Carry files and documents in your pocket with SharePoint Mobile App

SharePoint Online is a very important workload of Office 365, the World’s BEST Productivity Platform. Companies , Large and Small  use SharePoint for many applications like Document Management , Workflow Applications, etc. 

The good news is that Microsoft has launched a versatile SharePoint Mobile App which gives allows users to leverage the power of SharePoint using a regular Mobile Phone.

To know more about the features of SharePoint Mobile App , visit  SharePoint Mobile App

Please leave your valued feedback by clicking  here

with warm regards

 Suresh Ramani

www.TechGyan.com

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/user/techgyani/videos

Microsoft MVP 2009
Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year 2011 & 2007

IAMCP Worldwide Gold Award Winner 2016

Prevent Copy – Paste on Mobiles and Tablets

In today’s world, Companies are giving access on Mobile Devices like Smart phones and Tablets to Corporate Data via Emails and Documents. While this improves the agility of the Company , the downside is that it also can be a source of data theft . The sensitive data could be copied and pasted on another personal storage by the user . 

Fortunately , there is a way to resolve this issue. The Solution lies in using Enterprise Mobility Suite , also known as EMS.

To know how it works  ,    click here

Please leave your valued feedback by clicking  here

with warm regards

 Suresh Ramani

www.TechGyan.com

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/user/techgyani/videos

Microsoft MVP 2009
Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year 2011 & 2007

Centrally Manage Mobiles, Tablets and Computers with the Cloud

Almost every Company allows users to access Corporate Data from their personal mobiles and tablets and Home Computers.  But one strange fact is that while the I.T. Team takes great care to protect the Work PC by applying patches centrally , locking down the device and monitoring them, they are absolutely clueless when it comes to managing the User owned device like Mobiles , Tablets and personal Computers. It’s like putting 3 locks on your main door but leaving your Windows wide open. As a result , the User Devices constitute the biggest threat to Companies in terms of data loss and Cyber Crimes.

Now there is a Way !  A Cloud based Solution from Microsoft , which is a combination of 3 essential services , addresses this problem in an elegant and cost effective manner and  offers a Comprehensive  Solution for  end to end Security for Mobile Devices and even Corporate PCs. And being subscription based Cloud Service , it is possible for even Companies with as low as 5 users to adopt this Solution.

To know more about how it works  here.

Please leave your valued feedback by clicking  here

with warm regards

 Suresh Ramani

www.TechGyan.com

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/user/techgyani/videos

Microsoft MVP 2009
Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year 2011 & 2007

Why Upgrade to Windows 10

 

Windows 10 is having some great momentum . Close to 100 million devices are already on Windows 10. However , there are many people out there who have not yet upgraded although they qualify for the free upgrade . Since the upgrade offer is valid till July 28, 2016 , I strongly suggest that they should upgrade.

I have also created a few resources which highlight the benefits of upgrading .

1) Video on benefits of upgrading. Click here http://www.techgyan.com/Pages/MSWindows.aspx .

This link also gives information on benefits of upgrading specific to XP, 7 or 8.1 user.

2) New features of Windows 10 explained here http://www.techgyan.com/Pages/Windows10Features.aspx

If you prefer watching the video on YouTube , check this link : https://youtu.be/xzAC66MOvpM

And if you prefer watching videos on Vimeo, check this link : https://vimeo.com/140156069

with warm regards

Suresh Ramani

www.TechGyan.com

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/user/techgyani/videos

Microsoft MVP 2009
Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year 2011 & 2007

Boost Productivity with One Note plus SharePoint plus Mobile

 

MS Office is used by all of us multiple times a day ! However , there is one jewel in MS Office which very few of us have used. And that is One Note . So what is One Note ? It’s a Note taking application. It consists of Sections and within sections are pages. And when you combine One Note with SharePoint and throw in a Smart Phone, what you get a Phenomenal Combo which gives you superb Productivity !

