Archivo de la categoría: Collaboration

Cloud Technology, Collaboration

Microsoft and Ford’s New Cloud Based Partnership

Microsoft and Ford have worked together in the past to bring us Sync: a revolutionary technology that shifted a long standing reliance on hardware-based in-dash content and brought in an era of being able to access a portable device for entertainment. The original Sync system was way before the age of the cloud, and it was basically used to access music on iPod devices and take calls through Bluetooth.

 

Sync was the first software-based system, meaning it could be upgraded and features could be added later on. Other companies tried to follow suit, and the second generation Sync MyFord Touch system fell short of expectations. For the newest version of Sync, Sync 3, Ford teamed up with QNX. Many saw this as Ford ditching Microsoft, but they recently announced that they are working together on the Ford Service Delivery Network powered my Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform.

 

sync 3

 

 

This network is not going to rely just on Wi-Fi, and will include a built-in modem that can connect with the cloud and smartphone applications. This leverages the existing MyFord and MyLincoln smartphone apps.

 

Though Ford was the first to introduce this innovative technology with the original Sync, a lack of embedded connections in its cars has meant that Ford is already being left in the dust by automakers like Tesla who take advantage of over-the-air update capability. The new embedded modems will allow the new system to do exactly this.

 

The new capabilities of this Delivery Network will be in select vehicles by the end of the year, and will begin to be implemented in most vehicles by the end of next year. There is not yet a pricing structure, but the price of it is not subscription based and will be included in the price of the vehicle. However, additional features and new services that will be added in the future will most likely be a pay as you use or pay as you go sort of model.

The post Microsoft and Ford’s New Cloud Based Partnership appeared first on Cloud News Daily.

Archiving & Regulatory Retention, Audit, Collaboration, compliance, Document Management, Email address, File Delivery, File Sharing, File transfer, Legal, Messaging

Secure File Delivery with an Audit Trail

My Docs Online has enhanced its web-based secure file delivery feature to add additional controls and a comprehensive delivery audit trail.

“We were the first to offer web-based file delivery, back in 1999,” said Stephen Campbell, CEO of My Docs Online, “and we’ve consistently enhanced and expanded our capabilities as user needs have evolved. What we are seeing now is the need for optional controls like passwords, variable expiration limits, and most importantly, a detailed audit trail documenting delivery and the ability to make changes after the fact. No other product offers our range of options coupled with an audit trail.”

In order to offer such a wide range of options without making the feature cumbersome to use, customization controls allow unneeded options to be hidden, allowing a streamlined, custom experience for each user. In addition, group administrators can control defaults and enforce group policies such as requiring passwords or setting a fixed expiration.

The new “Smart Label” feature allows users label a Share, and also save default values like custom comments and expirations for future use. Smart Labels also add more value to the Share Management portion of the product, making it easier to locate, verify and control Shares.

Users also have the option to generate a link they can send themselves, or select email addresses from an address book and let My Docs Online send the email.

The file delivery page displays the customer’s logo, and offers an optional zipped download of all files when there is more than one.

A web API is also available for third-party use.

More details are available in the My Docs Online FAQ.

Accountability, Area of responsibility, Chief information officer, Cloud & IT Management, Cloud computing, Collaboration, Internet Technology, Project management, Project management software, Start Up

Six Steps for Choosing a Software Vendor for your Start-Up

You’ve decided to take the plunge. Your dream business is on its way to make it big and you’re scaling up rapidly. As a startup entrepreneur you’re conscious of your costs – bottom-line matters the most to you and outsourcing is the answer.

For your business, every decision that you take not only affects you immediately but can have rippling effects. It is important then that these decisions are taken after carefully considering the impact, yet you may not enjoy the luxury of time in this competitive business landscape.

As a budding business house, there are a few challenges that you will face – tight budgets, short turnaround times, robust software support, right skills and people resources, high focus on business development and competitive pricing norms. Most of these challenges will remain, but when it comes to choosing your software vendors, here are six steps that can ease your decision:

Understand your requirements
An in-depth analysis of how software is going to support your business is most critical. You not only need to understand your current requirements, but as a start-up your growth curve is exponential. You would need to have a sense of direction of where the business is headed and how your requirements will change. This will then be helpful for you to match your needs with the offerings of the vendors you screen.

