Sometimes it’s hard to explain in just a few words what this company does. Of course we help people with their PCs — that’s how the company got its start in 1992. But over the past 18 years, we have expanded our offerings. We help with Macs, mobile devices, Tier 1 help desk, migrations, and much more.

“The Ribbon” almost became a profanity in 2009. It’s central to the Office redesign, and it has rendered even seasoned Office users lost and confused.

Are we “efficiency experts”? We think so. Are we “leisure enablers”? Yes, we are. Are we “ROI generators”? Precisely.

Here’s a breakdown:

1. Mobile Device Support

I, personally, cannot imagine a world without on-the-go access to e-mail, documents, maps and every other feature my mobile device affords me. And, I suspect, most corporate workers would agree.

And smart phones will only become more central to how we work. According to a 2009 study, mobile use for business will double from 2008 to 2011 and the variety of devices being used will increase. Problem is, IT departments will continue to be ill-equipped to handle the support needs. Read more…

admin Customer Service BlackBerry, Customer Service, Help Desk, iPhone, mobile device, Office 2007, Outsourcing, smart phone, Windows Mobile

It’s that time of year when we look back on what was and ponder what is to come. The year 2009 brought a number of significant tech developments — the iPhone as a legitimate business tool (AT&T’s bandwidth issues notwithstanding); the Cloud’s emergence; grandmothers embracing social media; Windows 7 — all of which promise to change the way we work.

Still, all our readers cared about was learning how to use a secondary axis in Excel, how to change BlackBerry calendar views, and why help desk techs are so surly.

Here’s a list of our top 10 posts from 2009. Read and enjoy.

10. Get It Together: 5 Ways to Stay Organized in Outlook
9. 5 Lessons to Learn Before Outsourcing
8. A Kinder, Gentler Help Desk
7. Top 5 Most-Asked Help Desk Questions
6. 7 Productivity-Boosting iPhone Tips
5. Out of Office, Out of Mind
4. How the Help Desk Earns its Bad Reputation
3. Follow the Format: 5 MS Word Tips for Managers
2. 4 BlackBerry Tips Every Manager Should Know
1. Management Tool Best Practices: 3 Excel Tips that Promise Charting Greatness

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admin Year in Review BlackBerry, Excel, FACEBOOK, How To, iPhone, Outlook, Social Media, the Cloud, tips and tricks, Twitter, Windows Mobile

There’s no doubt mobile devices have altered the way we work. According to Pew Internet and Research, almost half of American workers report doing at least some work at home, and about 20 percent say they do job-related tasks at home every day.

Accessing your e-mail using keyboard shortcuts takes productivity one step further.

In preparation for the holiday, here are some tips to help you keep your mobile work time to a minimum while you’re enjoying the family feast:

For the BlackBerry

Filter Incoming Mail

Say, for example, you receive a daily report that you will not read or deal with on your phone and would prefer to just handle it back at the office. Can you create a filter for that?

Of course you can. Here’s how:

1. Click on the Messages icon to open your messages, then click the trackwheel or Menu button and select Options.

2. Select E-mail Filters.

3. Click your trackwheel or Menu button, select New and then type a filter name. Read more…

admin Mobile Devices, Time-Saving Tips BlackBerry, holiday, iPhone, Outlook, productivity, Thanksgiving, tips and tricks, Windows Mobile

We have lists on the brain, largely due to the recent debut of Twitter’s new “lists” feature, which enables users to create and share lists of people to follow. Twitter lists are like Follow Friday on Red Bull, and are the microblogging service’s logical next step.

Mashable.com’s Pete Cashmore writes this of lists on CNN.com: They cut down Twitter’s noise and arguably make it more useful.

Indeed, lists — and “how-to” guides and the like — enable you to break down large amounts of information into easier-to-use bits. And that’s the essence of what we do in software support. Some of our more list-like posts continue to get ample clicks, perhaps because of their utility. Among them:

4 BlackBerry Tips Every Manager Should Know

7 Productivity-Boosting iPhone Tips

5 Microsoft Word Formatting Tips

Windows 7: What IT and End-Users Need to Know

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admin Lists BlackBerry, cnn.com, Follow Friday, iPhone, Pete Cashmore, Red Bull, Twitter, Windows 7, Word

Computerworld.com reported that during a Windows 7 web conference on Tuesday, Charles Songhurst, GM of Microsoft’s corporate strategy, described the Vista operating system as a “less good” product.

Either that’s genius doublespeak, or a disturbingly chipper view of the world.

“Less good”?

Either that’s genius doublespeak, or a disturbingly chipper view of the world. We suspect it’s the former.

Doublespeak is everywhere (although it’s hardly a new concept), and it’s not just Microsoft that’s doling it out. Here are two more examples that warrant mention:

1. “Doing More with Less”: This is a phrase that has been used in business almost daily for the past year (I know I’m guilty of having thrown it around a bit). Its cousin, “Getting Back to Basics,” deserves a mention as well. Is this a softer way of saying you must work harder for the same pay, or just a way of fooling workers into thinking they are contributing to some greater purpose?

2. The latest iPhone update and its enterprise implications: A handful of industry mags wrote about a security flaw in iPhone software that was revealed when the 3.1 release came out last week. Read more…

admin Tech Babble doublespeak, iPhone, Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows 7

One of our consultants at work.