To know more about how you can see your Productivity zoom , visit the following link: http://www.techgyan.com/Pages/OneNoteSharePoint.aspx

 

with warm regards

Suresh Ramani

 www.TechGyan.com 

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/user/techgyani/videos

Microsoft MVP 2009 Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year 2011 & 2007

Reduce Communication costs with Unified Communication

 

In a modern world, our modes of Communication have multiplied. On an average work day , we use a combination of Phone, text chat , video conferencing solution , email , Online meetings , etc. Its safe to assume that Communication costs are a Big Ticket item in the Operating Costs for any Organization.

Fortunately there are some Cloud based tools which not only reduce the overall cost of Communication by upto 30% , they also do much more than simple Communication. One such tool which I love to use is Lync Online , which is part of Office 365 , the Best Productivity Suite in the World. With lync , you can do text chat , audio chat , video chat , have Online meetings with upto 250 people and lot more .

To know more about how Lync Online can help you do more streamlined Communication, please visit the following link where you will also find a video I have created on Lync:

http://www.techgyan.com/Pages/uc.aspx

Using Lync gives you many other benefits . You will find some of the benefits listed here:

http://www.techgyan.com/Pages/uc_benefits.aspx

Please leave your valued feedback by clicking here

with warm regards

Suresh Ramani

www.TechGyan.com

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/user/techgyani/videos

Microsoft MVP 2009
Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year 2011 & 2007

Social, Mobility , Analytics, Cloud ( SMAC) adoption by Indian SME’s

 

As a Technology Consultant and Cloud Evangelist, I work extensively with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). My definition of an SME is a company with 10 to 500 users — a user being someone who employs IT. In my opinion, Indians SMEs differ from Enterprise Customers in their approach to using technology. Indian SMEs rely heavily on their IT partners for technology adoption, unlike Enterprise Customers where CIO-led IT teams manage it.

I have recently authored an article which has appeared in “CIO Research Centre” , an online Publication for Indian CIO’s where I have laid down my thoughts on how an Indian Small and Mid sized company can adopt latest IT Technologies .

The full article appears in the following link : http://cioresearchcenter.com/2015/03/new-age-technology-for-indian-smes/

Please leave your valued feedback by clicking here

with warm regards

Suresh Ramani

www.TechGyan.com

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/user/techgyani/videos

Microsoft MVP 2009
Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year 2011 & 2007

Conference room booking using Microsoft Exchange Online

 

Meetings are an essential part of Business . In order to streamline the process of fixing a meeting , there are 2 important steps which need to be managed . The first is to find a suitable date and time when all the attendees will be available . This process can be automated using Meeting Scheduling Assistant , which is a part of Exchange Online. The second is to find which conference room is available on a particular date and time. Office 365 allows us to manage the Conference Room booking.

To know more about how you can streamline the Conference Room booking , please read the short article here:

http://www.techgyan.com/Pages/Conference_roombooking.aspx

with warm regards

Suresh Ramani

www.TechGyan.com

Blog: www.CloudChangesEverything.com

Microsoft MVP 2009
Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year 2011 & 2007

MS Exchange Online Plan Comparison

 

MS Exchange is the World’s Best Email system. And as a part of Office365, the Cloud Productivity Platform , it is now within the reach of everyone, from a single person firm to an Enterprise with Hundreds of Thousands of users.

There are 3 variants of Exchange Online available for subscription namely  Exchange P1, Exchange P2 and Exchange Kiosk. In order that users can make an informed decision on which plan is best suited for them , let me share with you a resource where you will get a table comparing the 3 plans of Exchange Online.

To know the differences between the 3 Exchange Online plans available in Office365, visit

http://www.techgyan.com/Pages/ExchangeOnlineComparision.aspx

with warm regards

Suresh Ramani

www.TechGyan.com

Blog: www.CloudChangesEverything.com

Microsoft MVP 2009
Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year 2011 & 2007

Mobile Device Management in Office365

 

There is a virtual explosion of Mobile devices at the Workplace. Almost everyone at work now uses his Mobile device for tasks related to work. While this has led to an increase in productivity , the downside is that the Mobile device has now become the single biggest source of leakage of Corporate Data . This is mainly due to the fact that the Corporate IT has no means to manage the User Mobile. Or if there are some 3rd party tools, they are so expensive and complicated to use that the IT does not have the resources to learn and implement the same.