Is the vendor flexible enough?
Sometimes you will have to choose between an extremely well-known name that provides you with a standard set of software offerings or an isv that is more willing to tweak systems as per your requirements. This will probably give you much more flexibility as you grow, enhance or modify your software requirements in a dynamic business environment.

How open are communication channels?
One of the biggest challenges you may face with vendors is the lack of open channels that can help cater to fast moving changes in your systems. Transparent communication channels, no language barriers and 24 by 7 customer support should be top of your list when selecting vendors.

Do they have the right people?
Do they have the right skills and people resources? Are they able to retain these people? Are their teams able to provide expert counsel to you in matters of software, emerging technologies and project management?

Confidentiality and security?
Does your software vendor provide you with a sense of peace when it comes to managing your data? Look at testimonials from other users and conduct a proper survey on how vendors manage their own security, confidentiality and look at legal agreements carefully before signing on.

Expansion capabilities and hidden costs?
Will the software vendor be able to support rapid expansion, do they have open architectures that facilitate growth and revisions? Look at all hidden costs clearly; articulate as much as is possible at the outset. But also do a professional ethics check to see that the vendor adheres to corporate norms when unwritten requirements crop up.

To know more about software vendors please click here.

Collaboration, compliance, Document Management, File Delivery, File Delivery Tracking, File Sharing

When Businesses Share Files They Need Control, Tracking and Audit

When My Docs Online, an online file sharing and delivery service with 15 years experience, revamped their Share feature in July, they focused on control, tracking  and audit.

“We’ve been doing this for businesses and professionals for some time,” said CEO Stephen Campbell, “And we know that in addition to ease of use for both sender and recipients, the sender also needs the ability to control, modify, and track delivery.”

The result is the addition of a Share Management tool that lets senders see exactly what transpired on the receiving side, with download logging, IP addresses, and results. The new tool also allows easy cancellation, modification of expiration, addition or change to delivery passwords, and more.

The new release also introduced labels to allow tagging of a Share with a meaningful label, including “Smart Labels” that pre-determine delivery features including a default password, number of days before the delivery expires, and a pre-formatted comment.

“A decade ago all our file deliveries were done with My Docs Online sending an email on the customer’s behalf,” said Campbell. “Now fully 50 per cent of the time customers choose to get a link from us and send it themselves. The label option in part replaces the email address they are no longer including, making it easier to find and track a particular Share.”

Six weeks into the new release, the company has been able to gain some insight into usage patterns:

  • 8 percent of Shares use a delivery password for increased security
  • 59 percent involved a single file, and another third were for between 2 and ten files. Only one in a hundred Shares involved more than 30 files.

More stats and info are available on the My Docs Online blog.

Advertising, Business Processes, Collaboration, Content marketing, Customer Relationship Management, Document Management, Social, Software as a service, Workflow

Use a Shared Technology Platform to Reorganize your Digital Media Activities

“Digital marketing” is now a familiar term across age groups spending time on online and mobile interfaces. The digital media space can no longer be ignored and companies in varying fields, from pharmaceutical to telecom have started to take it seriously, and invest in it for the long term.

Large companies would need a strong presence in the digital arena. This means that many stakeholders would be involved in handling different kinds of digital media. For example, one agency might be in charge of the website creation and social media content, while another might handle email campaigns and banner ads. Add the technology service provider to this mix, and you could be headed for confusion. It is prudent to address this situation before it gets out of hand.

To implement a collaborative platform for one of its clients in business information services, HCL Tech used the following main 7 components:

Shared Technology Platform

The platform that was implemented had to be common across all the digital agencies and the technology service provider. It would form the foundation of the solution, and had to be capable enough to handle all the common assets, activities and reporting mechanisms.

Common Understanding of Objectives

The big picture is very important in such a collaborative scenario, and each digital agency and technology provider should have an idea of the objective to be achieved. This would help them understand the importance of their individual responsibilities clearly.

Definition of Roles

When multiple stakeholders are involved, the interfaces between them play an important role. This means that a single point of contact should be defined in each digital agency, as well as at the technology service provider and at the client’s end. The team structure within each team should also be uniformly and clearly defined, including special role definitions such as BIS digitization services.

Clear Definition of Responsibilities

In most situations, the final accountability might lie with the client’s business team, but it is important to define a responsibility matrix for all the stakeholders involved. This would help to identify the points of success, as well as to pinpoint any issues at an early stage.