Our help desk handles many “how to” calls, which often have straightforward solutions. Sometimes, however, the requests that come in require a little more creativity from our consultants.

On a recent call, consultant Bradley Lyman found an ingenious way around a potential hurdle.

Lyman received a call from a customer asking for help copying a YouTube video for a presentation. There was one snag, however; the customer did not have rights to use the video. His presentation, which he was scheduled to show to an auditorium full of people, would be incomplete without a video of a juggler.

The presentation was due, and getting rights would have been a challenge.

Lyman wasted no time, and tapped fellow consultant Jorg Freiberg and team leader Ken Wilson for help. Lyman remembered seeing Freiberg juggling on his breaks and knew that Wilson had just bought a new iPhone with a video camera. The result was a copyright-free juggling video, which was produced and delivered to the customer in under an hour. File that under “Above and Beyond.” (Jen Darr)

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admin Consultant Spotlight, Customer Service above and beyond, iPhone, juggling, PowerPoint, YouTube

According to an Aug. 12, 2009, Computerworld UK article, six out of 10 CIOs were not able to measure the financial effect outsourcing had on their company. The result has been a whole lot of pointed fingers, canceled contracts and dissatisfied customers.

Stop clinging to the old rules, which said that if you hired an outsourcer with a pretty SLA, things would work themselves out. Try a new tack. Here are six things to look for in an outsourcing outfit:

1. First-level certified consultants: First-call resolution rates are higher, and callers are less likely to be put on hold and bounced around from tier to tier.

Stop clinging to the old rules, which said that if you hired an outsourcer with a pretty SLA, things would work themselves out.

2. After-hours and round-the-clock coverage: If you think keeping a tech or two on the clock to cover after-hours calls suffices, think again. It penalizes employees who work off-hours or in other time zones. An outsourcing company should offer the same level of support at any hour of the day.
3. Advanced-level support: Advanced-level requests should not be treated with any less urgency than basic-level calls. The result will be less worker frustration and downtime.
4. Wide range of supported applications: Mobile devices are becoming essential tools in the workplace. Hiring an outsourcer that supports a range of applications, plus mobile devices like the iPhone and BlackBerry, translates into less downtime and positive overall image of the help desk.
5. Smart training programs: If a help desk focuses solely on break-fix issues, it’s just serving as a Band-aid. By addressing employees’ needs with training, you’re not only fixing the Read more…

admin ROI BlackBerry, CIO, Computerworld UK, Help Desk, iPhone, Mobile Devices, SLA, software support

If you thought BlackBerry and mobile device support needs were overwhelming your IT department now, prepare yourself, as it’s only going to get worse. According to a recent study, smartphone use for business will almost double from 2008 to 2011, the variety of devices being used will increase, and IT departments will continue to be ill-equipped to handle mobile device support needs.

Yikes. All that, and we’re still in a recession.

Because the majority of users are higher-profile employees, the downtime has a greater impact on an organization’s bottom line.

According to the study, which was sponsored by Zenprise Inc. and published in March by Osterman Research, smartphone use in the enterprise will jump from 23 percent to 46 percent by 2011. Although the BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices will continue to dominate the business market, support needs will increase for other platforms such as iPhone and Palm OS.

The report made special note of downtime as a key issue. Because the majority of users are higher-profile employees, such as senior and middle managers, the downtime has a greater effect on an organization’s bottom line.

“…Users become so dependent on mobile devices, and others become so dependent on being able to reach them, that downtime can cause serious problems – slower decision-making, slower customer response, etc.,” the report states. “Making mobile messaging available 24×7 is as critical, if not more so, than making conventional messaging available.” Read more…

admin Mobile Devices 24x7 support, BlackBerry, CIO, Help Desk, iPhone, Outsourcing, Palm OS, Windows Mobile

In a May article eWeek envisioned a mobile workforce in the near future, where employees were issued images rather than hard drives, and could get most, if not all, of their work done on the go, using a laptop or a smart phone.

With the recent high-profile smart phone and netbook releases, plus the growing interest in cloud computing and Google Apps, are we any closer?

Is Microsoft Office an undeniable fact of life?

Apple, Google and other companies who hold a stake would like you think we are, but the analysts are weighing in with a big, fat “no.” For now, that is.

Exhibit A, cloud computing is still a lofty idea: Judging by the way cloud computing has been covered in the press, you would think Office was ready for a spot in the Computer History Museum. But the cloud isn’t gathering quite that fast.

In a recent study, Forrester Research Inc. found that 80 percent of respondents were still supporting MS Office, while a scant 3 percent were supporting Google Apps. Read more…

admin Cloud Computing, Mobile Devices, iPhone Christmas, Cloud Computing, Computer History Museum, iPhone, netbooks, Oprah, SaaS

With all the press this week about Apple’s newest toys, I thought I’d focus this entry of IT Buzzwords on phrases related to mobile devices.

We know you’ve been nodding your head in agreement when your colleagues (or underlings) discuss the pros and cons of the 3GS, even though you have no clue why the world is so miffed about tethering and MMS. Here’s a chance to school yourself, so you know what your employees will be griping about in the near future. Read more…

admin BlackBerry, Mobile Devices, Tech Babble, iPhone 3GS, Apple, AT&T, BlackBerry, dumb phones, iPhone, Palm Pre, smart phones, tethering