Enter Office365 !

Exchange Online, which is a part of Office365 , the Cloud based Productivity Platform from Microsoft , has extensive inbuilt features which can assist the Corporate IT in managing the Mobile Devices.

To know more about how you can use Office365 for Mobile  Device management ,  visit   

http://www.techgyan.com/Pages/MobileDeviceManagementwithOffice365.aspx

 

with warm regards

 Suresh Ramani

www.TechGyan.com

Blog: www.CloudChangesEverything.com

Microsoft MVP 2009
Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year 2011 & 2007

Increase Collaboration with Calendar Sharing

 

We all use Calendar in our phones and the PC. Using Office365 , you can sync your Calendar across all your devices . But today I want to discuss a nifty feature available in Office365 by which you can share your Calendar with your Colleagues. This opens up terrific opportunities to collaborate with others.

To know more about Calendar sharing , visit

http://www.techgyan.com/Pages/CalendarSharinginMSExchange.aspx

with warm regards

Suresh Ramani

www.TechGyan.com

Blog: www.CloudChangesEverything.com

Email management : Flagging Email for followup

 

Managing Emails is a priority for most of us. Too often, we get an important email which we intend to act on later. However, due to work pressure, such mails get buried under the new mails.

There are various strategies one can use to manage the Emails. One of gems which many are unaware of, is called “Flagging for Follow up“.

To understand how to use this feature to manage your Emails , visit

http://www.techgyan.com/Pages/FlagEmailforfollowup.aspx

with warm regards

Suresh Ramani

www.TechGyan.com

Blog: www.CloudChangesEverything.com

Microsoft MVP 2009
Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year 2011 & 2007

Online Email Archiving in Office365

 

If you are a user of Email, chances are that you are aware of the concept of archiving . What it really means is that in order to ensure that our mailbox remains within the specified limit , we remove the mails from our mailbox and store the same as a backup usually in the form of a .PST file . In many cases , this process is automated whereby a user specifies that any mail beyond , say, 6 months should be archived and the PST file is then stored on his PC or on the Server .

In Exchange Online , which is a part of Cloud Service Office365 , you get online Archive mailbox as a part of your Office365 Plan . This has many advantages over the traditional method. To know more about the same, read the details at http://www.techgyan.com/Pages/Archiving.aspx

Let me know if you have any questions on the same. I would be more than happy to answer them.

So get going and implement Office365 Online Archiving in your Company ! Now !

with warm regards

Suresh Ramani

www.TechGyan.com

Blog: www.CloudChangesEverything.com

Microsoft MVP 2009
Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year 2011 & 2007

Office365 plans compared and decoded

 

Office365 , the Cloud based Business Productivity Service from Microsoft is getting more and more subscribers with every passing day.

Since one size does not fit all and the needs of different users is bound to be different , Microsoft has introduced a variety of plans . This has caused some confusion among the users who are not sure as to which plan is most suitable for them .

No worries ! I have tried to simplify the complex plans in a manner which will help you understand the various options . Have a look at the various plans and features at the link given below:

http://www.techgyan.com/Pages/Office365PlansComparison.aspx

I would also suggest that you have a look at the link given below which will help you in understanding of the plans and give you a quick overview:

http://www.techgyan.com/Pages/Office365Plans.aspx

I hope that you would have a much clearer picture of the Office365 plans once you have reviewed the information. If you still have questions , feel free to ask .

So get going and implement Office365 in your Company ! Now !

with warm regards

Suresh Ramani

www.TechGyan.com

Blog: www.CloudChangesEverything.com

Microsoft MVP 2009
Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year 2011 & 2007

Benefits of Alias in Office365

 

There is a very useful feature available in Exchange Online . Its called alias. Today I will discuss the benefits of using alias in a Business. I shall show you how we use Alias within our Company TechGyan.