Training Requirements

It is essential that the service provider provides the required training about the platform to the digital agencies, and also is available for guidance after the participants have started using it. Some of the aspects to be covered by the training include features of the platform, storage and access of digital assets, managing information, workflows and reporting mechanisms.

What are Workflows?

A common platform is effective only if used in a collaborative and uniform manner by all the stakeholders. The creation and review of workflows need to be performed by the end users of the platform from the client’s team, but in close discussion with the digital agencies.

Why are Reporting Mechanisms Important?

Reporting is an important step for tracking progress, and requires a common template to be established for use by all agencies.

Why are Reporting Mechanisms Important?

Reporting is an important step for tracking progress, and requires a common template to be established for use by all agencies.

Opting for a shared technology platform at an early stage of digital marketing would improve efficiency and brand image. It would also ensure that your digital marketing campaigns reach the required audience within an optimal period of time.

To know more about the topic please refer to the whitepaper written by HCL Technologies

Collaboration, Document Management, DropBox, File Sharing, Google, Google Drive, Java, Microsoft, My Docs Online Desktop App, QuickBooks, SkyDrive, Web Folders, WebDav

Three App Strategies for Document Collaboration, When To Use Each

When you have a document or file which needs editing or updating by more than one person, in more than one place, controlling the process to avoid the dreaded “intervening update” problem can be a challenge.

In the early days of personal computers the answer was often the “sneakernet”. Create document or file, write to a diskette, put on your Chuck Taylors and walk it to your collaborator, then get it back the same way. Later, LAN technology allowed the file to be placed on a local server and opened across the LAN for editing, with a lock on the file at the server while editing is being performed. When needing to get beyond the local LAN email attachments could be used, or FTP if you had a pre-Web internet connection. Management of “check-in/check-out” and  resolving update conflicts was done by humans, not software.

Sounds like the stone age now, but it beat printing a document and editing with a red pen.

The advent of the Web and its browsers, along with widespread, always-on internet connectivity brought new opportunities for using that connectivity and various software design strategies to support collaboration.

There are three essential design strategies for addressing the problem: pure web app (think Google Drive, née Google Docs),  file syncing (think Dropbox), and local editing with central locking (think MS Office+Web Folders/WebDAV). Each has its pros and cons, and which approach will work for a given task depends on factors like file type, file size, editing feature set, and client platforms supported.

The Pure Web App Approach

A real web app runs in a browser using javascript and (more and more often) HTML5. This approach in theory can support any device that has a modern browser, including tablets and smartphones, as well as Macs, Windows PCs and Chromebooks. Perhaps the premier example of this approach is the applications available in Google Drive. Simple documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and drawings can be created, edited and shared easily. Collaboration is as close to instantaneous as networking technology allows. Documents are always in synch. The first time you co-edit a word processing document with a colleague on the other side of the world, and you see  edits in real time, you should pause for a moment and marvel at how amazing this technology is.

That’s the good. The bad includes:

  • Google buy-in (or buying into some other platform).
  • Limited document/file type support. Although you can now upload and download any type of file to Google Drive, you have to convert to a Google format to edit online. You won’t be editing Quickbooks files, for example.

This is using Google as an example. There are other services using the web app approach. SkyDrive from Microsoft for example, or Quickbooks Online from Intuit. The bottom line is all these online apps have limitations, never mind cost (Quickbooks Online costs between $12.95 to over $70 per month).

The File Synchronization Approach

File synchronization apps like Dropbox work by running applications on all your devices, with a special folder that communicates with their servers to propagate new and updated files to other devices. This works well when the only person involved is you, and you have multiple devices (work desktop, laptop, home PC, and sometimes mobile devices). Another plus is the ability to synchronize a wide variety of file types. Each device that will be used to edit or update a file or document will need the appropriate application installed on the device, and all copies or versions of the aforementioned application must be able to handle the internal format of the particular file. For instance, Quickbooks file formats for Windows and Macs are incompatible.

The typical problem for apps using the file synch approach is lack of “file locking” to keep two people from updating a file at the same time. Some file sync apps attempt to resolve intervening updates but usually with little success.

The Local Editing With Central Locking Approach

Server-based file locking apps keep the file on a central server, and use specialized server plus client applications to do the following each time a file needs to be edited or updated:

  • “Lock” the file on the server to tell other copies of the special client application that the file is “checked out” for update by someone else.
  • Download the file to a client application on a PC, Mac, or other supported platform (usually as a “temp” file).
  • Open the correct application for editing.

