless; a document that looks cast iron in an effort to win your business but in fact can let you down when you most need it. This is a tactic to which we do not subscribe nor will adopt. Here at EasylifeIT™ we do things differently.

Expert Articles Learning Centre Microsoft Office 365 Resources

Is SharePoint Online a Document Management System?

SharePoint is a Document Management System.

I am often asked if SharePoint can be used as a document management system – this is quite an odd question as that is exactly what SharePoint is…so how did we get to the point where that is questionable?

SharePoint has been through quite a revolutionary journey from petty file share to modern Intranet in a box. However, we seem to have got to a point where the visual has overtaken the reputation of the functional. So, let us clarify and answer the question asked:

So, what do we need from a Document Management system?

Expert Articles Learning Centre

Shakespeare Once Said: “To Sell or Not To Sell? That Is The question”

Ok, I know, Shakespeare didn’t actually say that, but it’s an interesting question right now, amid this Covid-19 pandemic, isn’t it?

If there is someone that wants to buy, why wouldn’t you sell?

In the first two weeks of the lockdown, the question I got asked the most was should I carry on marketing, is it crass? Well, my short answer was “yes, you should carry on marketing”. The question I am now seeing everywhere is “should I still sell?” Simply put, if there is someone that wants to buy, why wouldn’t you sell?

So many businesses are having to adapt and change their offering to stay afloat, so why would you go through all that change and then not sell?

Expert Articles Learning Centre Working from home

Dislocation, Dislocation, Dislocation

Dislocation: A look at the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on our daily lives and our businesses

No, this is nothing to do with Phil and Kirstie, just a look at the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on our daily lives and our businesses. In particular, the impact that dislocation can have on our ability to rationalise the present and plan for the future.

Dislocation is defined as ‘disturbance from a proper, original, or usual place or state’. Suddenly, our sense of normality is ruptured and, in the midst of a global pandemic, we have the added stress of worrying about family, about ourselves and about our business livelihoods.

Expert Articles Strategy and policy

I’m Unhappy With My IT support. What Should I Do?

I’m unhappy with my IT support. What should I do?

In this article, I explain what to do if you outsource your IT support to a third party and things aren’t going as well as they should be.

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I don’t know what to ask, let alone understand the answers!

I’ve got an admission to make – IT used to be my least favourite thing at work. It all started from the shock of being given responsibility for the IT function in a very large manufacturing plant. My politics degree hadn’t covered servers, firewalls and networks. I had managerial experience but felt very uncomfortable wearing my new hat. I didn’t know what questions to ask; I wouldn’t have understood the answers even if I did.

EasylifeIT™ Blog

EasylifeIT™ Appoints James Allison as Strategic IT Consultant

EasylifeIT™ appoints James Allison as Strategic IT Consultant From today, 3rd April, I have joined EasylifeIT™ in the new rol...

Cyber security and resilience Expert Articles Learning Centre

What is CEO Fraud and What Can We Do to Avoid It?

What is CEO fraud and what can we do to avoid it?

CEO fraud reputedly cost companies a whopping $1.1bn in 2018 and has been increasing steadily ever since. Impacting any size of company from micro to enterprise it is essential to understand how the scam works to protect your company and employees from it.

Firstly, what is it?

CEO fraud is when scammers impersonate a company executive making urgent and sometimes confidential requests of a member of staff within the company. Their motivation is usually financial, but we have seen rare instances where confidential data has been requested.