We have created a few aliases as follows:

Helpdesk : This is for existing Customers. They can send a mail to this alias if they wish to record a support call; they have some queries in billing ; they need any kind of information. In short , if an existing Customer needs to communicate with us , there is only one email id he should remember.

Sales : If a new Customer wants some information on our products or service or if we have to send a proposal , then this alias is used.

Services : If the Customer is discussing any issue with the Services Team

Infoline : General information

Officeadmin : Communication with Vendors

Advantage of alias :

In every Company , people change or leave . So it always creates a disconnect between the Company and the external stake holders . Mails bounce or go unanswered. To overcome this problem, we have created the above aliases in Exchange Online. They are also called as Distribution Lists . So if an existing Customer sends a mail to Helpdesk , there is a Distribution List linked to this alias by which , any email to Help Desk will get auto forwarded to the people in Distribution list . If any person in the list changes , we have to just remove old name and add new name . The alias name remains unaffected.

The above screen shot shows the general information about the alias Helpdesk

Other Features of Alias in Exchange Online:

1) Membership

The above screen shows the list of people who are members of this alias. Here you can add or remove people as per your requirement .

2) Membership approval

As shown above, various options are available. Group can be open or closed. Members can join it by themselves or only owners can add them.

3) Delivery management

You can create alias such that only senders inside the organization can send the mail . Or , as in our case for Helpdesk , you can specify that Senders from inside and outside the organization can send the mail

4) Message approval

Any messages sent to this alias could be moderated before being delivered. In our case, we have not kept any moderator as we want any Customer to contact our Helpdesk without restriction.

5) Group delegation

By creating Group delegation, a group member can send outgoing mail also as an alias

So in the above case , we have given kkalani and bnaik the required group delegation. What happens with that can be seen in the next screen shot:

In the above image, you can see that Kavita is sending mail from her outlook. But the outgoing mail has mail id of helpdesk@techgyan.com .

As you can understand, the alias feature in Exchange Online is very powerful and can be customized with various options. And the best part is that it is FREE . Which means , you can create as many aliases as you wish to and there will be no charges for the same.

So get going and implement Office365 aliases in your Company ! Now !

with warm regards

Suresh Ramani

www.TechGyan.com

Blog: www.CloudChangesEverything.com

Microsoft MVP 2009
Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year 2011 & 2007

Task Sync in Office365

 

 

Work plays a very important role in our daily life . So what is work? It is nothing but a series of tasks . Tasks have different priorities , different due dates , different owners, etc.

One of the most efficient ways to manage Tasks is to use MS Outlook, which is part of MS Office . And most of the working people do in fact use Tasks . So typically , as soon as people reach workplace , they spend about 15 to 20 minutes to plan their schedule for the day using Tasks of MS Outlook. Needless to say , MS Outlook is the best tool for Task management.

When you use Office365 , the Tasks of Outlook are in complete sync with the Tasks of Outlook on a browser , also called as Outlook Web Access or OWA for short . So even if you do not have access to your PC with Outlook, it does not matter as your Tasks are available on the browser.

However , it does not stop here . If your Smartphone , like Windows Phone , is configured with Office365, you can get your Outlook Tasks even on your Phone . And this takes productivity to the next level. Let me explain this with a scenario.

So normally when you come to work, you would spend about 15 minutes planning your Tasks for the day using MS Outlook. All of us travel at least for 1 hour every day to Work. Now while travelling , you could easily plan your tasks on your Smartphone . So you could set a Task reminder like say a) at 3 PM to call Mr. Mehta or at 4 PM speak to Peter . And guess what , at 3 PM and 4 PM respectively, you will get reminders on Outlook of your Work PC. Similarly if you have set a reminder in MS outlook and at that time you are Out of Office, you will get reminder on your mobile. There is seamless integration of tasks between Outlook, Browser and mobile.

So what is the BIG DEAL ? I believe this is HUGE .

Savings

So if we assume that an average person takes about 15 minutes to plan his To Do list for the day , then for 100 people Company , the time taken will be 100 x 15 = 1500 minutes . That is 25 hours per day spent on planning the tasks for the Day.