After editing the process is reversed:

  • File is saved locally in the temporary location.
  • File is uploaded back to the central server, where it replaces the old copy.
  • The “Lock” is removed so other users can take their turn at editing.

It is also a good idea for this approach to offer a “View Only” or “Read Only” copy of a locked file for others to look at (but not edit).

An early example of this approach is WebDAV (DAV stands for “Distributed Authoring and Versioning”). Microsoft refers to its WebDAV support in Windows as “Web Folders”, and supports locks and editing in Office applications such as Word and Excel. The problem with WebDAV and Web Folders is that virtually no other applications other than Office have implemented support for WebDAV locks.

A more general application that can support almost any file type while also supporting central file locking is available from My Docs Online via their java-based Desktop App. The Desktop App uses a “Lock & Open” to lock the file on the central server, downloads the file to a temporary location on the PC or Mac, and then launches the right application based on the file extension. When the editing session is complete the file is saved and closed locally, and then the user does a “Save & Unlock” in the Desktop App to send the updated file back to the server and release the lock.

The ability to support virtually any file type is a strong benefit of this design.

Potential issues with the approach include “network latency”. The bigger the file the longer it takes to download and open the locked copy, or sent it back to the server. The use of Java brings support for multiple operating systems, including all versions of Windows or Mac OS X, but does require Java be installed and kept up to date on the machine.

Choosing an App Whose Design Strategy Meets Your Needs

Which approach will work best for you? It depends on particular needs, and you may need more than one solution depending on particular file types or business processes involved.

If you and all your collaborators already have Google accounts, and if the goal is collaboration on a reasonably basic document or spreadsheet, it’s hard to beat Google Drive. If you mostly use Office, then SkyDrive might be a good fit, and so on. Consider a two-step approach, where, as an example, you use Google Drive to do the early drafts of a document when collaboration needs are heaviest, and then export to a more powerful desktop application for final production.

If your collaboration needs don’t require editing by multiple people, but mostly involve pushing updated versions of files and documents for viewing and reviewing, then a file synchronization app like Dropbox could work well.

If you are using specific file types like Quickbooks, CAD, as well as Excel, Word, or OpenOffice formats, and you need to let multiple people in multiple locations edit without fear of wiping out the edits of a colleague, consider an application like the My Docs Online Desktop App.

Collaboration, Featured, Miscellaneous IT, Project management

Collaborating Through Crisis and Change for Successful Outcomes

By Brian Shaw, Program Manager, Managed Services Solutions

 

Crisis management and change management begins long before an incident occurs with the creation of a collaboration and decision making framework prior to project implementation.

A collaboration strategy needs to address the types of change to be communicated (perhaps based on thresholds for schedule and cost impact), who change needs to be communicated to, and what actions may result from that change. Actions resulting from change collaboration may be as simple as accepting the impact to the project schedule or as complex as allocating additional budgets and personnel. Follow the below steps prior to project implementation and your project team will be ready for change when it occurs. [Note: the method of applying these concepts should scale to the complexity and duration of the project.]

Preparation

Could it be coincidental that “preparation” and “Project Manager” both begin with a “p?” I think not. It is the responsibility of the Project Manager and the project team to create an environment for project success. A communication plan is a key component of project preparation. The plan should take into consideration the multiple audiences for project related information. All too often a single communication method is selected (such as emailing weekly status updates); however, this strategy doesn’t take into consideration that each audience has its’ own needs. A project engineer will require information regarding architecture and device level access that would be extraneous noise to an executive audience.

Additionally, most projects have a threshold for which change can be quickly accepted versus change or crisis that requires escalation. Define these thresholds as early as possible. If the duration of the work effort changes by less that x% or the cost changes by less than $x, can the project team quickly move forward without engaging an executive for approval? Prior to project initiation determine what types of change need to be escalated and who those changes need to be escalated to.

Control Sheet/Project Dashboard

Believe it or not, some audiences of project information don’t like reading MS Project plans and Ghantt charts…go figure. Both executive and client audiences often prefer a succinct format which quickly identifies task families that are on track, those at risk and those that have failed. This type of shorthand project metrics update is often referred to as a project dashboard or control sheet.

A project dashboard should quickly communicate project budget to actuals, project timeline and the status of milestones and/or important tasks. A popular method of sharing the status is the red, yellow, green light methodology. The critical benefit of this communication strategy is that audiences of this information can move quickly to problem areas and work towards resolution actions. If you are using a risk register then the yellow and red lights may kick out to the risk management work stream.