Now if these 100 people use their Smartphones to plan their To Do , what will happen is that when they reach office , they will already find their To Do list updated . Which means a saving of 15 minutes per person which is 25 hours per day .

Now 25 hours x 25 working days = 625 hours saved per month .

That is 625 x 12 = 7500 hours saved per year

So at average cost to Company per hour per person being about Rs. 200, this translates to a saving of Rs. 15,00,000 . This is a HUGE increase in productivity .

So get going and implement Office365 Tasks Sync in your Company ! Now !

with warm regards

Suresh Ramani

www.TechGyan.com

Blog: www.CloudChangesEverything.com

Microsoft MVP 2009
Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year 2011 & 2007

Shared Email Address Book in Office365

 

 

In my daily interactions with many Companies , one common area where I see inefficiency is in managing Email Address Book . A majority of the Companies maintain Address Book at Individual levels. This leads to following problems :

1. Duplication of Contacts

If there is a 100 user Company , and all are part of Email system , then its quite likely that they would be using MS Outlook as Email Client . The reason is that it’s the BEST Email Client in the World . And  it is part of MS Office which is a de facto standard for any Business User. If we assume that the average number of Contacts per user are 500 , more often than not , about 300 will be contacts which are common with other users in the Company . So we have this scenario where 300 contacts are entered in 100 address books leading to a huge waste of time.

Now , if one Contact changes phone number or the address , that means 100 address books have to be updated. So much waste of precious time.

2. Searching for Contact information which already exists in Company

Contact Information is already existing in the Company . But that is with some users who have stored the same in their address books . If this information is required by someone who does not have this information, then the process of searching will start and will include browsing the Internet or even calling the person for his information. All this means wastage of the precious commodity called TIME .

We can resolve this issue using SharePoint , which comes bundled with Office365 . Let me explain using our example.

We have created a TechGyan Contacts List on our SharePoint as can be seen in the highlighted portion of the snapshot below:

 

 

Now , I have gone inside this list and selected a contact “Baburaj” . So what you see in the snapshot below is the contact form in SharePoint populated with the entry of the Contact

Next I have synced this Contact List with my Outlook . What you see on the highlighted portion on the left is the name “TechGyan Contacts “. And on the right is the same contact “baburaj” appearing as a regular Outlook contact .

 

 

 

 

Finally in the snapshot below , you see that the TechGyan Contacts address book appears as a Outlook Address Book from where you can pickup an address of your choice and mail the same.

 

Savings

So if we assume that an average person takes about 5 minutes to fill up an Outlook address contact , then for 300 contacts and 100 people Company , the time savings are:

5 x 300 x 100 = 1,50,000 minutes = 2500 hours

So at average cost to Company per hour per person being about Rs. 200, this translates to a saving of 5,00,000 . This is not a small saving by any measure.

And this saving will increase whenever the Contact has to be modified , updated . And when we calculate the savings , I am not calculating the time wasted in trying to find the information here and there and calling Customers and creating a sub optimal impression.

So hopefully I have given you a very strong justification for using Shared Contacts . So go ahead and start planning how to implement Shared Contacts within your Company . Start Now!

with warm regards

Suresh Ramani

www.TechGyan.com

Blog: www.CloudChangesEverything.com

Microsoft MVP 2009
Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year 2011 & 2007

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 launched

 

I was recently invited to the launch of Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 in Mumbai. Not having any exposure to the Android World, I was a little hesitant to go . But then I thought it would be a good opportunity to see one of the leading Tablets of the Market . And since Enterprise Mobility is one of my core focus areas , it made sense to go.

I will not spend much time in hardware specs as they are available on the Web. I will talk about what I saw and liked/disliked.

Some good features are:

· 10.1” screen which appears smaller than 10.1”

· Record and play in full HD

· Reading mode which adjusts the screen to surrounding light, etc.

· Create your own menu screen for pinning apps , videos , etc. Similar to the start screen of Windows Tablet

· Multi tasking

· S-pen functionality . This is touted as one of the USP’s of the Tablet . You can for eg. Write a phone number and directly update your commands. Or you can scribble address and search the Maps directly . Very responsive pen.

· Scrapbooker . This lets you collect info from variety of media like YouTube, webpage, etc. This is again similar to the OneNote App

· S- finder . This is a decent Search

· Comes with 3G and wifi

So in my opinion , it is a well designed Tablet with good specs. Well suited for Content consumption. However , I found very little which can convince me that it can also be very useful for Work and Content creation .

And for that the price of Rs. 49,900/= did seem to be a little too steep to me.

with warm regards

Suresh Ramani

www.TechGyan.com

Blog: www.CloudChangesEverything.com

Microsoft MVP 2009
Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year 2011 & 2007

Enhancements to Office365

 

Office365, the Cloud Service from Microsoft , has been enhanced in a major way recently. Let me share the improvements with you.

1) Exchange Online Plan P1 goes up from 25 GB to 50 GB per mailbox

2) Exchange Kiosk goes up from 1 GB to 2 GB per mailbox

3) Shared Mailbox storage doubled to 10 GB

4) Resource Mailbox storage doubled to 10 GB

5) Site Mailbox storage remains at 5 GB

6) SkyDrive Pro storage goes up from 5 GB to 25 GB

7) SkyDrive Pro file size limit increased to 2 GB

8) SkyDrive Pro can now store 20,000 files from personal libraries

9) Versioning now enabled by default on SkyDrive Pro documents with default of 10 file versions

10) Shared with me view of SkyDrive Pro helps to easily locate files shared by your colleagues with you

11) Recycle bin retention increased from 30 days to 90 days

Let's look at what that means for the overall storage for each user. With Office 365, you get 25 GB of SkyDrive Pro storage + 50 GB of email storage + 5 GB for each site mailbox you create + your total available tenant storage, which for every Office 365 business customer starts at 10 GB + (500 MB x # of user(s).

I am really excited with these announced enhancements . What about you?

To know more about Office365 Service , click here .

with warm regards

Suresh Ramani

www.TechGyan.com

Blog: www.CloudChangesEverything.com

Microsoft MVP 2009
Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year 2011 & 2007

Microsoft to buy Nokia Mobile Business

 

The biggest news of the day is that Microsoft is buying the Mobile Phone business of Nokia. There are many articles floating around the Internet about this deal. Here are my thoughts on the same:

I am personally happy with the news since as our Company TechGyan is heavily invested in Microsoft Technologies . And last year we made our foray into the world of Smart phones by entering into Enterprise Partner Agreement with Nokia. Since then we have done a decent business in selling Nokia Lumia Phones to Business Users . And personally , I am using Nokia Lumia 920 and I absolutely love the hardware and software.  So first impression is that I am positive about the news .

Nokia has come out with great Phone models like Lumia 520, 620, 625, 720, 820, 920, 925 . These models beat the hell out of the phones from Androids . So when we have the hardware capability of Nokia which combines with Software capability and deep pockets of Microsoft , we have an awesome combination  . From here , the market share of Lumia Phones can only increase provided:

1) Microsoft innovates faster on the Windows Phone OS

2) Microsoft comes out with an effective Partner Program for Lumia Phones and also Surface Tablets . This means that they should NOT go direct like Apple since that is not in their DNA . Instead , they should leverage their FANTASTIC Partner Ecosystem  to sell the devices .

3) The Nokia team which will come into Microsoft should be given a lot of freedom since Nokia has the history of coming out with great hardware at attractive price points .

4) Nokia Brand should not be killed , but should be leveraged as it has great pull in many Countries like India.

 

I also believe that many Customers will now adopt Lumia knowing that now with Microsoft’s backing , the Platform will only become bigger . And while the regulatory issue are sorted out and integration starts , I will tell my team to get more aggressive on Nokia Lumia Phones .  

with warm regards

Suresh Ramani

www.TechGyan.com

Blog: www.CloudChangesEverything.com

Microsoft MVP 2009
Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year 2011 & 2007