Collaboration Tools

Knowing what you are going to communicate and when you are going to communicate is only part of the collaboration strategy. It is critical that the project team determine how to collaborate and share types of information. Collaboration tools such as SharePoint, Drop Box and Huddle are commonplace, and I highly recommend your project team adopt a collaboration tool if you haven’t already done so.

The collaboration tool you use should allow the storage of multiple types of information along with selective access to information. The best tools allow access control at both the folder and file level. This level of information control allows sensitive information such as access credentials to be locked down to those that need access only.

The control sheet should be maintained within your collaboration tool so appropriate consumers can pull up a live project status at any time. Additionally, the collaboration tool should not replace individual action. If an important change or crisis occurs an update to the control sheet should not suffice as engaging decision makers. Those changes should be escalated in an active way to decision makers.

Execution:

Creating a communications plan around change is only the beginning. Once you’ve determined how you are going to communicate change, what changes will be communicated and how crises will be handled, it is then the responsibility of the Project Manager to ensure that consumers of this plan are informed and clearly understand the expectations. The plan is actionable and when change occurs the project team should be familiar enough with the plan to easily put it in motion.

 

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Bitrix, Bitrix24, Collaboration, Content Management, Customer Relationship Management, Document Management, Messaging, Mobile, Social, Storage

Bitrix24 Collaboration for SMBs Update Supports Online Document Creation, Sharing

Bitrix has released a new version of Bitrix24, its free enterprise social network and collaboration suite for small businesses. The new release allows users to create, edit and collaborate on documents online, without having MS Office suite installed on their personal computers.

In addition to using Bitrix24 instant messenger for video and group chats, users now have access to video conferencing and screen sharing capabilities. Email connectors to MS Exchange, Outlook, Gmail, AOL, Yahoo!, iCloud and other popular e-mail services have been added to enable e-mail access from Bitrix24 accounts.

Activity Stream has been enhanced with real time updates, smart forwarding, notification options and company-wide announcements, while engagement analytics module (Company Pulse) has been added to provide real time indicators for enterprise social network adoption, identify roadblocks and slow adopters, and show which intranet tools are currently being (under)used by employees.

Bitrix24 has also released a fully functional mobile CRM, which allows creation or editing of CRM entries and invoices directly from the mobile device. The new mobile app also allows using multiple Bitrix24 accounts from a single smartphone or tablet.

“2013 has been a year of significant growth for us, – said Bitrix24 CEO Dmitry Valyanov, – we’ve signed up 90,000 companies, which is well over 500,000 users for the cloud and onsite versions of Bitrix24 intranet. Our workforce grew by 40% to over 130 employees and we opened three new sales and support offices. GooglePlay now lists Bitrix24 among the top 5 mobile intranet apps, along with or surpassing such established enterprise social brands as Jive Software, IBM Connection, VMWare SocialCast and TIBCO Tibbr. We hope to have a million users by the end of the year.”

Bitrix24 is 100% free to any company or organization with up to 12 employees. Bitrix24 paid cloud plans are priced at $99/mo (50 GB) and $199/mo (100 GB), and both come with unlimited users.

Collaboration, Document Management, File Sharing, File synchronization, Storage, Zoho, Zoho Docs, Zoho Office Suite

Zoho Docs Desktop App Get Two-Way File Sync

Zoho today announced it has added Zoho Docs for Desktop, adding two-way file synchronization capability to Zoho Docs, the company’s online document management application with integrated online office suite. Zoho Docs users can now synchronize files on their local Windows, Mac and Linux desktop and laptop computers with the cloud as well as sync their cloud files with their local computers.

“Making user’s files available at all locations is an important feature of a document management system. We are happy to offer two-way file synchronization capability to Windows, Mac and Linux users,” said Raju Vegesna, Zoho evangelist. “Zoho users now get a powerful two-way file synchronization capability combined with expanded storage options and a tightly integrated online office suite, making this a unique offering for businesses.”

Zoho Docs for Desktop allows users to sync their Zoho Docs files and folders to Windows, Mac or Linux laptop or desktop computers. Users can sync all files and folders or pick specific folders to sync. With the sync folder in place on authorized computers, users will have the files available both in the Zoho Docs cloud folder as well as on their computers at the same time.